With a new semester at school brings a new sermon series. My previous sermon series, titled the “Essentials” explained the essential doctrines and understandings to know about God, the Trinity, Heaven, etc. I was happy with how that series went and I hoped it shaped the students’ understanding of those topics well. But now I wanted to lean more into equipping them with action towards their faith. I wanted to walk through a series that teaches them their faith is not and should not be limited to their time at church, church events, etc. What I wanted to aim for is showing them, easily and practically, that their faith must be on display 24/7. And what better way to do that than introduce them to the teachings of Jesus and His teaching of the Beatitudes.
And that’s what I decided to teach on, we will be walking through the Beatitudes this semester. If you are unfamiliar with them, they are simple, short teachings of the blessings of God specifically to Christians. Each Beatitude is a single verse, the shortest one only being 9 words long and the longest being 14 words long (in the ESV). But these verses, these Beatitudes are rich with teaching, knowledge, and direction for Christians. The thing about the Beatitudes is they are incredibly Kingdom focused. They point Christians towards faithfulness in our everyday lives, considering less of ourselves and more on the power, love, grace, mercy, and strength of God. They point to Jesus as the Perfect example of a Holy, selfless, and obedient life towards God. They point to the Kingdom of God, in Heaven, that we long for yet also can display slightly here on earth!
Each Beatitude also encourages the believer. Jesus, when giving His sermon on the mount, was teaching to a crowd of people. His inner circle being 4 disciples and the outer circle being the nearby crowd who wanted to hear Him speak. This was a greatly diverse crowd: there were Jewish people, Galileans, Judeans, and many other people groups. There were farmers, the poor without jobs, those who were hurting, those who were prideful, and those with diseases or incredible illnesses. And Jesus preaches to them, perfectly. Each Beatitude addresses an affliction we struggle with here on earth and teaches this struggle is a result of sin and was not the original intention of God. That our lives here on earth were supposed to be perfect, because He created it as perfect. But now that sin, death, struggle, and evil claims the earth and our lives, we need the help and light from Heaven to guide us back. I believe that is why Jesus starts each Beatitude with “Blessed”.
That word, blessed, is not just some simple word that means happy or fortunate. The Greek word for blessed is makarios, which signifies more of a divine fortune, divine and ultimate well-being, divine flourishing that comes from citizenship in God’s Kingdom. The word blessed is not simple here in the way Jesus is explaining it, He is reconnecting us with God’s Kingdom! He is showing everyone, but especially believers, that if you are in Christ and if you hear His words here, you are “makarios” - you are blessed beyond earthly measure.
Take the first Beatitude for example: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Is this saying you must always be living in poverty and never excelling in life? For that is how we would experience the Kingdom of Heaven? Absolutely not. Those who are “poor in spirit” are the unprideful, those who recognize their sin and their need for help. Their humility cries out for help, cries out for the hand of God to save them and lead them. Those who are poor in spirit completely lean on God and let Him take the driver’s seat, they would be happy to sit in the back seat. For they know they are in good hands. I’ve also told you the Beatitudes display the life of Christ, our Savior the entire time He was here on earth who displayed complete obedience to the Father and humility before those who would tempt Him.
The final half of the first Beatitude explains that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. While this does show their reward, it also shows our ability to display the Kingdom here on earth. This Beatitude and the rest are marks of the Kingdom, lives on full display that show the materialistic world the perfect spiritual community of God. And that is why I have chosen to teach the students the Beatitudes. I’ve called our series the “Marks of a Disciple”. Each beatitude is a mark of how a believer should live, how they should focus on God and Jesus, and how they should live for the Kingdom of God while also displaying it. Please be in prayer with me as I teach these Beatitudes to the students and hope it shapes their minds and hearts towards the Kingdom and heart of God.
