Matthew 5:13-16

Salt and Light (13-16)
Here the influence of those with the character of the beatitudes on the world is discussed. The need for salt and light in the world should be obvious.
v.13 Real salt doesn't lose its saltiness. Salt preserves food from corruption and was essential in the days before refrigeration. Salt also adds flavor to food. A servant of the king acts as salt to his world and culture. Your actions as a Christian should prevent or confront corruption (sin) in your community. There is (or should be) a fundamental difference between Christian and non-Christians and between the church and the world. We need to live like there is that difference.
v.14-16 A Christian's shinning light includes all he or she does including his/her spoken testimony. When people see our good works they will glorify God (1 Pt 2:11-12). We should openly live, in the world, the life of a Christian as described in the beatitudes. It is when our lifestyle is visible to others that it will have an effect for good. We should not hide our deeds from the world.

As salt we must engage the world, but as light we must never become assimilated into the world or compromise our values.

Read Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:1-12

The Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29)

The Beatitudes (5:1-12).
The Beatitudes describe the character of those in the kingdom of God.
v.1-2 Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down to teach his disciples. It was customary for Jewish teachers to sit while they taught. The mountain was probably a ridge of hills near Capernaum that overlooked the Sea of Galilee.
v.3 Poor indicates a humble dependence on God. Jesus said “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” (Lk 4:18). It is the poor who remain faithful to God. “Poor in spirit” is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty before God. We are sinners deserving of the judgment of God. To such is the kingdom of God given. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Lk 18:13). Only one who has repented and become like a child is poor in spirit (accs). See also Is 66:2.
v.4 Only when we are deeply sorrowful for our spiritual condition can we receive God's grace and comfort. We should mourn over our sin (and the sin of others) and long for the forgiveness and healing available only from God. We might translate: “happy are the unhappy” (Stott). Rightly does Paul moan “wretched man that I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7:24).
v.5 The “meek” are the gentle and humble as determined by a true estimate of ourselves. Meekness is not a weakness but rather strength under self-control. Cf. Ps 37:11. Meekness will express itself in our attitude toward others. Imitate the meekness of our Lord, who says, “learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29). The inheritance of the earth looks ahead to the coming kingdom reign with Christ in the grand climax of history with the new heaven and earth.
v.6 Believers have the assurance that all righteousness will be fulfilled someday. We long for righteousness to be fulfilled not only in our surrounding world, but in our own hearts. Our hunger and thirst is spiritual and shall be satisfied. Christians seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness (Mt 6:33). Cf. Lk 1:53. All unrighteousness makes them hunger for the Messianic Kingdom (2 Pt 3:13).
v.7 Mercy is compassion for people in need and forgiveness to the guilty. Cf. Mt 25:34-36. The good Samaritan “showed mercy” (Lk 10:25-37). Our God is a merciful God (Ps 18:25, Ex 34:6), but the world is unmerciful. See also Mi 6:8. Those who show mercy to the needy will likewise be shown mercy. Here mercy includes both pity and action.
v.8 Only the forgiven (“pure”) heart will enter heaven and enjoy (“see”) God for all of eternity (Rev 22:4, Heb 12:14). A person with a pure heart is free from falsehood in his relations with God and man (internal integrity that manifests itself behaviorally [becnt]). See Ps 24:3-4.
v.9 Every Christian should be a peacemaker in his or her community. As far as possible we are to live in peace with everyone (Rom 12:18). Peacemakers will be called sons of God because they seek to do what the father has done — loving people. Our peacemaking certainly includes promulgation of the good news of Jesus Christ. It also includes bringing harmony to interpersonal relationships.
v.10 The persecuted are those who have been treated wrongly or cruelly because of their faith. This verse is a blessing on those who actively pursue the righteousness of the kingdom and are persecuted for it — “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Persecution is a violent clash between two irreconcilable value systems. Those who persecute us have rejected Christ and will not live with us in peace. There is synonymous parallelism with the second part of v.3 forming an inclusio around v.3-10 (indicating that perhaps part of being poor in spirit is being persecuted and vice versa). This also applies to those who do not abandon the truth when they suffer persecution from heretics and/or liberals.
v.11-12 Begining with Cain's murder of his righteous brother Abel, there have always been those who oppose God's people. Jesus links persecution of his followers to the persecution of OT prophets. Jesus says to "rejoice and be glad" when persecuted. We may lose everything on earth, but we will inherit everything in heaven as a result.

Read Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew 4:12-25

Jesus Proclaims the kingdom. (12-17)
v.12 Jesus begins his public ministry in Galilee having left Judea when he learned that John the Baptist had been arrested by Herod Antipas (see also 14:1-12). Jesus may have remained for some time in Judea after his baptism (e.g. Jn 1:26-4:3). His withdrawal to Galilee may show us not to look for persecution but rather to withdraw from its sphere of influence.
v.13-16 Jesus moves to Capernaum by the sea (of Galilee). This fulfilled the Prophecy in Is 9:1-2, the region of Galilee (the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali) would see a great light (i.e., the gospel). Galilee, with a large gentile population, points to the extension of the gospel to all nations (Mt 28:19).
v.17 Jesus began to preach: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (cf. John the Baptist's preaching in 3:1-2). Carson sees Jesus as a new Joshua, leading his people into the promised land (EBC). John brought to a close the old covenant and Jesus was the beginning of the new covenant.

