guide book 1...righteousness for his disciples and then jesus gave those two brilliant metaphors,...
TRANSCRIPT
Y O U R K I N G D O M C O M E
INTRODUCTIONPerhaps most of us are very used to hearing a sermon! But imagine being
outdoors, sitting down on a grassy mountainside to hear from teacher Jesus!
Matthew 5-7 has come to be known as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ and this
sermon from Jesus has echoed down the centuries to shape lives, social
movements and culture itself!
But whether the Sermon on the Mount is familiar or new to you, it could be
easy to misread it. This is not ethical teaching from a sage teacher on how
everyone might make a better world together. This is a word from the King
(who came to bring salvation and establish His rule) about what it means
to live as His disciples. Before we get to the Sermon, we had this moment
in Matthew’s gospel where we are shown that Jesus came to fulfill Old
Testament expectation:
“…the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.” [quoting Isaiah 9:1-2]
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:16-17
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So Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is actually what the repentant life looks like
once you’ve encountered Jesus as the promised King. Jesus came to die for
sinners. He rose again and He has brought about the promised outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus who brings us out of darkness and into the light,
and so this sermon is about what ‘Kingdom Life’ looks like as we repent and
follow Him.
One further comment before we launch into the first study. Sometimes, Jesus’
Sermon on the Mount has been taken as Jesus’ ‘impossible ideal’, the reality
of what we can’t possibly obey, so that we’re driven away from this ‘law’ and
driven back to Jesus and grace. But that would miss the point. As someone
has said about Jesus’ sermon:
“…it’s wisdom from God, inviting us through faith to re-orient our values,
vision, and habits from the ways of external righteousness to whole-
heartedness toward God. This isn’t “law” but “gospel.” Jesus is inviting us
into life in God’s kingdom both now and in the future age. This is grace.
No one can perfectly perform the vision of the sermon (except Jesus), but
this doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant to our lives. By faith and through grace
Jesus is inviting us into a practical life of discipleship. We participate in
and (imperfectly) imitate his Father-trusting, kingdom-awaiting way of
being in the world.” Jonathan Pennington
We hope you enjoy learning, discussing and praying through Jesus’ Sermon
on the Mount. His teaching cuts deep to the heart, flips over worldly
expectations for life and success, goes beyond mere religious rules, and
radically reshapes our lives together. We’ll discover that Jesus demands
everything from us, and the good news is that He gave everything for us.
Garnet Swann
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S T U D Y 1 KINGDOM LIFE & RIGHTEOUSNESSM A T T H E W 5 : 1 7 - 2 0
And remember, if you ever miss a Sunday, you can listen to the bible talk on our home page - www.christcentral.org.au
UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ SERMONJesus’ ‘beautiful attitude’ beatitudes (5:2-12) spelt out the way of
righteousness for His disciples and then Jesus gave those two brilliant
metaphors, salt and light (5:13-16) to give us a picture of the effect
of such righteousness on the world. Next week we will see how
Christ’s internal (not merely external) and expansive (not restrictive)
righteousness plays out in various areas of life (eg. anger, lust, divorce,
oaths etc). But before we get to that teaching, we come to Jesus’
teaching about the Old Testament Law and righteousness. This is
perhaps the hardest part of Jesus’ sermon to do as a growth group and
the irony is that it’s the first study we do together for the year!
Christians over the last 2000 years have been debating and seeking to
best explain how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law so it will be hard
to cover it all together today. We do have Sunday’s bible talk to draw
on and we’ll use our time to grow our understanding of Jesus’ teaching
about the law in the context of the Sermon and Matthew’s gospel as
a whole.
READ MATTHEW 5:17-20
SUNDAY REFLECTIONIn terms of Sunday’s message on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, what did you
find particularly interesting, helpful, challenging or perhaps raised questions
for you?
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LOOKING BACK IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL1. The story of Jesus’ birth and early ministry, came with a series of similar
statements eg. Matthew 1:22-23; 2:5-6; 2:17-18; 3:1-3; 4:12-17. What does this
suggest for what Jesus means when He says, “Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill
them”?
LOOKING FORWARD INTO MATTHEW’S GOSPELBut there is still more to discover about Jesus ‘fulfilling the Law or the
Prophets’ from looking ahead to other moments in Matthew’s gospel. Read
the passage below and then discuss.
Matthew 12:1-12 – Jesus and His disciples criticised for breaking the law
Matthew 19:16-22 – Jesus’ encounter with a rich young ruler
Matthew 23:23-26 – Jesus rips into the Pharisees!
