The Nuggets on the Mount

The class I am taking at seminary is a harmony of the gospels called The Life of Christ on Earth. It is a incredible lecture series taught by an incredible professor that is deepening my understanding of the Lord. Given the winter we have had in DFW, we have missed three classes, so we are moving fast in what appears to be the attempt to get back on track (I had thought we would have make up days, but have not heard anything yet about that).

The other day we spent time in The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5- 7, as well as the much shorter passage in Luke 6. The fact that it was probably a sermon on a plain given the number of people involved is another story for another day (see Luke 6:17). There is so much in that teaching you could probably dedicate a whole semester just to that. We moved more quickly than I would have liked, and my head felt like it would burst open and my brain would spill out like a rotten tomato. Or maybe I would have found out my brain is a rotten tomato. It surely feels that way at times when I try to fully grasp what the Word is telling me.

Here is a brief summary of The Sermon based on my lecture notes:

• The beatitudes of Matthew 5 are characteristics of the truly righteous; the woes of Luke 6 compare godly righteous to the ungodly practices of men.
• Being salt of the earth should create a thirst for righteousness.
• That which generates thoughts of violating God's Law is a violation in and of itself.
• The holiness of God is the true test of righteousness.
• Right things done out of the wrong motives is not righteousness.
• Righteousness can only be obtained through the narrow gate of Christ.
• Stand on the rock of Jesus you are in His Kingdom; stand on the sand of man you are out.

These are just some brief nuggets, but they brought some clarity to me in walking through The Sermon on the Mount. There is so much more, why don't you get into it yourself and have a go?

I just wanted to share a littler bit of what I am hearing and learning.

Righteousness

⁸More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Philippians 3:8-9 (NASB)

You see here both a comparison of opposites and an indication that a man who wishes to obtain Christ's righteousness must abandon his own righteousness...If by establishing our own righteousness we shake off the righteousness of God, to attain the latter we must indeed completely do away with the former.
John Calvin - Institutes of The Christian Religion: 3.11.13

Christ alone. He is the only way. I cannot do it. My own righteousness is self righteousness and it falls woefully short of where I need to be, where only He can bring me.

God knew it (that is why He sent His Son), Calvin learned it (that is why he wrote about it), I need to accept it as a fact in my life and the model for my behavior.

Love of Righteousness

Now this Scriptural instruction of which we speak has two main aspects. The first is that the love of righteousness, to which we are otherwise not at all inclined by nature, may be instilled and established in our hearts; the second, that a rule be set forth for us that does not let us wander about in our zeal for righteousness.
John Calvin - Institutes of The Christian Religion: 3.6.2

I do not insist that the moral life of a Christian man breathe nothing but the very gospel, yet this ought to be desired, and we must strive toward it. But I do not so strictly demand evangelical perfection that I would not acknowledge as a Christian one who has not yet attained it. For thus all would be excluded from the church, since no one is found who is not far removed from it, while many have advanced a little toward it whom it would nevertheless be unjust to cast away.
John Calvin - Institutes of The Christian Religion: 3.6.5

Calvin is talking here of righteousness, being acceptable in the eyes of God. He is not talking about self-righteousness, which is being smug and acceptable only to yourself. Calvin is also not calling for perfection, he is calling for a love of God and the righteousness of God:

⁷For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness;
The upright will behold His face.
Psalm 11:7 (NASB)

The call to righteousness is because of His love for it and for us. It is in His never changing character to be righteous, one of His attributes:

²⁴"But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24 (NASB)

We are called to it because He is holy and just and righteous. Love righteousness but know you will never perfect it, seek righteousness but know you will never have it fully embrace you in this world. For you and I are works in progess in this world:

⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until ^(A)the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6 (NASB)