(15–20 minutes, moderate set-up)
Students will study Matthew 5:1–10 and consider the meaning of the Beatitudes.
(15–20 minutes, moderate set-up)
Provide a copy of the Student Worksheet and a pencil for each student. Provide markers of several different colors. Using tape, hang several sheets of poster board on the walls. Enlist nine students to read Matthew 5:1–10, one to read verses 1–2 and one each to read verses 3–10. Provide a dry erase board and markers.
Distribute the Student Worksheets and pencils. Instruct them to immediately complete the list under the Youth Culture heading. When they have finished, instruct them to transfer some of their thoughts from their lists onto the poster boards on the wall. Encourage students to be creative and to draw some of the things they have listed instead of just writing the list. Allow about six or seven minutes for students complete their work before calling on them to explain the lists they have displayed in pictures.
Call on the nine previously enlisted volunteers to read Matthew 5:1–10 from different locations around the room. Share that this list of Beatitudes is how Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount. Explain that the Sermon on the Mount is often referred to as the Kingdom Teachings because, in it, Jesus introduced some ideas that ran countercultural to the disciples’ understanding of God’s Kingdom.
Ask: How might some of the things on our list go against God’s Culture? Ask the nine volunteers to read Matthew 5:1–10 again. Stop after each verse, and allow students to answer. Write their responses on the poster boards. Then, write these headings on the board: Attitudes and Actions. Lead students to identify which Beatitudes are attitudes and which are actions. Record their answers under the appropriate heading. (Note: Some might qualify as both.) Use information from the Biblical Commentary to share the meaning of some or all the Beatitudes. Emphasize that the Beatitudes reveal God’s concern for people.
Explain that Jesus specifically began His Kingdom teachings with this list of Beatitudes. Say: The Beatitudes were so countercultural that Jesus probably had His disciples’ immediate attention. If you want to live a consecrated life, you’ve got to start here. It may be different from anything you’ve ever heard before, but it requires a lifetime commitment.