We are beginning a new series Sunday mornings on the Sermon on the Mount. To add to the messages I will be blogging various things that I am learning as I study for the series. To start off I want to give you a list of the books that I will be consulting as I go along, for I am learning too! Alongside this list I am going to throw some quotes at ya that I thought were very cool. The quotes will be focusing on the Law and Grace tension that has always existed in Christian thought and is the focus of Jesus' most famous of sermons.
"The Christbook: Matthew 1-12", Frederick Dale Bruner. "Matthew taught us in his four-chapter preface that Christology (who Jesus is) is the key to the mystery of Christian ethics (what Jesus teaches). Without the Son of God, the Sermon on the Mount is not only impossible; it is impertinent. But since the Sermon's Commands are accompanied by the Sermon's Commander, there is something very exciting ahead!"
"Grace and Law should be carefully distinguished at first but be carefully joined at last."
"Matthew 1-7", W.D. Davies and D.C. Allison. "Before the crowds hear the Messiah's word they are the object of his compassion and healing. Having done nothing, nothing at all, they are benefited. So grace comes before task, succour before demand, healing before imperative. The first act of the Messiah is not the imposition of his commandments but the giving of himself. Today's command presupposes yesterday's gift."
"Studies in the Sermon on the Mount," D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. This particular work is a "Christian classic." Jones was a pastor in London in the 20th century. Dude preached the sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings for 30 weeks! Those sermons were then published in the above work. One of the reasons he wanted to preach the Sermon on the Mount was because of his view that the church and Christians had grown superficial. He, also, wanted to deal with the tension of Law and Grace. He states: "Is it not true to say of many of us that in actual practice our view of the doctrine of grace is such that we scarcely ever take the plain teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ seriously?" He then goes on to say that some overemphasize law to the point of legalism. However, he mentions the opposite of those who overemphasize grace to the point of license. The Sermon on the Mount is his antidote.
"The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our hidden life in God," Dallas Willard. Another classic! He quotes C.S. Lewis saying, "So, C. S. Lewis writes, our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and "trying to carry it out." Rather, "The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought. His Zoe [life] into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin."
That is a pretty good place to stop. I could list other works that I have benefited from like James Boice's "The Sermon on the Mount" (very original title don't you think?). Also, MacArthur, Barclay, and Mathews. I am going to reread C. S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce" during this series and season. I recommend it to you as a fun devotional. It has nothing whatever to do with the Sermon on the Mount but is a clever allegory of considering our life here on earth from the perspective of heaven -- if I remember the story right!!!
The thing to wrestle with is this amazing relationship of law and grace. Why is this important? One passage I have been reflecting upon this week to pray through the issue myself is from Titus 2:11-14 which states: "For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."
What are you looking to get out of the Sermon on the Mount? Are you prone more to the Law side of things "I must please God to be accepted"? Or are you prone to overemphasize the grace of God "It does not matter what I do?" Do you think the Sermon on the Mount can resolve the law and grace issue?
I look forward to your comments and questions.
SHALOM!
The opposite of the Beautitudes...
I just thought it was so powerful to look at the opposite of the Beautitudes and I wondered if John Storm would post those to the site or maybe email me a copy. Thanks.
Online Messages
I'm so excited about being able to download and listen to the messages online, not only so I am able to hear them again, but also so I can save them to CD and share them with my family. I don't know about everyone else, but I struggle getting my family coming to church with me, and this will be a great way to let them hear the messages that I get so excited about every week.
Also, I don't know how much time and effort this would require so this is just an idea, but I also wondered if the videos could be uploaded to youtube.com or to godtube.com. That way they could be embedded onto this site as well and others would be able to view them when they visit this site. Anyway, thank you so much to whomever has taken the time to do this for us!!
Thanks Genny
We appreciate any and all site feedback.
We are currently working out best practices for audio and once we get everything rolling smoothly for audio online we will definitely be getting the video online!
We will definitely be keeping you up to date! Stay tuned!
Beatitudes
On a trip home from Dallas, I listened to a talk show discussing how to integrate the Beatitudes into your professional practices as a leader. I anxiously read my bible when I got home and I can see how easy it is incorporate this wonderful message when you are leading a team and modeling best practices for the stakeholders you serve.
Law vs Grace....Grace vs Law
A certain someone I know may look at the subject line and say something crazy like: "Provocative" or "Astonishing".
Nonetheless...what an interesting way to start a blog!
Off the cuff I would have to say that my intuition leads me to be a follower of the Law. My nature is that of standing on the shore of a huge vast ocean of guilt within my sin causing me difficulty in accepting the fact that forgiveness of my wrong doing can be as easy as accepting God's grace and mercy! Surely there must be more to it! But time and time again, the New Testamtent reminds us of the release of bondage that Crist's death and resurrection has provided. Acts 13:36-39 says, "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep, he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the One whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses."
But should the blessedness of Grace lead us to truly question "Does it matter what I do?" Therein lies my struggle....if grace abounds so freely, does it release us from the responsibility and obligation of abiding by the Law? Leave it to Paul to throw me a bone here....Romans 6:14-15 "For sin shall not be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace! What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!"
Let's get this series started!
It is definitely a big task
It is definitely a big task trying to balance Grace and the Law. It is easy to take one over the other, but as we learn in the Sermon on the Mount, Grace and the Law are not contradictory but complementary.
One particular quote of yours that stood out to me:
This reminds me of one my favorite lines from a band called Caedmon's Call:
The commands in Scripture are preceded by God's provision to accomplish the commands. I look forward to this study for this reason (and others).
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