Ever since we started the renovations at our place in the country, it has always been a treat to go sit on the back porch and soak in the beauty of the Texas countryside. I can sit out there in the morning and listen to the birds awakening with the dawn and then enjoy the croaking of what must be ten thousand frogs and crickets in the evening. It is peaceful, quiet, and still – the way I long for my heart to be in the midst of the chaos of life. And it is in those quiet moments – when I am "still and know that He is God" – that God speaks to me and calms the storm within. That is what I want to share with you in these posts. I want to share my view from the back porch. Some of my posts will reflect a few of the things I have learned in my journey through life. Some will simply be statements of what I see in our culture and how we as Christians should respond. I teach a Bible study class each week to an extremely eclectic group of adults and some of the posts and videos I share will be taken from those lessons. I have no delusions of profundity but rather I hope to cause you to think, to laugh, to ponder anew your life as Christ would have you live it. Furthermore, I hope this will be a conversation and not just a monologue. I would love to hear your thoughts, hopes, fears and anything else you would feel comfortable sharing with me. It's wonderful to relax here on the back porch enjoying the view, so pour yourself some coffee (or the beverage of your choosing) and let's talk.
What must a nation do to regain God’s favor. That’s no a bad question for Americans to answer today, but it was also a good question for the Nation of Israel to be asking in the time of Jesus. In fact, the sages spent a great deal of time pondering this question as we note from the Jerusalem Talmud. There, in Ta’anit 2:1, we read, “Rabbi Eleazar said: Three things annul [or mitigate] a harsh decree, and they are: Prayer (Tefillah), Charity/Almsgiving (Tzedakah), and Repentance (Teshuvah).” Jesus addressed all three in Matthew 6:1-8 & 16-18. And He did so with a theatrical theme.
While setting the stage in Matthew 6:1, Jesus mentions being “seen” by men. The Greek word translated as “seen” has its roots in the Greek word for theatre – theatron. In his opening statement Jesus is already telling the people that you don’t want to be just an actor on a stage. He then goes on to describe the people who do so by their rightful name – hypocrite – which, in Greek, meant an actor or a stage player.
He presents the juxtaposition of the hypocrites and those who do their good deeds – charity, prayer, and fasting – secretly with no fanfare nor public display. He further points out that by receiving the praise of people, the hypocrites have their reward in full. That’s all they get. Meanwhile, those who do their good deeds in secret are paid back by God Himself.
“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.” (Matthew 6:1 – MSG)
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, October 18, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
In Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus continues His expansion of Jewish law by addressing the issue of vows and oaths as seen in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. He reminds His listeners that it was said to the ancients that they were not to swear falsely and to always fulfill their oaths to the Lord. Then, in keeping with His previous discourses, He proceeded to expand what was said in the Law, by saying to not make any oath at all.
In the legal discussions that became the Midrash, Mishnah, and eventually the Talmud, the issue shifted from the vow itself to the manner in which it was presented and the guarantees of fulfillment offered up by the person making the vow. Swearing by heaven (instead of G_D) or swearing by earth (instead of G_D) or even swearing by your own life (instead of G_D) became accepted practices, or loopholes if you will, in making the oath more binding without actually naming the name of G_D. Jesus pointed out the foolishness in their efforts and told them to simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.” Anything more was unnecessary, and actually evil, because hedging your bets with some form of oath sullied the purity of truth demanded by the One Who is truth Himself.
We do the same thing today when we say things like, “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “I swear on my Mother’s grave” or “As God is my witness” or “Cross my heart and hope to die.” We often say these things in jest, but that attitude in itself is more of an affront to God. At least the 1st Century Jews were trying to honor G_D in their statements. We just are flippant in our cute little oaths – nothing more than pretty little liars.
The solution? If you can’t speak the truth in love, don’t speak. In other words, if you can’t speak the truth – keep your mouth shut. “If you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.” (Deuteronomy 23:22 – NKJ)
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free if you abide in My word, because then you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31b-32)
Transcript
Boys and girls, today not an inconvenient truth, an incontrovertible truth. Okay, do you know what incontrovertible means? It’s absolutely true. But not only that, it is undeniably you cannot refute it. You cannot dispute it. You cannot prove it false. What’s going on here?
Being sworn in as president. Lyndon Baines Johnson being sworn in as president. Where is he?
He’s on Air Force One in Dallas, Texas. Okay. Um, do you know who any of the other people are that are around him?
Jackie Onasses Kennedy or Jackie Kennedy Onasis. Oops. Jackie Kennedy is to his left. Ladybird Johnson is to his right looking over his shoulder wondering why Jackie’s up there so close. Did I say that out? I didn’t mean to say that out loud, but it was the first thought that popped into my mind when I looked at this picture here. Anybody else? You know any of these other people? Okay. You don’t know who the uh the judge is?
No, it’s not. It was a district judge. It wasn’t a a Supreme Court justice. Okay. It was a a district court judge, I think. Uh Sarah Hughes. Sarah Hughes was her name. Okay. How about the lurch back there on the left? No. No. Wonderful guess. Good guess, but incorrect. Okay. You probably won’t remember him. I had to actually look it up and make sure that I I knew I knew who he was in the sense of what he did, but I couldn’t remember his name. Uh that’s Thomas, Albert Thomas, US representative here in Texas. I mean he was a from Texas representative from Texas and the guy over there the other one is another representative. Um the reason Thomas I knew who or I knew the connection there. It’s a little piece of history. We have the space center in Houston because of him. Okay. And no doubt the connection that he had uh he he made that happen. I thought that was kind of cool. Interesting. So uh he’s he’s taking the oath, the oath of office, right?
Does he close the oath of office with so help me God?
Do what? You think so? Is that phrase in the Constitution as part of the oath that the president must swear to? No. No, it is not. says, “I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute the office president of the United States and will do the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Full stop. However,
presidents for decades have always said at the end, “So help me God.” They’ve been asked to say it. I mean the whoever was administering the oath has said it. Hughes the lady who is giving the oath, she was of course handed a piece of paper, right? She was handed a piece of paper said here’s what you’re supposed to get him to say. Here’s the oath. And so she got to the end and she had the oath as it is in the Constitution. But she got to the end the Constitution of the United States. Constitution of the United States. So help me God. So help me God. He said it. She volunteered it. She just thought given the circumstances it was appropriate. Okay. So what’s his left hand on? Okay. So did he say Yes, he Yes, he said it. Yes, he said it. Every president I want to say hang on. No. Did I write that down? I don’t think I did. And it’s every I know every president since Truman has said so help me God. But the the process of saying so help me God started back in the 1800s. But I don’t know that all of them said it. I just know okay. Uh is his hand on a Bible.
Looks like it. Yeah. That’s what the aids thought too.
They were scrambling around looking for a Bible, right? What they found was a book that belonged to JFK that was filled with prayers. Okay. A missive. Okay. It had a cross on the front. His aid said good enough. Snatched it up. So he put his hand on on the missive, if you will, and uh took the oath of office. The oath was made. The oath was made. Right? We’re talking today about oaths. We’re talking about swearing oaths.
We’re in Matthew 5:33-37.
There Jesus begins with commands concerning vows from both numbers 30 chap 30 chapter of Numbers and Deuteronomy 23. He then moves in into a discussion of what I’m calling loopholes and then solemn oaths and impregatory oaths.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that some of you don’t know what impregatory is. Okay, I used one in the next statement.
