Back in 2006 I had the opportunity to go on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona in Scotland—a tiny island out in the Hebrides where Christianity first came to the region in the sixth century. Iona is only three miles long and a mile and a half wide, and it’s the last piece …
The Rule of Life: Hearing and Doing (Sermon on the Mount series, part 11) Continue Reading »
This week we’re continuing in this section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is laying out nine different ways in which we can be inwardly divided between performance and perfection. Last week we looked at the first three, and we talked about how giving, prayer, and fasting can become a performance if we …
The Rule of Life: Dealing with Money (Sermon on the Mount series part 10) Continue Reading »
Matthew 6:5-15 This week we move into a new section of the Sermon on the Mount. Remember where we’ve been. We started by looking at the nine beatitudes, saying that they outline the inward character of a disciple. Remember how those began—“Blessed are…” Those who have the character of a self-emptying meek, pure in heart, …
The Rule of Prayer (Sermon on the Mount Series, part 9) Continue Reading »
Matthew 5:21-26 Today we’re moving into a new section of the Sermon on the Mount. After talking about the character of a disciple in the nine beatitudes, and about the vocation of disciples as salt and light, which Joe so beautifully captured last week, this week we move into the practical applications of the sermon …
The Rule of the Box: Part 6 of the Sermon on the Mount Series “The Rule of Life” Continue Reading »
The Persecuted Peacemakers Matthew 5:9-11 We’ve been moving through the Beatitudes as the preamble to the Sermon on the Mount, and today we come to the last three, which are kind of a summation of the kind of character that Jesus is outlining for his disciples. The ones who are “blessed” are blessed in order …
The Rule of Life: The Persecuted Peacemakers Continue Reading »
Matthew 5:6-8 First, a little review. Last week we looked at the first three Beatitudes and talked about the pattern they follow—thesis, antithesis, synthesis. The poor in spirit are those who have emptied and denied themselves, wanting nothing from the world (thesis), but they are also those who mourn over the pain of the world …
Matthew 5:1-5 What does it mean to be blessed? Every year at Thanksgiving we talk about “counting our blessings,” which usually means counting up all the good things in our lives—not a bad thing to do, of course, but is Jesus talking here about a list of good things to count?—mourning, being persecuted, reviled, despised? …
On Sunday morning, during the introduction to a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount, I told the congregation that I would be pushing their buttons throughout the series, mostly because the text of the Sermon that Jesus preaches in Matthew 5-7 is a provocative rule of life–a rule that requires us to embody …
As we dive into this sermon series on The Sermon on the Mount, one of the temptations we might face is seeing the teaching of Jesus as simply another set of rules to follow–a set that is based on the "old" rules in the law of Moses, but simply adds on more conditions. Truth is, …
The Sermon on the Mount as the Charter of Human Freedom Continue Reading »
Matthew 5:17-20 What is the best sermon you ever heard? What was good about it? How did it change you? I’ve listened to a lot of sermons over the course of my life, even preached quite a few myself, but one of the stark truths I have come to realize is that sermons, in an …
The Rule of Life: The Sermon on the Mount (Series Introduction) Continue Reading »