Sermon change process

The change process in the sermon on the mount is focused on living a blessedly righteous life from God. The idea is that God gave us our physical, relational and spiritual needs and he is the one who will lead us to find real satisfaction in those areas. We tend to get frustrated in life when we try to satisfy some desire and end up causing problems in another area. It is like a Rubik's cube.

Jesus' teaching then is how to

1. Treasure wisely – count the cost of what really matters.
   

   In the sermon this is righteousness of God lived out in our lives. The teachings come from 5:11-20 and 6:19-24. 5:11-20 explains blessed are the persecuted for righteousness. 6:19-24 explains what Jesus means by blessed are the poor in spirit. Both beatitudes end with: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When we value what is valuable we find true life, even though it is not easy.
   

2. Mourning – by fasting we put off old coping habits.
   

   Peacemakers is explained in 5:21-26. Mourning is explained in 6:16-18. Together the idea is really rejecting wrong ways of coping. Specifically the issue described in 5:21-26 is our problems with other people and the need to put off contempt through aggression or avoidance. We need to deal with people and come up with practical solutions.
   

3. Meekly seeking – by prayer we learn to get our needs met from God.
   

   Mt 5:27-37 describes the problem with limited righteousness; it isn't from the heart. Mt6:5-15 describes how to pursue our desires in ways that don't make us hypocritical.
   

4. Generously giving – by giving to make a difference our lives matter in God's world.
   

   Mt 5:38-47 describes someone who is free to do right bravely because they have received mercy and are no longer fearful. They received mercy when they didn't deserve it, so they give mercy in the same way. Mt 6:2-4 makes it clear that the motivation is to affect what is needed, not to look good.
   

The central idea is that we are to grow up to be like our heavenly father by relying on him, not by acting like we rely on him. (Mt 5:48 and 6:1)

Concerns about physical needs are addressed in 6:25-34. God gave us our bodies and is therefore worthy to be the starting point of seeking to fulfill those needs.

Relational concerns are discussed in Mt 7:1-12. The temptation is to worry about others before we make any progress in growing up. Jesus says we mainly need to learn how to relate by relating to God by asking, seeking and knocking. That relationship should then define all of our other relationships.

Finally, spiritual needs are detailed in Mt 13-23. The emphasis is on asking whether we are following a way that really works vs. one that just appears to be working.

Conclusion: there is no point trying to look good if we aren't. We need to found our life on God and then we will be solid and able to experience good even when challenges come.

Lord’s Prayer; Our Father; Pater Noster; Disciples’ Prayer; model prayer…

The Pater Noster sounds really spiritual in Latin. Imagine hearing it in Elvish.

Tolkien's Pater noster in Sindarin

The prayer Jesus taught is to be understood. It is not magic. It should solicit our curiosity not because it is so unusual, but because it is so sensible. Jesus knew how to live wisely in a tempting wilderness. When he gives a pointer for wilderness sojourners like us, wisdom invites us to take the time to understand and employ such a brilliant bit of advice.

Below is the beginning of an exposition of Matthew 6:5-15. If we get the truth in this passage into our lives, everything can change. For Sojos-church we will take a couple of weeks teaching on this passage as we keeping exploring the sermon on the mount. For distant friends, please sharpen the iron. There is a secret place. It matters. I need help understanding and explaining it. Please share insights cyclically; for the whole body benefits from the whole body.

Matthew 6:5-15 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Two faces one reward

Looks as if spiritual but… treasure is social.

Reward? Not spiritual, only social.

(6) But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Secret place - earthly kingdom is the realm in which we can seemingly do things more or less without God. Heavenly Kingdom is where we enter into God's realm; that secret, seemingly absent realm in which we actually live and move and have our being.

(7) "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. (8) Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Ritual or conversation? God's view of prayer is a conversation between spiritual beings: God and a person made in God's image. The reason to pray is not to inform God it is to conform our spirit made in God's image to show more likeness.

(9) Pray then like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (10) Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

(11) Give us this day our daily bread,

(12) and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

(13) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Disciples' prayer:

1. Father's Kingdom is the Source
   
   1. Physical needs
      
   2. Relational needs - be forgiven based on forgiveness
      
   3. Spiritual needs - not temptation but deliverance
      

   (14) For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, (15) but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
   

IF we stand for self we stand alone

Refusing to grant a pardon is to challenge the Throne. Rebels beware.

Hungry? Thirsty? For What??

Why do religious people do the things we do? For reward? Yes. As much as we are reluctant to admit it, we want a profit. I give, I get. What do I want to get? The answer to that question will make all the difference on how I give.

