Posts with the category “sermon-notes”

Setting and OverviewMatthew 7:5-6 provide a critical, but difficult exhortation for us, which demonstrates how important the first four verses of Matthew 7 are. Judging and addressing sin in the prope...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 7:1 could rightly claim numerous superlatives. It is one of the most quoted verses, one of the most abused and misunderstood verses, almost definitely the most quoted by no...  Read More

Setting and OverviewWithin the larger section of Matthew 6:25-34, we find a critical exhortation that brings together much of what Jesus has been instructing throughout this chapter: pursue the kingdo...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMost people would probably agree that they worry too much, and would certainly agree that people in general tend to worry about things that we don’t need to, but we rarely recogniz...  Read More

Setting and OverviewFollowing the extended section in Matthew 6:1-18 addressing superficial self-righteousness, Jesus addresses the problem of compromised loyalty to God’s Kingdom. In verses 19-24, He...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 6:13 concludes the Lord’s Prayer with two petitions that can easily be read as two sides of a single petition. Similar to the previous two petitions, it calls for our parti...  Read More

Setting and OverviewIn the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, forgiveness and judging are addressed together in a single sentence and verse (Luke 6:37.) While those teachings are split in the Sermon on th...  Read More

Setting and OverviewUp to this point, we have seen petitions regarding God’s glory: for His name to be hallowed, for His kingdom to come, and for His will to be done. We know see petitions for our nee...  Read More

Setting and OverviewWhen we are searching for God’s will for a specific decision that we have to make or a path to pursue, there is a tendency to look to Scripture briefly but then quickly turn to oth...  Read More

Setting and OverviewContinuing on in Matthew 6:10, we come to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” People are often confused by what is meant b...  Read More

Setting and OverviewIn the beginning of Matthew 6:10, we find the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “May your kingdom come.” We have already seen the Kingdom of God (usually the “Kingdom of Heaven...  Read More

Setting and OverviewAfter introducing the Lord’s Prayer (“so pray this way”) and giving the opening address (“Our Father in heaven”), Matthew 6:9 continues with the first petition: “Hallowed be your n...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 6:9 begins what is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. That title isn’t entirely inaccurate as the prayer is given to us by Jesus, but it can be misleading. This was...  Read More

Setting and OverviewIn the conclusion of Matthew 2, we see Matthew emphasize at least two different themes that he has already begun in the narrative so far. One theme is that of dreams. Just as both ...  Read More

Setting and OverviewAs we enter Matthew 2, we see that Matthew and Luke continue to complement each other by covering different times and events around Jesus’ birth and infancy. Matthew doesn’t even c...  Read More

Setting and OverviewWhile Luke 1 tells the story of how Mary learned that she would give birth to Jesus, Matthew 1 tells the story of Joseph learned the news. In Luke 1:26-39, 56, we read how Mary wen...  Read More

Setting and OverviewThose who are unfamiliar with the Bible and are coming to study it for the first time often wonder by there are four Gospels and why they don’t simply just get combined into one. T...  Read More

Setting and OverviewOf the three areas of public piety that Jesus addresses in the Matthew 6, there is little question that fasting is the one with which Protestants today are least familiar. Because ...  Read More

Setting and OverviewAs Jesus addresses the danger of self-righteousness and false piety throughout the first half of chapter 6, He is also challenging us to evaluate what distinguishes us from non-Chr...  Read More

Matthew 6:2-4Setting and OverviewAfter stating the overall message of the first half of Matthew 6, Jesus now goes into the specific aspects of public piety that were most important to the Jewish peopl...  Read More

November 8, 2020Setting and OverviewAs Jesus moves through the Sermon on the Mount, we see Him skillfully address common erroneous beliefs that existed among the people, head off objections to His tea...  Read More

Setting and OverviewThe final verse of chapter 5 is seen by some to be the conclusion to the final antithesis, and by others to be meant to refer back to and close the entire section. The evidence see...  Read More

Setting and OverviewAs His listeners were still coming to grips with the penultimate antithesis, the exhortation to forgo retaliation (vv. 38-42), Jesus follows with a final antithesis that takes this...  Read More

Setting and OverviewOne of the oldest legal principles is lex talionis, which has been a key part of civil law for millennia and says that the degree of punishment for an act should correspond to the ...  Read More

Setting and OverviewIn our first set of three antitheses, we saw Jesus address issues that could either be kept hidden from others (anger and lust) or would only apply to a smaller percentage of liste...  Read More

Setting and OverviewDivorce was a serious issue in Jesus’ time, and ironically enough, it was especially prevalent among the Pharisees. Divorce is a serious and destructive event, so preventing unnece...  Read More

Setting and OverviewFrom the sixth commandment (Do not murder), Jesus now moves on to the seventh: Do not commit adultery. Similar to the command to not murder, adultery rightly received a lot of atte...  Read More

Setting and OverviewVerses 23 through 26 of Matthew 5 complete the section that began in verse 21 of the danger and relation of anger to murder. After laying out His main point for the section in vers...  Read More

Setting and OverviewVerse 21 of Matthew 5 begins the second half of the chapter, which is built around six antitheses. In many ways, these antitheses are a natural application and exposition of Jesus’...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 5:17 contains the first half of an inclusio (along with 7:12) which bookends the body of the Sermon on the Mount. This inclusion indicates that the content in between will ...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 5:14-16 completes the “salt and light” section that begins in the preceding verse and describes the role that Christians will play in the role as they live out the Beatitud...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 5:10 gives us the final Beatitude, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness.” The promise at the end, that “the kingdom of heaven belongs to them,” mirrors t...  Read More

Setting and OverviewMatthew 5:9 bring us to the second to last Beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” It is helpful that is placed here as it builds upon the previous six Beatitudes. While making p...  Read More

Setting and OverviewThe sixth Beatitude provides a rich word picture with significant cultural and biblical context. It describes a characteristic that would resonate with listeners and readers from m...  Read More