Sermon on the Mount - Kingdom Righteousness 4 – Retaliation and loving enemies (Matthew 5:38-48) - Gareth Naude
Description
The sermon on the mount is probably one of the best known and most recognisable teachings of Jesus. It has captured the hearts and imagination of believers over many centuries. It has inspired writings and has shaped western culture. Its influence and significance can not be over stated.John Stott writes: “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It 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” We have already looked at the “door keeper” to this great body of teaching, namely “The Beatitudes”. Sinclair Furgeson says that “The sermon on the mount does not begin with what we are to do as Christians. In a sense it doesn’t even begin with telling us what we are to be as Christians. It begins by telling us the blessedness of what we are as Christians.” In the Christian life being is the foundation for doing. Not the other way around. It is therefore important to keep that in mind as we approach the ethical part of the sermon. The ethics of of God’s Kingdom flows from the blessed state of our becoming citizens and partakers in the new life of His Kingdom.
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