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Matthew's Book Leader Notes - Session 4
Matthew 5:17-20 This session touches on an important aspect of the Bible – the commands God has given. We need to avoid the extremes of making the commands the most important aspect of our faith (legalism) as well as dismissing them because of God’s grace through Jesus (Jesus, Himself, makes that clear in this passage).
One common mistake people make when trying to obey God’s commands, is starting with their behavior. They think, “If I just try hard enough, I can do what God says to do.” The truth is that we cannot obey God’s commands outside of God’s power in our lives and His transforming work in our heart and mind. When we encounter a command that we are not obeying, our first response should be to ask God to first change our heart and mind. Once our heart and mind have begun to change, our behavior will more naturally follow.
I love verse 20 because it highlights the great gift of God’s grace through Jesus’ death and resurrection on our behalf. The admittance criterion into God’s Kingdom has always been perfectly obeying God’s Law. Without Jesus, that burden falls on us (and I, for one, fall very short of that target!). If people are trying to be good enough to get into heaven, it’s a sure bet they’ve already blown it more than once! Jesus lived that perfect life (this is what Jesus meant in verse 17, when He said that He had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets) so that He could die for us to pay the penalty our sins incurred.
Matthew's Book Leader Notes - Session 3
You Are Salt and Light Matthew 5:13-16
What does it mean to be salt and light? Generally speaking, salt is a reference to our efforts to fight against the sin and moral decay in our world (salt preserves) and light is a reference to the gospel message we share with people who do not know Jesus (Jesus is the light of the world).
There are a couple of things to focus on in this session. First are the "you are" statements. Jesus doesn't say we can be or will be, but we are the salt and light in our world. This speaks to not only His expectations of our lives, but also His belief in us to act as the salt and light of His Kingdom in this world. Jesus believes we can actually do it! Second, is the need to be both different, but also closely connected with the world around us. If we are too similar to the world around us, then we lose our saltiness and our light dims. If we are disconnected from the world around us, then our salt and light never impact those that need it.
Matthew's Book Leader Notes - Session 2
Session 2 – You Are Blessed Matthew 5:1-12
I would say there are two things to focus on in this session. First (and this may be an internal focus for you as the leader) is the focus on these verses as blessings, not commands. Jesus is not telling us how to live in these verses. Rather, Jesus wants us to rethink our understanding of the “good life,” which brings us to the second focus. Many of us would say we are “blessed” when good things are happening to us. Jesus flips that around by saying that these hurting and dejected people are blessed. The key is this: we are blessed when we have Jesus regardless of what is happening in our lives. Is that how you and I truly view life?
Matthew's Book Leader Notes - Session 1
Session 1 – Start at the End. Wise and Foolish People Matthew 7:24-29
This session is pretty straight forward, but if we miss this point, it will impact how we read and apply the entire Sermon on the Mount. The speaker begins at the end of the sermon in order to highlight Jesus’ expectation that we actually apply these teachings in life. While we will certainly learn many great things in this study, we must never lose sight of Jesus’ expectation that we also live them out in our day to day lives.
Rebuild Discussion Guides
Week 8 - Lasting Change - This is the final discussion guide in the Rebuild series.