What Is It About The Teaching On The Mount?

It’s fair to say what is often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount has not always captured my imagination.

Indeed I got a bit bored with people taking snippets from it and having them as poster campaigns for their own agendas. Like the ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’ mob that defiantly went about telling others they couldn’t be judged as only God could judge them. Or the ‘golden rule’ crew who just went about thinking it was a decent ethos to go about saying do to others as you’d have done to you. I was brought up in a church was a bit of a stickler for getting the Word right.

Not that we got the Word right ourselves, after all our church hardly grew out, in, up or down – that’s not a slight, more of a general fact. In any case as a stickler for the Word it wasn’t always cool seeing people nick these bits and pieces without getting the whole thing. Not that I ever thought about getting the whole thing myself.

That changed in 2006 though. I’ve yet to write about how significant a year that was in my own spiritual development but it was a renaissance period for me in a number of ways. One of those ways was to go back to basics again checking what it was to love God – for who He revealed Himself to be in His Word rather than the faith of my father or the doctrine of the church in which I was brought/dragged up.

One of those fundamental building blocks was an appreciation all over again of the Beatitudes. You’ll know it’s something when I committed them all to memory and let it soak in me especially the fourth one that focussed on hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I got in major deep into that section of scripture and realised just how much I had to start from the beginning in cultivating a living relationship with God through His Son. As you can imagine it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. More on that in a future blog I hope.

That as you may have calculated was three years ago and since then I’ve had my fancy taken with other scriptures and theological concepts. In the background however has always been especially that Beatitude and the issues that spring from that, for example a definition of righteousness that doesn’t capitulate to having right this or right that – a bit too tautological for my liking.

Anyway along life’s journey since then I’ve come across a book or two on what I prefer to refer to as the Teaching on the Mount. (After all at the start it says he taught and at the end people were amazed at what he taught, it occurred to me that perhaps calling it a teaching might be a tad more accurate. Having said that it’s obviously later scholars who referred to it as a sermon just as some bright spark referred to the first part as Beatitudes.) As this year has proceeded I was drawn again to the theme of this tremendous teaching.

A friend of mine came across a dude who majored on the piece of scripture and that caught my interest and I began to be a lot more interested in seeing the Beatitude in its context. As love would have it then just as I was skirting round the edges the whole topic became the subject of our recent 13-week study. So now I get the chance to mix life, business and pleasure and share what I love about it as I study it and reflect on how I put it in practice and how it convicts of the areas that still are in need of better practice.

On reading it as regularly as I am at the moment the thing that catches my eye about this brilliant monologue is how Jesus is not just outlining and clarifying how the law was fulfilled when it was a part of our hearts turning us into the character of our Father, but how He Himself typifies all that we talk of. The point of worship is to show love for God and that is first expressed in the profession of faith in Jesus and here He outlines what that faith means for our heart’s attitude to God and to others.

Also as I read it, the thing becomes ever clearer to me in terms of how it should be read as one. Not just a collection of random thoughts by Jesus as to what would Kingdom life be like, but one coherent piece pointing people not just to the Kingdom or Kingdom living, but to the King Himself and how He stands as an example for us to follow. I’m drawn by the counter-intuitive and counter-cultural quality of this teaching. I’m drawn to how it challenges me to be light and salt not by conforming but by being distinctive and a clear beacon to others of who God is. I’m excited by the power of the secret life of prayer, fasting and giving and how that helps us to get priorities straight in not worrying about temporal worldly stuff, but getting caught up with the things that matter.

I love the areas that remain a bit mysterious – what the pearls and swine bit all about really? I’m sobered up pretty quickly by the definition of a hard way through a narrow gate. I’m particularly made sharp by the reality of professing Christians being called workers of lawlessness because Jesus does not know them as evident particularly from their fruits. I don’t just read, I envisage Jesus teaching it whilst using word imagery to get people’s heads grasping what He’s saying. I get caught up with the flow of the piece and am brought to a sombre yet stimulating close by the house analogy. I can easily see why people get carried away with it, it is a brilliant piece of work. As I explore further I hope to share some of the things that come to me and let it settle with you.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Fast and the Curious

I’m aware … I don’t know if you know … but I am aware that even on this very blog I don’t always come quick to fulfil my word. It’s not to say I don’t fulfil my word, it’s just that my original timescale for fulfilling it and the actual timing are somewhat skewed. Now I know you find that hard to believe, after all how can a man of my verbose nature struggle with time-keeping?? OK silly question, end of the day I’m not always prompt and don’t always make my deadlines but I guarantee you my heart is well into improving in this area so that when I say we will have this, then I say it knowing I will deliver – a bit like the Man I follow.

To give an example of what I’m talking about, check this entry last year giving an update on how I was. Note specifically the promise of something on Desperately Seeking God looking at fasting. So that was April, check what I say in May. It’s looking good, but not quite coming out on time. Now check what I say month later.

So there you go – good intentions, bit slow in matching it with outcomes … until now.

So I was not sure if I ever documented my journey in fasting but it’s worth putting it down in this series the first entry will be called … well you can read the title can’t you! For the benefit of the exercise the definition of fasting I’m using is the abstinence of food and drink for some spiritual purpose. More details will emerge as the blogs go on.

