Why the Sermon on the Mount?
It’s a new year, church! And it promises to be one of change and uncertainty that exceeds the norm. It’s an election year that is a rare fit for the overused term “unprescedented;” we mourn the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine; we encounter so many forces in the world tugging on our hearts and our loyalties, telling us to hope in politics, money or innumerable other things to find security and the good life. In such times we can be anxious, fearful, & distrustful, wondering what God is doing—wondering what it looks like for his kingdom to come, his will to be done. But what does it look like for us to follow and hope chiefly in Jesus now? What is the mission of the church and of Christians now? These questions are some of the reasons I’ve decided to embark on this sermon series through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It represents Jesus’ most comprehensive teaching on what it looks like to live as his followers and witnesses in the entire scripture and it is both challenging & radical. Because of this, it is historically both the most commented on and among the most explained-away sections of scripture. Indeed, many interpretations of the Sermon can rightly be called, “Versions and Evasions of the Sermon on the Mount,”[1] inflicting upon Jesus’ glorious teaching a brutal death by a thousand nuances. I don’t want to do that here. It wouldn’t serve you well. For our own good, we need to let Jesus’ words lovingly slap us in the face and wake us up every now and then. Some of us need him to throw us a sturdy rope, not a wet noodle.
Instead, my desire is to walk with you as a fellow stumbling follower of Jesus, receiving his unvarnished gospel and letting it confront our sin, encourage us in our suffering, undermine our short-lived worldly sources of hope & security, and shape us more into the image of Christ. Along the way we’ll find that Jesus’ answer to how we flourish in the middle of uncertainty is not through establishing our security in the world, but embracing the way of humility, longing, and self-giving love in Christ Jesus. There is never a wrong time to apply the Sermon—it never goes out of style–particularly when we feel threatened and the world seems to be on fire. As we’ll hear this week, Spirit-empowered Christian faithfulness to the self-giving and humble pattern of Christ Jesus our King is the apologetic our fractious world needs most and the life that will most satisfy those who put their faith in Jesus. It is this wholistic gospel-anchored life of humble & public faith that makes us salt and light in the world.
As we go through this series, I encourage you to consider adding some other practices to your personal devotions that will expand on your understanding of the Sermon on the Mount beyond what you receive on Sunday mornings. It just so happens that The Bible Project has also decided to spend this year reflecting on the Sermon in their weekly podcast. You can find it by clicking here. They’ll also periodically be releasing articles and videos expanding on the Sermon’s various themes. You can view the introductory video here:
Bible Project: Sermon on the Mount
If you want to go even deeper, I’ve included my bibliography of books I’m consulting for my sermon preparations below in the order of their importance.
Sola Gratia,
Pastor Mark
- Pennington, Jonathan T. The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, a Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2017)
- McKnight, Scott. The Story of God Bible Commentary: The Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013)
- Carson, D. A. Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 1987)
- Ridderbos, Herman N. The Coming of the Kingdom (Philadelphia, PA: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Group, 1962)
- Boice, James M. The Sermon on the Mount, an Exposition by James Montgomery Boice (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1972)
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[1] MacArthur, Harvey K. Understanding the Sermon on the Mount (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960)