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Judging people rightly requires us to be repentant and to be careful.
“Righteous men are men of unfailing love. Just as righteous means “those right with God” (and therefore committed to righteousness of life) so “men of unfailing love” means those on whom the steadfast love of God has been poured out (and therefore seek to reflect that love in their lives).” ~ J. Alec Motyer commenting on Isaiah 57:1-2
RESOURCES: Matthew Commentaries: Carson, Bruner, Morris; Sermon on the Mount: John Stott, Sinclair Ferguson, Martyn Lloyd Jones; A Treasured Principle by Randy Alcorn; God and Money by Cortines and Baumer
Possessions have an enticing power on the inner person.
RESOURCES USED: "The Pastor" by Eugene Peterson; Proverbs 28.22; 23.6; Deuteronomy 15.9; "The Sermon on the Mount & Human Flourishing" (Pennington); "Jesus's Sermon on the Mount & His Confrontation With the World" (Carson)
Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s glory and our good.
"The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.” ~ George Müller
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible
Jesus invites us to bring our needs to God in prayer.
"A King sits on a throne, inhabits a palace, wears a crown and a robe, and they call him ‘your majesty.’ But when his little children see him, they run to him and yell, 'Daddy!'" ~ A.W. Tozer
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington; The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern Church by Charles Quarrels
Jesus models prayer. Expressing in prayer the supremacy of God’s name, kingdom, and will rightly reorients our affections Godward. Jesus’ model prayer leads us to fight false pride by honoring, worshipping, and obeying our heavenly Father. This is true human flourishing.
RESOURCES USED: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, by Jonathan Pennington; The New American Commentary: Matthew by C. Blomberg (1992).
Avoiding hypocrisy, we seek practice righteousness for the sake of our heavenly Father.
“The self is becoming increasingly externally manufactured rather than internally developed. On Twitter or Facebook you’re trying to express something real about who you are, but because you’re also creating something for others’ consumption, you find yourself imagining and playing to your audience more and more. So those moments in which you’re supposed to be showing your true self become a performance. Your psychology becomes a performance.” ~ Sherry Turkle
RESOURCES: RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington; The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott; The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church by Charles Quarles; The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World by Sinclair Ferguson; Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
As a people pursuing whole person righteousness, we seek to forsake revenge and love our enemies.
“The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington; The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott; The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church by Charles Quarles; The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World by Sinclair Ferguson
As a people pursuing whole-person righteousness, we tell the truth.
“In this age, telling the truth is tough business and not for the fainthearted.” ~ Al Mohler
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington; The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott; The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church by Charles Quarles; The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World by Sinclair Ferguson
As people pursuing whole-person righteousness, we seek to rid ourselves of all lustful intentions and desires, and to fight against sexual immorality in our lives.
“Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings.” -James K.A. Smith
RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington; The Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern Church by Charles Quarles; Love, Lust, and Liberation (Sermon) by Tim Keller