Matthew Bible Study: Jesus, the Kingdom, and a Life of Discipleship

A route from Jesus’ identity to his teaching and commission

Session 1 reads Matthew 1–2, including the genealogy, birth, visitors, danger, and journeys. Session 2 reads Matthew 5–7, the complete Sermon on the Mount. Session 3 reads Matthew 28, from the women’s visit to the tomb through the commission given by the risen Jesus.

The sessions differ in length. The sermon may need more than one sitting, and the opening chapters reward slow attention to their names and repeated fulfillment statements. Keep the three-session structure as a guide rather than a deadline that requires rushing through difficult material.

Use a notebook with three headings: what Matthew says about Jesus, how people respond, and what the passage calls a disciple to practice. Record a verse beside each observation. This keeps application connected to the text and makes it easier to distinguish a reported detail from something you have assumed.

The selections give a route through the Gospel; they do not replace the chapters between them. After finishing, continue through Matthew’s accounts of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection. The opening, sermon, and commission will become more substantial as you read their place within the whole narrative.

One thread to watch is presence. Matthew 1 explains Emmanuel as “God with us,” and Matthew 28 closes with Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples. Between those points, the sermon asks hearers to receive his teaching in a way that becomes action.

Session 1: a genealogy introduces a particular history

Read Matthew 1–2. The opening names Jesus Christ as son of David and son of Abraham (1:1). The genealogy then moves through generations, David’s kingship, the carrying away to Babylon, and the generations that follow. Jesus is introduced within this history rather than as a teacher without a people or a past.

Matthew 1:17 summarizes the genealogy in three groups of fourteen. The text draws attention to the pattern. We do not need to attach a hidden meaning to every number or claim that the list answers every possible question about ancestry in order to observe its stated structure.

The list includes named women and the reference to the woman who had been the wife of Uriah. It ends with Joseph described as Mary’s husband, followed by the statement that Jesus was born of her (1:16). Notice the change in wording instead of treating the list as a series of interchangeable lines.

The following birth account explains the significance of that wording. Before Mary and Joseph come together, she is found with child of the Holy Ghost (1:18). The angel’s message to Joseph confirms that the conception is of the Holy Ghost (1:20). Matthew places this claim directly before the reader.

For your notes, begin with what the genealogy explicitly names: Abraham, David, the exile, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus called Christ. Later study can follow individual figures in their own passages. Avoid giving every person an invented biography or treating the presence of a name as permission to make unsupported claims about that person’s motives.

The names and Joseph’s response explain the birth announcement

Joseph is described as just and unwilling to expose Mary publicly; he considers putting her away privately (1:19). The angel’s message comes while he is considering this. The account does not require us to invent a speech from Mary or a conversation Matthew has not recorded.

Joseph is told to receive Mary and name the child Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (1:20–21). The explanation connects the child’s name with his saving work. Matthew then quotes the promise of the virgin bearing a son and explains Emmanuel as “God with us” (1:22–23).

The two names belong together in this introduction: Jesus’ saving work and God’s presence are central to how the reader is invited to understand him. The narrative gives these meanings before describing any public teaching or miracle.

Joseph responds by doing what the angel commands. He takes Mary as his wife and gives the child the name Jesus (1:24–25). His obedience is concrete and particular. It is not simply a favorable feeling about the message.

For reflection, observe the sequence of consideration, instruction, and response. Joseph’s example can encourage careful obedience without giving us permission to label every private impression as an angel’s command. The text reports a specific revelation in the story; our applications should remain honest about what we actually know.

The search for the king exposes very different responses

Matthew 2 introduces wise men from the east seeking the one born King of the Jews. Herod is troubled and asks the chief priests and scribes where the Christ is to be born. They identify Bethlehem through the prophetic words quoted in the chapter (2:1–6).

The wise men continue, rejoice at the star, enter a house, see the child with Mary, worship, and offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh (2:9–11). Matthew names three kinds of gifts, but does not say that there are exactly three visitors or give their names. The scene should be taught from the details actually supplied.

Herod’s stated desire to worship is exposed by what follows. After the visitors are warned not to return to him, Joseph is told to take the child and his mother to Egypt because Herod seeks to destroy him (2:12–15). Their departure is an act of protection in response to the warning.

Herod then orders the killing of the young children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area within the age range he has determined (2:16). Matthew gives a lament through the words about Rachel weeping (2:17–18). Do not hurry past that grief as if the safe departure of Jesus means no one else suffers in the story.

