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.