Session 9: Sermon the Mount

More notes from this Jen Wilkin study. The last session.

We must understand that apart from salvation, we are unable to obey before our hearts are transformed by God and the power of the gospel.  Which means, even the best moments for unbelievers are just right actions attached to wrong motives.  

Jesus' call to obedience is geared to believers whose hearts have been changed.  Now that we are on the other side of salvation, Jesus has given us power to overcome sin in our life.  When we come to salvation, we are now able to chose the right thing for the right reason.  A lost person cannot obey God.

We are being sanctified.  We don't earn God's favor.

He will now show us that the golden rule is a narrow path. He will give us pairs.  He began the sermon on the mount with a list of blessings - ways that the citizens of Heaven will experience and see what it means to feel the favor of God rest on them.  Interestingly, as He is closing His sermon down, He ends with warnings.

Matthew 7:13-14. Moral majority will never be.  Broad way and narrow way.  There is a gate of salvation through Christ (narrow) and why is it narrow?  Because its boundaries are defined by the law.  As members of the Kingdom of Heaven, we don't do whatever we want.

The Lord is changing what we want to match what He wants in the form of the law.

The Lord always cares more about the decision maker than He does about the decision.  Ask for wisdom - James 1:5.  He will give it to us.

The narrow path is about becoming a person who makes right decisions based on wisdom.

People get angry when we say there is only one way to God and the gate is narrow.  The world wants to say there are many ways to God.

One gate, the gate of salvation, in Christ alone.  One way - the path of sanctification.

We are in the "minor majority".  

We have two kinds of teachers:

Matthew 7:15. Jesus will give us the difference of a teacher who teaches truth and a teacher who teaches error.  There are times that we must judge, and here is another example.

Outside: sheep's clothing - looks harmless

Inside: ravenous wolf 

An external appearance of goodness but on the inside something dangerous.

Matthew 7:16-17. He switches here to an agricultural metaphor.

Matthew 7:18-20. Many people listening would understand this metaphor.  Gardeners, farmers, etc.  The pharisees even had rules for tithing from their spices.  They would be familiar with the cycles of harvesting.  What does a false prophet look like? 

 

1) Someone who distorts the gospel

2) Someone who relaxes the law - tries to broaden the narrow way.

It's a high calling and a difficult calling to walk the narrow path - 1 John 5:3

3) Someone who denies that the broad way leads to destruction (universalism).

Bad fruit will look very attractive.  We will never recognize false prophets at all if we don't have first-hand knowledge of scripture.

ALL scripture is profitable to us.

Now the third warning - two kinds of servants:

Matthew 7:21-23. "Lord, Lord".  They are implying intimacy with Him.  They had big outward signs of righteousness here.  Are these the things He has held in high regard according to what has come before?  We place so much stock in these things, but He places stock in the quiet obedience: controlling our tongue, our anger, our motives.  Heart issues.

Matthew 7:24-26. "Everyone then" or "everyone therefore".  What came before this? The entire sermon.  Verses 24 and 25 "these words of mine".  The words given in this sermon is what He is saying.  

 

A hearer and a doer:

He describes two houses that are identical.  The difference in these houses cannot be seen until the rain comes.  Until the storm comes, we don't know which house is built on the solid rock and which is built on shifting sands.  If we are a hearer and a doer we will stand.

Matthew 7:27. "And the fall of that house was great" - other versions.  The last word in the sermon on the mount is "great".  He's telling them "you think greatness looks like":

 

1. Overthrowing the Romans

2. External greatness

3. Power and authority

But to be great in the Kingdom, we will be last.

Final Matthew 7:28-29. Why are they astonished? Because what they are used to hearing is someone who says "this is the truth as far as I perceive it."  Jesus is saying "I am the truth. Follow me."

Session 8: Sermon on the Mount - Judging Others

My notes from Session 8 - Jen Wilkin study

Matthew 7:1-2. The extent to which you are hard on others shows the extent that you don't understand your own salvation.  When we understand that judgment has been set aside for us, we're more likely to set it aside for other people.

Matthew 7:3-5. You can tell that Jesus has broadened who He is speaking to when He says "you hypocrite".

When the disciples hear Him talk about "don't judge", it would be a sign to them that they are to extend mercy.  To the crowd, it will perk up their ears - they can expect to be treated differently than by the teachers of the law and pharisees. These people were very concerned with finding fault.  He gives a colorful demonstration on judging.

In 7:4 notice He says "brother".  He's talking about judging someone in our like-minded community of believers.

