A Mountain, A Map, and A Mercy Seat (Matthew 4:23–8:1)

This Sunday we started a new series on the Sermon on the Mount. In this introductory message, I sought to outline the whole message and to highlight the center section, where Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer.

You can listen to the sermon online. But be sure to listen with this visual aid. Discussion questions and additional resources can be found below.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some key things you’ve learned as you’ve begun to read and think about the Sermon on the Mount?
2. When you come to passages like the Sermon on the Mount, do you try to understand it as a whole? Why or why not? What are ways we can begin to see the “shape” of a biblical authors message?
3. At first glance, what do you think the Sermon on the Mount is about? How have you understood it, applied it, or read it before?
4. What are some of the misguided ways we might read the Sermon on the Mount? What difference does it make when you realize that the Sermon functions more like royal wisdom and less like legal rules?
5. How should we think of Matthew’s presentation of Jesus’ Sermon? Compare Luke 12. Are these Jesus’ words? Or Matthew’s words? Or both? If both, what does that teach us?
6. What are some of the key ideas of Sermon on the Mount? How does knowing the overall message help us know to read the Sermon?
7. What are some of the biggest questions you have about the Sermon on the Mount?
8. How does seeing the center of the sermon as being an invitation to communion with our heavenly Father impact your reading of the sermon?

Additional Resources

• Seeing the Mountain-Like Structure of the Sermon on the Mount
• The Artistic Evangelist: Seeing the Structure of Matthew’s Gospel
• Three Wrong Ways to Read the Sermon on the Mount
• The Significance of the Sermon on the Mount: 10 Reflections from Herman Ridderbos

Soli Deo Gloria, ds