Week 1: The Character of the Kingdom

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1 Week 1: The Character of the Kingdom Matthew 5:1-16 "If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself." Augustine Start Here The Beatitudes is a fancy name for the group of characteristics that Jesus lists to start the Sermon on the Mount. They are an unlikely grouping of eight misfit traits that Jesus used to describe people who fit into the kingdom of God. Jesus uses the Beatitudes to side with (and bless) the oppressed, underprivileged, and needy. This week we ll be uncovering this group of upside down blessings that introduce Jesus upside down kingdom. Scripture: Matthew 5:1-16 Wins for the week: 1. Explore how the characteristics Jesus praises in the Beatitudes cut against the grain of those admired and pursued by the rest of the world. 2. Specifically reflect on how well your life embodies these characteristics, and identify a beatitude that you need to express more fully in your life. Talk about it Think about someone who you would described as incredibly blessed. What kind of characteristics, life circumstances, etc. are present that make you look at them and say, Yup, they re super blessed? So What s the Sermon on the Mount? Every university has expectations for what is normal for its students. As a student at UK you re expected to laugh with the basketball team, cry with the football team, study for class, and dislike the food at the 90, and you re not ever supposed to buy meals during KWeek. Universities and societies alike have norms for what define its members. Jesus came onto the scene in 1st century Palestine preaching a new kind of society. This society is called the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Heaven. What does a member or citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven look like? Well, Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount. This teaching, which is found in Matthew 5-7, gives us the quintessential look at what characteristics define a disciple of Jesus, and citizen of this kingdom. Moses gave the nation of Israel their constitution (the 10 commandments) from a mountainside. In the sermon on the

2 mount, we find Jesus passing down the constitution for the disciples of his new kingdom, causing some people to describe this teaching as the, Constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus gives this mountainside teaching to a group of new believers. These believers were largely unfamiliar with his teaching so Jesus lays out his definitive instructions for them. Over the course of the next 6 weeks we ll be exploring the codes, characteristics, lifestyles, and dispositions of a kingdom member, as they are found in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins this teaching with a set of characteristics known as The Beatitudes. Read Matthew 5:1-12 (You ll read in a second) Read as a group or read individually then come back together. Before you start questions, take some time for general impressions or questions. Commentary Think of what God looks like. What images come to mind? Common images might include a king, or a judge, or maybe an old man in the sky. Most the images we think of will be regal and revered. God, if nothing else, should seem respectable and the people who have his blessing should be as well. There are entire ministries based off of perceptions of God as being powerful (specifically powerful by American standards). Creflo Dollar, author of The Holy Spirit, Your Financial Advisor, tells people that you need to gain the favor of God if you want to be powerful and wealthy. Pastor Dollar has made about 27 million dollars off of this message, flies his private jet between his churches in Atlanta and New York city, and has many followers who are trying to get in good with a wealthy and prestigious god. You may have heard similar prosperity gospel messages in the past. The crux of the messages is this: God s favor means financial blessing for your life. Many of the 1st century Jews also thought of God s favor in similar terms. The religious leaders taught that the healthy and wealthy were the righteous ones favored by God. But what kind of person does Jesus say hold the blessings of God? In order to answer that we have to look at the epitome of righteousness and spiritual blessing: Jesus. He describe the blessed people of God with the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are 8 characteristics that citizens within the Kingdom of Heaven possess. They are strikingly different than the powerful and wealthy described by 1st century Jews, or prosperity gospel preachers. They are far from describing the healthy, wealthy, and admired. Instead, Jesus elevates those who are poor in spirit, meek, persecuted, and overlooked. For further explanation on the specific Beatitudes (i.e. if you re wondering what s it really mean to be meek? ) take a look at The Beatitudes Explained below for some really helpful reflection and teaching.

3 Text Questions Jesus teaches these Beatitudes, but how do we see them lived out in his life? Why does Jesus identify these attributes as ones that will be blessed? Are the Beatitudes supposed to be taken literally? What Beatitude stands out or confuses you the most? What Beatitude is the most challenging to you personally? Jesus says, Blessed is, for they. He implies some sort of relationship in the two. Skim back through the beatitudes: are they necessarily related? Or are the connections arbitrary? Salt and Light: Matthew 5:13-16 Christianity is a social religion. Our personal faith has social implications. The Beatitudes are an example of this. They are inward qualities that can affect the world with change. As the light illuminates for vibrant living, or as salt makes for vibrant eating, so do the Beatitudes express the vibrant love of God in a dark and distasteful world. Read: Matthew 5:13-16 Application Questions: What Beatitude do you identify with most? Is there a Beatitude in your life that you need to express more fully? How does living out the kingdom ethic Jesus teaches here affect the way we tell others about Jesus? Think of a friend or fellow student who needs you to be salt and light. Share it with your MGroup. Pray that God opens doors that he may make an impact through you.