Cross my heart and hope to
to what? To die. An impregatory oath is swearing on your death. Okay, it’s saying, “May I die if I’m lying?” Okay, and then he concludes with the kiss principle. Yes or no? Keep it simple, stupid. Don’t need to embellish that, right? So, let’s take us let’s take a look at it in a little bit more depth. Making a vow to God. Jesus starts off. This is verse 33. Again, you have heard it said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your vows to the Lord.” Specifically, this is what he was referring to. Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23. Okay, the wording is is a, you know, you kind of put them together to to come up with what Jesus was saying, but that’s part of the reason it’s it goes back to that midrash thing. They’re discussing this and they’re saying, “What does it really mean to make a vow, okay? They’re trying to nail it down because they want to make every they want to make sure that they’re doing everything according to the law. According to the law, want to, you know, dot every eye, cross every tea. I want to take care. I want to make sure I’m doing.” So, they go back and they start reviewing this stuff. Jesus says, “You’ve heard it said, you shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths.” And basically, that’s what that’s what we find here, right? Can you see that in in those statements? Yeah. Okay. A man makes a vow to the Lord, swears an oath to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it. For the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you if you didn’t fulfill it. If you didn’t pay the, you know, or do whatever it is that you said you’re going to do. Okay. But what does Jesus do with all of these basic statements? He says, “This is what was said.” And then what does he say next? But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his foottool, by nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. You shall not, nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. Now you’re thinking, what? Yeah, those were some of the loopholes they were coming up with. You want to swear by God, that’s a big deal. If you’re going to go if you’re going to go to that link, that’s a big deal. And they said, “We need we need to kind of uh soften this a little bit.” So, they came up with some uh look at Isaiah 66, verse one. Look at Isaiah 66.
you there? Yeah. Isaiah 66 verse one. Heaven is my throne and the earth is the foottool of my feet. So you can swear by heaven. Why? That’s where God is. But it’s not as serious as swearing by God.
You can even swear by his foottool. I mean, guys, I know you think it’s it sounds crazy, but some of these rabbis were sitting around coming up with this stuff, saying you can swear by his foottool. That’s even a little bit lower down on the totem pole. You know, that’s not even swearing by the throne, which by the way, you could also do.
They had all of these loopholes built in. built in uh Psalm 48:2. Psalm 48:2,
it’s swear by Mount Zion, the city of the great king, Jerusalem. You see that they had all of these things built in and then they decided to put in you could swear on your life. That’s what the last one means. You could swear by your own life. Only he used the word head. When he in the scripture says head, that’s a loophole. Because if you’re swearing by your head, you lose your head.
You’re dead, right?
Loopholes. Very common common practice in the Middle East to swear by all of these different all of these different things. kind of makes sense that he would say all of that, doesn’t it? In light of the fact that those are the discussions that are taking place and and he’s saying you’re you’re pondering that stuff. You is wasting pers. If that’s what you’re pondering, that’s just a waste of ponders right there. So, do we ever do this?
You ever hear any of these? A stack of Bibles because one isn’t good enough.
I mean, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. You can swear on a Bible. You give me I swear on a Bible. No, no, no. Give me a stack of Bibles. I don’t swear on a stack of Bibles, guys. I don’t know whether y’all have heard any of these. I have literally heard all of these.
If I’m dying, if I’m lying, I’m dying. Actually, I’ve said that one.
And we do it kind of with a wink and a nod and a nudge nudge. You know what I’m saying? We, you know, it’s not like we’re saying we’re not late, but some people are really serious about it.
It’s common, isn’t it? It’s common. Those things those things are so common. It makes me kind of shudder because we take God so lightly.
Do you understand? Swear on a stack of Bibles. I’m with you, John. You know,
swear on my mother’s grave. I swear by all that’s holy.
I mean, come on. Come on, guys. But we do it. We do it. And we shouldn’t. And Jesus Jesus says, “Nope. You know what you need to say is let your yes be yes.” and you know be known for whatever you do above and beyond that that’s just from the evil one. You say that’s a little harsh, isn’t it? From the evil one. No, it’s true. And it has to do with truth. It has to do with integrity. It has to do with the purity that is the very nature of God.
Absolute truth.
You’ve you’ve heard these phrases before, I’m sure, too. You might not have heard this one. Actually, I just found this one. But I thought it was so good I just had to share it with you. But you’ve heard your word as your bond. Isn’t it you? Don’t you you know man is only as good as his word, right? I’ve told this story, but it’s been a while. So those of you that have heard it, go ahead and take a nap. Um, back when we were living down on Lake Houston, we had to have one pier on our pier and beam house fixed. Okay. So, I was calling up foundation people and getting bids and all this kind of stuff, you know, get that thing jacked up and leveled and all that kind of stuff and all of this. And I had had a couple of companies come out and they had given me their written bids with all of the details with all of the stuff, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Woo. And then I had one more house moving company that was going to come out and and give me a bid. Okay. And so I’m waiting for them, sitting out on the front porch, waiting for them to show up. Here they came in an old raggedy flatbed truck.
They’re getting out. They all have beards down to here, long hair, overalls, and all of them barefoot.
I call them the mountain men because they were mountain men. You understand? They got out and at first I’m sitting there waiting and I’m thought, “Oh man, I hope these guys don’t take long. I’ve got to hit and see my the people they’re coming to bid on.” It was them. They were coming to to make me a bid, right? And uh so they uh they got busy and all three of them crawled up under the house. All three of them crawled up into the house, looked around, came out, and about it was it was less than 10 minutes, I know that they were there. And they said, “So, what we’re going to do, we’re going to take we’re going to jack this up right here. We’re going to put this down here in the ground. We’re going to set this footing down here. And then we’re going to put that post in there. We’re going to solid it up. And then we’re going to pump underneath it. We’re going to pump some stuff, some concrete and stuff like that. We’re going to get it all set. It’s going to be all nice and level.” And he gave me a price.
It was a fourth of the lowest bid I had received.
And I said, “You know what?” I was impressed. I mean, they knew what they were talking about, right? I said, “You know what? I think we got us a deal.” I stuck my hand out and shook that man’s hand and he said, “We’ll be here on Monday.” And I said, ‘W wait, don’t you have some kind of contract or something like that we need to sign here? And he said, ‘We just shook on it, didn’t we? I said, yes, sir, we did. And he said, see you Monday.
But isn’t that a nice phrase right there? To keep your word is to weave a thread of gold into the fabric of your reputation. That’s what we’re That’s what That’s what we want, right? We want that reputation. But unfortunately, we’re a nation of pretty little liars. I had to ask Pam what that show is about. I’ve heard that the name of that show and apparently it’s about some mean girls in school. Yeah. Really pretty little liars. But the fact is we as a nation uh we are pretty little liars in general. Well, how often do you tell lies, including the small ones? Where do you fit in there? Look at that.
Several times a day. Well,
I love it. They get down to a certain point and it’s almost like they gave them an out. They give them several times, once a day, few times a week, few times a month. Less often than that. Yeah, less often than that. Gave him an out. Compared with most other people, do you think you tell lies more often or less often? Now you’re thinking about other people. You think you tell lies more often than other people or less often? Oh, you think you tell lies less often than most people? Right? You realize that all the rest of those people are putting you in that same category because they say I tell lies less than
right. I just thought that was kind of interesting. In other words, look, we look at ourselves, we say, “Nah, not me. Not me. Not me.” How about this one? Compared with most other people, do you think you are better or worse at telling lies? Oo, why are we obsessed with comparison? If you claim, this was a good safe answer there, but if you claim I’m better at it. I can I can beat them off. I’m better than most people. Yeah. When I tell a lie, it works, right? Okay. Telling someone the truth might hurt their feelings. Which would you be more likely to do? Ooh. You’re going to tell them the truth, but it’s going to hurt their feelings. Tell them the truth. about half the people and then they’re split here on what they’re going to do. But here’s the other one. Here’s the other one. If being told the truth might hurt your feelings, which would you prefer someone to do? Probably already know what the truth is. You probably already know. 82%. And yet that previous one we’re saying, I don’t know. I don’t know. When most people say, “Yeah, I’d really rather know.” Last one. In general, do you think telling small lies to try to spare someone’s feelings makes the relationship better or worse? It all depends. Really, here’s the thing. You tell that little lie thinking it’s going to make things better. They find out about it. All of a sudden, it’s a whole lot worse. It’s a whole lot worse. The thing is, folks, we are a nation of liars. We don’t believe politicians at all. I’m serious. I I I don’t When I hear a politician say something, I’m thinking, how did he just word that so that he could say that? Do you understand what I’m saying? How did he how did he phrase that so that he could get away with saying that? Jesus says just say yes or or no. Just say yes or no. Okay? No need to lie. And if you if you don’t take it from Jesus, take it from Proverbs. This all comes out of the same chapter. As a matter of fact, there’s one verse in the middle of it that I pulled out because it didn’t specifically mention liars. But the one that pulled that I pulled out was no harm comes to the godly, but the wicked have their fill of trouble. Well, if you lie, you’re going to have your fill of trouble. But here, he who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes help. The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.
Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the way, is that is that phrase still used in courts of law? It is. Okay. Are you required to swear on a Bible in a court of law? Not anymore. Not anymore. Okay. But you are required to tell the truth.
