Sermon on the Mount: Intro

WHAT IS IT THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT?

The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best known part of the teaching of Jesus, and certainly the least obeyed. It is His own description of what He wanted His followers to be and to do. It is a study in blessings (beatitudes) of His Kingdom.

The essential theme of the whole Bible is that God’s historical purposes to call out a people for Himself, that is a holy people, set apart from the world to belong to Him and to live in obedience to Him. They are to be “holy” or “different” in both outlook and behavior.

This is how God put it to the people of Israel soon after He had rescued them from Egyptian slavery and made them His special people by covenant.

Leviticus 18:1-4: “…I am the Lord your God. After the doings of land of Egypt, where you dwelt … shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do. Neither shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall do my judgments and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.”

Throughout the centuries that followed, the people of Israel kept forgetting how unique they were as a people of God so God kept sending them His prophets to remind them who they were and to plead with them to follow His way.

Jeremiah 10:1: “Learn not the way of the heathen…”

God’s people would not listen to His voice and this is the very reason His judgment fell on Israel and then 150 years later on Judea.

This is essential understanding of the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is found in the gospel of Matthew as Jesus begins His ministry. Immediately after His baptism, and temptation, He began to announce the good news that the Kingdom of God, long promised in the Old Testament, was now here. He Himself had come to implement it.

The Sermon on the Mount portrays the repentance and the righteousness which belong to the Kingdom. It describes what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God. 

What do they look like?

They look different. Jesus emphasizes that His true followers, the citizens of the Kingdom were to be entirely different from others. The key text of the Sermon is found in Matthew 6:8: “Be not ye like unto them…”. They were to shine like lights in the spiritual darkness of their time and this one lesson travels down through time to us today as this command has never changed.

In the beginning of the Sermon (Matthew 5:1-2), Jesus goes up on a mountain with His disciples also with Him, and He began to teach. We must see clearly the lesson we are given before a single word is spoken. He went up on a mountain to show a parallel between Himself and Moses. Moses received the Law on a mountain at Sinai and Jesus would explain it on a mountain near Galilee. Jesus was greater than Moses and He gave this message that was more gospel than rules. He had chosen 12 disciples who were with Him to parallel the 12 tribes that were with Moses.

Is the Sermon still relevant today?

To answer this question we must study carefully its contents. It shows the behavior which Jesus expected of each of His own who, by following Him are then a citizen of God’s Kingdom. We see Him in His heart, motives, and thoughts. We also see His merciful instructions of intended devotion for those who He claims as His. Here are the ways we will study to learn the relevance of this Sermon in our time.

A Christian’s character: (Matthew 5:3-12). The beatitudes (blessings) focus on eight marks of Christian character and conduct in relation to God and man. These are divine blessings which rest on those who show these marks.

A Christian’s influence: (Matthew 5:13-16). The examples of salt and light show the influence for good that Christians will bring to their communities if (and only if) they keep their special character as taught in these beatitudes.

A Christian’s righteousness: (Matthew 5:17-48). The greatness of God’s Kingdom is determined by the conformity to the moral teaching of Jesus and that entry into that Kingdom was impossible without a righteousness that was greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees. He gave six lessons to illustrate this point. They are lessons on murder, adultery, divorce, swearing, revenge, and love.

A Christian’s devotion: (Matthew 6:1-18). In their religious devotion Christians are not to resemble the hypocrisy of the Pharisees or the improper devotion of pagans to other gods. Christian devotion is to be marked by the sincerity of God’s children who actually live in the presence of God. The proof of this matter will come later in the giving of the Holy Spirit to each child of God.

A Christian’s ambition: (Matthew 6:19-34). We are to differ from non believers not only in our devotions but also in our ambitions. Christ changes our attitudes concerning material wealth and possessions. Christians are to be free from self centered anxiety and instead should give themselves to the idea of increasing the Kingdom by both our lifestyle and our witness to others. We are to “seek first” the Kingdom, and then all other things will be added to us.

A Christian’s relationships: (Matthew 7:1-20). Believers are caught up in a network of relationships each of which comes from our relation to Christ. New relationships are found and old relationships are changed. In all these relationships we are not to judge others but to serve them. We are not to insist upon the gospel by those we meet who reject it (verse 6) but to keep praying for a change of that heart. We are to beware of false prophets who hinder people from finding the narrow gate.

A Christian’s commitment: (Matthew 7:21-27). The ultimate issue posed to us by the entire Sermon concerns the authority of the preacher who brings it. It is not enough to call Him “Lord” (21-23) or to listen to His teaching (24-27). The basic question whether we mean what we say and do what we hear. The issue of the Lordship of Christ is as relevant today as it was in the day these words were spoken.

The standards of the Sermon are not easily attained by every man nor are they totally able to be attained by any man. The means by which we enter into the journey to obedience is only the new birth which Jesus told Nicodemus was the purest condition of entering the Kingdom (John 3:3). The righteousness taught to us in this complete Sermon is inner righteousness. By focusing our lives on these standards we give evidence of what God’s free grace gifted to us has accomplished. Remember that it is only by the change in what we ARE that brings the needed change in what we DO.

Sermon on the Mount: Consideration

CONSIDER BEFORE BEGINNING

Matthew’s Gospel breaks the long silence which followed the ministry of Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets. The silence extended for four hundred years, and during that time God was withdrawn from Israel.

There were no angels visiting until Gabriel announced the coming of Jesus and John. No prophet spoke from the mind of Jehovah. No divine interruptions of the silence appeared. For four centuries God shut away further written words from His chosen people. But there was always a believing remnant patiently waiting for the promised One. The first purpose of Matthew is to present Christ as the FULFILLER of the promises made to Israel and all of the prophecies that came before. This is why the word “fulfilled” is found in Matthew 15 times and why there are more quotations in Matthew from the Old Testament than in the other three Gospels combined.

The position of Matthew in the Holy Word indicates its character and scope. It is the link between the Old and the New. It is a connecting transition and the opening sentence gives the key to its contents, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” David relates to the throne and Abraham relates to the altar of sacrifice.

Even in His beginning Christ is outside of Jerusalem. There is blindness and indifference from the Jews, even though angelic hosts have fully announced His arrival. Wise men who were from a far country came with a heart for the Savior and no Jews joined them in their seeking Him and worshipping Him. The head of the civil government quickly desired to put Him to death, foretelling His crucifixion arranged by His own, who received Him not.

The ministry of Jesus had first a special application to the afflicted people of God who were in such pitiful need, both physically and spiritually. Second, it had a pointed application to His disciples who would carry on after He ascended. Third it was pointed even toward the gentiles who were considered unqualified to be close to Jehovah God by the Jews. The Sermon is initially proven to do exactly this and it first addresses those afflicted in their souls.

Then (and only then) does the Sermon address the spirituality of the Law, and it refutes the false teaching of the elders of Israel so that all could know that all are welcomed into the Kingdom. This Sermon is a new understanding, a new teaching of that which had been long corrupted by the Temple masters.

Sermon on the Mount: Table of Contents

CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE BEGINNING

THE SERMON – WHAT IS IT?

