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. Learn 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

Peacemakers. 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? Galatians 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

 Session 1: Sermon on the Mount

This is session 1 of the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7.  Jen Wilkin is the Bible teacher in this 9 session series.  These are my notes from session 1.

Session 1 is the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.

Context of Sermon

Written by Matthew 65 or so A.D.  Matthew wants the Jewish audience to understand that Jesus is the Messiah who was foretold.  He's going to build his gospel around this, which is why there are 66 references to the OT here.  He wants the Jewish audience to understand - "this is the One."  

Chapter 1

He wants them to understand Jesus as King starting in Matthew 1:1 - geneology.  

Chapter 2

Christmas story.

Chapter 3

John the Baptist enters.

Matthew 3:1-2.  A phrase introduced "The Kingdom of Heaven" 33 times in Matthew, 6 times in the Sermon on the Mount.

The Kingdom of Heaven

The Kingdom of grace here and the Kingdom of glory hereafter.  The already and not yet.

The Kingdom of Heaven is our present reality and a future greater reality.  

Chapter 4 

Temptation, calling of disciples.

Chapter 5:1-2

We then go into three chapters where Jesus is going to unfold what He was preaching in 4:17 - "repent......".

If Jesus' message was this in 4:17, what do you think His message will be in the Sermon on the Mount? "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

Let's look at how the Sermon on the Mount is setup in these verses: 5:1:

1. The first question: why are there crowds? Look at Matthew 4:23-25.  Because He has been doing miraculous signs and wonders.

2. Who is His audience?  What did this sermon say to its original hearers? 5:1-2 - His disciples were taught by Him.  Primary audience: the disciples (12).  Secondary audience: the crowds.

3. Why does Jesus sit down?  The language in these verses is very deliberate.  He's proclaiming Jesus as King.  Psalm 80:1-2.  Hebrews 1:3 - Jesus is seated.  The mercy seat is where Jesus sits.  He is being portrayed for us as the King.

4. Why on a mountain side? Matthew 17- transfiguration.  Matthew 24.  Matthew 28 - Great commission on mountain sides.  Why these scenes on a mountain top by Matthew? Go to Exodus 19: 9-20.  The law given.  Exodus 20:18-21 fear.  People stood far off.  Moses draws near.  No name given in Matthew of the mountain.  Look at the contrast in Exodus and Matthew.  Jesus gives the law of liberty in Matthew.  God with us.  Isaiah 2:3 - in Matthew, this prophecy is fulfilled.

Treasure that we can draw near.

Next: session 2

 

God of Covenant: Genesis 12-50 Session 10

 

Welcome to session 10 of Jen Wilkin's God of Covenant Genesis 12-50 study.  These are my notes from that session which concentrated on Genesis 48-50.

Genesis 48

Verses 1-2. The names Jacob and Israel are still going back and forth.  Jacob at this point is very weak nearing death.

Verses 3-7.  He is still expressing the loss of Rachel.  He is now also doing something very interesting.  He's saying he wants Joseph's sons born in Egypt to be his adopted sons.  If you're familiar with the story, we know that Ephraim and Manasseh become two of the 12 tribes.  But how does that work if there are already 12 sons that Jacob has from his marriages?  We will see from the prophecies that were spoken over them there are two tribes that will sort of vanish into the rest of the tribes, Jen says.  Also, when you remove the name of Joseph, you end up with a total of 12.  Basically, you have a number of 12 sons and a number of landed tribes within the nation of Israel - tribes who have an alotted land portion.  The list of names in that are not identical, she says.  This will be talked about later.

Verses 8-10. Why does it play out this way in these verses?  What does Israel/Jacob know?  Jen says this: "he can't rely on his physical senses to be certain of who it is he is about to bless so he says "who is here?" Bring them close also.  He needs to kiss them and embrace them so he can verify their identity.  He does not want to fall in the situation he was placed in when Laban married him to Leah and when he deceived his father Isaac.  Joseph is about 56 years old at this time, so his sons are probably in their early 20s.

Verses 11-12. These sons of Joseph sat on Jacob's knees.  There's something going on in the Hebrew language here, Jen says, that we can pay attention and learn from.  Remember the baby wars story?  Look at Genesis 30 where it says about Rachel - "on my behalf". In Hebrew, this would be "on my knees."  We understand at the time this was legal to say the child will be adopted as my own but it was after the case the adoptive parent was there at the birth to catch the child on her knees when the child was born.  What we are seeing here is most likely a reference to that same idea - that they have been brought to the knees in a symbolic way to note that they are now going to be his adopted sons.

