Blessed

Blessed – Matthew 5: 1 - 12

Intro: There he stood on a Sunday afternoon in the Golden Corral Restaurant, with 2 gallons of Thousand Island dressing dripping from his hair, his glasses, down his face, all over his jacket, pants and shoes. A service person had been struck from behind by the swinging door which launched the salad dressing all over the poor guy. He went ballistic! He cursed a blue streak at the young girl calling her everything including “stupid.” Not only did he need a change of clothes, he needed a change of attitude as well.

I VVS. 1 & 2 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. This is the beginning of a very long passage known as the Sermon On The Mount.

A Verses 3 – 11 are collectively known as the Beatitudes. They all begin with the same word: Makarios / µa?????? – If it stands alone, it can be translated as “Blessed” / happy / blissfulness.

B When included in phrases as we see here, it can have various meanings. It is actually an exclamation: Oh the blessedness of . . . congratulations on what is . . . or, O the joy of . . .

C These are NOT wistful glimpses of some future beauty; they are NOT even golden promises of some distant glory. The are triumphant shouts of bliss for a permanent joy that nothing in the world can ever take away. They express joy which shines through the tears, and which nothing in life or death can take away. They are ecstatic shouts of joy! In Texas it would be translated as,YEE HAW

II According to Matthew 5: 3 – 11 are you blessed? Do you count yourself among the people mentioned in this text from the gospel of Matthew? Do I count myself among them?

A Have you ever been told that you are truly blessed? Exactly what does that mean? Is it factual or opinion? EXAMPLE: You are fifty is factual. You are ugly is an opinion. So exactly what is a blessing? Is it factual or opinion?

B According to VSS. 3 – 11 the following are those who are blessed: the destitute / the broken-hearted / those with God-controlled lives / those who display perfect sympathy / those with a clean heart / those who bring people together / those who suffer for Christ / the persecuted

C These “beatitudes” are really a summary of the teachings of Jesus regarding a drastic change in attitude that was needed in order to be considered a child of God and therefore truly BLESSED!

Concl: Our nation and the world in general has become a place of anger, resentment, and negativity. If you look at the spirit of the beatitudes as a whole, you may discover 3 principles for living into that Spirit: 1) simplicity – hearing the words of Jesus as they are; not what we want them to be; 2) hopefulness – accept situations for what they are while putting our hope in Christ Jesus; 3) compassion – recognize that others share our humanity by walking in their shoes.

To encourage us to live into those principles I have an experiment for you. Take one of these rubber bands. Place it on your wrist. Each time you say, do, or think something negative, snap the rubber band and then put it on the other wrist. Perhaps the sting of the rubber band will be enough to help us all change our attitudes and learn to rejoice and live a more Christ-like life.