Blessing Matthew Topic

1 5:3-12 Christian Character

2 5:13-16 Christian Influence

3 5:17-20 Christian Righteousness

4 5:21-30 Christian Righteousness 

(Avoiding Anger & Lust)

5 5:31-37 Christian Righteousness

(Fidelity in Marriage / Honesty in Speech)

6 5:38-48 Christian Righteousness

(Non-Retaliation / Active Love)

7 6:1-6/16-18 Christian Religion

(Reality Not Hypocrisy)

8 6:7-15 Thoughtful Christian Prayer

9 6:19-34 Christian Ambition

10 7:1-12 Christian Relationships

11 7:13-20 Christian Relationships (False Prophets)

12 7:21-27 Christian Commitment (A Radical Choice)

Conclusion 7:28-29 WHO DO WE SAY HE IS?

Sermon on the Mount: 1st Blessing

MATTHEW 5:3-12

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

Before considering the beatitudes separately, we should review three general questions about those Jesus addresses. These are the people addressed, the qualities noted, and the blessings promised.

THE PEOPLE DESCRIBED:

The beatitudes set forth the character of the Christian people. These are not eight separate groups of believers, some of whom are meek, while others are merciful, and others are called to endure persecution. These are eight qualities of the same group who at the same time are meek and merciful, poor in spirit and pure in heart, mourning and hungry, peacemakers and persecuted.

These are Christ’s own specifications of what every Christian ought to be. All the qualities are to characterize all His followers. There is no escape in our responsibility to covet them all.

THE QUALITIES NOTED:

The qualities are meant to be in the spiritual state of believers. Poverty and hunger mentioned are meant to describe the spirit, not the body. It is the poor in spirit and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness whom He declares blessed.

THE BLESSINGS PROMISED:

These beatitudes constitute Jesus’ theory of happiness. These are not so much ethical duties as a series of several emotional attitudes. It is through obeying His own moral laws that we find we best fulfill ourselves. There still remains a close connection between holiness and happiness.

What is this blessing? The second half of each teaches it. These people possess the kingdom of heaven and they inherit the earth. Mourners are comforted and the hungry are satisfied. They receive mercy and they see God. They are called the sons of God. All these blessings belong together and are to be considered together just as the qualities belong together. These are the privileges of being a citizen of eternity in God’s glory.

The promises have both a present and future fulfillment. We enjoy the first fruits now and the full harvest is yet to come.

There are two purposes here. First, the Sermon shows the non believer that he cannot please God by himself (any more than he can fully obey the Law), so he must come to Christ to be justified. Second the Sermon shows the believer how he is to please the Lord.

THE POOR IN SPIRIT

To be poor in spirit is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, actually our spiritual bankruptcy before God. We are depraved sinners under the holy wrath of God, deserving nothing but His judgment. To those who understand this factor, and are willing to confess it, God’s free gift of salvation is given. Our best teaching on this matter is the letter to the church at Laodicea who were self satisfied and professing they were rich while Jesus told them they were blind and naked beggars who would not admit the truth. They were poor, not rich, in spirit.

THOSE WHO MOURN

This is the second stage of spiritual blessing. It is one thing to be spiritually poor and acknowledge it; it is another thing to grieve and mourn over it. Confession is one thing while contrition is surely another. Such mourners will be comforted by the only comfort that can remove their distress, which is the free forgiveness of God. The greatest of all comfort is the debt paid for the contrite mourning sinner.

THE MEEK

It is likely important that the blessing to the meek comes after those who mourn over sin and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Meekness is basically a true view of oneself, expressed in attitude and conduct with respect to others. This expectation is that one will be gentle, humble, sensitive, and patient with all dealings with others. These meek people Jesus says, will inherit the earth. The condition on which we enter our spiritual inheritance is not in might but in meekness.

Let us not forget Numbers 12:3 which says (“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”) Meek is not weak.

THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

The hungry and thirsty that God satisfies are those who seek hungrily after righteousness and this should be a constant characteristic of God’s people, whose supreme ambition is not material but spiritual things. In the Bible righteousness has at least three meanings. Legal righteousness is justification, a right relation with God. Moral righteousness is that righteousness of conduct and character which pleases God. Social righteousness, taught by the Law and the prophets, is concerned with seeking man’s liberty from the oppression of sin which seems to rule the world of which Satan is prince.

What is the use of confessing our sin, of acknowledging the truth about ourselves to both God and men, if we leave it there? Confession of sin must lead us to hunger for righteousness.

THE MERCIFUL

Mercy is compassion toward people in need. Jesus does not specify the categories of people He has in mind to whom His followers are to extend mercy. There was no need for Him to elaborate. Our God is a merciful God and shows mercy continuously and the citizens of His kingdom must also show mercy. To be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners; to be merciful is to have compassion for others, for they are sinners too.

THE PURE IN HEART

Pure of heart means an expression of inward purity. Jesus remained in constant conflict with the Pharisees and strongly said that they were obsessed with outward and ceremonial purity but inside were full of dead men’s bones, which meant they were unclean, a difficult insult to them but fully truthful. The whole Sermon on the Mount requires heart righteousness rather than rule righteousness. Only the pure in heart will see God. We see Him now with an eye of faith but will indeed see Him literally face to face when we are called to Him, either by mortal death or by rapture.

THE PEACEMAKERS

According to this blessing, every Christian is meant to be a peacemaker, both in community and in church. Peacemaking is a divine work. The peace of God is not peace at any price or at a small price. He made peace with us at enormous cost, the price of the blood of His only begotten Son. We also, in a much lesser way, will find peacemaking costly. To bring God’s peace we must be willing to invest our time, our talents, and our treasure. This commanded road is bumpy to the spirit and there have not yet been found shortcuts to obedience.

THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE

How did Jesus expect His followers to react under persecution? He says rejoice and be glad. Why should we wish to obey? Because our reward is great in heaven. We have the excellent example of the Apostles who were beaten for preaching in His name and said they were rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for His name. Following Him as a true disciple (not simply a church member) means allegiance to the suffering Christ so it is not surprising that we may be called toward that difficult road. It is a joy and a token of His grace when we find ourselves walking that road, even if it is a lonely journey.

We see in our first blessing a comprehensive picture of what a Christian should be. He first should be a lonely seeker, on his knees, admitting his own spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes him meek and gentle and far from giving in to his sinfulness, he is to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and longing to grow in grace and goodness.

Such a man who is so willing finds the approval of God.

God calls the humble and chastens the proud, assigning greatness to those who seek only to be a servant and He declares the meek to be His heirs. Jesus congratulates those whom the world rejects and He calls these rejects “blessed”.

Sermon on the Mount: 2nd Blessing

MATTHEW 5:13-16

CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE

If the beatitudes describe the essential character of the followers of Jesus, the salt and light metaphors indicate their influence for good in the world.

Are such people too feeble or too few to truly achieve anything?

Jesus did not share this skepticism. It seems clear that He is teaching that our only retaliation is to be love and truth given for hatred and lies. To define the nature of their influence, Jesus used two domestic metaphors. Every home, no matter how poor, used and still uses both salt and light. These are indispensable household commodities. The need for light is obvious. Salt, on the other hand, has a variety of uses. It is both a condiment and a preservative. So here Jesus is saying that there is the world and then there is you. You are the world’s salt and light.

