“Blessed Are Ye”
During the scripture reading last week, one of the things we read about was the first miracle of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He changed water into wine for the wedding,
We know this is only the beginning of the miracles Christ would perform here on the earth. I want us to listen to a song about many of the miracles Jesus performed while on earth: The Miracle – Shawna Edwards (3:25 min)
We learned as the Savior began teaching – Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well. We saw that Jesus meets you where you are – behind the scenes, in the darkest of nights or in the ordinary tasks of your day.
He doesn’t leave people in the places they were. He saw ordinary water and turned it into wine. He offered Nicodemus a new way of life – to be born again. He offered the woman at the well more than just a drink of water – instead a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
He meets you where you are as you are. He will lift you to where He is and as He is. Everything He did is to help us return to Him and our Father in Heaven.
This week and next we will start talking about the Sermon of the Mount. President Joseph Fielding Smith said that the Sermon on the Mount is “the greatest [sermon] that was ever preached, so far as we know” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith [2013], 234).
Why do you think this is true? What are your feelings about the Sermon of the Mount?
This lesson concentrates on the beatitudes. President Harold B Lee said that these teachings , the Beatitudes, “embody in fact the constitution for a perfect life.”
The Beatitudes help us better understand the blessings God has in store for us and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. If you want to be happy – go and do.
Everybody wants to be happy, but not everyone looks for happiness in the same places. Some search for it in worldly power and position, others in wealth or in satisfying physical appetites. Jesus Christ came to teach the way to lasting happiness, to teach what it truly means to be blessed. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior invited His disciples to rethink what it means to live a blessed life—a life of lasting happiness.
In these verses, Jesus identified attributes that He and His Father possess that lead to true happiness in this life and in the life to come. Developing these attributes will help you become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Lasting happiness comes from living the way Jesus Christ taught. Matthew 5:1–12
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf in Nov 2005 told us, “Christlike attributes are gifts from God. They cannot be developed without His help. The one help we all need is given to us freely through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Having faith in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love. Christlike attributes come into our lives as we exercise our agency righteously. Faith in Jesus Christ leads to action. When we have faith in Christ, we trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments—even when we do not completely understand the reasons for them. In seeking to become more like the Savior, we need to reevaluate our lives regularly and rely, through the path of true repentance, upon the merits of Jesus Christ and the blessings of His Atonement.” ( “Christlike Attributes—the Wind beneath Our Wings,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 102–3)
When you look at this list, do you associate these words with happiness? What brings the happiness then?
The Savior taught how to live happily and become like our Father in Heaven. He revealed a higher law of love and taught the Beatitudes… spiritual characteristics we can aspire to today.
Do you have a favorite beatitude or one that has significant meaning to you?
Becky Craven, 2nd counselor in the YW Presidency gave a conference talk in April 2019, “I once saw a sign in a store window that said, “Happiness, $15.00.” I was so curious to know how much happiness I could buy for $15 that I went inside to see. What I found was a lot of cheap trinkets and souvenirs—not one thing I saw could possibly bring me the type of happiness that the sign implied!
Over the years, I’ve thought many times about that sign and how easy it can be to look for happiness in items that are cheap or temporary. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to know how and where true happiness is found. It is found in carefully living the gospel established by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and in striving to become more like Him.”
Who do you know in your life that exemplifies the beatitudes?
Dallin H Oaks from the October 1991 Conference, “Do not seek happiness in the glittering but shallow things of the world. We cannot achieve lasting happiness by pursuing the wrong things…. There is no lasting happiness in what we possess. Happiness and joy come from what a person is, not from what he or she possesses or appear to be.”
Applying the principles taught in the beatitudes helps us to come unto Christ and to obtain greater happiness. These are characteristics that are worth our time improving on.
Ponder what you could change in order to be the type of person described in these verses.
The Savior’s disciples are to be the light of the world.
Read Matthew 5:14–16.
What does it mean to be “the light of the world”? (verse 14).
What does it mean to hide our light “under a bushel”(verse 15), and why might we be tempted to do this?
Read 3Nephi 18:24 Therefore, hold up your alight that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the blight which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.
