Joplin Community of Christ

Blessed Are You

Today’s Prayer for Peace – Sweden

Direct link to download today’s audio message http://jcoc.no-ip.org/media/JoplinCOC-01-30-2011.mp3

http://jcoc.no-ip.org/media/JoplinCOC-01-30-2011.mp3

Announcements
Wednesday, Feb. 2
Mid-Week Renewal of the Spirit – 6:00 PM

Sunday, Feb. 6
Theme: Let Your Light Shine
Presider:
Speaker:
Musician: Margo Peterson
Morning Devotions: Emma Kingore
Deacon in Charge: Dave Peterson
Pre-Communion Worship – 9:00 AM

Birthdays & Anniversaries, – Jan. 30 – Feb. 5
1 Anna Wolfenbarger

Administration Teams, Jan. 30 – Feb. 12
Daytime: Ben and Pat Jones
Evenings: Don and Ann Thompson

Exploring the Scriptures

Occurring at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes are a part of a well-established literary genre in ancient Judaism and Christianity. The crowd heard conventional Jewish wisdom that right behavior resulted in rewards, and certain human actions would guarantee specific outcomes.

Matthew’s Beatitudes do adhere strictly to this traditional form. But their content reveals something new that has been added to the standard beatitude. They are prophetic declarations made on the conviction of the coming and already-present kingdom of God. The Beatitudes in Matthew were originally a wisdom form filled by early Christianity with prophetic kingdom content.

There is an ethical dimension to the Beatitudes. The community that hears itself pronounced blessed does not remain passive. The community acts in accord with a coming kingdom. The language is performative, conferring its blessing in the saying of it. The Beatitudes do not merely describe something that already is. They bring into being the reality they declare. They are not entrance requirements for outsiders. They are declarations about insiders.

Understood as prophetic pronouncement, the claim of the Beatitude is not independently true, but dependent on the speaker. They are true on the basis of the authority of the one who speaks. The Beatitudes are talking about authentic disciples in the Christian community.

All the Beatitudes apply to one group of people—the members of Matthew’s community. They do not describe nine different kinds of good people. They are nine declarations about the blessedness of the community living in anticipation of God’s reign. The Beatitudes are oriented to life together in the community of discipleship, not to individualistic ethics!

We notice that these Beatitudes completely reverse the values of most modern societies. Among every authentic congregation in Community of Christ can be found persons of meekness, ministers of mercy, and workers for peace. Among the congregations of Community of Christ the presence and activity of the qualities stated in the Beatitudes is a sign of God’s blessing and a call to all of us to conform our common life to the teachings of Jesus.

Christianity is not a plan for weight loss, stress reduction, advancement in a career, or elimination of illness. Christian faith is a way of living based on the firm and sure hope that redemption is of God, righteousness and peace will finally prevail, and God’s future will bring justice to the whole of the created order.

Central Ideas

1. The Beatitudes reflect the reality of the kingdom rather than entrance requirements to it.
2. The attitudes and behaviors listed in the Beatitudes present a blueprint for kingdom builders.
3. The Beatitudes represent an alternative to the world’s value system.
4. The community acts in accord with the coming kingdom.

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