Matthew 5-7 Sermon on the Mountain

Matthew Chapter 5 -- Beginning of the Sermon on the Mount

verses 1-2 The committed kept climbing with him and were able to hear his most famous sermon. It is interesting that those who were in it for the long hike got to hear his most delicious tid-bits of wisdom. It is similar in our own lives. When the walk gets the hardest is when we get to learn the most wisdom from His word.

verses 11-12* "count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens-- give a cheer, even!-- for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble." These sentences especially hit home for me. It seems whenever I am attacked for sharing the truth even in the kindest manner, I get a pit in my stomach and want to leave the fight. I need to remember that God cheers when we are picked on for sharing the truth.

* cr Matthew 10:28, 32-33

verses 21-22 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill." These principles are eye-opening for me, a person who grew up in a home where people carelessly threw words at each other as well as fists. I can't treat people the way that I was brought up. Only God can change me to overcome this. This is a very important principle I am learning early in my marriage.

verses 27-28 "You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices-- they also corrupt." Now girls, I know we think the verses about lust don't apply to us, but I also know that deep down you know that's bullsh**. It applies to us too, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have said it. We have to be careful to guard our marriages because they will be attacked. Men downtown will make passes at us (not speaking from personal experience or anything, nudge-nudge-wink-wink;) and we have to stop it before it starts. One of my favorite times as a married lady downtown was when a man said to me in a come hither voice, "Hello! What's your name Miss?" and I shut him down with the most awesome one-liner, "My name is Mrs." Old boyfriends will contact us via spacebook or what have you and we have to think about how edifying it really would be to keep contact with some of them-- or even look at their profiles ;) Now my husband just happens to be really good friends with some of my exes -- that's the beauty of the body of Christ-- but some of them are honestly not the kind of guy's who would be looking only for friendship.

verses 31-32
Divorce is wrong people! Stop telling yourselves its for the best and your kids want you to be happy! Its selfish and it hurts your kids! Sure, if there was cheating or actual physical harm brought into the relationship that is one thing, but most of the time these days people are just following whims and not working on their marriages. If you think your selfish whim is really for the best, you are lying to yourself and you are seriously messing up life for your kids who are in the center of it. The statistics don't lie. Children of divorce are more likely to end up in mental institutions than children of parents who have died! How is it that you think your happiness is more important than taking care of your kids? I beg you to get your act together and start making the right choices. Not only does it break the promises you made on your wedding day, but little hearts are at stake as well. I do not mean to sound mean, I've just seen too many children put through unnecessary heartbreak.

verses 38-47 "Turn the other cheek. . . love your enemies. . . when someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer. . ." Really? What about that women's self-defense class I took? I think in this case, Jesus is talking about insulting attacks, not necessarily physical attacks. If you have to defend your life, by all means do it. Especially if you have a family at home who needs you. Jesus didn't. At the same time, I am ridiculed and singled out for my faith and moral beliefs. I need to be loving to the people who treat me this way.

Matthew Chapter 6

verses 19-34* "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-- worse!-- stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. . . You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both. These are memory verses for me. As a kid who grew up in a financially scary situation it is tempting to worry about money. He always seems to bring these verses back at just the right time!

*cr Ezekiel 7:19-27

Matthew Chapter 7

vs 1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-- unless, of course, you want the same treatment. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your won face is distorted with contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

Weird. He did it again. I read this directly after nit-picking my husband for his tiny mess-ups, when I actually don't have the guts to try it myself without messing it up. His failures are nothing compared to the fact that I won't even try enough to get a chance to fail. Argh.

vs 13* "the way to life-- to God!-- is vigorous and requires total attention"

*cr Revelation 3:16

vs 15 "be careful of false teachers" We've even managed to get some of these teaching small groups at our churches. Yikes!