* President Bonnie H. Cordon taught: “The Lord’s invitation to let our light so shine is not just about randomly waving a beam of light and making the world generally brighter. It is about focusing our light so others may see the way to Christ. It is gathering Israel on this side of the veil—helping others see the next step forward in making and keeping sacred covenants with God” (“That They May See,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2020, 79).
Who in your life has been a light to the world?
Are there people in your life who have been a light to you and helped to lead you toward Jesus Christ. How can we emulate these people?
Elder Robert D Hales: “We have spoken of the Light of Christ and of the importance of having the Holy Ghost to guide us as we make righteous decisions. We should be like the Savior as he admonished us to "Come, follow me" (Luke 18:22). Wouldn't it be pleasing to Jesus if we could let our light so shine that those who followed us would be following the Savior? There are those searching for the light who will gladly pass through the gate of baptism onto the straight and narrow way that leads to eternal life. Will you be that light that will lead them to a safe harbor?
The headlines in a newspaper article a few years ago seemed to jump off the page: "Lost in Fog, 757 Plunges into Pacific." With 70 people on board, Aeroperu Flight 603 from Lima, Peru, to Santiago, Chile, had fallen from the dark and foggy sky into the icy Pacific waters off the coast of Peru. What happened? Moments before the crash the pilot of the aircraft was asking the same question: "What's happening? What altitude am I at? Why is my ground crash alarm on? Am I over land or sea? . . . I don't have any instruments." (See Salt Lake Tribune, 3 October 1996, A1, A9.)
With a failed navigational system and thick fog preventing him from seeing any lights on the ground, I believe the pilot may have been experiencing vertigo. If an airplane turns at a constant two or three degrees, the motion is imperceptible. If a person inside cannot see lights from the instrument panel or from the sky or ground, before long he could be flying completely upside down and not even be aware of it. When a pilot realizes he is losing altitude, his automatic reaction is to pull the stick back. If he is not flying straight and level, however, his airplane can dive toward the earth rather than climb toward the safety of the sky.
If we are not careful, we can experience spiritual vertigo. If we stray off the course of obedience only two or three degrees--an almost imperceptible difference--we can become disoriented. Losing sight of our eternal destination and not even realizing how far off course we are, we will make poor choices. Our Savior does not want us to crash. His desire is for us to choose the route that will bring us back on the straight and narrow path to live with him eternally. "Come, follow me," he has told us. He provides the light that will keep us on course and bring us back into his presence.
The pilot of Aeroperu Flight 603 asked for a guide plane--a light, if you will--to show him the way to the airport.
Before dawn, officials [in Peru] lined up ambulances, firetrucks, gasoline-powered generators and reflectors on the dark beach so that possible survivors would have bright lights to swim toward. [Salt Lake Tribune, 3 October 1996, A9]
A beautiful hymn, "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy," gently reminds us of the importance of being a light for others to follow:
Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From his lighthouse evermore,
But to us he gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning;
Send a gleam across the wave.
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save.
[Hymns, 1985, no. 335]
Have you ever stopped to think that perhaps you are the light sent by Heavenly Father to lead another safely home or to be a beacon from a distance to show the way back to the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life? Your light is a beacon and should never stop burning or mislead those who are looking for a way home. Let the lower lights keep burning--you may save a struggling seaman in the turbulent sea of life.
It isn't just nice to be a light for others; it is essential for their exaltation as well as for our own. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
(Nov 3 1996)
President Thomas S Monson taught: My brothers and sisters, our opportunities to shine surround us each day, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. As we follow the example of the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to be a light in the lives of others, whether they be our own family members and friends, our co-workers, mere acquaintances, or total strangers.
To each of you, I say that you are a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father. You have come from His presence to live on this earth for a season, to reflect the Savior’s love and teachings, and to bravely let your light shine for all to see. When that season on earth has ended, if you have done your part, yours will be the glorious blessing of returning to live with Him forever.