2. From these moments, how would you describe the Pharisees’ and the
scribes’ relationship with the Law?
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3. From these moments, how would you describe Jesus’ relationship with
the Law?
LOOKING INTO THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT4. Looking back to the beatitudes, how is Jesus’ way of righteousness so
different to the way of the Pharisees?
UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ SERMONIn this study we’ve only begun to scratch the surface on the issue of
Jesus’ fulfillment of the law and Christians relationship to Old Testament
law today. This is a big topic! But for your further thinking and bible
study, here’s a few points to consider:
1. Jesus fulfilled the Law by way of messianic predictions.
2. Jesus fulfilled the Law by bringing its true meaning to light by His
teaching and person.
3. Jesus fulfilled the Law by perfectly keeping all its commands.
4. Jesus fulfilled the Law by dying on the cross and satisfying the
demands of the Law.
5. Jesus fulfilled the Law in believers by the means of the Holy Spirit.
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5. The word ‘great’ seems to be a part of certain people’s political slogans! But
for Jesus, true greatness and eternal reward are for those who keep the law
and teach others accordingly. Within churches, have you ever seen a desire to
teach Old Testament law in a way that doesn’t recognise enough that Jesus
has fulfilled the law? Within churches, have you ever seen a desire to ignore
and encourage others to ignore God’s law? (This is a big discussion all by
itself. Don’t get bogged down if you’ve run out of time).
6. Looking back to the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), what way of righteousness
in your own life would you like prayer for? Share why you’ve chosen that
beatitude.
Study written by Garnet Swann
Pray for each other in relation to Jesus’ teaching on Kingdom Life
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At the end of this gospel, we have the resurrected Jesus saying to His
disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
When we’re disciples of King Jesus, we live in obedience to His command to
be about making more disciples of Jesus, and that means disciples who are
obedient to His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount!
We’ve recently had some Mission Training as well as our Mission Week, but
as a growth group together let’s not leave Mission behind, but instead carry
it on in our regular prayer time together. Throughout this term let’s pray the
3-1-1 Challenge. That is, prayer for 3 people, for 1 minute, 1 time in the week.
You can certainly pray for these people more than once during the week(!) but
each week in our group time, let’s give ourselves to this prayer. Wouldn’t it be
wonderful and to God’s glory if people in our lives discover Jesus as Saviour
and Lord!
Have a think about who you could choose for 3-1-1 – it could be a family
member, a work colleague, a mate you play sport with, an old friend with
whom you regularly catch up, someone you’ve only recently gotten to know, or
perhaps someone you met at one of the events of our Mission Week.
1.
2.
3.
Each week, you could do the 3-1-1 challenge differently ie. pray as a large
group for all the names, or break into pairs and just pray for the three each of
you have chosen, or….there could be various ways of doing it!
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COMING UP...
AGMWednesday Night 25 March | 730pm The Hub
Singing, Vision, Prayer (& a little meeting as well)
EXPLOREExplore is continuing on throughout March. Please pray for all those who are
taking part.
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S T U D Y 2 KINGDOM LIFE & ANGERM A T T H E W 5 : 2 1 - 2 6
UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ SERMONDepending on the bible version you use, the word in verse 22 might
more literally be translated with the Aramaic word, ‘Raca’. ‘Raca’ also
means ‘fool’, but if Jesus occasionally called people ‘fools’ (eg. Matthew
23:16-19) why does Jesus make something of it here? In Sinclair
Ferguson’s book on the Sermon on the Mount, he makes the point that
what Jesus has in mind is the deliberate belittling of someone due to
hatred or animosity. So Jesus is not against viewing someone’s deeds as
foolish (the book of Proverbs has much to say about that!) but rather He
is against deliberately being nasty because of what is going on in your
heart. It’s this insult or slander that Jesus is saying is answerable to court.
What is the setting which seems to provide the most opportunity/temptation
for you to get angry at others – workplace, home, extended family, university,
children’s school or neighbours?
READ MATTHEW 5:21-26
SUNDAY REFLECTIONIn terms of Sunday’s message on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, what did you
find particularly interesting, helpful, challenging or perhaps raised questions
for you?
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1. How does Jesus’ Kingly authority and Jesus previous word that ‘our
righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law’
(Matthew 5v20) particularly come through in this part of His sermon?
2. Jesus’ teaching surprises us! It’s so deep and radical, in that it goes to our
inner heart and motivations. As a group each week, pick at least one of these
questions to helps us think this out:
a) How does Jesus’ teaching go deeper or counter to the world’s view on
living the righteous and good life?
b) How does Jesus’ teaching go deeper and counter to a religious/rule-based
view on living the righteous and good life?
