We have provided you with this sermon on the Mount summary, hoping to introduce you to the profound words of Jesus that he entrusted to his followers.
The Sermon on the Mount Summary-Matthew 5
Bless You
When Jesus saw that his work attracted the great multitudes, he went up into a mountain. Those who were his disciples, his devotees, ascended with him. He arrived in a quiet place, sat down, and taught his friends who had joined him on the ascent.
He said this:
“Blessed are you when you are at the very end. When there is less of you, there is more of God and his rule.
Blessed are you when you feel that you have lost what is dearest to you. Only then will the One who is dearest to you be able to embrace you.
Blessed are you when you are satisfied with who you are – nothing more, nothing less. At that moment, you find that you are the proud owner of everything that cannot be bought.
Blessed are you when you have developed a great hunger for God. His food and drink are the best lunch you will ever eat.
Blessed are you when you take compassionate care of others. When you are ‘caring’, you find that Someone is caring for you.
Blessed are you when your inner world – your heart and thoughts – is as it should be. Then you can see God in the outside world.
Blessed are you when you can show people how to participate instead of competing and fighting. That’s when you realize who you really are and discover that you belong to God’s family.
Blessed are you when your devotion to God provokes persecution. Persecution of this woman even deeper into the kingdom of God.
Not only that – bless you every time people oppress you or throw you out or tell lies about you to denigrate me. This means that the truth is too close for them to be comfortable – so they are uncomfortable. You can be happy when that happens – even joyful! – because even though he doesn’t like it, I do! And all the heavens clap. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and my witnesses have always come into such trouble.”
The Salt and the Light
“Let me tell you why you are here. You are here to be the salt spice that creates God’s tastes on this earth. If you lose your salinity, how will people know the real feeling of God? So you will lose your essential purpose and therefore end up in the trash.
Or, to put it this way: You are here to be a light and to bring the colors of God into this world. God is not some secret to be guarded. With this thing, we go public, as much to the public as a public place is on top of a hill. If I made you light-bearers, I probably wouldn’t hide you under a bucket, right? I’ll put you on a pedestal. And now, because I put you on top of the hill, on the pedestal – shine! Keep the house open; be generous with your life. When you open yourself to others, you encourage people to open themselves to God, this generous Father in heaven.”
The Full Meaning of God’s Law
“Do not imagine for a moment that I have come to destroy the Bible — the law of God or the prophets. I am not here to destroy but to give full meaning. I’m going to put it all together, pull it together in a wide panorama. God’s law is more real and enduring than the stars in the sky and the ground beneath your feet. Long after the stars burn up and the earth disappears, God’s law will still be alive and functioning.
Do, for the unimportant, only the smallest thing in God’s law, and for the unimportant, you will make yourself. But take it seriously, show the way to others, and you will be honored in the kingdom. If you do not fare much better than the Pharisees concerning real life, you will not see the kingdom either from afar. ”
Adultery and Divorce
“You also know the following commandment very well: ‘Do not go to bed with someone else’s spouse.’ But do not think that you have maintained your innocence just by not going to bed. Lust can damage your heart even sooner than your body. Those horny looks that you think no one notices – they spoil you too.
Let’s stop pretending it’s easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally blameless life, you have to do this: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it staring lustfully. You have to choose to live one-eyed rather than land in a moral dump. And you have to cut off your right arm the moment you notice it is rising menacingly. Better a bloody stump than all your creatures forever thrown away in a landfill.
You remember a biblical passage that says, “Whoever divorces his wife shall do it lawfully; let him give her divorce papers and legal rights. ‹? Too many of you use this as a cover for your selfishness and capriciousness and pretend that you are fair just because you are “legitimate.” Please stop pretending. If you separate from your wife, you are guilty of making her an adulteress (unless she has already made it out of herself with grave sexual sins). And if you marry such a separate adulteress, you are automatically an adulterer too. You can’t use the disguise of legality to cover up a moral breakdown. ”
Empty Promises
“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This advice is deeply rooted in our tradition. When you wrap yourself in the smokescreen of pious speech and say, ‘I will pray for you,’ but you will never do that, or ‘Lord be with you,’ but you don’t think that you only make things worse. You can’t make your words true by decorating them with religious lace. The more religious your speech sounds, the less real it is. Just say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to turn things around, you are doing it wrong.”