Matthew 6:1-4 "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. (2) "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (3) But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (4) so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The problem is not that we want reward; that is built in by God. When we are hungry we think about how to get food. When we get it, we get rewarded with… satisfaction. What is our food? What do we value? The next few examples in Matthew 6 are about seeking rewards. We are tempted to crave the attention of people. If that is what we hunger for we will do things like giving in such a way as to be seen and rewarded with compliments, status and so on. What is a better motivation for giving? The reward of seeing what is wrong made right. Those who give resources or service for no other reason than they want to see God's right replace the world's wrong, they are blessed. How? They are thinking and living like they should, for one. How else? The Father will be the source of our affirmation, "Well done my good and faithful servant. Faithful in little? Be in charge of much."

More basically we are rewarded by the innate satisfaction of doing what we were meant to do. When we serve those who suffer from conditions of a world that is not right, we mover towards righteousness. That is what we are meant for; and it feels like it.

Blessed (living the right way) are those who are craving righteousness enough to just do what helps affect the problem regardless of whether they get noticed; they will be satisfied.

Lust Liberty Lies: working around God to get the goods

We want God and the things God doesn't want us to have. Tricky task, that. But that is why we have religious experts; lawyers. Having lived where there is no objective law it is important to say that lawyers can be a true blessing. Having also lived where lawyers can take money from a Good Samaritan leads me to the type we have in mind in Matthew 5. These are the lawyers who, for the right fee, can find a way to make the law work for you, not justice. YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID (from your best religious lawyers) how the Law can take prohibitions against sexual sin, covenant breaking and false advertising and find a way for you to cheerfully do all three and still hold a prominent religious status. Jesus did not like that. That is partly why we either like or dislike Jesus.

Lust

Jesus challenged the idea that as long as you did not actually follow through with adultery, you have done nothing wrong. So, people have learned how to use their imagination to target a person and have their way with them without having to deal with consequences (including rejection). But that makes for a creepy community. Eye contact should be an issue of mutually recognizing another soul. When one's eye is filled with dwelt upon lust, there is anything but real connection, soul to soul. There is abuse. God gave us a will, a mind, and a body. The will/heart makes choices. The mind/eye considers choices. The body actually carries out the choices. Treating someone like a 'sister' with polite body control is not the main issue. The heart is the main issue. If the heart has used the body to be around someone, the eye/mind to consider someone/imagine what could be with someone, and the heart/will has decided to indulge the thoughts (just cutting the body out of the enjoyment), they are not noble; they are just not caught.

Jesus says to purify the system. There should be consistency from heart-eye-body, not duplicity (hypocricy). If your heart does not want to have adulterous lust with someone, then don't allow your mind to ponder it, and if your mind can't help it because your body keeps bringing it to your mind, then restrict (mortify) your body. It is called discipline. Soldiers, athletes, musicians, and any other skilled person finds value in discipline. It is a good thing, though to hear some religious people recoil from the idea one would wonder. Is there room for GRACE if we have discipline? Discipline, rightly done, is the intentional application of God's grace in our actual physical, mental and spiritual lives. It is good!

Liberty

I remember being invited to a kid's birthday party and saying yes. I regretted it. Shortly afterward another kid invited me to go to a professional football game with him and his dad. I tried to find a way to get out of my commitment to the birthday party. The problem was that I had been really clear; I had made a commitment. Though my dad was a lawyer he did not share any of those really sneaky lawyer tricks with me. He told me that I had made a deal and I needed to keep it. It was the right thing to do. I am glad I did, but not because it was more fun than watching football. It was better to be a boy with integrity at a fairly average party instead of a boy without integrity at a really cool outing. We don't always believe that. We think that if there is more short term pleasure we should get out of our contract and get on with our pleasure. We don't get it. That kind of living is foreign to God and why we can't find Him even though we actually live in Him and have our being in Him. If our hearts were more pure our ability to see and live in Him would improve immensely. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Lies

Yes=yes, no=no. Should be simple enough. So what is Jesus referring to? The issue is 'swearing' on something with more credibility. To swear on the temple, altar, moon etc. is to somehow give extra weight to one's otherwise weekened 'yes' or 'no'. The problem is that none of those are under the control of the one making the promise. God's reliability is not transferred to someone who appeals to God's name, and ultimately, there is nothing that is not in one form or another traceable back to God. He is self-existent (I AM) we are contingent (I am because He Is). All we can say is yes or no with no other reference point than our own credibility. So if we are muddle hearted (adulterous eyes, clever contract wrangling, exagerated promises) we are not blessed; we are up the murky creek. However, if we are pure of heart, unmixed, clear... we are blessed. We can even see God for who he is. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Describing the whole Sermon, including Psalm 1 and Matthew 3-7

