Sojos Q&A church Feb 24

Q: Who was the audience of the Sermon?

A: Everyone. It explains Jesus' view of life. He is explaining it to his disciples and to the crowds who have come to him because of his abilities to help them with their physical, relational and spiritual problems.

Q: Who is the Sermon for today?

A: Everyone. The idea is that no matter how we are living, even if we are the poor, mourning, meek and starving, there could be a blessed life for us. In fact, God is directly addressing the kind of human problems that make us that way. He wants us to live the blessed life we were intended to live, and that is one of righteousness, peace, purity and mercy. Jesus tells us how life in him works.

Q: So is the Sermon the way to go to heaven when we die?

A: No. The Sermon is how to live out the way of heaven now as the children of God. It is the vision and instruction of how life should work.

Q: So what does the Sermon say about being "saved"?

A: It says we can be saved from a meaningless life by living a righteous life. It also says that a righteous life is not about trying to do religious stuff to look good. A righteous life starts with the root and leads to the fruit. It is about being a new creation (lamb not wolf). It is a warning that just because you can claim to be 'righteous' does not mean that you are. He warns very strongly at the end of the Sermon that people will be shocked that their idea of 'righteous' was not good enough. Why? He says what matters first of all, at a foundational level, is that he knows you. If you do not have the foundation of a relationship with Jesus you will not survive the future.

Q: So why do we have to follow this? If we are saved by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then why should we care about the Sermon? Maybe it's just something to help us see we can never be good enough so we will just pray to accept him.

A: The reason to follow the Sermon is to live the blessed life under God's heavenly rule. It is how life was meant to be lived. Why do we "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior"? Because he is Lord and we need to be saved. Saved from what? First we are saved from God. In Romans 5 it says we are his enemies because of our sin. Jesus exchanged his righteousness for our unrighteousness. What happens is that God's grace, received via our faith, saves us. But why? God adopts us, his former enemies, as his dear children. He intends for us to live life abundantly. That is what Jesus is offering. The how to live a blessed life.

Notice that we are saved by Jesus being are substitution so that we can live like Jesus lived:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:1-6)

How did Jesus walk? The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus explaining to everyone how life is supposed to be lived. The Sermon is Jesus command on how to live out the way of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus knows what he is talking about. Who else should we listen to about living a blessed life?

 

 

Matthew 5:3-10 The Beatitudes are the key to the puzzle of a blessed life

BLESSED ?	How so?
Poor in Spirit	Kingdom of Heaven
Mourning	Comforted
Meek	Inherit earth
Hunger for righteousness	Satisfied
τέλειός = mature	live for God
Merciful	Receive mercy
Pure in heart	See God
Peacemakers	"sons of God"
Persecuted for Righteousness	Kingdom of Heaven

 

They are the outline for what is about to be explained by Jesus. There are two sections explaining who lives in the Kingdom of Heaven:

 

1. The spiritually poor /mourn/meek/hungry (doesn't sound too positive)
   
2. the persecuted righteous/peacemaking/pure hearted/merciful (sounds positive)
   

 

What we want to ask is: "Are these Christians?" Without a long evaluation on the assumptions in the question, I will answer as simple as the question would like: yes, these are what we would call Christians. Jesus is talking to his disciples. These are people who believe in God and follow the Messiah/Christ. This is not a teaching on how to become a "Messiah-ian/Christ-ian", this is what life as a Christian looks like when followed through. This is the blessed life that follows from actually being more and more like the Messiah.

What comes in the center is a very short statement which is the key to the life that is best, the life that is blessed: Matthew 5:48-6:1

(5:48) You therefore must be telos (τέλειός), as your heavenly Father is telos (τέλειός).

(6:1) "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,

for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

 

So what is 'the kingdom of heaven'? Isn't that getting into 'the good place' when you die?        

The Kingdom of Heaven is the rule of the one who is in heaven: the Father. In other words, the poor in spirit (as defined by Jesus' teaching) and the persecuted for righteousness sake (as defined by Jesus) are the blessed ones who actually experience the matured reality of the Father of heaven in charge of their life. That is for here and now as well as for the time of reward from the Father. That is blessed!

Chapter 5 :11-48 explains how the persecuted for righteous are blessed by explaining a sequence of changes as a person who belongs to God learns to grow up in God. They replace contempt with a pursuit of peace, they replace hypocrisy with an unmixed heart, they live out mercy as they receive mercy. These are people of God growing up to be like him in their character.

