1. Read Matthew 5:17-20.  What questions and feelings arise for you?

2. How do you understand Jesus fulfilling ‘the Law and prophets’?  How might this shape how we interpret and apply Scripture now?  How does this shape how we will respond to the instruction Jesus gives in next chapter which immediately follows this passage? 

3. What is your experience of feeling pressure from outside you to be and behave in certain ways (whether perceived as intending positive or negative outcomes)?  What have been the impacts of these experiences on how you feel about yourself and in how you approach daily life?

4. Why does Jesus want our righteousness to emerge from our insides – from the heart?

5. Why is mercy so important to God?  How should it shape how we treat others (and ourselves!)

6. Why is Jesus so adamant in saying our present experience of the kingdom of God now is tied to us living in ways which transcends the ‘hypocrisy’ of the Pharisees? 

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Read Matthew 5:21-26

1. What’s the first thing you often want to do when you’re angry?

2. If anger is like termites, what do you think the inside of you is that it eats away?

3. Why do you think anger often hides in the dark instead of being obvious?

4. In Genesis 4:6, why do you think God asked Cain why he was angry instead of just telling him to stop?

5. Why do you think Jesus says both the angry person and the one they’re angry at have a job to do?

6. If anger can hollow you out, what are some things God could use to do the work of internal and external restoration?

7. What’s one small “repair” you could make in a friendship or family relationship this week?

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Read Matthew 5:27-30

1. How can we or those around us be harmed by destructive desires – things you really want but could lead you into sin – even if we don’t act on them?

2. Why does God want us to obey him (follow God’s desires) rather than simply comply (follow rules that govern our behaviour)? What difference could it make to ourselves and others to follow God’s desires and not just rules?

3. How might we become curious about destructive desires in our own lives, rather than simply trying harder to stop them?

4. What steps can we take to instead build a healthy desire for God’s kingdom in our lives and our world?

Discussion starters

Read Matthew 5:27-32

1. As we approach the sermon on the mount we need to keep reminding ourselves that Jesus isn’t giving new rules, but revealing the heart of God’s commands. What difference does it make to you that Jesus is aiming at our hearts rather than handing down new rules to keep?

2. Steve described sexual desire as a fire—good and God-given, but dangerous when suppressed or misused. Where have you seen desire become destructive, either like a wildfire (obvious and out of control) or like a peat fire (hidden, smouldering, but damaging)?

3. Many Christians grow up experiencing shame around desire, which often drives it underground. Why do you think it can feel so difficult to be honest about struggles like these in church settings? What might make honesty safer?

4. Jesus reframes the debate about divorce by focusing on covenant faithfulness rather than legal loopholes—making the focus relational rather than legal. How might this challenge the way we think about marriage, separation, and relational responsibility today?

5. Jesus exposes how both lust and divorce reduce people to objects (of either desire or disposal). What practices help you honour others as image-bearers of God, especially when desire or conflict is involved?

6. Jesus acknowledges that brokenness and “hardness of heart” exist, yet he still calls us back to God’s vision of covenant love. How do we hold both the reality of human brokenness and the hope of covenant renewal together in our lives and communities?

“Do not swear an oath at all... simply say “Yes,” or “No” anything beyond this comes from the evil one”

1. Jesus says swearing oaths comes from evil. What is your understanding of evil in this context? (It may help to read James 5:12.) How do we combat this kind of evil?

   a. What do you think is the difference between an oath and a vow and a promise? 

   b. According to Jesus words in verse 37, what is the difference between an oath and a vow and a promise?

   a. Is there a difference between an oath and a legal contract?

   b. If we are not meant to make any oaths at all, does that mean we should never enter into contracts?

2. In his book on spiritual disciplines, Richard Forster claims that the increasing speed of technological development over the past 20 years has led to and exponentially increasing level of complexity in dealing with the modern world. He claims the best way to combat the exponentially increasing complexity is to be continually, actively, simplifying everything we do. What actions can we take to simplify our lives over the next 2 to 4 weeks? e.g. What would happen if you turned your mobile phone off 1 day each week? Or what would happen if you got a timing switch to turn the Internet router in your house off between 9pm and 7am?