The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is written by a Jewish writer describing a Jewish teacher explaining to a primarily Jewish audience the idea of what life should be like; a blessed life. The first psalm in the Jewish book of Psalms also gives a picture of a blessed from a Jewish perspective: soak up the Torah, the revealed law of God, and you will be like a fresh, strong productive tree (instead of like the chaff waste blown off of grain which is to be burned. Matthew 3 builds to the Sermon with the proclamation of John the immersing prophet who is calling Israel back to God’s law. He warns religious leaders that they may think of themselves as trees, but they are not like the one in Psalm 1. They have become dead trees in danger of getting cut down by their owner.
Jesus steps forward and identifies with the repentance of Israel in the wilderness, but he also wants to show his allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is a Jewish way of saying the Kingdom of God. What is that? That is when and where God is in charge, sovereign, ruling. Jesus believes it an d demonstrates it in three distinct temptations at the end of an excruciatingly long fast in the wilderness. The wilderness time is numbered reflecting the wanderings of Israel. This one of God, unlike Israel, resists all temptations and is faithful. Neither the craving of physical needs like bread, relational needs like being seen as special enough to be saved miraculously nor the pragmatic temptation to spiritually compromise for earthly gain can make Jesus stray from his faith. Jesus shows that it is right to trust God as in charge because he is.
Immediately after the account of testing Matthew records how Jesus told others what he had lived: God is in charge here and now, so we ought to turn from how we are living to live in faithful obedience. Jesus and his newly chosen group of apprentices take this message to the people but soon have the people coming to them. That is when Jesus goes on the side of the hill and sits down his disciples, surrounded by those who look to him for blessing. What Jesus tells them is about the blessed life.
What is the blessed life? It is living in the rule of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Who is it for? It is for those you might not expect, the poor and persecuted, the mourning, meek and starving, as well as for the merciful, pure hearted, peace makers. It is for those who grow up in real righteousness from God, not from society.
The explanation of the ‘blessed’ life is done in sequence, with eight ‘blessed are’ statements being explained in eight descriptions. These eight are divided into two equal groups, each with a header and 3 main sub-points.
The first group of four has the persecuted for righteousness sake as the header. Jesus explains in Matthew 5:11-48 how real righteousness matured in us really is the way to live with God in charge. In Mt 5:11-20 he explains why a blessed life is about more righteousness, not safe, mixed or hindered righteousness. The problem with most people is not that they are ‘too righteous’, it is that they aren’t genuinely righteous the way God has always said to be.
So what does it look like to grow in righteousness? One must be committed to making peace. This mindset, that God is right and that reconciliation should be the priority, is the fundamental righteousness needed to be identified as sons of God. If in fact we are his children, because he made peace for us and now calls us to grow up in His provided peace, we should also have hearts of integrity, purity. If our hearts are clouded by partially suppressed desires, by rationalized selfishness or by exaggeration, we should not be surprised that we cannot get a clear picture of God. God saves people as a peacemaker to be a peacemaker, and that requires integrity. If we are to grow in God’s grace we have to not only get past outward contempt and manipulation, we actually need to be of one mind, of a pure heart.
If we grow in God’s grace like that, then we will be so fundamentally different in this world that we will inescapably feel the pain of going against the grain of this world. Persecuted for righteousness sake is all about being genuinely different, not just acting as if we were different, such that the world’s aggression does not convert you. As a child who has been adopted into God’s family and is growing up in His character, you would expect a pattern of behavior that is unique. Having received undue mercy, you would then live that way and give mercy to others. That cycle continues. Get; give; get; give… God’s way will become our way as we grow up.
But how do we actually do that? Chapter 6 verse 1 states that the key is living to God and not to the religious or any other human community. Take giving, for example. The merciful man is giving mercy for a different reason than the socially motivated giver. Though hypocrites give to be seen, the blessed way to give is to do so for the sake of righteousness. One gives to fix a need, and that need is not to be perceived by others as generous. (Mt 6:2-4)
Likewise the discipline of prayer is not about boasting, it is about meekly asking. By closing the door and privately asking the one who is Lord over the earth to rule here as He does where He is, the earth is gained. Essentially the world will be ruled by God (and ultimately is so now, even if we do not fully see it as such). By praying meekly, loyally for that kind of world, one is necessarily going to receive that kind of world; it is the only world that will ultimately be. (Mt 6:5-15)
How does one get to be so pure of heart that they ask God to rule and they mercifully give just because they want things to be right? They have to grieve over what they have been doing to contribute to the problem. By fasting we can break the addiction to rationalizing our way of living that is not righteous. (Mt 6:16-18)
But where does that start? The whole thing starts with wise evaluation. What is truly valuable? If one cannot discern value, one’s investments are doomed. Those who see their spiritually poverty as the urgent and important issue over and against the common assessment that financial poverty is the problem that needs to be fixed; well, they are blessed. (Mt 6:19-24)
So what we have seen is two sides of the mountain. Blessed are those who are own up to being poor in spirit and treasure not being poor in spirit. They will fast, pray and give in ways that are real and useful. They will not do works of righteousness to look good to men, they will be God’s works of righteousness and do things unto Him as is only appropriate.
These are people who are increasingly mature in righteousness that contrasts with the world. Breaking from selfishness they become peacemakers. Being at peace with God and desiring to be at peace with others, they pray for purity of heart to see God as their provision, not their manipulative tactics. These are people of mercy who give mercy and get mercy because they are increasingly growing up in God’s blessed way.
What of the rest of the Sermon? Jesus was tempted and knows that people will have some real questions. He addresses the concern for straying from this path of blessed living as people have real physical needs in 6:25-34. He deals with peoples’ concerns about needing to sort others out first in 7:1-12. He deals with peoples’ presumption that they already are righteous by addressing their foundational character in regard to their relationship to God in 7:13-27. He amazed the crowd for the simple fact that he disarms their excuses. The unrighteous life should not be the life we life. There is a blessed life, and it is built on Jesus and what he can teach those who will build on him.

