Kingdom Living pt. 2 5/19/24

OPENING:

TRANSITION:

Last week we ended our time together by asking the question, Is Jesus my king or is he my costume? We asked that to try to help us see if we are willing to let Jesus be our king and change us, even when it’s inconvenient and dangerous-instead of putting him on or off depending on the situation. The apostle Paul has been telling us in the book of Romans that we have new lives in Christ. We have been taken out of the Kingdom of darkness where we “used” to live, and brought into the Kingdom of light. But we have to learn what life is like in this new Kingdom. What is our new life supposed to look like?

The point we ended with last week was “the allegiance of our heart is made evident through our works.” How we live demonstrates who or what is control of our lives. The decisions we make and the things we do on an everyday basis show who is in charge of our lives.

Last week we talked about how when we make Jesus our king, he has full authority over our lives. We surrender and follow his lead. Even when following his lead means doing things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient.

So, what does a life that has made Jesus King look like?

Matthew begins to elaborate on what that life looks like by recording what Jesus spoke about in the Sermon on The Mount.

Each part of the Sermon on The Mount has sections that could be dissected and studied in itself, so for sake of time we are going to look at one section in depth while briefly over viewing the rest.

Matthew 5:3-16 discuss the new Kingdom Identity

Matthew 5:3-12 talks about the “Good Life and those who experience it”

The poor in spirit

Those who mourn

The meek

The merciful

The pure in heart

The peacemakers

Those who are persecuted

When others revile you

The kingdom of God is bringing about a reversal of our value system. When Jesus becomes King, we allow him to change the way we do things and the way we see things.

But, if we try to do all this without first making Jesus our King, then we will find out quickly that we won’t be able to do any of these things.

Without Jesus, these things make no sense.

If Jesus isn’t our King, and we haven’t let him have control of our lives, then these things will make our lives miserable.

if we try to do these things on our own power, we will get tired, and run out of steam, we’ll eventually stop doing them.

A question that comes up when we are answering whether or not Jesus is our King is: Do I follow Jesus because I love him, or because He does stuff for me?

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Do we see Jesus as the ultimate treasure, or as the ultimate reward?

Because if our motivation for following Jesus is the stuff he offers-then our treasure isn’t in Jesus-its in his rewards.

Is Jesus the means to our end?

That’s like getting married because you’re getting a break on taxes. Is that real love?

That’s similar to what we asked last week. Do I follow Jesus just so I won’t go to hell?

When we look at Jesus this way, it’s not real love. Jesus is not our treasure, and therefore he doesn’t have our hearts.

We treat the Bible as a list of do’s and don’ts. When we live that way, that’s miserable. And that’s not the new life that Paul is describing in Romans. That’s not the life that Jesus describes in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Do we want Jesus, or the things he offers us? What’s our motivation for making Jesus King?

Matt. 5:13 Salt of the land

Matt. 5:14-16 City on a hill

Matthew 5:17-7:12 discusses a greater righteousness

Matt. 5:17-48 Torah and Prophets

5:17-20 Jesus fulfills the Torah

5:21-47 Six Case Studies

Anger

Lust

Divorce

Telling the truth

Revenge

Enemy Love

5:48 Be Complete

Matt. 6:1-21 asdf

6:1 True Reward

6:2-18 True Devotion

Generosity

Prayer

Fasting

6:18-21 True Wealth

Matt. 6:19-7:12 Right Relationships

6:19-34

God and Money

Two eyes

Two Masters

Do Not Worry

7:1-11 God and Neighbor

Do not judge

speck in the eye

holy pearls

seek and knock

golden rule

Matthew 7:13-27 discusses the choice that we are faced with.

Matt. 7:13-14 Two gates

Matt. 7:15-23 Two Trees

Matt. 7:24-27 two houses

But before we begin to look at the new kingdom lifestyle, we have to jump back to the discussion about Jesus being king.

Last week we began looking at the book of Matthew, specifically Jesus initial words in the sermon on the Mount. Throughout these three chapters, Jesus communicates what life is like in his kingdom. He talks about a lot, and we’ll try to look at as much as possible.

Do I want Jesus, or do I want the things he offers me?

Part of making

Psalm 37:4 .”

This verse is the way in which we see the kingdom lifestyle show up in our lives.