Preaching has fallen on hard times.   Pulpits have by and large disappeared, making our sanctuaries look more like a Ted Talk than a place of worship.  But the changes are far more than just cosmetic, or the innocent pursuit of relevancy by way of stage furnishings and the latest display of technology.  Which makes the closing words of the Sermon on the Mount so important.  Matthew’s record ends not with the final words of Jesus’ sermon, but with the collective response of those who heard it.  It is one of those brief statements that we could easily blow right by, as nothing more than a convenient literary device meant to provide a comfortable transition from one section of scripture to another.  But, as we’ll see this morning, Matthew 7:28-29 records something quite profound and profoundly significant.  We’ll consider the meaning and significance of Matthew’s after-sermon report in a much needed message entitled, “The Power of the Word Proclaimed”.

We want to tarry one additional week over the concluding words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  In the words of Peter, “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Matt. 17:4).  As we have seen, Jesus alerted us to the reality that following him is neither easy nor automatic, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (7:14). The way is hard to enter, difficult to stay on, and not many do.  But just because it is not easy, does not mean it is complicated.  In fact, it is decidedly not.  As we’ll see this morning, the whole of our discipleship comes down to two very simple and clear imperatives.  Simple and clear in their meaning, but profound in their implications.  This morning we’ll consider the significance and meaning of those two commands, and the surprising extent of their implications, as we turn again to Matthew 7:24-27, in a message entitled, “Our Marching Orders in Two Words”.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his primer on kingdom living, comes to a decisive conclusion by way of a parable, a parable of two houses. Which dramatically and memorably illustrate two very distinct and different responses to his words with two very distinct and different outcomes. Because we don’t often comprehend or take seriously the significance between those two responses, or their two respective outcomes, Jesus drives home the truth with a mental picture easy to imagine and hard to forget. This morning we’ll consider the significance and meaning of those two houses, and the two differing responses they illustrate, in Matthew 7:21-23, in a message entitled, “The Distinct Difference Between Hearing and Doing” .

In preparing us for the challenges of the road to kingdom living, Jesus alerts us to two potential hazards that can significantly endanger our way. Having warned us about the prevalence of false prophets – those who have our ear, who shape our belief and behavior, who appear to be in line with God’s truth and God’s will, but are not – he turns his attention to the prevalence of false professions. Those who clearly, even enthusiastically, profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who in the end will not enter the kingdom of heaven. How could that situation possibly exist? What would be the cause, and what are the lessons for us? This morning we’ll consider the significance and meaning of Jesus’ sober warning in Matthew 7:21-23, in a message entitled, “The Hard Truth About False Profession”.

Note: No sermon video posted for 9/19/21 due to technical issues with the recording.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount now begins to draw to a close.  The main body of his instruction has been completed and for the better part of the last chapter Jesus will conclude with several points of application, invitation and call to decision.  Each laying bare the truth that the road to kingdom living is neither easy or automatic.  It involves a conscious, deliberate personal choice that each of us must make, to enter an intentional way of life that is hard to find, and even harder to live.  And all while the vast majority of those around us, oblivious and unconcerned, are simply on their merry way.  We come this morning to the first of those decision points in Matthew 7:13-14, in a message entitled, “The Road Less Traveled” .

One of the greatest and most comprehensive promises in all of scripture comes smack dab in the middle of one of the most important sections of one of the most important sermons Jesus ever gave. And, significantly, it follows right on the heels of his warning about the two greatest threats to God’s kingdom work, namely, material ambition and judging others (Matt. 6:19; 7:1). Why? Because, as we’ll see this morning, that promise is a direct response and specific answer to both. It turns out that the fear and insecurity that drive our material ambitions, and fuel our judgment of others, find their answer in living out of “The Fullness of the Father’s Faithfulness”, the categorical and unequivocal promise that Jesus affirms in Matthew 7:7-12.

As we saw in Jesus’s searching words, there are three choices that make exclusive claims upon us and determine the fundamental trajectory of our lives –– where is our treasure, what is our vision, who is our master. But that raises some important questions. What exactly causes us to want to store up treasure on earth? What makes our life oriented toward greed and covetousness? Why would we willingly submit to the slavery of mammon? In the verses that follow Jesus goes deeper, from the symptoms to the diagnosis, to the true spiritual cause, and importantly, the true spiritual cure for those choices. Addressing the specific soul care that is needed if we’re to be truly free, and truly flourish. This morning we’ll consider that much needed prescription in Matthew 6:25-34, in a message entitled, “Curing the Soul of Fear of Want”.

In our journey through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we come to the vital subject of the Christian’s relationship to material wealth and ambition.  There is no other area of the Christian life in which we are more dexterous in our attempts to straddle the fence, then in our efforts to satisfy both our spiritual and material longings and aspirations.  In fact, whole facets of Christian teaching have been developed, which not only condone, but even encourage, the supposed biblical basis for the pursuit of material wealth.  But you don’t have to be long into a study of the kingdom of God before you run head on into clear indications of a fundamental incompatibility between kingdom living and material ambition.  And even more significantly, clear assertions of the fundamental inability to live for both.  Nowhere are the exclusive claims of the kingdom of God more clearly articulated and strongly asserted than in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-24, as we’ll see this morning, in a message entitled, “Two Treasures…Two Visions…Two Masters”.

On two different occasions during his public ministry Jesus gave very specific teaching on prayer, imparting to us what has come to be known universally as The Lord’s Prayer. Given both the rich resources and long tradition of prayer contained in the Old Testament, not least the Psalms (the prayer book of the church), he must have considered this prayer an important and needed addendum. Why? Why would Jesus give us this particular prayer? Well, as we have seen, that rich and long tradition of prayer didn’t necessarily keep prayer from devolving into either public spectacle or mechanical repetition, even among his own people. Given that concern, why this unique prayer? Conspicuous for its brevity, a mere fifty-seven words, and yet remarkable in its comprehensiveness. What help and spiritual benefit did he intend for us to derive from it, and how? In Matthew 6:5-15 we’ll consider the meaning and purpose of our Lord’s most important words, in a message entitled “A Framework for Kingdom Prayer”.