PeacemakeR Ministries

A friend recently sent me a book called The Peacemaker by Ken Sande. I like it. It gives a very comprehensive and practical description of applying Biblical principles of making peace in very common situations. One item that stood out to me was a visual guide to the slippery slope in conflict. Some fall off to one side in avoiding problems even at the cost of relationships others to the side of aggression to win a problem even to the loss of relationship. It is a useful way to be aware of what happens to us when we come up against a challenge that calls for peace through wisdom and conviction to glorify God even if it costs us.

http://www.peacemaker.net/site/c.aqKFLTOBIpH/b.958151/k.5236/The_Slippery_Slope_of_Conflict.htm

Sunday March 9 – Broken Relationships

Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

It is markedly good to be someone who is about making the effort to be at peace with people. That is what God does. To do that as well is to show His nature through your actions.

Where does Jesus explain MT 5:9? MT 5:21-26 seems to fit. Let's see if it works:

Matthew 5:21-26 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' (22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. (23) So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, (24) leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (25) Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. (26) Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

The law that they have heard of old is righteous (right on the mark). We shouldn't murder. What Jesus says is an even more advanced idea of living rightly. Brotherly anger in the kingdom of heaven is of equal seriousness as murder was in the kingdom of Israel. If you use the obnoxious sound "raca" (sounds like hocking up snot to spit) to insult a brother contemptuously it is treason in the kingdom of heaven.

So what should I do instead of being contemptuously angry with my brother?

• Make peace with my brother. It is more urgent than giving a sacrifice to God. Sacrifices are symbolic of trusting God. Actions like making peace are actually trusting God.
  

What should if I am being accused?

• Try and reach a settlement knowing that only God can give thoroughly fair judgment. This is just practical. If you try to fight over every detail you may actually lose and end up wasting time in debtors' prison.
  

Be a peacemaker, it is God's way toward you and should be your way toward others.

Mt 5:11-20 very simply put

God's way of living is better than the world's way, even if the world bullies you (persecuted for righteousness)

• God's way of living is wasted if it is mixed with the world's way (salt example)
  
• God's way of living is wasted if it is pure but hidden (light example)
  
• God's way of living is more righteous than just being religious (life, not just talk)
  

 

Challenge for the week: Explain how living under God's direction is a good way to live (even when it is hard)

Come up with another example to explain how good + bad = bad (not good)

Come up with another example to explain how good is to be shared, not hidden

By the way…

Christ is our righteousness before God. Because he lived righteously, not mixing bad or hiding good, he actually fulfilled the way of God's Kingdom. He died for our failure to live right and was raised to life for…? For us to be able to start living more and more like him! Why? It is the best way to live!! Accepting Christ's righteousness is how we get adopted. Learning to live righteous like Christ is growing up in our adopted family. So, should we try to be righteous to get a relationship? No. Should we enjoy our relationship by trying the righteous way of life instead of the foolish way of life? I think that would be more than o.k., it is the blest way to live.

Matthew 5:11-20 How is your life as a member of God’s Kingdom? RIGHTEOUS!

Even though you get treated wrong for doing right, you are living right; you are living with God in charge.

