Jesus concludes the sermon on the Mount, encouraging those to hear and do and warning those who do not, since the final judgment is in view. Jesus’ words are truth and can save us in the final judgment. 

The crowds are amazed by his authority, that being a key theme in Matthew’s gospel. 

Jesus now goes out to extend God’s reign on earth through his mercy and grace. 

Jesus ends his sermon by exhorting and warning us about hearing a false Jesus and the consequences of not heeding his words. 

Jesus wraps up his sermon’s main body with an encouragement that God is ever ready to give and therefore we are called to live in a world that depends on God’s generosity that enables us to be generous as well. 

Our Lord wants us to be careful with judgment. None of us can go about it without sin, and so our attitude and direction with judging is for the restoring of a brother who has fallen into sin. But checking our motives for doing so. 

Jesus calms worried hearts by pointing us to the fact that we live under the care of our Heavenly Father who sees all that we need. We are to seek for the more important matters of life. We are made to be in God’s eternal kingdom. And so we seek that and God will make sure to handle what we need. 

Jesus gives the warning about idolatry and how possessions end up possessing us and capturing all our attention and worship.

Jesus tells his disciples how he desires for them to fast, not to gain favor with men, but to do so in honor of our Father in Heaven.

Jesus expands on the topic of prayer and how he wants his disciples to posture and approach prayer. Not as something to gain favor with God, but to approach in trust as beloved children and ask for those things that God desires to give. 

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount with the topic of piety. He focuses his last triad on three aspects of righteousness. Giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. 

His intent is to focus on the motivations for doing good works. He expects his people to do them but how they do them matters. How we do them shows that we are either faithful or self-serving. 

Jesus notes that the Father will work it all out in the end and to spend our time serving him faithfully. 

The 5th petition has us asking God for forgiveness. 

We see that forgiveness with God is also tied with forgiving others. In effect, we ask God for the Gospel to impact how we relate and treat others. 

Forgiveness is not something that humans can generate. It is a gift that God gives. Not because we deserve it, but because our Heavenly Father is gracious to us. So we also extend that gift to others.