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    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5, 6 and 7
    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5, 6 and 7
    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5, 6 and 7
    Ebook105 pages2 hours

    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5, 6 and 7

    By John Zehring

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    About this ebook

    Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was his orientation to his newly-recruited disciples which became one of the most important collections of Jesus’ teachings. Its theme is to put God first. Some of Jesus’ most beloved teachings are found here like the Golden Rule, the Lord’s Prayer and walk the second mile. Also found here are challenging sections like his teaching on divorce, lust, and anger. The eBook applies Jesus’ teachings to our contemporary lives and can be read both as a study of Matthew 5, 6, and 7 and as devotional reading for inspiration.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Zehring
    Release dateJul 25, 2015
    ISBN9781310758416
    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5, 6 and 7
    Author

    John Zehring

    John Zehring has served United Church of Christ congregations as Senior Pastor in Massachusetts (Andover), Rhode Island (Kingston), and Maine (Augusta) and as an Interim Pastor in Massachusetts (Arlington, Harvard). Prior to parish ministry, he served in higher education, primarily in development and institutional advancement. He worked as a dean of students, director of career planning and placement, adjunct professor of public speaking and as a vice president at a seminary and at a college. He is the author of more than sixty books and is a regular writer for The Christian Citizen, an American Baptist social justice publication. He has taught Public Speaking, Creative Writing, Educational Psychology and Church Administration. John was the founding editor of the publication Seminary Development News, a publication for seminary presidents, vice presidents and trustees (published by the Association of Theological Schools, funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment). He graduated from Eastern University and holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, Rider University, and the Earlham School of Religion. He is listed in Marquis' WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA and is a recipient of their Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. John and his wife Donna live in two places, in central Massachusetts and by the sea in Maine.

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    • 5/5
      Beautifully written and well explained. I've learned a lot and my hope is to not limit my learning to the changes that will happen to my manner of relating to God and to others, but may I also keep on having the desire to share these learning to others so they, too, will see the beauty of Jesus Christ' Sermon on the Mount.

    Book preview

    Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - John Zehring

    Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount

    Matthew 5, 6 and 7

    John Zehring

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright 2015 John Zehring

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

    Introduction

    "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and

    when he sat down his disciples came to him.

    And he opened his mouth and taught them..."

    (Matthew 5:1, 2)

    Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is one of his most important collections of teachings. Those who love and follow the teacher will want to hang on every word of his teachings. It is short, consisting of only three chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. Yet, it can hardly be read at one sitting because there is so much to stop to think about. As you read it, it can feel like you are speeding through scenery which beckons you to pull over to study in greater detail. Other times, you encounter cliffs that cannot be scaled. They are too steep, some of these sections which appear too difficult to understand. Even the best of students of the bible must honestly acknowledge that we do not know what was meant.

    A woman paper-clipped closed the pages in her bible for Matthew 5-7. She said it seemed like it was almost too much to ask, too difficult to obey, too deep to understand, too radical, and too demanding. She was not ready for it. As you encounter it, perhaps you too find it demanding more than you can give. Maybe you are not ready for it either. It is the core of Jesus' teachings. Should it ever feel it is too complicated or unrealistic, be reminded of how Jesus took the children into his arms and told how it is a simple, childlike faith that pleases God – a faith of love, trust, obedience, and service.

    When you study world religions and come to the Muslim faith, you discover that the word Islam means submission. Islam requires a complete submission to Allah. When you examine the Sermon on the Mount, the same could be said of Christianity: Jesus expects complete submission to the God’s will: Thy will be done.

    THE PRIMARY POINT OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

    Fly high over the Sermon on the Mount and squint your eyes to observe that it is primarily about relationships. God first, others second. Children in church schools are taught that the first three letters of the word gospel are G-O-S and can stand for God, Others, and Self. That is the priority that Jesus set forth. Seek first the kingdom of God, Jesus taught. First. Love others… even your enemies, he taught. Over the three chapters, you begin to see patterns and levels of meaning which all point to your relationship with God and with others. The point is not about rules, commandments, or thou-shalt-nots. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is all about relationships which has the potential to lead to the highest fulfilment in life.

    NOT LIKELY A SERMON

    Bible scholars believe The Sermon on the Mount was not a single sermon. Rather, it is an edited collection of Jesus' teachings. There is too much for one sitting and too much to comprehend -- especially for brand new disciples for whom all of this is new. Jesus, a master teacher, would not seek to overwhelm his new and inexperienced pupils with more than they could handle at one sitting. In Matthew, it is collected together in three chapters. In Luke it is spread through the gospel. Most likely, it is not one sermon but a skillfully-edited compendium of Jesus' teachings.

    THE AUDIENCE FOR THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

    The audience was the twelve disciples. Examine the first verse of Matthew 5 (above). Jesus was with the crowds. Then he went up the mountain. Then his disciples came to him. They are no longer with the crowds. Look at where the Sermon on the Mount appears, near the beginning of Matthew.

    Consider what occurred just before: We are at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In the previous chapter, Jesus emerged from thirty years of silence, had been baptized, had been tempted in the wilderness, and then the first thing he did was to recruit his twelve disciples. He invited them to follow me. The scriptures do not record him telling them anything about what he believed, what he stood for, or where he was heading. All we know is that they dropped their nets on the pier, left their boats and followed him. Something very special must have happened in his invitation. Perhaps it was in his eyes or on his face, but something about him attracted these men who worked with their hands to follow him even though they knew very little about him.

    Now, beginning in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins their orientation. This is Introduction to Discipleship. Christianity 101. Basic Training. This is the beginning summary of his ministry, teaching, and leading women and men to God. This is his first teaching to the twelve to whom he is entrusting the future of his work. What he starts with is: The Beatitudes.

    Sometimes we read Jesus’ teachings devotionally searching for inspiration and encouragement. Other times we study them in greater depth searching to put them into context and trying to understand how culture, language or teaching techniques enlighten what Jesus’ meant. At this level, it is always worth considering: To whom were these words spoken and to whom to they apply? The words of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew were spoken to the twelve disciples. Does that mean they apply only to those twelve men or do they apply to everyone? Do they apply to you? Did they apply primarily to that time, place and culture or are they to be taken literally as applying to our situation in the 21st century? There is no simple answer, except that they were initially spoken to the Twelve and that they were never intended to be taken literally, for Jesus was a master teacher at using metaphor, symbolic language, hyperbole, parallelism, and middle eastern teaching techniques – which we will consider as we review the verses.

    SOME NOTES ABOUT THIS BOOK

    Before we dig in to Jesus’ teachings, a few notes about the book:

    All scriptures in this work come from the New Revised Standard unless otherwise noted.

    I have attempted to use inclusive language wherever possible in the words I have written, although I have not altered Jesus’ reference to God as Father. I recognize that the Divine has no gender and for many it may be just as appropriate and accurate to acknowledge God as Mother or Father. Whichever pronoun we use, recognize that Jesus viewed God as a loving parent.

    The section on the beatitudes are drawn from my eBook The One Minute Beatitude: A Brief Review of Jesus’ Beatitudes. Information is available at the end of this work in the biography section which lists my eBooks.

    The purpose of my writing this work is to guide the reader to review Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, to understand it more, to live into it, and to grow to know God better and to love God more. May God bless you and guide you as you absorb Jesus’ words into your spirit and your life.

    John Zehring

    Matthew 5

    The Beatitudes

    Matthew 5:1-12 (NRSV)

    When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

    Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

    Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

    Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will receive mercy.

    Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

    Blessed are the peacemakers,

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