I think what keeps me coming back to these chapters in Matthew (5 - 7) is that the teaching relates to our everyday lives in such simple and practical ways. I don't mean to suggest the things Jesus taught in those chapters are easy for us to live up to. Far from it. But it seems to me to be a pretty clear statement of what a Christ follower looks like. i.e. what our attitudes and actions are supposed to be if we call ourselves Christians. Jesus said, you want to be a follower of mine? Here's what that looks like.
I've been reading and studying and teaching from the Bible for a long time, and I think I am reasonably intelligent, but I am a long way from being a theologian. In fact to be honest I sometimes lose patience with theological hair splitting and endless discussions about things we will never have a definitive answer for. I think sometimes we have to just come to the point of saying "if God thought we needed a definitive answer on that issue, He would have told us more clearly". Sure, we can speculate and express different interpretations, as long as it doesn't lead to arguments or division or dogmatic stands that are based only on opinion.
That can certainly happen with any scripture, including the sermon on the mount. If we are prone to parsing words and dissecting expressions in an attempt to discover some hidden "truth", there is as much fodder in Mathew 5 and 6 as anywhere else, I suppose.
I prefer to take a more simple view of what Jesus taught. When he said don't hold on to anger and grudges, he meant don't hold on to anger and grudges. When he said love your enemies, he meant love your enemies. When he said to invest in heavenly priorities instead of earthly treasures, that's what he meant. When he said trust God and don't worry, well... you get the point.
When Jesus sat on the hillside and began to teach, he knew he had an audience of common people oppressed by the Pharisees, confused about what God really wanted, and feeling hopeless about their ability to measure up. Jesus taught them in a way they hadn't experienced before. He told them it really starts in the heart. If your heart is right then you will do the things that are pleasing to God. And you will treat other people the way God wants you to treat them. It's very similar to his teaching about the greatest commandment, the clear implication being that if you love God will all your heart you will do the things that please him, and there won't really be a need for a rule book.
The sermon on the mount is not a new set of rules. It's Jesus revealing to us what's in his own heart when it comes to priorities, relationships with people, and relationship with God. It's an invitation to look like Jesus in all these things, to truly be a Christ follower.
Many things about the Bible are complex and that doesn't mean we should ignore them. We should do our best to understand what God is trying to teach us in all these things, provided we don't fight with others who honestly come to different conclusions than ours. But I really like that Jesus sat down one day with a bunch of ordinary folk and in effect said "here's where the rubber meets the road. Let me give you a glimpse of what's in my heart. Let me change your heart so it's like mine, and then it will be natural for your life to be pleasing to God."
I'm still going to read the rest of scripture and do my best to come to a right understanding. I'm still going to read and listen to the opinions of people who are more learned or have insights I haven't thought of. I'm still going to do my best to correctly handle the word of truth and be a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed. (2 Timothy 2:15) But when I am looking for guidance on what kind of action or attitude is pleasing to God, I can't find anything better than the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount. I know of no better source of instruction for my every day life.
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