In my Sunday morning sermons, I'm building up to Jesus' most famous summary of how he wants his followers to live - the "Sermon on the Mount." It is quite a radical summary of how he wants to re-make people. I picked up a handful of resources to help me see the teaching in Matthew's context but also through different eyes than just my mental grid.
Besides a couple of excellent commentaries (R.T. France & D.A. Carson), a non-technical exposition (John Stott), a study of the use of the OT, a Puritan's meditations on Matthew 5:3-12, and some G. E. Ladd material on New Testament theology, I have decided to look into Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy, some of N. T. Wright's stuff, and Brian McLaren's The Secret Message of Jesus. McLaren's "Acknowledgement" page near the back actually credits Willard and Wright for much of his own understanding of Jesus' message.
A few reasons I'm pleased to be reading this book by McLaren:
1. He reminds me that Jesus' teaching had Old Testament roots.
2. He reminds me that Jesus' teaching should be set against the historical backdrop of his day (which was not so uniform as we once thought).
3. He reminds me that Jesus' message was meant to change everything as soon as possible. Or, as McLaren likes to call it - it was revolutionary.
4. He challenges the way I think with what if...type questions and straightforward assertions (that he seems to have thought about pretty carefully).
5. I had written him off after reading his famous book A New Kind of Christian.
3 comments:
Have you read The Cost of Discipleship? I'm reading it now. A big part of it is from the sermon on the mount. (You probably know this, but I didn't and therefore thought I should share.)
I assume you mean Bonhoeffer's book? I read it a long time ago, and all I remember (which made my journal at the time) is the big fuss about "cheap" and "costly" grace. I seem to remember - that contrast was the strength of the book, but the later chapters aren't so potent.
Yes, Bonhoeffer. The part that's the most striking to me so far is the cheap vs. costly grace, but he spends at least a third of the book on the sermon on the mount.
Post a Comment