Breaking down the Beatitudes Lesson Three Matthew 5:7-10

Explaining the Beatitudes:

Jesus is the train and we (Christians) are the caboose and everything in the middle is the beatitudes.

Background:

The start of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the first detailed message Christ spoke to His disciples.

Explanation of the diagram:

The beatitudes are broken down into three different sets.

· The foundation- the bottom level… the start of growing in your faith

· The Factor- everything hinges on one beatitude that determines if you get to the last level

· The fruits- if you trust the Lord in the previous stage, you will see fruit in your Christian life.

The last four: The fruit level

1. Blessed are… Merciful

2. Blessed are… Pure in heart

3. Blessed are… Peacemakers

4. Blessed are… Persecuted

I. The conviction of the fruit stage- “blessed”

1. Jesus Christ is reminding us that we are not just tolerated, but we are celebrated.

2. Jesus is saying that our conviction should be one that reminds us that we are blessed

The beatitudes are not what we have, but who we are in Christ-

2 Corinthians 5:17…

II. The condition of the fruit stage

1. The foundation level/stage and the factor level/stage all deal with inner principles, now at the fruit level, we see outer proponents of the inner priciples.

a. In other words, we see what we are truly made of because of what kind of fruit

2. The condition of mercy v’s 7…

a. The term merciful means to be merciful because it is second nature… it doesn’t

mean to engage in mercy because it is the right thing to do, but to do it because it is

our natural tendancy.

3. The condition of pure in heart- v’s 8…

a. The condition of the heart is pure… that there isn’t any hidden motives in why we

do what we do.

b. Think about where the heart is located… it is in the center. Christ is illustrating

here that at the very center of us we should be clean and at the center of our

functioning should be pure.

4. The condition of the peacemakers- v’s 9…

a. Christ makes it clear that He doesn’t say peacekeepers, but says peacemakers…

i. If people would strive to be peacemakers, then there would be no reason for

people to be peacekeepers.

5. The condition of the persecuted- v’s 10…

a. We are to rise above the surface is what it means

i. Christ is illustrating to His disciples that we are to rise above the surface of

problems and to focus on the big picture.

III. The conclusion of the fruit stage

1. The conclusion is simple… when we do certain things to glorify God and we have no hidden agenda, then we are blessed more in return.

2. The conclusion to the merciful- v’s 7…

a. Show mercy to obtain mercy

3. The conclusion to pure in heart- v’s 8…

a. Only with a pure heart can we truly see God

4. The conclusion peacemakers- v’s 9…

a. We are God-like when we bring peace to a situation

5. The conclusion to persecuted- v’s 10…

a. Our destination is the kingdom of heaven

We are to rise above to see that better days are coming instead of the present persecution we are facing.