Sermon on the Mount sermon ideas
To experience the Sermon on the Mount and walk away unscathed with your good opinion of yourself intact is to read Jesus' words — and yourself — all wrong. Jesus' multiple "You have heard it said . . . but I say to you" constructions are meant to unsettle, to deconstruct and to reconstruct an ethic that both challenges us to do better and reminds us that we are sinners all, in need of great grace.
What does the Bible say in the Sermon on the Mount?
Blessed...
- Luke 6:17-49, the beatitudes
- Psalm 1, "happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked..."
- John 8:12, "whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life"
- John 9:5, Jesus is the light of the world
Divorce and marriage
- Exodus 20:1-17, fulfillment of the law
- Deuteronomy 24:1-5, divorce
- Matthew 19:1-12, is divorce lawful for any cause?
- Mark 10:1-12, Moses and divorce
- 1 Corinthians 7:10-16, do not divorce
Your hearts
- Exodus 21:12-27, an eye for an eye
- Levitcus 24:10-23, an eye for an eye
- Deuteronomy 19:21, show no pity
- Leviticus 19:18, love your neighbor as yourself
- Luke 14:7-14, humble yourselves
- Luke 11:1-13, Lord's prayer
- Luke 12:22-34, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"
- Luke 16:1-13, you cannot serve God and wealth
- 1 Corinthians 4:1-13, do not pronounce judgement before the Lord comes
Sermon ideas about the Sermon on the Mount
What's the point?
In preparing to preach from the Sermon on the Mount, it's important to get clear on the lens through which we are to view Jesus' teaching. Is this a text to show us — on continuous loop — that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?" Are we looking at overturning systems, cultures, or societies with a "Jesus ethic"? Or is this about the personal habits of discipleship for all Christians? Or is this a text for "elite Christians" only? Is this wisdom literature? Or is it an ethic achievable for Christians through the Spirit's power? The preacher must be clear on theological assumptions going in because the text will generate quite a variety of sermons depending on the preacher's starting point. ({{The Story of God Bible Commentary}}, "Sermon on the Mount," pp 1-14)
Not What or How, but Who. In Stanley Hauerwas' commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, he begins: "What cannot be forgotten is that the one who preaches the sermon is the Son of God, that is, he is the Messiah, making all things new." (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible, p. 60.) Even as we prepare to tell our congregations what Jesus said, even the manner in which Jesus said it, we must never forget that it is Jesus saying these things. Any interpretation that does not keep in mind the larger story of the storyteller will be less than the good news we are bound to proclaim.
Telling the truth when taken seriously, the Sermon on the Mount is difficult to preach because it is difficult to live. Pinchas Lapide writes, "The history of the impact of the Sermon on the Mount can largely be described in terms of an attempt to domesticate everything in it that is shocking, demanding and uncompromising and to render it harmless." ({{The Story of the Bible Commentary}}, "The Sermon on the Mount," p.1) As we preach, let's be honest in our wrestling, authentic in our failures, leading us to the only One who has ever succeeded in preaching and living this text thoroughly. Only with a realization of Jesus Christ's grace and the power of the Spirit can these texts shape, rather than misshape, our lives.
Fear is rooted out in abundance
As Jesus grapples with worry, earthly need, and heavenly perspective, he contrasts "if your eyes are healthy" with "if your eyes are unhealthy." Frederick Dale Bruner helpfully points out that these words "healthy" and "unhealthy" might also be translated "generous" and stingy." (The Churchbook: A Commentary on Matthew, pp. 323-324). How might our tendency to worry change if we saw the world with generous eyes? How might it impact our ability to discern earthly and heavenly treasures if our eyes were stingy instead of generous?
Imagine another kingdom
No society, no matter how ostensibly Christian it may be, checks all the boxes laid out by the Sermon on the Mount. No person, no matter how sanctified she may be, lives up to all the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount. But a Christian community or individual can read the Sermon on the Mount in such a way that it shapes the imagination and longing for the day when Christ will return and this very kingdom will be with us and in us and through us, fully and at last. In the meantime, it challenges us to live in ordinary faithfulness, according to a Sermon on the Mount-inspired imagination. Joachim Jeremias writes, "What is taught here is symptoms, signs, examples, of what it means when the kingdom of God breaks into the world which is still under sin, death, and the devil. You yourselves should be signs of the coming kingdom of God, signs that something has already happened." (The Story of God Bible Commentary, "The Sermon on the Mount," p. xvi.)