We have two different things here:

• the speck of sawdust
• the log

Both made out of wood.  The only difference is one is small and one is large.  One partially obstructs our view.  The other one completely obscures the view.  We judge people harshly for something that is our own problem.  How do we know when to not judge?  The kind of judging that self-justifies is wrong or self-elevates.  Here it is: is the judgment that you want to pass intended to bring about restoration or condemnation?

When it comes to sin though, we need to hold each other lovingly accountable.  He's talking about legalism here as well - holding everybody else accountable but ourselves.

Jesus has already said we are blessed when we are merciful not when we justify.  To avoid us judging is to hold ourselves to a high standard of obedience and give other people grace.  Jesus, of course, now is taking aim at the scribes and pharisees.

Matthew 7:6. He shifts now to dogs and pigs.  Look at Phil. 3:2 - dogs (unbelievers), living with a complete disregard for God.  Then pig reference 2 Peter 2:22 - probably a reference to false prophets.

Don't give them what is holy.  What is the holy thing that we have to give to people? The gospel.  Jesus' original hearers are the disciples who will in their time of ministry be persecuted and deal with dogs and pigs.

Remember here that He is giving them an extreme example.  There are people who are so hard to the gospel and have twisted or rejected the truth repeatedly that we do not continue to lay before them what is sacred and holy.

Matthew 7:7-8. These verses have been used to justify all kinds of terrible theology.  Because it looks like here without taking it within context is what we persistently ask the Father for will be given to us.

Notice the progression: He moves from asking - seeking - knocking.  How much effort does it require to ask? None.  But seeking implies a more active pursuit - go after it.  Knocking implies the obstacle of a door.  Obstacles and effort when we go to make our request to the Lord.  It may take effort and repetition on our part.

Repetitive asking is not heaping up empty phrases.  We ask, seek and knock because it's something we care a lot about.  We tend to hear these verses and think I'm going to ask, seek and knock until the Lord gives me what I want.  We should know that at this point in the Sermon on the Mount the disciples are going to be completely overwhelmed with all that Jesus has set before them of what the Kingdom of Heaven is and what their role in it will be.  They see they are being asked to be a citizen of Heaven on an enormous scale.

So when Jesus comes to this place in the sermon and says ask, seek and knock, they are not thinking about a nicer house or a prettier wife.  They are thinking "Lord, I need strength, greater faith, discernment, courage, compassion, mercy, patience. Lord, give us these things."  Those are the things we are told if we ask, seek and knock.  The Lord will give them to you.

Verse 9. This will be made more evident (9-11).  He begins to show to them this "how much more God".  They saw already with clothing the lilies of the field, providing food for the birds - the how much more.

Here, He's going to put it in the context of providing daily bread.  What are the two things Jesus brought up that we can ask our earthly fathers for?

• bread
• fish - 

Remember the story? Five loaves and two fish.  Story of man at midnight - 3 loaves.  But the bread looks like a stone.  Jesus' listeners would know this. Ask for bread - gives him a stone.  We have to look at this differently.  Jesus' temptation - stones to bread.  We don't give our children something that mocks their request - Jesus is saying this.

Our Father is good and will give us good things for our spiritual daily bread. Jesus has said His daily bread was to do what the Father had sent Him to do.

So, what we need to do the will of the One who sent us - our daily bread - will be provided by our "much more" Father in Heaven.

In the Lord's prayer, He has already told us to ask for our physical daily bread and here in Matthew, He is asking us "please ask for your spiritual daily bread".

We can trust God, who sees the beginning and end, to give us all we need for our spiritual daily sustenance.

Verse 12. Jesus just summed up the OT in this one statement.  "The golden rule" here.  If we just did this, whatever the law and the prophets want to communicate to you would fall into place.  Huge statement.  What He means is look for ways to treat people better than what they deserve.

Next: Session 9

 

Session 7: Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6:19

These are my notes for this session.

Another way to self-motivate towards righteousness is found in this verse.

Jesus will now turn our attention earthward - the world around us and how to relate to that.

He will start talking about possessions.  He will bring us pairs of things and contrast them.

Verses 19-21. This example would be very familiar to their culture - moth and treasures.  What does He mean by laying up treasures? Don't hoard or heap up; having more than we need and guarding it.  He's going to contrast two kinds of treasures:

1) Treasures here on earth

2) Treasures in heaven

He gives us a better way: lay up treasures in heaven.  He gives a very significant closing statement: "where your treasure is...." - treasures in heaven? What are we supposed to do?

Treasures here on earth are not ours.  We are stewards here.  We don't have a sense of eternity (Eccl. 3:11).

