The Beatitudes

A couple of weeks ago, my folks took my wife and me to brunch after our Sunday Morning Worship Service. While drinking coffee after placing our orders, my mom asked, "What are you going to teach in Sunday School next quarter?"

"I'm thinking the Beatitudes," I said. "I sense the Spirit leading me to teach something that will complement the messages Pastor Tim's been preaching, and I think this might be it. But I want to ask Tim before I decide and get his input.

When I saw Tim on Monday morning, I started, "I'd like to get some advice from you about Sunday School." And I was ready to explain what I was thinking and why and how things might work together.

But before I got a chance, Tim interrupted. "I think you should teach on the Beatitudes," he said.

My intitial reactions was, "Did we already talk about this?" We hadn't. Then I wondered, "Did Dad or Mom or Debbie say anything to him?" They hadn't. So where did Tim come up with the Beatitudes?

Apparently from the same source I got it. And I took that as confirmation.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, calls the Beatitudes "the essential, utter difference between the Christian and the non-Christian." And that's how we'll approach them.

What does it mean to say that these short, straightforward statements of Christ are "essential"? It means that they define the very essense of Christian character. They aren't just a side-effect of being a Christian, a spiritual tendency among those who claim Christ. Nor are they merely a possiblity, something that we might manage to grow into as we mature in the Faith. No, the Beatitudes define the true believer at his core from the moment he is born again. They are essential.

What does it mean to say the Beatitudes are the "utter difference"? It means that they define the complete and total disparity between those who belong to Christ and those who belong to the world. There is no overlap. Once you understand what Christ meant by these statements, you cannot say, "The non-Christian may be somewhat poor is spirit, but the Christian is more so." No, the natural man is fundamentally opposed to the character expressed in the Beatitudes, while the born-again man is defined by it. It is an utter difference.

We'll look at each of the Beatitudes in detail. We'll strive to understand the character that Jesus Himself ascribed to true disciples. And we'll examine ourselves in light of God's revelation to determine if we are truly blessed as those defined by Christ's words.

The new Sunday School quarter begins on March 30, and Philip's class will meet at 9:00am in room one of the Education Building (the building immediately north of the main building).