Teaching Them to Observe

In Matthew, chapter 5-7 are commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. According to Matthew the Great Commission is, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Mathew 28:19-20).

Preaching is no substitute for teaching. They complement each other, and for every preacher there needs to be many teachers, In this respect as well as all others Jesus is the prime Example.

It is obvious that Jesus had called at least 4 of His 12 disciples not long before He went up into the mountain and opened His mouth and taught them. There are those who time this discourse after He had spent the night in prayer and called the Twelve.

What the Ten Commandments were to the chosen nation under the old covenant, this Sermon on the Mount is to all disciples of Christ. It is different but it does not abrogate one item in the Decalogue. It deals not in particulars but in principles. It is the Magna Carta of the Kingdom. Its greatest demands should be laid on the conscience of all Christians.

It is not futuristic. It is the criterion for ethical practice in this day of grace. The Holy Spirit has come to make it possible for Christians to live by these precepts. The Master dealt with ideals and attitudes. He offered remedies for heart diseases in order that His followers might bear the fruit of the Spirit and thus prove to all who observe their lives that they have been redeemed.

~From Holiness for Every Day, G.B. Williamson, August 1