How reassuring are the Savior’s words: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He is our Exemplar and our strength. He is “the light which shineth in darkness.” (Nov 2015 Be an Example and a Light)
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Keep doing the things that will nurture His divine light. “Hold up your light” and “let [it] shine before men”—not so that they will see and admire you, but “that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Every time you turn your hearts to God in humble prayer, you experience His light. Every time you seek His word and will in the scriptures, the light grows in brightness. Every time you notice someone in need and sacrifice your own comfort to reach out in love, the light expands and swells. Every time you reject temptation and choose purity, every time you seek or extend forgiveness, every time you courageously testify of truth, the light chases away darkness and attracts others who are also seeking light and truth. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Bearers of Heavenly Light,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 80)
Jesus Christ taught a higher law that can lead us toward perfection. Matthew 5:17–48
Matthew 5:48 aBe ye therefore bperfect, even as your cFather which is in heaven is dperfect.
How does it make you feel when you think about being perfect?
Elder Gerrit W. Gong in a talk given in July of 2014 taught: The word perfection, is sometimes misunderstood to mean never making a mistake. Perhaps you or someone you know is trying hard to be perfect in this way. Because such perfection always seems out of reach, even our best efforts can leave us anxious, discouraged, or exhausted. We unsuccessfully control our circumstances and the people around us. We fret over weaknesses and mistakes. In fact, the harder we try, the further we may feel from the perfection we seek.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior commands us: “Be ye therefore perfect.” The Greek word for perfect can be translated as “complete, finished, fully developed” (in Matthew 5:48, footnote b). Our Savior asks us to become complete, finished, fully developed—to be perfected in the virtues and attributes He and our Father in Heaven exemplify. ( Becoming Perfect in Christ)
President Russell M. Nelson tells us “If I were to ask which of the Lord’s commandments is most difficult to keep, many of us might cite Matt. 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Keeping this commandment can be a concern because each of us is far from perfect, both spiritually and temporally.
We all need to remember: men are that they might have joy—not guilt trips! We also need to remember that the Lord gives no commandments that are impossible to obey. But sometimes we fail to comprehend them fully.
The moment he uttered the words “even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” he raised our sights beyond the bounds of mortality. Our Heavenly Father has eternal perfection. This very fact merits a much broader perspective.
In Matt. 5:48, the term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means “complete.” Teleios is an adjective derived from the noun telos, which means “end.” The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means “to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.” Please note that the word does not imply “freedom from error”; it implies “achieving a distant objective.” In fact, when writers of the Greek New Testament wished to describe perfection of behavior—precision or excellence of human effort—they did not employ a form of teleios; instead, they chose different words.
The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation as expressed by the Lord in his great intercessory prayer to his Father—that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with them in the eternities ahead.”
(President Russell M. Nelson, October 1995 General Conference)
I love the part that says that perfection does not imply “freedom from error”, it implies “achieving a distant objective.”
Does that definition give you hope?
How does Jesus Christ’s Atonement help us become “complete” or “finished”?
-Talk about the talk “Be ye Therefore Perfect – Eventually” by Elder Jeffery Holland if needed.
*President Joy D. Jones explained: “The Lord loves effort, and effort brings rewards. We keep practicing. We are always progressing as long as we are striving to follow the Lord. He doesn’t expect perfection today. We keep climbing our personal Mount Sinai. As in times past, our journey does indeed take effort, hard work, and study, but our commitment to progress brings eternal rewards. …
“Let us boldly declare our devotion to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, ‘with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save’ [2 Nephi 31:19]. Let us joyfully continue this journey toward our highest spiritual potential” (“An Especially Noble Calling,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2020, 16–17).
According to President Lorenzo Snow (1814–1901), the key to perfection in this life is to “be better today than you were yesterday. … Continue to be a little better day by day.”
Testimony: I am so thankful for my Savior’s love – that He is willing to give me chance after chance. As long as we are putting forth effort and becoming a little better each day – He is there for us.
I am thankful for all those who are lights for me – in my past as well as right now. They show me the right path which makes it easier for me to choose the right. Hopefully I am also being a light and helping others. Becoming a light and helping others is a way to thank Heavenly Father for His teachings, His patience, His love.
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