INTRODUCTION AND FIRST BEATITUDE

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SOM1-HandoutDownload

“Kingdom Come”

Sermon on the Mount Series

Class 1: Introduction and first beatitude

QUESTION: “What are your best hopes for this series on the Sermon the Mount?” – Write it down.

OT Continuity & Contrast

Continuity: 

  • 5 teaching blocks (discourses); (Matt 5.1-7.29; 10:1-11:1; 13:1-53; 18:1-19:1; 23:1-26:1), all end with, ““And then, when Jesus had come to the end of these sayings, …”
  • Matthew 5:17

Contrast

  • Moses (Heb 3.3): Egypt; water; wilderness; promised land; covenant
  • Matthew 5:21–22.

Purpose

QUESTION: What are your impressions of the Sermon the Mount? What is it for?

  • Ethics; Idealism; Manifesto; Elaboration; Discipleship description; Kingdom standards

Key Verse?

“Do not be like them…”, (Matthew 6:8) – see, Leviticus 18:3.

“..your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – (Matthew 6:10 NIV11)

“Blessed”? Matthew 5.3

  • makarios – ‘makarisms’
  • “wonderful news”, “to approve of and find approval”
  • “These qualities are to be envied and emulated; they make up ‘the good life’”
  • “…the deep inner joy of those who have long awaited the salvation promised by God and who now begin to experience its fulfilment. The makarioi are the deeply or supremely happy.”
  • “These ‘blessings’, the ‘wonderful news’ that he’s announcing, are not saying ‘try hard to live like this.’ They are saying that people who already are like that are in good shape. They should be happy and celebrate.” – Wright, N. T. Matthew for Everyone.

QUESTION: In what ways are we blessed if we are poor in spirit? Matthew 11:5; Isaiah 61:1.

QUESTION: Which Biblical people show us what it means to be poor in spirit?

QUESTION: How do we cultivate being poor in spirit?

“The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God.” – Lloyd-Jones, “The Sermon on the Mount”

QUESTION: How can you apply this beatitude tomorrow?

Resources

Please add your comments on this week’s topic. We learn best when we learn in community. 

Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here’s the email: malcolm@malcolmcox.org.

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“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)

God bless, Malcolm

PS: You might also be interested in my book: “An elephant’s swimming pool”, a devotional look at the Gospel of John