We are kicking off our teaching series on the Sermon on the Mount by taking the time to hear the best sermon ever preached: The Sermon on the Mount. Our TMP Scripture Reading Team will read through the entire text of Jesus’ sermon as a way to prime us for this next series. 

We will then take some time to ask what it means for our community of The Meeting Place to engage in this call to follow the Jesus way. For some, this sermon only applies to a category of super-saints and extra-holy people. For others, this sermon is designed to function like the Law and show us that we can never be good enough— and cause us to call out for grace. And for others— Jesus’ teaching may apply in some future heaven, but it is not practical to live out now. Jesus does not seem to agree with any of the above approaches. The Sermon on the Mount begins with disciples leaving the crowd and sitting at his feet to learn and imitate him (5:1). Then when Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount, he finishes with the example of the wise and foolish builders. The wise builder is the one who "hears Jesus' words (meaning the previous body of teaching) and puts them into practice”. At TMP, we want to be a church that follows Jesus. So what might it mean for us to take the posture of disciple and not a member of the crowd? What might it mean for us to wisely build on the rock of Jesus’ teaching? 

Desired Outcome: To increase our Biblical literacy by reading the Sermon on the Mount—- and to ask questions of our readiness to be disciples and wise builders. 

Quotable Quote: “The difference between those who admire Jesus and those who would be his disciples is indicated by his disciple's willingness to “come to him” on the mountain. Jesus has seen the crowds. Matthew will tell us often that Jesus had compassion for the crowds or that he felt sorrow for them, but before he delivers the sermon we are told that he simply “saw the crowds”. He goes up on the mountain and the disciples follow him.” - Stanley Hauerwas