Description

What does it mean to be a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven? Matthew’s gospel opens with three chapters containing Jesus’ longest recorded message – a sermon given to His disciples early in His ministry to articulate what the life of a Christ-follower would look like. It was a message intended to turn upside down every expectation His closest followers might have. Both practical and profound, the sermon asks of us the same questions it posed to its original hearers: How should a disciple relate to sin? To others? To the Law? How does a disciple think, speak, and act? What is the nature of true righteousness? In His sweeping depiction of kingdom citizenship, Jesus utters some of the most familiar passages in all of Scripture. Most of us have only encountered the Sermon on the Mount in fragments, considering its subdivisions as complete teachings in their own right – a study on blessedness, a reflection on the Lord’s Prayer, a meditation on lilies of the field. But what if we navigated these three chapters as they were originally heard: as one cohesive, well-ordered message, intended to challenge us to think differently about repentance, salvation, and sanctification?