Manifesto: The Revolutionary Sermon on the Mount

by Greg Sidders

The Sermon on the Mount was the most revolutionary speech ever delivered. Imagine being there. Who among the thousands that sat in the natural amphitheater of that grassy plateau in Galilee knew that Jesus was about to describe with such clarity and specificity the kind of life God created us to live? They expected parables, but instead they got a manifesto. To hear those words from the lips of Christ himself was an invaluable blessing. But Matthew, who was there, and Luke, who felt the power of Christ’s words even as he heard them second-hand, wanted those who could not be there to at least read them, because never before had it been more clear how to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven.

But do we have ears to hear? The living word has been handed down to us in flat black type, pressed onto plain white paper, hidden in a leather-jacketed book that has no natural appeal to busy consumers with endless options. Our pace and our attention span blur the treasure that we race past on our way to the newest hollow attraction.

Rare, therefore, are those in today’s world who are willing, indeed able, to quiet their soul long enough to relish this treasure. Rarer still are those who assimilate it, putting Christ’s words into practice. But all who do, however erratically, find, in a world of sinking sand, that elusive bedrock upon which the life we want—and the life God wants for us—can be built.

150 pages, Paperback

Published April 24, 2022