Those above are the 4 core questions. What follows are bonus questions – if you have more time in your group

1. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character puts on a play within the play to try to gauge his mother‘s reaction. When Hamlet asks his mother about the actor playing her making an oath his mother replies “The Lady protesteth too much, methinks”.
   How do you react if someone is protesting too much?

2. The financial crisis of 2008 showed many financial analysts “Everything happens at the speed of trust.” When people in the banks did not trust each other they could not trade and large parts of the financial system seized up.

   a) How do we know if we can trust somebody?

   b) How do you deal with the people whom you suspect you cannot trust? i.e. Is it better to separate ourselves from the untrustworthy person or is it better to confront the untrustworthy person?

   c) What are some helpful ways to react to a person who has proven themselves to be untrustworthy?

Discussion starters

1. Do you think the idea of karma / ‘what goes around comes around’ / ‘what you reap you shall sow’ is true? Where do you see it in life?

2. Read Matthew 5:38-42. How are the responses in Jesus’ examples more than just being a ‘doormat’? What kind of creativity or courage do they take?

3. Bono says grace ‘interrupts the consequences of your actions’. What do you think he means?

4. How does a response of grace produce something different to a response of proportional retribution? Does grace still expect something of the offender?

5. What do you think makes the love of a good father unique?

6. What difference would it make if we believed God deals with us by grace rather than karma (or even retributive justice)?

Discussion starters:

1.  Where do you see the polarisation in your life today? E.g. politics, culture, family, church

   a. Have you ever felt pushed to one “side” in an argument, even if you didn’t want to choose sides, or excluded because you held different convictions?

2. Read Matt 5:43-48.

   a. Jesus’ word “enemy” doesn’t mean abstract hatred but real people who wrong, reject, or exclude us. Who comes to mind for you when you hear “enemy” in this sense? How does that challenge you?

   b. The word “perfect” here means “whole” or “complete”. What do you think a “whole” person looks like?

3. Frederick Buechner wrote, “Enemies are the people who made you what you are.” What do you think he meant? Can you identify someone in your life who, though painful, shaped you deeply?

4. What most strikes you about Danny Abdullah’s choice to forgive? How does his story expand, clarify or challenge your understanding of Jesus’ words?

Discussion starters

Read Matthew 5:1-8

1. In the story of The King's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen, what do you think kept the king from admitting he was naked?

2. Can you think of some occasions and reasons why we might pretend

   a) in front of other people?

   b) in front of God?

3. What is the reward of ‘nakedness’ before God in the secret place of prayer?

4. What do you think God wants from us in prayer?

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Read Matthew 6:16-18 

1. Why do you think we sometimes do good things mainly to look impressive? Why does Jesus warn about this? What do you think it does it do to us if we do good things for this reason?

2. In this section, Jesus is speaking about "righteousness". What do you understand righteousness to be about, and what do these practices have to do with righteousness?

3. Steve described fasting as a practice like window cleaning - practiced not to look at the thing itself, but to see beyond it more clearly. How do these practices of righteousness function in this way?

4. Scot McKnight describes fasting as "Body Talk" - not a technique to get God to do something, but a whole-body response to a serious and sacred moment in a person’s life or community when a person realises God is revealing himself. How does this understanding of fasting impact how and when we might partake in this practice?

5. Our practice of Communion helps us "see" God, ourselves, and each other more clearly. What do you think that means in real life?

Discussion starters:

Read Matthew 6:19-24

1. In our culture, what kinds of "treasures on earth" do people most often chase? How do these pursuits affect our hearts and relationships?

2. What kinds of things do you think God treasures?

3. What difference does knowing about ancient Jewish cosmology make of our understanding of Jesus saying, "lay up for yourselves treasures in the heavens"?

4. Why is Jesus' warning "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" so challenging for us today?

5. How does trust in possessions erode trust in God, and visa versa?

6. Do you have ideas of what we could do as a community to direct our shared resources to the neediest, and things God treasures?

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Read Matthew 6:9-15

1. When we pray, how might starting with God’s "name and kingdom" impact how we see our own lives?

2. What would it look like for God’s will to be done “on earth as in heaven” in your family, school, or workplace this week?

3. Jesus teaches us to pray for “daily bread.” What might it mean for us to depend on God for daily needs in a world where we often have more than enough?

4. Why do you think Jesus links our forgiveness of others to God’s forgiveness of us? What helps you forgive when it’s really hard?

