Connecting who Jesus is and ethics/living (Week 5:2)

Topic: Week 5- Christ in us
Theme for 6 Weeks- Who is Jesus and what difference does it make?

Read Matthew 5:1-2; 28:20

How do I demonstrate value and significance to the student in my class who is constantly angry and annoys me? How do I take the Jesus’ way with my neighbor who tosses his cigarette butts over in our yard? How do I demonstrate Jesus’ life and not hate Mr. Road Rage, cutting in front of me and slamming on the brakes? How do I forgive her when she has hurt me so badly by what she did? How do I love my enemy, praying for him and returning good for his evil?

In other words, how do I follow Jesus in the hard ways that come our way just in the course of going about life? How do I live the Sermon on the Mount and all the ways Jesus taught and modeled for us to live? Matthew 5 begins with these first two verses telling us this is what he taught his disciples then, and teaches us today, as well.

In a slightly different focus from the “Christ in us” theme for this week, I want to bridge the person of Jesus with the practices of living for the follower/disciple. In theological terms, it is the bridge between Christology and ethics.

It’s the person of Jesus that makes the difference. The things we have been considering over the past weeks with the question, “Who is Jesus?” The one who saves. The one we follow as Lord. The one who came announcing and embodying the kingdom of God- that which he talked about more than anything else. God Incarnate- God among us.

And further, the one who said, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). Always.

This is what Dale Bruner had in mind with his introductory words to the Sermon on the Mount in his Matthew commentary, “Matthew taught us in his four-chapter preface that Christology (who Jesus is) is the key to the mystery of Christian ethics (what Jesus teaches). Without the Son of God, the Sermon on the Mount is not only impossible; it is impertinent. But since the Sermon’s Commands are accompanied by the Sermon’s Commander, there is something very exciting ahead!...With this Commander, all things are possible (19:26), even…the practically impossible Sermon on the Mount.” (p. 152, Matthew)

It’s with Jesus, the one who is with us always, that we are empowered to deal with Mr. Road Rage dude, love our enemies…

Question: What’s the area, right now in your life, where you most need the person of Jesus to help you live the way of Jesus?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your promise to be with me always. Empower me to walk in this joyful, yet often very difficult, way of compassion, forgiveness, and loving others, even my enemies. In your name I pray, Amen.