We consider the most famous sermon ever delivered – our Lord’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’.
Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
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.
11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Christ Came to Fulfil the Law
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil 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.
Anger
21 "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.
Lust
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Divorce
31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'
32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Oaths
33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.'
34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
Retaliation
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Love Your Enemies
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 6: Giving to the Needy
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.
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 Lord's Prayer
5 "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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fasting
16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Do Not Be Anxious
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 7: Judging Others
1 "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
6 "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
Ask, and It Will Be Given
7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The Golden Rule
12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
I Never Knew You
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
Build Your House on the Rock
24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."
The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Things to think about…
1. The Sermon on the Mount begins with bold statements about what it is to be blessed. This certainly would have been encouraging and sharpened the focus of our Lord’s hearers. The Beatitudes is the name given to Mt 5:2-12. It is derived from the Latin word beātitūdō which means ‘happiness’. The point being that we are happy and blessed when we have these character traits. Note that not all of them feel good or give a sense of euphoria. Being poor in spirit, or mourning does not feel good and yet our Lord says that when this is our frame the promise is that we will see the kingdom of heaven and be comforted. Wonderful promises.
2. Salt and light, Mt 5:13-16, for the believer means here is an effective influence. Light obviously exposes objects. We expose sin, hurts, pain, but also things of value, integrity, honour, faithfulness. This is what our witness does in this world. Often, we see this passage in the negative, gospel light exposing the moral darkness of the world. This is true, but there are also wonderful things to be seen in people and indeed in creation that the gospel light shows as points of beauty, wonder and encouragement. Salt in like manner is both used as a condiment to make food taste better but is also used as a disinfectant against disease in an open wound. One use is pleasant, the other painful, but both are beneficial.
3. Christ did not come to abolish the law but fulfil it, Mt 5:17-20. We do not go soft on the law’s requirements; the law is the Lord’s schoolmaster. We are called to be holy as He is holy. But the ultimate truth is that we can never fully keep are the law’s requirements. But praise the Lord – Christ came to fulfil the law. This is the gospel that we take into the world. Christ is our righteousness.
4. There is some very good advice from our Lord in Mt 5:21-26 with respect to anger and heart attitudes towards others, in this context, other believers. Especially when it comes to our service and worship within the fellowship. Our Lord hates hypocrisy. His most vehement words were against the Pharisees who were the epitome of hypocritical worship. Our worship is hypocritical if we offer it up as we meet and we know there is something not right between someone else within the church, vs 23. Our Lord would rather have us be reconciled than receive our tainted offering. To continue to offer our gifts of praise and tithes regardless would show a similar spirit to Aaron’s sons offering strange fire, Lev 10:1-3.
5. There has been a lot written about Jesus’ words on divorce and remarriage, Mt 5:31, 32. The Lord is looking at the heart, not the contract. One of the laws of the Pharisees meant they only needed to say ‘I divorce you’ three times to their wives and they were released from their marriage vows. But this does not fly in the sight of God. God does not have such a fickle view of marriage. Divorce sadly does happen, but as our Lord would say later in Mt 19:8 it was not this way from the beginning. Please pray for the couples that are doing pre marriage courses that the Lord speaks to them regarding this institution and affirms what marriage truly reflects - the mystery of Christ and His bride – the church.
6. There is plenty we could say about oaths etc in Mt 5:33-37. But have a look at what Jesus says regarding Jerusalem, vs 35. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This city will one day have the great King Jesus literally rule from there for 1000 years. For the rest of these verses it is enough commentary to ‘say what we mean and to mean what we say’.
7. The verses on retaliation and loving your enemies are timeless, Mt 5:38-48, but are incredibly difficult to put into practise when there is a lot of emotion and heat in the various situations they are applied to. Nevertheless, these are abiding truths for all Christians for all ages. With regard to retaliation and Jesus saying “turn the other cheek” and “give him your tunic also”, what does He mean? Does He mean we should be door mats? Again, the focus here is the heart. We should be ready to give and to forgive. That should be the first port of call. Indeed Jesus would later say to Peter, “forgive seventy times seven”, Mt 18:22. Our Lord does not mean give away everything and allow ouirselves to be robbed and abused, because he speaks about protecting ourselves against the one who “steals, kills and destroys”, Jn 10:10. Retaliation and vengeance however should be left primarily with the Lord, and the state Rom 13:1-8. Justice will be meted out, but our initial response to all is love, grace and truth. Paul also echoes the same spirit with the Corinthians when they were taking each other to court, 1Cor 6:6.