Think about it. When God sent prophets who said and did things in obedience to God as King (the kingdom of heaven) how were they treated? Angrily. The world is trying to live AS IF God were far away and practically we are in charge. When we live defiantly like that we really don't like someone reminding us that we should be living loyally to the king. That is what happened to the prophets. If you are living God's way some people are not going to like it at all. They will even mistreat you. You are not to be joyful about their mistreatment directly, just joyful about what their mistreatment means: you really are living God's way clearly enough to enrage the people trying to distance themselves from God. You are experiencing the kingdom even while they are mistreating you. Think how much more you will enjoy it when the King is fully revealed!

Righteousness is like a little dish with salt in it. It is good unless people dip stuff in it in a way that the salt gets mixed up with stuff being dipped in it. What can you do with the salt then? Toss it. It is the same with righteousness. Even if you are righteous, but you are also unrighteous, the mixed character is not going to allow you to really experience God's way of life. Even thieves have right stuff that they do from time to time. Fair enough. But if they are also stealing, then their nice things done for the community don't really make them useful to the community. Their lawless ways mixed with their lawful ways leaves them lawless. So it is with righteousness. You can't experience God meaningfully as King while you are regularly in rebellion. You should be unmixed in your character, in your way of living loyally to the King.

But suppose you decided to never do 'unrighteous' things. Maybe you moved off to live in a cave. You wouldn't steal, kill, lie, commit adultery or any other blatantly unrighteous act. Also, imagine that you prayed morning, noon and night and studied the Word relentlessly. Well, you might be able to say that you were living unmixed; pure. Light is pure. Unlike salt, it can't be mixed. But Jesus has a warning for those who try and hide from unrighteousness: living like that is as useless as living all mixed up. You are pure, but blocked from usefulness. He uses the image of an oil lamp burning a pure flame. Is it pure, unmixed; even 'righteous'? Yes. But put a basket over it. Now is it right? No. It is useless. Righteousness is NOT the avoidance of bad stuff, righteousness is the success of right stuff. What do I mean? A doctor can never make a mistake if he doesn't do any surgery. But if he is a doctor and won't do a needed operation for someone he has done wrong. James, Jesus' half-brother says it this way: James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. I'm gonna let my light shine (no bushel basket blocking, eh).

Jesus realizes that some in the crowds, both disciples and others, are probably looking really confused by now. He makes his point extra clear:

Matthew 5:17-20 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Law and the Prophets is a common Jewish way of saying the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). They are God's revealed truth. They are actually supposed to be lived out. People were created to be wise, not foolish, loving, not foolish. The community of people loyal to God as King are not supposed to look for loop holes in God's truth, they are actually supposed to learn, live and teach them as the RIGHT way to live. So is Jesus saying we should REALLY live rightly (instead of wrongly)? Well, yes, I think it is fair to say he is. The Pharisees, like a messed up dish of salt or a blocked out light are less than what God as King would have. Do you BELIEVE that God is King? Are you a loyalist for the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, Jesus says you really ought to act like it. If you do you will experience that it really is a great way to live. In fact, its righteous!

 

“Blessed” “Kingdom of Heaven” “Righteousness”

We are going to give lots of discussion for some details for those who want to think a little more deeply on what is being said (and not being said) in the Sermon. I have written a relative straight forward reading of Matthew 5:11-20, what follows is a bit more back groung.

Let's consider the words of Jesus as recorded by Matthew. It is very likely that they are translations from Aramaic (the Hebrew of Jesus' day) to Koine Greek, the common language of the day (like English is worldwide today). Matthew is writing to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the Kingdom through David. There are assumptions that the readers will keep that in mind as they listen to what is being said. Luke is writing to gentiles. He has to say things in a way that are more of a meaning based translated. Sort of like speaking to people who live in Thailand we could write "then she said 'jai yen' na kha" or even "then she said 'cool your heart', please" and people aware of Thai should understand. If you were to write to people in the USA who aren't familiar with Thai idioms, you would write: "then she politely said to calm down". Comprende?

I will add each post separately so it doesn't seem to long.

“Blessed”

BLESSED is a word that people use in different ways. The useful question, though, is how did Jesus mean it?

