Matthew

Just a couple thoughts:

I was listening to the Gospel of Matthew today. That's right listening. A couple of years ago at Christmas I was given the Bible on CD by my uncle. It's awesome, it's like 200 CD's, it's crazy. And I've listened to it sporadically since then but this semester I am in a NT class and so I have resurrected the CD's and have been listening to them in order to keep up with the class. There is great power in listening to the Word of God. It really comes alive. We have done ourselves a great disservice by relegating the Bible to just being read in private devotional times alone and/or not having times in our church services or Bible studies where we simply read aloud the Word of God together and let it speak for itself. There is great power in the Word. We must remember that this is what would have occurred in NT times. When Paul wrote a letter to Corinth, chances are he only wrote one copy and thus the people would have to gather round and hear the Word read to them. May we remember to sometimes do the same. We must talk less and let the Word speak more. Try it if you haven't. Go grab the CD's or download tracks from Itunes (yes they have it) or better yet record yourself reading text...It's powerful.

Secondly, as I listened to Matthew I realized anew what a bad, bad, bad man I am. And I don't mean bad like the guys who own "Bad Ass Boys Drive Bad Ass Toys" bumper stickers. I mean it more like Babu, the Pakistani friend of Jerry's on Seinfeld who reminds him, "Jerry you are a verrry, verrry bad man..."

The sermon on the mount is sobering. Sure, there might be degrees of sin. Is speaking evil of your brother quite AS BAD as actually killing him...no...or at least that's the debate. But let us not pawn this off. Jesus is clearly telling us, "You're much, much worse than you even think." We are sinful to the very core of our being. We are so desperate for grace. The sermon on the mount must convict us. Let us not view it as a license to be "big picture" and lax with our conviction. Let us stop calling our Christian friends who possess much, much more conviction than we do pharisaical. Let us view the sermon on the mount for what it is...a reminder of how hopelessly sinful we really are...and how gracious Christ really is.