Poor in Spirit = Blessed? · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   Read Matthew 5:1-12 slowly out loud. Jesus says "blessed" nine times, and James explained the Greek word carries a settled, deep happiness — you could read every line as "happy are you." Which of the nine sounds most backwards to you, and what makes that one hard to swallow?

2. 2

   James pointed out this is Jesus' first recorded sermon, arriving after 400 years of silence that began with the word "curse" at the very end of Malachi. And Jesus opens with a blessing. What does that opening tell you about what he came to do?

3. 3

   "You can't achieve being blessed. You can only receive it." James said Jesus sets the bar deliberately out of reach — none of us is pure in heart. How does that change what you assumed this passage was asking of you?

4. 4

   James showed the clip of Shohei Ohtani taking a hundred-mile-an-hour pitch and then waving his own dugout back instead of charging the mound — meek, he said, is not weak, it is controlled strength. Where in your life does your strength most need a hand waving it off?

5. 5

   A mother once asked James to pray that her daughter would feel pain — the girl's nerves did not work, so she would leave a hand on the stove until she smelled it burning. James said pain reminds us our hearts are still alive. What has a painful season made you aware of that an easy one never would have?

6. 6

   James said relationships worth having are worth fighting for, and that the first fifteen seconds of a hard conversation decide how it ends about ninety percent of the time. Name the conversation you have been putting off, and say out loud what your first fifteen seconds will be this week.