Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20090211.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part XVIII: Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By His Call Of The Disciples
(Luke 6:12-20)
  1. Introduction
    1. If Jesus truly is God's Savior of the world, we should expect to see hints of this identity in His earthly teaching ministry even though His first coming aimed to minister only to Israel, cf. Matthew 15:21-24.
    2. In presenting His important "sermon on the mount", Luke noted Jesus did something unique to Luke's record of this event, and it shows Christ's intent even then eventually to disciple the world (as follows):
  2. Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By His Call Of The Disciples, Luke 6:12-20.
    1. Luke 6:12 notes that before His call of the twelve to be apostles, Jesus prayed all night up in a mountain.
    2. At daybreak, He then called unto Him His disciples, and chose the twelve to be apostles, Luke 6:13-16.
    3. At this point, Luke's Gospel claims what Matthew's Gospel does not include -- that Jesus came down from the mountain and stood on a plain before giving His "sermon on the mount," Lk. 6:17, 20; Matt. 5:1-3.
    4. Actually, both accounts can be harmonized with each other when we view the sequence of events as noted in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 219 (as follows):
      1. First, Jesus went up into the mountain to pray all night to the Father, Luke 6:12, Ibid.
      2. Second, he called the twelve to Himself and chose them to be His "apostles", or men "sent forth" as His messengers to the world, Luke 6:13-16; Ibid.; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Matthew 10:2.
      3. Third, Jesus then descended with the twelve to a level plain to heal their diseases, Luke 6:17-19.
      4. Fourth, He climbed back up into the mountain where the disciples followed Him to hear His "sermon on the mount," Matthew 5:1.
      5. Fifth, the multitudes to whom He had ministered on the plain also followed Jesus and His disciples up into the mountain to hear Him teach, a fact both Gospel accounts imply (as follows), Ibid.:
        1. Matthew 7:28 reports that, at the end of Jesus' "sermon on the mount," "the people" were astonished at His teaching, and the word for "people" (KJV) there is ochlos, "crowd, throng, (multitude)," cf. U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966 ed., p. 25; Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 605.
        2. Luke 7:1 reports that the "sermon on the mount" had been heard by the "people", from the Greek noun, laos, "crowd, people", Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T., p. 230; Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 467-468.
    5. To explain why both accounts give this different emphasis on the setting of this important sermon, we note the contrast of purpose in each Gospel as each presents Jesus from a unique perspective (as follows):
      1. Matthew's Gospel presents Jesus as King of the Jews, the Prophet like unto Moses who was to come and Who gave His standard of righteousness as Lawgiver of Kingdom righteousness from a mountain like Moses had brought Israel the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, Deut. 18:15-19; John F. Walvoord, Matthew - Thy Kingdom Come, 1974, p. 45-46. Thus, Matthew's Gospel highlighted the location of the actual teaching event, that of a mountain, to highlight Jesus' identity as the new Moses.
      2. However, Luke presents Christ as the Savior of the whole world, so He noted that Jesus decidedly moved to attract even Gentiles on the plain to hear His key sermon, to include them as its hearers:
        1. Luke 6:17a,b reports that when Jesus descended to the plain, He was met by a great throng from both Jewish Judaea and Jerusalem as well as from Gentile Tyre and Sidon, Ibid., p. 55.
        2. There He showed He accepted them all, healing them and exorcising their demons, Luke 6:17c-19.
        3. Having attracted this mixed throng, Jesus climbed the mountain, His disciples and the crowds of Jews and Gentiles following, and He taught them all His messianic kingdom truths, Luke 6:20ff!
        4. Thus, Jesus taught of His Kingdom righteousness to people representative of His world kingdom.
Lesson: In His important treatise, the "sermon on the mount" on the righteousness of His coming messianic kingdom, Jesus clearly included Jews and Gentiles, for he is God's Savior of the WORLD.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as the WORLD'S Savior. (2) May we rejoice in Christ's desire to include US Gentile believers in His messianic kingdom. (3) May we through the Holy Spirit's power (Galatians 5:16) heed the righteous standards taught in His sermon on the mount, for it reflects the righteousness God expects of those of us who will live in His coming messianic kingdom!