Right? So when Jesus says this, he highlights the deceitfulness of swearing an oath or making a vow and the foolishness of such efforts. That’s why it’s called that’s that’s why it says right here uh for whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Come on guys, that’s evil. You don’t need to do that. You don’t need to do that. In Deuteronomy 23, you remember we looked at Deuteronomy 23 earlier. That’s one of the places where Jesus was quoting. He didn’t quote this verse, but Deuteronomy 23:22 is the very next verse. And it says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be a sin to you.” In other words, Jesus in the in the law in the Deuteronomy law, the law itself says don’t vow or if you do, make sure you vow and and follow through. The next verse says, “But if you abstain from vowing, it won’t be sin.” Well, hello. Jesus is saying something very similar, isn’t he? He’s saying, “You want to avoid sin, don’t make the vow, don’t swear.” Okay, going to wrap it up real quick here.
In other words, can’t speak the truth, just keep your mouth shut. Again, Proverbs echoes this over and over and over again. He who guards his mouth preserves life, but he who opens his lips shall have destruction. Whoever guards his mouth and keeps his tongue from keeps his soul from trouble. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. It’s kind of that take on Abraham Lincoln’s thing. Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, right? I mean, this is biblical, people. Keep your mouth shut. You don’t need to go on and on and on and on and on and say, “But I got to prove I got to prove to you that I’m right. I got to prove to you that I’m right.” No, you don’t. You don’t got to prove nothing.
Many people could not handle the truth that Jesus told. Uh, look at John 8. Go ahead and look at John 8. I’d like for you to have it open. I’m going to give you some of the verses up here, but I’d like for you to just have the whole thing open. In John 8,
Jesus is talking with a group of people who take exception to some of the things that he says. Okay.
The first one I want to point out is this. He says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Do you see that? It’s in verses 31 and 32. 31B and 32. However, is mine different than yours? I flipped the order. Yes, I flipped the order. Why did I do that? Because we love to say the truth will set you free, but we never say what comes before that. Another way of saying what Jesus said in those two verses is you will know the truth. The truth will make you free if you abide in my word because then you are truly my disciples. See, that’s not what it says. Is it you will know the truth and the truth will make you free is what we hear all the time. I mean you say that all the time. You’ll know the truth and the truth. I said it to my kids. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. But the thing is we are ignoring the fact that the truth Jesus is talking about is himself.
The truth that Jesus is referencing is the truth, the way, the life. Right. It’s not just, yeah, you’re going to know the truth about, you know, whether or not the Cowboys or the the Texans are going to win today. You’re going to know the truth about that. No, that that don’t mean nothing, man. That don’t mean nothing. Well, the Texans are going to win, but still that don’t mean nothing. You understand? No. What means something is Jesus is the truth. And if you know him, if you are his disciple, ooh, then you’re set free because he sets you free. That’s the whole thing about what he was saying here. If you if you drop down to verses 37 and 38, what he said was then you’re going to be free. And they came back and they said, “Well, we’re free. We’re Abraham’s kids and we ain’t never been enslaved.” Which was a lie to begin with. I mean, they were enslaved in Egypt. I mean, do they not even know what happened back then? You know, but they say, “We have never been enslaved.” He said, “No, no, no, no, no. I know that you’re Abraham’s seed. Yet, you are seeking to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with my father. Therefore, you also do the things that you have heard from your father, like trying to kill me for speaking the truth. Wow. Wow.
And then he says, you belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language.
That’s his native tongue right there. For he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you don’t believe me.
Guys, the fact is when Jack Nicholson said truth, you can’t handle the truth. Now, there’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. There’s a lot of this world that can’t handle the truth. But the fact But the fact is that if we know Jesus, we not only can handle the truth, we know the truth. Ain’t that right? Ain’t that right? Take that, Jack.
You can’t handle the truth. Father, we thank you that you have given us your truth that supersedes all of the the silly notions that we we proclaim as truth. Father, thank you that in your wisdom we can know the truth, even your son, Jesus Christ. And we can know the truth of your gospel. We can know the truth of your salvation. We can know the truth of your love. And Father, help us to rightly handle that truth. So many don’t know it. So much of the world does not know the truth. So many of our friends, co-workers, neighbors, relatives, so many people do not know the truth. Help us, Father, to proclaim the truth that is Jesus Christ. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, October 4, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
Continuing His “Sermon on the Mount” exploration of the Jewish law and its implication in Kingdom living. Jesus looks at two external aspects of marital infidelity. He tells the crowd that they have heard it said “you shall not commit adultery” and that “anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.” He goes on to not only explain the implications of these legalities but also provide advice on how to properly handle these difficult issues.
From Genesis to Revelation marriage is a central theme – from the first husband and wife to the marriage feast of the Lamb. The marriage of Jacob establishes the nation of Israel. Jesus performs His first miracle at a wedding feast. And when God expresses His frustration over the infidelity of Israel He likens their relationship to that of a husband and wife. (Hosea 1-3 & Jeremiah 3)
It is no surprise that our infidelity has been pointed out in passages such as James 4:4 where we read, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” But the good news is that God is rich in mercy as we see in Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
In our fidelity to God, much of what Jesus said concerning the avoidance of adultery with a spouse applies to our Kingdom living in light of God’s love. We should avoid even looking at temptations and certainly not touching and playing with them. As always, Jesus speaks and the depth of His teaching just goes deeper and deeper.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 27, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
The Law is something we are quite familiar with in our country. Since 1789 Congress has enacted over 30,000 statutes. When those statutes go to the Administrative Regulators, the laws increase exponentially. Our legal code is housed in over 200 volumes containing an estimated 100-300 million words. There are over 1 million individual legal restrictions which use terms like “shall” or “must”. And we as good citizens obey the law.
The Jewish People Jesus addressed in His Sermon on the Mount were familiar with the legal creep of Administrative Regulators. They started with 613 laws in the Torah and by the time Jesus started preaching, those laws had expanded into code that became known as the Midrash. Through later refinement (200 AD and after) further developments, refinements, and expansions in the Mishna, Gemara, and the Talmud produced dozens of volumes of Jewish laws containing millions of words and legal instructions too numerous to comprehend.
It is in the middle of expansion process that Jesus does a little expanding of the Law on His own. After all, He wrote it in the first place, so He has every right to say what it means. This he does in the 2nd half of Matthew 5. He sets up his discourse by assuring the people that His intention is not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. He then warns them about mishandling the Law. Finally, He informs them that those people trying to tell them what the Law means, the scribes and Pharisees, are not the people to look to for guidance because following their ways just won’t cut it. Only by trusting in Jesus through faith can we receive the righteousness which is imputed to us by Him. His righteousness is sufficient. His righteousness is the final word on the subject.
Transcript
So we’re talking about law and order Sinai division. As an American citizen, do you abide by the law? Simple yes or no would suffice? Yes. Sometimes it depends. I love this. I love this. [laughter] Hedging your bets, boy. Okay. Since 1789, Congress has enacted over 30,000 laws. Since 1789, that’s not bad. I I expected it to be higher to be honest with you. But here’s the rub. See, the law is passed, right? The law is passed and then it goes to the executive branch and the administrators have regulations. You understand what I’m saying by regulations? In other words, what that need they say what that law means is you got to do it this way, you got to do this, you got to do that, you got to do it this. How many of you in your work have had to deal with regulations? [laughter]
Ain’t that ain’t that wild? Isn’t that wild? So when I ask, have you obeyed the law? Have you obeyed every regulation?
[laughter] Okay, just so you know, there’s over 200 volumes, big books, over 200 volumes containing the US code, legal code. It’s about 100 million to 130 million words. That’s a lot of words. This is the one that really killed me though. Over 1 million individual legal restrictions which contain the words either shall or must. In other words, you shall do this. You must do this. There’s over 1 million statements including those words.
