We are happy to share this small group Bible study by Ryan Bush via G3min.org “The beatitudes hinge upon the theological concepts of justification, sanctification, and perseverance. Only those who have been justified can be in a state of blessedness. Those who are justified are sanctified, which is why they are humble, repentant, meek, righteous, merciful, and pure. Finally, the follower of Christ looks to a secure future hope because they will endure because God the Father will not lose any of his own.

Missions Application

The most loving, kind, and compassionate actions that a Christian can show toward someone is both praying that God would open their hearts to the gospel and, then, opening their mouth in their hearing and humbly explaining the gospel message to them. A person cannot be truly blessed unless they are in Christ. Neither can they look toward a secure future hope apart from the saving work of Christ wrought in their hearts.

Session Summary

The beatitudes introduce Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the longest continual teaching of Christ recorded in the gospels. The beatitudes are short statements that summarize the essence of the sermon. The essence is this: those who are in Christ are characterized by a state of blessedness in this fallen world, a life that is humbly submitted to God’s word, and a confident hope of eternal life with God.

One pitfall that we must be careful not to tumble into while reading the Sermon on the Mount is to see Jesus’s words from a gospel of works framework. We naturally tend to understand the world in terms of merit, self-reliance, and achievement. The gospel of works says that if I will discipline myself and do what I ought to do then all will go well with me, God will approve of me, and I will go to heaven one day. But, that point-of-view is dead wrong. It’s a false gospel. It’s isn’t the gospel of Jesus (though it very much is the message of every other religious system in the world).

In the beatitudes (and the Sermon on the Mount) Jesus directly addressed his disciples. He described what a life devoted to him looks like (humble, meek, peaceable, pure, etc). Notice what he was not saying. He did not say that people should make themselves to be more humble, meek, pure, etc. Nor did he say that those things qualify them for eternal life. Rather, Jesus simply said that those who exhibit those qualities (Christians) will receive eternal life. Not as a result of exhibiting those qualities, but because of their position in Christ. It isn’t a cause and effect relationship, but simply a correlation. This is an incredibly important distinction. If we don’t get this, then we will badly misunderstand and misapply what Jesus says in the beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount as a whole.

Think of it this way. In the beatitudes, Jesus addressed born-again believers (they will have those qualities) to assure them of and comfort them with their future hope of eternal life with God.”

-Ryan Bush

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