4 Living the Beatitudes Living a life expressed by the beatitudes is not easy to do. This kind of character is counter-cultural and even crazy in today s world. But it is the life Jesus calls us to. Identify which of these beatitudes you are the worst at and the best at. How do you improve on the one you re the worst at and continue to allow the one you re the best at to be a strength? THE BEATITUDES EXPLAINED Here s a great section from the Tyndale Commentary on Matthew that should be super helpful in preparation for this section. Feel free to read these in preparation for group or actually use some of them in the group. Poor In Spirits Poor in spirit warns us immediately that the thought here is not (as it is in Luke 6:20) of material poverty. The phrase alludes to an Old Testament theme which underlies all the beatitudes, that of the poor or meek, those who humbly trust God, even though their loyalty results in oppression and material disadvantage, in contrast with the wicked who arrogantly set themselves up against God and persecute his people. The emphasis is on piety and suffering, and on dependence on God, not on material poverty as such. In later Jewish writings, particularly the Psalms of Solomon and the Qumran literature, the poor continues to denote the faithful and persecuted people of God, whom he will ultimately vindicate. This humble, unworldly attitude, which puts its trust only in God is the mark of the disciple; the kingdom of heaven belongs to (perhaps better consists of ) such men. They are God s people. Those Who Mourn Those who mourn are not necessarily the bereaved, or even the penitent. They are the suffering, those whose life is, from a worldly point of view, an unhappy one, and particularly those who suffer for their loyalty to God (see on v. 3). The verse echoes Isaiah 61:2, which promises consolation as a part of the Messiah s work. In God s salvation they will find a happiness which transcends their worldly condition. The Meek The meek echoes the same Old Testament idea as the poor in spirit. They are those who do not throw their weight about, but rely on God to give them their due. Meekness as a characteristic of Jesus own ministry is stressed by Matthew (11:29; 12:15 21; 21:5). The promise to the meek is quoted from Psalm 37:11 (a psalm concerned throughout with the contrasting attitudes and destiny of the meek and the wicked ). The possession of the land there refers primarily to Palestine, though the idea is more generally of the meek supplanting

5 the wicked. Jesus applies it not territorially, but in terms of the ultimate vindication of the meek. God will give them the high place they would not seize for themselves. Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness For spiritual hunger and thirst see Psalm 42:1 2; Isaiah 55:1 2. For righteousness in Matthew see on 3:15; the meaning here will be that their one desire is for a relationship of obedience and trust with God. It is thus a personal aspiration, not a desire for social justice. The idea of vindication, or of justification may be implied in the promise that this desire shall be satisfied, but the ultimate satisfaction of a relationship with God unclouded by disobedience is chiefly in view. The Merciful The importance of mercy, and its reciprocal nature, is stressed in Matthew (6:12, 14 15; 9:13; 12:7; 18:21 35; 23:23). For the reciprocal principle see Psalm 18:25 26, and conversely Job 22:9 10; Proverbs 21:13; etc. For the practical character of mercy see on 9:27. The Pure in Heart Pure in heart should not be restricted to moral, still less sexual, purity; it denotes one who loves God with all his heart (Deut. 6:5), with an undivided loyalty, and whose inward nature corresponds with his outward profession (Isa. 29:13). Such is the generation of those who seek him (Ps. 24:6), and they receive the promise that they shall see God. This can only fully be realized in heaven, when we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2); then we shall be like him, and the longings of v. 6 will be finally satisfied. But in a lesser sense the vision of God is already the experience of his true lovers on earth, who persevere in his service as seeing him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27). The Peacemaker In a world characterized by conflict and rivalry, a keeper of the peace is rare, a peacemaker still rarer. The absence of selfish ambition which has marked the earlier beatitudes provides the only basis for this quality, which is particularly pleasing to God (Ps. 34:14). God is the supreme peacemaker (Eph. 2:14 18; Col. 1:20) and this quality marks disciples out as his sons, for the son shares the characteristics of the father. Persecuted because of Righteousness Righteousness, as in v. 6, is more than just being good. It indicates a whole orientation of life towards God and his will. Such a life is conspicuous and so attracts persecution, as vv will explain further. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven echoes v. 3, thus rounding off the series, and marking it as one composite whole, not a list of optional additions. This God-like character, in its entirety, should be progressively seen in all true disciples, because only where it is found is the kingdom of heaven, God s control, really effective.