Monday, January 3, 2011
The Beatitudes, Part 1 of 50
TEXT: Matthew 5:1-12
IDEA: The Sermon on the Mount, for all its beauty, can easily be misapplied.
PURPOSE: To explore why Jesus gave us the Sermon on the Mount
Woman on the plane: “If you just keep the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, you will go to heaven when you die.”
Do you think that she is alone in making that assertion?
I. How would you respond to that woman and people like her?
They need to study the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.
Are the two passages given as a roadmap to follow to get us in to heaven?
II. Why are people who are generally unfamiliar with the content of the Bible drawn to the Sermon on the Mount?
Where is the Sermon on the Mount found?
No passage in the Bible has received the attention of the Sermon on the Mount. Why? It contains many references to things we might know or have heard about.
- The Beatitudes
- “Love your enemies”
- The Lord’s Prayer
- The references to God’s care for the birds and the flowers and His children
- The Golden Rule
- The reference to the Narrow and Wide Gates
- The reference to the wise and foolish builders
III. Scholars throughout church history have been drawn to this sermon.
Robert Guelich, who himself has written a 400-page commentary on The Sermon on the Mount, observed, “No passage of Scripture has received the attention of the Sermon on the Mount. It is virtually impossible to compile a list of writings that try to explain or interpret this sermon.”
It is a sermon we may not completely understand but we should try if we take Jesus seriously.