3. To help us understand Jesus’ teaching, it’s helpful to read how similar
teachings of Jesus are found in other parts of God’s word. Read these
passages and then discuss:
Exodus 20:13
Matthew 15:19
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Colossians 3:12-14
4. Anger is probably something we all struggle with at times. What tends to
be your inward and outward expressions of anger?
5. Why does a Christian want to obey this teaching of Jesus?
6. The good news of this kingdom is that Jesus who gave these commands
is the One who gave His own life for our sin and utter inability to be perfect
in obedience. We can come to God in confession but also with praise! But
what other responses do you think you can make as a result of hearing Jesus’
teaching, whether that be:
a) any practical steps you should make towards forgiveness and restoration
with others
b) other changes you think are necessary to make in your life.
Study written by Emily Andrews
Pray for each other in relation to Jesus’ teaching on Kingdom Life
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At the end of this gospel, we have the resurrected Jesus saying to His
disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
When we’re disciples of King Jesus, we live in obedience to His command to
be about making more disciples of Jesus, and that means disciples who are
obedient to His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount!
We’ve recently had some Mission Training as well as our Mission Week, but
as a growth group together let’s not leave Mission behind, but instead carry
it on in our regular prayer time together. Throughout this term let’s pray the
3-1-1 Challenge. That is, prayer for 3 people, for 1 minute, 1 time in the week.
You can certainly pray for these people more than once during the week(!) but
each week in our group time, let’s give ourselves to this prayer. Wouldn’t it be
wonderful and to God’s glory if people in our lives discover Jesus as Saviour
and Lord!
Have a think about who you could choose for 3-1-1 – it could be a family
member, a work colleague, a mate you play sport with, an old friend with
whom you regularly catch up, someone you’ve only recently gotten to know, or
perhaps someone you met at one of the events of our Mission Week.
1.
2.
3.
Each week, you could do the 3-1-1 challenge differently ie. pray as a large
group for all the names, or break into pairs and just pray for the three each of
you have chosen, or….there could be various ways of doing it!
311
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COMING UP...
WORKING BEE Join the team as we serve Eatons Hill State School where we meet on Sundays.
Sign up on Sunday for our Annual Working Bee on Saturday 21 March.
KIDS WEEKENDER This coming Weekend (13-15 March) is Kids Weekender Camp for Grade 4-6ers
at Camp Warrawee Petrie.
Please pray for all the leaders and the campers as they check out all the clues in
the Bible that point to who Jesus is!
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S T U D Y 3 KINGDOM LIFE & LUSTM A T T H E W 5 : 2 7 - 3 0
UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ SERMONFamously, the early Christian theologian ‘Origin of Alexandria’ (lived in
north Africa, about 200AD) sought to be obedient to this teaching in
His battle against lust so he had himself castrated. Poor guy! But Jesus
is not teaching us to mutilate our flesh. He’s teaching something else
which this time of study and discussion will bring out.
What is a radical change you have made in your life? Maybe you moved
across the country to study or work. Perhaps you made a big change to your
diet or lifestyle?
READ MATTHEW 5:27-30
SUNDAY REFLECTIONIn terms of Sunday’s message on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, what did you
find particularly interesting, helpful, challenging or perhaps raised questions
for you?
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1. Jesus’ teaching surprises us! It’s so deep and radical, in that it goes to our
inner heart and motivations. How does Jesus’ teaching go deeper or counter
to the world’s view on living the righteous and good life?
2. How do you think Jesus’ teaching in this passage might surprise someone
who comes to investigate Christian faith for the first time?
3. Why does a Christian want to obey this teaching of Jesus?
4. It’s good to see how Jesus’ sermon is connected together. Jesus started His
sermon with ‘the beatitudes’ ie. portraits of the blessed and good life of living
with new hearts as followers of Jesus. How do you think any of the beatitudes
links with this teaching of Jesus?
5. The good news of this kingdom is that Jesus who gave these commands
is the One who gave His own life for our sin and utter inability to be perfect in
obedience. We can come to God in confession but also with praise! Discuss
our practical response to Jesus’ teaching:
a) Share practical steps you’ve taken to ‘cut deep’ and be radical in your desire
to live righteously and say ‘no’ to lust’.
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b) Where do you need help right now? Share thoughts on how we might
support each other.
Note: It’s normal that our own response to this specific teaching from Jesus
includes frustration or regret. If this is the case for you, it is helpful to share that
with others. In our discussion, let’s recognise that both men and women struggle
with lust and it’s appropriate for guys to talk to guys and women to talk to women.
