The Word This Week
Matt 5:1…
There is no greater instruction for mankind than what we read here in Matthew 5 – 7. It is the greatest teaching in the history of the world. It is the very teaching of God. If you have ever wondered about how God would have you conduct your life, it is found in this greatest of all messages, contained in these three chapters.
At this point in His ministry Jesus was being thronged by thousands. As chapter 4 concluded, we saw that great multitudes followed Jesus, estimated by scholars to be as many as 25,000 people. They were seeking healing from both sickness and diseases of various kinds.
Unlike any man before or after Himself, Jesus healed them all. These miraculous healings made Jesus famous in ways no man had acquired fame before. It was a fame that would not be misused in typical human fashion but used mightily for the kingdom of God.
Certainly, the people seeking physical healing needed to be healed, but they also needed to be taught about true healing - healing from the ravages of sin, which is the true affliction of every man.
There were sick and diseased people in the crowd, but there were also those who accompanied them, or perhaps even carried them to Jesus. They were afflicted by sickness unto death as well, they just didn’t know it.
As Jesus turned this healing session to the true healing needed by every man, He began to teach. His lesson is the most significant ever recorded.
His message, (known of as ‘The Sermon on the Mount,) began with a separation of mankind from the desires of the flesh – known of as ‘The Beatitudes.’ These are blessings which are sure to follow those who invest themselves in the kingdom of heaven and its ways – in all aspects of life, even while living in the kingdom of this world.
Jesus draws stark, black and white comparisons for us to see ourselves by, in the manner which God sees us. When we read these comparisons between the person we are and the person God would have us be, we recognize how agreeable this is to our souls, and how inherently right this is.
Who could argue with the perfection of these blessings – which are promised to each of us who choose the kingdom of heaven over the kingdom of this world?
Pastor Bill
There is no greater instruction for mankind than what we read here in Matthew 5 – 7. It is the greatest teaching in the history of the world. It is the very teaching of God. If you have ever wondered about how God would have you conduct your life, it is found in this greatest of all messages, contained in these three chapters.
At this point in His ministry Jesus was being thronged by thousands. As chapter 4 concluded, we saw that great multitudes followed Jesus, estimated by scholars to be as many as 25,000 people. They were seeking healing from both sickness and diseases of various kinds.
Unlike any man before or after Himself, Jesus healed them all. These miraculous healings made Jesus famous in ways no man had acquired fame before. It was a fame that would not be misused in typical human fashion but used mightily for the kingdom of God.
Certainly, the people seeking physical healing needed to be healed, but they also needed to be taught about true healing - healing from the ravages of sin, which is the true affliction of every man.
There were sick and diseased people in the crowd, but there were also those who accompanied them, or perhaps even carried them to Jesus. They were afflicted by sickness unto death as well, they just didn’t know it.
As Jesus turned this healing session to the true healing needed by every man, He began to teach. His lesson is the most significant ever recorded.
His message, (known of as ‘The Sermon on the Mount,) began with a separation of mankind from the desires of the flesh – known of as ‘The Beatitudes.’ These are blessings which are sure to follow those who invest themselves in the kingdom of heaven and its ways – in all aspects of life, even while living in the kingdom of this world.
Jesus draws stark, black and white comparisons for us to see ourselves by, in the manner which God sees us. When we read these comparisons between the person we are and the person God would have us be, we recognize how agreeable this is to our souls, and how inherently right this is.
Who could argue with the perfection of these blessings – which are promised to each of us who choose the kingdom of heaven over the kingdom of this world?
Pastor Bill