In each case Jesus makes a case for both the need and a caution to be understood. He adds a rider to each metaphor which is the salt must retain its saltiness and is good for nothing if that is lost. Light is good for nothing if it is concealed.

THE SALT OF THE EARTH

God intends the most powerful of all restraints within sinful society to be His own redeemed and righteous made people. The effectiveness of the salt is conditional for it must retain its saltness to be useable and effective. Strictly speaking salt normally does not lose its flavor but the metaphor is strong and thought provoking.

If Christians become absorbed into the world and contaminated by the impurities of the world, they lose their flavor and become no longer effective in the mission they carry. The influence that Christians carry is dependent on their being separate, distinct, and not identical to those who are not inside the body of Christ.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Jesus would later teach in John 8:12 & 9:5 the He is the light of the world. But by belonging to Him we reflect His light and any light we display is derived from Him only. Since light is a common biblical symbol of truth, a Christian’s shining light must also contain his spoken testimony. An OT teaching found in Isaiah 42 & 49 indicates that God’s servant sent would be a “light unto the nations” and this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus but is further fulfilled in those who are His continuing to shine His light wherever they may go, bearing witness to Him.

Just as with the salt, the light metaphor carries a caution as well. Our light cannot be concealed. We are not to pretend we are anything other than His own followers and we must remain willing to stand apart from the world but to still shine the light we gained from Him toward all who are not His. To properly follow the commands of the beatitudes, we can find no shame in our obedience.

Our lessons in these blessings are serious and have much to teach us about our responsibilities in the world. Our lessons are: 

There is a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians, between the church and the world. This theme is basic to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is built on the assumption that Christians ARE different, and a call is issued to us to BE different.

We must accept the responsibility which this distinction places upon us. We are not helpless or powerless. We have Jesus Christ as ours and His gospel, ideals, and power so that we may forever let our light shine.

What does it mean in practice to be obedient to these privileges granted within these blessings? We Christians must be more courageous and more outspoken in condemning evil wherever it may be found. After having done so, we must take our stand boldly for what is true and decent wherever we are, in our community, our business, our friendships, and most importantly our church.

The beatitudes set an extremely high standard which is exacting for each of us but in these blessings we are assured that Jesus expects us to strive toward this standard as we follow Him. This will be the best way we can serve the world and we must not forget that Jesus told His disciples on the last night in the upper room that those who wish to be great in His kingdom must be a servant.

Sermon on the Mount: 3rd Blessing

MATTHEW 5:17-20 

CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS 

 So far Jesus has spoken of a Christian’s character and of his influence in the world if he displays this character and if the fruit of that display is good works. He now proceeds to define further these things in terms of righteousness. He explains that He has already mentioned righteousness twice in that His followers hunger after it and suffer because of it. Now He teaches that the righteousness is a conformity to God’s moral law and it exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees. The good works are works of obedience. 

This teaching is of prime importance because it brings light on the relation of the Old Testament to the New Testament, and between the Law and the Gospel. This teaching is divided into two parts. First we are taught the matter of Christ and the Law and second we are taught the matter of the Christian and the Law. 

CHRIST AND THE LAW 

Jesus begins by teaching that He has not come to abolish the Law and the prophets, which would be the Old Testament or any part of it. 

From the very beginning of His ministry people had been struck by His authority. People asked “what is this” and noted that “even the unclean spirits obey Him”. So it would have been natural for them to ask what is His actual relation to the law of Moses and His authority. From the start of His earthly ministry Jesus spoke with His own authority. Here Jesus gives the answer to this matter that was evident in His day and is commonly asked in our day. 

The OT contains teaching of doctrine, normally translated as “law”. This means revealed instruction and the OT does indeed reveal and instruct us about God and man. But it allowed only a partial revelation. Jesus fulfilled it by bringing it to completion in His person, His teaching, and His work. 

The OT also contains prophecy, most of it looking forward to the Messiah to come. It foretells Him in actual promise and also in type. His very words here, “I have come” reveal the truth that He had come to fulfill scripture, not to abolish it. The ultimate end to this truth was the cross in which the entire ceremonial system of the OT, both in priesthood and sacrifice, was perfectly filled. After Him both systems ended. 

The OT also contains ethical teaching of the moral Law of God. Jesus fulfilled all of this teaching by His perfect obedience to these teachings. His purpose was not to change the Law, but to reveal the full depth of its meaning. He fulfills it by declaring the radical demands of the righteousness of God. For the rest of the Sermon He stresses this matter by using many examples. 

The apostle Paul understood this matter clearly as taught that Christ was the “end of the Law” (Romans 10:4) meaning that acceptance with God is not through obedience to rules but is found only through faith in Christ. 

THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW 

Jesus now goes even further in His teaching. Not only is greatness in the kingdom noted by a righteousness which conforms to the Law, but entry into the kingdom is impossible without a conformity better than the scribes and Pharisees, for God’s kingdom is one of righteousness. 

Christian righteousness far exceeds Pharisee righteousness in kind rather than in degree. It is so because it is deeper, being a righteousness of the heart. The Pharisees thought an external conformity to rules would be righteousness enough. Jesus most clearly taught that this belief was insufficient. 

Now this deep obedience, which is a righteousness of the heart, is possible only in those whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated and now indwells. This is why entry into God’s kingdom is impossible without a righteousness greater (deeper) that that of the Pharisees. It is because such righteousness is evidence of a new birth, and no one enters the kingdom without being born again (John 3:3). 

Further, Jesus says all promises must be kept and all people must be loved, without exception. The Pharisees had obscured and distorted the Law of God to suit their own position, twisting the Law to put a heavy yoke around the necks of the people. Jesus has restored the Law to its original integrity. In this matter, Christians must follow Christ, not the Pharisees. 

Jesus never disagreed with the understanding that the Pharisees believed in the authority of the Law. What He disagreed with was their interpretation of it. In the strongest possible way, Jesus asserted its authority as God’s written calling to His people and now, through His Messiah, God was calling His own to accept its true and far deeper interpretation. This acceptance is only seen through faith in the One who was sent by the Father to fulfill it. 

Sermon on the Mount: 4th Blessing

MATTHEW 5:21-30

CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS (AVOIDING ANGER & LUST)

The first two illustrations Jesus gave of His Sermon theme (He was deepening, not destroying the demands of the Law) relate to the 6th and 7th commandments, which are the prohibitions against murder and adultery.

AVOIDING ANGER

The commandment “thou shalt not kill” would be better expressed as “thou shalt not murder” if the original Hebrew was literally translated. This command is not a prohibition against the taking of any human life in all circumstances, but rather against actual murder. War and the death penalty have long been questioned as to where God stands on these matters. The Lord gave us numerous instances in His Law which require the death penalty. The Lord was specific that His chosen people were to war against the pagan nations in the promised land and were to “utterly destroy” them, including children and animals.

The scribes and Pharisees were evidently seeking to restrict the compliance to the 6th command to be only seen as the physical act of murder itself (the actual killing). If the people refrained from this they were said to be in obedience to this command. Jesus disagreed. He said the true application of this command was much wider and it included thoughts and words as well as deeds, anger and insult as well as homicide.

Anger is quickly mentioned as Jesus speaks of everyone who is angry with their brother. Not all anger is evil, as it is found in the wrath of God, which is always holy and pure. Even fallen human beings may feel righteous anger. Insults are also mentioned as evidence of falling short of God’s standard.