3. Being in a desirable state or position, fortunate (Greek makarios)

This word is not related linguistically to the Greek verb for "to bless" at all, and the meaning is quite different, even though it is often translated as "blessed" in older English translations. It describes the state of the person who is being referred to; that he is in an enviable position, a good situation. Usually he is enviable because of the future good that he is going to experience, not because of his present state in this world. In contrast to the other words which are translated "blessed", there is no reference to God implied. This is the word that is used in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, "Blessed are those who . . ."
See: Matt. 5:3–11; 11:6; 13:16; 16:17; 24:46; Luke 1:45; 6:20–22; 7:23; 10:23; 11:27–28; 12:37–38, 43; 14:14–15; 23:29; John 13:17; 20:29; Acts 20:35; 26:2; Rom. 4:7–8; 14:22; 1 Cor. 7:40; Titus 2:13; James 1:12, 25; 1 Peter 3:14; 4:14; Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14.

Suggestions for translating "blessed" in sense 3:

It is good for those who . . .

Those who . . . are in a good position/fortunate
Those who . . . are worthy of congratulation

Some languages have an idiom to express this idea; for example "they have a good head". Beware of words or phrases which imply some kind of feeling or emotion on the part of the person who is "blessed". The meaning is not that such people are "full of joy, rejoicing" but rather that their situation is one to be envied. The English translation "happy" is not an ideal one.

Prepublication version, Key Biblical Terms in the New Testament; An aid for Bible translators, Katharine Barnwell, Paul Dancy, and Anthony Pope, Summer Institute of Linguistics

Hebrew: H833 / אשׁר / אשׁר / 'âshar / 'âshêr BDB Definition:
1) to go straight, walk, go on, advance, make progress
1a) (Qal) to go straight on, make progress
1b) (Piel)
1b1) to go straight on, advance
1b2) to lead on (causative)
1b3) to set right, righten
1b4) to pronounce happy, call blessed
1c) (Pual)
1c1) to be advanced, be led on
1c2) to be made happy, be blessed
Greek G3107 / μακάριος / makarios / mak-ar'-ee-os

A prolonged form of the poetical μάκαρ makar (meaning the same); supremely blest; by extension fortunate, well off: - blessed, happy (X -ier).

What does all of that mean???

Blessed is a DESCRIPTION of how someone is. There is a different word for blessing someone. It is like the Chinese word that is seen on T-shirts, tattoos, cards, posters…

What Jesus is saying, quite simply, is that the person he is describing in his sermon is the person who really is well off, they really have life the way it should be. This is different than the idea of a cause / effect idea of "if you become poor and persecuted etc. God will inject blessing into your life. The description of being blessed is not in addition to being like the person described, it is what such a person is by the very fact that they live that way.

How am I blessed by living righteously?

I get to be a person who lives righteously. That is a BLESSED (really good) way to live.

“Kingdom of Heaven”

What is the Kingdom of Heaven, and is it the same as the Kingdom of God?

"Kingdom of Heaven" is how Jews in the time of Jesus said "Kingdom of God". Luke writes to gentiles and helps them understand what Kingdom of Heaven means by translating it: "Kingdom of God".

So what is the Kingdom of Heaven (God)?

Kingdom is where a King rules. Kingdom of God is where God rules. That is what John the Baptizer, and Jesus, where trying to get people to realize. They said REPENT (turn your thinking around)! God IS ruling (the Kingdom of Heaven) is at hand (hear and now). Paul did the same thing with the folks in Athens when he explained that we don't feed and care for God, God cares for us. In HIM we live and move and have our being. He is ruling even when we can't (or won't) see it and believe it. That is why LORD is linked with Jesus well over 100 times and SAVIOR is linked with Jesus about a dozen times in the New Testament. We sometimes get confused as if Jesus is the SAVIOR who can become our Lord. The New Testament thinking is that Jesus is LORD who can become our savior.

So what does Jesus mean" for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"?

If kingdom of heaven is the rule of God, how does that relate to the idea of "going to heaven"?

The words for heaven are the same as the words for sky, air, space. They are the beyond the immediately physically. Really? Isn't heaven where God lives and Hell where the devil lives? Not exactly. The fallen spirits are surprisingly active in 'heaven/the heavens/the heavenly places'. Heaven shows up 6 dozen times in the ESV translation, in Matthew alone! Heaven is mentioned another 200 times in the New Testament. It includes some of the ideas we have of 'a place up there with God and people who die in relationship with God', but it means more than that. Consider:

A lying angel from heaven: Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Or

Ephesians 3:8-10 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, (9) and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, (10) so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Who?

Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The point is that 'heaven' is not as simple as we have often taken it to be. It is a reality that is currently all about us and most closely associated with the mysteries that stretch out endlessly as we look up into the night sky; but it is more than that, too.

So is there really a sense of 'heaven' as in "go to heaven when you die" and does that have anything to do with what Jesus is talking about when he says the kingdom of heaven?

Hebrews 12:22-29 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, (23) and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made complete, (24) and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (25) See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. (26) At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." (27) This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. (28) Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, (29) for our God is a consuming fire.

