NOTES: 1] The 'sermon on the mount' ends with tests for the authenticity of 'prophets', 'disciples' & 'builders'. 2] For an interesting account of true v false prophecy see 2CHR 18: 1-27. (A true prophet doesn't tell the future except in asmuch as he / she proclaims "this is what God says, but if, instead, you do that, then the consequences will be.........!")

WARMING UP: Of the various characters we watch on TV, who seems to us most authentic in their role?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

15-20    Have we ever been faced with deciding the genuineness or otherwise of someone purporting to be a 'prophet', or is the issue today more likely to be that there isn't a 'prophet' to test? Or, are today's true prophets more likely to be outside the church than inside it? Are the tests Jesus lays down here still reasonable ones? Just for prophets? What would we expect the  hallmark of a genuine prophet - in the following of the Prophets of old - to be today? When did we last meet one?

21-23    Is 'Lord' an expression so overworked in church life & liturgy today that it's lost any real meaning? Is its meaning more taken for granted than really understood? What does 'Lord' mean - to us? Could we explain that to an enquirer? Is 'Lord' the way we ourself normally approach God, e.g. in prayer? For those of us who live in a more or less democratic society, does referring to God, or Jesus as 'Lord' have negative associations of someone 'lording it over us'? How does the term 'lord' sit with modern ideas of democracy? Does democracy leave any real room for God to operate? (Might there be  an important difference we need to recognize between the way we think & the way, say, fundamentalist Muslims or Christians think? Have we sorted out the difference between doing things 'in God's name' & doing them in our own name & pretending they're God's will? How can we be sure we get this right, e.g., who benefits, us or God?) How well does God know us?

24-27    Is our church busier building things or building people? Setting up programmes for people, or serving them? Why is it so much easier to build things than people? What do we have to invest in people if we're to build them up into a people for God? How does that compare with what we invest in buildings, equipment, etc.? Is the church we're familiar with busily building on rock, or sand? What's holding it together, keeping it up, or, on the other hand causing it to crumble, even fall? What is the 'rock' on which Jesus counsels us to build? What are today's rains, storms, etc.?

28-29    Are we ourself 'astonished' at Jesus? Were we ever? If we were once, but aren't any more, what caused our astonishment to 'wear off'? Is the latter what's happened to society over the generations? Is today's society (of which we are a part) more astonished by Jesus or bored by a Jesus people don't even know? (How many see us as not knowing him either?) If that's the case, whose fault is it? What can we do to help people see Jesus in a better light? What is the essence of Jesus' authority for us? Is the fact that God claims authority over us the real reason many turn away from him today, because we don't like, react against authority? Is it clear for all to see that we ourselves are people under God's authority?