Stott Reading the Sermon on the Mount with John Stott

8 Weeks for Individuals or Groups
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8308-9334-8
Verlag: IVP Bible Studies
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 120 Seiten

Reihe: Reading the Bible with John Stott Series

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' most inspiring and challenging description of the Christian counterculture. John Stott's teaching on this timeless text shows how its value system, ethical standard, religious devotion and network of relationships clearly distinguish it from both the nominal church and the secular world. In this volume Stott's The Message of the Sermon on the Mount is offered in brief readings suitable for daily use which take us passage by passage through the Scripture text. Including eight weekly studies for individuals or groups, this book covering Matthew 5-7 allows readers to enjoy the riches of Stott's writings in a new, easy-to-use format.John Stott was one of the most beloved and masterful Bible teachers of the last fifty years. His books have sold in the millions. Christians on every continent have heard and read his instructive and inspiring expositions of Scripture. The books in the Reading the Bible with John Stott series offer the essential message of Stott's teaching, largely drawn from his Bible Speaks Today volumes, and present it in a format suitable for daily reading. Questions at the end of each section make these books even more useful for individuals or groups.

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) has been known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain, the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974). Stott's many books, including Basic Christianity and The Cross of Christ, have sold millions of copies. In the Bible Speaks Today series, for which he served as New Testament editor, he wrote eight volumes, including The Message of Acts and The Message of Ephesians.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stott, John

Leseproben

1

Matthew 5:1-6

Developing Spiritual Character

Listening to Jesus

Matthew 5:1-2

1Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them.

Everybody who has ever heard of Jesus of Nazareth and knows anything at all about his teaching must surely be familiar with the beatitudes, the first statements of the Sermon on the Mount. Their simplicity of word and depth of thought have attracted each new generation of Christians and students of religion from every culture. The more we explore how to respond to the challenge of these verses, the more seems to remain to be explored. Their wealth is inexhaustible. We cannot reach the bottom.

Before we are ready to consider each beatitude separately, we need to consider some general issues.

The people. The beatitudes set out the character of a Christian, a Christ-follower. These are not eight separate and distinct kinds of disciples—some who are meek, others who are merciful, still others who are called to endure persecution. They are instead eight qualities to be found in the same person—one who is meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemaker and persecuted, all at the same time.

Furthermore, those who exhibit these marks are not just an elitist group, a set of spiritual saints or church leaders who dwell above the common, everyday Christians. On the contrary, the beatitudes are Jesus’ own specification of what every Christian ought to be. All these qualities are to characterize all his followers.

The qualities. Some students of the Sermon have argued that Jesus is making a statement about social justice when he talks about the poor and the hungry. They think Jesus is calling his followers to right the inequalities and injustices of the world. Jesus was certainly not indifferent to physical poverty and hunger, but the blessings of his kingdom are not primarily economic. The poverty and hunger to which Jesus refers in the beatitudes are spiritual conditions. It is “the poor in spirit” and “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” whom Jesus blesses.

The church has always been wrong whenever it has used Jesus’ blessing of those who are “poor in spirit” either to condone poverty in general or to commend the voluntary poverty of those who take a vow to renounce possessions. Jesus may call some of his followers to a life of sacrifice and even poverty, but that is not what he had in mind when he spoke God’s blessing on those who see themselves as empty-handed before God’s bountiful table of grace.

Happy Is the Person . . .

Matthew 5:1-2

1Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them.

One other topic that has to be addressed before we examine the beatitudes individually is the blessing that Jesus promises. Each person who exhibits the quality commended by Jesus is called “blessed.” The Greek word makarios means “happy,” so the translation of the New Testament you are reading may say, “How happy are those who are . . .” Several commentators have explained the beatitudes as Jesus’ prescription for human happiness.

No one knows better than our Creator how to bring happiness to human beings. He made us and he knows how we work best. But it is seriously misleading to translate makarios as “happy.” Happiness is subjective, while Jesus is making an objective judgment about these people. He is declaring not what they may feel on a particular occasion (happy), but what God thinks of them and what they really are: they are blessed.

