1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian | Page 6
Kingdom. In the book of Matthew you will see many of the “kingdom” parables;
Jesus used this term “The kingdom of heaven is like…” 32 times. He therefore, at
the outset of our study, encourages us to make sure that we are “in” the
kingdom. That means that we have accepted Him as our King and submitted
ourselves to His Lordship through repentance and a heartfelt desire to know
Him better and to serve Him with every ounce of energy and passion that we can
muster. I hope that all of you who are reading this are “in” the kingdom.
Prayer Thought: If as a result of this challenge so far you question whether you
are “in” the kingdom or not, might I suggest that you talk to God and renew your
commitment to Him through repentance and then with the assurance that you are
indeed a part of His Kingdom you can move ahead with the rest of the study. If you
are, however, assured in yourself that you are a part of God’s Kingdom here on
earth won’t you take a moment to rejoice in this fact, but also, with good
judgement, rededicate yourself to Christ and the cause of His Kingdom.
Wednesday
Reading: Matthew 12 v 22 – 37
Let’s look today at the CONTEXT to which Jesus preached this amazing sermon.
1. The philosophical context. Jesus’ teachings have always been seen to be
counter to the world’s teachings. No text illustrates this more than the
Beatitudes. The world has forever elevated the strong, the powerful, the
wealthy, and those with authority, but Jesus in this teaching elevates what
the world would think to be marks of a “loser”. The world says “assert
yourself”; Jesus says “humble yourself”. The world says “justify yourself”;
Jesus says “acknowledge your sin”. The world says “elevate yourself”; Jesus
says “be meek”. The world says “defend yourself”; Jesus says “you will be
persecuted”. The world says “avenge yourself”; Jesus says “be merciful”.
Every one of Jesus’ values is opposed directly to that of the world. The
teachings of the world are pictured for us in the rising phenomena of selfhelp literature; “self-help” has become a multi-billion dollar industry. The
whole point to the teaching of the beatitudes is the fact that you cannot help