Untitled Sermon (2)

Week 1: Overview

Jesus’ Most Famous Sermon

To understand this sermon, you must begin with the end.

Matthew 7:24–29 NASB95

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Discuss: Read and summarize it in a sentence.

Just Do it!

Actions speak louder than words

Sermon on the Mount is the Ethics and expectations of Jesus!

Augustine described the Sermon on the Mount as, “the perfect standard of the Christian life.”

Here’s the question:

“Can Christians

“Is it possible to live out Jesus’ ethics in the real world?

“Is it possible to live out Jesus’ ethics in the real world?

“Can Christians be expected to meet the standard?”

“Can we and should we live our lives like Jesus tells us to live our lives in Matthew 5-7?”

Matthew 5:1

Matthew 5:1 NASB95

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

Jesus is the new Moses going up on the mountainside to give the new law!

Discuss: In what ways are Jesus and Moses similar?

Slaughter of Children connected to their birth

Both narrowly escape ruthless dictator

Both flee and then only later return to the land

Like Moses Jesus spent time in the wilderness; Moses 40 years, Jesus 40 days

Moses was a deliverer who set his people free from slavery; Jesus was a deliverer who set us free from the slavery of sin

The Messiah gives us the new Torah in

Stanley Hauerwas:

When Jesus called his society together Jesus gave its members a new way to life to live. He gave them a new way to deal with offenders—by forgiving them. He gave them a new way to deal with violence—by suffering. He gave them a new way to deal with problems of leadership—by drawing on the gift of every member, even the most humble. He gave them a new way of dealing with a corrupt society—by building a new order, not smashing the old. He gave them a new pattern of relationship between man and woman, between parent and child, between master and slave, in which we made concrete a radical new vision of what it means to be a human person. He gave them a new attitude toward the state and toward the “enemy nation”. Hauerwas Matthew, 67-68