Term 2 – Week 01
Big Idea – Followers of Jesus will be blessed if they live God’s way in this world
Matthew 5:1-12
Outcomes
- To know that God will bless those who live God’s way. To be blessed is to be forever happy.
- To understand that living God’s way is to depend on him, obey him and show kindness to others.
Implications
- Belief – Living God’s way is the best way to live even if it is different from everyone else.
- Behaviour – How can we depend on God each day? How can we show kindness to those around us? We do this because God first showed us kindness when he sent Jesus
Introduction
Jesus began the Sermon of the Mount with an outline of how radically different life is inside God’s kingdom compared to the outside. These “Beatitudes” are guidelines for how Christ’s followers should live under his rule as they await his return. They show us the good life, which is God’s way and not the world’s way. This good life in Christ actually reverses the conventional values of society, commending those whom the world in general would ordinarily dismiss as wimps and losers. Thus, the Beatitudes call followers of Jesus to stand out as different from those around them, and promises those who do so will ultimately be winners in life because theirs is the Kingdom of God.
There are 8 statements…
“Blessed are those who……. (a quality or activity in the present tense),
For it is they who……… (a future verb, except in vv.3&10)”
To be blessed is to be happy, but blessed is more than happiness; it is a deep joy and eternal happiness that God gives followers of Jesus when they live God’s way and not the world’s way.
One possibly useful way to understand them is to use a Hamburger as an illustration – “The Hamburger of Happiness.”
This lesson will only look at three of the Beatitudes: God will bless those who depend on him (v.3), those who want to obey him (v.6) and those people who are merciful and kind (v.7).
P.S. The ingredients are: bottom bun, cheese, tomato, meat, onion, lettuce, top bun.
Bottom of the Bun (Poor in Spirit v3)
The bottom of a hamburger bun is a solid foundation for the rest of the burger. The same goes with the Beatitudes. The first Beatitude is foundational for all the rest. It says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It’s not talking about money or character flaws, but about our relationship with God. Because of our sin, we are cut off from God the source of all life and light. We are forever blessed when we recognise our sin, that we are “poor in spirit”, and totally depend of Jesus for life and light through repentance and faith, because ‘theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.
Meat (Hungering and Thirsting v6, and Merciful v7) Do we recall that Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life and that He could give Living Water? The more we read our Bible, memorise Scripture, pray, and worship Jesus, the more we will hunger and thirst for Him. The more we thirst and hunger, the more our lives will be transformed to look like Jesus. The next Beatitude says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” This describes the attitude of a person who desires to know Jesus better and obey him. Then more we are like Jesus, then the more compassionate we become. “Blessed are those who show mercy, for they will be shown mercy”. This Beatitude describes the attitude of a person who gives mercy to those who do not deserve it.
Memory Verse
Matthew 22:37- 40 (NIrV)
Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind.’ This is the first and most important commandment. And the second is like it. ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ Everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets is based on these two commandments.”
Songs
Living 4 Jesus – Quizworx – YouTube
Leaders PDF
This has been put together using purchased external material and therefore this resource may only be used by Dundonald Church. For more information please contact kids@dundonald.org
More about the author :
