The Beatitudes- Kingdom Blessedness

Have you ever longed to hear directly from Jesus, as one might talk face to face with a friend? The amazing truth is that if we read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, we are directly hearing the words and teachings of Jesus. Beatitudes means ‘blessedness’ - the state of being truly favoured, deeply joyful. Jesus taught these beatitudes ‘up the mountain’ (Matthew 5:1) and the question to us today, is are we willing to ‘go up higher’, not just to be entertained or to hear something inspiring, but to be instructed, challenged and shaped into people who actually look like Him?

‍Grab your Bible, journal and pen, and spend some time either by yourself or with a friend, unpacking the Beatitudes.

‍Read

Matthew 5:1-12

Ask

1)       What does this say about God? ‍

2)       What does this say about people?

3)       What will I take away?

4)       Who will I share this with?

There are 4 reflections that we can take away from this passage:

1)       God wants to bless us. Jesus tells us 9 ways throughout this passage that we can be blessed. God is a good Father that wants to give us good gifts. Kingdom People know they have a good King.

2)       God doesn’t prescribe rules but attitudes. Jesus doesn’t say ‘blessed are those who fast twice a week’ or ‘blessed are those who go to church every week’ or ‘blessed are those who give tithes and offerings’ or ‘who read their bible through in one year’ - those things are of course important and Jesus goes on to talk about key topics like prayer and giving and finances in the rest of his sermon, but it is significant that he starts off by looking at attitudes. Kingdom people are formed from the inside out, not just shaped by what they do but by who they are becoming.

3)       Blessed lives look different in the Kingdom than they do in the world. The world looks at those who are rich, in the natural or in confidence and says ‘they must be blessed’ but Jesus says ‘if you know you have nothing without me’ - I call that blessed. We mustn’t measure ourselves by the world’s standards, we must renew our minds. Kingdom people look like Jesus, not like the world’s definition of success.

4)       Blessed lives are not just for this life but for heaven. Jesus is reminding his disciples that the blessed life is not just for here and now but for eternity - we see rewards promised not just for this life but for heaven. In fact, the Kingdom of Heaven is mentioned 3 times. Kingdom people live now in light of eternity.

Next steps:

·        Re-read the Beatitudes. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do after reading this teaching.

·        Catch up with the service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsjEL3sy7R8&t=2s