Jesus is saying here that we have to shift our focus.  Egyptian kings stored up treasures - look at the grave sites.

We need to ask this question: what are the only things we get to take with us when we are gone?

1) Our own soul, our character

2) Lord willing, the souls of other people

Storing up treasures in heaven means we invest in loving other people.  We look for ways to grow in character and Christ-likedness.  Two different contrasts:

Matthew 6:22-23. Jesus is warning against having eyes that are pulled to the things of this world.  If that is the case, there is darkness you will be letting in.  Look at the story of Eve in Genesis 3:1-6.

1) She saw the fruit

2) She desired the fruit

3) She took the fruit

4) Spread the consequences

Same cycle with Achan, King David; this cycle of sin relies on us believing a certain lie: "it doesn't hurt to look."

There are two kinds of eyes:

1) It won't hurt to look or

2) Eyes that say I am going to make a covenant not to look on the thing that could bring me into temptation

We need to ask the Lord to give us eyes that long to look on what is good and right.

Now, Jesus will tell us about two kings of masters in Matthew 6:24.

Mathew 6:24. Loving money means loving self.  Master and slave.  What His listeners would have heard was it is not possible to be a slave to two things.  We see this in Romans 6:16-18: slaves to evil and slaves to righteousness.

James 1:6-8 also talks about this: double-minded.  He wants them to acknowledge they are a slave of God now.

Two masters: earthly and heavenly.

Verse 25. Jesus says this: "therefore." The whole next discussion is based on what He's just talked about.  

Verses 25-27. The "therefore" is telling us that if we choose the wrong treasure, the wrong eye, the wrong master, we will be anxious.  We are seeking after things that can never give us what we need them to give us.  Anxiety among women is more than men.  We have turned worry into an art form.  "Don't worry about the clothes you will wear or food etc."

The issue here is extras that bring glory to us.  Jesus picks up on that in verse 26.  He's going to unpack that He is a "how much more God."

Verse 27 - adding to our span of life or a single inch to his height.  What is the meaning that is lurking here? It's who wouldn't want to add more stature to the way that they proceed.

Verses 28-29. Solomon is outwardly clothed beautifully but the lilies are outer and inner beauty - internal and external holiness.

Verse 30. Jesus is pressing on an OT reference here that He wants them to remember.  Isaiah 40:7-8 "the grass of the field" is us. "You little faiths" is the literal translation.  He reveals worry for what it really is: an act of faithlessness.  Because God has promised He will give us what we need.  When we don't believe this, we are calling God unfaithful to do what He's promised or be who He says He is.

Verses 31-32. "Therefore." He knows we need.

Verse 33. Jesus is saying your goal is not to have all the things you want or need but your goal is to have treasure in heaven, and have eyes that are fixed on your Savior, and to know that there is one master you need to serve.

When that comes into line, we cease worrying because our heart is set in the right place.  Our decision making changes and we will see we did have everything necessary for life.

Verse 34. "Therefore". Jesus has said there will be trouble but we can be free from worry.

1) How can we be a person who has one treasure, one vision and one master?  Where is our heart divided? Ask God.

2) What anxieties have you treasured?  Ask God.

Next: Session 8 Judging Others

 

Session 6 Sermon on the Mount: Secret Righteousness

I didn't take notes on session 5 because it was mostly on divorce and oaths.  The main thing there was don't swear oaths wrongly and don't treat divorce lightly.

Jesus has covered the don'ts of what a righteous citizen of Heaven looks like.  He will change now and look at the "do's".

Jesus will push further on line-walking.  He's pushing us towards what must we get away from?  In our righteous acts, there are things Jesus will address with our heart issues.  He's going to talk about 3 things:

1) Giving

2) Prayer

3) Fasting

Mattew 6:1-18 (read)

Jesus teaches these 3 things in an orderly way.  There is a rhythm to the text.

He starts with a general statement of not performing your righteous acts to receive mens approval.  Who do we have to understand this?  Because the praise of men becomes your reward when you do your acts of righteousness before others.  It says "when you..." not "if you".  He's going to discuss motives.

The formula He uses:

1) When you....

2) Do not be like the hypocrites - the show offs.  But we all on some level are dealing with hypocristy - not just in the church.

3) Truly I say to you...Jesus is speaking truth where error has been taught or implied.  He's going to tell us His authority in the way righteousness should be practiced.

4) "They have received their reward"- forfeited the praises and reward of God for man.

5) Then He will give a challenge - "sees in secret".

