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.
