The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Week 7: Part Two, Chapter 6 — "The Sermon: A Whole New World"
Read Chapter 6 of The Jesus I Never Knew. Key passages: Matthew 5:13–7:29; Romans 7:14–25.
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The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most admired and least obeyed document in human history — and Yancey wants to know why, and what we should do about that.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Yancey opens by noting that Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, and many other non-Christians have expressed profound admiration for the Sermon on the Mount while most Christians quietly ignore large sections of it. Why do you think the Sermon is more honored in theory than in practice — even among devout believers?
2.Yancey surveys several interpretive strategies Christians have used to manage the Sermon's demands: it applies only to a future kingdom, it was meant to make us despair of our ability and flee to grace, it is an ideal we approximate. Which of these interpretations have you encountered? Which do you find most convincing — and most evasive?
3.Jesus repeatedly uses the formula "You have heard that it was said... but I tell you..." raising the bar from external behavior to internal motivation — from murder to anger, from adultery to lust. What does this move from external to internal demand do to your confidence in your own righteousness?
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