The Beatitudes as a Rule of Life

One of the processes we provide through Pinnacle Leadership Associates is called Making the Shift. As we talk about the shift from being a church member to being a disciple, we encourage congregations to consider developing a rule of life to challenge participants in their discipleship.

A key theme in Jesus’ teaching was the Kingdom or Reign of God. His hearers often asked him, “When will this come to be?” N. T. Wright observes, “The crucial question is not so much that of the kingdom’s timing as of its content.”

One point where Jesus addressed the content of the Kingdom as well as the conduct of the life of the believer is found in that portion of the Sermon on the Mount that we call the Beatitudes. This might well be seen as a prototypical rule of life for believers. Speaking of the Beatitudes in his book Living the Sermon on the Mount, Glen H. Stassen writes, “All of these are rewards of participating in God’s reign. This experience is already beginning in Jesus.”

Stassen’s translation of the Beatitudes communicates effectively how they might provide a guide for the life of the believer:

Joyful are those who are poor and humble before God,

for theirs is the reign of God.

Joyful are those who are deeply saddened to the point of action,

for they will be comforted.

Joyful are those whose wills are surrendered to God,

for they will inherit the earth.

Joyful are those who hunger and thirst for restorative justice,

for they will be filled.

Joyful are those who practice compassion in action,

for they will receive God’s compassion.

Joyful are those who seek God’s will in all that they are and do,

for they will see God.

Joyful are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Joyful or those who suffer because of restorative justice,

For theirs is the reign of God.

Joyful are you when they criticize, persecute, and slander you

because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in God.

For in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

Those who acknowledge these truths and attempt to practice them in their lives will both see and be part of the emerging reign of God among us. This is part of what it means to practice a rule of life.

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