Buffet Blues

I love buffets (which may explain why my waist is two sizes larger than it was several years ago). The words all-you-can-eat are some of the greatest words in the English language. Of course, the real problem with all you can eat is that no matter how good it looks you can't eat it all. There is never time or room in the stomach to sample everything.

As I come to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), I feel like I am standing at a buffet. There is so much spiritual truth to sample, but time and space don't allow it. So I am just going to share some very random thoughts on this chapter:

1. Did you notice that Jesus sat when He preached? That is how they did it in first-century Israel. The crowd stood and the preacher sat. I for one vote for that custom to return (though I don't think that my vote will win the election).

2. I like the word order of the second half of verse 19: "but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Note that practicing comes before preaching. So indeed you do have to practice what you preach in Jesus' way of doing things. If you can't do it, you can't preach it. Personally, this calls me to take a real inventory of myself before I get in the pulpit.

3. This whole chapter reminds us that Christianity is an inward change that works outward. Jesus emphasizes again and again that following Him is not a matter of outward appearance. It is a matter of real, inward change. My temptation is always to make Christianity exactly the opposite of what Jesus says it is. I can make it about looking good on the outside rather than really letting God change and shape my heart.

By the way, I can't close this post without mentioning the classic work on the Sermon on the Mount. If you have never read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship, you really should. I won't say it is easy reading. But it is well worth every minute you give it. I think in the coming weeks, I will try to read it again. Maybe I will share some quotes as I go along.