When Teaching God’s Word, Remember This - Matthew 5-7

 Matthew 7:28-29 (ESV)

The Authority of Jesus

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

These chapters (Matthew 5-7) are the first and only full sermon of Jesus’ earthly ministry.   It takes about 20-25 minutes to read.   There are 111 verses.   If you allow the ESV version of the Bible to guide you, they break the sermon up into twenty different topics.   James Montgomery Boice reminds us:

“Six times in chapter 5 Jesus is quoted as saying, “You have heard that it was said … But I tell you …” (verses 21f., 27f., 31f., 33f., 38f., 43f.), implying his greater and independent authority, ...”

To say that the sermon is the example all preachers should follow is an understatement.   There is enough material in this teaching to occupy our entire time on earth in both understanding and practice.  

This is why the closing two verses are so powerful.   When preachers complete their Sunday morning homily there are a number of different responses they might see.   Depending on the content of the message they might see people inspired, challenged, instructed with an action plan, or many other end results.  They might be entertained and they might be bored out of their mind (something NO speaker should ever do with God’s Word).   But, probably few ever walk away as Jesus’ audience did in that day and elevate His message as being taught by someone who had “authority,” to the point they were “astonished.”   The current bar of excellence in their day was the “scribes.”  They were the teachers everyone listened to, at least the Jewish audience.   The Gentiles might have in their minds the Greek philosophers of the day.  Although Socrates and Plato were long gone, the Greeks still had the market on teaching.   Yet, we read from Matthew’s account that the audience that day walked away in amazement.   This is the power of the words of Christ.   Paul tells us to take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.   John tells us that Jesus was the Word of Life.   We must never forget that when God’s Word is taught (the way it should be taught) it is the the craftiness and/or eloquence of the speaker that matters.  It is the content of God’s Word that it is delivered with the authority that it is the very Word of God.  That is what will astonish the world.  That is what will convince the world to believe in Jesus, the Son of God.