Crazy Talk #1

What Does it Mean to be Blessed?
~ Matthew 5:1-12

Key Questions:
- What does it mean to be blessed?
- Who is blessed that you know?

We had a great discussion covering these questions before diving in. "Blessed people" we came up with ranged from athletes, to singers, to people we know in school...how would you answer?

Book:
Then we read the passage. What a surprise! As we said, Jesus says some surprising things. He says the poor are blessed, as are the losers, the meek, and the peacemakers. This sure isn't what comes to mind first, eh? This doesn't mean we're wrong, this is just a different perspective.

We really zeroed in on one passage in particular. After several says of "blessed are those", Jesus gets personal and says "blessed are YOU..." Here's what it says:

Matt. 5:11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Challenge:
Ya right, so I'm supposed to "be glad" when people make fun of me?! What is this all about?

We had a great discussion about why people (people who sometimes includes us if we're honest) make fun of other people. what we came to was this:

"We only make fun of other people because we are insecure...we steal someone else's security to give ourselves some"

Wow this was tough to realize - but we all agreed!

Apply:
So why rejoice? If someone is insulting us, we should really feel sorry for them! We have the opportunity to pray for them, that they would feel more secure. Not that this is easy...

Bottom Line:
We are blessed in unlikely circumstance...including when insulted