Jesus calls disciples to follow him. (18-22)
v.18-20 Jesus calls the brothers Peter and Andrew to follow him (i.e., leave their occupation as fishermen and accompany him full time). Peter, along with John and James, will become part of Jesus' inner circle. Jesus says he will make them fishers of men (evangelists). They immediately drop their nets and follow him.
v.21-22 Farther on Jesus saw the sons of Zebedee, James and John, in a boat mending nets with their father. He called them and they at once left their father and followed Jesus. When Jesus calls you to discipleship their is no excuse for delay. A call from the Lord involves commitment and cost, they left the family business and committed to following Jesus in his messianic mission.

Great crowds follow Jesus. (23-25)
v.23 Jesus proclaimed the gospel (good news, NIV) of the kingdom and healed the sick throughout all Galilee. He preached in the synagogues on Saturdays and to (open air) crowds during the week. Galilee had a large population in about 240 villages, each with 15,000 or more persons, according to Josephus (Life 235, War 3.iii.2). By divine power he healed their bodies and by the medicine of his preaching he healed their souls.
v.24 His fame spread throughout all of Syria (a region north of Galilee) and they brought him all who were sick with various diseases or oppressed by demons and he healed them.
v.25 Great crowds followed him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordon river. It is likely that Jesus taught some of the same material again and again and faced many of the same problems and diseases again and again.

Read Matthew 4:12-25

Matthew 4:1-11

The temptation of Jesus in the desert.
v.1 Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The devil, or Satan, diabolically attempts to lead Jesus into sin so that he would not qualify as the sinless sacrifice.
v.2 Jesus was in the desert 40 days and 40 nights paralleling Israel's 40 years of wandering in the desert (Dt 8:2-3). Moses fasted and prayed for 40 days twice (Ex 24:18, 34:28) and Elijah fasted 40 days seeking God (1 Kgs 19:8). Jesus passes the test where Israel had failed in their 40 years of wandering in the desert.
v.3-4 The devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Jesus responds from Deuteronomy in each of the three temptations. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). Jesus refused to use supernatural power to obtain bread and instead relied on God to provide what was necessary for life. His food was to do the will of the father who sent him (Jn 4:34).
v.5-7 The devil quotes and misuses Ps 91:11-12 trying to get Jesus to jump from the top of the temple. This would have been a misuse of his power. Jesus responds: “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Dt 6:16)
v.8-10 The devil shows Jesus all the world's kingdoms and promises give them to him if he bows down to worship him. Jesus responds from Dt 6:13, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
v.11 After the temptations, the devil left him and angels ministered to his needs. Jesus had resisted the devil by standing firm on God's word. In this he sets an example for believers to follow (see Jas 4:7).

Read Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 3:13-17

Baptism of Jesus
v.13-15 Jesus comes to John to be baptized saying: “thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” John implies that he needs Jesus' spirit and fire baptism rather than Jesus needing John's water baptism. The baptism identifies Jesus with those who are repenting of their sins and for whom his mission is to redeem.
v.16-17 The Spirit of God anoints Jesus as Israel's king and messiah and identifies him also as God's suffering servant with whom the father is “well pleased” (Is 42:1-4). Jesus is God's unique son who has come to save his people. The voice is similar in purpose to that of Mt 17:5.

Read Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist.
v.1-2 In those days (c. 28 A.D.), John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Here, repent means a radical turn around of your mind and action.
v.3 John fulfilled prophecy (Is 40:3): “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
v.4 John wore a garment made of camels hair, the typical clothing for a desert nomad and associated with poor people. Desert locusts were food for the poor and are still eaten by the poor in the Middle East today. The clothing and food establish a linkage to the OT prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:8, Mal 4:5).
v.5-6 John was a charismatic figure who drew great crowds from the surrounding areas (which are personified in the text). The people confessed their sins and were baptized, in the Jordan river, as an outward symbol of turning from sin. Josephus states that John required righteous conduct as a prerequisite to baptism if it is to be acceptable to God (Antiquities 18.v.2).
v.7-10 John warns the Pharisees and Sadducees that they must bear fruit in keeping with repentance and not just rely on having Abraham as their father. Any tree that does not bring forth good fruit will be cut down and destroyed.
v.11-12 John's water baptism is to be superseded by the coming Messiah who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. The fire in verse 11 is purifying and in verse 12 destroying. Christ's work divides people into two camps the chaff (unrepentant) and the wheat (children of the kingdom).

Read Matthew 3:1-12