Life in the Image of God: The Sermon on the Mount as a Hillside Holiness Message

The King has come. The God of love planned reconciliation and transformation for the people he created. He planned liberation from bondage for all creation through the life, death, and resurrected life of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus the King has come. He has inaugurated the kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is the constitution of that kingdom. The constitution is intended to make Christlike disciples. The central dynamic of the constitution is godlike love and is based on his grace.

The Sermon begins with the essence of character, which is the foundation of all relationships and conduct. Who we are determines the influence we have and controls our conduct. Our conduct is based on right relationships with God, others, self, and the material world.

The Sermon is practical, dealing with every aspect of life. Our relationship with God is to be one of reverence and self-discipline. Our relationship to possessions calls for rejection of slavery to those possessions and to worry. In relationship to self, we must avoid destructive criticism and exercise discernment. Many areas are discussed in our relationship to others, such as murder, sex, retaliation, and more.

Join me in the study of the kingdom constitution as it reveals how to live life in the image of God. All who will may become a part of the kingdom by offering full allegiance to the King and by living life by the rule of godlike love.

Ron Calhoun has a BA and MDiv with foci in philosophy, psychology, theology and biblical studies. For many years, Ron has made the Sermon on the Mount a special area of study. He and his wife, Shelva, were missionaries for thirty-seven years, serving as college lecturers and administrators. Semi-retired, they now live in New Jersey.