Jesus said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
If the Sermon on the Mount was just about a list of rules for us this would be discouraging, hopeless. But it's not. It's about Jesus - his blueprint for his life - showing us what God is really like.
We are meant to see that Jesus looks like God. It's not just about how to behave, but how to discover the living God in Jesus, and reflect that into the world.
He is the pattern, blueprint for our lives as well.
Perfect in greek is teleioi. A word about Identity, where perfection relates to love. God is love…all loving.
Some scholars say "all embracing" is what that perfect word means.
To be like God is undiscriminating and undifferentiating love toward all. Even those who don’t deserve it. He’s loving and merciful.
Of course love doesn’t mean endorsement, or uncaringly saying “I don’t care what you do”. Sometimes God’s love means he protects us, stops us, redirects us, and more.
We show we are children of God when we show Christlikeness. All embracing love.
Connection back to love last week - Love is not sporadic, but who we are. Even with enemies.
"To return evil for good is devilish, to return good for good is human, to return good for evil is divine." - Alfred Plummer
Even with Jesus' example, we can be discouraged. He WAS God, so being godly was no great feat. What about us?
We'll see tomorrow why there is hope for us being perfect(ed).
Question: Jesus actually lived the perfect, loving life he commands us to live. Does this encourage, or discourage you? Why?
There is some teaching, especially when it’s unoriginal and shallow, that you can take under advisement. You can simply say, “That’s interesting” and then move on with your life.
We read stuff like this all the time. Magazine articles. Newspaper. Blogs. Facebook posts. Some people are very skilled at rehashing other people’s research in entertaining and interesting ways.
I often read things that are of little value to me. They’re just interesting, and not going to change my life.
I hope the Sermon on the Mount we’ve been studying is not that way for you.
We saw last week – hearing and living these words is like building upon a stone foundation for life. Hearing and ignoring these words is like building on a sand
foundation that washes away.
How you hear the Sermon on the Mount is like the difference between a wedding announcement and invitation.
With a wedding announcement in the newspaper or on Facebook, you say, “Oh, look, they’re getting married, how nice”.
An invitation is quite different, since it has your name on it. It’s for you. We want you to come.
The Kingdom of heaven is often described as a party, and it would be a party with the most original, profound teacher ever at its centre. The very source of truth, wisdom is the attraction.
His way of life would now be the only reality. The kingdom he’s been describing, would be there in living colour.
He’s issued that invitation to you. Come to my kingdom, my celebration, my party. And this is not just a future reality, somewhere else. It’s something we are called to start practicing now, really living it out, to be ready for the full production .
Life on earth is meant to be a practice party, and you’re invited.
We’re establishing a new church, or Christian community, in Ajax – and it will be built on the model of a party with Jesus at the center.
It will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. We’re planning our first party for this fall.
Challenge: We’re running a poll right now, that you can find in our app or here on our web site: bit.ly/15B2yry Tell us what kind of party you could RSVP to!