This is not a prohibition of these three things because we see in scripture these things being done in a public manner.  We must reconcile Matthew 5:16 with what He is saying here.  "Let your light shine" - "see your good deeds".  Now in 6:1 he says "beware of practicing your righteousness......to be seen".  How is this even consistent?  Understand where the conversation has gone.  In 5:16 Jesus is combating the sin of cowardize.  In 6:1 He's combating the sin of pride.

There is a time to show and a time to hide. That time depends on our motives.

When He says "obey in secret", He gives a challenge to examine our motives that are a current contrast to the pharisees.

6) The other part of this formulat is to say "Father who sees in secret will reward you".  "Your Father" - it's personal.  A relationship between a Father and a child.  A loving Father and much loved child.  A Father who sees is a caution to us and a comfort to us.  He sees through the smoke and mirrors.  He also sees our motives when our actions fall short.  The Omniscence of God is a comfort to us.

We do receive a reward from Him now as well as in the future.  We receive that purity of heart.  We also have a reward "not yet" - one that will come when the Kingdom is consumated.  Acts of righteousness with humility and not pride.

Giving. Mattew 6:2.  Sound a trumpet in the streets.  This use to happen.  A parade of sorts when offering your offering at the temple.  This was accepted.  These men were respected so the people thought they were setting a good example.

How can your left hand not know what your right hand does?  What does this mean? Jesus is using hyperbole here to show to us a kind of giving that is almost unconscious.  It's as close as we can get to not counting the cost and not looking for a reward.  So how are we like this? Giving money and wanting your name on the building.  Giving to curry favor.  We can give in secret to bless others.  Giving without getting in return - a great form of giving.  We steward what we've been given.  It's the Lord's anyway.

Prayer. Matthew 6:5-6.  Notice "you" and "your".  He's turned the discussion on us and saying "examine yourself".  The issue here is not what their bodies are doing but where their hearts are in it.

The tax collector/pharisee. Humility and pride.  What does it mean to be someone who prays in secret? The way we can know if our prayers in secret reflect the right attitude is to ask "do my prayers in secret and my prayers in public sound any different?  Prayer voice versus regular voice.  Ask ourselves: "do I pray in private and not just publicly? 

Matthew 6:7-8. Pagans heap up empty phrases.  When pagans offer prayers to gods of their own, they load on the vocabulary.  Do we use "catchy phrases" or speak without thinking?  Jesus here is not speaking against persistent prayer.  Jesus is talking about an aimless approach to prayer.  So Jesus will tell us what He means.

Verse 9. The Lord's prayer starts with worship.

Verse 10. Allegiance then submission.

Verse 11. Petition.

Verse 12. Confession.

Verse 13. Deliverance.

God doesn't lead us into temptation.  See James 1:13.  It means "Lord lead us away from the temptation", that left to our own devices, we will walk right into it.

We need to think about the content of our prayers.  What do most of us go to when we pray?  Petition. It's also not a check list.  What if all prayer was for worship? Wouldn't that alone be reason enough to pray without ceasing? It's interesting that the Lord's prayer, just like the beatitudes did, begins first with that vertical relationship.  Vertical to horizontal.  The Trinity is seen in the Lord's prayer.

Verse 11 - daily bread (Father)

Verse 12 - forgiveness (Son)

Verse 13 - deliverance (Holy Spirit)

Verses 14-15. Jesus reiterates forgiveness.  Does this mean that our forgiveness of sins is contingent on us forgiving the sins of others? No. It means that those who recognize their sins have been forgiven by God, will go and forgive the sins of others.

How can I know if my motive for praying is off?

1) Does the majority of your prayer happen in public or in private?

2) Are your prayers dominated by requests?

3) When your requests go unanswered or receive an answer of no, do you feel your prayers are useless?

4) When you finish praying, do you feel better about yourself or more dependent on God?

Prayer reorients us to understand the Kingdom is His and the agenda is His.  All that we receive comes through His hands.

While the prayer of the hypocrite results in pride, righteous prayer humbles us by reminding us that we are small and we control nothing.

Fasting. Matthew 6:16. Jesus assumes that fasting will be a part of our practice.  He shows us how not to fast in verse 16.

Verses 16-17. "anoint your head" - "wash your face".  Not a ritual.  Just be normal.

Verse 18. The pharisees had found a way to make fasting much ado about themselves.  Fasting that honors the Lord is done between us and the Lord.  What does fasting do?  Why not eating? There's no faster way to recognize that we are like the grass of the field, a mist, a vapor.  The Lord sustains us.  Jesus' point on all these is don't exalt yourself with what was meant to humble you.

Giving humbles us because we acknowledge we are merely stewards of someelse's things.

Praying humbles us because we acknowledge we are small and in control of nothing.