These things may not lead one to the actual act of murder but the teaching is that they are part of the act in the sight of God. John later writes in John 3:15 that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Evil wish is a breach of the 6th command before the bar in the courtroom of heaven. If anger and insults are so very dangerous, then we should avoid them at all costs for Jesus is quite clear that not avoiding these things are liabilities toward hell.

Every deed, word, look, or thought by which we harm or offend another human being are open doors of evil. If we want to avoid doing murder in the sight of God we must take all possible steps to live in peace and love with all men.

AVOIDING LUST

Jesus now turns from the 6th commandment to the 7th, which is the prohibition against adultery.

The rabbis were teaching that as long as the people did not enter into the actual physical act of sexual immorality then they were in compliance of the 7th command. (Remember the adulterous woman brought to Jesus whom the men said was caught in the act itself). So the definition of the 7th command was made very narrow and purity was given a wide definition. Once more Jesus disagreed and He made clear that we can commit adultery in our hearts and our minds. Verse 28 cannot be interpreted any other way.

This teaching refers to unlawful sex outside marriage whether practiced by married or unmarried people. He is not forbidding a man to look on a woman but is clear that a man may not look upon a woman lustfully. His emphasis is that any and every sexual practice which is immoral in deed is also immoral in look and thought.

Jesus’ teaching here is directly contrary to all the earlier Pharisee teaching on this matter. Even in modern times many Christians seems to say that He means lustful looks cause a person to commit adultery in the mind. That is not what Jesus said. The look does not cause the adultery. By the time the lustful look happens, the adultery has “already been committed” in the heart. The lustful looking is the wicked fruit of a heart that is already immoral and adulterous. 

Now Jesus gives His powerful admonition to these areas that create unrighteousness (meaning disobedience to the deeper meanings of these two commands). If your eye causes sin, pluck it out. If your hand leads you astray, cut it off. These are dramatic figures of speech meant to give power to the importance of the teaching. Jesus is not teaching mutilation but rather mortification. He wishes not self-maiming of the body but rather teaches us to make these sinful activities die in us and to “take up our cross daily” and follow Him.

What is necessary is for each of us to place internal guards to warn us when these temptations arrive and to sound the alarm at their approach.

Jesus was clear that it is better to forego some experiences this life has to offer in order to enter the next life with more rewards for obedience. It is better to accept some personal lifestyle amputations than to risk damaging our fellowship with the Lord. Our decision is whether to live for this world or the next. 

Jesus is beginning His delivery of the roadmap to guide our decisions.

Sermon on the Mount: 5th Blessing

MATTHEW 5:31-37

CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS 

(FIDELITY IN MARRIAGE AND HONESTY IN SPEECH)

In certain circumstance, Jesus now says, remarriage by or to a divorced person is to be considered adultery. This teaching is one of fidelity in marriage.

Divorce is a controversial subject and complex as well, even today. It touches people’s emotion on a deep level. In the time of this teaching, Pharisees had taught that the “putting away” of a wife was allowed in numerous circumstances. This question came to Jesus and His reply was strongly against their teaching and lax understanding of God’s intentions on the subject.

FIDELITY IN MARRIAGE

Verses 31-32 begin His explanation which is given in more detail in Matthew 19. It is noted that the question raised by the rabbis was “…Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause…?” Jesus gave His reply in three parts.

The Pharisees were preoccupied with the grounds for divorce but Jesus was more focused upon the institution of marriage. Jesus directed them back to Genesis to recall that God intended marriage to be a joining of a wife and husband to be permanent. He reminded them that the two had become one flesh and God had made them so therefore man should not divide (put asunder) what God had joined.

The Pharisees called the provision Moses made for divorce a “command” while Jesus said it was a concession to the hardness of human hearts. Reading Deut 24:1-4 carefully shows a long list of conditional reasons that divorce may be allowed. Jesus reminds them that in the beginning it was not so but that a concession had been made by Moses but such concession was not a command and it was based upon the hardness of heart from the Hebrew men of that day.

The Pharisees took the matter of divorce lightly. Jesus took it very seriously and with only one exception, He called all remarriage after divorce adultery. This one exception was fornication. Jesus teaches that if one married after divorce then one was entering into a forbidden and adulterous relationship. While a person might obtain a divorce in the eye of human law, that person was not divorced in the eye of God, unless fornication was involved. This was the only allowable reason to violate the 7th commandment.

HONESTY IN SPEECH

If the rabbis tended to be permissive in their attitude toward divorce, they were permissive also in the matter of teaching about oath taking.

They taught that the speech prohibited was false swearing meaning misuse of the divine name of God in a profane way. They constructed elaborate rules for the taking of vows. Basically they were teaching that one need not be particular about keeping vows in which the divine name had not been used.

Jesus again begins His teaching with the words “… but I say to you…” and teaches that the wording of a vow is irrelevant. A vow is binding regardless of which words were included. The real implication of the Law is that we must keep our promises and be people of our word and if we do so, vows then become unnecessary. His teaching is very simple but profound. He says there is no need to swear at all, but we should simply let our speech rest on “yes” or “no”.

The modern application of this teaching is timeless. Swearing (oath taking) is really a pathetic confession of our own dishonesty. The only reason to swear an oath is that we know our own words are not likely to be trusted. So we try to induce people to believe us by adding some solemn oath to what we say. 

Christians should say what they mean and mean what they say. Our word should be our bond.

Sermon on the Mount: 6th Blessing

MATTHEW 5:38-48

CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS

(NON RETALIATION AND ACTIVE LOVE)

The final two contrast teachings bring us to the highest point of the Sermon, which is the attitude of total love which Christ calls us to show toward one who is evil (verse 39) and our enemies (verse 44). Nowhere is the challenge of the Sermon greater. Nowhere is the power of the Holy Spirit (whose first fruit is love) more important.

PASSIVE NON RETALIATION

These verses (38-42) come directly from the oral teaching of the rabbis which Jesus quotes straight out of the Law of Moses. The Law was a civil as well as moral code.

It is almost certain that in the time of Jesus literal retaliation for damage had been replaced by Jewish legal practice of money damage to offset harm done by others. But the Pharisees extended this principal of just retribution from the law courts (where it did belong) to the area of personal relationships (where it did not belong). They tried to use it to justify personal revenge, even though the Law forbid such action. Leviticus 9:18 is clear that there be no vengeance or grudge against your own people.

In His reply, Jesus did not contradict the principle of retribution, for it is a true and just principle. What He affirmed was that this principle was proper in courts but not proper inside personal relations. In verse 39 we see the teaching of non retaliation. This teaching was not an invitation to compromise with sin or Satan. What Jesus is teaching is that we are to resist the person who is evil, not evil itself. Jesus does not deny that evil exists. We are not to condone the person or the evil he exhibits, but we are not, as His followers, to retaliate. Instead, what Jesus here demands of all His own is a personal attitude toward evildoers that is prompted by mercy not justice.

There is to be no bitterness in our hearts, no grudge in our souls, and no revenge in our minds. We are to overcome all these things with the redemptive power of love.

