Session 4

True Righteousness

Matthew 5:13-20,43-48

Memory Verse: Matthew 5:20

Jesus defines what it means to live in His kingdom.

God’s kingdom requires true righteousness.
Quoting Jesus’s Model Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13),
we say, “Your kingdom come” (v. 10),
but what does that mean?
Living in a democracy, many westerners don’t resonate with kingdom concepts.
But the easiest way to grasp this idea is to reflect on the next line of the prayer:
“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (v. 10).
Living in God’s kingdom means seeking and doing the King’s will here on earth
with the same level of instant and unreserved obedience that exists in heaven.
We do so through faith in Christ.

Many times, people want to know God’s will, but they try to carry it out on their own terms.
They impose human values and behavior on His Word.
Instead of embracing Christ’s righteousness,
people pursue what seems right or makes sense to them.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught His followers to go beyond rituals
and to live out true righteousness in Him.

FIRST THOUGHTS

A new phenomenon over the last fifteen years has been the advent of social media influencers. In fact, the term “influencer” was not added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary until 2019. These “influencers” on the internet produce interest in a variety of products and ideologies. This approach to marketing has a value of well over $20 billion dollars. Some of these influencers have become folk heroes to many internet users. (PSG, p. 40)

Ask:

• Who are some social media influencers you are aware of?
• Are you able to identify ways that you have been impacted by these influencers? (PSG, p. 40)

ENGAGE

Review:

Explain that following Christmas, this session places us back into Jesus’s ministry.
Emphasize Jesus’s commitment to the Father’s plan and the Father’s kingdom.

Recap:

This session (and the next two) focuses on the Sermon on the Mount.
Share this information from page 41 of the PSG to set the context:

Matthew 5-7 make up what is normally called the Sermon on the Mount.
In many ways, this set of teachings was for the disciples only.
Jesus was teaching them what it meant to follow Him. .
. . He spoke of what makes His followers distinct from the rest of the world.

Transition:

Examining the Sermon on the Mount offers a great opportunity to consider Jesus in the context of an influencer.
He transforms His people, and He calls each of us to make a difference in the world around us.
These verses from Matthew 5 will guide us in becoming positive spiritual influencers for God’s kingdom.