Passage: Matthew 7:24-8:1 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 7:24-8:1, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by compelling his hearers—and all of us today—into life-giving self-examination, to see whether or not our faith is genuine. To discern this, Jesus wants us to consider two questions in particular: whether we…
Passage: Matthew 7:15-23 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 7:15-23, Jesus alerts his listeners to a sobering reality: it is entirely possible to believe you’re a true Christian, only to find out that you have never been one all along (7:23). This, in fact, is the situation that “many” people…
Passage: Matthew 7:12-14 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary Towards the end of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes two different “ways”, or paths that people might take as they approach life—a narrow way and a wide way. One way of life feels natural and intuitive, and therefore “many” walk this…
Passage: Matthew 7:7-11 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary Jesus wants us to be bold and expectant in coming before our Father in prayer, and yet prayer is difficult for so many of us. In this section in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges us to pray with more expectancy and…
Passage: Matthew 6:19-24 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 6:19-24, Jesus gets to the heart of things (literally) by addressing what we treasure. In fact, all that Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount will be possible only if we have Christ as our treasure—and the consequences of treasuring…
Passage: Matthew 5:38-48 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary There are few commands more frequently admired, and yet seldom applied than Jesus’ commands to love our enemies and avoid retaliation, in Matthew 5:38-48. Jesus’ followers practiced these commands, and in doing so, they turned the world upside down. And yet what do…
Passage: Matthew 5:27-30 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is unpacking what the “righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” looks like in daily life, and in 5:27-30 he addresses lust. The Bible speaks very positively about the gift of sex, and yet it’s also…
Passage: Matthew 5:17-20 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus describes the righteousness he has come to reveal to the world, and the righteousness he therefore requires of his followers. Jesus begins by responding to a mistaken impression about his views on righteousness. Because Jesus announced the coming of…