Love Your Enemies
“Here’s another old saying that deserves to be revisited. ›An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth‹ Where will this take us? My advice is this: ‘Never hit back.’ If someone hits you, stand and accept. If someone drags you to court and sues you for the shirt you’re wearing, wrap your best coat and give it to him as a gift. And if anyone takes unfair advantage of you, take the opportunity and practice the role of a servant. No more ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Live generously.
You are well acquainted with the old written law: ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten complement: ‘Hate your enemy.’ I oppose this. I tell you to love your enemies. Let them get the best out of you, not the worst. When someone causes you to have a hard time, answer with the power of prayer because only then do you act out of your true self, out of the self-created by God. This is what God does. He gives the best he has – the sun to warm and the rain to feed – to everyone, no matter what they are: good or bad, kind or rude. If all you do is just love those who are worthy of love, do you expect a reward? Anyone can do this. If you simply say ‘Hi,’ to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? This is what every ordinary sinner does.
In a word – I tell you, grow up. You belong to the kingdom.
That’s why you live like this! Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and kindly to others, just as God lives to you.”
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The Sermon on the Mount Summary-Matthew 6
The World Is Not a Theatrical Stage
“When you’re trying to be good, be especially careful not to make a show out of it. It may be a good game, but the God who made you will not applaud.
When you’re doing something for someone else, don’t draw attention to yourself. I’m sure you’ve seen them at work – I call them ‘playwrights’ – how they have both prayer meetings and street corners for the theater stage, where they play mercy as long as someone is watching and doing a show for the crowd. True, they applaud them, but that’s all they get.
But when you help someone, don’t think about what it looks like. Do it simple – quiet and unobtrusive. Your God, who conceived you in love and who works behind the scenes, also helps you. ”
Pray Simple
“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical performance either. Oh, all those people who make a constant show out of their prayers! Do you think God is sitting in a lodge?
This is what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so a theatrical performance before God won’t tempt you. Just be there as simply and honestly as possible. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to feel His grace.
The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer ignoramuses. They are full of forms and programs and tips, crocheting techniques on how to get what you want from God. Don’t fall into this nonsense. The one you are dealing with is your Father, and he knows what you need better than you. Given that God loves you so much, you can pray easily.
Thus:
›Our Father in heaven,
show who you are.
Arrange the world as it should be.
Do your best –
as above, so below.
It keeps us alive with three hearty meals.
Keep us in forgiveness with you and with each other.
Keep us safe from ourselves and from the Devil.
You rule!
You can do whatever you want!
You are shining in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.<
In prayer, there is a connection between what God does and what you do. For example, you cannot get forgiveness from God without forgiving others. If you don’t want to do your part in this thing, cut yourself off from God’s part.
When you practice any discipline of giving up food to better concentrate on God, don’t make a show out of it. It can make you heroes of short fame, but it can’t make you saints. If you go into ‘coaching’ inwardly, behave normally outwardly. Wash and comb your hair, and brush your teeth and face. God does not need tools to attract attention. He will not ignore what you are doing; He will reward you well. ”
A Life Dedicated to the Worship of God
“Don’t pile up treasures down here where moths eat them or are eaten by rust or – worse! – where they are stolen by burglars. Keep your treasure in heaven, where it is safe from moths and rust, and burglars. Obviously, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is is the place where you will most want to be and where you will finally be.
Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in curiosity and faith, your body will be filled with light. But if you blink in greed and distrust, your body is a damp basement. What a dark life you have if you pull the blinds on your windows!
You cannot worship two gods at the same time. When you love one God, you begin to hate another. Suppose you worship one kind of God; you contempt the other God. You cannot worship God and Money at the same time.
If you choose God and live a life dedicated to the worship of God, then it follows that you are not making problems with what is on the table at mealtime or whether the clothes in your closet are in line with fashion. Life is so much more than the food you put in your stomach, and your appearance is more than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the free birds; they are not bound to the ground by any description of employment; they are carefree in God’s care. But you mean much more to him than birds.
