Category: Sermon on the Mount

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5, NIV). What if we exchanged the practice of judging others for the practice of helping? Our Christian community is not bound by legal relationships, but by relationships of…

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3-4, NLT) Jesus moved…

Jesus never anticipated that we, living in community, would be perfect. Which begs the question, “How do we deal with each other’s fallenness?” The seventh chapter of Matthew’s gospel begins with Jesus’ harshest words: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,…

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25, NIV) Worry is the anxiety we feel that is fostered by uncertainty regarding the future. Jesus spoke…

“But I warn you–unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teacher of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20, NLT). I can’t imagine the disbelief that swept down the hillside as those words left the lips of Jesus. The religious teachers and Pharisees were…

I believe the Sermon on the Mount should be read as a unified whole, not a collection of individual thoughts. Jesus, who was the most gifted communicator the world has known, wove these thoughts together with smart transitions. For example, be began with The Beattitudes which display the core of a disciple’s character. Out of…

This week I’ve been posting some thoughts about our Christian influence by way of Jesus’ metaphors of salt and light. Today I want to offer three brief summary thoughts to wrap up this thread. 1. Our Christian influence (salt and light) is driven by our Christian character (the Beattitudes). A friend recently reminded me that…

“You are the light of the world–like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out…

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless” (Matthew 5:13, NLT). My grandfather has been gone for over 20 years, so my memories of him are diminishing. One thing…

If you think about your life, you can count on several fingers the names of those who have made an impact or continue to bear influence. These are the people who have spoken the words into your life that you replay over and over in your mind. Maybe that impact came from a parent or…