Shaking things up

First, how in the world do you discuss the entire Sermon on the Mount in one blog post? I don't think it can be done, so I'm not going to try. I began reading this morning in the NIV, my go to translation. But, I've read these chapters so many times before that I found myself in a rut, seeing the same things, looking at the sections I've underlined or highlighted in the past. So, to shake it up, I read these chapters in the Message paraphrase. I would recommend this (not necessarily the Message, but switching translations now and then) tactic to help shake up your study time. When you read in a different translation it forces you to see it fresh, to focus on different things, to allow God to speak to you anew. /soapbox.



There is so much here that it's hard to decide what to share. Briefly, one thing that screams at me no matter the translation, is the pattern of Jesus saying, "you have heard, but I tell you." This essential teaching of Jesus is a redefinition of what it means to live a holy life, to be be properly related to God. Jesus is telling us, not to toss out the previous teaching, but that his arrival gives us the strength and ability to take another step towards being the God reflectors we were created to be.

I was blown away, challenged, and convicted in multiple places. I'm going to be wrestling with some of these things in the coming days and weeks. But, the last verse in chapter 5 smacked me in the face. Here it is in the Message.

"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

This theme of allowing God to define me, to get my identity from him seems to be following me around these days. When we allow something other than God to define us, we can't live the life he has for us. This includes negative things, but it also includes things that seem positive. When we let our family, our jobs, our education, our social standing, our hobbies, our civic involvement, when we allow any of that to define us we are incapable of fully leaning into God for our life, our meaning and our purpose.

If I could condense the message of the Sermon on the Mount to one thing, it would be this verse. We need to be living towards others the way that God lives towards us. He does not expect us to live a life that he doesn't model for us in every moment of every day. Jesus' teachings here are not about guilt and shame, but the good news that when we are properly related to God, we can live the life he created us to live. His good news is not the avoidance of death, but the promise of life! And we share that life with everyone around us when we reflect his reckless, relentless, generous, unconditional love to a world that is desperately searching for meaning and purpose.