Has anyone become only an inch bigger by staring anxiously in the mirror?
Oh, all that time and money they spend on fashion – do you think that’s that very important? Instead of looking at fashion habits, go out to the fields, and look at the wildflowers. They never peel off and go shopping, but still – have you ever seen colors and designs that could compare to them? Even the ten best-dressed men and women in the country would look miserable next to them.
If God pays such attention to the appearance of the wildflowers – most of which no one notices at all -do you think he will not look after you, be proud of you, and do the best for you? What I want to achieve with this is to relax. Don’t be so overwhelmed with receiving that you will be able to respond to God’s giving. People who do not know God and his actions make problems out of this, and you know both God and his actions. Immerse your life in God’s reality, in God’s initiative, in God’s provision. Don’t worry, and don’t be afraid to miss something. You will discover that all your daily human needs will be taken care of.
Focus all your attention on what God is doing right now, and don’t get entangled in what will or won’t happen tomorrow. God will help you to arrange any difficult thing when it comes. ”
The Sermon on the Mount Summary-Matthew 7
A Simple Rule of Conduct
“Don’t have people on the spot, don’t jump on their failures, and don’t criticize their mistakes – unless, of course, you don’t want to be treated the same. This critical spirit knows how to come back like a boomerang. It is easy to see a stain on the face of your neighbor and, at the same time, forget the ugly contemptuous look on your own face. Do you dare to say, ‘Let me wash your face instead of you,’ when your own face is disfigured with contempt? This is again the mindset of a traveling roadshow where you play the role of ‘holier than you’ instead of simply living your role. Wipe that ugly look off your face, and then you may be able to offer a rag to your neighbor.
Do not take what is sacred with your left hand. Fools and foolishness are not an honor to God. Don’t devalue sacred secrets by turning them into slogans. When you try to be “fit,” you are just pretending to be attractive and opening the door to blasphemy.
Do not bargain with God.
Say it straight. Ask for what you need. It’s not a game of cat and mouse, a game of hiding and seeking to go. If your child asks you for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks you for a fish, do you scare him on the plate with a live snake? Even though you’re the way you are, you wouldn’t even think about something like that. At least treat your children appropriately. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
This is a simple, most basic rule of conduct: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then take the initiative and do it for them. Add up the law of God and the prophets, and this is what you will receive “when it comes.”
To Be and to Work
“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is full of frivolous formulas for a successful life with guaranteed success that you can practice in your spare time. Don’t get excited about things like this, even though crowds of people do. The way to life – the way to God! – requires strong toughness and full attention.
Beware of false preachers who smile a lot and just strain from the sincerity done. There is a possibility that they will skin you one way or another. Don’t be all taken over by charisma; look at the character. The main thing is who the preachers are, not what they say. A true leader will never abuse your emotions or your wallet. These diseased trees, with their bad apples, will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Knowing the right password – for example: ‘Lord, Lord’ – will not help you at all. What I expect is serious obedience – doing what my Father wants. I can already see them — thousands at the Last Judgment will step against me and say, ‘Lord, we have preached the Message, we have beaten demons, and everyone has talked about our God-backed projects.’ And you know what I’m going to tell them? ›You missed the train. You were doing this by exploiting me for your own importance. I’m not the least bit impressed with you. Get out of here.
Basic Words
“These words I am telling you are not occasional additions to your life, housing improvements to your standard of living. These are the fundamental words, the words on which you build a life. If you incorporate these words into your lives, you are like a prudent builder who built his house on solid rock. It was raining, the river was flooding, and a storm was brewing – but nothing moved this house. It was attached to a rock.
But if you use my words only for biblical studies and don’t incorporate them into your lives, you are like a stupid builder who built his house on a sandy beach. When the storm came and the waves hit, it collapsed like a house of cards. ”
When Jesus finished his speech, the crowd applauded loudly. They have never heard of such teaching. It was evident that everything he said was really alive – what a contrast from their religious teachers! It was the best lesson they had ever heard.