That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? We thought the Pharisees were bad. [laughter] Exactly. Which is where we’re headed today. Uh we’re talking about first century Jews abiding by the law. Okay. Did they have to abide by the law? And whose law? God’s law. Interpreted by the Pharisees. But who else? Roman law. Yeah. Yeah. They had to abide by Roman law as well. Okay. So, they’re getting hit with the dumb wedding. Now, I am going to give you just a wee bit more than a wee bit of background on the Jewish law. Is that okay? Can you forgive me just this once? The reason is because for the next, I think, three weeks, we will be looking at specific laws and how Jesus handles them. Okay? And and so, we need the background. We need the understanding Jewish law is divided into three basic segments. The moral law, the ceremonial law, and the civil law. Now, it doesn’t say in the Bible this is a civil law. This is a ceremonial law. We just know that they are because of what they tell us to do. In the Torah, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, in those five books, there are a total of 613 laws. Well, that’s not bad. Now, that that’s doable. That’s doable. And you see what those laws cover, get you into a little bit more detail and give you some examples. The moral law is God’s standards of right and wrong. Okay? Obviously, the Ten Commandments, right? Those are those are moral law, right? Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Oh, that’s a that’s a law. That is a law, right? By the way, the laws are divided into positive and negative. Okay? So, there’s some negative there and there’s some positive there. Leviticus 19 and 36, you shall have accurate balances, accurate weights, an accurate epha, and an accurate hin. I am the Lord your God. Now, you’re saying, “Wait, no, wait. This is civil law.” Because they’re talking about the the legal description of weights and measurements. That should be under civil law. No, it’s not. Why not? deals with honesty. It deals with honesty.
We’re you’re going to find out why later. Okay, that’s moral law. How about ceremonial law, sacrifices, priesthood, ritual, purity, worship regulations? Rosh Hashana is one of those. Now, the term Rosh Hashana does not appear in the scripture, but the new year does, and it is in Leviticus. Okay? It says, “You must observe this day.” The day of atonement that I just told you about, Yom Kippur, holiest day of the year, it’s in the law, but it’s part of the ceremonial law. Ceremonial law. How about this one? These you may eat, whatever it is in the water, everything that has fins and scales, but whatever does not have fins and scales, they are detestable things to you. You know what that means? No catfish
or shrimp.
[laughter]
Okay. part of the part of the ceremonial law because it has to do with the purity, right? Okay. How about the one that says “who touches the dead body of any person will be unclean for seven days. That one shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day he will be clean.” Uh if you’re a mortician, good luck. [laughter]
All right. How about the uh civil law? Civil law has to do with uh you know judicial rulings, social things, uh governing daily civic life, property rights, criminal justice and governance of Israel. The year of jubilee, which is something I would be very much in favor of in our nation. I think every seven years all your debts are wiped clean. Oh yeah. And if someone from Exodus and if someone borrows an animal from its neighbor and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution. Well, that’s only fair. You borrow somebody’s donkey and it dies, well, you pay him back, right? However, if the owner happens to be there when the animal dies, it’s okay. No problem. [laughter] Uh, it just has to do with doing what’s fair. Okay? Doing what’s fair. When you build a new house, you shall make a guardrail for your roof so that you will not bring guilt for bloodshed on your house if anyone falls from it. And you’re thinking, “Okay, we’re getting a little specific here. We only have 613.” And you’re talking about a guardrail on a roof. But they there was living quarters up there, too. There were living quarters up there. And it was very common. Okay. And so they’re saying got to take care of it. We’re going to come back to that one in a minute. Now those laws, the ceremonial law, the moral law, and the civil law. Of those three divisions of laws, the civil law doesn’t apply because we have a civil institution that gives us our civil laws. the United States of America and the state of Texas and the city of Brennham and the county of Washington, right? I mean, we have those covered. Ceremonial laws have all been fulfilled by Christ. We have no need for the ceremonial laws anymore. the moral laws are still in effect because they tell you what God approves of, what God doesn’t approve of. They tell you what God sees as right and wrong.
The Torah was what is where we start off. That’s where the that’s where the 613 are written down. Okay? And they’re not written. Here’s the first one. Here’s the second one. Here’s the third one. Yeah, the 10 are num, you know, and but they aren’t even numbered. I mean, but they’re all in but the rest are just spread out all the way through those five books. Okay. So, you have the 613
When Ezra and the children of Israel were coming back out of exile from Babylonia. Okay. One of the things that happened was Ezra got them all together and started putting on paper all of the all of the Bible, rewriting it, and putting this down on paper, so to speak. But it began something it began something that really heated up about two or 30 hundred years later and still went on all the way through the Middle Ages and it’s called the midrash. The midrash refers to a whole lot of explaining going on. They started discussing this and saying, “Okay, here’s what this means. Here’s what that means.” They they most of this was was done orally. I mean they were just talking about it. They were it was oral. Okay. Sometimes it got written down later on when you get past Jesus’s time. There was a lot more writing going on. That midrash is a huge huge library of information and discussions and explanations all about the law. And it started with the law of the Torah. In other words, they weren’t just making up stuff and saying, “Well, I think God meant to say you can kill.” No, they weren’t making up stuff. They were saying, “God said you can’t kill.” What does that mean? You understand? In other words, they started with scripture. What do we start with today? What we feel like, what we think might be good, right? Isn’t that what our culture does? We don’t start with an established law. We start with what feels good, what seems right. Even though the scripture says there’s a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction. But that’s what they were doing. I put where the sermon on the mount is so you’ll know where we are. But but all of this type of discussion has been going on since 400 BC. Some even say 500 BC. So this discussion and all this has been going on and Jesus enters into this world and you’re going to find out he says starting in the next section. This is next week but starting next week he says you have heard it said and then he gave you one of the commandments a commandment or a law but I say to you in other words what was he doing? He was doing the same thing that they were doing in the midrash except his was total truth without, you know, without the human element. All of those oral arguments are going on for centuries, literally, you know, and they are hearing this. They’re aware of this. They are they are hearing what’s going on. And yes, it isn’t until you get to 200 AD that uh I can’t even remember his name. Rabbi Judah the prince. Rabbi Judah the prince put together these discussions. Now, bless his heart.
It had about 200,000 words, It was well organized. It was topical, okay? So, you could you could, you know, you could, you know, look stuff up and all that. He wrote it down and uh and and codified it, if you will. All of these things, just like David said, all of these things that had been discussed for all of this time up until that point, that’s what the Mishna was. So when you hear someone refer to the Mishna, it’s not just something that appeared in 200 AD. It’s something that reflects what was going on before that. The Gamarra. Okay. The Gamarra is the Mishna commentary.
Okay. And it’s a bunch of people that got involved in it and they comment on what the Mishna was. Now, there’s only 200,000 words there. We can do better than that. The Gamarra is written and it has about 1.6 million words. got a little wordy on that. [laughter] Well, they’re carrying it out. They’re I mean, they’re carrying it to the to the nth degree, so to speak. And then the Talmud comes along, the Talmud takes the Gamarra and the Mishna and just kind of puts a little connecting words in there and that kind of thing. So when you hear someone refer to the Talmud that they’re talking about what’s in the mission in the Gomorrah, which again is what was being discussed and what was being reviewed all that time. That’s a lot of law. That’s a lot of law. I want you to get an example of expansion and kind of how it played out. Remember that law about the guardrail on the roof of your house, right? That’s from the Torah. in the midrash they discussed it and said you know it’s not just a new house if you buy a house right if you buy a house um if you get someone to remodel your house you know [laughter] you’re going to you’re going to have to put that guard rail you’re going to have to meet that but you also also they had discussions discussions mind you that it could apply to any hazardous situation like those steps that you have coming up into your you might want to have a handrail on that. So they expanded it a little bit in the midrash when they were talking about it. The Mishna comes along and uh Rabbi Judah says, “Okay, we need to define which buildings need a guardrail. Is it just homes or can it be businesses?” And so he he went through all of that. He also talked about what constitutes a legitimate barrier. If you uh plant a a bunch of nice shrubs in pots all around the perimeter, is that a guardrail? Huh? And so they got into all of that kind of stuff. And so the Mishna actually, you know, has some specifics in it as well. Well, you know what happened when it got to the Gamarra, don’t you? When it got to the Gamarra. And I put the Gamarra and then on to the Talmet because it just it it just ballooned from there. It became preventing a hazardous situation. It went global and it went specific. Okay? It went global and meaning it covered everything that was hazardous. Okay? Everything dealing with health and safety. Right? Sounds like our government, doesn’t it? still. [laughter] It’s still happening, isn’t it? Okay. But not only that, it started getting specific. It started identifying things that were hazard. Broken ladders, open wells, dangerous dogs, all of these things started with a guardrail. I think it’s interesting because we talk about how our culture is Judeo-Christian and we always think of it as Christian. You look at this and you think there’s a lot of Judeo in there in what we do. You know, when you start seeing some stuff like that. Jesus has an opening statement concerning the law. It’s found in Matthew 5 this verses 17 through 20. And I’m going to read those to you if I can find them. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of these commandments, least of these commandments uh and and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds the teachers, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, to me, this is the this is another way of saying that Jesus said, “I’m not abolishing the scripture.” Jesus said, “The law ain’t going nowhere. It’s a permanent fixture.” Jesus said abolishing the law is the antithesis of kingdom citizenship. And Jesus said observance of the law is the foundation of kingdom citizenship. True righteousness is the key to open the gates. True righteousness. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus is talking about his relationship to the law. You think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets? No, I didn’t come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And if you look at Luke 24 27 and then 44 through 45, it says, “And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he explained to them what was written in all the scriptures about himself.” This is on the road to Emmas. Remember, while they’re walking along the road, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them who he was. Wow. He came to fulfill it. And then in verses 44 of that same chapter, he said, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you. Everything was fulfilled that it was written about me in the law of Moses, prophets, and the psalms.” And then he opened their minds to understand the scripture. Now this is the disciples later. You understand what I’m saying? What he’s saying is the scriptures are what identify who I am.
