Sermon on the mount
Matthew 5:17-20, Hebrews 6:13-20
I am not a crafty person. I want to know that it will turn out well so that my time and efforts are not wasted. You could say I don’t understand the artistic process. God is all-knowing, and still in his goodness, kindness, and sovereignty we are created. The law was not a reaction to our sin. It was a setup to know that God’s word is true.
Do you ever wonder if God is holding the tips of the rug you're standing on and is just waiting for the best time to rip it from right under you? He won’t. He cannot as we read in Hebrews today. It could be easy for God to easily give up knowing that sinful humans can never fulfill the law he has given them. However, that would betray his character. God’s law is good, it is not a trap, it is not an easy grip to rip the rug underneath us nor a set of imperfect rules to set us up for failure. It is the picture of God’s holiness we can never attain for ourselves. It is the set up for grace to come and wash us clean through Jesus’s fulfillment of it. It is the rules in which Jesus lives by to establish his holiness and to make a way for the unholy to enter into his presence.
The law is the very word of God. It points to a holiness we cannot understand and it points to the firm foundation of God’s word. We can trust him. Why? Because he is a Holy God with an unwavering word. Church, can we believe that today? Jesus is telling us good news in the passage, the very law that points to our Holy God is being fulfilled. It is the word that is true, it cannot be broken. Can we praise God he is not as fickle as I am? That he knew man, fallible, deceitful and sinful could not fulfill the good law and that knowledge didn’t stop him from creating it. But in his word Jesus came to fulfill all things pointing to the trustworthy God.
Why can’t you trust God and his word today?
As we read this section I think it’s so important to keep that in mind that the beatitudes aren’t meant to be interpreted in isolation. The sermon on the mount isn’t just empty teaching, but we see Jesus physically live out these teachings in His ministry. We see him offer the kingdom of heaven to the criminal who is crucified next to him (Luke 23:39-43). We see him comforting Martha when she goes to Him after Lazarus dies (John 11:35-45). We see Jesus blessing those who are humble in the story of his anointing (John 12:1-8). The list could go on. Matthew’s point is that the same Jesus who taught the sermon on the mount, is the same Jesus who asks us to faithfully follow Him. We can trust His power, presence and word because we have seen Him live out the same things. The Beatitudes are a picture of the coming kingdom, and a reminder that through the Holy Spirit we are given the same power in our ministry.
As you read the sermon on the mount, would you be moved and awed by the life that Jesus lived. Take the Beatitudes as promises for the future, the coming kingdom which we have been given through Jesus, beautiful Jesus.
Do you ever wonder if God is holding the tips of the rug you're standing on and is just waiting for the best time to rip it from right under you? He won’t. He cannot as we read in Hebrews today. It could be easy for God to easily give up knowing that sinful humans can never fulfill the law he has given them. However, that would betray his character. God’s law is good, it is not a trap, it is not an easy grip to rip the rug underneath us nor a set of imperfect rules to set us up for failure. It is the picture of God’s holiness we can never attain for ourselves. It is the set up for grace to come and wash us clean through Jesus’s fulfillment of it. It is the rules in which Jesus lives by to establish his holiness and to make a way for the unholy to enter into his presence.
The law is the very word of God. It points to a holiness we cannot understand and it points to the firm foundation of God’s word. We can trust him. Why? Because he is a Holy God with an unwavering word. Church, can we believe that today? Jesus is telling us good news in the passage, the very law that points to our Holy God is being fulfilled. It is the word that is true, it cannot be broken. Can we praise God he is not as fickle as I am? That he knew man, fallible, deceitful and sinful could not fulfill the good law and that knowledge didn’t stop him from creating it. But in his word Jesus came to fulfill all things pointing to the trustworthy God.
Why can’t you trust God and his word today?
As we read this section I think it’s so important to keep that in mind that the beatitudes aren’t meant to be interpreted in isolation. The sermon on the mount isn’t just empty teaching, but we see Jesus physically live out these teachings in His ministry. We see him offer the kingdom of heaven to the criminal who is crucified next to him (Luke 23:39-43). We see him comforting Martha when she goes to Him after Lazarus dies (John 11:35-45). We see Jesus blessing those who are humble in the story of his anointing (John 12:1-8). The list could go on. Matthew’s point is that the same Jesus who taught the sermon on the mount, is the same Jesus who asks us to faithfully follow Him. We can trust His power, presence and word because we have seen Him live out the same things. The Beatitudes are a picture of the coming kingdom, and a reminder that through the Holy Spirit we are given the same power in our ministry.
As you read the sermon on the mount, would you be moved and awed by the life that Jesus lived. Take the Beatitudes as promises for the future, the coming kingdom which we have been given through Jesus, beautiful Jesus.