Interesting to note that one son is of an Israelite woman and the other an Egyptian pagan woman.  In the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh we see a "firstfruits" fulfillment of the grafting of the Gentiles into the family of God, per Jen. 

Verse 13. Joseph is steering them forward in their birth order so the oldest will receive his blessing and the younger as you would expect.

Verse 14. Now here what is Jacob/Israel doing?  He is intentionally crossing his hands before he gives the blessing that the younger receive the blessing of the firstborn. 

Verses 15-16. He is (Jacob) reiterating the key ideas of the original covenant that was given to Abraham.  Notice that three times he mentions God.  Why is he repeating the name of the God of Israel with such consistency?  One probable reason is because of where Ephraim and Manasseh grew up - Egypt.  He wants them to understand this blessing comes from YHWH.  Interestingly, "the God who has been my shepherd" - we note that Jacob was a shepherd and so he understands this, but this is the first place in all of scripture where God is referred to in the terms of a shepherd.

Verses 17-20. Jacob here finally comes to understand.  He's not acting here out of his own will.  These are meant to be prophecies from the Lord.  Jacob finally understands to submit his will to a God who makes the last first and the first last.

Verse 21. Notice the significance of this statement in verse 21. Back in Genesis 28:15, God said to Jacob "I am with you." Again in chapter 31:3 God said "I will be with you." In chapter 31:5 and 35:3 Jacob acknowledges "God has been with me." Now he assures his offspring "God will be with you."

Genesis 49

Verses 1-4. Reuben here is not to be forgiven. You will see this if you follow Reuben's tribe throughout the OT. They have very few descendants and none who are of note in the rest of the Biblical record.

Verses 5-7. What do we see in these verses?  He's referencing that terrible day in Shechem due to, in many ways, his inaction.  Because of this incident, they also are removed from his favor in his final words.  Judah is now left in the place of honor.  Simeon's tribe does actually get dispersed to other tribes in the OT.  Their borders get undefined.  What about the tribe of Levi - the priesthood? They were not given a land allotment.  So these prophecies come true later on in Israel's history.

Verses 8-11. The longest prophecy is to Judah who is in the line of Christ and to Joseph who is a type of Christ.  We can see Christ in these passages.  Look at verse 10 - we see this reference to royalty.  This is the line through which David will come - Judah. We know that Christ has been prophesied as the King who will sit on the throne of David.  The phrase "until tribute comes to him" - "until it comes to whom it belongs" is another interpretation.  Read it again with this translation: the septer shall not depart from Judah, nor the rulers staff from between his feet, until it comes to whom it belongs.

Remember when Jesus enters into Jerusalem He intentionally rides in on the foal of a donkey.  Also, in Revelation we see Christ pictured wearing a robe dipped in blood.  There are many ties between Revelation and Genesis.

Verse 13-21. Prophecies about the other sons.

Verse 22. Joseph's prophecy gives five different names for God.  All of these blessings we can hear spoken over the person of Christ. "Almighty" the word for El-Shaddai, many commentaries trace back to the Hebrew word "Shad" which actually means "breast."  God as nourisher.

The 12 tribes excludes Joseph and Levi, but includes Ephraim and Manasseh.  The number 12 means completeness.

Verses 28-31. Notice "my wife" here.  Leah at last dignified in death.  Israel will be buried by the wife he married first.

Verses 32-33. Israel dies.

Genesis 50

Verses 1-3. Even the Egyptians are called to mourn for the father of Joseph.  Think about the sovereign God in this.  You know what the Hebrew practice was for burying their dead? Many Jews practice this still.  When someone dies, they are buried within 24 hours.  But when Jacob dies and requests that he would be buried in the land of Canaan, and dies in Egypt, he dies in an ancient land that has made an art form out of death.  So Jacob passes away in the place that was most capable of preserving his remains so they can be carried back to Canaan as a down payment that that land will be theirs!

Verses 4-6. Pharaoh shows a sign of great respect and trust.  You can contrast this with Exodus 1.  The first statement after the geneology is "now there arose a king in Egypt who did not know Joseph." But now, here, he does.

Verses 15-17. A lot of statements here.  Another deception in these verses by the brothers.  Notice how Joseph responds "Joseph wept when they spoke to him." Why? Because he wanted the years of deception to be passed, most likely.

Verse 18. Another acknowledgment of what Joseph had said years before "fell down before him."

Verse 19-20. This is not personal.  Good has come from this is what Joseph is saying.

Verse 21. He said he will provide for them so don't fear.  Joseph was kind and comforting.  

We need to ask ourselves, as in verse 20, "am I in the place of God?"  Many live trying to be exactly that.  Let's let God be God. For us, we can have the same relationship with the God that Joseph served.