The permanence of the law. Jesus talks about the permanence of the law. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke, jot or tit, if you have uh a good translation, uh shall pass from the law, until [laughter] all is accomplished. Okay, I say jot and because that those words have always interested me. Uh so I’m going to show you this real quick. I’m just going to run through it. There’s the Hebrew alphabet. Okay, boys and girls, that is a jot. A yot. [laughter] We call it a jot, but that’s a that’s it. Smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Okay. Right over here, we’ve got a tit up there. Rather, not down here. No tit here. Tit up there. Do you see what the tit is? That little pokey out thing. That’s a tit. Okay? That’s what separates those two letters in the alphabet. Okay? That’s what makes them different letters in the alphabet. You with me?
Okay. Here we go. Now it’s your turn. Y’all are intelligent enough to figure this out.
Do you see the tittle?
Okay. So now you can read and speak Hebrew. Good. Okay, let’s move on. [laughter] But you know what a jot and a tittle is. The permanence of the law. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Amen. Psalm 119:160, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” Those are some all-inclusive words, aren’t they? Wow. How about our handling of the law in 19? Whoever then annals one of these least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Woo. And remember in Matthew 18, you should this this should have popped into your head when I was reading that. And whoever receive one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones to believe who believe in me to stumble, it’s better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Wow. That’s where we are. Now, let’s talk about the righteousness of the law. Verse 20. Verse 20. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. In Romans, in Romans, I’m going to go ahead and read this real fast. But in Romans, Paul clarifies this statement. Romans 9:es 30 through32. The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith. That means you’ve done that. But Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith as though it were by as though it were by works. In other words, they didn’t get the faith aspect of it. They got the law. They got the law. They got the legal part, but they didn’t get the faith that goes along with it. Okay? And you go into Romans 10:es 1-4. Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation, meaning the Jews. For I testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. In other words, they tried to be righteous themselves instead of submitting to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And the word that’s used there is telos for fulfillment. Uh Paul in most of your versions it’ll say for Christ is the end. Okay? But Jesus is the fulfillment. And that word means fulfillment. It means the completion, the end, the final outcome. Do you understand? And then you go to Revelation and you read that Jesus says he is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the telos. There’s that word again, the end, the final word. He’s it. Jesus Christ is the final word when it comes to righteousness of God. And if you don’t believe it now, believe it when you read this.
On the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished.” He used the word tetlestai which comes from the word telos.
It’s finished. It’s done. His righteousness is complete, total, absolute, unequivocal . His righteousness is where we all all must stand. Only then will our righteousness exceed that of those scribes and Pharisees who are trying to teach these poor these poor Jewish people how to live.
Father, we thank you for your righteousness. We thank you for the righteousness that’s imputed to us through the blood, sacrifice, resurrection of your son, Jesus Christ, our savior. Help us to walk in that. Help us to walk in it rejoicing. And when we think about who’s the one, remind us that that one needs to know this message of eternal hope. Help us to share that message even as we leave. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 13, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
In 1st Century Galilee, salt was used commonly as a preservative, a healing and cleansing agent, and as a seasoning. However, its spiritual and ceremonial use gives us the depth of meaning found in this simple mineral. Sacrifices were brought to the altar with salt – even the grain offerings. In passages such as Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 God’s unchanging, everlasting, permanent covenant was referred to as the “covenant of salt.” In ancient Middle Eastern cultures a covenant was sealed (ratified) with various means of sharing salt (i.e.- a meal or simple exchange) with the salt representing permanence, incorruptibility, and shared fellowship. As believers we are the “salt of the earth” and, hence, we are physical agents of healing, cleansing, purification, preservation of God’s goodness, seasoning – bringing out and highlighting the glorious flavors of God’s creation, and of reminding the world of God’s “chesed” – His Everlasting Love!
The prime focus of the Romans was glory. The prime focus of the Greeks was knowledge. The prime focus of the Jews was light. The world began with God saying, “let there be light” and light has been the central theme all along. A burning bush, a pillar of fire, and numerous descriptions of the LORD and His Word being light. (Psalm 27:1; Isaiah 60:19-20; Micah 7:8) Jesus refers to Himself as the Light of the world and there is no doubt that He is “the light that shines in the darkness” as seen in Isaiah 9:2. Paul summarizes the superiority of Jesus as the Light in 2 Corinthians 4:6: For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And now that Light lives within us and consequently, as believers, we are bearers of the Light, torch bearers in the darkness, lighthouses of hope in the storms of life, glowing examples of what God can do and how God can love, and reminders to the world of God’s Everlasting Light, the Light of the World!
We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world because God, through the blood of Jesus, has made us so.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 6, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org
Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
Many theologians down through the centuries – Augustine, Thomas of Aquinas, John Wesley, and Pam Young, just to name a few – have seen the Beatitudes as a progression of faith and a process of sanctification in which you begin with a poverty in spirit before you mourn and you mourn before you develop meekness. Meekness leads to a longing for God’s justice to prevail which leads to a response of God’s mercy for those who face God’s justice. This growth process must be observed when you find yourself in the role of peacemaker, because unless you are pure in heart, your peacemaking efforts will fall flat.
Purity of heart seems like a lofty goal, but it is actually an unattainable goal from the human perspective.Those who are pure in heart are those whose inmost being is focused on one thing and only one thing – God Himself – and that focus is not the result of human effort, but rather the Holy Spirit working within the Christian to purge the impurities and remove the things that keep us from pure devotion to Christ. The beatitude doesn’t say, “Blessed are they who have purified their hearts.” It says “Blessed are the pure in heart” – a condition that comes from the sanctification of Holy Spirit.
As our hearts are cleansed, then and only then can our hearts know true peace. The Hebrew word for peace is “Shalom” and it means so much more than just peace. It means properly joined together, whole, complete and, for the Christian, true peace is being properly joined together with Christ, whole in Him, complete as He intended us to be from the beginning. The singleness of focus for the heart that is pure is the same singularity in the peace that passes all understanding. It’s the peace of Christ.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the presence of God. If you want to be a peacemaker you must allow the Spirit to purify your heart and then you must bring Daddy to the table with you, because He alone is true peace.
The Final Word is this: Let the Spirit lead you as you are told in Galatians 5:16-25. Your heart will be pure (clean, clear, singularly focused) and you will truly know God and see Him work in your world. Furthermore, your heart will be at peace (whole, complete, bonded together with Jesus) and then you will be able to introduce into any situation the peace that passes all understanding.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, August 16, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7) Grace and mercy are often confused. One way to express the difference is “grace is getting what you don’t deserve, while mercy is not get getting what you do deserve.” Concise and to the point, but the mercy of God is far greater than a bumper sticker quip.
The Greek word found in the New Testament for mercy is “eleos.” However, when the Septuagint was written (the Greek version of the Old Testament completed sometime around the 1st Century BC) the translators usually used the Greek word “eleos” to translate the Hebrew word “chesed.” The word “chesed” is used 247 times in the Old Testament to refer to lovingkindness, mercy, loving devotion, unfailing love, and grace of God. Because of the use of the Septuagint along with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the concept of “eleos” became enmeshed with the concept and understanding of “chesed.” (In fact “eleos” covered more than one word connected with mercy.)
