A Vision of the Christian Life

Matthew 5:1-12

Summary
This week we begin a new series through the Sermon on the Mount by looking at Jesus’ opening words in the Beatitudes. Before Jesus tells his disciples what to do, he shows them the kind of people they are becoming in his kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is not a ladder we climb to become Christians, nor is it merely an impossible standard meant to crush us. It is a vision of the Christian life, spoken by the King to his disciples. In a shallow and superficial age, Jesus calls us into a deeper life of grace, righteousness, blessing, and transformation.

Discussion Questions

1. When you hear the phrase “the Sermon on the Mount,” what comes to mind first? Why do you think this sermon has been so influential?
2. Jesus begins this sermon by addressing his disciples, not by giving a general message to the world. Why does that matter for how we understand and apply the Sermon on the Mount?
3. What is the difference between seeing the Sermon on the Mount as a way to become a Christian and seeing it as a picture of what a Christian is becoming?
4. Why is it dangerous to treat Jesus’ commands as a ladder we climb in order to earn God’s favor?
5. At the same time, why is it dangerous to say, “The Sermon on the Mount is impossible, so it is only meant to show me my sin”?
6. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that the outstanding characteristic of the church in his day was “superficiality.” Where do you see superficiality in the church today? Where do you see it in your own life?
7. Jesus’ first word in the Beatitudes is “blessed.” Why is that significant, especially given the difficult things his disciples would later face?
8. Which of the Beatitudes feels most attractive to you right now? Which one feels most challenging?
9. What does it mean that Jesus is not merely a teacher giving advice, but the King announcing the life of his kingdom?
10. The sermon emphasized that grace meets us where we are but does not leave us where we are. Where do you most need the Lord to keep changing you?
11. How does the Sermon on the Mount challenge a shallow or merely outward version of Christianity?
12. If Jesus is casting a vision for the Christian life, what part of that vision do you most need to recover or pursue in this season?

Quotes
“Now I think that anyone who looks at the present state of the Christian church…will be driven to the reluctant conclusion that the outstanding characteristic of the life of the Church today is, alas, its superficiality.”   - Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Studies on the Sermon on the Mount, p.5)

“[The Sermon on the Mount] is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do.” – John Stott (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p.15)

“If any one will piously and soberly consider the sermon which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the mount, as we read it in the Gospel according to Matthew, I think that he will find in it, so far as regards the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life.” – Augustine (Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, p.3)

“For Christ says also (as we have seen) in this sermon nothing about how we become Christians, but only about the works and fruits which no one can do unless he is already a Christian, and in grace.” – Martin Luther (Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, p.257-258)