Fasting humbles us because we acknowledge we are frail and utterly dependent on God's sustaining grace.

Our motives matter.

How do we know when we should show what we're doing and when we shouldn't? F. B. Bruce says: "show when tempted to hide, and hide when tempted to show". 

Jesus is saying right actions must have right motives to be Godly obedience.

Next: Session 7 Matthew 6:19-34

 

 Session 4: Sermon on the Mount

"You have heard that it was said".

Looking at the righteousness of a disciple and what that looks like.

Matthew 5:17-18

Look at this "I say to you".  He didn't come to do away with the law but to make it deeper, fill it up through my own obedience and deeper interpretation.

Matthew 5:19-20

His listeners would have been stunned to hear this.  Their thinking was that the scribes and pharisees were most holy people.  Jesus will point out that these people who are regarded as the most righteous are those who have had an external emphasis on obedience but not an internal emphasis.

He is going to now key in on the relaxing of the commands.

In what way were the scribes and pharisees relaxing the law and teaching others to do the same? Jesus will start with murder and adultery.

Verse 21. The problem was the way the law was being applied.

Verse 22. "But I say to you". One who speaks with full authority of God.  Jesus has strong words in this verse regarding murder.  He is going to correct their assumption that "as long as I have not jabbed a knife into someone and taken away their physical life, then I am not guilty of the sin of murder".

But Jesus says it's not enough for you to just have external righteousness; murder begins in the heart.

He will show them the progression of their thinking. He says three things:

1) Angry with brother - liable to judgment

2) Insults his brother - liable to courts (Sanhedrin) ("Raca" in Aramaic sounded like you're clearing your throat - contemptible sound)

3)  You fool - hell fire

The term "you fool" in contrast to "Raca" is a progression. "Raca" means empty-headed. Saying "you fool" is taking it a step further - morally worthless.

Jesus is showing that we start with anger and move to contempt.  Contempt continues to degrade until we see others around us not just as one who gets on our nerves but someone who is worthless.  If you follow His logic to the end, He's saying once you have assigned worthless to a person, you're not that far away of committing murder.

Jesus is using hyperbole here.  He's going to use extreme examples because He wants to make a connection between our outward actions and the state of our heart.

He shows also that anger turns into sinful speech quickly.  We need to understand the difference between anger and contempt. Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure.  It's not morally right or wrong in and of itself in its very first stages initially.  It's what we do with them.

Jesus got angry a few times: 

1) The temple

2) Withered hand

We hold onto our anger and cultivate it - wrong.  Anger is simply our natural response to having our will violated.

What's the difference between our anger and the anger Jesus displayed in scripture?  Jesus is angry because His Father's will has been violated - that is righteous anger.

How often is our anger righteous?  Not often

Jesus in 33 years get angry twice.  Even though He lives around people who violate the Father's will every day.  His words and actions were on behalf of His Father's will not His.

Anger - Contempt - Murder

When we begin to engage in contemptuous speech, what do we end up doing? We commit character assassination, even though we didn't physically murder, which is wrong.

Murder begins in the heart - Jesus is saying.  He gives us a way to reconcile in verses 23-24.

Verses 25-26. "When you offer your gift at the altar".  We don't offer our gift at the altar anymore.  The way to think about this is "if your brother has anything at all against you".  Jesus wants us to understand that unresolved anger interferes with our worship of an Almighty God.  When there is all kinds of friction in our horizontal relationships, we need to go and resolve it quickly before it becomes something that blocks that vertical relationship with God.  We've set aside purity of heart to hold onto our anger.

Ephesians 4:26 means choose your time well and quickly.  "Don't let the sun go down....." does not mean to stay up until 2:00 a.m. hashing it out.  Don't let your anger linger.  The term "brother" here means those you share faith with.

In verse 25, He broadens our understanding of how to handle reconciliation - "accuser" now.  What He is saying here is before you get to a place where you will be thrown to justice, see if there is a way to work in mercy and grace.  Even if someone has accused you of something, whether true or false, you go, you try to reconcile.  This echoes Romans 12:18.

Fractured relationships are our responsibility to mend.  Why? We know Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers right?  But we're the ones who know what it means to be reconciled to God.

Jesus then moves on to His next topic which is adultery.  There is a definite connection between murder and adultery.  Adultery only happens when anger and contempt fester in a relationship.

Verses 27-28. "But I say". Someone waiting to devour a woman with his eyes - lustful look takes in the image to use it to fulfill desires.  Different than just looking at a beautiful woman.