The result was that the concept of what Godly mercy was and is became greatly enhanced. In keeping with the teachings of Jesus, who sought to expand the true meaning of the Jewish law – “You have heard it said . . . but I say,” – He expanded the concept of the “chesed” mercy of God to highlight the love of God as seen in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is the ultimate form of chesed – the ultimate form of eleos.
Blessed are those who show that kind of mercy, because God shows them that kind of mercy.
(Transcript)
What we’ve done for the last uh for the first four beatitudes is this. Uh this is kind of a synopsis of each one of the beatitudes. And I’m going to do this each week as we go through these beatitudes. I’m going to give you just a one sentence and each time I’m going to make it a little bit shorter so that I can get it on one page, [laughter] but a one-s sentence statement of what we talk about within that beatitude. The first one, the poor in spirit are fortunate because they know that in their weakness, God’s strength is enough. Those who mourn are fortunate because they receive comfort from the comforter who dwells within. Those who are meek are fortunate and that they don’t have to worry in the face of danger because God takes care of them. And those who long for God’s justice are fortunate because their desires are in harmony with creation’s supreme judge. And today, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. So I must ask you and you tell me, what is mercy?
What? Forgiveness when it’s not due. Forgiveness when it’s not due. What else?
Giving what we don’t deserve.
Unarn grace. Unearned grace. Saving someone from suffering. Saving someone from suffering. By the way, that’s an ER doctor who’s saving someone from suffering right there. [laughter] Okay. Anything else? Okay, I’m going to ask you question because I’ve heard this I’ve heard the term grace used. What’s the difference between grace and mercy?
Grace is just nice. [laughter] It really didn’t deserve it. Okay. Grace is undeserved mercy. Grace is undeserved mercy. Okay. I’m going to give you a definition that I have used in the past. Okay? So, some of you might remember it. I would hope at least one or two of you might remember it. I’m going to give you this definition. However, I’m going to tell you right up here, right up at the front that uh it is a very simplistic definition or statement. Okay? And I hope you realize that by the end of class. What is the difference between grace and mercy? Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Okay, is that fair? Is that fair? And uh like I said, that’s kind of a snapshot. It’s kind of a snapshot of uh grace and mercy. However, I want us to go a little bit deeper. Can I? You ready for the deep end? Okay. as we have done and by the way as we will do as we go through the rest of the biatitudes uh I want you to know what the words are in the original language okay uh in the original written language I’m not giving you the Aramaic which is the language in which they were probably spoken may have been spoken in Hebrew but uh Jesus generally you know that he spoke in Aramaic but this is the Greek this is the Greek for merciful The Greek for mercy. And then a word that is kind of like the the root word for those other two words is elos which means mercy. It’s the noun. Okay. Elon merciful, compassionate. Okay. Adjective. Uh Hebrews, you don’t need to look this one up. I’m gonna ask you to look up some I’m going to ask you to look these up, but you don’t have to look this one up. I’ll just give it to you. For this reason, he that means Jesus, had to be made like them, meaning humans, fully human in every way, in order that he, Jesus, might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. that he might be a merciful high priest. Why would becoming human make him merciful? Experience or more merciful? What? Experience. Experience of what? Temptation. Experience of temptation. He had all power but he would right. So experience of life on a daily with its limitations with its pains with its frustrations with it. Okay. So he it’s content. Yeah. And so he is merciful. He is merciful because he has been there. Right. Elmon. And then
I remember to read from a long way off. I have it written down right here. Why didn’t I look at that? Okay. And that is that is the verb form. The thing that I want you to know about the verb is the same thing that we had to talk about last week when we talked about the word filled. You look at the tense. It is a future indicative passive tense. And what that means is it’s going to happen in the future. Okay? You will receive mercy. The indicative part says you will, you shall, it’s going to happen. You are going to receive mercy. You can’t stop this. The passive part, and this is the beauty of it, you don’t have to do a thing about to get it. It’s passive. It is given to you in this case by God. That’s what the passive tense means. It’s done to you, for you, not by you. Got it? Now, I want you to look at these as I just, you know, [snorts] just I’m going to go through them real fast, but I want you to actually look at them in your Bible if you would. So, look at Ephesians 2:es 4-10.
Ephesians 2:es 4-10. Whoever gets there first, read it out loud. But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression. It is by grace we’ve been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. in order that in the coming ages you might show the incomparable riches of his grace. Express in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in his hand for us to do. Now, see, we like to use this to talk about the grace of God, right? Back up to I don’t know whether it’s in verse four or verse five, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy. Do you see it? Do you see it?
That’s that’s the that’s the starting point. God is rich in mercy. And because of that, all of that that follows is ours. Okay. Whoever gets to Matthew 18:33, it’s like Bible drill, right? Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had mercy on you? Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. This is this is the parable of the unmerciful servant. Do you remember this one? Guys, called in to his master. Oh, you know, I I can’t pay. I can’t pay. Okay, then you will be forgiven your debt. go. And then he walks out, finds some guy that owes him something, owes him some a little bit of money. Little bit, little bit. But he says, “Pay up or face the consequences.” I can’t do that. No, no, no. But word gets back [laughter] to the to the original to the original lender, right? The big man. And he said, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant?” So, what does mercy mean there? Not punishing him when you decide deserve to be punished. Okay. Anything else? Having the power to uh punish. Yep. Take it one step further. What do we say about Jesus? Why he was a merciful high priest is because he experienced mercy merc. I mean he he experienced life. That first dude had experienced mercy, right?
He should have shown mercy and and and that’s the way that’s the way it should have worked. Okay. Luke 10 36 and 37. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Okay, you know what? This is parable of the good Samaritan, right? And and after Jesus tells the story, he asks the legal guy, the legal dude, right? He says, “So, um, who do you think uh who do you think was the guy’s neighbor?” And he said the one who showed him mercy. Now what did mercy mean there? What was the mercy that he showed him? Kindness. Kindness. [clears throat] Compassion. Compassion. Proactive hope. What? Proactive hope. Proactive hope. He was it was action that he was taking not for what he was going to get out of it. the emergency. Do what? The emergency. Yeah, [laughter] that’s exactly right. Unfortunately for you, [laughter] he showed he showed him grace and expected nothing in return. There you go. There you go. Mark 5:9.
Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”
This is when Jesus showed us what he really thought about pigs. [laughter]
This is that this is that scene when he takes the demon’s postman to a herd of pigs and the pigs go and jump in the water. Remember that, right? This dude is so thankful. He’s saying, “Please, can I go with you? Can I go with you?” But what did Jesus tell him? and said, “No, you can’t go with me, but what do you need to do? I want you to go back and tell the people about the mercy that has been shown to you.”
What was the mercy?
Deliverance. Deliverance. Yeah. But but not just deliverance from a situation in which he was powerless to do anything about it. Right. Oo, mercy. Father, I think this is one of the key ways that we can actually share the gospel. It’s really that simple. Talk about what he specifically did for you. A lot of times we think that we have to have like certain scriptures and it’s by experience, you know, the Lord will will start opening the doors to talk about. I mean, you can word Jesus up in any conversation, right? But but but that’s what I think about is the simple fact that what has he done for you? That’s what these people want to know. Power of testimony, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I should have showed you this, but then y’all wouldn’t have looked it up. [laughter] I’m serious. I started out I mean, I was going to go ahead, but then I said first one to and I thought, no, we’re going to have fun with this. Um so blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy or they shall receive mercy. The first century meaning of the word mercy is couched in the Jewish concept of God’s loving kindness. The Greek word elios and the Hebrew word [snorts] are linked in translation and in cultural thought. Now guys, I’m going to get just a little bit into the weeds, okay? You know, you golfers that carry machetes in your golf bag [laughter] because you’re used to going and chopping your way out of the out of the rough. Well, you know, get your machetes out cuz this is going into the weeds. And if you say, “Wait a minute. Hold it.” That’s fine. The concept of Oh, by the way, I need to teach you how to say that. First off, do this. Yeah. Come on. Come on, work it up. Come on. Just way back there at the back of your throat. Yeah. If if you don’t if you don’t need to spit when you’re done, you didn’t work right. [laughter] Okay. Now say ess. Now say ess. [laughter]
[laughter] Okay. Tessid is is a concept, a Hebrew, a Jewish concept that is pervasive in their understanding of who God is. You if you don’t understand as a Jew, you don’t understand who God is. Are you with me?