Study written by Garnet Swann
Pray for each other in relation to Jesus’ teaching on Kingdom Life
16
At the end of this gospel, we have the resurrected Jesus saying to His
disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
As a growth group we encourage each other to be about this mission in prayer
with the 3-1-1 Challenge. That is, prayer for 3 people, for 1 minute, 1 time in
the week.
1.
2.
3.
Each week, you could do the 3-1-1 challenge differently ie. pray as a large
group for all the names, or break into pairs and just pray for the three each of
you have chosen, or….there could be various ways of doing it!
311
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COMING UP...
AGM Wednesday Night 25 March. | 730pm The Hub
Singing, Vision, Prayer (& a little meeting as well)
Y@C 3-7 April, Camp Warrawee Petrie
To find out all about Y@C visit christcentral.org.au/yac
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S T U D Y 4 KINGDOM LIFE & MARRIAGEM A T T H E W 5 : 3 1 - 3 2
UNDERSTANDING JESUS’ SERMONJesus’ teaching here about marriage and divorce is clear and
confronting. We don’t need any extra historical background to
understand what Jesus is saying, but it might be helpful to think a bit
more about the context of the time. Scholars tell us that by Jesus’ time,
there were two rival Jewish rabbinical schools that taught differing
views on marriage and divorce. Those who followed Rabbi Shammai,
were more strict in how they taught when divorce would be allowed.
Then there were those who followed Rabbi Hillel (which was the more
common view at the time) which took a much more lax approach – that
a man could divorce his wife for almost any reason. Stated reasons
included the wife being a bad cook and burning her husband’s food!
As we listen to what people say about marriage (friends, family, TV shows,
media) what seems to be said about the purpose of marriage?
READ MATTHEW 5:31-32 & MATTHEW 19:1-12
SUNDAY REFLECTIONIn terms of Sunday’s message on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, what did you
find particularly interesting, helpful, challenging or perhaps raised questions
for you?
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1. How does Jesus teaching that his disciples’ ‘righteousness must surpass
that of the scribes and the Pharisees’ (Matthew 5:20) come through in these
passages?
2. Jesus’ teaching comes with all the authority of being king. And his teaching
is so deep and radical, going to our inner heart and motivations. How does
Jesus teaching go deeper or counter to the worlds view on marriage and
divorce?
In thinking this through, you might want to look at Old Testament words
on marriage and divorce that Jesus is drawing as he teaches his disciples
– Genesis 2:21-25; Deuteronomy 24:1-4; and Malachi 2:16.
3. How do you think Jesus’ teaching in this passage might surprise someone
who comes to investigate Christian faith for the first time?
4. We can’t just keep talking about divorce in a hypothetical way. This a
personal issue for many of us and we bare the scars of sin and shame, faced
hardship within family, struggled within marriage, and even for some have
gone through divorce. It would be good to share with each other how we’re
feeling and responding to Jesus’ teaching given our own experiences.
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5. The heartbreaking reality is that divorce happens in churches and happens
to those who come to church to investigate Christian faith. As a group talk
about the how the bible and the gospel should guide all of us to respond as
disciples of Jesus. You could also come at it this from other direction too –
what responses do we need to avoid?
6. Optional Extra Question (perhaps in smaller groups). Behind Jesus’
teaching against divorce and remarriage is the biblical picture of the covenant
of marriage. We could spend much more time thinking about marriage
(Ephesians 5:22-33 would be a good place to go!) but the biblical picture is
that marriage is so much more than human romance or ‘making our love
official’, it is a beautiful display of Christ and his Bride in love together. This
is why a biblical marriage of a husband and wife needs our honour and why
Christian husbands and wives need to continually look to cultivate love in the
midst of inevitable strains and struggle.
For those who are married - thinking back to what Jesus said previously in the
Sermon on the Mount, which beatitudes ‘beautiful attitudes’ (Matthew 5:3-12)
do you want to see more of in your life right now so you might be loving your
spouse well and honouring your marriage?
Study written by Garnet Swann
Pray for each other in relation to Jesus’ teaching on Kingdom Life
21
At the end of this gospel, we have the resurrected Jesus saying to His
disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
As a growth group we encourage each other to be about this mission in prayer
with the 3-1-1 Challenge. That is, prayer for 3 people, for 1 minute, 1 time in
the week.
1.
2.
3.
Each week, you could do the 3-1-1 challenge differently ie. pray as a large
group for all the names, or break into pairs and just pray for the three each of
you have chosen, or….there could be various ways of doing it!
311
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