The Good Life
Found in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount is a series of sound bite teachings inviting us to rethink our assumptions about happiness and flourishing. It’s not a checklist of rules but a vision of the good life—a life shaped by God’s heart and his Kingdom values.
The Sermon on the Mount is not just a collection of wise sayings or moral teachings. It is Jesus’ declaration of what life in God’s Kingdom looks like here and now. Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, highlighting the heart attitudes that characterize Kingdom living.
The Beatitudes are not a list of characteristics followers of Jesus ought to measure up to, but the Beatitudes are stating the human condition which we already have and if we find ourselves in these states, then we are blessed. The Hebrew word here is “ashrey” meaning: blessed, what is said about someone who receives God’s blessing; prosperity, good fortune, happiness, flourishing.
Ashrey is Living The Good Life
Ashrey is typically when one person looks at another, observes how they live, and thinks, “Wow they have the “good life” and are happy”.
At the heart of the Beatitudes, Jesus is saying if we are oppressed and lowly of spirit, if we mourn, if we are humble, hungry and thirsty for what’s right and seek justice, mercy, are pure in heart by living for God’s own heart, practice peace making, and are made fun of or persecuted because we follow Jesus, then not only will we be elevated by Jesus but those who come to him will see God and have a place in his Kingdom.
God is the only One who is able to spiritually bring you up and make you flourish. That’s ashrey!
How We Are Blessed
We’re not blessed because we are in these Beatitude states. We are blessed because we choose to come to Jesus. When we come to Jesus, we receive him, and that is our blessing. When we come to Jesus, we experience unencumbered relationship with God and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus, we receive our identity from God as we are called his sons and daughters, his children who he loves, cares for, and leads, and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus we no longer need to strive for peace among the world’s conflict because he gives us real peace, and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus he takes us for who we are, messy, broken, lost, sinful humans, cleans us up and purifies us before God so we will be the ones who see his face, and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus we receive the mercy of his grace and are forgiven so we are able to forgive, and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus we are shown how to live in his Kingdom’s standard of valuing humans by honoring others with righteousness and justice, and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus with a bucket of life’s sorrows, we receive comfort by him and by his people (the church), and that is our blessing.
When we come to Jesus he gives us new life and teaches us how to live it, and that is our blessing.
The new life of living with him every day in his Kingdom, here and now, that is our blessing.
All he says to do is come to him.
The Good Life
There are three ways we come to him to experience his Kingdom life and they are engaging God’s Word every day, experiencing God’s Spirit in a life of prayer every day, and being together with God’s People every chance you get.
God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s People— those three— is how we live in God’s Kingdom here and now to experience his presence and his blessing of ashrey— the good life. True happiness isn’t found in what you do; it’s found in who you are when you surrender to Jesus.
Ashrey are those who surrender to Jesus.
The good life belongs to those who surrender to Jesus.
Pray
Father- thank you for sending Jesus to us to be in relationship with you. Help us surrender to you today, tomorrow, and each day by engaging your Word, your Spirit, and your people to receive your blessing and live the good life of ashrey. In Jesus' name, amen.
As you go, make disciples who follow Jesus!
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