Verses 29-30.  What is happening here? Jesus using hyperbole here.  (Origin of Alexandria).  (The counsel of Nicea). We do not maim ourselves to keep from sinning.

What has been His focus thus far? He's addressing line-walking.  These who say "how close can I get to sin before I've actually sinned". Jesus is going to reduce to absurdity what the scribes and pharisees believe.  They believed that if your arms and hands were obeying themselves, then you were righteous - eyes also. 

With Jesus it's always internal, a heart obedience.  Women indulge in lustful thinking as well.  Sexual as well as the perfect marriage, guy, husband etc.  Lusting after a husband who is not ours or a feeling.  Lust is wanting something that isn't ours.  Adultery begins in the heart.  We must forgive.

1) Walk in forgiveness toward others because of Christ's example.  Those who commit these offenses towards us are doing this in ignorance.  Look at Luke 23:33-34.  But they do know.  Jesus says "no". If they knew who I was they would not do this.  Their eyes are blind.  Do we extend that kind of grace? Give the benefit of the doubt to those who stir up our sinful anger?

2) We walk in forgiveness towards others because of Christ's provision.  The very best reason for us to set aside our anger to those who offend us.

I Thessalonians 5:9.  God is not angry with us.

Colossians 3:12-13. Bear each other.

God put His anger on Christ.  There is no more anger coming our way.  It was poured out on Him.  May the vision of Christ on the cross bearing the anger of God come into our minds when we are offended.

Next: session 5

Session 3: Sermon on the Mount
(Mattew 5:13-20)

Moving on now to what the influence of a citizen of the Kingdom should look like.

He begins by giving us two every day examples of life of what the influence of the believer should be.  He then will move in to talk about why He has come to earth.

Verse 13. Salt. We think of salt differently than Jesus did or the times did.  Salt loses its taste? That doesn't make sense to us.  The salt in Jesus' time was not pure.  It was usually collected from the dead sea, so it had a lot of bits of grit and dirt along with the salt.  If you kept your salt in a container and it happened to be exposed to the elements and got wet, what would happen?  It dissolves.  The salt would dissolve out and what would be left would be road dust, dirt, fit for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled upon.

For us, we think of salt as primarily a seasoning for food.  Salt then was a preservative.  This salt influence will tell us how we are to be as citizens of Heaven.  Salt was not inexpensive in Jesus' time.  Salt was given to Roman soldiers as their pay, because salt was valuable.

Salt was:

• Valuable
• Practical - preservative and prevented infection
• Useful

Salt was included in offerings in the old covenant.  A "covenant of salt". When salt was included in those covenant offerings, and when they were burned on the altar, everything would burn away except for the salt.  Why? Because it's a mineral.  It's all that is left symbolizing the Lord preserves His covenant.

Jesus' listeners would be familiar with this.  Lots wife - pillar of salt.  Why? She "looks back" - preserves a love for sin.  Maybe this: "if you preserve and savor sin in the past, I will turn you into a preservative". 

Salt serves as a preservative.  It prevents infection and decay.  As believers, we are called to have that moral effect upon the world.

Salt in blood, sweat and tears.  Cleans wounds.  (Ezekiel 16:4) - rub newborn in salt.

Does the decay in the world around us arouse in us a sense of discouragement or a call to action? We are called to be agents who deflect infection and decay in our world.  What does a bad influence do? They influence by what they model, casual suggestions, making light of things etc.  We are to be a positive influence that people will see it.

Salt makes things palatable.  What do Christians make palatable? Colossians 4:5-6 "seasoned with salt".  Add flavor to our words; graciousness.  Our actions which help people lower their defenses.

What happens when we have too much salt in our diet? We get thirsty.  This is another way to ask "how can my influence be in the world around us?" Does our life make others thirsty for the things of God?

Verse 14-15. Light of the world. We think of light in modern terms.  We flip a switch and the light comes on.  In Jesus' time, when the sun went down, no light until the sun comes up the next day.  This is why so many references to God as light and why many ancients worshiped the heavenly bodies.

Revelation reference that "He Himself will be our light" means these other lights will no longer be worshiped only God, our true light. Jesus is identifying with something that is true about the Godhead. We reflect the Godhead by being light.  We need to be seen and not hide or conceal the light.  We conceal it because we don't want the blessing of persecution. 

What is lights role in the natural world? It reveals what is hidden in darkness.

When we walk in righteousness, our lives become a light that shines in the darkness on others sins.  How do they feel when their sin is exposed? They don't like it.  When we are the light of the world, persecution will come our way.

