Who has not spent time within the Sermon on the Mount? Who has not rejoiced in the promise to “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”?
Who has not quaked at the warning that “many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord’ … then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness’”?
Who has not struggled with the instruction to “not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also”?
Who has not been refreshed, challenged, and rebuked by Jesus in this sermon?
Yet we keep coming back to it. We are drawn to it, knowing it contains the concentrated essence of what Jesus wants us to be. For whatever reason we come to know the sermon, if we study it deeply, we cannot leave unchanged. No wonder Matthew called it “the gospel of the kingdom.”
A Daily Devotion
Edwin has divided the Sermon into daily bites that can be read as a daily devotional over five weeks.
Each day not only has exposition of the text, but it also comes with a “Responding to the Sermon” section challenging you to apply the Sermon’s teaching to your life. Also, each daily reading has a “Meditating on the Sermon” section challenging you to dig deeper into the meaning of the text. Finally, each section also has a “Praying the Sermon” section prompting you to pray that you will apply the text to your daily life and glorify the Lord through living the Sermon.
A Group Study Guide
Want to study the Sermon together with other Christians? No problem.
In addition to dividing this study of the Sermon into five weeks of readings, Edwin has provided weekly study guides at the end of each week’s readings. Get together with friends and brethren to study the Sermon together. Discuss what were the most important lessons you learned from the Sermon that week. Share what questions the Sermon has prompted in your mind. Talk about how the Sermon has impacted you practically. Dig deeper about some of the main lessons from the week’s readings in the Sermon.
Don’t spend all your time studying alone. Get a group together and help each other grow in God’s will.