Verses 22-26. The original audience who hears this know the story of the Exodus.  They know the awaiting promise and that Joseph spoke of what is going to happen.  He died at 110 years old.  Abraham 175.  Isaac 180.  Jacob 147.  Why not let him live longer?  Look at Enoch's story: a small lifespan but the most righteous life.  Joseph had a short life lived well.  Exodus picks up the story right where this paragraph leaves off.

In Hebrews 11 the names and events correlate to Genesis.  Notice at the end it says "though commended through their faith did not receive what was promised" (verse 39).  Verse 40.  What does this verse mean?  It means they saw only part of what we look back on and see in full.  We see the story of redemption from beginning to ending.  How much more should we look back on the finished work of Christ and celebrate the riches that are ours in Him. In doing this, their stories are brought to perfection and completion.

Look at Hebrews 12:1 - what is this great cloud of witnesses witnessing? The sense of the text here is that they stand witnessing the faithfulness of God to all generations.

The God who said He will do it will surely do it.

 

Welcome to Session 9 of Jen Wilkin's Genesis study.  These are my notes for this study.

The original audience would be thinking of how did the children of Israel end up in Egypt?

Chapter 41 was where we left off the story.  There we saw Joseph in a position to give bread to the world.  We also looked at 16 parellels between Joseph and Christ (look at the blog post "Tracing the Picture of Christ in the Life of Joseph").

Joseph was a "type" pointing to the greater reality that we see in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 42

Verses 1-5. Notice here what is happening: the old favoritism line is still rearing its head.  The famine Joseph predicted begins to reach Canaan.  It's severe enough that Jacob tells his sons to go get grain.  They will die without it. Notice Jacob's tone though here: "why are you looking at one another?"  He doesn't understand why they didn't initiate this on their own.  Who does he send? The sons of Leah. He holds back Benjamin because of his old favoritism - Rachel and her offspring.  He feared harm would happen to Benjamin.  He doesn't fear harm to the others but he does to Benjamin.

Verses 7-14. Why does Joseph keep accusing them of being spies?  He's trying to set up a test so he can learn a little bit about them - their motives.  Have they changed or are they still the same? They do give Joseph some important information: their father is still alive.  He knows also that they believe he is dead.  They also say "sons of man." Why? They are appealing to the fact that being spies is an unlikely scenario.

Verses 15-17. Why does Joseph say for them to bring Benjamin there? Probably a motive would be he wants to ensure that Benjamin is protected during the time of famine.  How unexpected is all of this? Let's see what 3 days locked up does to them, maybe Joseph is thinking.  

Verses 18-21. What do we see happening among the brothers with their dialogue? They have examined their conscience and they begin to believe that their misfortune comes from the mistreatment they gave to Joseph.

Verse 22. What is happening here with Reuben's words?  Reuben is now being the guy that everybody hates - the "I told you so" guy.  What was Reuben's main concern back then regarding Joseph? An act of self-preservation.

Verse 23. Joseph was understanding all of their conversation, even though there is an interpreter between them.  Apparently, Joseph is not speaking their native language that is why they do not recognize him.  The Egyptians had a very different cultural style than the Hebrews as well.  The Hebrews would have had full beards. Joseph was probably clean shaven.

Verse 24. Joseph wept.  He heard them expressing regret of what they did to him.  Simeon is bound.

Verse 25-35. Joseph sends them away with grain and their money.  They feared.  They trembled.  They tell their father all.

Verse 36. How does Jacob respond? (Notice too that he's "Jacob" again and described as "their father"). Classic Jacob "me."  This whole thing is a problem for him. Never mind the collective harm that could come.

Verse 37. What is Reuben doing in this verse?  He's doing what Reuben does - making a play to regain his father's favor.  How does Jacob take it?  See verse 38.

Verse 38. He immediately rebuffs him.  Hurtful speech by Jacob.  Disregard for Leah's sons endures.

Genesis 43

Verses 1-5. The brothers return to Egypt.  Why? Because the famine is very severe and they have run out of grain.

Verse 6. Notice Jacob is called "Israel" again.  He does not want them to take Benjamin, even though this is the only choice they have of getting grain and Simeon is still there.  It's still about him (Jacob) being mistreated.

Verse 8. We were told to keep our eye on Judah.  Judah uses Jacob's language in the desperation of the situation.  Judah has shifted the issue of "me", "mine" of Jacob to a "we" situation.

Verses 9-10. Once again, we see Jacob as we saw him in Dinah's story: frozen, unable to act and locked up in fear.  Judah appears to be a chastened and changed man.  What does he do? He offers to stand surety for Benjamin.

