Matthew
5 – 6
The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most preached teaching
of Jesus in the Bible, but I believe often misinterpreted. Verse 5:3 opens with
the first one that I noticed something new:
Jesus:
Blessed are the spiritually poor—the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Luke 6:20 is the more commonly preached
sermon, since it only says “blessed are the poor” and that is something we can
relate to. This says something completely different since the “spiritually
poor” implies that it could be anyone. The poor in spirit is more defined as
someone who knows they need the salvation of Jesus, where just poor means they
are in need of earthly things. Big difference between the two scenarios, since
you could have all the money in the world and realize it means nothing in
relationship to ones relationship to God.
Due to the quantity of verses to look at I
am not going to snip each one, so opening your Bible is required!! Verse 15:16 has
the action one must take as the “light on the hill” in doing more than just
professing. This is a problem in today’s Church since the doctrine of “once
saved, always saved” and “works will not get you into heaven” may be true on
one level, but makes for a complacent church. We are told to DO not just
attend.
Verses 6:19-20 actually spook me since it
implies we can lose salvation. We need to be aware that righteousness, like the
Pharisees who appear holy on the outside but have internal issues, is
fundamental to our afterlife. We need to do two things; run away from sin and
when we do sin confess it before Jesus quickly. If we continue to knowingly sin
without repentance, which is turning away, then our salvation is in question.
Also, Jesus addresses the law and states clearly that we must follow it. So was
that to the Jews or all Christians? Why is it we only seem to be preached
follow the basic moral laws and tithing, but not say the food laws?
Verse 5:22 is something that we may not do
in public, but the gossip is just as bad. Sorry, even with “brothers” in Jesus,
we need to hold from saying slanderous things. We just need to “suck it up” and
pray not only for them, but that we are not the problem.
Verse 5:32 is very clear; past lusting
mentioned in verse 5:27 this is clear that divorce is not an option. Interestingly
it says if the “wife” cheats then divorce is ok, but nothing if the husband
does. Either way this is something we need to examine very closely when
thinking about getting married, if we look at it as a lifelong commitment and
not just a more serious form of dating then this is different.
Verses 6:5-8 talks about praying in the
open and how we do it. You listen to prayers in church and small groups where
there are some that put the words together like it’s something meant for God.
Then we pray and it’s a garbled mess since we try to use the right words with
simple straightforward requests. I personally hate praying in public, since I
like simple prayers like “God help so and so.” After this Jesus gives the model
prayer that is a simple formula: praise God, petition God, confess to God, ask
God for protection and accept His divine will. Be thankful for everything and
just continue on being genuine.
h