• Light causes things to grow.  Our influence on the world means that we reveal things that are hidden by the way that we live. Also, we cause the growth of righteousness just by being righteous.
• Light shows true colors.  Many people out in the world want to offer a secondary light to the lost.
• Secondary lights validate us in our sin and cause us to believe we see the world more clearly than others.

When we come to saving faith what happens? Blind eyes are given sight.  The light of the gospel reveals the world the way it truly is, and we live differently because of it.

Notice what Jesus has done here because it's masterful.  He has taken two examples salt and light; salt is low and common.  Light is high and exalted.  Think about Adam who is common, made from dust and the breath of God breathed into him so he is created in the image of God.  In God's economy these paradoxes make sense: rich become poor in humility.  The first shall be last etc.

Our influence is to be everyday and common and also something that is exalted and noticed.

Verse 16. Let your light shine. How can you know your influence is being felt? Because the glory will go to the Father.

Verse 17. Why would they think He has come to abolish the law and prophets? He is answering the unspoken conclusion of His listeners.  They have heard Him talk about what it means to be blessed and have influence in the Kingdom of Heaven, and what they have heard has been shocking to them. Their silent conclusion is "whatever He has come here to do, He has come to completely overturn life as we have known it". 

He has come to fulfill the law and the prophets. Jesus loved the law and obeyed it perfectly.  He's going to make a deeper interpretation of the law. 

Verse 18. "I say". This is significant.  He's going to set on edge his listeners, those who have over time become His greatest adversaries.  Why? Because He's taking a well-known formula in the OT and appropriating it for His own use.  "Thus says the Lord". Now it's "I say to you".  When He says this, He's communicating to His listeners "I speak with the full authority of God. I am God".

The difference of being a non-believer under the law and condemned by it and a believer who has grace is that now the law becomes something for us that is under us pointing us towards righteousness.  The unbeliever obeys the law to earn.  A believer knows that they are poor in spirit and lacks the spiritual resources.

Why then do we obey the law? Because our obedience to the law isn't a way to earn favor but a joyful response to the grace we have received.

The reason Jesus did not come to abolish the law is because the law represents the character of the God who put the law into place.  God's character does not change. 

Verse 19. "Does them and teaches them". Practice what you preach.

Verse 20. The scribes and pharisee were the holiest of men, well respected.  Pharisees best at obeying the rules. The problem with their obedience is that it was not a deeper obedience but outward only.  The motive was not joyful gratitude.  It was to make much of themselves.  They taught to obey the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law.  They were the least.

You must pursue a deeper obedience.  Right motives and right actions.

Righteousness that exceeds the pharisees is both internal and external.  The righteousness that exceeds is the very righteousness of Christ.  It was given to us because we could not obey a jot or a tittle of the law.

Next: Session 4

Session 2: Sermon on the Mount

My notes from Jen Wilkin's session 2.

The disciples were new to Jesus and vice versa.  What would the disciples be thinking about at this first sermon?  What did they know of Messiah?

1. Someone who would free them from Roman rule.

2. A King in the literal sense.

3. Thought He would restore Israel to its former greatness.

4. They think the Kingdom of Heaven is finally going to be set in place here on earth.

Jesus is going to tell them what His Kingdom is going to be like.  He gives His expectations and crushes their earthly expectations beginning in Matthew 5.

He utters 8 simple statements that will completely overturn everything they are expecting.

Mattew 5:2-12 Jesus has set expectations beyond what His disciples expected.  He describes for them the character of what a Jesus follower is and what a citizen in this Kingdom is.

We so often think with these beatitudes that we will be blessed if we are these things.  But what He is saying is something different: the Divine benediction rests on this kind of person.  The beatitudes are not a list of "do-ing".  It's a list of "be-ing".  Two things Jesus shows us in the beatitudes:

1. Where character takes root (v. 3-6)

2. How character bears fruit (v. 7-10)

Verse 3

Poor in Spirit. Who does the world see as blessed? Those who are rich in the things of this world.  But it's poverty in Spirit: insufficient resources to help ourself.  We must recognize that we lack these resources.  

Character takes root in spiritual poverty.

Verse 4

Mourn.  This is a different kind of mourning.  This is a mourning over sin.  Remember Nehemiah reading the law and the people grieve.  They understand that their sin is an offense to God and their hearts are broken.  

Character takes root in grief.  A Godly grieving over the sinful state of our hearts.

Without grief there is no comfort.  We search for things that will give us comfort when we do not grieve over our sin, when our poverty of spirit is revealed to us. For the citizens of Heaven it will not be so when we see our poverty in spirit and mourn over our sin.