The kingdom of heaven, or if we lack Jewish understanding, the kingdom of God, is defined as where and when God is in charge. Could that be right here, right now AND eventually there and then? Yes. The problem is that we can't get a good look around us.

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, (10) but when the complete comes, the partial will pass away. (11) When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. (12) For now we see in a polished metal mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

The fact is that we cannot see the whole thing clearly, so we need to focus on the part we are told to pay attention to. What part is that? We are to be actively living with God in charge of providing righteousness as a gift by which we are adopted and the grace to live out the rightness of his ways such that our actual habit of living, our character, is righteous. We are to acknowledge by thought, word and deed that God is in charge here and there, now and then; that is the blessed life.

“righteousness”

So what is righteousness? Short answer: not wrongishness.

Righteous means: the way it ought to be. As Christians we are rightly amazed at the way Jesus lived righteousness (the way it ought to be) and then gave that to us by grace through faith. We should never lose our awe at God as the one who is by definition righteous and the one who describes righteousness in his written and living word. For the sermon on the mount, Jesus is using righteous in its most practical form. Try it:

Blessed (on track, getting it right) are those who are persecuted (treated badly by those who aren't right) because they are so thoroughly righteous (living the way they ought to live). Why? Because they are the ones who really are living AS IF God was in charge of right and wrong now and at the conclusion of history.

How would you paraphrase what Jesus said to someone without a lot of Jewish understanding?

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!

 

 

3 Temptations

1. Physical – make bread right now (you have needs) [lust of the flesh]
   
2. Relational – jump from the temple to prove your value to others (they will see you and be impressed) [lust of the eyes]
   
3. Spiritual – submit to the principles of this world to achieve (take pride, man! Dream the dream: I will, I will, I will, I will, I will) [Pride of Life]
   

The idea is that all of our temptations come from just three basic ones in the way that all colors come from three primary ones. I have physical, relational and spiritual needs. I often panic and seek fulfillment my way and on my time schedule. That is what Satan is all about. Do not submit, step up and take charge (see Isaiah 14:13,14 for the 5 "I will" boasts of Lucifer). Jesus in his temptation at the beginning and the end of his ministry says the opposite: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

Do you have any temptations that are not some combination of physical, relational or spiritual (how to use your will)?

Is it difficult knowing that your needs and desires are real, and often valid, but that you still need to wait upon the Lord?

How is the temptation story of Jesus relevant to you?

Temptation MT 4:1-10

Here is an excerpt from a chapter comparing Buddhism and Christianity I wrote a couple of years ago:

Like Siddhartha, there came a point when Jesus left town to encounter the ascetics. For Jesus it was his cousin, John the Baptizer, leading the call to repent (change actions due to a change in thinking). Jesus identified with those seeking purity before God and chose a course determined to fulfill all righteousness. God the Father affirmed him directly, but then God's Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness to face temptation by the devil. Into forty days of fasting the tempter approached Jesus three times.

The first temptation was a direct appeal to a specific desire Matthew records that Jesus had: hunger. The challenge was how to handle two competing realities: a real desire for food and a real belief in the access to the God of provision. Jesus' answer sets the tone quickly. Jesus does not deny that he has desire; he simply subordinates the desire of his flesh to the desire for faithfulness in accordance with the revealed scriptures. Life is not ultimately sustained by the impermanence of calories; life is sustained by the abiding Word of God.

Having resisted the lust of the flesh, the tempter takes Jesus to the most significant public place of worship. The temptation is for Jesus to be seen by others as the Son of God by means of a public miracle. Satan knows that one of man's greatest desires is to be seen as significant by others. This may be the dominant meaning of the term 'lust of the eyes'. Looking with lust on another is more an expression of the lust of the flesh attempting to be satisfied, even if just visually. The eyes we lust after, too often, are the eyes of others looking with admiration at us. When others do look upon us with awe, fear, reverence, admiration or any other elevating mindset, we feel a kind of pleasure. Jesus again rejects the temptation by referring to the Word of God and his willingness to wait upon God instead of attempting to force God to serve him.

The ultimate temptation is the capstone of the other two. In order to compromise to his carnal desires and his social cravings, a reflective person has to devise a system to justify his own actions. This is the pride of life. What is offered by the tempter is a simple plan: acknowledge that Yahweh is not ultimate, that there is some authority other than the uncreated creator which is ultimate (all forms of this rebellion satisfy Satan's desire for worship) and the fallen world is yours to do with as you will. Jesus rejects anything but the will of the LORD as revealed in the scriptures.

