The Beatitudes
READ Matthew 5:1-3
What
do the poor need?
More of that which sustains life and
enables blessings as they are lacking in enough.
What
does “poor in Spirit” mean?
It does not mean evil, necessarily.
It means that they lack
spirit/glory/intelligence.
They are darkened in their minds.
Or it means that they have a broken
spirit or in other words, a contrite spirit – they see themselves how they
truly are: nothing (see Moses 1:10; Mosiah 4:2; Helaman 12:7-8).
What
must the poor in Spirit do to inherit the Kingdom of God?
Come unto Christ.
Where salvation is “free”.
READ Matthew 5:4
How
will those that mourn be comforted?
Those mourning the death of a loved one
will see them alive again because of the resurrection.
Those who mourn because of affliction
will be comforted by Christ in their afflictions (see Alma 7:11-13).
And even those who mourn for sin will be
comforted if they repent.
Because of Christ’s atonement, our death,
afflictions and sins can all be overcome and we can be comforted and made
whole, leaving only the “taste” of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil (see Genesis 3:22); Christ allows us to become like God in this
way.
READ Matthew 5:5
Why
would the meek want to inherit this dark Earth?
Because the Earth abides by a Celestial
Law, so it will inherit a Celestial glory (see D&C 88:25).
Which means to inherit this earth is to
inherit a Celestial glory.
What
does it mean to be meek?
To manifest patience; endure injury
without resentment.
To act in deference to God; to ask the
Lord rather than pronounce judgment; to petition the people rather than decree
a curse.
To not ask anything contrary to God’s
will (see Helaman 10:4-11) – to not pursue one’s own agenda.
To serve God at all hazards (see TPJS
171:2).
READ Matthew 5:6
What
does it mean to “hunger and thirst” after righteousness?
This is about fasting and prayer.
You receive the Holy Ghost in proportion
to the hunger and thirst you demonstrate or feel or experience to receive it
(see Alma 17:2-3).
READ Matthew 5:7
What
is mercy?
To not get what’s coming to you (what you
deserve and have earned – that is bad).
Can
you obtain mercy from God without extending mercy to others?
No – there is a divine law set forth: in
His interactions with you, the Lord is bound to abide by the same standard you
set for others (Alma 41:14-15).
Who
is the ultimate beneficiary of the mercy we extend to others?
We are.
Laban is an example of this principle
played in reverse: he accused Laman of being a robber worthy of death but when
he himself stole all their treasure, the Lord executed the judgment he (Laban)
had proclaimed, and Nephi was commanded to kill him.
READ Matthew 5:8
Is
Christ talking about ritual purity through ordinances or actual purity?
Actual purity – those who are not pure
(in heart) cannot endure God’s presence in actual fact; they will be utterly
wasted in the presence of God’s glory.
What
must be pure and why?
The heart.
The heart speaks to our desires and
intents – our “willingness”.
A pure heart is one that is refined to be
like God’s, as it shares the same desires and resonates at the same energy
frequency.
READ Alma 34:36
Can
you purify your heart?
No – only Christ can do that (see Alma
13:11 and Ether 13:10).
But He will give us a new heart (see
Ezekiel 36:26) – a mighty change of heart (see Mosiah 5:2)
READ 3 Nephi 9:19-20 and D&C 56:18
What
must we do to have our hearts purified?
Offer the required sacrifice – a broken
heart & contrite spirit; you must give your heart (desires – what you love)
to Him.
Through receiving the gift of charity via
prayer – following Christ and being made a Son/Daughter of God yourself (see
Moroni 7:48); this prayer is not just about asking but surrendering to God and
becoming filled with His love and energy (virtue or glory or Spirit).
Through faith in Christ (see 3 Nephi
19:28).
Through being one with the Father and Son
(see 3 Nephi 19:29).
READ Matthew 5:9
How
does a peacemaker make peace?
They must endure abuse from the warring
parties.
They must be at peace themselves to make
peace.
That peace is internal (with God) as much
as it is external (with men).
They seek to share that inner peace by
preaching repentance with love.