Verses 11-14. How does Israel respond? We see it here in these verses.  He says to take double the money.  It's not that they can't pay.  It's just they don't have the resources where they are - they can't get grain unless they go to Egypt.  But they think it's a matter of money.

Verses 15-22. We see next Joseph planning a feast for them in his house.  The brothers think it's a trap to do with the money they found in their sacks.

Verse 23. Notice what the steward says: "peace to you....." What we are seeing here is a loving act of deception in a story that has been full of unloving deception.

Verses 29-32. He still has to see if anything has changed.  He's still not sure about them.  We find later on why the Egyptians cannot eat with the Hebrews.  They believe that the herdsmen whole trade was an abomination but this will end up being for the protection of the Hebrew people.

Verse 33. Why would they look at one another in amazement? Because somehow Joseph knows their birth order.

Verse 34. Things began to relax a little bit here.

Genesis 44

Verses 1-12. Once again, Joseph tests them.  The final test is the silver cup hidden in Benjamin's sack.  The brothers apprehended.  The cup is found in Benjamin's sack.  Benjamin must remain as his servant.  The brothers are, of course, devastated.

Verse 13. They are going back thinking they cannot take Benjamin with them.  What does Joseph say Benjamin's fate will be? A servant in Egypt.  They didn't see a problem with doing that to Joseph but now they have changed.

Verses 14-17. Look what happens with Judah.  He speaks up for them all.

Verses 30-44. Judah basically says he is pledged to protect Benjamin.  He will remain in place of Benjamin.  Judah has changed.  Judah becomes a substitute.  He wants to bear the cost.  He wants to take on the punishment himself.  We see Judah:

• become like a firstborn
• look an awful lot like the one who will come through his line: Jesus Christ Himself

Genesis 45

Verses 1-3. "They were dismayed." Of course! They thought he was dead and they were responsible for it.  Now, Joseph is powerful.

Verses 4-8. Wow! "I told you so." Joseph does what he has done throughout the story - he is a virtuous man.  Joseph understands that God is always with him.  He wants his brothers to understand that it was God in all of this.  He wants them all to dwell in Goshen.

Verses 13-15. Reunited and re-establish a relationship.

Verses 16-23. He shares his joy also with Pharaoh.  Pharaoh is pleased.  Joseph sends them back with the things they will need for their journey to and fro.

Verse 24. "Do not quarrel on the way."  Jen will come back to this.

Genesis 46

Verses 1-3. Why do we need God telling Jacob again that He will make him into a great nation?  Because "Egypt" is considered self-reliant, so the assurance is given to Jacob that going to Egypt is exactly what He wants him to do.  It's not about self-reliance now but about a famine.

Verse 4. You have this statement that He will go down with Israel to Egypt and also bring Israel up again.  You can hear that in two ways: as a promise to Jacob the man but to the original audience they would know God was talking about them.  What does "also bring you up again" mean in this case? He's going to ask that his bones be carried out of Egypt to Canaan.

Verses 5-7. All came to Egypt.

Verses 8-22. Here are groups of lists of names.  The total coming to Egypt were 70.  What we have seen are geneologies used in specific ways.  They are not primarily concerned with giving us an accurate list of descendants.  They are concerned with teaching us something that is happening about the names.  When we see here 70 names, we can see a pattern that has been common in Genesis of a multiple of 7x10.  Two numbers that signify completeness.  We can know that the number that came in was the complete number.

Verses 28-34. We see that Jacob and Joseph are reunited.  Joseph will coach them on what they need to say.  They needed to let them know they were herdsmen.  This way, they could live in Goshen outside of Egypt (where they can be fruitful and multiply).

Genesis 47

Jacob's family settles in Goshen.  Jacob also has an audience with Pharaoh.  He speaks a blessing over him. What is being indicated here is that Jacob is the greater and Pharaoh the lesser.  Moses preserves this in the text because he wants the original audience to know that there was a time when the ruler of Egypt bowed to the rules of Israel.

The plight of the Egyptians begins to deteriorate over the course of the chapter, to the point that they are selling their livestock in exchange for food.  They end up indenturing themselves.

What is happening with the people of God?  They are thriving in Goshen.

Verses 27-31. Why is Jacob so adamant to not be buried in Egypt?  Because he finally understands that his God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and is the God who has promised the land of Canaan to the Children of God. They may not dwell there now, but he wants his bones put there as a deposit that they will return one day.

Conclusion

Jen makes comparatives of Joseph with Jesus.  This story is a promise.  It's a picture of what the individual knows of salvation.  It is a picture of what the family of God knows of salvation.  It points toward a deep place of hope that though we may now feel that we live in a land of famine, she says, that we are headed to a place where hunger and thirst are completely met in the person of Jesus Christ.