Cultivating aGospel Shaped

Attitude

Understanding and Living the Beatitudes

By Dr. Joe Buchanan

GOALMy goal is to show you is how to develop an attitude shaped by the gospel, which, when cultivated over time, will result in a Christlike character.

Formula for Spiritual Formation

A Gospel-Shaped AttitudeCultivated over time

+ Christ-honoring Actions Exhibited over time_______________________________________

= Christ-like Character

Attitude Shapes Character

• Attitudes drive actions• Actions over time define

character

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

The Word “Mind” = Attitude

• Attitude refers to how we view:–Ourselves–Other People

• Jesus saw:–Himself as a Servant–Other People in need

Jesus’ Attitude Resulted in Action

• Did Not Consider Equality with God something to be grasped (held on to)

• Emptied Himself• Became a Servant• Born in the likeness of men• Died on the cross

Value of the Beatitudes

1.Our Understanding of Salvation

2.Our Understanding of Spiritual Formation

3.Our Understanding of the Mission

Taking Personal Responsibility for Sin

“Blessed are the poor-in-spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:3

The Bad News that comes before the Good News

“Being poor in spirit is the negative side of faith. It is the realization of one’s utter worthlessness that precedes a laying hold of Christ by faith.”

A. W. Tozer

“The point Jesus is making here is that as long as we continue to rely on our own good works to justify us; we will remain trapped in our sin.”

Classic Example is in Luke 18:9-14

This is the Fundamental Attitude

“There is no one in the Kingdom of God who is not poor in spirit. It is a fundamental characteristic of the Christian and the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and all the other characteristics are in a sense the result of this one.”

Marty Lloyd-Jones

The Origin of Our Sinful Pride

• Human beings were created with the capacity for making choice (Genesis 1:26)

• Capacity for choice demonstrated in first command (Genesis 2:16-17)

The Capacity for Choice Demonstrated

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:16-17

The Origin of Our Sinful Pride

• Human beings were created with the capacity for making choice (Gen 1:26)

• Capacity for choice demonstrated in first command (Gen 2:16-17)

• Origin of sinful pride comes in Adam’s rebellion.

Sinful Pride Leads Us to Blame Others

“The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:12

Cultivating This Attitude Requires That We

• Take Personal Responsibility for Sin– See our sin the way God sees it.– Look to the Cross– Take Spiritual Inventory

Cultivating This Attitude Requires That We

• Turn to God for Mercy– Confess our sins and repent– Submit our lives under the control of the

Holy Spirit