St. Patrick Presbyterian Church, Epc

So, we come to the Sermon on Mount. As John Stott says of this portion of Jesus teaching, “The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style, and network of relationships—all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out.” (John Stott, Sermon on the Mount) We turn here because during the season of Eastertide we are talking about “A City on A Hill.” That is what Jesus has in mind, that his people will be in the Kingdom he will create by his life, death, and resurrection.As a pastor, I have mixed feeling about preaching this and I realized why when Tim Keller put his finger on the rub. He says, “… when you read the Sermon on the Mount, you know this is exactly how you want the people who live aroun