ACTIVE LOVE

In verses 43-48 we see that it seems sure the Pharisees may have concluded as biblical teaching that enemies are to be hated. We know the chosen people were engaged in much war to take the land promised by God. But these actions were commanded by God and were in His will and so clearly stated by Him both to Moses and Joshua. After these wars, there were no more wars of faith.

Jesus is saying that evil men should be the object our clear and consuming love. To “love” them means to desire and pray for their repentance and salvation. God is the instrument of both salvation and judgment and we should desire that His will be done while we stand in obedience of His command to love all.

Jesus contradicted the teaching of the Pharisees that there was one moral code for a neighbor and another for an enemy. For our neighbor, as He later taught in the story of the good Samaritan, is not necessarily a member of our race or community or religion. In God’s eyes, our neighbor includes our enemy.

Our enemy is seeking our harm but we must seek his good. For this is exactly how God has treated each of us. Romans 5:10 shows us that while were yet enemies of God, He commended His love to us. This is the supreme command. Through prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. If we love only our own we are no better than the pagans we are called to rise above. It is not enough for Christians to come to resemble those who are not Christians, either in word or deed. Our righteousness is to exceed the Pharisees, to surpass and be more than others.

This righteousness, whether expressed in purity, honesty, or the commanded love, will show to whom we belong.

Sermon on the Mount: 7th Blessing

MATTHEW 6:1-6  & 16-18

CHRISTIAN RELIGION (REALITY NOT HYPOCRISY)

Jesus began His instruction on the mount by portraying in the beatitudes the essential elements of Christian character, and then went onward to describe the metaphors of salt and light and the influence for good which Christians will bring to their communities if they will show this character.

He then described Christian righteousness which must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees by not limiting our righteousness to rule keeping but rather to have our words, our hearts, and our motives to be true and not hypocritical.

In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus continues His teaching on righteousness and now His emphasis has shifted. Previously He taught on kindness, purity, love, and honesty. Now He concerns His teaching with giving, praying, and fasting. We must not overlook the fact that according to Jesus our righteousness has two dimensions, moral and religious.

In both areas we must be different (separate) and rise above the letter of the Law to obedience to the spirit of the Law. Jesus says here that we must not be like the hypocrites. This warning is that we are not to practice our own righteousness before men just to be seen by them. The next three areas explained here are evident in some form in every religion.

CHRISTIAN GIVING

There is much teaching in the OT on compassion for the poor. But once more Jesus teaches that generosity is not enough because the Lord is concerned with the hidden thoughts of the heart where He has written His new covenant. 

The besetting sin of the Pharisees was the hunger they held for the praise of men. Jesus clearly says that they receive glory one from another. In this fashion they are hypocrites when they display this behavior. Jesus goes further and says that they have their reward. Yes, they may get applause from men, but that is all they will get. Jesus here gets to the most basic moment of His teaching by showing that God intends our hearts to seek secrecy in our obedience.

When giving, we should not seek the praise of men and not even be concerned with self approval, but should seek approval by God only while doing good work without needing to publicly show it. What then is the reward given to the secret giver? It is neither public nor necessarily future in fact. The reward given is seeing the relief arranged for the needy as they receive our quiet assistance. Such love, as commanded by Christ, brings its own secret joy and such true love desires no other reward.

CHRISTIAN PRAYING

In the second example of our “religious” kind of righteousness Jesus speaks of two men at prayer. Once more there is shown the basic difference between hypocrisy and reality. This difference is why they pray and what is received.  

Hypocrites pray not to express love to God but to themselves and to parade themselves in public prayer. How does Jesus instruct us to be different? He says we are to go into our room and shut the door. When we do so, our heavenly Father is there waiting for us and welcoming us to the communion of our heart to His divine heart. He sees the motive for our prayer and wishes us to be unconcerned with outward appearances. The teaching here needs not to lead to extremes for His teaching centers on private prayer so that the motive for it is to purify our approach away from building up our appearance and toward sincere humility.

CHRISTIAN FASTING

The Pharisees fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday (Luke 18:12). John the Baptist fasted regularly but the disciples of Jesus did not (Matthew 9:14). Few Christians in our day seem to dwell on this form of effort to draw closer to God. We know that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights in the wilderness. In the Sermon He told us how to fast, presuming we would obey. When we seek to do so, it should be in the manner of further humility and in regard to repentance for sin and seeking mercy from Him.

Biblical examples are more than a few:

• Moses fasted on Mt. Sinai when the covenant was renewed by God.

• Queen Esther asked Mordecai to hold a fast before she went to the king.

• Ezra proclaimed a fast before leading the exiles back to Jerusalem.

The point is to show both humility and self control as we approach the Lord. But we must arrange this form of worship also in secret, not to show it publicly for the approval of men. The issue is that the Christian is aware that an audience does see all his efforts, but that audience is God, not man. This is the reality commanded by Jesus that believers are aware of His presence and that only He sees our worship by giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus continually turned away from hypocrites in all parts of His ministry and teaching so the lesson to us is strong and sure.  

Sermon on the Mount: 8th Blessing

MATTHEW 6:7-15

THOUGHTFUL CHRISTIAN PRAYER

Jesus brought His profound teaching on Christian prayer that is thoughtful by advising two area that are to be avoided. The first is hypocrisy and the second is vain, mechanical, and therefore meaningless words. The first is the way of the Pharisee and the second is the way of the pagan. Hypocrisy is the misuse of the purpose of prayer and the other is the misuse of the nature of prayer. One diverts prayer from the glory of God to the glory of self and the other degrades it from a real and personal approach to God toward a simple reciting of words.

The Lord is always calling His followers to something higher than the desires of those who are living around them. He focuses the attention of the Christian on greater righteousness because it is inward and Christian love is to be wider to include the love of enemies, and Christian prayer is to be sincere and thoughtful.

THE PAGAN WAY OF PRAYER

Jesus says we are not to heap up empty phrases or repetitive phrases that are vain. We note that He specifically mentions “vain” phases for we know that Jesus Himself used repetition and we saw in the garden of Gethsemane when he repeated the same words three times (Matthew 26:44). What he seems to be focused upon is the type of prayer where the mouth continues to move without the mind being engaged. In verse 8 Jesus says very simple that we are not to be like them.

He teaches that God is not ignorant and knows what you need before you ask. The essence of Christian prayer is telling God that which He already knows. Therefore Christians pray in order that they may seek Him and therefore exercise faith by being in communion with Him. This type of prayer is thoughtful and is opposed to the hypocrisy of Pharisee prayer which is self focused to be seen or heard by others only. Jesus begins His instruction on prayer with the words “Our Father” which is highly personal.

The first three petitions we are given in the Lord’s Prayer express our concern for God’s glory in relation to His name, His rule, and His will. The second half of the instructed Prayer changes from “your” to “our”, expressing our humble dependence on His grace. 

He is strong and clear on the teaching of our seeking forgiveness for it is indispensable to the life and health of our soul. Here is a profound teaching that sin  is like a debt that needs to find forgiveness and then be extended out to those who need forgiveness from us. When our sin is forgiven, God dismisses all charges against us and we are to do the same to those who have harmed us. Here our eyes are opened by the Lord to the great offense we have brought against the Father by our own sin and how hurts against us by others are so slight by comparison.

