Passage: Matthew 6:7-15 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 stands at the literary and the thematic center of the whole Sermon on the Mount. If we can pray like Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer, it will grow us into the beautiful community Jesus is…
Passage: Matthew 5:48-6:6; 6:16-18 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew 5:48, Jesus says that we must be “perfect”—literally whole, or complete—“as our heavenly Father is perfect”. In many ways, this is the unifying theme of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is seeking disciples whose lives are “whole”—whose deeds match…
Passage: Matthew 5:33-37 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary Throughout Matthew 5-6, Jesus is unpacking what true righteousness looks like, and In Matthew 5:33-37, he continues to address the area of commitment making. In Jesus’ day, many people were using God’s law, and the teaching surrounding it, not as a pointer to…
Passage: Matthew 5:31-37 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary Throughout Matthew 5-6, Jesus is unpacking what true righteousness looks like, and in Matthew 5:31-37 he addresses the area of commitment-making. Jesus calls for us to be people who keep our commitments—both in marriage specifically, and any time we give someone our word,…
Passage: Matthew 5:21-26 Guide for Group Discussion or Personal Reflection Sermon Summary In Matthew chapters 5-6, Jesus starts unpacking what the “righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” looks like in daily life, beginning with anger. First, Jesus exposes what anger looks like at its origin. Whereas we know the command “You…