Now, an interesting thing happens with the word. It’s used about 250 times in the Old Testament. Okay? It’s translated in the Old Testament as loving kindness, steadfast love, mercy, loving devotion, unfailing love, loyalty, grace. It’s all the way through the Old Testament, and it’s used it pervasively. Okay? But now, here’s the here’s the trick. Here’s the key that uh that I want you to be aware of.
You know that during Bible times, Greek is the language that people wrote in. You know that because I talk about Greek all the time. You know, y’all know that. Y’all have heard every every preacher says, “Okay, Greek, Greek, Greek.” Okay, I’ve already mentioned the fact that Jesus probably spoke Aramaic. He may have spoken Hebrew and I kind of lean toward him speaking quite a bit of Hebrew for this reason. Hebrews pretty much what everybody would know. The Aramaic was the language uh yall know what uh langua frana is? You ever heard that term? Like French language created. Yeah, but it’s not. [laughter] Although if you’re in the Olympics, if you’re in the Olympics, the langua frana is French.
Generally around the world, the langua frana is English
today. It’s It’s not the most prevalent, but it’s the one that more people use when they’re discussing things and they want people in other cultures to understand it. It’s crossover. It’s a crossover language. It’s a crossover language. Langua frank langua frana. Okay. Aramaic was the langua frana of the day. Okay. um
in in uh in in Hebrew in Hebrew is the word but at the same time at the same time the word became important because
you remember me talking about or maybe not me talking about it. But have you ever heard of the Septuagent? The Septuagent is the Greek form of the New of the Old Testament. It was developed in the you know like about 300 BC to about 100 BC or or 50 BC in that time time frame. It was developed by Jewish scholars. There were 70 of them, hence the name Septuagent.
Okay, there were actually 72, but he’s counting. Um, but these 70 Jewish scholars developed a Greek version of the Old Testament. Stay with me. Why Greek? Because everybody’s writing in Greek. Everybody’s using Why are they using Greek? What? Well, not exactly because Aramaic was the language of Hanka, but it was the language of scholars. Why was it the language of scholars? Because it came from Greece. Greece.
Greece. prior to the Romans before the Romans and there was a little brief period in there when the when the Jews themselves had control but the Greeks controlled the territory that we know as Israel. Okay? And so the Greek the Greek culture was developed over a period of a couple of centuries and it was still in existence in the remember we were talking about the Drop Decopolis. The docopolis is 10 cities that are basically Greek in nature, but they’re a part of, you know, as a matter of fact, there’s people from the Dopolis that are listening to Jesus say these words. Okay, told you I was getting in the weeds. So, we have Greek, we have Hebrew, we have Aramaic. Aramaic is generally spoken. Okay. Hebrew. Hebrew is getting down to the business of Judaism. Okay. So, when you’re talking about Jewish things, you’re going to usually be in Hebrew. Greek is what everything is written in. And Matthew wrote this in Greek.
You’ve got three languages converging, right?
is Hebrew. Is also Aramaic.
They share that word. Matter of fact, Aramaic and Hebrew share a lot of words. But but that one in particular when they were translating from Hebrew into Greek the Old Testament in the Septuagent, they needed a word for The word they came up with was alos. The Greek word alos. Hang on. I don’t even know that I wrote this down. I don’t think I did. There’s another word that that’s used much less in the Hebrew
that means um mercy.
was generally in the Old Testament thought of as the nature of who God is, his justice and his mercy in the midst of his justice.
You throw yourself on the mercy of the court, right? You throw yourself on the mercy of the judge, right? Mercy was thought of in those terms. The Rahan was more of a
um kind of a in your gut kind of compassion. It actually can be translated womb or bowels. Okay? It’s from the very seat of your emotions, compassion. Think of it if you want to as a mother’s compassion for her child. That which came from her, she is devoted to beyond measure. Okay? When they were translating into Greek,
they used alos. When they were translating ra they used alos. Are you with me? So what did that do? That took the meaning of those two words. Now rakam was not as prominent as okay but still it’s lumped in with it. And then when you read alos what do you see? All of the compassion of God. all of the nature of God’s compassionate mercy. It goes way beyond anything we can ever understand because we are incapable of that kind of mercy. And yet, what does it say? Blessed are those who are merciful. Let me remind you, and I should have said this earlier. Let me remind you, these biatitudes are not checklists, things that you can check off and say, “I got that one. I got that one. Yeah, there I got that one.” No, it doesn’t work that way. The Holy Spirit is the one who instills in you those characteristics. Poor in spirit, mourn, desire for God’s righteousness. Those things are given to you by the spirit within you. And the same thing is true with mercy. Only God’s mercy within you will do. Only God’s mercy. So hessid is the essence of who God is. Let’s look at this verse. Exodus 34 6 and 7. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in loving devotion and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Notice I have,
but there’s another time I use the word mercif I said the word merciful in the very beginning of that. Do you see it? I didn’t put it because it’s
when they translated this into Greek, they use the Greek word alleos and those other Greek words that you saw before like mononos moness. Those were the words that were used when it’s translating into Greek. You understand now what I’m saying? That concept of mercy is being expanded. It’s being grown. Doesn’t that make sense? Think about it. What was it? What was it that Jesus said about the law? I have not come to abolish the law, but that the law what? Thank you. How many times did he say, “You have heard it said, but I say,” right? You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say, right? How many times did he say that? Isn’t that’s what’s happening with the word merciful? You think you know what mercy is, but mercy goes way deeper than anything you’ve ever considered. I’m sure the preschoolers next door really appreciate my doing that. [laughter] Do you understand? This is a picture of who God is. And by the way, that particular phrase is quoted many times. Jonah Jonah quotes it. Jonah Jonah quotes a part of it. Why? Because God says, “I want you to go to Nineveh and preach the word.” And he said, “I don’t like them people. [laughter] I do not like those people. Those nineites are nasty. I do not like them. I will not go. No, I will go get in a boat and go someplace else far, far away.” Right? And when God is saying, “No, you really need to do this.” He said, “No, look, I [laughter] know what’s going to happen. I know what’s going to happen. I know because you are rich in mercy, abounding in loving kindness. He quoted this and he said, “That’s who you are.” By the way, if you want to look at epics, Jonah 4:es 1 and 2. That’s who you are. Jonah says, “And so I can’t do that because you are way too loving.” And what’s going to happen is they’re going to repent. They’re going to turn around and I’m gonna be stuck with these fools.
I’m not gonna have any toys. Yeah. There you go. Now you see if if you were to just think about the people you work with, your family, your friends, your neighbors. Just think about the people, right? If you were to ask them, you don’t need to say this out loud necessarily, but but just think about it. If you were to ask them, Old Testament God, New Testament God, which of those is the God of vengeance? Old Testament, every time. Which is the God that rains down judgment on people? Old Testament. Always. Always. Old Testament. Which one goes to Spity? Old Testament. Oh, great spider. Yeah. No, listen guys. Guys, the fact is the God of the Old Testament is loving just like the God of the New Testament. There ain’t no difference in the God of either one. And as a matter of fact, if you look at the things that Jesus said, were there words of judgment that came out of his mouth?
