Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock…Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who buit his house on the sand.
*Jesus, the Prince of Peace and Savior–from Matthew 7:24, 26

I just read through the sermon on the mount. This is a familiar passage and seems to be Jesus’ first major sermon. In it he said many words that were both comforting and troubling to the people of Israel and I think that if many people really read this passage they might feel the same way today.

What really stood out to me were the last few sentences of this instruction. Jesus tells us that the wise people will do as he just said, but the foolish will ignore his words and not act on them. Many of today’s believers might have trouble with this because I know there are some passages that I have heard explained away from these few chapters. While I am not a bible scholar I can simply record what it is that Jesus says to us. Below are the points…I recommend that you read the passage (Matthew 5-7) and take your own notes, jot down your own questions/thoughts about the message of Christ in this section of the bible, and discuss them with others to help us all find the truth. What is below is simply my quick notes of the major points in this passage:

–those who receive the kingdom include: poor in spirit, mourners, the gentle, merciful (receive mercy), pure in heart (see God), peacemakers (sons of God), those persecuted for their faith

–rejoice when persecuted, your reward is in heaven

–don’t hide your light or loose your saltiness and become worthless…give glory to God as you shine before men

–Jesus fulfilled the law and says no one should remove a single stroke from the law. Must be more righteous than the pharisees to get into heaven (remember that Jesus makes us righteous, not our own efforts).

–if you are angry you are guilty before the court, same if you call your brother a fool or ‘good for nothing’…so if you are guilty of sin against a brother, make sure you take care of it and make things right before offering sacrifice

–don’t lust, as it is the same as adultery

–remove those things which cause you to sin

–divorce turns people into adulterers…Jesus also says not to marry someone who has been divorced as that is adultery. (this is a tough one to swallow for many as divorce is a sin that the church doesn’t seem to take seriously anymore…the divorce rate for Christians is higher than then average for the population…this is very sad–Jesus does give one reason for divorce and that is “unchastity”)

–do not make oaths, but let your simple answer mean what it means–yes means yes, no means no

–don’t resist evil, but instead turn the other cheek when hit, give more than is asked when sued, and go the extra mile when asked to go only one. Give to him who asks. (could you imagine what Christianity would look like if this was followed? also to what extent do we resist an evil person…is this simply a call for personal relationships? if so why are you in a personal relationship with someone who is evil and hitting you? so is this a larger societal calling? does this say you cannot defend yourself?)

–love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. anyone can love someone who loves them…remember that God lets the sun rise and the rain fall on the just and unjust

–be perfect, as God is perfect

–don’t practice good deeds before men…don’t boast about giving, don’t give long prayers in public in order to bee seen by men, but pray in secret

–the Lord’s model for prayer is simple and involves praising God, asking for daily bread (Jesus asks only for what he needs…daily bread, not a life time of food), forgiveness and to forgive others, help and deliverance from evil.

–you must forgive others because God has forgiven us

–don’t look pitiful when fasting…do it in secret

–don’t store up worldly treasures (hoarding? he who has the most toys…? ) instead, store up heavenly treasures because your heart lies with what you treasure….you don’t want to be blinded by these things and you cannot serve both God and wealth.

–do not worry! gentiles (nonbelievers) worry about food, drink, and clothing but believers know that God will provide for their needs. seek first his kingdom!

–don’t judge unless you wish to be judge by the same measure…take care of your own sin, then go help your brother with his

–ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will open because God wishes to give you good gifts (I have a feeling that Jesus does not say this so that you will ask him for riches and great earthly things…especially since he spent a lot of time saying that you should search for and treasure heavenly things).

–treat others as you wish to be treated

–enter the narrow gate that leads to life… few will find it, but many will find the wide gate that leads to destruction

–beware of false prophets in sheep’s clothing…you will know them by their bad fruit because good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit

–not all who call on Jesus will go to heaven. “but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter”. (this is tricky because of the whole faith verse good deeds issue…could it be that those who truly love jesus do God’s will? a “we shall know them by their fruits” kind of command?)

Right after Jesus finishes saying that not all who call on him enter heaven, he concludes his sermon with the call to be like the wise man who built his house on the rock.

My commetary is simply thoughts from the moment without a ton of reflection and is not meant to be taken along with the instruction from the bible. I am simply voicing thougths and questions that pop up as I type. Please leave comments, questions, etc to help encourage each other to follow Christ’s teachings and to help with the discussion and further the knowledge of the bible. Also, if you noticed that I left something out please let me know so I can add it in. This was meant to be an exercise in finding out all that Christ taught in this sermon, not just what we pick and choose to teach.

Peace and blessings.