Pulpit Message Introduction for Oct.14

Pulpit Message Introduction
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…
Since fall our church has been preaching on the subject about challenging Christian lifestyle in the secular world. The Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7 also known as The Magna Carta of the Kingdom gives a good imperative to that kind of lifestyle. The standards of lifestyle that Jesus sets are very high. Jesus chose to give this sermon from a mountainside as a parallel to the mountain that Moses received God’s commandments in the Old Testament. The difference between the two mountains is that the former speaks about law and the latter speaks about grace. There is some debate as to whether the sermon is addressed to His disciples or to the crowds. He appears to begin with His disciples (Matthew 5:1) and to finish with everyone listening (Matthew 7:28). The teaching would seem to be primarily for the disciples, the equivalent today of those who are already Christians. But it is clearly appropriate that it be heard by the crowds—comparable, perhaps, to those who are not yet Christians. Jesus continually contrasts the two. He says, “Do not be like them.” His disciples should be different both from the non-religious, the gentiles and pagans (the equivalent today of the secular world), and also from the religious, the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus was not laying down a new law to replace the Old Covenant of Moses; He was teaching His followers how to live out the Christian life. The law sends us to Christ to be justified and Christ sends us back to the law to be sanctified. It is not easy to make good Christians in the contemporary world. But with Christ’s grace we can make it.
講壇信息介紹
耶穌看見這許多的人、就上了山、既已坐下、門徒到他跟前來。。。從秋季開始本堂的講臺信息將集中在基督徒生活在世界所面對的挑戰。馬太福音第五章至第七章稱為登山寶訓，正好對這個問題提出了最實際可行和有效的指示。登山寶訓也叫天國的大憲章。它是耶穌上山（馬太5：1）到耶穌下山（馬太8：1）所講的天國子民要聽的信息。這個信息的聽眾最初是門徒（馬太5：1） 后來是眾人，因為他們都希奇他的教訓（馬太7：28）。耶穌上山頒佈這憲章，就好像摩西上西乃山頒佈十誡一樣。所不同者是摩西講律法；耶穌講恩典。我們基督徒是天國的子民，但仍然住在這個充滿邪惡的世界上。我們要入世而不屬世。正如耶穌最初是講給門徒聽的，后來眾人也一起來聽了。耶穌說你們不要像他們。意思是說基督徒不但與不信的人有分別，更要與那些只有宗教外表但沒有信仰實質的經師和法利賽人有分別。耶穌來不是要廢掉律法，乃是要成全律法。律法把人帶到耶穌的面前去求恩典得憐憫，耶穌就把我們帶回律法那裏去實現成聖的工夫。面對世界的挑戰，作基督徒是不容易的，但靠著耶穌的恩典我們可以得勝有餘。