Transforming Habits

Spiritual Guidance through the Sermon on the Mount

Stephen W. Robbins

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9781606083239
  9781498252614
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498275156
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Human activity, both good and bad, cannot be explained merely by DNA and brain chemistry. Though disappearing in our modern world, moral knowledge is accessible. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches how to be a truly good person. With moral authority He describes the good life and gives direction to our will. Transforming Habits presents an accessible and straightforward study of the Sermon on the Mount. Each chapter addresses one of Jesus' preaching points and ends with a "Sermon Application"--questions to ponder and "transforming habits" (i.e., spiritual disciplines) to practice. Designed to help you live as God intends, this study (1) focuses and expands your vision of what life looks like in His immediately available kingdom, (2) builds your intention to live with Him as a disciple of Jesus, and (3) provides you with useful means to do this in everyday life. Whether you read it on your own or in a small group, this study of the Sermon on the Mount provides spiritual guidance for your journey on the road of transformation--to God's glory and your joy!

1

The Sermon on the Mount

(1) And when [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. (2) And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying, . . . (Matthew 5:1, 2)

Which of the following sayings of Jesus are found in the Sermon on the Mount?

a. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

b. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”

c. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

d. “However you want people to treat you, so treat them.”

e. All of the above.

The correct answer is “e.” The Sermon on the Mount contains many of Jesus’ famous sayings. Here we find His teaching in concentrated form—no narrator, no interruptions, no discussion. In “red-letter” editions of the Bible, the ones that print Jesus’ words in red type, we see a lot of red. In fact, we see only red when we read Matthew 5–7, the three chapters in the Bible that record the sermon.

As a way of introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, let us look at the s.e.r.m.o.n.’s . . .

Setting

Evangelist

Recipients

Message

Outline

Noteworthiness

The Sermon’s Setting

The summary statement in Matthew 4:23 (repeated in Matthew 9:35) and the introductory statement in Matthew 5:1, 2 set the stage for the sermon. The sermon is the first of five major discourses recorded by Matthew that show Jesus “teaching . . . and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23a).1 Likewise, the ten miracles recorded in Matthew 8–9 begin to show Jesus “healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23b).

Jesus “went up on the mountain” to deliver the sermon, thus the title, “Sermon on the Mount.” Mountains are where special events take place in Matthew, for example, the mount of temptation (Matthew 4:8), the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and the mount of the great commission (Matthew 28:16). Jesus often would go “up to the mountain by Himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23) and to rest, or at least try to (Matthew 15:29).

Jesus “sat down” to preach. Whereas our custom invites the preacher or teacher to stand and the people to sit, the Jewish custom of that day was reversed; the rabbi would sit and the students would stand (cf. Matthew 26:55).

Historically speaking, the sermon recorded in Matthew 5–7 (which takes about fifteen minutes to read) can be likened to a portrait. It gives an accurate impression of and corresponds closely to Jesus’ actual teaching ministry. It is not an abstract painting (as many higher critics argue) that obliquely depicts the original object and therefore invites and involves the observer’s contribution in determining the final product. Nor is it a photograph (as fundamentalists argue) that gives a word-for-word record of an event.

The Sermon’s Evangelist

Jesus was the preacher who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. He was not only a first century Palestinian Jew; He was the eternal Son of God. He was truly man and truly God at the same time. It was the “Word of God made flesh” (John 1:14) that preached the word on that Galilean mountain. The sermon and the sermon’s evangelist, therefore, are truly unique and God-sent.

Jesus holds the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. Each aspect of this work and service is evidenced in the Sermon on the Mount. As a prophet, Jesus spoke to man as the mouthpiece of God (John 3:34; 7:16–18; cf. Deuteronomy 18:18; Jeremiah 1:9). He faithfully revealed the word of God—the gospel of the kingdom of God—by neither adding to nor taking away from its eternal and intended meaning (Matthew 5:17–20). As a priest, Jesus fulfilled God’s will for man. He practiced what He preached! He lived in the reality of God’s kingdom; and He made it possible for us to do the same through His atoning death (Hebrews 8–10) and intercession (Hebrews 7:25). As a king, Jesus rules with absolute sovereignty (Revelation 17:14). He governs and protects those who live in His kingdom—those who hear and respond to the sermon’s message. He will judge all people accordingly when He returns in power and glory (Matthew 25:31–46; cf. 7:21–23).

In addition to the above divine traits, Jesus was the smartest man ever to live. And still is! He has the best information on the most important subjects. Small wonder the multitudes concluded after the sermon that “He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:29), and that the early church confessed that in Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

The Sermon’s Recipients

Jesus primarily addresses the disciples in His sermon. What began, though, as a small, private audience soon grew large as the multitudes made their way up the mountain to listen to what Jesus was saying. The crowd stayed to the very end and was “amazed at His teaching” (Matthew 7:28).

True recipients of the sermon are those who enter kingdom life through Jesus, bear good fruit, and build on the solid rock of Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 7:13–27). They are disciples; that is, they are students for life, learning from Jesus how to live and love under God’s rule in His ever present and accessible kingdom. The sermon is available to everyone, but not all will hear and respond by faith to its message.

The Sermon’s Message

Is the sermon (as some theologians argue) an interim ethic applicable only during what was believed to be a short period of time between Jesus’ first and second coming? No. Is it (as some hard-line Dispensationalists argue) not applicable for the present “church age”? No. Is the sermon (as some Lutherans argue) m...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Chapter 1: The Sermon on the Mount
• Part One: Invitation to Kingdom Living
• Part Two: Description of Kingdom Living
• Part Three: Decision for Kingdom Living
• Appendix
• Bibliography