Introducing the Sermon on the Mount

 

 

I. Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

A. This is our first lesson in a series taken from the Sermon on the Mount.

B. The Sermon on the Mount is one of the longest and most important collection of Jesus' teachings.

C. The Sermon on the Mount is a description of what the followers of Jesus are to be like.

1. The key word, as John Stott has pointed out, is different.

2. "Jesus emphasized that his true followers, the citizens of God's kingdom, were to be different from others." (J. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 18)

D. The Sermon on the mount seems to be very demanding. Can we live up to the standards of the Sermon on the Mount?

1. The answer is no. It is too stringent and too difficult to follow completely.

2. In fact, many people are turned away from the Sermon on the Mount because it is so exacting.

E. What then is the Sermon on the Mount and why did Jesus teach this if it is so difficult to follow?

1. Some have called it God's "ideal" for those who are in his kingdom.

2. It is a goal toward which each of us should be moving.

3. As we become more and more like the "ideal disciple," we will also become more and more like Jesus because the life that he followed is the life described in the Sermon on the Mount.