Matthew 5:1 says, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:  Jesus went up the mountain.  He may have gone to get away from the multitudes who were bringing the sick to Him, or He may have done so to make it easier for people to see and hear Him.  We are told that the disciples came to Him.  We must always seek to be where Jesus is spiritually and listen to His teachings if we are to be obedient followers of Christ.  Verse two states, And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,  Though multitudes were following Jesus because He was healing people, they now would need to be content to simply listen to His teachings.  We cannot follow Jesus simply to see what miracle He will perform, but we must follow Him to learn what He teaches us.  Verse three says, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus begins to list the people who are blessed.  We too often equate blessings from God with material possessions, but Jesus first said that the poor in spirit were blessed.  Matthew Henry says this refers to those who have emptied themselves of all self pride and are humble before Christ, and I would have to agree.  We cannot be blessed by God if we are full of self pride.  We must come to Christ humbly, recognizing our own inability to save ourselves.  Verse four states, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.  We don't often equate mourning with being blessed, but Jesus tells us if we are mourning, through our faith in Him we will be comforted.  Verse five declares, Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  When we begin to be proud of our earthly status and feel superior to others, we may think that God has blessed us more than someone who is a meek or mild person.  Jesus said the the meek will inherit the earth.  We need to remember that all these blessings are based on having a personal relationship with Christ.  Verse six states, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  If we want to be blessed, we need to hunger and thirst after righteousness.  When we do, we will be filled with God's blessings, which again does not mean material things.  We will be filled with the contentment of knowing that we are in a right relationship with God.  Verse seven declares, Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  We cannot expect God to have mercy on us if we do not have mercy on others.  God expects His people to be merciful to those around them, even those that may hate them.  Verse eight states, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  I believe that the pure in heart are those people who truly are governed by a real relationship with Christ.  If we really follow Christ, then there is no room in our heart for anything that is not pure.  When our hearts are pure, then we can see God.  Verse nine declares, Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.  Peacemakers have a hard time in the world today.  If two countries, or two people, are at war with each other, the one stepping between them may be in danger.  Still, if we are to be called the children of God, then we must always try to bring peace to the world.  Taken with the last verse, this means we cannot allow hatred into our hearts.  Verse ten states, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  I believe that it is safe to say that we are more likely to be persecuted for our faith in Christ than to be made rich.  If we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, which would come from our relationship with Christ as His followers, then the kingdom of heaven is ours.  Verse eleven states, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Again, this is not what we normally think of when we think of being blessed.  To be reviled, or hated, persecuted, and falsely accused of evil things is far from what we think of as being blessed.  Verse twelve declares, Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.  This is the promise that comes with verse eleven.  We are to rejoice and be exceedingly glad when we are reviled, persecuted and spoken evil of, because the same thing happened to God's prophets.  More importantly, it happened to Jesus Christ Himself.  When we proclaim Christianity to be the way to being blessed materially, we ignore what Jesus said about being blessed.