The purpose of this book is to interpret the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount for us today. Just a look at the first verse of the Sermon on the Mount can tell us that.
The Sermon on the Mount by Roger Shinn
Turning Our Values Upside Down
In Handel's Messiah we sing of Jesus (in the words of Isaiah) as "a man of sorrows and known with sorrow." And Stanton learned to work intimately with the president, whom he had considered the "Illinois monkey."
The Cost of Discipleship
One reason Jesus gives is that people persecuted the prophets of old and spoke well of false prophets. 34;He promises reward precisely for those who disobey for reward's sake." (Theology of the New Testament by Rudolph Bultmann, vol. 1, p. 14. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951, Used by permission).
Light And Secrecy
34;You are the light of the world.' Here is a more familiar language, common in Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, Jesus said that his followers, not the Caesars, were the light of the world.
The Old and the New
Most of the sentences in the Sermon on the Mount have their parallels in the Old Testament or in the rabbinic. His central message - as we have seen - was the gospel of the kingdom of God. So the newness of Jesus is the power of God's kingdom to make us new.
Today, like some of the Pharisees, we are likely to find the causes of our problems in the externals of life. But those who use his word (verse 32) to condemn others find that his word (verse 28) condemns themselves for the same reason. The careful attention to detail can go astray if only the essential is present the fulfillment of the law in the spirit of God's kingdom.
Love For Enemies
It didn't say, "Hate your enemy." But the word neighbor generally referred to a fellow Israelite. Now we are ready to see the impact of the passage as it rises to a crashing climax: "You must therefore be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect." What should we do with it? Fosdick says, "He outlined a way of life so exacting that no legalism could define it, no unsaved heart could practice it, no saint could fully fulfill." (The Man of Nazareth by Harry Emerson Fosdick, p.
In the early church it was sometimes said, "Love your enemies, and you will have enemies no more." But the Jesus whose enemies crucified Him and welcomed our persecution did not say that. 34;There is nothing to say against (the Christian principle), except that it is too difficult for most of us to practice sincerely.'' One voice in the church said: To follow Christ is to reject the ways of the state.
The Lord’s Prayer
Understanding the prayer involves all of Jesus' message and the depths of our own spirit. Augustine says that the opening words are already the answer to the prayer, because we cannot ask for anything greater than to approach the Lord of the universe as Father. But here, in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, it is a call to risk life.
When the disciples first learned this prayer, they did not know that the day was coming when their Lord would offer them bread saying, "This is my body." In the Christian faith, it is as natural to pray for bread as to use this same ordinary bread in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 34; Lead us not into temptation." This is the only petition of the Lord's Prayer which causes confusion because of its wording. This last doxology or hymn does not appear in the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament.
The Demand For Decision
It would have been much nicer if he had said, "You cannot serve God and the Emperor." Or God and the Sanhedrin. The insurance company advertises with the motto: "It is not necessary for unforeseen events to change and shape the course of human affairs." The slogan is absurd. To "put money into selling Christian philosophy to America and thus suppress Communism and other false ideologies." Because "any idea, even Christian philosophy, can be sold if it is supported by a suitable sales campaign.".
Therefore, this group proposed a Council on Ideological Warfare that would "coordinate and thus make effective all movements now selling partial or watered-down parts of the Sermon on the Mount." It recommended that Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish leaders come together and draft a creed. Then have five of the best advertisers in the country prepare these truths "for sale." Such an effort, blessed by God, would spread throughout the world. Some, she says, "I couldn't even whisper to myself." They were rooted in deep discomfort.
Trust and Anxiety
This is not a case of the old "new generation" lament. Lack of self-confidence is part of his realism and can be the gateway to wisdom. 34;Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." Who cannot break this promise from his own experience. The last president of the Assembly of the League of Nations, the Norwegian Carl Hambro, said in Here in Geneva we have every fear but the fear of God. "He had a point.
Everything will be all right.' He knew that things don't always end well. He does not say that God will intervene to correct all our follies and omissions. This Christian faith is not just something 'hanging in the air'. . “It makes a difference in life. 34;Ask and it will be given to you.” If we wicked people give good gifts to our children, the heavenly Father will do much more for us.
The Perils Of Judging
Often one of the major embarrassments of courtship is meeting his (or her) family. Kierkegaard tells of the thief who stole a hundred dollar bill, and then saw how a second thief cheated it from him. As we have seen before, Jesus gives us the truth of the kingdom of God.
Several investigators in 1952 set out to discover, through survey techniques, some of the bases of international hostilities. He found plenty of criticism of other nations' policies, but never a single hint that Russia could ever be wrong. They reported that each society consistently interprets the actions of the other in the worst possible way.
The Golden Rule
In the same way, the Golden Rule needs the guidance and direction of the entire Christian faith. Men can argue about many questions, but often they can agree on the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule without the gospel can be (1) a cheap standard of conduct and (2) a source of frustration.
You can still live by the letter of the Golden Rule. wants no love or forgiveness; you don't extend it to others. The Golden Rule requires the imagination to put yourself in the place of another and notice his needs. The person of insight knows that he often does not follow the Golden Rule.
True And False Faith
We see this clearly in the case of new faiths that have incited revolutions and sent armies. Our great wars have not been over such matters as the settlement of national boundaries or the inheritance of the right to a throne. It is not just a question of the country you live in and the government that demands loyalty.
He tells us to look for fruit -- fruit that reminds us of the ways of God's kingdom. Similarly, we have recently heard the term "good faith" several times in international negotiations. If we could count on good faith, many other concerns would take care of themselves. In a letter where Paul emphasized faith instead of works and the Spirit instead of the law, he wrote that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (See Galatians 5: 22-23.) And in his argument for faith as against Roman Catholic law, Luther used the image of Jesus as a tree and its fruit.
Worship and Work
There, in the penultimate paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount, is an unmistakable warning: It is not enough to say, "Lord, Lord." The need is to do the will of the heavenly Father. Think of the ornate church buildings where people go to forget their troubles -- and listen to sermons that never remind them of the slums in the shadow of the sanctuary. True worship is the expression of respect of the human personality towards his Lord and Creator.
The goal of life becomes, in the Calvinist phrase, "to glorify God and enjoy him forever." So we can't help but wonder why centuries of Christian worship haven't made more of a difference in the lives of nations. It embarrasses our missionaries when so-called heathen nations inquire about the conduct of so-called Christians.
The Voice With Authority
This is the authority of the Physician who can heal, of the Savior who can redeem, of the Creator who even now can give new life.” The authority of the Sermon on the Mount is like the authority of the foundation of the rock in that last striking parable But the truth of the Sermon is not only the abstract truth, enclosed in sentences which we tirelessly translate and study.
For it is the truth of the living Spirit that gave us the sentences, the truth of the God who acted through this man and taught on the mountain for our salvation. Martin Dibelius points out that many of Jesus' phrases have parallels in the proverbs of Jewish literature. From time to time you may have heard the curious thought that the Sermon on the Mount is a simple moral message that has nothing to do with the rest of the Church's teachings about Jesus.