When Jesus starts His manifesto [Matthew 5-7] (aka the Sermon on the Mount), he starts with these 8 principles of how to work out our faith at work. He is speaking to disciples and not the masses. This is an important distinction.

We will look at these briefly individually but taken together they are a stunning framework for our life at work. These change everything in our relations with co-workers, bosses, partners, suppliers, and everyone we interact with at work.

The word traditionally translated “blessed” from the Greek is μακάριος makariŏs, mak-ar´-ee-os. It means happy, happier, or fortunate. We will use the word fortunate for our purposes here. ^[1]

• Fortunate [blessed] are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
• Fortunate are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Fortunate are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
• Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
• Fortunate are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
• Fortunate are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
• Fortunate are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
• Fortunate are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

The principles set forth the balanced and variegated character of Christian (disciples who follow Jesus) people at work. These are not eight separate and distinct groups of disciples, some of whom are meek, while others are merciful and yet others are called upon to endure persecution. They are rather eight qualities of the same group who at one and the same time are meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted. This is a holistic approach from Jesus. We must consider them all at our workplaces.

Further, the group exhibiting these marks is not an elitist set, a small spiritual aristocracy remote from the common run of Christians who are disciples. On the contrary, the beatitudes are the Messiah’s own specification of what every disciple ought to be. All these qualities are to characterize all his followers.

• Just as the ninefold fruit of the Spirit which Paul lists is to ripen in every Christian character, so the eight beatitudes which Jesus speaks describe his ideal for every citizen of God’s kingdom.
• Unlike the gifts of the Spirit which he distributes to different members of the Messiah’s body to equip them for different kinds of service, the same Spirit is concerned to work all these Christian graces in us all.
• There is no escape from our responsibility to covet them all.^[2]

^[1] Strong, J. (1996). The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

^[2] Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 31). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.