Jesus and the Good Life

Sermon Text: Matthew 5:1-12. "At length they gradually deviated into a taste for those luxuries which stimulate to vice; porticos, and baths, and the elegancies of the table; and this, from their inexperience, they termed politeness, whilst, in reality, it constituted a part of their slavery." ― Tacitus, The Agricola and The Germania.  "Jesus did not die at the hands of muggers, rapists, or thugs. He fell into the well-scrubbed hands of deeply religious people, society's most respected members." - Brennan Manning, Abba's Child   Who he is How he lived Why he died Where He is  What He knows   Tortured Souls  Cheated Souls Diseased souls   "I find, then, a fourth case, where the happy life exists,—when that which is man's chief good is both loved and possessed. For what do we call enjoyment but having at hand the objects of love? And no one can be happy who does not enjoy what is man's chief good, nor is there any one who enjoys this who is not happy." St. Augustine.