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"Do not resist the one who is evil." These words of Jesus not only cut to the quick of our natural defenses against evil, they reveal a deep-rooted tendency to fight for justice. But in the Kingdom of Heaven retaliation is unnecessary because God is our judge and defender. Jesus is leading us into a way of life where retaliation is completely unnecessary and undesired.
Do you know someone who has to promise that they're going to do what they say? Maybe that someone is you. If our "yes" or "no" isn't enough, then we aren't the kind of person that Jesus is recreating yet.
In every generation and every time in human history divorce has always been taken too lightly. While there are valid reasons for divorce, Jesus makes it clear that it is always destructive of God's intent.
In Matthew 5:29-30, Jesus tells his listener to cut off what is causing sin. He uses the examples of the eye and the hand. Seeking to grab the listener's attention, he uses shocking imagery. But does a person's hand or eye cause the person to sin? If not, what is Jesus getting at? He's getting to the root of the problem - the heart.
Adultery is one of the most destructive acts in a marriage. And because it destroys marriages it also destroys families and the societies built upon them. At the root of adultery is the sinful desire known as lust. And while lust is destructive, it is only one of many sinful desires that we should consider as we consider the words of Jesus in this episode.
Deconstruction. It's a popular trend these days. And the backlash from certain segments of the Church reveals that not everyone sees deconstruction as good. That's because not all deconstruction is healthy. In the sermon on the Mount Jesus gives us an example of a kind of deconstruction that is good. And one of the keys to its goodness is that His deconstruction is always matched with a beautiful reconstruction.
We're in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is deconstructing and reconstructing righteousness. He's moving the focus from behavior to the heart. He starts with murder and shows how anger is what is really wrong with the human condition. Now he gives his listener a practical application of this reality by elevating the importance of reconciliation above sacrificial worship.
Jesus begins his deconstruction of the standard of righteousness in his day with the sin of murder.
Jesus told his new band of followers that in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven their righteousness would have to be greater than that of the Scribes and the Pharisees. This would have seemed impossible to His hearers. But that's because they had the wrong idea of righteousness. So do we.
Light is not passive. It is energy. And as such it is active. So we, as the light of the world, are to be the active presence of light -- goodness, righteousness, love, and peace -- among others. But light can be hidden or obscured. Let it not be so!
Jesus' life is our example. As he was in his character and in his purpose, so we are now in his absence. Whatever we need to know about what the Christian life should look like, our investigation should begin with the person of Jesus.
Jesus told the crowd that sat in front of him that the good life included persecution. He encouraged those who would follow him that persecution for the name of Christ is something one could celebrate.
Not all Christians are persecuted because of righteousness. It's important to understand why.
The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. What does it mean to be peacemaker? Why is this such an important part of the character of the Kingdom? we answer these questions as we continue through our indepth consideration of the Jesus' greatest sermon.
Simple, trusting, vulnerable. These are not descriptions of the character traits that most people would put forth as the keys to happiness. But what if Jesus' words about becoming like children meant that we would become more like them in this way? What if this is exactly what Jesus meant by the "pure in heart?"
Most people think of mercy as not getting the negative thing a person deserves. But in the Kingdom of heaven, mercy is much more than withholding just consequence. It is active and engaged. It cares for and defends the vulnerable. And this is what Jesus is getting at when he holds up the "merciful" as the fifth beatitude.
Jesus told his disciples that he had food that they knew not of. His food was to do the will of his father and to finish his work. That same food is available to disciples of Christ in the Kingdom. And it is only this hunger that will ever be truly satisfied.
Beatitude #3: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is often confused with weakness. But was Jesus weak? Because he described himself as meek. Think about this question as we continue Jesus' introduction to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel. This is His correction to the prevailing assumption that meekness is weakness.
What makes you grieve? The answer to this question is revealing about the kind of person you are. In the second of 9 beatitudes, Jesus points to another unpopular kingdom character: grieving over brokenness and sin.
The Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the Beatitudes, is Jesus's fullest description of what the Kingdom of heaven on earth would look like. In this episode, we are introduced to what Jesus means in the Beatitudes by "blessed are..." and we will look at the first of the 9 beatitudes. In all of this we will seek to contstantly remind ourselves that what Jesus is getting at is not more rules to follow but rather painting a picture of the good life as intended by God and experienced wherever He rules both outside and inside of His people.
Jesus came as Messiah, to be sure. He came to save the world from sin and restore the creation from the corruption of the Fall, no doubt. But Jesus also came to reform the thinking of God's people. Nowhere is this more clear than in the Sermon on the Mount where we read his words, "You've heard it said...but I say..." These are words of correction, or reformation. Jesus was a reformer. And if we are going to understand him correctly we have to hear him in this way. That Jesus came, in part, to correct prevailing assumptions about God and His ways that were just wrong.
When the Son of God came in the incarnation, he came "proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people." (Mt 4:23b) Why was healing so central to the work of the Messiah? Why was this such a significant part of Jesus's purpose on this earth? And how has his purpose become our purpose as his disciples? These are the questions at the center of this episode of Anchored Truth Direct.
When Jesus left his disciples for the last time he told them that the Holy Spirit would provide them the power they would need. That same power(eternal life), wrote Paul in Romans 8, is available to all His followers. It's the power we need to be witnesses for Christ, to overcome difficulty, to overcome sin, to serve, to make disciples and it's the power to be a godly husband, wife, employee, citizen, and neighbor. The key is that we have to live our lives in such a way that this power available to us is also accessed by us.
To live in the Kingdom of Heaven while on earth is to be a disciple of Jesus. Yet many believers stop short of being disciples because they believe the lie that what Jesus expects of his disciples is a heavy burden. It's not. And Jesus makes that clear in the Gospel of Matthew. Consider his words and how they line up with the fact that being a disciple of Jesus IS hard.
What is the Kingdom of Heaven? Why did Jesus tell his audience to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven was near? The answer to these questions are critical to understanding why Jesus came and what is at the center of the Gospel.
Is the emotion of anger sin? What's the difference between worry and anxiety? Do I need to suppress my emotions to honor the Lord? Understanding the difference between human emotion and sinful expression are critical in a day and age when we are told on the one hand, "you need to vent your emotions," and on the other, "emotions are misleading." Let's try to find some clarity.
Orthodoxy is right doctrine. Orthopraxy is right practice. But have you ever heard of orthopathy? It means "right passion." And it's another critical part of what it means to be disciples of Christ. Not sure what it is? Take 15 minutes and find out.
The life of a disciple of Jesus is hard. It's a high calling and its a life that requires a lot of discipline and self-denial. There are many forces against us. To grow into the Christ-like men and women that Jesus died the one thing we cannot be is complacent. Like entropy, spiritual disorder is the natural way of things. What do we need to do to fight complacency? We need connection.
Compassion is what makes the love of God unique. It is a love that does something. It relieves the suffering of the other and moves a person from pity, sympathy, and even empathy, to action. This is John's exhortation in his first epistle. He writes that to really love we must have words AND action.
What do Jesus and Cain have in common? In 1 John we discover that each of these men (and obviously Jesus was not just a man) were representative of a kind of child. Jesus is the prototype for a child of God and Cain is the prototype for a child of the Devil. Let's consider how this plays out and why it's important for us to understand this contrast.
In the letter of 1 John, the apostle John writes of things that are true about us simply because of our new nature as Children of God. But he also writes of those same things as though they will not be so if we don't make an intentional effort. That's because who we become as God's children is intended to be a perfect combination of our new nature and intentional nurturing.
Listening is a skill, not a gift. It's not something you are automatically good at. It takes work and wisdom learned from trial and error. Here are some thoughts on how we can all become better listeners.