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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows how sin starts in the heart. It’s there that Jesus tells us we are just as guilty as if we committed the outward act. The second example Jesus speaks about deals with lust and adultery.
Not only does Jesus want us to steer clear of adultery, but also of where adultery begins—with one lustful look. Just like contemptuous anger and murder, lust and adultery have serious consequences. We must deal decisively with sin, and yet gouging out our eyes and cutting off our hands isn’t enough. What are we to do? Thankfully Jesus gets to the heart of the issue, which is the issue of the heart. Watch or listen to our study of Matthew 5:27-32 as we meditate on the importance of dealing decisively with sin.
Forgiveness and reconciliation are two different things. Forgiveness can happen in a moment. Reconciliation is often a process. Forgiveness releases someone else from your “right” to retaliate. Reconciliation is restoring the relationship to the intimacy that was once present.
There is no way to reconcile a relationship without genuine humility and repentance. Jesus clarifies this in the Sermon on the Mount as He addresses contemptuous anger. Watch our study of Matthew 5:23-26 as we listen to Jesus instruct His disciples on what to do when sin affects our relationships.
Sin starts in the heart before it ever becomes an outward act. Jesus highlights this truth not once but six times in the Sermon on the Mount. We are just as culpable, accountable, and guilty when sin starts within us as if we actually went forward with the outward act.
So, what hope do we have? Can anyone be righteous or even perfect, as Jesus commands in Matthew 5:48? To answer that, we must consider these hard truths that Jesus taught. If we are to continue to be His disciples, we must understand the necessity of the Holy Spirit in transforming us deep within so that sin doesn’t even have a chance to begin. Watch our study in Matthew 5:21-22 as we consider the devastating influence of contemptuous anger and how to prevent sin from starting in our hearts.
Most people think the way to attain eternal life is by being good. This line of thinking evaluates righteousness as a point system, concluding that someone will get into heaven if their good works outnumber their bad deeds.
But this is nonsense! The law was never intended to be a means to earn righteousness. It was given to guard us, to bless us, and to show us our unrighteousness so that we would be led to Jesus, who will provide us with His righteousness. Jesus confronts this current understanding repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount with this simple statement: “You have heard that it was said to those of old…but I say to you…” Watch our study of Matthew 5:21-48 as we listen to the words of Jesus and re-evaluate the current understanding of righteousness.
The people listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount weren’t “religious professionals”. They were common, everyday, ordinary people—all of them sinners. And yet, Jesus called them the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
But He was just getting started. Soon after, He told them, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Just how were these ordinary people supposed to exceed the righteous “religious professionals” who centered their entire lives around following the law—especially if Jesus wasn’t going to abolish the law? There must be another way! Watch our study of Matthew 5:17-20 as we consider Jesus’ words in light of His fulfillment of the Laws and Prophets.
Light and salt were two sermon illustrations Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. But He didn’t use them at random. He chose these because they illustrate the Beatitudes and help us see what our attitudes must be if we continue in this beautiful, worthy difficulty called ‘ministry’ and what kind of influence these attitudes have on those around us.
That influence may come in one of two ways: first, we may slow down the sinful deterioration of others or society, and second, we may be used to see God transform a person or society to drive out the darkness. Watch our study of Matthew 5:13-16 as we consider what could happen if we intentionally lived out what we learned at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
We were once enemies of God, but Jesus took the penalty for our sins and our rebellion. Now that we have peace with God, we want others to know Jesus so they can have peace with God also.
We receive this ministry of reconciliation to bring the message of reconciliation to as many as possible. As we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount, we consider what it means to be a maker of peace in our study of Matthew 5:9.
God purifies us as we follow Him. He works in our lives to remove the things that contaminate us and then refines us with what He gives us. Through His refining work in our lives, we start to see Him—just as Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8). Watch our study as we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount.
Sometimes, in the beautiful worthy difficulty of ministry, you will make enemies. Even as a broken, humble, and others-centered servant endeavoring to do the right thing, others will actively oppose you with hostility.
Which is why mercy is a core component of ministry. Being kind, even and especially to your enemies, is essential. Jesus gives us a whole new way to be merciful to enemies who would mistreat us. “Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said, “for they shall obtain mercy.” Watch our study of Matthew 5:7 as we consider the importance of mercy in ministry.
From the mountain, Jesus delivered a sermon to His disciples. He taught them what their attitudes must be like if they were to continue to be His disciples. He wanted to give them (and us) as much disclosure as possible to know what ministry would be like.
Through this sermon, Jesus desired to communicate the beautiful and worthy difficulty of bringing glory to God through the selfless service of others. However, the attitudes necessary for such a service cannot come from our strength. It is only a work of the Holy Spirit, and not of the human will. And this is true with the fourth beatitude, as the Holy Spirit draws those who continue to follow Jesus into an even deeper level of humility. Watch our study of Matthew 5:6 as we consider what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
As we continue our way through the Sermon on the Mount, we read of the qualities God is forming in His disciples. We must see our spiritual poverty to survive and thrive in ministry. We must recognize the depth and depravity of our sin to realize it’s only by God’s mercy that we have an opportunity to minister.
