Unbinding the Bible

This episode is the sermon I preached to our congregation Sunday February 5, 2023 on Matthew 5:13-20.

In this episode, we'll look at Matthew 5:13-16 and the two metaphors Jesus uses to describe his disciples. We'll talk about what salt and light mean as well as a few of the ways I believe they've been wrongly understood and applied.

I'm happy to have Matt Tebbe on the podcast this week! Matt is the co-author (along with Ben Sternke) of the book, Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith. You definitely want to buy this book and read all of it! It's outstanding! 

And if you'd like to find Matt online, you can do so at www.gravityleadership.com

In this episode, we'll look at Matthew 5:10-12 and talk about how true persecution is much different than mere loss of privilege. We'll explore how these two are often confused in the modern western Church and what truly following Jesus (and receiving subsequent persecution for righteousness' sake) might actually look like.

In this episode, we'll focus in on Matthew 5:9 - "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." We'll talk about what a peacemaker is and contrast it with peace-faking (which is all too common in our world and in the church today).

In this episode, we'll continue our look at the beatitudes and the kinds of people whom the LORD sees in a special way. I'll read an email I received from one of our listeners, Kaitlin, which captures the essence of these thoughts. This is a conversation we need to continually have, and I'm committed to always keeping it before us.

This episode is the short sermon I preached at our church Christmas Eve 2021. I'm sharing it here in light of Christmas and because of how our understanding of Jesus' glory prepares us to embody his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, which we will resume our study of in the new year. 

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Unbinding the Bible will resume in January 2023.

In this episode, we'll look at Matthew 5:1-12, commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. And we'll discuss the difference between reading these beatitudes descriptively or prescriptively.

In this episode, we'll take a look at what Jesus means by repentance and why true repentance is good news for those pursuing Jesus' kingdom. 

I referenced several books in today's episode: 

Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven, by Amy-Jill Levine

The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God, by Dallas Willard

What If Jesus Was Serious? A Visual Guide to the Teachings of Jesus We Love to Ignore, by Skye Jethani

In this episode, we're going right to the heart of Jesus' Power-Under Kingdom: his teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. I'll give a bit of background to these first several chapters of Matthew's gospel and why reading his narrative as a recapitulation is necessary for us as Christians. I also reference several earlier episodes on the podcast (029, 030, 031) that you really should go back and relisten to. They form the grid through which I read and interpret the Bible; a grid that receives far too little attention from Christians today.