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________ Rich Mullins played a song on his hammer dulcimer entitled “My One Thing.” When too many things occupy our attention, our devotion to Christ becomes compromised. The real, greater, fulfilled righteousness in Christ that Jesus taught about in the Sermon on the Mount should be our single focus. When it is, generosity will mark us, and worry will flee from us. Jesus was one of the most colorful speakers ever. In this latter half of Matthew 6, Jesus employed at least 18 different metaphors or images to drive home his point. He spoke of treasures, moths, vermin, and thieves. He spoke ...

________ Lesson Aim: Focus on building character, who you are even in private, more than you focus on your reputation, what others think of you. ________ There is a subtle danger of letting your righteousness surpass that of the religious elite (Matthew 5:20) and in striving to be perfect (5:48). The danger is religious hypocrisy, which is the worst kind of hypocrisy. True kingdom people will do their best to live out the real, greater, fulfilled righteousness that Jesus spoke about in the six antitheses (5:21-48). The danger comes when these true kingdom people practice their righteousness j...

________ 1. What new challenge did you face last week? 2. In what specific way did you live by Jesus’ higher standards over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 6:1-18 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person may have missed.) 3. In what ways are a person’s motives important to how they practice their faith? 4. Let’s dig deeper into this passage:      �...

1. What challenge did you face or what blessing did you receive last week? 2. In what specific way did you “let your light shine before others” over the past week? Ask three people—two readers and one reteller—to help. Ask the readers to read Matthew 5:17-22, 27-28, 31-35, 38-39, 43-48 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Ask the third person to summarize the teaching in one minute or less. (After the reteller finishes, others can fill in any parts the person missed.) 3. How would you title this Bible passage? Pick one and explain your choice.       ...

________ After Israel was “baptized” in the Red Sea, they wandered in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-5). During that time they received God’s law on a mountain (Acts 7:38). Jesus retraced old Israel’s steps. He was baptized and tested in the wilderness (Matthew 3-4). Now it was time to give the new Israel (Matthew 4:18-22) a new law (of sorts). The Sermon on the Mount was probably the greatest sermon ever preached. It was the first of five sermons of Jesus recorded in Matthew. The sermon was preached to the crowds and the disciples (5:1; 7:28). Jesus preached in typical rabbinical...