We will not survive long if we think we are capable of what God has called us to because of our resume or spiritual skill set. It is only by His mercy that any of us are in ministry. This is especially important to be aware of as we consider the third beatitude—“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5). What does it mean to be meek and why is this an attitude important to have if we are to survive and thrive in ministry? Watch our study of Matthew 5:5 as we consider this important, but often misunderstood quality of a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus didn’t make ministry sound attractive, appealing, or even remotely easy. Because ministry is none of those things. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus endeavored to give His disciples full disclosure of what would be necessary if they continued to follow Him in ministry.
As we recognize our own spiritual poverty (Matthew 5:3), we become increasingly aware of our own sin—and mourn over it as we realize just how unworthy we really are. And once we recognize that, we see that it is only by His mercy that we have any ministry at all. This past Sunday, we worked through one more verse in Matthew: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4). Watch our study from Sunday as we consider the comfort that only God can provide as we mourn over our own sin.
In Matthew 5, we read the message Jesus spoke to His disciples on a mountain in Galilee. This sermon begins with the beatitudes—the attitudes of the citizens of His kingdom. Jesus is not just another earthly ruler. He is the king of the kingdom of heaven. And so, these attitudes run counter to the culture and kingdoms of men. Like the first beatitude—recognizing your spiritual poverty. What does this look like in the life of a disciple of Jesus? We considered being poor in spirit in our time together on Sunday as we worked our way through just one verse—Matthew 5:3.
In the Gospels, we read of all sorts of reasons people would follow Jesus. But one interesting aspect of the life & ministry of Jesus was that He often avoided large gatherings. He seemed to have no interest in attracting a large following just for the sake of having a large following.
Jesus was more concerned with making disciples. He was focused on individuals who would desire to learn from Him and choose to follow Him for the right reasons. Jesus often retreated from the multitudes when He could, and to those who would seek Him out, He would teach and instruct. To these individuals, He was constantly teaching about how His kingdom would look like and what it would mean to serve alongside Him. In these moments, He would draw His disciples in, explaining the cost of true discipleship. As is the case in Matthew 5, the beginning of what is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.
As we continue our study of the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, we will see Him preaching, teaching, and warning—all according to the working of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus starts His earthly ministry in the unlikeliest of places—Nazareth and Galilee.
In the eyes of the religious elite of the day, these were not destinations to travel to or places to be proud of. And yet, these places were just right for Jesus to begin His public ministry and recruit His followers—for God uses the foolish, the forsaken, and the forgotten things to shame the strong and bring glory to Himself (1 Corinthians 1:27). Watch our study of Matthew 4:12-25 as we consider the beginnings of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
In the book of Hebrews, we read that “…we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. In many ways, His temptations were much, much worse—and yet, He did not sin.
In Matthew 4, we read of three temptations Jesus faced and see Him emerge victorious and unstained by sin. But that does not mean He was unaffected by the human experience. His trial of temptation has a profound effect on His life and ministry. Watch our study of Matthew 4:1-11 as we consider how Jesus resisted temptation by fighting by faith and how His experience of being tempted affected His life and ministry.
In Matthew 3, two of the most influential men and most influential ministers in human history came to a crossroads. John’s was the greatest man to be born up to that point—and his ministry was coming to an end. Jesus was the greatest Man to ever be born—and His earthly ministry was just starting.
In order to understand all that was happening, we have to go back to a time before Jesus and John were born—to the ancient prophecies that foretold their arrival. This past Sunday, we considered the backstory of John the Baptist—the real history of this real person—so that we might appreciate the scripture that we will be studying in weeks to come.
In Matthew 3, we read about one man in the wilderness with one singular purpose—to prepare the way of The Lord.
His name was John, and at first glance, he might seem like an odd man. After all, he wore camel’s hair and ate honey and locust. But he had an important message to fulfill his purpose. What was his message to prepare us for The King of The Kingdom that was at hand? What was the message that would prepare us to receive Jesus? “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This past Sunday, we considered John the Baptist—the man God called to prepare the way for The Messiah in our study of Matthew 3:1-12.
We’re told that when Herod heard that there was a baby who was born King of the Jews, “…he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.“ (Matthew 2:3) All of Jerusalem would have been troubled because they were aware of what Herod was capable of when he felt that his authority was threatened.
But it didn’t have to be this way. Herod didn’t have to be threatened by the King of kings and Lord of lords. As wicked as Herod was, he could be fully forgiven and completely cleansed of sin if he would have turned from his sin and believed on Jesus. But if Herod rejected Jesus or simply stalled on making his decision, then his decision was made—he will have to stand before God and answer for his sin and pay the penalty for eternity. Watch our study of Matthew 2:12-18 as we consider the tragic consequences of rejecting Jesus and the hope we have when we turn to Him.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a caravan of wise men followed a star to worship Him who had been born King of the Jews. But first, they met the tyrant-made-king of the Jews—Herod, a wicked and insecure despot who did not welcome any challenge to his Roman-appointed rule.
Despite the testimony of many, the miraculous prophecy, and a solid Bible study, Herod did not receive Jesus as King, but rejected Him and ultimately hunted Jesus down. As this drama unfolded, the wise men brought gifts of adoration and worship to Jesus, revealing His status as King of kings. Watch our study of Matthew 2:1-11 as we consider Herod’s response to Christ’s rightful claim to the throne and reflect on our reception or rejection of Christ as King. |
From Pastor Dom...When I first gave my life to Jesus, there were friends in my life who helped me to grow in my understanding of God, through His word, and for those friends Archives
August 2024
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