8. Do you notice the theme in Mt 6:1-18; secrecy. When it comes to doing works of faith whether it is giving to the poor, praying to the Father, or fasting, it should all be done before God and not before others. As a pastor I see the most faithful members of our congregation just going about quietly serving, whether it is serving morning tea, teaching our precious children, cleaning our facilities, mowing our property, looking after our admin, running a cell group, running audio and visual, etc. These things are not up front ministries, but without them our church simply wouldn’t function. Please encourage those in the fellowship who you know are doing an amazing job behind the scenes. God the Father is smiling upon them.
9. So what’s it all about? Mt 6:19-34 tells us. Our treasure is not on this earth, vss 19-24, so why should we be concerned, vss 25-34. This is the heart of our faith. The One who is unseen is in control of all that is seen. So let’s act as if this is always the case. There is some very good advice from our Lord in Mt 6:21-26. Especially when it comes to our service and worship within the fellowship.
10. People often quote the ‘judging’ passage from Mt 7:1-5 and misapply it to say we should not judge anyone at all. This is false. What Jesus is saying is that if your sin is blatant, your testimony is ineffective and any challenge to another person’s sin is hypocritical and therefore invalid. For the Christian there should in fact be no logs in our eyes in the first place, it doesn’t mean that we don’t challenge sin, otherwise Mt 18:15-18 becomes irrelevant and obsolete. We should always be confessing our sin one to another as a matter of practise in any event, Jam 5:16.
11. I believe Mt 7:7-11 has no bounds, and the Lord will give good gifts especially when it brings Him glory. I am believing for revival for our city. It would be great if you would join me and agree in the spirit of this prayer. The context in this of course is what a good father gives to his children. Even earthly fathers don’t give anything and everything to their children, even when they have the ability to give it simply because it is not healthy or helpful in the child’s development. The same here with our Lord’s counsel. James, our Lord’s brother qualifies this more when praying for our Lord’s provision, Jam 4:3.
12. We can be all deceived, Mt 7:15-23. False Prophets outwardly look like sheep, they also sound like sheep. They know evangelical doctrine, they have enough grace, love and truth to deceive. Yet Jesus says they are wolves. This also affirms what the Apostle Paul says in Acts 20:29, 30 “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Let’s never think that is never a possibility at CBC. Note the words “speaking twisted things” by Paul. The wolf never desires to have the full truth come out. He prefers to make a kill before that can happen. Jesus says their fruit will be evident if we care to look, vss 17-20.
13. There are no more fearful words found in scripture than those which are written to the ‘religiously deceived’ in Mt 7:21-23. These are people who were religious, but who who are not truly converted. Sadly, I know many in this camp. While only the Lord knows those who are truly His, religious activity should always be measured by people who display the fruit of the Spirit.
14. After hearing this sermon is it little wonder that “the crowds were astonished at his teaching”, Mt 7:28. May we hold these same words in similar regard. We are Christ’s ambassadors and His words should have the same effect to our hearers.
Vision Point for cell groups
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Sermon title was “Divided we fall” - from 1 Kings 12:1-24
1. We have heard the phrase “united we stand and divided we fall”. Jesus said “a house divided against itself cannot stand”, Mark 3:22. Can you remember a time where you worked as a team on a project to complete an agreed outcome, or otherwise where a team member let you down. Has this happened to you in a spiritual context?
2. Solomon’s son Rehoboam didn’t listen to the counsel of his father or elders and became a foolish son, yet Solomon was not without blame – discuss. How have you been influenced by your parents? How have you influenced your children?
3. Israel was divided due to the folly of Rehoboam, but 1 Kings 12:24 says “for this thing is from me”, referring to the Lord’s plan over it all. Explain how you reconcile this statement with what is clearly sin being used by the Lord in the lives of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. What encouragement do you find from this statement?
Prayer Points
1. Pray for ministries as they start up this week.
2. Pray for testimonies that people will be doing every second week. Please consider when you would like to do yours when the pastor asks you to share yours.
3. Pray for other building projects – café roof, the repair of the house roof.
4. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points.
1. Safe return of everyone from holidays
2. Testimony of Richard Gauntlett on Sunday.
3. Josh and Ben leading worship, Dan on sound, Maddison and Melissa on the desk.
4. New volunteers stepping forward to help out.
5. The unity and grace on display at CBC.
Announcements
1. PlayPatch for toddlers on break for 2 weeks.
2. Kids@church starts back on Sunday. Please check your rosters
3. Recharge Youth – back on Friday 6:30pm at church all teenagers.
4. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