The second half of the beatitude spells out the blessing enjoyed by those who exhibit these qualities. They possess the kingdom of heaven and they inherit the earth. The mourners are comforted and the hungry are satisfied. They receive mercy, they see God, they are called the children of God. Their heavenly reward is great. And all these blessings are enjoyed together. Just as the eight qualities describe every Christian, so the eight blessings are given to every Christian. It’s true that the particular blessing promised in each case is appropriate to the particular quality described. At the same time it is surely not possible to inherit the kingdom of heaven without inheriting the earth, to be comforted without being satisfied or to see God without receiving his mercy.

The eight qualities together constitute the responsibilities, and the eight blessings the privileges, of being a citizen of God’s kingdom. This is what the enjoyment of God’s rule in our lives means.

Poverty of Spirit

Matthew 5:3

3Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

When we read the first beatitude against the backdrop of the Old Testament, we discover that at first to be “poor” meant to be in literal, material need. But gradually, because the needy have no refuge but God, poverty came to have spiritual overtones and to be identified with humble dependence on God. The poor in the Old Testament are those who are both afflicted and unable to save themselves. These are people who look to God for deliverance, while recognizing that they have no claim upon him.

Therefore, to be “poor in spirit” is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty before God. We are sinners, under the holy wrath of God, and deserving nothing but his judgment. We have nothing to offer, nothing with which to buy the favor of heaven.

To those who recognize and acknowledge their spiritual bankruptcy before God—and only to them—the kingdom of God is given. God’s rule is a gift, absolutely free and completely undeserved. It has to be received with the humility and faith of a little child.

Jesus’ hearers must have been stunned by this statement. Right at the beginning of the Sermon, Jesus contradicts all human judgments and expectations about the kingdom of God. The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; to the feeble, not the mighty; to little children humble enough to receive it, not the soldiers who would take it by force.

In Jesus’ own day it was not the religious leaders and scholars who entered the kingdom of God—men and women who thought they were rich in merit before God by their meticulous keeping of the law. Nor was it the zealous nationalists who dreamed of establishing the kingdom by blood and violence. Those who entered the realm of God’s gracious rule were tax collectors and prostitutes, the rejects of human society who knew they were so poor they could offer nothing and achieve nothing. All they could do was cry to God for mercy—and he heard their cry.

It’s still true today: the indispensable condition of receiving the kingdom of God is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty. God still sends the rich away empty. The way up in God’s kingdom is the way down.

Those Who Mourn

Matthew 5:4

4Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

To draw attention to its startling paradox, the second beatitude could be translated “Happy are the unhappy!” How can a person feel blessed of God when their days are marked by sorrow and mourning?

It seems clear from the first beatitude that those who are promised comfort here are not primarily those who are mourning over the loss of a loved one. Jesus instead is talking to those who mourn the loss of their innocence and their righteousness. Jesus is not speaking of the sorrow of bereavement but the sorrow of repentance.

This is the second stage of spiritual blessing. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another to grieve and mourn over it. Confession is one thing; contrition is another.

Jesus wept over the sins of others, over the devastation of coming judgment and over a city full of people who would not receive him. How often have we wept over the evil in the world and the approaching judgment on those who refuse God’s grace?

But it’s not only the sins of others that should move us to tears. We have our own sins to weep over as well. How much sorrow and grief do we experience over our own failures? We evangelical Christians, by making much of grace, sometimes have made light of sin. There is not enough sorrow for sin among us. We don’t sense the burden of godly grief nearly enough.

Jesus’ promise is that those who mourn over their own sinfulness will be comforted by the only comfort that can relieve their distress—God’s free forgiveness. The greatest of all comfort is the cleansing pronounced over every sinner who comes to God in humble confession. Isaiah declared that one of the marks of the Messiah would be his willingness to “bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1)—and Jesus abundantly pours the healing oil of his grace into our wounded, scarred lives.

We look forward to the day when God will wipe every tear from our eyes and his comfort will be complete. But, until then, we still mourn over the havoc of suffering and death that sin spreads over our world.

The Meek

Matthew 5:5

5Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

We don’t relate very well to the idea of meekness. Meekness is weakness—or at least it seems...