After Herod’s death, further instruction brings the family back; concern about Archelaus and another warning lead Joseph toward Galilee and Nazareth (2:19–23). The narrative holds fulfillment, danger, protective action, and sorrow together. It does not describe a promise that all faithful households will avoid every loss.

Read fulfillment within the events Matthew narrates

Both opening chapters use fulfillment language. The birth, Bethlehem, departure from Egypt, lament, and settlement in Nazareth are connected with prophetic speech in Matthew’s telling. Those statements are part of the way the Gospel interprets Jesus’ story.

Read each alongside the event to which Matthew attaches it. The statement about the child coming out of Egypt belongs to the journey in 2:13–15; the words of mourning belong beside the violence in 2:16–18. A list of quotations without their narrative settings would lose much of their force.

Matthew 2:23 refers to what was spoken by the prophets without naming one prophet in that sentence. A reader should not supply a supposedly exact quotation source from memory and present it as something the verse identifies. Where the account gives less specificity, careful study can acknowledge the limit.

Finish the first session by comparing the responses of Joseph, the visitors, and Herod. Each responds to news concerning the child, yet their actions differ profoundly. The question for a reader is not only whether one can identify an important text, but how hearing it directs conduct.

Choose one observation about Jesus’ identity and one about a human response. Keep both for the later sessions. The sermon will make the relationship between hearing and doing explicit, and the closing commission will call disciples to teach observance of what Jesus commands.

Session 2: the blessings challenge ordinary measures of success

Read Matthew 5–7 as one sermon. Jesus goes up the mountain, sits, and teaches as his disciples come to him, with the crowds also present in the account (5:1–2; 7:28–29). The opening blessings describe people in relation to the kingdom of heaven and the promises of God.

The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those hungry for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for righteousness are named (5:3–10). The list does not make visible comfort or public status the measure of blessedness.

The blessings should not be used to romanticize harm. Mourning is met with a promise of comfort; persecution for righteousness is recognized as costly. Jesus does not tell the hearer to manufacture suffering in order to qualify for a blessing.

Verses 11–12 specify reproach, persecution, and false accusations for Jesus’ sake. That qualification matters. Every criticism a person receives is not automatically persecution for righteousness, and an honest correction is not made false merely because it is painful to hear.

For reflection, choose one blessing and ask what it reveals about the kingdom. If you choose mercy, name an act of mercy. If you choose peacemaking, consider what truth and responsibility are needed for peace rather than merely the absence of disagreement. Let the promise shape an attentive response.

Light and righteousness become visible in conduct

Jesus calls the hearers salt and light, then tells them to let their light shine so that people see good works and glorify their Father (5:13–16). The purpose is not admiration for the performer. The visible good directs attention toward the Father.

He then says that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets and speaks seriously about doing and teaching the commandments (5:17–20). The sermon should not be introduced as if Jesus simply dismisses Israel’s Scriptures or treats obedience as irrelevant.

The next teaching moves from the prohibition of murder into anger, contemptuous speech, judgment, and reconciliation (5:21–26). If someone bringing a gift remembers that a brother has something against him, he is to seek reconciliation and then return to offer the gift. Worship and responsibility toward another person belong together.

That order does not make the offering worthless. Jesus says to return and offer it. The teaching addresses the contradiction of approaching worship while refusing to attend to a relationship in which one bears responsibility.

For application, identify a wrong you can truthfully acknowledge. Seeking reconciliation may begin with listening, correcting a claim, or making an appropriate repair. You cannot compel another person to trust immediately, and the desire for peace should not become pressure on them to conceal what happened.

The sermon presses into desire, fidelity, speech, and retaliation

Matthew 5:27–30 addresses adultery and the desire cultivated in the heart. The forceful language about eye and hand emphasizes the seriousness of dealing with what leads into sin. It should not be turned into an instruction to injure oneself. A faithful response concerns ending wrongful conduct and removing occasions for it responsibly.

Verses 31–32 speak about divorce and remarriage, naming an exception concerning sexual unfaithfulness. This difficult teaching should not disappear from a summary of the sermon. It takes marital fidelity seriously and should be approached with attention to the actual words, rather than a slogan used to shame someone whose circumstances have not been heard.

Verses 33–37 address oaths and truthful speech. Jesus directs the hearer toward a yes or no that is trustworthy. The application reaches ordinary promises and explanations: does your language tell the truth, or does it depend on dramatic assurances that conceal what is unreliable?

The teaching on retaliation and enemies follows (5:38–48). Jesus gives costly examples of response, commands love for enemies and prayer for persecutors, and points to the Father’s generosity in sun and rain. The concluding call to be perfect as the Father is perfect belongs within this demanding account of love.

