A Year of Summiting the Mount

1 year. 

12 months.

366 days...it was a leap year.

8,784 hours.

527,040 minutes. 

All of it spent dwelling in three chapters of the Bible. Matthew 5, 6 & 7. 

It's changed my life. I'll never preach again without the Sermon on the Mount influencing everything I say. I'll never be able to walk through life again without snippets of this sermon floating around in my head. 

I'm grateful. I needed this sermon this year. Our church needed this sermon this year. 

But as I place my commentaries and resources from this series back on my bookshelf, I find myself a bit saddened. These books and these red letters have been my companions for the past 12 months. 

I believe the Sermon on the Mount is the center of Scripture. It's Jesus' central message. It's the life we're called to live as followers of Jesus. It's "The Good Life." 

It seems impossible. But at the moment I sense the sermon's hardest pinch in my life, I'm relieved to listen again to the first word out of Jesus' mouth in chapter 5...

"Blessed"

And that's the way I feel at the end of 2012. 

If you've spent the year wandering through Matthew 5-7 with me, feel free to use this as a resource in the future. Pass it on to friends and loved ones. 

If you're stumbling upon this blog for the first time in this post, perhaps you'd like to start a similar journey through the Sermon on the Mount this year. The thoughts and questions found on this blog are just bread crumbs I've left for you to find your way toward "The Good Life" that Jesus offers.

Let me conclude with the list of resources I used this year as we journeyed through the Sermon on the Mount.

-Matthew 5-7 (the indispensable words of Jesus)

-Living the Sermon on the Mount - Glen Stassen

-The Divine Conspiracy - Dallas Willard

-The Good and Beautiful Life - James Bryan Smith

-Heaven on Earth - Josh Graves & Chris Seidman

-Lucky - Glenn Packiam

-Matthew and the Margins - Warren Carter

-Matthew For Everyone - N. T. Wright

-Various Commentaries - (Word Biblical Commentary & Interpretation)

"The Good Life" - Week 29

Week 29 - Matthew 7:24-29

"The wise man built his house upon the rock...the wise man built his house upon the rock..."

Tomorrow morning I preach the final sermon in a year-long series through the Sermon on the Mount.

What a year!

And it ends on a note of challenge.

You have a choice.

Will you be a wise person?
Will you be a foolish person?

That's the choice.

What's similar about the wise/foolish person?
-Both experience a storm.
-Both hear the words of Jesus.

What's different about the wise/foolish person?
-The wise man hears the words of Jesus and puts them into practice.
-The foolish man hears the words of Jesus and does not put them into practice.

Jesus is calling us to practice what he has preached.

In Matthew 7:27, the sermon is finished, but the question is: Will it be done?

You'll have to answer the question.

"The Good Life" - Week 28

Week 28 - Matthew 7:13-23

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

If you've grown up in church or if you are familiar with the Bible, you've heard this verse. Likely you've heard it used to prove the smallness of the kingdom. If so, then you've heard the traditional interpretation that the doctrinally sound are the ones on the narrow path.

I could write the rest of that sermon. Next, the preacher quotes from 2 Timothy 4 about a time will come (and apparently is now here) when "men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

So, be a part of the one true church where we have our doctrine correct. Anyone who disagrees with us disagrees with Scripture. Those who disagree with us either haven't heard the truth or have had their itching ears scratched.

But is that what Matthew 7 is really about? Is it about doctrine?

I don't think so.

So, if the narrow way isn't referring to our doctrine, what is it referring to?

We have to read this text in context. Be a detective. Read the rest of the chapter and it should become clear what the narrow way is really referring to.

I'm leaving you with this mystery. May the Spirit reveal the truth to you as you listen this week.

As you dwell in Matthew 7:13-23, here are a few questions to consider and comment on:

1) What is the narrow way? Read the context carefully. (Hint: next week's sermon on the verses that follow will help you.)

2) How can you tell a false prophet from a true prophet?

3) If people were judging your authenticity by the fruit of your life, what would they discover about you?

4) What are some ways that Christians (those committed to putting the kingdom on display) might seek to implement this passage in 2012?

(If this post has frustrated you and you can't discover the narrow way, please listen to my sermon this Sunday. Check out the sermon archives at www.littletonchurch.org)

"The Good Life" - Week 27

Week 27 - Matthew 7:6-12

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."

Who are the pigs and dogs?

And why is Jesus calling us to judge so harshly right after he tells us not to judge at all?

