Living Wittily

TFTD March 24-30 2025 Sermon on the Mount: "But I Tell You..."

Monday

Matthew 5.20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The law of God was always intended as a guide to life, a way to be walked and a light in dark places or at dark times. It was not a set of rules to keep, but a way of loving God that sets the heart free. Jesus calls us, his followers, not to break the rules, but to go further. When the law is written on the heart, then our personal obedience becomes a matter of love, a way of showing we are God’s children. In other words, obedience is love for God made personal.

Tuesday

Matthew 5.21-22 “You have heard that it was said to people long ago, “Do not murder.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgement.”

It’s about the heart, that mixture of thoughts and feelings and motives that governs how we behave and treat others. Anger is many things: simmering resentment, corrosive envy, gnawing bitterness, wounded grievance, toxic jealousy, inflammatory rage. Those inner thoughts and emotions that create in us the will to harm someone else. That, said Jesus makes us subject to judgement. To wish harm is to cause harm, to the other, and to us.

Wednesday

Matthew 5.22b “Again, anyone who says to his brother or sister ‘Raca!’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says ‘You fool’, will be in danger of the fires of hell.”

The Jewish law provided for those public insults, which could be dealt with at the level of the magistrate’s court (Sanhedrin). Jesus is talking about the inner springs of such insulting language. To ridicule, to humiliate, to despise, to diminish another person – these words and actions spring from a heart that default is to insult rather than respect. And it’s not good enough says Jesus! The danger is that left unchecked, devaluing others, and taking pleasure in their hurt, demonstrates a heart no longer caring about God or others. And that’s a dangerous place to frequent.

Thursday

Matthew 5.23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

These words are amongst the most challenging in the whole Sermon. We can’t come to worship a God of holiness and faithful love while there is resentment and hurt are churning away in our hearts. Sure, we can’t force reconciliation if someone is determined to keep the hurt and the grievance going. But as Paul said, “So far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Yes, practice a righteousness that knows how to go further than the strict rights and wrongs of a situation.

Friday

Matthew 5.27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ’Do not commit adultery’. But I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 

“But I tell you…” Six times in chapter five Jesus shows his authority by making it very clear, obedience isn’t just about what we do; it is about the state of the heart. Adultery is hardly the most edifying subject for a ‘Thought for the Day’, you might think. But faithfulness, trust, covenant promises – these are the moral supports of a community, and Jesus knows the threat to them starts in a heart that has already betrayed them. It matters what we think, because out of the heart comes the motive and energy to act, for better or worse.

Saturday

Matthew 5.38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Those who know the Gospel story know that Jesus was assaulted repeatedly at his trial. This is not a call to pacifism; it is the way of Jesus in which the chain reaction of violence is halted by personal non-retaliation. The same principle says by walking the second mile willingly you take back control from the one who uses force. These are hard sayings, and each of us has to find how they apply in the relationships and circumstances of our everyday. Following Jesus will take us into unfamiliar and even uncharted territory in our relationships – it’s called the way of the Kingdom of God!

Sunday

Matthew 5.42 “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Really? But let’s ask, how does God treat us? Or at least, how would we want God to treat us? How should God answer our prayers? Generously, we would hope, and responsively, as one who knows our need. Right first time, says Jesus! Now go and do likewise! Be the answer to someone else’s asking for help. And if they don’t deserve it, give anyway, and demonstrate you are salt that has not lost its saltiness!

Tapestry of 'Wild Goose, Celtic sympbol of the Holy Spirit.

Photo of King's College Aberdeen.

Painting, David Hockney, The Sermon on the Mount. 

TFTD March 17-23: "Kept by the Power of God."

Monday

1 Peter 1.1 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…”

None of your informal “Hi”, the casual greeting of the digital age. This letter comes from Apostle Peter, and its recipients are geographically all over the place. Those early Christians are special people – God’s elect, therefore chosen for blessing; strangers in the world so they can expect to be either ignored or given a hard time; scattered so separated into small communities trying to find ways of being faithful to Jesus. Not much has changed. Those following Jesus are still strangers, a scattered minority, but – God’s elect, “kept by the power of God.” That’s you, and me.

Tuesday

1 Peter 1.2 “Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying power of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.”

Each Christian is held within the triple lock of God’s electing grace, the Spirit’s working in our lives, and the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. This is both privilege and calling, to blessing and service. We are chosen ‘for obedience to Jesus Christ”. It is the sanctifying work of the Spirit that enables and empowers that glad obedience. Peter is telling Christians faced with all the pressures of a suspicious and powerful culture, you’re not on your own. Through Christ you are drawn into the eternal purposes of the Triune God – and “you are kept by the power of God.”

Wednesday

1 Peter 1.2 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”

Or as in another translation, “Grace and peace be yours to the fullest measure.” Grace and peace, as much as you can contain, and then God expands our capacity. Grace is God’s self-giving in Christ, undeserved, utterly unlooked for, free, but always seeking the response of an answering love of grateful glad obedience. Peace is that pervasive sense that nothing can separate from God’s love, and that God’s grace is sufficient whatever comes our way. These are the signs of God’s work within and amongst the people of God. Elect, strangers, scattered, but graced with peace.

Thursday

1 Peter 1.3 “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”  

Praise is one of the highlighted words in the Christian vocabulary. Likewise mercy is one of the key words of the Christian Gospel. Paul says, “Because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ…” God’s mercy is experienced as forgiveness, a renewed heart, a cleansed conscience, in other words a new birth into a living hope. Peter and Paul had their differences, but on the meaning of the cross and resurrection they used the same terminology – mercy and hope.

Friday

1 Peter 1.4 “…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.”

I wonder if Peter was remembering the words of Jesus about having treasure in heaven where thieves can’t steal it, and rust doesn’t corrode it? There is nowhere safer than heaven for all that is most important to us.  Our inheritance in Christ is “untouched by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time.” This is the kind of assurance we sing of in a hymn like “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine”! Peter is building up the faith and hope of a community wondering what kind of future lies ahead. It’s one in which all that matters most is secure, because “kept in heaven.”

Saturday

1 Peter 1 “…who through faith are shielded by God’s power till the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time.”

Kept by the power of God, through faith shielded by God’s power, our inheritance guarded in heaven. Despite all the odds loaded against these small Christian communities, immersed in the power of the Roman Empire, exposed to massive temples and the cultural pressures of not conforming, they are ultimately, and finally safe. The elect of God, kept by the power of God, sanctified by the Spirit, sprinkled with the blood of Christ which is a defiant statement of identity – this is who we are, and Christ is to whom we belong. Salvation will surely come – till then we are safe.

Sunday

1 Peter 1.6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

Peter knows about suffering first-hand. His own psychological and spiritual collapse after denying Jesus; then witnessing the trial and execution of Jesus, his death and burial. Then there was the morning the earth moved with the news of Jesus risen, and that meeting of the guilty and broken-hearted Peter with One who simply asked, “Do you love me?” “God has not promised, sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.” Peter could have written that – and we each know the truth of that mixture of suffering and joy that is our life. Read 1 Peter 1.1-5 again. You’re safe.