Both character and conduct are important when it comes to following Jesus. Conduct without character is meaningless. And character without conduct is useless. You have to have both. As you study the Sermon on the Mount, you realize that what Jesus is saying is, “You are not a Christian because you act like one; you act like a Christian because you are one.” With all of this in mind, today’s message summed up in a sentence is this - when you truly experience the mercy of God, you will freely extend mercy to others. So let’s look at what our responsibility is when it comes to showing others the same mercy God has shown us.
For many years, I have been thinking about preaching through the greatest sermon that has ever been preached: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It can be read in roughly ten minutes and yet of all the things that Jesus taught, this sermon has been written about more, studied more, examined more, and talked about more than anything else that Jesus ever taught. We are going to entitle this series, “Get Used To Different,” because that is exactly what you are going to have to get used to if you are going to take Jesus seriously and trust in Jesus completely.