7.0.0 Living Jesus
Are you ready to discover a life that isn't just about belief, but about profound, tangible action? The "Living Jesus" course, drawing on Randy Harris's insights, invites you to begin your journey with the Sermon on the Mount by asking a crucial question: "Can you do this?". This isn't about setting impossible ideals to make you feel inadequate, but about understanding Jesus' conviction that living out his teachings is entirely possible and the most practical way to live the Christian life.
Far from being a list of daunting commands, the Sermon on the Mount actually begins with powerful blessings for those who are "poor in spirit," "mourn," or are "meek" – essentially, for the "anawim," the marginalized and overlooked. This foundational truth, that you are deeply loved and blessed by God, empowers you to live out the radical call that follows.
The course challenges you to embody a deep, inside-out righteousness that surpasses mere external adherence to rules. This means transforming your approach to anger and cultivating reconciliation as a priority, even above worship. It calls for uncompromising integrity, where your "yes" means yes and your "no" means no, regardless of the cost. You'll explore how to navigate a sex-crazed world by valuing people as beings worthy of love and respect, not as objects for selfish desire, cutting lust out at its roots from the heart.
You'll learn to live free from worry by trusting in God's provision, challenging a culture built on covetousness. It means practicing acts of generosity, prayer, and fasting in secret, purifying your motives so that your righteousness is for God alone, not human applause. Most profoundly, the course invites you to embrace non-retaliation and relentless love for your enemies, understanding that this counter-intuitive approach can break cycles of violence and transform relationships—even with the "irritants" in your life.
By understanding that you are salt and light, the course reveals how you can be deeply embedded in the world to influence it for good, rather than withdrawing from it. This journey isn't just about knowledge; it’s about a truly good and meaningful life to be lived, practiced, and experienced. Are you ready to live it?
Far from being a list of daunting commands, the Sermon on the Mount actually begins with powerful blessings for those who are "poor in spirit," "mourn," or are "meek" – essentially, for the "anawim," the marginalized and overlooked. This foundational truth, that you are deeply loved and blessed by God, empowers you to live out the radical call that follows.
The course challenges you to embody a deep, inside-out righteousness that surpasses mere external adherence to rules. This means transforming your approach to anger and cultivating reconciliation as a priority, even above worship. It calls for uncompromising integrity, where your "yes" means yes and your "no" means no, regardless of the cost. You'll explore how to navigate a sex-crazed world by valuing people as beings worthy of love and respect, not as objects for selfish desire, cutting lust out at its roots from the heart.
You'll learn to live free from worry by trusting in God's provision, challenging a culture built on covetousness. It means practicing acts of generosity, prayer, and fasting in secret, purifying your motives so that your righteousness is for God alone, not human applause. Most profoundly, the course invites you to embrace non-retaliation and relentless love for your enemies, understanding that this counter-intuitive approach can break cycles of violence and transform relationships—even with the "irritants" in your life.
By understanding that you are salt and light, the course reveals how you can be deeply embedded in the world to influence it for good, rather than withdrawing from it. This journey isn't just about knowledge; it’s about a truly good and meaningful life to be lived, practiced, and experienced. Are you ready to live it?
Section 1 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- summarize the Sermon on the Mount
- determine Jesus’ expectations of us, as it applies to Matthew 5-7
- analyze the possibility for Christians to live out Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5-7
- defend the Sermon on the Mount as both practical and realistic
- identify the audience for Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5-7
- define the term “Anawim”
- explain Jesus’ purpose for sharing the blessings in the Beatitudes
- recite from memory Matthew 5:3-12
Section 2 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain the significance of the images of salt and light Jesus uses as it relates to Christians interacting with the world
- recognize the effects of making personal changes in one’s life
- describe the life that Jesus is calling us to in the Sermon on the Mount
- explain the different ways we might view and practice the “Law of God” after reading Matthew 5:17-20
- list the six ways Jesus compared the way the Pharisees and law teachers interpreted the law with his own interpretation
- defend Jesus’ view of the law, the Torah, based on His words
- discuss the balance of how we can experience grace and also practice the commands of Jesus
Section 3 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain the connection Jesus makes between anger and murder in Matthew 5:21-26
- list the negative effects of our disrespect, demeaning, and degrading actions
- discuss Jesus’ command for reconciliation in our relationships
- explain the ways in which Jesus tells us we need to change the way we look at the world and change our hearts
- explain why God created sex and in what ways he declared it to be good
- explain how man has made sex into something that can be sinful and immoral
- summarize how sexual sin is a matter of the heart and not just a matter of the body
Section 4 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- recognize the importance of having integrity
- understand how much Jesus cares about the words we use
- understand how much Jesus cares about the condition of our hearts
- discuss why always being truthful is vital to our living Godly lives
- summarize the stories from the Bible that display God's truthfulness and integrity
- explain how Jesus wants us to treat those who want to do us harm
- explain why Jesus would ask us (command us) to love our enemies
- recognize Jesus view on dealing with violence
- discuss the various ways Jesus suggest we should counter violence and aggression
Section 5 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- explain why Jesus would tell us to do good things in secret, out of the view of others
- recognize the ways we act good to improve our status and to be seen by others
- discuss why performing for good works man is not what God wants us to do
- describe the “discipline of secrecy”
- explain why secrecy is crucial to our spiritual lives
- define the term “allelon” as it applies to living in a Christian community
- explain how worrying about earthly wants and needs displays a lack of trust
- summarize Jesus’ view of money and wealth
- explain why owning many things is a hindrance to our spiritual lives
- discuss real, practical steps to living more in line with Matthew 6:19-24
Section 6 Objectives
By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
- discuss the concept of “generosity” as it relates to our judgments of other people
- understand how God’s generosity should cause us to offer graciousness to others
- explain the harm of judging others too quickly and too harshly
- summarize the “benefit of the doubt” principle as it relates to Matthew 7:1-4
- explain what Jesus says regarding giving our allegiance to government and politics
- explain how God is “keeping score” in Matthew 7:15-23
- apply the teachings of the Sermon in the Mount to live a life free of materialism, and full of integrity and love