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Title: The Good Life

Text: Matthew 5:1-12; et al

I. IntroductionA. Seek ingtheGoodLife

Blessedness, beatitude, is what all of us are seeking all the time in andby

everything we seek. Blessedness is always our end, whether our means is

pleasure or power or riches or virtue or wisdom, or honor or anything else.

Blessedness is the summum bonum, the greatest good. Everyone seeks it, but

not everyone finds it, because not everyone knows where it is. Saint Augustine

says, Seek what you seek, but it is not where you seek it.1

As Anthony Campolo states, Each of us comes into the world with a

predisposition to live in such a way as to inflict pain on those who love us most,

and to offend the God who cares for us infinitely.2

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,

fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and

evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within

and defile a man. (Mark 7:21-22)

God is all about blessing.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity and in whose

spirit is not deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodlyNor stands in the path of sinners

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful

But his delight is in the law of the LORD

And in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

B. The Seven Deadly SinsII. Seeking the Good Life

A. InvitationsJeff Cook tells writes about the birth of his oldest son:When our oldest son was born, a good friend of ours got him a short-sleeved

black Onesie with red trim. It has a picture of Darth Vaders mask on the front,

and underneath it in bold red letters, it reads, Whos Your Daddy? It makes

me laugh, but of course it refers to a sinister event. This is the temptation of

Luke Skywalker to turn his heart and mind over to the dark side.3

Virtue and Vice

Blessing and Cursing

Life and Death

Text: Matthew 5:1-12; et al

1

Kreet, Peter. Back to Virtue. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992) 86-87.2 As quoted in The Workbook on the 7 Deadly Sins, 18.3

Cook, Jeff. Seven: the Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008) 28.

B. The Good Life

1. Where does it begin?NO to power

NO to self-aggrandizement

NO to Materialism

YES to Word of God

YES to the Will of GOD

YES to the Worship and Service of GodThen the initial call to us: REPENT

Then-FOLLOW ME!

2. Where does it lead?

The path of the deadly sins takes in one direction. The path of theBeatitudes takes us in HIS steps.

Pride is self-assertion, selfishness; poverty of spirit ishumility, selflessness.

Envy resents anothers happiness; mourning sharesanothers unhappiness.

Wrath wills harm and destruction; meekness refuses harmand peacemaking prevents destruction

Sloth refuses to exert the will toward the good, toward theideal; hunger and thirst for righteousness does just that

Avarice is greed, the centripetal force to grab and keep theworlds goods for oneself; mercy is the centrifugal force to

give, to share the worlds goods with others, even the

undeserving.

Lust dissipates and divides the soul, desiring everyattractive body; purity of heart centers and unifies the soul,desiring God alone

Gluttony needs to consume an inordinate amount of thisworlds goods; being persecuted is being deprived of even

ordinate necessities4

III. Conclusion

The Beatitudes offer me- and offer you- that reality. They are the antidote to the

poisons we readily consume. If only we could see where they speak to theinfected places inside of us, allow them to push back the void, and watch asthey re-grow our humanity. If only Jesus words would speak directly to the

deadly sins in your life and mine, perhaps we would know what happiness is.Perhaps we could truly say, This is what I was made for. This is who I was

meant to be5In other words I will have found the good life.

For Follow-Up and Follow Through

What particularsin among the deadly sins is your besetting sin?

How does the corresponding beatitude relate to your experience with this sin or sins?

How must your thinking change if you are going to truly repent?

Why not confess your besetting sin to someone and ask them to pray for you this week?

4Kreeft, 92-93.5Cook, 29-30