How
does the peacemaker receive this inner peace?
By becoming a son or daughter of Christ.
Which means to be “spiritually begotten”
by Christ – receiving the mighty change of heart (see Mosiah 5:7).
Why
is Christ the ultimate peacemaker – to the extent that there is “no end” to the
peace He brings?
Because He was willing to endure endless
suffering and abuse.
Because when He comes, He will destroy
the wicked who instigate war and affliction.
READ Matthew 5:10-12
Why
does being a follower of righteousness inherently produce persecution?
The world expects hypocrites – it won’t
believe your motives.
The light in a righteous person makes the
wicked uncomfortable and they strike out, trying to extinguish that light.
Does
persecution given as a result of arrogance or compulsion enable the persecuted
to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Nope.
The follower of righteousness must be
humble and full of charity.
Why
might the world say “all manner of evil against you falsely”?
There is a long history of charlatans
using religion to cloak their evil deeds – everyone knows this and many are
jaded by it.
Persecution is only giving those
charlatans what they deserve.
This is how the world tests prophets and
the righteous – if they return evil with good, they may be legitimate.
Salt and Light
READ Matthew 5:13
How
are the righteous the “salt of the earth”?
Anciently, salt was a preservative.
A few righteous people are enough for the
Lord to spare or preserve a people (see Genesis 18:17-33).
How
can salt lose its “savor”?
It will last forever as a preservative
unless it is contaminated with impurities.
READ D&C 86:5-7
Is
your life your own?
No – your righteousness may be protecting
those around you from destruction, including those “tender plants” who still
need growing time.
There are no “private lives”.
READ Matthew 5:14-16
What
is the city on a hill that cannot be hid because of the light that emanates
from it?
Zion (see Isaiah 2:2-3; 2 Nephi 14:5;
D&C 76:66; D&C 84:2).
The Heavenly City where God dwells, of
which Zion is an earthly reflection.
How
does one let light shine through their good works such that God is glorified
and not them?
The recipients of those good works turn
to thank God instead of you.
Anonymous service is a great way to do
this.
If service cannot be anonymous, make sure
you genuinely deflect all praise to God.
The New and Higher Law
READ Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28
What
is Christ introducing here?
The New Law – the Celestial Law.
It is a “new law” not because it has
never been introduced on earth (Adam and his descendants had it) but because it
is new to the earth – it is a heavenly which will endure eternally, rather than
a telestial law, bound or native to this earth, which will eventually pass away
and become “old”.
How
is the New Law different from the old Law of Moses?
Outward conduct vs inner desires and
motivations.
The old law is easy to observe and judge,
while the new one is difficult, as we can’t see into each other’s hearts.
What
is the relationship between anger and murder or between lust and adultery?
One is the beginning of a long path that
could ultimately lead to the other.
One resides in the heart, while the other
is purely physical.
It is not enough to just refrain from
violent or immoral acts, we must purge our thoughts. The heart is where sin begins, so it is the
heart which Christ would have us cleanse.
READ QUOTE: C.S. Lewis, Mere
Christianity, chapter 11
“No man knows how bad he is until he has
tried very hard to be good…Only those who try to resist temptation know how
strong it is. After all, you find out
the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not giving in… A man
who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would
have been like an hour later…Christ, because He was the only man who never
yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what
temptation means.”
What
does this idea teach us about the relationship between temptation and spiritual
power?
Spiritual power or the light and
intelligence gained through obedience to eternal law (or God’s commandments) is
only gained by experience.
And that experience is oppositional in
nature; the stronger the temptations or the more attractive the alternatives to
righteousness appear to be, the more intelligence or light is gained by
resisting it.
READ Matthew 5:23-24
Who
has taken offense in this scenario?
Your “brother”, not you.
You offended them.
What
comes first, the relationship with the Lord or the relationship with the
brother?
The relationship with God actually comes
first but it is observed first in the relationship with the brother.
Or put another way, if you have not
charity, you are nothing (see Moroni 7:46).
The relationship with the brother is what proves out whether the
relationship with the Lord was real – meaning, whether or not the relationship
with the Lord changed the person to become one with the Lord and filled with
love for the brother.