Verse 5

Meek. Meek is not weak. Meekness is someone who sets aside their will for the sake of someone else.  How does a citizen of Heaven know what it means to be meek? By first being poor in spirit and then mourning over their sin.  When they see what their way has brought them, they say "not my will but yours".  

Character takes root in meekness - "not my will but yours".

Why will the meek inherit the earth? Because they set aside their will and want His.  They recognize that everything in this life is for His joy and glory and when we have recognized our poverty and mourn our sin.  Therefore, we inherit the earth.

Verse 6

Hunger and Thirst.  Righteousness: utter purity of Character.  We hunger and thirst for Christ (our righteous One).  Communion table is a great example of this.

The blood of Christ - "I thirst"

The bread of Christ - "I hunger"

These are more nourishing than anything we can crave.

There is no satisfaction that awaits us outside of those things.

Character takes root in famine - in a hunger and thirst for the things of God.

Progression:

1. Poor in Spirit

2. Mourn

3. Lean meekness then...

4. We hunger and thirst for the right things

The Lord is transforming us.  This is a picture of salvation.  Think of the Prodigal son:

1. Sees his poverty

2. Grieves

3. Meekness

4. Then hungers and thirsts to be filled

As citizens of Heaven, we make a habit of remembering these 4 things: poverty, grief, submission and famine all point our relationship vertical to God.

Next, how character bears fruit (horizontal relationships)

Verses 7-10

Character bears fruit. Vertical - love the Lord....heart, soul, mind, strength. Horizontal - love your neighbor.

We see the same pattern here in the beatitudes.  Once we hunger and thirst for righteousness, the Lord begins to do a work in our hearts that enables us to act differently in our relationships.

The first thing we see is in Matthew 5:7:

Merciful. Can you image what the disciples thought? They wanted justice from being oppressed by Rome.

The fruit of growing righteousness is mercy for those who offend us.  Why? Because we have been the offender too.  When we've offended, we want the offended to give mercy.  This does not mean that we earn God's mercy.  It means someone who has experienced God's mercy gives mercy.  

So character bears the fruit of compassion - we act out what we have seen the Lord do for us.

Verse 8

Pure in Heart. What does that mean? Pure = unstained. It has a literal meaning as well: like a vine that has been refined by fire.  A torch used to refine a vine.  This is the picture here.  They are not sinless, the pure heart, but their desires are being purified as by fire.  "He will give you the desires of your heart" means He will give you new desires.  Desires sometimes that have been refined by fire and trial, or by failure, but He uses those firey times to refine us and reshape our desires, so that we long for the things of Heaven and God.

So character bears the fruit of purification - desires reshaped and refined as if by fire.

Verse 9

Peacmakers. The disciples are not expecting to be men of peace.  They are expecting to be men of war.  How do we make peace as citizens of Heaven?  We make peace between man and man (mankind).  A peacemaker is different than a peacekeeper.  Peacekeepers manage the status quo.  Peacemakers actively set out to reconcile brother to brother, sister to sister.  They are called the Sons of God because what are one of the names given to Jesus?  Prince of Peace.  

Character bears the bruit of reconciliation.

Verse 10

Persecuted.  Why would someone who is a peacemaker be persecuted? Why doesn't the world love peacemakers? We are also called to make peace between man and God.  The way we do this is not by saying God has a beautiful plan for your life and loves you.  It is more often by saying "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". When that is our message, persecution will follow.

Verses 11-12

We can know that in those times of terrible trial, there is a greater purpose.  He needs the disciples and us to understand that this world is not our home.  Trials reminds us that we should hate sin and long for Heaven.

He sets this expectation for them and the perfect example for them.  we must understand this when we read this list of blessed.  

OT speaks of curses, but we need to understand that when Jesus invokes the word blessed here, He is laying a stark contrast to what they are used to hearing.  Blessed are you when character takes root and fruit.

Being persecuted for righteousness sake is a fruit of identification.  We identify with Christ in His suffering and we are called blessed.

Character bears the fruit of identification with Christ Himself.  Why is it possible for Jesus to go up onto a mountain and speak a blessing over the people? Galations 3:13-14 is why.  Jesus becomes a curse for us so we might be called blessed.

• Jesus who took on poverty
• Jesus who grieved for our sin
• Jesus took meekness and set aside His own will for the Father's for 33 years
• Jesus who hungered and thirsted that the Father's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
• He is most merciful
• He is most pure in heart
• He is most peaceful
• He was more persecuted than we could ever be for He had offended none

Meditate on what it means to be a citizen of Heaven.  Is character taking root?  Is character developing fruit?

Next: Session 3 Matthew 5:13-20