BLOWN AWAY AND (SOME) BLESSEDA Series on the Sermon on the Mount at Camp Gitchee Gumee (2018)

Life is a maze.

DECISIONS IN THE MAZE

Youth beginning to envision homes (in a world of conflicting ideas)

Embattled marriages

Tragedies All Around

Everyday life

In the end . . . sheep who need a shepherd . . . and we confess “The LORD . . . (cf. Matthew 4:23-25)

– Matthew 5:1-2

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

What should you feel at this point when reading the Gospel of Matthew?

Suspense!

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Even in the early Church this point was emphasized. Before Jesus speaks there is a pause - - all is silent for a moment or two.”

What results from this sermon?

– Matthew 7:28-29

[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.

BE BLOWN AWAY AND BLESSED BY THE AUTHORITATIVE TEACHING OF THE KING. . .

SUCH THAT WE ARE DISTINCTIVE FOR CHRIST.

MATTHEW’S AUTHORITY EMPHASIS LEADING UP TO SOTM1. Jesus’s genealogy demonstrates that he is the culmination of the whole

flow of the Old Testament (1:1-17).

2. Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy (1:22, 2:15, 17, 23, 3:15, 4:14).

3. Matthew brings Moses to mind by showing how both Moses and Jesus were threatened as infants (Exodus 2:1-10, 2:16-18).

4. Emphasizes that Jesus comes out of Egypt like Israel. Jesus is a new and better Israel (2:13-15).

5. Leads up to the SOTM with Jesus’s victory in the wilderness (4:1-11).

6. Jesus like Moses going up on the mountain (5:1-2).

BTW: REMEMBER:

THE IMPERATIVE FOLLOWS THE INDICATIVE!

GRACE!!

MATTHEW’S AUTHORITY EMPHASIS IN THE SOTM

1. Christ spoke as the authority rather than appealing to policies. Notice his repeated use of the saying, “Truly I say to you”(5:18, 6:2, 5, 16, 25, 29) and “But I say to you”(5:22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 42)

2. Jesus insisted on a radical internalization of biblical principles.

3. Jesus applied truth in fresh ways that made sense in contrast with the arbitrary standards of the scribes.

MATTHEW’S AUTHORITY EMPHASIS AFTER THE SOTM

1. In Matt 9:8, the crowds are amazed that such authority was given to men.

2. By Matt 10:1, Christ begins to share authority with the disciples.

3. Matt 12 argues for the authority of Christ by emphasizing the phrase “something greater” (12:3-4, 12:5-6, 12:42, 12:43).

4. Matt 21:23 demonstrates that the issue of authority continues to be central in the Gospel of Matthew: “And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’”

5. Matthew concludes his gospel with Jesus’s assuring his disciples that all authority has been given to him and that he charges them to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

IN JESUS’S AUTHORITATIVE TEACHING WE FIND ANSWERS FOR THE SHEEP — DIRECTION

THROUGH THE MAZE

– Frederick Dale Bruner

“To read the Sermon on the Mount is to discover what it means to be Jesus’s disciples;

To read it with faith is to receive power to be Jesus’s disciples.”

The Q. is not so much do you think Jesus has answers. Rather, are you living as though Jesus has the authoritative answers. Are you following his lead through the maze?

Make a fresh decision to be blown away and blessed by the authority of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

MONDAY MORNING FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Read the Sermon on the Mount aloud to one another. This should take approx 13-17 minutes. (Switch readers every 5-10 verses).

Each person in your family / group (who is old enough) make 1-2 observations about what gets your attention.

What section of the SOTM does our culture need to hear?

What section of the SOTM would you like to read again this week?