Matthew 5: A New Kind of Teaching

Introduction

Matthew’s Gospel has shown us how Jesus’s ministry started in Galillee, how he called his first few disciples, and how he began caring for the physical needs of the people through healing. Now, Jesus is going to turn his attention the their spiritual needs.

Chapters 5-7 cover Christ’s Sermon the Mount. This sermon contains some of Christ’s most well known teachings. The words of the Lord in these two chapters could be talked about and studied on their own forever! They have changed the entire world and history.

Indeed Christ himself ends the sermon with these famous words: Matthew 7:24 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

I think the central point of the sermon, or dominant thought, is summed up in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Everything in the sermon flows from that idea.

Matthew 5:1-11: The Beatitudes

Jesus has been healing the countless people and this has drawn crowds from the entire region. Once Jesus sees them, he goes up on a mountain - we aren’t told which - and sits down.

It’s interesting how Matthew frames this. We learn at the end of the sermon that the crowds had been listenign the entire time. But at the beginning it seems like only the disciples were the original audience. Perhaps Jesus did this on purpose.

I think Matthew finds significance in the fact that Jesus went up on a mountain, too. In fact mountains are a theological theme in Matthew. He mentions mountains seven times in his Gospel. Seven itself is the perfect number, theologically speaking.

This is the second mountain mentioned in the Gospel. The first was during the temptation of Christ.

Mountains played a signinficant role in Israelite history. Since Matthew is trying to show that Jesus is the fulfilment of that history, it makes sense that he wants us to know whenever Jesus was on a mountain.

In this case, Matthew is showing how Jesus teaching from a mountain mirrors Moses teaching from Mount Sinai. Moses gave the law, but now Jesus is completing the law, or fulfilling it.

Jesus was clearly the answer of Psalm 24:3–4 “Who shall ascend the hill [mountain] of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”

Jesus “opened his mouth and taught them” - With this phrase, I think Matthew is telling us that Jesus is fulfilling Psalm 78:2 “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,”

The opening portion of the Lord’s sermons are what is commonly called The Beatitudes. People often take these 9 blessings on their own. But the truth is they are all connected.

In fact, the beatitudes can be seen as a ladder, or step by step path towards righteousness. Or as our Lord says, becoming “sons of God”.

Our spiritual journey will likely mirror this process. Starting with humility or being “poor in spirit”

Before we can truly know the Lord and have a relationship with him, we must humble ourselves and become poor in spirit. This means admitting that we are sinful and in need of a Savior.

This is arguably the most difficult part for people to do. They do not want to admit that they need Jesus. But if they do, notice the reward: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is in line with Isaiah 66:2 “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Once we overcome out pride and humble ourselves, the next step in our spiritual journey is to mourn. Mourn what? The life and things we lose when following Christ. Sure, it’s ultimately for our good that we lose those things - but they can still hurt. And it’s not always easy. Mourning is natural. Christ understands this which is why he says, “they shall be comforted”.

Following Christ may cost us everything, but he will never leave us nor forsake us, and His Holy Spirit comforts us in all things that we may mourn along the way.

These first two Beatitudes also echo Isaiah 61, which Jesus quoted when speaking to the synagogue in Nazarene, claiming to be it’s fulfimlment.

Isaiah 61:1–2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

As we move forward in our spiritual journey, we ought to become more meek. What does that mean? To be meek is to be “quiet, gentle” according to one dictionary. Christians are called to display these traits throughout the New Testament. St. Augustine said that the meek are those whom Paul writes in Romans 12:17–18 “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

And it’s no surprise that the Lord Jesus says that anyone who lives in this way will “inherit the earth”. It is not the powerful and cruel who rule in the Kingdom, but the lowly and meek.

Again this echos the OT with Psalm 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

It naturally follows that as we leave the darkness behind and follow the true Light of Life, we will begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. We ought to be hungering for the Bread of Life and thirsting for the eternal waters of the Spirit.

Thankfully, the Lord has promised us that this hunger and thirsting will be filled - by Him. If we desire Christ, he will fill us.

Psalm 42:2 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

John 7:37 “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

The next logical step in our spiritual journey is service. In this case it’s summed up as being “merciful”. This is one of the most difficult things to do when it comes to loving our neighbor. But just as Christ will later say that we are to forgive if we want to forgive, then we must show mercy to our neighbors.

The reward for helping those who need help, is that we ourselves will receive that same help - the Lord will bestow us with mercy in our time of trouble.

Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”

Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”

All of these steps in the process so far should lead to a “pure heart”. Christ says that those are pure in heart “shall see God”.

This is significant. We cannot see God with our physical eyes, for our eyes, along with our hearts and bodies are too sinful to see His glory. And yet, when we are born again and begin this process of following Christ we set ourselves up to truly see God.

Remember, the devil seemingly couldnt see God standing right in front of him when he was tempting Jesus. Why? He definitely isn’t pure in heart!

This aligns with other Scriptures such as:

Psalm 24:4–5 “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

2 Timothy 2:22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

1 Peter 1:22 “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,”

Hebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Revelation 22:4 “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

As those last two verses show, having a pure heart allows us to recognize Christ as God now, but it also sets us up to see Him when he is finally revealed again. But the process requires us to go one step further still - becoming children fo God.

How do we become children of God? By being peacemakers.

We become peacemakers by being at peace with God in our souls and our bodies. To have a soul in complete submission to God is to have complete peace. When our soul is in submission, then our bodies can also be in submission. Together this means that we will naturally sin less - a person who is not at peace with God in body and soul is one who continues to sin. And as John says in his letter, children of God are not in the habit of sinning.

When we are at peace with God, we start to be at peace with the world and people around us. The Christian life is quintessentially about peace. If we are not peacemakers, we are not children of God.

James 3:18 “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

1 John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

This is the process of salvation and sanctification. Our journey from “sons of the devil” to “sons of God” starts with humbly seeking God, leaving our former lives behind, chasing after righteousness, serving others, seeing God, and ultimatley becoming peacemakers - totally and radically different from the warbringers we started as.

It would have been great if Christ had simply stopped after verse 9. But He doesn’t. The Lord doesn’t protect us from what this will mean if we undergo this journey. He shoots it to us straight: we will be persecuted, reviled, and mistreated.

And yet, He calls those who endure those trials “blessed”. He brings the beatittudes full circle: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2 Timothy 2:12 “if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;”

James 5:11 “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

1 Peter 3:14 “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,”

The final blessing echoes that of the previous, but goes even further: the children of God will endure all kinds of persecution and atrocities for the sake of Christ. But the Lord calls us to do what? Rejoice!

It’s no surprise that the Lord’s brother James opens his own letter with these same words in James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,”

This isn’t the only time that Jesus warns us of these things. One other place is John 15:21 “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

I don’t want us to overlook that final statement of this section: “for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Did Jesus just compare his followers to…the prophets? Wow! But it shouldn’t be that surprising. If we are children of God, it’s no surprise that we are on the same level of the prophets. Just as the prophets did, we declare the Word and Gospel of God to the world.

Conclusion

Jesus opens his sermon on the mount with a spiritual journey that promises to bless anyone who is willing to embark on it. I don’t think Christ starting his sermon with this is by mistake. As we will see going forward in the sermon, everything that follows from this point on deals with the expected lives and behaviors of the children of God. It was important for Jesus to tells us how we become children of God (and the toll it will take), before embarking further.

May we strive to continue to walk this spiritual journey through our entire life, with the Holy Spirit making us look more like Jesus, in order that we may be children of God the Father.