The Sermon on the Mount

About the Book

What does a life that is pleasing to God look like? How we answer this question shapes our religious lives as well as the religious practices we follow. The Gospel of Matthew uses the word righteousness to refer to a life that is pleasing to God. In an insightful study of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, biblical scholar Steve Langford uses Jesus’s statement about “a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” as a guide to interpreting the sermon. Langford uses the beatitudes to identify the foundational attitudes of Jesus’s heart-oriented spirituality (righteousness) and the impact those attitudes have in the lives of his followers. As he explores the remainder of the sermon, Langford details how Jesus addressed four barriers to his heart-oriented spirituality. The sermon’s conclusion reflects the life-defining choice faced by the original audience. Included are reflection questions that help believers personalize Jesus’s teachings. The Sermon on the Mount is a thought-provoking study of the teachings of Jesus that encourages believers to embrace an authentic or healthy spirituality in order to live a life that is pleasing to God.

About the Author

Steve Langford, also known as Pastor Steve, is a spiritual guide who has given his adult life to the study and teaching of scripture. He earned degrees in biblical studies from Howard Payne University (BA) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDIV and DMIN). For the past two decades, Langford’s postgraduate studies have been in Bowen Family Systems Theory with an applied focus on spiritual formation and church leadership.