Next we are to ask that we not be led into temptation even though we know by James 1:13 that God does not tempt us, rather he tests us by permitting opportunities for us to be faced with evil. The same book, James 1:2 teaches that when these moments arrive we are to greet them with joy. 

The model given by Jesus is real and distinct from either the Pharisees or the pagans (meaning non believers). It is given to express our daily dependence on our Father and is taught so that we will be “God centered” in our prayer life, not focused on being “man centered” or worldly things.

The tragic mistake of Pharisees and pagans, of the hypocrites and heathen, is found in their false image of God. The hypocrite thinks only of himself and the pagan thinks only of his world and believes God will make change for him by multiple reciting of vain or repeated words memorized.

Our prayers are to be sincere seeking the will of God to be done, not our own and are to remain thoughtful toward our Father, like the children we are. 

Sermon on the Mount: 9th Blessing

MATTHEW 6:19-34

CHRISTIAN AMBITION

In the first half of Matthew 6 Jesus describes the Christian’s private life in the “secret place” (giving, fasting, praying); in the second half which we cover now in verses 19-34 Jesus is concerned with our public life in the world (money, possessions, food, drink, clothing, and ambition).

In both areas He allows the identical summons which is the call to be different from the popular culture, different from the hypocrisy of those who claim to be religious, and most different from materialism that surrounds us. He is teaching believers that there are two treasures (earth and heaven), two bodily conditions (light and darkness), two masters (God and mammon) and two areas for us to choose from (our bodies and God’s kingdom). We cannot sit on the fence. Jesus is clear on that conclusion.

How shall we make our choice?

The attraction of materialism is hard to resist so in this section of the Sermon, Jesus helps us to choose well.

QUESTION OF TREASURE

In verses 19-21 Jesus begins the teaching with helping us to understand the durability of our options. Treasures on earth are corruptible and therefore insecure, while treasures of heaven are neither. What is Jesus advising us to gain awareness of with earthly treasure? What He forbids is selfish accumulation of goods while we are here. This is the materialism which ties our hearts to the earth and this physical life. But the Sermon continually refers to the “heart” of the believer and where it should reside and what should it knowingly choose. The earthly treasures we covet grow rusty and moth-eaten. Even if some last through this life, we can take none of it into the next life. The treasures we store in heaven by obedience here are secure for eternity.

QUESTION OF VISION

The contrast now is between a person with sight and one who is blind. Once more we see the contrast is given between light and darkness. The eye is the lamp of the body. Almost everything the body does depends on our ability to see. Now Jesus moves from teaching us to have our heart in the right place to the importance for our eye to be sound and healthy. Just as our eye affects the whole body, so our ambition (where we fix our eye and thereby our heart) affects our whole life. Selfish ambition (laying up treasure here) plunges us into moral darkness, making us intolerant and depriving life of its ultimate significance.

If our vison is clouded by the false god of materialism, we then lose our sense of value of that which is higher and our life resides in darkness. If we slide fully into coveting earthly things we live in violation of commandment #10.

QUESTION OF WORTH

The difference between the two masters before us for our choice is strongly opposite according to the Lord. If we choose unwisely we reside spiritually and physically in shadow. Jesus is clearer here than He is in any other portion of the Sermon. We cannot serve God and mammon (the Aramaic word for money and wealth).

It is a question of comparative worth: the intrinsic worth of the One and the intrinsic worthlessness of the other.

QUESTION OF AMBITION 

Jesus calls us to thought before He calls us to action. He invites us to look clearly and coldly at the alternatives before us and to weigh them carefully. We want to accumulate treasure? Which of the two choices is more durable into eternity? We want to serve the best master? Which master is more worthy of our devotion? Only when we have grasped with our minds the choice of durability can we choose wisely. The comparative usefulness of the two eye conditions (light and darkness) and the comparative worth of the two masters (God and mammon), should make us ready to make our choice properly.

A person’s ambition is his secret inner motivation. This is what Jesus is talking about when He defined what He expects us to “seek first”, which is the righteousness of God and then (and only then) will all the other things be added to us.

QUESTION OF WORRY

Worry is incompatible with the Christian faith. God gives and then sustains our life. These are undeniable facts. We neither created ourselves nor do we keep ourselves alive. Our lives are more important than the biological nourishment we receive. Our body is more important than the clothes on it. If God has already taken care of these things which are of the greatest values, why can we not trust Him with all things of much lesser value? Just as we should leave these matters to God (for they are surely beyond us), is it not sensible for us to trust Him for all other things? If we trust Him as we should, there is no place for worry. If we do not then we should worry about much more than the lesser things. 

The devotion of the believer is measured only by the depth of our surrender.

While we are to be fully surrendered and avoid worry we still must earn our own living. God provides but we must cooperate. We are not exempt from our own efforts to prepare and arrange a good life for our families.

There will always be troubles inside our lives. There is a powerful enemy who makes sure of that fact. God permits these things and limits them to what we can bear, with His grace given. 

Not understanding this important lesson of the Sermon and continuing to live as the world lives is distrustful of our Father. Jesus here calls us to a greater righteousness, a broader love, a deeper devotion, and now He calls us to a higher ambition. 

Ambition for God can never be modest. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see Him crowned with glory from our lives lived for Him as we accord to Him His assigned place in our lives, the supreme place. Our ambitions for the spread of His kingdom should be first and always our main priority.

Sermon on the Mount: 10th Blessing

MATTHEW 7:1-12

CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS

An account is given us in Matthew 7 of the network of relationships into which we, as followers of Jesus, are drawn. We see in this passage several defined by the Lord and these are:

To our brother, in whose eye we may see a splinter and whom we have a responsibility to help, not judge. (1-5)

To a group defined as “dogs” and “pigs” whose animal nature is so low as to have us forbidden to continue to share the Gospel with them. (6)

To our heavenly Father to whom we come in prayer, confident that He will give us good things. (7-11)

To all others in general with the Golden Rule guiding our attitude and behavior. (12)

To our fellow pilgrims who walk with us along the narrow way. (13-14)

To false prophets, whom we are to recognize and of whom we are to beware.    (15-20)

To Jesus our Lord whose teaching we are committed and obey. (21-27)

TO OUR BROTHER

Verses 1-5 begins our teaching with Jesus carefully revealing He knows we are not perfect. He assumes our imperfections will give rise to conflict and tension in our relations. In such a situation He forbids two alternatives and then commends to us a third and better way.

The Christian follower is not to be a judge. Not only are we not the judge but we are among those to be judged. How we will be judged will be according to whether we have judged others. If we pose as judge, we cannot plead ignorance of the law we claim to be using. The directive “judge not” is not a requirement to be blind but rather is a plea for us to be generous. We must avoid any presumption that we are able to judge others for this is the area reserved to God, not man.

We also cannot be a hypocrite by noticing a speck in our brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in our own eye. We must deal with our own faults before we being to look around to find fault in others. The fall of man in the garden made us all sinners and it disqualified each of us to sit on a bench of judgment.

A Christian is to be a brother. The standard of Jesus for relationships is high. In all our relations we are to be neither a judge (being harsh and condemning) or a hypocrite (blaming others while excusing ourselves). As a brother we are to care for others, correct ourselves, and then be positive and constructive to others.

