The Beatitudes
READ Matthew 5:1-3
What do the poor need?
What does “poor in Spirit” mean?
What must the poor in Spirit do to
inherit the Kingdom of God?
READ Matthew 5:4
How will those that mourn be comforted?
READ Matthew 5:5
Why would the meek want to inherit this dark
Earth?
What does it mean to be meek?
READ Matthew 5:6
What does it mean to “hunger and thirst”
after righteousness?
READ Matthew 5:7
What is mercy?
Can you obtain mercy from God without
extending mercy to others?
Who is the ultimate beneficiary of the
mercy we extend to others?
READ Matthew 5:8
Is Christ talking about ritual purity
through ordinances or actual purity?
What must be pure and why?
READ Alma 34:36
Can you purify your heart?
READ 3 Nephi 9:19-20 and D&C 56:18
What must we do to have our hearts
purified?
READ Matthew 5:9
How does a peacemaker make peace?
How does the peacemaker receive this
inner peace?
Why is Christ the ultimate peacemaker –
to the extent that there is “no end” to the peace He brings?
READ Matthew 5:10-12
Why does being a follower of
righteousness inherently produce persecution?
Does persecution given as a result of
arrogance or compulsion enable the persecuted to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
Why might the world say “all manner of
evil against you falsely”?
Salt and Light
READ Matthew 5:13
How are the righteous the “salt of the
earth”?
How can salt lose its “savor”?
READ D&C 86:5-7
Is your life your own?
READ Matthew 5:14-16
What is the city on a hill that cannot be
hid because of the light that emanates from it?
How does one let light shine through
their good works such that God is glorified and not them?
The New and Higher Law
READ Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28
What is Christ introducing here?
How is the New Law different from the old
Law of Moses?
What is the relationship between anger
and murder or between lust and adultery?
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?
READ Matthew 5:23-24
Who has taken offense in this scenario?
What comes first, the relationship with
the Lord or the relationship with the brother?
READ Matthew 5:25-26
What if your adversary is in the wrong,
must you still “agree” with them quickly?
What is the prison Christ is referring
to?
READ Matthew 5:43-47
Why is loving those who hate you so
important?
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?
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?
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?”