At this point Jesus is attended to by angels. Though Siddhartha was tempted in similar fashion including, lust, pride, compromising rationalization, the responses were different. Siddhartha appealed to his own merit and was aided by supernatural beings in his conflict with Mara. Jesus appealed to the Word of God as the basis for truth, and no angelic beings or gods were included. Only after the engagement was settled did he get attended to according to the promises of angels being ministering spirits to those of God.

The Universal Challenge of Desire

It is interesting that desire is the ultimate test given. Desire is the human problem of living rightly. All of us live life struggling with the various facets of desire. James, the half brother of Jesus, articulates this problem of desire quite forcefully:

 

From what source do quarrels and conflicts among you come? Do they not come from this source, namely, from your inordinate passions which are struggling with one another in your members? You have a passionate desire and are not realizing its fulfillment; you murder. And you covet and are filled with jealousy, and you are not able to obtain. (James 4:1,2)

Our strife with others, as well as within ourselves, is essentially because we cannot fulfill our desires wisely or with finality; true, lasting satisfaction. What are some possible world view options in relation to this basic problem in life?

 

• Resign to desire (and be embittered by the consequences) Nihilism
  
• Embrace desire (despite its frequently negative consequences) Epicureanism (some Brahmanic; e.g. Karma Sutra)
  
• Suppress desire (punish failures) Legalism (moral/religious fundamentalism)
  
• Ignore desire (pretend to be above it) Stoicism
  
• Fight for desire (blame others for non fulfillment) Liberation-ism
  
• Quench desire (pursue beyond-being) Buddhism
  
• Redeem desire (be made a new creation by the Creator) Christianity
  

 

Though this list is neither carefully precise nor exhaustive, it is illustrative of the universal nature of the problem of desire and the type of primary strategies offered to deal with the problem.

Jesus’ Baptized MT 3

Last week was the breadth of the story of God and man, of heaven and earth. I will provide this post mainly for people to post their notes of elements which stood out to them. The main point for where we are headed is that the religious establishment was referred to as a fruitless tree in danger of being cut down and as chaff. Psalm 1 lays out the distinction. RIGHTEOUSNESS is living fully, abundantly according to God's plan. The imagery is of a river (God's revealed truth) providing life to a tree which grows strong (prospers), its leaves don't wither (fresh to the tips of its being) and it produces fruit in due season (appropriately productive). This is in distinction to chaff (organic wrappers) which are tossed to be burned.
John was calling people to 'repent' (think again such that we choose differently). The Kingdom of God (God in charge) should be our focus. Those who had defied God's rule but repented showed such by renouncing their treason (sin, sedition) and announcing their loyalty. When Jesus arrived John was reluctant to baptize him. The mistake is not realizing that Jesus did not need to renounce wrong allegiances, he did not need to repent, but he did need to publicly declare his allegiance to the Kingdom of God. When he did the Father blessed him as the Spirit descended onto him.

1. Righteousness is living like we should. The image is of a tree (not something lifeless and stiff like telephone poles). Righteousness is good and beautiful and our calling; it is life
2. Not being righteous is more than just wasting opportunities, it is being a rebel, a traitor to the cause we were created for. Our soul, mind, heart and strength were given for a reason. To misuse our being is no small offence.
3. Repenting is turning from the treachery of rebellion and renouncing those previous allegiances.
4. Baptism is the clean start for one ready to declare allegiance to God's rule, the Kingdom of Heaven.
5. Jesus stepped up to declare his allegiance.

 
For conciseness, I will stop here. Please post notes for others and we will continue clarifying.

Sermon on the Mount Teaching Schedule

Sermon on the Mount Lesson	passage	idea	date
1	MT 3	Whole thing as intro Immersed into righteousness	1-20
2	4:1-10	Temptations	1-27
-	???	Gone to Pattaya	AGM
3	4:11ff	Kingdom is at Hand	2-10
4	5:1-10	Beatitudes	2-17
-	???	Gone to London	Region
5	5:11-20	Costly Righteousness	3-2
6	5:21-26	Put off contempt	3-9
7	5:27-37	Put on integrity	3-16
8	5:38-47	Live out mercy	3-23
9	5:48/6::1	God over Man	3-30
10	6:2-4	Righteous giving	4-6
11	6:5-15	Meek praying	4-13
12	6:16-18	Mournful fasting	4-20
13	6:19-24	Wise Treasuring	4-27
14	6:25-34	Physical concerns	5-4
15	7:1-14	Relational concerns	5-11
16	7:15-21	Spiritual concerns	5-18
17	7:22-8:1	FOLLOWING THROUGH	5-25
18	MT 3-7	Whole thing as review	6-1