Have you ever been called a prude for the way you think about sex and marriage? Or maybe for not going along with the messages many movies and much music send about sex and marriage? The living Jesus has something to say to us about that. In the sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus offers us the most relevant, free, and attractive way to think about everything in life.
Everyone has standards. Some have double standards. Read Jesus' words in Matthew 5:17-26, and you'll know that the Son of God upholds standards and the penalties for not living up to them. He says something alarming in verse 20, but he also gives us a solution. Hint: it’s not getting rid of all our standards.
A Lenten devotion by Pastor Clinton Kreuziger.
Everybody knows about salt and light, so they should make for easy spiritual comparisons, right? But when Jesus calls you the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16), the difficulty does not lie in understanding, but in embracing and responding. May our Lord and Savior enable and empower us to make everything salty and bright.
A Lenten devotion by Pastor Jon Bilitz from Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel.
This week we come to Matthew 5:1-12, one of the most famous sections of the Bible, the Beatitudes. They sound so appropriate and so honorable. And they are. But when you read them, you must also be horribly unsettled. What do we do when we haven't lived them out? Find an answer in this the first and longest of Jesus' sermons we have on record. Read Jesus' introduction to his sermon on the mount, then gather with others seeking to live out the Beatitudes and find an answer to what to do when we don't.
A Lenten devotion by Pastor Randy Hunter.
What happens when you come alongside the hurting? You are, in Paul's words, "participating in Christ's sufferings." Oh, you're not suffering as the substitute for sinners. You're doing it to show the love of Christ, our substitute, to the person who is hurting. That's better than any physical healing. All of Jesus' miracles teach us something about Jesus, but his healing miracles prove who he is, point to where he will take us, and give us a pattern of how he has saved us. May Jesus’ healing for you, for others, or for people who walked the earth with him give you evidence that strengthens your trust in his promises.