Monday, May 4, 2009
More on the Mount
Today I finished the last chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. There are many things in these three chapters that I need to apply in my life and I definitely need to go through and read through the sermon more in depth and here is why. In chapter 7 verses 21-28 Jesus is very specific about what we need to do with what he taught us in the sermon. He tells us that just because we call on his name doesn't mean we will enter in to the kingdom of heaven but that we need to do the will of the Father. We may do works in the name of the Lord but we must do them in righteousness. A cross reference in vs 22-23 to Jeremiah 23:25 shows us that there are many who prophesy lies and supposedly do things in the name of the Lord but it is all done in deceit. Jesus counsels us concerning the Sermon on the Mount to be wise, that "whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise man," and if we are wise we will be able to stand up against adversity and be known and numbered among the righteous. This is why I need to go back through and do a more serious study, to learn and apply what I have heard and do it. It makes the think of the scripture "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt 11:15).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Thoughts from the Mount
Once again it has been a while since I have posted. I was hoping to do another more intensive post like my last one, however, I haven't been making the time especially with school going on. I do feel, though, that being diligent in keeping up this blog is important, at least to me, and that it helps me to stretch and put my thoughts into words. The only reason for me posting the things I learn onto this blog are in the hope that it may help someone else. For now, while school is going on, I will try to post more frequently but less intently, meaning that my post will come from smaller daily studies rather than week or month long study but I hope to be able to post longer studies every once in a while.
Today I am reading from the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew. There are many subjects that are covered in these verses and each subject is only given a few verses. The struggle I face in reading the sermon is that I don't understand what life was like to be a Jew at the time of Christ. I know that the Pharisees and Sadducees were overly concerned with the letter of the law and so part of what I see the Savior doing with the people is re-teaching the people what it takes to be a righteous person. He gives us the beattitudes, he teaches us about testimony and missionary work, he teaches us what it really means to live the ten commandments, he teaches about prayer, tithing and fasting, and teaches us to have faith in God.
I do not know with sureity how this would fit in with the religious attitudes at the time but at the end of chapter 6 Christ seems to be trying to change the attitudes about living the letter of the law. He teaches that "no man can serve two masters" so in one sense the people can't look to God and recieve of the spirit if they are serving only the Law. Christ teaches us that we need to have faith, to trust that God is there to take care of us and uses temporal things to teach the people about faith. Then in verse 33 he says, "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." The thing that comes to my mind at this point is who has really established righteousness at this point. The people are continually turning to the leaders of the church to know for example, what it means to work on the sabbath. I think this turning of the people to thier leaders made it so the leaders established what was righteous and what wasn't and therefore not allowing the Holy Ghost to work in the hearts of the people.
One last note of interest to me was the last line of chapter 6 vs. 34, Christ says, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." As we seek to be righteous and as the JST footnote to vs 33 says "establish his righteousness," Christ says to not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself and all we need to know or worry about when it comes to the next day is that evil will be there, it's not going to go away.
Today I am reading from the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew. There are many subjects that are covered in these verses and each subject is only given a few verses. The struggle I face in reading the sermon is that I don't understand what life was like to be a Jew at the time of Christ. I know that the Pharisees and Sadducees were overly concerned with the letter of the law and so part of what I see the Savior doing with the people is re-teaching the people what it takes to be a righteous person. He gives us the beattitudes, he teaches us about testimony and missionary work, he teaches us what it really means to live the ten commandments, he teaches about prayer, tithing and fasting, and teaches us to have faith in God.
I do not know with sureity how this would fit in with the religious attitudes at the time but at the end of chapter 6 Christ seems to be trying to change the attitudes about living the letter of the law. He teaches that "no man can serve two masters" so in one sense the people can't look to God and recieve of the spirit if they are serving only the Law. Christ teaches us that we need to have faith, to trust that God is there to take care of us and uses temporal things to teach the people about faith. Then in verse 33 he says, "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." The thing that comes to my mind at this point is who has really established righteousness at this point. The people are continually turning to the leaders of the church to know for example, what it means to work on the sabbath. I think this turning of the people to thier leaders made it so the leaders established what was righteous and what wasn't and therefore not allowing the Holy Ghost to work in the hearts of the people.
One last note of interest to me was the last line of chapter 6 vs. 34, Christ says, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." As we seek to be righteous and as the JST footnote to vs 33 says "establish his righteousness," Christ says to not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself and all we need to know or worry about when it comes to the next day is that evil will be there, it's not going to go away.
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