Contagious Characteristics: BeatitudesSample

Welcome to another study of Contagious Characteristics. For the next 8 days, we will walk through one of Jesus' most known sermons - the sermon on the mount. The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings of Jesus, found in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, which emphasizes his moral teachings.

It is the longest teaching of Jesus in the New Testament. It includes the Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and many other lessons taught by Jesus. This sermon takes place early in Jesus' ministry on earth, and the crowds are impressed by Him. So much so that we see in Matthew 5:1-2, the crowds followed Jesus and His disciples to the mountain to hear Him teach. It's like they were eavesdropping on a conversation that Jesus was having with His closest friends.

Have you ever heard of the BEATITUDES? Many of you may be thinking, "What is a beatitude? What does that mean?" The word BEATITUDE means blessed, often translated by many people as happy. However, let's distinguish the two; this happiness is not an emotional feeling that comes and goes. This happiness is an inner strength that comes from the knowledge and confidence that God is with you and in control, whether you are smiling or crying, happy or sad, or even when people hurt you and let you down. It's the ability to have and experience JOY in any and every situation you may be in. In this text, Jesus offers us a view of what it truly means to be happy or blessed and the path to get there. This view is entirely different from what most of us expect. Jesus says that happiness comes in ways that we least expect: through suffering, grief, loss, persecution, and poverty.

When we study the beatitudes, we see God is turning everything we've ever believed about happiness upside down. Happiness doesn’t rely on what’s going around us. Instead, it’s finding a calm and content feeling in God, no matter what’s happening. As already mentioned, we will study the beatitudes over the next several days. These attitudes that we will learn about are the attitudes of people who follow Jesus.

To do: When reading the Beatitudes, write down your initial thoughts, questions, and concerns. Hold on to them to compare them to the things you will learn. Enjoy the study!