[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
Today: Psalms 5: Matthew 5:21-42; Genesis 11:10-32, 12, 13
Matthew 5 – Sermon on the Mount
We just can’t do it. Perfection for us wicked, stupid humans is impossible. That is the whole point. It was the point of the 10 Commandments and the Mosaic Law. It was the point of the whole Old Testament. It was the point of the Sermon on the Mount. God knew when he dictated his laws to Moses that the Israelites could never measure up. Jesus never intended for his followers to gouge out their own eyeballs or chop off their extremities. That’s obviously not what he meant…
This isn’t a message of defeat or self loathing. It’s just the truth. Look, we humans are screwed up. We’re a mess. That’s just the glaring truth, right? Can anybody argue with that? What good would it be to deny such an indisputable fact? So let’s admit it. Let’s embrace it. We are terrible.
But this isn’t bad news! Really!! All it is, is just a big fat finger pointing at Jesus. No, we can’t do it. But we don’t have to because Jesus did it for us. Jesus lived the perfect life that we couldn’t do. Jesus died and and defeated the power of death when he rose again. The Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes aren’t rules to live by. They are a reminder, once again, that we just can’t do it. We MUST rely on Jesus because we have no other option. Only Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the only way to salvation.