These words should challenge revenge and narrow affection. They should not be used by a person doing harm to demand continued access to a victim. Seeking protection and truthful accountability can accompany a refusal to hate or retaliate. The application must be governed by the good Jesus commands, not the interests of someone seeking control.

Giving, prayer, and fasting are directed toward the Father

Matthew 6 begins with a warning about doing alms to be seen. The same concern appears in the instructions about prayer and fasting (6:1–18). Jesus addresses practices that can become performances for human approval.

He does not tell the hearers to stop giving, praying, or fasting. His language assumes these acts and redirects their purpose toward the Father who sees in secret. The defect is the pursuit of admiration through them, not the existence of a visible or embodied practice.

This also clarifies the earlier instruction to let light shine. In Matthew 5:16, the good works lead people to glorify the Father; in Matthew 6, the warning concerns acting to be praised oneself. The purpose of the action matters alongside its visibility.

The prayer in 6:9–13 begins with the Father’s name, kingdom, and will, then includes daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance. It gives bodily need a place in prayer and keeps dependence on God connected to the way forgiveness is practiced.

Verses 14–15 make forgiveness a serious matter. The teaching should move the hearer toward mercy without requiring a false claim that a wrong never occurred. Honest forgiveness and the work of rebuilding trust are related questions, and the passage should not become a tool for suppressing truthful accountability.

Treasure and anxiety reveal where life is directed

The sermon next addresses treasure, the eye, and serving God or mammon (6:19–24). The question is larger than whether one owns a particular object. Jesus asks where the heart is located and whom the person serves.

The following teaching concerns worry over food, drink, and clothing. Jesus points to birds and flowers and says that the Father knows the hearers’ needs (6:25–32). Those needs are acknowledged, not dismissed as too bodily to matter.

The command to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness appears within that teaching (6:33). It should not be converted into a guarantee that every desire will be fulfilled or that a faithful person will never face material difficulty. The paragraph directs the hearer toward the Father’s care and the priority of his kingdom.

Verse 34 returns attention to today and its trouble. The teaching does not require pretending that planning, work, or help from others is wrong. It challenges a life governed by tomorrow’s anxieties as though worrying could secure everything.

For reflection, name a current need and one faithful action available today. Bring the need into prayer, and consider whether someone can appropriately help. If you are able to help another person, the Father’s care should encourage generosity rather than become an excuse to tell them to manage their fear alone.

Self-examination does not make discernment unnecessary

Matthew 7 opens by warning against judging and by describing a person who notices a speck in another’s eye while ignoring a beam in their own (7:1–5). Jesus tells the hearer to address the beam first, so that they can see clearly to help with the speck.

The image confronts hypocrisy. It does not mean every action is beyond evaluation. Later in the same chapter, Jesus warns about false prophets and says they will be known by their fruits (7:15–20). The reader needs both humility about personal faults and care about what a teacher’s life produces.

The words about holy things and pearls in verse 6 also call for care in how something valuable is entrusted. They should not become a casual permission to label disliked people as animals. Read the warning with restraint and keep the chapter’s call to self-examination in view.

Verses 7–11 encourage asking, seeking, and knocking, with the Father’s goodness illustrated through parents giving food to children. The next verse calls for treating others as one would have them act toward oneself, naming this in relation to the law and the prophets (7:12).

These teachings belong together in a life of prayer and responsibility. Ask for what is needed, examine your own conduct, treat others with care, and assess teaching by its fruit. None of those actions requires claiming perfect knowledge of another person’s inner life.

The sermon ends by asking what hearing produces

The closing warnings concern the narrow way, false prophets, the difference between saying “Lord, Lord” and doing the Father’s will, and the danger of impressive claims without faithful conduct (7:13–23). The sermon does not let religious language substitute for the life it commands.

The final illustration compares two people who hear Jesus’ sayings. One hears and does them, building on rock; the other hears without doing, building on sand. Rain, floods, and wind strike both houses (7:24–27).

The difference is not that one house avoids every storm. The difference is the foundation associated with the response to Jesus’ words. That detail matters when applying the illustration to difficulty: faithfulness is not described as a guarantee that trouble never arrives.

The crowds are astonished because Jesus teaches with authority (7:28–29). The narrative’s conclusion joins the authority of the teacher with the responsibility of the hearer. Admiration for the sermon is not yet the same as practicing it.

End this session by choosing one instruction you have understood and need to act on. Write an action small enough to carry out and substantial enough to affect conduct. Then return to the text after doing it and ask what further attention it requires.