ATTITUDE TO “DOGS” AND “PIGS”

 Jesus teaches here that there are certain human beings who act like animals and therefore may be accurately described as “dogs” or “pigs”.

The dogs He had in mind are not pet dogs around many homes but rather wild and mongrel animals who lived around the garbage dumps of the city rubbish. Pigs were unclean animals to Jews and Peter wrote of both these creatures saying a dog returns to his own vomit and the pig who is washed returns to wallow in the mire. The reference here is that unbelievers whose nature has never been changed by new birth possess physical or animal type life but no spiritual or eternal life.

His command is that we are not to give dogs what is holy and we are not to throw our pearls before swine. What are the holy things and the pearls? We must not think that Jesus is forbidding us to witness the Gospel before those who have not been saved. These forbidden ones are not just unsaved. They are those who have had the opportunity to hear the Word and have defiantly rejected it. To continue to offer the Word to these people is to welcome more rejection and blasphemy.

ATTITUDE TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER

Verses 7-11 in His teaching shows Jesus moving on from relationship with our fellow man to our relationship with our heavenly Father. Here Jesus makes certain promises to those who believe that they are to ask, seek, and knock. Next He says that those who do so receive, find, and experience an opened door. Next He allows a small parable to show that earthly fathers give good things to their children when requests are made of them. If earthly fathers do so, how much more will our heavenly Father give?

If we belong to Christ, God is our Father, we are His children, and prayer is our coming to Him with our requests. God’s redemption gifts are different than earthly gifts. God does not bestow salvation on all. The daily forgiveness, deliverance from evil, spiritual peace, greater faith, hope and love, and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit are given freely to those whom He has drawn to Himself.

ATTITUDE TO ALL MEN

In verse 12 we are given a version of the Golden Rule and we are told that this rule is both the law and the prophets. That is, whoever directs his conduct toward others according to how he would like others to direct their conduct toward him has fulfilled the law and the prophets, at least in the matter of love of neighbor.

 In the first 12 verses of Matthew 7 Jesus has introduced us to these basic relationships. At their center is our heavenly Father to whom we come, on whom we depend, and who never gives His children anything other than goodness. Next there are our fellow believers. If our fellow Christians are truly our brothers and sisters in Christ, it seems impossible that we could be anything other than caring and constructive in our attitude toward them.

As for those outside the family, there is the extreme case of the “dogs” and “pigs”, but they are not typical. They are an exceptional group of stubborn people who are “dogged” and even “pigheaded”. Reluctantly we must drop them out of our lives and witness. 

This Golden Rule means we put ourselves in the place of the other person, who is not “dogged” or “pigheaded”, and wish for him what we would wish for ourselves. We are to be always generous, never harsh,  always understanding, never cruel, and always kind.

Sermon on the Mount: 11th Blessing

MATTHEW 7:13-20

CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIP TO FALSE PROPHETS

There was much misconception among the people about the mission of Jesus Christ. In dealing with this problem, Jesus first addresses the perverted purpose of His mission. He states plainly that He did not come to do away with the law and the prophets. These terms were generally understood to mean the Old Testament which was all the scripture known at that time. His opposition to the traditions taught by the religious leaders was not any opposition by Him to the Word of God but was opposition to false teaching. The traditions of men are not equal to scripture. He often opposed men who were teaching and prophesying falsely but He never opposed scripture.

In verses 13-14 Jesus teaches of the inescapable choice before us. It is so striking that He is careful to present this teaching as absolute with no variable for interpretation. He actually insists that there is ultimately only one choice for those who wish to be His followers. There are two paths to the choice but only one path will prevail in the hearts of Christians.

First there are the two ways. This concept is already found in Psalm 1 which shows the way of the righteous versus the way of the wicked. Jesus elaborates. He says one way is easy and His word choice means broad or roomy. It is the way of tolerance of false teaching and there are no boundaries of either thought or conduct. Those who take this road follow their own inclinations, which are the desires of the fallen human heart.

The hard way is narrow and its boundaries are clearly marked. The narrow boundaries are found in divine revelation which God has given within His Word.

Second there are two gates. The gate leading to the easy way is wide, because it is a simple matter to find the easy road and many are there. There is no limit to the luggage we can take with us through this gate. We leave nothing behind, not even our sins or our pride. The other gate is narrow because there are only a few who enter through it. Those who enter there carry nothing with them. Everything is left behind, sin, ambition, selfishness, covetousness, and even family and friends if necessary. No one can follow Christ who has not first denied himself and all he carries along with himself.

Third, there are two destinations. The easy way, entered by the wide gate, leads to destruction. The hard way, entered by the narrow gate, leads to life which Jesus means is eternal life with fellowship with God, beginning here but perfected hereafter. (Hebrews 12:23)

Fourth, there are two crowds. Entering through the easy road and wide gate are many. The narrow and hard way, leading to life, seems in the teaching to be deserted by comparison. He says those who find it are few.

There is no middle way.

FALSE PROPHETS AND TEACHERS

Jesus warned His followers of false prophets because they already existed among those of His time. We hear of them in almost every New Testament letter. The history of the Christian church has been a long and dreary story of controversy with false ones. False prophets and teachers are dangerous and deceptive. Their danger is that in reality they are wolves. Christ’s flock of followers are either at the mercy of good shepherds or wolves. The good shepherds feed the flock with truth while the wolves who are false divide it with error.

It is not by accident that Jesus’ warning about the false ones immediately follows His teaching about the two ways, the two gates, the two crowds and the two destinations. The false ones are expert at blurring the issue of salvation. They are more than dangerous as they are also strongly deceptive. Unwary followers actually can mistake them for fellow sheep and provide them warm welcome. Jesus uses a strong warning word, beware!

We must be on guard, pray for discernment, use our critical views founded on the Word, and never relax our vigilance. We must look beneath the appearance to the reality. What is it that lives under the fleece we see? Is it a sheep or a wolf?

As a traveler on the hard and narrow road, a believer enjoys fellowship with his fellow pilgrims and focuses his eye on the goal of life, As a seeker of God’s revealed truth, he heeds the warning of Jesus Christ to be watchful for false prophets and false teachers who would pervert the Word and therefore ravage the flock of Christ’s truth.

Sermon on the Mount: 12th Blessing

MATTHEW 7:21-27

CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT / A RADICAL CHOICE

It is not only false prophets and false teachers who make the narrow way difficult to find and even harder to walk. A man may also be grievously self-deceived.

Jesus confronts us with Himself and sets before us the radical choice between obedience and disobedience, and calls us to an unconditional commitment of mind, will, and life to His teaching. The way he does it is to warn us of two unacceptable alternatives. The first is a mere verbal profession as described in verses 21-23. The second is a mere intellectual knowledge of Him as seen in verses 24-27. Neither of these can be a substitute for obedience.

Nothing can take the place of active and practical daily obedience.

THE DANGER OF A MERE VERBAL PROFESSION

Jesus insists that our final reward will be settled not by what we are saying to Him today or what we say to Him tomorrow, but by whether we do what we say, by whether our verbal profession is coupled with moral obedience.

A verbal profession of Christ is indispensable. In order to be saved, wrote the apostle Paul, we have to confess with our lips and believe in our hearts (Romans 10:9-10). A true profession of Jesus as Lord and Savior is impossible without the Holy Spirit which acts as the agent of the Father’s drawing of our hearts. None can otherwise come (1st Cor 12:3).