Jesus isn't talking about animals. He's talking about people, which is quite disconcerting. Pigs and dogs aren't exactly the most flattering animals the Messiah could use to talk about people? Who is Jesus referring to?

Many interpreters assume Jesus is telling us not to preach the gospel to those who are unwilling to hear it. A Calvinist might agree with that interpretation. But as a church in the freewill tradition, it seems a bit hard to hear Jesus telling us to be careful about whom we share the good news with. (Just look at Matthew 28)

Some of the Church Fathers contended that Jesus is telling the church not give communion to unbelievers. But that doesn't exactly fit the context of Jesus' sermon either.

So, who are the pigs and dogs? And what is Jesus referring to when he talks about pearls and sacred things?

I'll leave you in suspense until Sunday. I've got a hunch and it's quite relevant during election season.

As you dwell in Matthew 7:6-12, here are a few questions to consider and comment on:

1) Who are the pigs and dogs?

2) What is Jesus referring to when he talks about pearls and sacred things?

3) How could verse 6 possibly make sense in the context of verses 1-12?

4) What are some ways that Christians (those committed to putting the kingdom on display) might seek to implement this passage in 2012?

"The Good Life" - Week 26

Week 26 - Matthew 7:1-5

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

Matthew 7:1 has to be one of the most relevant passages in all of Scripture for our postmodern world. It's a verse that non-Christians throw in the face of Christians often to point out our failure to follow Scripture.

A few years ago, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons put out a book called UnChristian. In it, they shared their research of the 6 most prevalent assumptions 18-29 year olds hold about Christians. And 1 of those 6 was that Christians are "too judgmental."

And you know what I say, "They were being judgmental for calling us judgmental."

Just kidding. But you can see how judgment has a way of being a tit-for-tat game that never ends.

Is Jesus telling us that we should never pass judgment on anything? Doesn't that contradict plenty of other parts of Scripture? Doesn't that contradict verses in this same passage? Are we just supposed to turn off our brains?

I don't think so. But the passage is difficult.

And if you're anything like me, you have something at stake in how to we interpret this passage. Because I'm pretty good at judging people. I'm really good at it. But is that a gift from God or a sin that destroys relationships? My answer is: Yes!

As you dwell in Matthew 7:1-5, here are a few questions to consider and comment on:

1) What does it mean to judge? What is Jesus condemning?

2) In what way does Jesus promise judgment when we judge others? Is that divine judgment or human judgment?

3) Spend some time dwelling on the humorous image in verses 3-4. How have you been played out this embarrassing drama?

4) What are some ways that Christians (those committed to putting the kingdom on display in 2012) might seek to implement this passage in 2012?

"The Good Life" - Week 25

Week 25 - Matthew 6:25-34

"Do not worry..."

Don't worry?

I might have been wrong. Maybe loving enemies isn't the hardest thing to live out in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus seems a bit impractical in this command.

We have an odd way to think about our things.

Sorry, my words already betrayed reality. "My" isn't an adjective I can give to the things in "my" possession. Scripture teaches that we are not owners. You don't own anything. You are merely a steward...a manager.

But it's amazing how many times I use "my" as the adjective to describe the things I steward.
-my job
-my car
-my house
-my wife
-my kids
-my computer
-my body
-my _______

And when we use the adjective "my" that often, we commit ourselves to worry.

When you don't own a car, you have no car to worry about. You might worry about transportation, but you won't have to worry about insurance to protect your car.

When you don't own anything, you aren't committed to worry.

Jesus isn't suggesting that we go without things. Jesus is suggesting that we consider ourselves as stewards instead.

What would it look like to replace ownership with shared resources in a community? The restoration vision looked like Acts 2, a community that considered themselves to share everything and own nothing. We would do well to follow their example.

As you dwell in Matthew 6:25-34, here are a few questions to consider and comment on:

1) What is it that worries you most? How does ownership relate to that worry?

2) Does it make you worry any less to know that God takes care of the birds of the air and flowers of the field? Why or why not?

3) What is the difference between an owner and a steward/manager? How does that change our understanding of generosity?

4) The Acts 2 community understood and valued shared resources over ownership. How might the 21st century church seek to bless its members and community with shared resources?

5) What are some ways that Christians (those committed to putting the kingdom on display) might seek to implement this passage in 2012?

Gone to ACU Summit

Clint Askins, our Youth Minister, will preach this Sunday on the topic of generosity and stewardship.

I will be out of town for ACU Summit. For more information on Summit, check out my blog at www.collinpacker.blogspot.com.