Session 3: the risen Jesus meets the women

Read Matthew 28. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb. The account describes an earthquake, the angel’s descent, the stone rolled back, and the guards’ fear (28:1–4). The angel tells the women that Jesus, who was crucified, has risen as he said (28:5–6).

The women are invited to see the place and instructed to tell the disciples that he goes before them into Galilee. They leave with fear and great joy and run to bring the message (28:7–8). Their response includes both emotion and action.

Jesus then meets them. They hold his feet and worship him, and he repeats the direction that his brothers go to Galilee (28:9–10). Matthew gives an encounter with the risen Jesus; the account is not limited to an empty place or a change in the women’s mood.

The following scene describes some guards reporting to the chief priests, consultation with the elders, and payment to spread a story that the disciples stole the body while the guards slept (28:11–15). Matthew presents a conflict of reports. The responsibility described belongs to the actors named in the account and should not be turned into blame against an entire people.

Compare the women’s commission with the instruction given to the guards. Both involve a report to others, but Matthew describes very different origins and purposes. Truthful witness matters to the chapter’s movement toward the final commission.

Authority, baptism, teaching, and presence form one commission

The eleven go to the appointed mountain in Galilee. They worship Jesus, while Matthew also records doubt among them (28:16–17). The commission is not introduced by pretending that every struggle of understanding has disappeared.

Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, then commands the work among all nations (28:18–19). The task proceeds from his authority. It is not an authorization for disciples to make their own ambitions absolute.

The commission includes baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teaching people to observe all that Jesus has commanded (28:19–20). Keep those actions together. Baptism is explicitly named, and teaching concerns observance rather than information alone.

The sermon provides substantial content for that observance: mercy, truthful speech, prayer, forgiveness, integrity, and hearing that becomes action. A ministry that gains attention while disregarding those instructions would not satisfy the commission merely by quoting it.

Jesus ends with the promise of his presence always, to the end of the age. This recalls the opening explanation of Emmanuel as God with us without making the two statements identical scenes. The task of discipleship is accompanied by the one whose identity and teaching the Gospel has unfolded.

Christ connection: the saving teacher is the risen Lord

Matthew introduces Jesus as the Christ, the son of David and Abraham, and the one who saves his people from sins. The sermon presents him teaching with authority and calling hearers to do his words. The closing chapter shows him risen, receiving worship, commissioning disciples, and promising his presence. These readings belong to one account of his identity and work. Following Jesus includes receiving his teaching, practicing what he commands, and participating faithfully in the work he gives his disciples.

Bring identity, teaching, and mission into one response

Review your notes under the three headings. Choose one statement about Jesus from the opening, one teaching from the sermon, and one part of the resurrection commission. Write a paragraph explaining how they belong together without treating any one of them as optional background.

Then choose one practical response. You might correct a misleading statement, give quietly, pray with attention to daily needs and forgiveness, seek an appropriate repair in a relationship, or help another person read and practice a passage. Let the action arise from what you have actually studied.

If you teach this plan to others, make room for questions that remain unresolved. The passages include difficult commands and painful events. Careful teaching can state the clear claim, acknowledge the question, and return to the text without pretending that a short answer settles every circumstance.

You might pray: “Jesus, help me hear your words and do them. Teach me to seek the Father’s kingdom, speak truthfully, practice mercy, and receive your presence with trust. Give me patience to learn and care for the people I may help to learn.” This is an original suggested prayer of response.

Continue with the chapters between these selections. The Gospel will deepen the picture of the one who teaches, suffers, rises, and sends. Carry the sermon’s final question with you: what will hearing these words produce in the way you live?

Sources and editorial note

• Matthew 1

  Genealogy, conception by the Holy Ghost, Joseph’s response, and the names Jesus and Emmanuel.

• Matthew 2

  Wise men, Herod, warnings, flight to Egypt, lament, return, and Nazareth.

• Matthew 5

  Blessings, salt and light, fulfillment, righteousness, reconciliation, fidelity, speech, and enemy love.

• Matthew 6

  Giving, prayer, fasting, treasure, service, daily needs, and seeking the kingdom.

• Matthew 7

  Self-examination, discernment, prayer, fruit, faithful conduct, and the two builders.

• Matthew 28

  Resurrection witnesses, competing reports, authority, baptism, teaching observance, and promised presence.

Prepared with AI assistance for Learn of Christ and checked against the passages and sources listed here. This revision has not received independent human scholarly review. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version unless another translation is named. Prayers and exercises are original examples.

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