The main idea of Matthew 5:1-16

Lord willing, I'll be teaching Matthew 5:1-16 at the local Detention Center on Saturday evening.

I'm listening to the audio lectures of the course "Christ Centered Preaching" by Bryan Chapell, and in one of the first lectures, he talked about how each sermon needs to have one main point -- one "big idea."

He went on to say that a good sermon, that is, a biblical, Christ centered one, must have as its message the meaning of the passage. The message of the sermon is the meaning of the passage.

So, I've been studying and meditating this week to try to come up with the "big idea" of Matthew 5:1-16. This is what I've got. I have to stick with this now, so I have time to write up all my thoughts and notes before Saturday evening. But this is what everything will point to:

Kingdom citizens receive the King's blessing (vv. 3-9), share in the King's suffering (vv. 10-12), and participate in the King's mission (vv. 9,13-16).

The primary task of the church

This quote by Martin Lloyd-Jones is right on. (I lifted this from the Desiring God blog.)

The primary task of the Church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically.... I will go further; it is not even to make him good. These are things that accompany salvation; and when the Church performs her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information...she does make them good and better than they were. But my point is that those are not her primary objectives. Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God. (Preaching & Preachers, 30)

Regeneration and righteousness

On page 66 of The Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee says this: "God does not change our flesh; rather, He gives His life to us. Regardless of whether or not a man has been regenerated, his flesh is corrupted just the same."

That reminds me of Philippians 3:8-9:

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

The phrase I want to draw attention to is in v. 9 where Paul says he wants to have "the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." The righteousness of believers both comes from God and is by faith. This means that it exists by faith, which is confidence in the unseen (Hebrews 11:1; Romans 8:25). The holiness of Christ's bride is not yet fully realized (that is, we are not yet holy like God). But, in this life we are progressing toward holiness and glorification, like it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

And, it's clear we're not perfectly righteous in nature yet. This point should be evident without defense: can we really claim perfection for ourselves? Every time I'm impatient with a family member or coworker, I'm reminded and convicted that, like Romans 3 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."

Thanks be to God who gives his church the Holy Spirit, so that we can know Jesus and love Jesus and follow Jesus!

Brain muscle groups

I've heard fitness experts recommend that we rotate through different muscle groups in our body so that our muscles have time to rest and also so that we have muscle everywhere, rather than just a few favored locations.

I think this applies to reading and brain activity as well. I've long disparaged myself that I tend to not finish books, and I commend my wife that she is a "finisher." I tend to read anywhere from 10-20 books at once, a few pages or a chapter at a time. She tends to read one book at a time and finish it in a few weeks.

But, I read this blog post today about How to read a non-fiction book, and the author made a point that intrigued me: "Don't feel that you need to finish." This prompted me to reconsider my It-Is-Foolish-To-Read-20-Books-At-Once policy.

Maybe it's normal for my brain. I have an active brain. Maybe for some people, it's suited to their mode of information digestion that they stay on topic for a long time. Maybe for me, it's not just a tendency but a necessity to switch contexts every so often.

Last night I wanted to read some more of The Meaning of the Pentateuch (to be diligent), but I just couldn't. My brain was screaming "NO!" So, I read a chapter of F.F. Bruce's New Testament History. That sat a lot better with me. Question: What is normal for you?