The reason that Jesus allows this teaching is to show that some have verbal profession but not moral acceptance of His teaching. Their spiritual existence is concerned with lips only, not their life. They called Jesus “Lord” but never submitted to His Lordship. The vital difference is between saying and doing.

THE DANGER OF MERE INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE

The previous contrast was between saying and doing. Now the next contrast is between hearing and doing. On one hand Jesus says there is the person who hears His words and does them and on the other hand is the person who hears His words but does not do them. He illustrates this difference with a small parable of the two builders. One was a wise man who dug deep to build his house and made the foundation to rest on solid rock. The other was a foolish builder who could not be bothered with foundations and built his house on sand. The difference was the foundation, and it is important to note that foundations are not seen after a house is built. Only when a storm came and battered both houses was the fatal difference of the foundations revealed. One house stood, and the other fell.

The real question is not whether they hear Christ’s teaching but whether they do what they hear. Like the two houses, only a storm of life will reveal the spiritual foundation and how it was set.

This is not to be interpreted as Jesus teaching the way of salvation is through works. He does not teach us that the way to enter the kingdom is found in works. The entire New Testament offers us the truth of salvation found only through grace by faith. What Jesus is stressing is that those who truly hear the gospel and profess faith will always obey Him, expressing their faith in good works which are proof of the obedience of the heart.

In applying this teaching to ourselves, we need to consider that the Bible is a dangerous book to read, and that the true church is a dangerous society to join. Our membership lays upon us the most serious responsibility or ensuring that what we know and what we say is translated into what we do.

The Sermon ends on the same radical choice that has been presented to us in every part of it. We have become aware of how radical these choices are. Jesus does not set before His followers a string of easy ethical rules, so much as a set of values and ideals, which is far away from those of the world. We have heard His call in every verse of our study that we who follow Him must be different from everybody else.

Our righteousness is to be deeper because it reaches into the heart and our love is to be broader because it includes loving even our enemies. The treasure we choose endures through eternity and will never fade for our master is God, not mammon (money or possessions). Our ambition (what occupies our minds) is not found in material security but in our part in spreading the Word and it’s special righteousness in the world.

Here then is the alternative, either to follow the crowd or to follow or Father in heaven. The overriding purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to present us with this alternative, and so to face us with the necessity of our choice.

Which road will we travel? On which foundation will we build?

Sermon on the Mount: Conclusion

MATTHEW 7:28-29

WHO DO WE SAY THAT HE IS?

At the very simplest and best description Jesus of Nazareth is a moral teacher.

When He asked Peter who those outside the circle of disciples said he was, Peter gave Him the answer he sought, saying that many thought Him to be a prophet that had returned to teach the people. Then Jesus asked Peter one more question which was “… who do you say I am?” Peter’s answer is confirmed throughout the Sermon on the Mount.

What struck the first hearers of the Sermon (the crowds as well as His disciples in 5:1) was the preacher’s extraordinary authority. With quiet assurance in this Sermon He laid down the law for the citizens of God’s kingdom. What clues does the Sermon itself give of how He understood His identity and His mission?

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS THE TEACHER

The crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them with authority. He somehow assumed the right to teach about absolute truth. He was a Jew, but His message was not Jewish. He was interpreting the law of Moses but in such a way as to show that it was God’s law. With complete self-confidence He declared who would inherit the kingdom of heaven, who would inherit the earth, who would obtain mercy, who would see God, who would be fit to be called God’s children.

How could he be so sure?

If Jesus did not teach like the scribes, He also did not teach like the Old Testament prophets. Jesus also insisted that His words were God’s words. In John 7:16 He said that the teachings were not His but belonged to the One who sent Him. He never uses the phrase of the prophets which was “thus saith the Lord”. Instead He said “… truly I say unto you”, daring to speak His own name with His own authority and thereby taught that His authority was identical to that of the Father. He challenged the inherited tradition of centuries and replaced it with His own explanation of God’s law.

He taught that the only wise people are those who build their lives on His words by obeying them.

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS THE CHRIST

He said He had not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. What He is teaching here is that all that had come before found their fulfillment and end in Him. All Old Testament witness converged on Himself. The former belief in the days of expectation were now over and He brought in the time of fulfillment. His first recorded words in His public ministry (Mark 1:15) were that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. In this Sermon there are five direct references to the kingdom (5:3 / 5:10 / 6:10 / 6:33 / 7:21) and they show that He had brought it and that He had the authority to admit people to the kingdom and to bestow on them kingdom blessing.

All this means Jesus was the Christ, God’s Messiah of Old Testament expectations.

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS LORD

Jesus had taught that some would say to Him “Lord Lord” and He took no exception to this title. His point was that they were not investing it with its true meaning. He was not just “Sir” to be respected. He was “Lord” to be obeyed. He saw Himself in the Sermon as much more than a teacher, giving advice that students may or may not heed at their discretion. He was their master giving them commands, expecting obedience, and warning them that their eternal welfare was at stake. Clearly, Jesus was no ordinary rabbi. His expectation was not that they would absorb His teaching but was that they would devote themselves to Him personally and forever. He commanded those who would find the narrow road to remain witnesses to Him and His Sermon teaching with no reservation.

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS SAVIOR

Jesus knew the way of salvation and in the Sermon, He taught it. He was able to declare who was blessed and who was not. He pointed believers to the narrow path and He was clear as to whose house would survive the storms of judgment. He not only taught salvation. He bestowed it. He appointed His hearers (and us) to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. He explained they could be so only by obedience to Him and His commands. Because He Himself was the “light of the world” He could impart that light to them (and us) and make them shine. Here He teaches that He has the authority to forgive sins and He actually bestowed such forgiveness clearly in Matthew 9. 

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS JUDGE

He declared the conditions of salvation and warned of the cause of destruction in His portrayal of the two ways and the destination of each. He says later in Matthew 25:31 that He Himself will sit upon the throne of glory to further give understanding of His authority. The basis of this judgment will be the attitude of life that people have shown in obedience and the nature of judgment will be removal from Him of those who did not obey.

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS SON OF GOD

Jesus gives in this one Sermon a full understanding of the doctrine of God. Through Jesus, God is our Father. Jesus constantly refers to God as “your Father in heaven”. He referred also to “the will of my Father”. He does not refer to “our Father”, except to teach the people how to begin their prayers. He did not make this point in detail in the Sermon but He did make it later in Matthew 11:27 and that moment clarified the Sermon. There He taught that no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him. 

JESUS’ AUTHORITY AS GOD

His claim of the ultimate authority to bestow both life eternal and the blessings of life both here and in the kingdom were His clear teaching that He was not just nearly equal to God but was Himself God. He teaches with the authority of God and lays down the law of God in a new and finally different way. He is both Lord to be obeyed and Savior to bestow blessings. He makes these statements in the Sermon naturally and modestly because they were a part of His being and what he was to us.

Here in this Sermon is His picture of God’s alternative society. These are the standards, the values, and the priorities of the kingdom of God. He, as God among us in the likeness of our flesh, holds in front of each believer the map to the narrow road and the narrow gate which is found by few. Here in this Sermon He calls us to walk only that pathway and no other.