What’s the best thing to wear while listening to the Sermon on the Mount? A pair of steel-toed boots! Could any body of truth be more convicting than Matthew 5, 6, and 7? Without concern for how folks would react or what opinions they would form, our Lord declared His penetrating message for all to hear.
The 10 verses we’ll examine in this lesson flow very naturally out of what our Lord had just finished saying. They represent such a complete unit that little is left to be added or amplified. And talk about an up-to-date subject! No one can improve on Jesus’ instruction on worry. If we would simply do as He says, our anxiety levels would reduce to zero and our joy would know new heights.
Realizing the beast of greed within all of us, Jesus chose not to ignore it but to expose it and to warn against its ravenous appetite. Every genuine disciple of Jesus Christ must come to terms with the question: Which master will I serve?
As we go deeper into His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ words turn our attention from all the circus-like pizzazz of performance to the simplicity of prayer and fasting, two disciplines all-too-rarely done His way for His glory. Let’s seek out His counsel so we can carry out His instructions.
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took on the hypocrites with both guns blazing! Drawing on common examples of showy righteousness, He instructed us on the importance of being people of quiet sincerity, seeking to glorify God rather than impress others.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offered revolutionary, even strange, advice for His people. Without pulling His punches, Jesus addressed the very best way to handle sensitive situations with those who threaten our personal rights. He offered countercultural counsel and dared us to obey.
In His greatest of sermons, Jesus addressed marriage. As He did, He went deeper than the letter of the Law. He made it clear that marriage requires absolute faithfulness, and personal relationships require absolute truthfulness.
Nothing Jesus stated was ever more profound than His Sermon on the Mount. In the section of Scripture we’ll examine in this lesson, Jesus discussed the Christian’s relationship to the Mosaic Law. At the heart of His instruction is righteousness—the state of having sufficient grounds to stand before a holy God.
As Christians, we must focus on making a lasting impact for good—influencing others without resorting to force or other means of control. The crucial question is how? Jesus’ answer in Matthew 5 is still the best.
We can read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in 15 minutes or less. No teacher or preacher has ever packed more truth into such a brief period of time. Our hope in this study is to glean a few fresh, practical insights that will enable us to stay on course in living lives that are distinctively different.
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