The Sermon...

I'm sitting here studying for my Sunday School lesson I'll teach this Sunday. We will be studying the Sermon on the Mount, but only Matthew chapter 5 this week. Next week we'll cover Matthew 6 and 7. I'm finding some great tidbits that I really want to keep close so they are going in my journal (translated Blog) while I study. I just LOVE multi-tasking!!!

These are thoughts I had or found while reading Matthew 5:

• "Pure in Heart" was a Beatitude that really touched me while studying it this time. I first thought of the fact that today we do not offer animal sacrifice. Instead we are to offer a 'broken heart and a contrite spirit'. I remembered the scripture mastery verse from seminary 1 Samuel 16:7 which states "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart". Wow!!! If the Lord is looking at my 'heart' it better be 'pure'. I love it when things I already know just come together like that.
• "Peacemakers" sent my brain to a Relief Society lesson I was asked to substitute teach in 2010. The lesson was a conference address given by Elder Quentin L. Cook. One portion of his talk was about 'love' and the quote I loved from that talk I've added to the Sunday School lesson notes in case I feel prompted to share it. Elder Cook said, "I invite each one of us individually to recognize that how we disagree is a real measure of who we are and whether we truly follow the Savior. It is appropriate to disagree, but it is not appropriate to be disagreeable…If we show love and respect even in adverse circumstances we become more like Christ.”
• "Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness" made me think of Esau selling his birthright for a mess of pottage (Genesis 25:29-34). Esau's hunger must have been great. Do I hunger and thirst for the things of righteousness as diligently as I might for that Dr. Pepper I love or a chocolate macadamia nut cookie I might crave? Hmm...'
• "Love your enemies" was a new doctrine at the time of Christ. (Think of their aversion to the Samaritans.) Jesus supplemented this requirement with an explanation--if men followed this course they may become children of God. Their Heavenly Father is kind, long-suffering and tolerant, causing His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sending rain for the sustenance of both just and unjust. (I remembered when studying this that at this point the Gospel would still be taken to the Jew first. Later the Gospel message would be taken to the Gentile as well. Acts 10 is the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and his worthiness to receive the gospel. Peter has a vision while in Joppa at Simon's home [Claude and I have been there] that let's him understand the Gospel is for Gentiles also. Verse 34 of Acts 10 has Peter stating, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons." Powerful story of the intent of what is about to happen with that simple statement "Love Your Enemies". I also remembered just teaching about the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Even as he lived the Savior set the example of treating those considered enemies as he treated everyone.

These thoughts are from James Talmage book Jesus the Christ:

• Mere pleasure is at best but fleeting; happiness is abiding, for in the recollection thereof is joy renewed.
• The law (referring to the Law of Moses) provided penalty for the deed; the gospel (Christ fulfilling the law and instituting the higher law) rebuked the evil passion in its incipiency (I love this word. I would never have known it to use it. That is one reason I love reading really educated people. They have delightful verbage.)

These thoughts are from the New Testament Institute Manual:

• "As Man now is, God once was; As God now is, man may be."  Joseph Fielding Smith at Snow College, May 14, 1971
• The Sermon on the Mount is our Constitution for Perfection.
• "The 'meek' man is one who is not easily provoked or irritated and forbearing under injury or annoyance. Meekness is not synonymous with weakness. The meek man is the strong, the mighty, the man of complete self-mastery. He is the one who has the courage of his moral convictions, despite the pressure of the gang or the club." Harold B. Lee

When we visited Owingsville they had this lesson in their Sunday School class. It was fun to sit in on the lesson being taught by another teacher. Someone made the comment they had understood that first 12 verses of Matthew 5 incorrectly all these years. However, how they understood it was really perfectly correct. They understood it as 'BE-Attitudes'.

Time for bed. Those are a few of tonights notes that I really enjoyed. There are soooo many more. But these will suffice for this Blog entry.