read: Luke 6:20-26
1. What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
2. The word “Blessed” translates in Greek to "Makarios", which means “truly happy or flourishing,” far beyond the shallow concept of happiness we often use in our everyday language. In this passage, Jesus lays out the way of life for a disciple who lives a truly happy, flourishing, blessed life.
a. What is your honest reaction after reading this passage?
b. What questions does it raise?
3. The Blessed Life. Every culture and every person has a picture of the good life in their mind and heart. On Jesus’ list of a good life – happy are the poor, hungry, weeping, the hated and the rejected. Why? There is something about being in a state of need, longing, grieving, and rejection that opens us up, makes us receptive, to the true, deep happiness that is found in the kingdom of God.
a. What is on your list of things that characterize “the good life”? (ex. career, family, money, health, etc.)
b. How can seasons of need, grief, or social rejection be opportunities to experience the deeper happiness Jesus promises? Have you experienced this? How can we cultivate a heart that is receptive to the true happiness that is found in the kingdom of God?
4. The Woeful Life. "Woe" in this context is not a curse, but an expression of deep pity and sorrow for those experiencing profound misery. Everyone has a “woe” list – a list of things we wish we’d never have to experience – but on Jesus’ woe list are people who are rich, full, laughing and well-liked by everyone. Again, in his upside-down kingdom, there is something about being in a state of wealth, comfort, complacent laughter that closes us off, makes us more likely to resist the true and deep happiness that is found in the kingdom of God.
a. What is on your “woe” list? What are things that you wish you’d never have to experience?
b. Do you sense that your desire for comfort, wealth, or social status is hindering your openness to the deeper happiness and transformation that is only found in the Kingdom of God?
c. In what ways can we challenge ourselves to embrace the “upside down way of Jesus”, especially when we are tempted to hold on to the comfort and security that this world offers? For parents: how should this impact our parenting? What we model for our kids?
5. How to get the blessed life. We all have a picture of the "blessed life" based on who or what we trust—whether it's ourselves, culture, or social media—but Jesus offers a radically different view of happiness and flourishing. Jesus not only lived the upside-down life of blessing, experiencing poverty, hunger, weeping, and rejection, but He did so for a specific purpose: to give us true happiness and flourishing! He became poor, hungry, rejected, and sorrowful (lived the upside down blessed life) so that ultimately we can be invited to the kingdom of God and be turned right side up.
a. How can we trust Jesus more deeply and align our lives with the values of His Kingdom, even when it feels so difficult and countercultural? b. Practically, on a daily basis, what would the life of a disciple of Jesus look like? In what specific areas of your life do you feel challenged to be more radically generous, to let go of comforts, and live out the blessed, truly happy life as Jesus’ disciple?
c. How might the Lord be calling you to bring the “blessed life” to the world, especially to those who are poor, hungry, grieving, or rejected?