But people tend to think that mercy that mercy is not not what what God does. No, people tend to think that mercy is just being nice to people,
right? We’re getting in into a lot of trouble with that in our society because people are equating love with approval of what someone is doing. Okay. Jesus wasn’t nice. No. He came to turn people against each other because what he proclaimed was right. Right. Truth. And so people, you know, got all men out of shape because of what he said. Yeah. That’s right. So, you know, even though we kind of think of God as in the New Testament loving God is not, you know, yes, he was loving, he also was very uh you know, I guess he said it like it was very very straightforward. A lot of people really stirred up. Well, and and and and like the rich young ruler, he said, “All you got to do is just sell everything you own.” And the dude turned around and walked off. Jesus didn’t say, “But wait, come back.” No, what I meant was, “No, there was any of that.” Okay. Well, very quickly, let’s finish up Kessid in the Old Testament. Can we do that? Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Y’all know that song? You know, it’s taken from Psalm 136. Every verse in that psalm, I forget how many verses it has. It’s like I don’t know 30 or 40 verses. Every verse concludes with his love endures forever or his mercy. That word that’s used there is in Psalm 136 is okay. So if you go through and you read Psalm 136, you will see what is. That phrase is his mercy endures forever. That’s found that phrase by itself is found 41 times. And then we’re not talking about just, you know, over and over again in the Old Testament. Not just in verse uh Psalm 136. Isn’t that amazing? His mercy is forever. By the way, next time you hear that song instead of singing his love and endures forever, just say this. His forever track. His forever. I think you got no more ch on the front. Remember? Ready? And his pass is forever. Now, here’s the thing. If you’re in church and they sing that song and you start doing that, just do it. You’re going to get some looks. They’re going to think you’re speaking in tongues or something, but still, you go ahead and you do it and and have fun with it because that’s what they’re actually saying. How about this one? Oh, Psalm 51. You know what was going on in Psalm 51? Let me refresh your memory.
Woo. David has just been told, “You are the man.” You know what that means? Nathan told him said, “You’re the you’re the you’re the dude that killed uh I can’t think of her name’s husband and is now having a baby with her. You’re that man.” And Psalm 51 is his response to that. Psalm 51 is his response to that. And his the beginning of that psalm, I encourage you to read the whole thing. Have mercy upon me, oh God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Notice only loving kindness has said effort. What are those others?
He’s appealing to God’s deepest compassion, right? According to your loving kindness, according to your mercy. Let’s go on one more. Psalm 23. Have you ever heard of the 23rd Psalm? Chessed is in there. Surely goodness and chessed shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I’m going to very quickly go through uh two or three aspects of you’ve already discussed them in in in y earlier when I asked you what is mercy you basically covered these but I want to go over them just to make sure you got it aspects of boundless grace
when a person in power stoops to help those who have no
That’s
okay. Love of covenant loyalty, a relationship of mutual commitment and love and action.
Verse goes with boundless grace. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. He’s talking about David. God’s talking about David. If he commits iniquity, I will chasen him with the rod of men, but my will never depart away from him. His throne shall be established forever. Wow. The mercy of God is based on the covenantal nature of God. If God enters into a covenant with you, it’s binding. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, [clears throat] he cleansed you of all unrighteousness, declared you clean and whole, and you are to this day. It doesn’t change. That’s mercy. Second, boundless grace. Therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments. It’s not bound by time. It’s not bound by circumstances. It’s not bound by anything. There’s no cost limit. It doesn’t you don’t reach a time and go, you know what? I’ve forgiven you enough. Jesus Jesus said 70 * 7 and by that he meant just keep on forgiving because that’s the way your heavenly father forgives. Okay, he didn’t say that. I added that. But do you understand that’s what that’s what he was saying? And then the last aspect it’s love in action. It’s not emotional. Earlier we talked about this about how it it was action. I mean he did something right? It’s not sentimental. It’s not transactional. In other words, it’s not I’ll do this for you if you do this for me first. No, it’s not like that. It’s love given when the person loved cannot return the favor and the person loved choose the person loving chooses to love anyway. But God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I used a New Testament passage there because to me that verse is the ultimate picture of God’s essent
father forgive them. They don’t know. They don’t know what they’re doing. Oh mercy, mercy, mercy. So last thought, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The loving devotion, the of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. We’ve already talked about that. But check out that next part from Lamentations. Great is his faithfulness. His mercies begin each new morning. Every day you wake up, it’s out of God’s mercy that you’re drawing breath. It’s out of God’s mercy that you can stand. It’s out of God’s mercy that you can go forth and show mercy through his spirit within you. It’s out of his mercy that you can do those things.
Great is thy faithfulness, oh God, my father. There is no shadow of turning [singing] with thee. You’re welcome to sing along if you want to. Thou changest not. Thy compassions, they fail now. As thou [singing] hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning my morning, new mercies I see. [singing] All I have needed, thy hand have proided.
Great is thy faithfulness
unto me. And Father, because of your greatness, because of your mercy, oh Father, we can face a new day. we can face all the trials. And Father, in light of what you have done for us, help us always to show mercy to those around us. You have blessed us with your mercy. May we bless others with your mercy by your spirit within us. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. [music]
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, August 9, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
The two beatitudes for this session involve meekness and hunger for righteousness. They both include our response to the wickedness of the world around us. We are constantly bombarded with the evil actions of people around the world and in our own backyard. We see it on the news, at work, at school, in our politics, and in our churches. Our initial response might be anger, disgust, frustration, or any number of emotional reactions. However, at some point we will quite often allow our emotions to move us to taking action – or at least wanting to do so. That’s when the Holy Spirit, if He is allowed to do so in our hearts and minds, will trigger meekness. We exercise God’s strength under His control and we trust Him rather than our own power to act and assert our own will.
Similarly, these scenes of wickedness in our world – these acts of injustice – cause us to hunger for righteousness. Our justice warrior genes are activated and we are ready to go into the moral battlefield with our spiritual guns blazing. However, Jesus says we are blessed when we hunger, not when we act. We are blessed when we thirst for righteousness because it is at that point that we are most in tune with the heart of God who longs for righteousness to prevail. “Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
It all comes down to trust. Can we trust God or do we have to act? Can we trust the Hand of God or do we need to take matters into our own hands? Now and in the Day of the Lord we are more than conquerors not because of our wisdom or morality or strength but through Jesus Christ our Lord
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, August 2, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
We spend so much time and so much money trying to avoid physical pain. Likewise, we spend time, money, and sorts of personal resources trying avoid or ease emotional pain. In the Bible mourning was woven into the fabric of life. In fact, the clothes worn were used as visible exclamations of mourning and lament as they were torn apart in the face of deep grief. Biblical characters like David, Jacob, Job, Peter, Mary and Martha, and even Jesus Himself mourned to the point of shedding tears. Mourning is Biblical. There is even an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations written by Jeremiah who was known as the “Weeping Prophet” because of his laments found in the Books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.
So what is the Christian response to mourning? Avoidance? Certainly not. Dismissal, since Christians are always to be joyful? Uh, no. We should mourn properly – first as God mourns. God mourns over the lost condition of mankind. God mourns over thee pain of death. God mourns over hardness of heart. If God mourns over these things and more, so should we. However, God also provides a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the One Who comes along side us in our grief. Furthermore, He gives us hope in the midst of our grief.
The Christian’s response to mourning? First, we don’t grieve as those who don’t know Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14) Second, we come along side those who are grieving with the same hope that we have receive. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Third, we glorify God through our trust in Him when we face grief.
The difference between Christian grief and worldly grief is not the absence of tears but the presence of hope.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 26, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas
The Jewish People in the 1st Century faced daily oppression and persecution. The promised deliverer – the Messiah – was prophesied to arrive at this time in history. The hope was that he would throw off the yoke of Roman domination and usher in a new Kingdom, a new restored nation of Israel. Jesus – the Messiah – did indeed come, and He ushered in a new Kingdom. However, The Kingdom He established was far more than any earthly kingdom that the people had imagined. He established the Kingdom of Heaven. He established a spiritual realm in which spiritual realities superseded the oppression and persecution of the earthly world around them.
In the Beatitudes Jesus shows what a subject (a citizen) in that Kingdom was, is, and ever more shall be. He does not give them a list of “Thou Shalts” and “Thou Shalt Nots” as Moses gave the Israelites in the desert. He gives them a picture of who “Kingdom People” are – who they are and what they are as well as where they are and where they are going.
In Matthew 5:3 we read the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Augustine refers to this Beatitude as the foundation for the Kingdom subject. Only from the depths our spiritual bankruptcy can we look up to the One Who gives us all of the spiritual resources of the Kingdom. Thus the truth and beauty of the Beatitude – we are truly blessed, favored, fortunate when we are poor in spirit and realize that spiritually we are powerless and empty because then we can see that all of the Heavenly Realm is accessible. The Heavenly Bank is open for business and all of the spiritual funds you need are available now and forever.
This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 19, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers Chapters 5-7 in the Book of Matthew, is Kingdom Power: The Sermon on the Mount. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/kingdom-power-matthew-5-7-digital-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .
Website – FromTheBackPorch.org Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas