- The Beatitudes Part I (Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-26)
Join us for Part I of this two-part series on the Beatitudes. The word “beatitude” means “blessing.” Jesus offers many blessings to His followers. Dive into The Beatitudes and learn about God’s Kingdom and the blessings that come with it as we study Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-26.
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Welcome to Walking in the Word, the biblical teaching arm of the Women World Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Julie Jenkins, and I’m so glad you are here.
I want to encourage you to join us each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for our trio of podcasts. On Mondays Kimberly Hobbs the founder and executive director of Women World Leaders hosts Empowering Lives with Purpose, a 30-minute podcast where she interviews a different woman of faith each week, showcasing how God has worked in her life. Kimberly is a master connector with the gift of encouragement. And you will be blessed when you tune in and listen to her Monday podcast as she encourages you to walk in your God given purpose.
Then on Fridays, we have a team of leaders who host Celebrating God’s Grace — a short, power-filled podcast that will launch you into the weekend with joy and excitement about all that God is doing in our world today.
And here on Wednesdays, we have the privilege of walking through the Word of God together. We are currently walking through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as we learn from the life of Jesus, I pray that the series is blessing you and that you are finding many treasures along the way to get you through the day.
You know, I heard a story somewhere that has stuck with me for many years, a young seminarian learned about how little a listener of sermons actually retains, which led him to question his calling. He went to his mentor and asked, Well, why would I spend this much time and put in this much effort to learn to teach the Word of God if people aren’t going to be able to recall most of what I say? The mentor replied, people have to eat every day, despite what they ate the day before.
Our words are meant to illuminate the Word of God on a daily basis, because people need to nourish their spirits every day. If you can nourish someone for a single day, for a single minute, even then all your work will be worth it. Amen?
My prayer for you is that God would speak to you through this podcast today. I don’t care if you remember my name or even the name Women World Leaders. If my words encourage you to think about God for even a single moment, to ponder his words, then my work is worth it. Let’s pray before we begin.
Dear Heavenly Father, it is your name we seek to glorify today it is your glory that we want to see. It is your word and instruction that matter. God, I ask that you teach us today reach into the spirit of each listener and let her feel your presence and know your thoughts. Allow her to let go and let you guide her on the path that you have prepared for her for today, tomorrow, and always, no matter what may come her way. We give you this time and we thank you in advance for the teaching that you are about to give us. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Well, today on our journey, we will be looking at Matthew chapter five verses one through 12 and Luke chapter six, verses 20 through 26. From the New Living Translation, as we begin our walk through the Sermon on the Mount. This is actually just part one of our teaching on the Beatitudes. So you will have to come back next week to hear part two. Listen as I read the Beatitudes as written in Matthew.
One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down. His disciples gathered around Him and He began to teach them. God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him. For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. If God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right. For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you, because you are my followers. Be happy about it. Be very glad for a great reward awaits you in Heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets are persecuted in the same way.
Well, we know this teaching as the Beatitudes, which means blessing in Latin. You may be familiar with other translations, where each phrase begins, blessed is the one or happy is the one. The original Greek word that starts each phrase is Makarios and carries with it the connotation of divine joy, and perfect happiness and inner satisfaction or sufficiency. That doesn’t depend on outward circumstances. This word was reserved for the gods, not for humans, and certainly not for humans who are currently living. But Jesus offers this blessedness the secure happiness to his listeners to the living, even mentioning the worldly circumstances that they were currently enduring, drawing them in to the realization that they could be blessed Now, despite their circumstances. Now, Jesus had already announced that the kingdom of heaven was near as recorded in Matthew 417. So it’s likely that he was hearing questions along the way, like, what is the kingdom of heaven? And how do we get there? So he begins his teaching with God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him. For the kingdom of heaven is there’s this verse, often translated as blessed are the poor in spirit means blessing are those with humility.
Humility is a necessary requirement to get into heaven. We need humility, meaning that we must recognize our own sinfulness and our own need for God, it’s God’s kingdom, we seek to enter. So to enter his kingdom, we must put him first and become subservient to him. It makes sense. You don’t walk into someone’s house without their invitation. And in order to receive the invitation, we must put God the owner of the kingdom, first in our lives. These blessings then go on to describe what it means to be a follower of Jesus, what we can expect from this world and what we can expect from our God. It showcases a character traits that true children of God will exhibit in a world that throws curveballs at us, trying to confuse us and pull us off the path that God intends. One of those curveballs was that the people had been taught for years, that righteousness was following the letter of the law, even man made laws, as the Pharisees taught and enforced. Jesus is teaching that there is a better way, and that there are better rewards that haven’t even been told about yet.
As he teaches Jesus falls into a rhythm. Our God is very organized. He first gives the requirement then teaches about the reward. The rewards themselves are telling before you enter a contest, it’s human nature to ask, what is my reward? What is the payoff? Is it worth it? Jesus says, Here are the rewards. And to sum to those who are looking at the rewards through a worldly lens. The rewards may not look so great. But when you look at the rewards through Kingdom eyes, they are better than any rewards we could dream up. My husband and I are in a walking competition right now through his work. We are on teams of five people each made up of employees and their spouses. And we are walking from Nashville, Tennessee to Portland, Oregon. Well, not really. I I live in Florida. And no matter how many miles I walk, I’m still in Florida. But theoretically, Portland is our destination. When we walk 1900 miles, we will have made it to Portland. This is a three month challenge, and I’ll let you in on a little secret. I am a crazy competitor. The best way to get me to do something is to challenge me. So I am walking and walking and walking. What’s the payoff you might ask? Well, the reward for the team who gets to Portland first is two extra days off work for a company that I don’t work for. You’d think I wouldn’t want to walk through the blisters. But for me, there is a greater payoff, my health. Ultimately, the price I am working toward is not the price that is being offered by those who are running the competition. But it’s better. The blessings that Jesus offered may seem a bit strange, but they are the best prizes. If we look at them with Kingdom eyes, verse four, God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. This must have caught the crowds attention right off the bat, who doesn’t mourn on Earth. This earth is not our home, the kingdom of the kingdom of God is our home. In this world, we will have trouble but God has overcome this world. The kingdom of heaven is an already and not yet phenomenon, something that is very difficult to understand. Once you have confessed your sin and given Jesus reign over your life as Lord, you become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and receive all the rights and privileges do a citizen. And yet you still live and breathe and walk on this earth. And on this earth, you will mourn. You will mourn the death of a loved one, the loss of health, the loss of a job, even a dream. But as a citizen of heaven, you will be blessed as you receive God’s comfort. And when you look at that reward through Kingdom eyes, nothing could be better than the comfort of God. Verse five, God blesses those who are humble for thy will inherit the whole earth. The word humble can be translated as meek or gentle. God blesses those who do not assert themselves at the expense of others. This is one of those upside down teachings of Jesus, you would think that those who scrape and tackle their way to the top would ultimately claim their ground. But Jesus teaches the opposite. It is by gentleness guided only by the Holy Spirit, that the children of God become the victors. That Gentle, gentle will inherit the earth. Verse six, God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. The words hunger and thirst indicate a need, we all need to eat and drink. And we will work tirelessly to make sure that we and our loved ones have enough to eat and drink. Jesus is saying when the need for justice is so great within you that you are willing to work for justice, as you work for food and water, you will be satisfied justice will prevail.
Only God can bring justice. So what is our role when we see an injustice? The answer to that question is highly personal, and one that is too vague to answer in a short podcast. But what Jesus does teach us in this passage is that he does not want us to sit back in our easy chair and watch injustice happen around us. If you are being faced with an injustice, or if you are aware of an injustice, I beg you to go to God on your knees and ask him what he would have you do. In your quest, read the Word of God and go to a trusted Christian source. God may be calling you to stand up against that and injustice in a practical way. Or he may be calling you to stand in prayer against that injustice. Or perhaps he will give you his wisdom on how he wants you personally, to offer relief to the persecuted. When you seek God’s answer as you would seek water on a hot day you He will give you the answer. And when you answer his call obediently, you will be satisfied. We are so quickly running out of time. So we will continue with this teaching on the Beatitudes. And next week in the meantime, you have some homework to do. Have you received your invitation to the kingdom of heaven? If you have Have you answered, in order to receive the kingdom of heaven or to be admitted into the kingdom of heaven, we must be poor in spirit wrapped in humility. We must put God first. And we must put ourselves last. Will you ask God to show you how are you in mourning? If you are Will you allow God to comfort you? And if you are not in a season of mourning? Will you take a moment to look around at who in your circle may be morning and offer them the comfort of God? Say a prayer on their behalf or text a Bible verse to your neighbor in the kingdom? Is someone or something coming against you tempting you to rear up and defend yourself at the expense of another? Will you pray to the Holy Spirit and ask him to empower you to be gentle in your dealings? trusting Jesus that by being gentle, you will inherit the earth? And will you pray for God to open your eyes to the injustice is going on around you? There are plenty. Ask God to personally grant you wisdom for the path that he would have you take to stand against that injustice. If you are a child of God, the kingdom of heaven is yours. Will you take ownership? To Heavenly father I pray for every listener that she will enter into your kingdom and will take ownership in the very personal way that you have commanded her. Give her a moment today to sit quietly and listen to your voice. Give her courage and wisdom to step out where you call her. Give her a humble heart and a gentle spirit to do Your will. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to women world leaders podcast. Join us each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As we explore together God’s extravagant love and your courageous purpose. Visit our website at WWW dot women world leaders.com To submit a prayer request, register for an upcoming event and support the ministry from his heart to yours. We are women world leaders. All content is copyrighted by women world leaders and cannot be used without express written consent.