Fasting was fairly alien to me until I left home for university. Now hold on a minute, you might say … if you had an inkling about my upbringing. Your parents are Christian, no? You go to church, no? Your church does fasting, no? So … help me out here how does that work? Those kinds of questions could be buzzing around … or not – that depends on you right but I’m happy to air questions you may have asked in your head, it gives a base to answer them. So yes my parents are Christians and dedicated ones at that, not nominal types. The home church in which I grew up was into fasting … I think. It was never a big deal in my family and I never got the impression it was that big a deal in the church. As a result I didn’t make a big deal of it. In fact forget a big deal, it wasn’t a deal at all!

This changed in 1997 when I spent the summer with a family friend who was yet to become a personal dear friend (hey Reuben!). During my time with him, I went to the church observance of fasting on the first Sunday of every month. This was not a practice that I did back in my hometown church for whatever reason. This church practice was a meeting for a few hours to pray. It was not that memorable. In fact I couldn’t recall anything of great significance during that period about fasting and praying other than it being done and the great relief that took place when I could actually eat again. The fasting wasn’t for that long anyway, well it felt long but it was barely the day itself in which we fasted and other than the meeting itself my mind wasn’t really focussed on anything in particular during the time of fasting.

So that’s a starter for ten, find out more about my journey of fasting in the next blog where you’ll discover how things took a change the more I got involved in church stuff. You’ll also get to see how I grew in my understanding of just how important fasting is not just for church stuff but individual consequences. See the link that this had with some of my eating habits.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Moving Swiftly On

My sleeping habits lately have left quite a lot to be desired and here I am again late night blogging as if I’ve got nothing better to do like get some grub and curl up next to my beautiful wife and catch some sleep. Yet here I am. I enjoy writing and I enjoy blogging and I want to keep the rhythm going.

The reason for the lateness of tonight’s blogging takes some historical context. Before leaving home for university in the Autumn of 1996 I had not done packing and moving before. Our family had moved once since I was born but thankfully I was around 6 or 7 at the time so I wasn’t really going to give a helping hand with lifting the double bed, the fridge and the large television! Getting the stuff to leave for university was a bit of a chore, but thankfully there wasn’t that much stuff to bring, mostly my clothes and books.

Such was my time of accumulating junk during my time at university that subsequent moves from halls of residence to a private rented landlord back to other halls of residence proved to be more and more inconvenient as more awkward moves were required. By the time I got back to Wellingborough and then moved to London the car was heaving under the weight of stuff I had to take with me, but that was alright because when I moved that would be it right? Oh, no I’d move at least twice in the six months in London, but that’s okay because it’s not as though I’ll be doing any moving right?

It really got crazy when I moved to Stoke-on-Trent in 2000. In eight years I moved almost the equivalent to once every year. Now by this time what had been clothes and a few books now includes furniture. That would have been bad enough but during the time in Stoke-on-Trent there was the ever present danger of helping others move from one crib to another and the joy of seeing how on earth did that couch that is in the living room get there when it can’t fit through the door and how are we going to unscrew this large wardrobe and put it back together again when we get to wherever we’re going?

I’d like to tell you that because of all those experiences I have got used to moving and have made my peace with it as inevitable in the life I live. I’d like to tell you that but in doing so I would be a liar. I hate moving. I’ve hated moving since the clothes and a few books and I hate moving when it’s an awkward wardrobe and even worse long sofa. Absolutely, positively possess an unrelenting hatred for moving. Indeed nothing helps me to appreciate simple living more than carrying around a whole heap of stuff into the umpteenth home that I have to live in. I’d love it if I literally could just my backpack, slap the laptop in there, a few pieces of clothing, some important books and that would be me.

David Banner didn’t have it all bad being able to move around America with just a satchel of ever conveniently stretchy jeans and a top that will be shredded before his next stop is over. At least he could travel simple. Me on the other hand – three children, one wife who happens to be a woman which means tons of stuff, no not as bad as other women, but bad enough. Who’s packing that up? Who’s shifting it in whatever transport is available? Who’ll unpack it and leave it to the self-same wife who is a woman to sort out? No siree Jim-Bob I do not have any love left for moving – if it can be avoided I would avoid it.

Your word of encouragement may fall in line with the sentiment that it cannot be avoided and like a journey involving a hill I should just get over it. Thanks for those sentiments, they are really appreciated in as much as anything that isn’t appreciated is appreciated. So you can guess what I’ve been up to that leaves me still writing this blog entry way past 2am. A dear sister of the church has been on the move and so as to support her in that move muggins has been hooked into helping the process that from 9pm would only take two hours, right? (You should get the drift of where this is going) Despite all that I plod on with the help without grumbling or complaining because what I’m doing I do out of a love for God and a special part of the family.

One of the things that makes moving bearable is the camaraderie with others. Doing these kind of things with friends is a glorious expression of what happens when brothers get together and work on something – indeed as Col. Hannibal Smith said I love it when a plan comes together. Just like life, it has its moments which are not always enjoyable but I get the impression that God doesn’t always want me to enjoy the process, but enjoy Him during the process, which is expressed in the context of loving relationships. I know that there are more moves ahead, but I hope that they are in the company of good friends to help get through them.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd