"ChurchFollowsChrist" Tagged Sermons
Matthew’s whole Gospel keeps returning to one claim, that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and the church enters into both his suffering and his exaltation into the kingdom of heaven because of it. Matthew 5:21-26’s teaching on anger and reconciliation is read as requiring believers to actively pursue their enemies rather than merely tolerate them. Emmanuel, on this reading, is anything but a comfortable doctrine.
Every believer, this sermon argues, is in a real sense a ‘Hebrew,’ true Israel, sharing a pilgrim existence the letter assumes throughout. A working outline of the whole book of Hebrews gets laid out here. The letter’s warnings to improve upon baptism and profession come with real encouragement too: Jesus himself has already gone before us on this same pilgrim road.
The Beatitudes describe believers already on a journey toward heaven rather than a static checklist of virtues, beginning with a poverty of spirit Christ himself embodied literally. Several other layers of meaning in ‘poor in spirit’ are drawn out beyond the obvious one. Following Christ, on this reading, means sharing his poverty before sharing his glory.