 

Persecuted for Righteousness	5:11-20	KINGDOM of HEAVEN
Peacemakers	5:21-26	Sons of God
Pure in heart	5:27-37	See God
Merciful	5:38-48	Receive mercy

 

 

Chapter 6:1-24 explains how the poor in spirit are blessed. This is done backwards, from the hope of being mature (τέλειός ) in God back to where one needs to start. Mature? You would have to give because you want things to be right (not just too look good). That would also be your attitude for prayer which also comes from a brokenness shown in fasting which comes from a vision of neediness- a poverty of spirituality.

 

Hunger/Thirst for righteousness	6:1-4	satisfied
Meek	6:5-15	Inherit the earth
Mourning	6:16-18	Comforted
Poor in spirit	6:19-24	KINGDOM of HEAVEN

 

Chapter 6:25-27 is Jesus' responses to anticipated questions. How can this be a blessed life if I have physical, relational and spiritual concerns? He answers these because he knows from his own temptations in the wilderness how real these challenges are. He has also been ministering to these types of needs for huge crowds who have come to him for help.

Physical concerns?	6:25-34	Seek the KINGDOM 1st
Relational concerns?	7:1-14	A.S.K. God for help 1st
Spiritual concerns?	7:15-27	Foundation of relationship is 1st

www.telosxelot.blogspot.com

Beatitudes as Outline

What if the Sermon on the Mount was actually useful for how we are to be living now? It would be really important to learn it and to live it. How could we learn it well enough to live it? There is a key built into it; the beatitudes!

About Memorization:

Acronyms – a word from words

Snipers are taught how to focus on the basics of their craft with an acronym (a word where each letter marks a word you are to learn): BRASS

B=breath (the idea is that you need to stay relaxed all the way down to your trigger finger, so keep the oxygen flowing by breathing normally)

R=relax (choose to let your muscles be at rest, not tense)

A=aim (focus on your target and stay focused while you keep breathing in a relaxed manner)

S=squeeze (don't pull the trigger, that would pull your weapon just slightly enough for a bad shot. Slowly squeeze the trigger while keeping your aim in a relaxed state of normal breathing)

S=score (having done all of the above, you should hit your target consistently)

Every time a sniper aims at his target he needs to apply the training he has been given but must do so without a long lecture or manual. Thus, he says to himself "Brass" and flows through the movements with precision.

Songs – a story in Rhythm

Philippians 2:5-11 is an ancient song telling the story of Jesus' incarnation, life, death, resurrection and exaltation. We have a modern version of it.

He came from heaven to ______

To show the ______

From the earth to ____________

my _______ to _____

From the cross to ________, from the grave to ______

Lord I lift _________ on high!

Easy to memorize? Pretty much. If you know that song it is relatively easy to memorize Philippians 2:5-11 which is the earlier song and from there to tell the Gospel story quite naturally.

Chiasmus – X marks the spot

Have you ever heard people express concern about "X-mas"? The fear is that Christ has been taken out of Christmas and replaced with an X. Technically that is not the case. Originally it is not an X, it is the Greek letter Chi X which is the first letter in Christ when written in Greek; X=Chi.

CHIasmus is a pattern like an X that is designed to help us memorize something, or at least to see the highlight of what is important. Notice an X-like pattern forming

Main point for main Idea 1

    Sub-point A for idea 1

        Sub-point B for idea 1

Sub-point C for idea 1

Sub-point C of idea 2

        Sub-point B for idea 2

    Sub-point A for idea 2

Main point for main idea 2

It forms what kind of reminds one of the left side of X. That is what I see in the Beatitudes. There are two main points, the first and the last. How do we know? Let's look at Matthew 5:3-10

Matthew 5:3-10

(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

(4) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

(5) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

(6) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

 

(7) "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

(8) "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

(9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

(10) "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

What stands out?

Notice something in verse 3 and verse 10 that is the same – for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Those are like bookends to what is being said. They are the start and end to his main point. Where is the main point? X marks the spot. At the center of this structure will come the MAIN THING Jesus says his apprentices need to know to live the life that is blessed. (We will build up to that).

What else is interesting about these groups?

Which sounds more blessed?

1. Poor, mourning, meek, hungry and thirsty…
   

       or
   

2. Merciful, pure, peacemaking righteous..
   

The two groups are not identical in tone, even though they both relate to for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Yet, Jesus says they are both blessed.

WHY???

That is what we will explore on Sunday!