But it is really the same, as “if ye have
done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto (Christ)” (see also
Moroni 7:6,9 and 2 Nephi 31:13).
For those who are still seeking a
relationship with the Lord, the way they choose to treat their brother in this
physical world – the act of choosing to love despite hurt or the vulnerability
of becoming hurt – is actually a choice to love God because it’s embracing and
sharing the love that He has given you, but that you might not yet perceive.
READ Matthew 5:25-26
What
if your adversary is in the wrong, must you still “agree” with them quickly?
Yes – submit to unjust demands –
accommodate instead of rebel against the adversaries in life.
Give to the unjust what they demand, so
that they may see your good works and understand there is a higher way.
Retaliation never ends unless one party
takes the injury without returning “their just reward” upon them.
In fact, if we have love for them, we
should go a step further and intercede on their behalf – either “Father forgive
them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) or “upon me let this iniquity
be” (see 1 Samuel 25:24).
What
is the prison Christ is referring to?
Not an earthly prison.
The punishment in this spirit prison
caused even God to tremble with pain (see D&C 19:15-18 and D&C
76:84-85, 105-106).
READ Matthew 5:43-47
Why
is loving those who hate you so important?
It is the only way to become like Him.
Christ is an intercessor, particularly of
those that harmed Him – and our becoming the same is a critical part of our
development, to become as He is.
It is through this love in the face of
hate that charity becomes part of our character.
This is how our faith in and love for
Christ is proven – will we follow the deeds our Master did, even if we are
hated and persecuted for it, and will we go as far as to love those that hate
us for seeking to be like Christ?
To have Him suffer for your sins and
forgive you of them, you must suffer and forgive others of their sins committed
against you – it is what He asks of you, because He knows it will help you the
most.
READ Matthew 5:48
In
the 3 Nephi “Sermon at the Temple”, Christ said “be ye therefore perfect, even
as I and your Father” – why did He not say that in the Sermon on the Mount?
Anyone who is mortal stands in jeopardy
every hour (see 1 Corinthians 15:30) – and He was still mortal when he taught
the Sermon on the Mount.
Christ was tempted as we are (see Hebrews
4:15) but because there is equal opposition in all things, He was tempted to a
much greater degree, as His ability to resist was much greater.
Christ passed from grace to grace; He
received all power after He had attainted to His resurrection – after He had
successfully completed His mission (see D&C 93:12-13 and Matt 28:18).
READ LoF 7:9 (from “Ask how it is that he
is saved… to himself or one like him”)
Why
must we be perfect, as God is perfect?
Because only a being that is “precisely
what He is and nothing else” can be saved.
READ TPJS 392:2-393:1
“When you climb up a ladder, you must
begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top;
and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first,
and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be
a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will
have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will
be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the
grave. I suppose I am not allowed to go into an investigation of anything
that is not contained in the Bible. If I do, I think there are so many
over-wise men here, that they would cry “treason” and put me to death.”
What
does Joseph Smith teach us about how to become “perfect, even as your Father is
perfect?”
Climb “Jacob’s Ladder” by learning all of
the principles of exaltation.
Whatever principle of intelligence we
gain here will rise with us and give us an advantage (more light or knowledge)
in the world (or life) to come (see D&C 130:18-19); these principles cannot
all be taught and learned in a single world, they require experiences in
multiple worlds (perhaps in multiple dimensions) to learn them.
We must follow the “steps” of the gospel
which culminates in coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him (see Moroni
10:32-33).
For Christ proposes to make us like unto
Himself, otherwise we cannot be saved (see LoF 7:16)… but that is not all to be
accomplished on this Earth or in this world or life.
Christ’s atonement removes from us all
guilt and shame but for a fullness or perfection of light/spirit/glory/intelligence,
we must acquire it bit by bit, grace for grace, line upon line, growing by
accepting more and more until at last we have obtained a fullness.
Christ provides the means, Father
ordained the laws by which it can be done, and they provide us with free will
and the capacity to choose, but we must choose.