5. The prayer ends asking God to lead us away from temptation and evil. What do you think that says about how God wants to shape our inner life - not just what we do, but who we’re becoming?

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Read Matthew 6:25-34.

1. When you experience worry or anxiety, what does it feel like in your body or mind?

2. What kind of “nets” do people get caught in that make us anxious or restless?

3. Why does Jesus point us to the birds, flowers and grass when we are faced with security anxiety or status anxiety?

4. How does believing that God knows what you need change the way you think about money, food, housing, or the future?

5. When have you felt pressure to prove your worth? What would it mean to trust that your value is already secure in God?

6. Have you ever experienced something that first felt threatening from God or faith but turned out to be freeing?

7. Jesus ends by saying “put God’s kingdom first”. What do you think that means in daily life?

Read Matthew 7:1-6

1. What is the difference between judging and using discernment?

2. What is Jesus trying to help us notice about ourselves in the image of the log in the eye?

3. Where do you find it hardest to hold back from judging others? e.g. actions, beliefs, appearance, lifestyle?

4. What helps you pause and see someone’s situation with compassion rather than criticism?

5. Why do you think Jesus finishes with the line about not giving dogs what is sacred or pearls to pigs? What might this have to do with judgement or discernment?

6. What would it look like for our community to be known not for judgment, but for wise and loving discernment?

Discussion starters

1. In Philippians 2:6-7 Paul mentions that the Christ emptied himself of his Status as God in order to become human, and furthermore became a servant. The Greek word used here is  κένωσεν  Kenosen. Emptying Himself. What does this  κένωσis ( Kenosis )  look like in the 21st-century? i.e. What are the things we need to empty out of ourselves in order to be filled with God‘s spirit.

2. What are the things you find hardest to rely upon God for? 

3. Once you have emptied yourself of your own need for significance or status - what is left of you?

4. Read Matthew 7v11 again. What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

If you have time, look at these additional questions:

2. "Treat others as you would like to be treated" is sometimes called the golden rule. What would be the advantages of calling it the "golden invitation"?

3. If I am profoundly wrong about something, then I really need someone to help me see I am wrong. e.g. If I think all Religions are the same… Or if I think it does not matter whether Jesus rose from the dead or not (and if I am a basically honest, well-meaning person), then I would like others to help me move beyond these erroneous ideas. If I am going to treat others the way I want to be treated, does that mean I should be trying to help others to rethink the profoundly wrong ideas which they hold? Or am I just wanting to show others they are wrong so I can feel better about being right? How is the other person going to know I am NOT telling them they’re wrong because I want to feel better about being right?

If you read Matthew 7:13-23 you will see Jesus uses two analogies. One of travel on a path and the second analogy of plants bearing fruit.

Pathway questions

1. Why do you think that choosing the path of life is so difficult?

2. What has been the most difficult thing for you as you have travelled on the path that leads to life? 

Fruity questions

3. Jesus uses a number of botanical analogies (about seeds and plants) in his parables. Why do you think Jesus uses so many botanical analogies?

4. What sort of things do you think represent 'Good Fruit' in Australia in 2025? 

Tricky Questions

5. If we feel that someone is teaching the wrong things about Jesus, or is using Gospel stories to sell something. According to these verses in Matthew 7 what should we do about it? 

6. How do you feel about some plants being "cut down and thrown into the Fire"?

Discussion starters:

Read Matthew 7:24-29

1. As you reflect on The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), which image or teaching has stirred your imagination or longing for God's kingdom "on earth as it is in Heaven"?

2. Jesus' claim is that his teaching is the pivot on which your life will either thrive or fail. He isn’t giving moral rules to follow to realise this but painting a picture of what life looks like when God’s presence is made central. Why is understanding Jesus as teaching wisdom rather than rules a better way to read this message? i.e. Where does reading it as rules lead, and where does reading it as wisdom lead?

3. How does understanding righteousness as "relating rightly to God in a way that produces right relating to others" shape your understanding of what Jesus is teaching?

4. Think of a storm you’ve walked through (recent or past). In what ways did it reveal what your life was built on? How might Jesus be inviting you into deeper trust or obedience through that experience?

5. What is one thing you are taking away from this series to put into practice?