Remember Who You Are
Introduction
How many of you are familiar with the story of The Lion King?
The story is about a young lion prince who is born to the reigning king lion, Mufasa. Young Simba is brought up and trained to become the next lion king of the savannah, because of course, lions don't live in the jungle.
Mufasa has a brother, however, that is not happy about Simba being next in line to be king. Scar, the evil brother, sets up Mufasa to die during a stampede of wildebeests while making Simba think it was his fault.
Simba, still a cub and ridden with guilt runs away from the pride lands, leaving Scar to successfully usurper the throne. Time passes, and Scar is no king, he is a tyrant. He is not a leader or a proper ruler, he is selfish, willing for all the land to go to waste as long as he lives satisfied.
There comes a point where the kingdom is suffering so much that one of the friends of Mufasa sets out to go find Simba. It is a wise old baboon. When he finds Simba, he tells him he must come back, challenge his uncle, and take his rightful place as the king of the pride lands. When Simba shows reluctance and fear of doing this, the baboon leads Simba to a place where he sees a vision of his father in the clouds at night. The vision of Mufasa speaks to Simba telling him he has forgotten who he was as he has lived a carefree life for the past years. He has forgotten his identity as the son, the rightful heir and king of the pride lands.
As the vision fades, the last words of Mufasa can be heard echoing in the night, "Simba, remember who you are..."
Remember Who You Are
We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount and we have finally reached the end of the longest section, chapter 5. It has taken us nearly 6 months to get here, but we are finally here. Last week we studied the principle of loving our enemies.
As we enter the study of these last few verses, it reminds us of something important we saw at the beginning and have often repeated throughout this study. See if you can see the principle before I point it out again as we read the last few verses of
Matthew 5:45-48 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
The first thing I want to point out is that the Sermon on the Mount is not for everyone, it is for disciples; it is for Christians, it is for the children of God.
But there is one more thing that we find in these verses. It makes the previous principle absolutely clear. Last week, we saw that the reason we love our enemies is not so that God will repay them with vengeance. We are to love them, because that is what is truly in our new nature as Christians. It is truly who we are as sons and daughters of God. We were born of God's love, grace, and mercy so showing that to others - even to enemies - is in our new nature. It is what shows the world that we are God's children.
In fact, this whole Sermon, so far, Jesus has not been concerned so much about the details of behavior, but rather, He has concerned himself that we should grasp the details of our identity, and that primary detail is that if you are born again, you are a child of God. Nobody watches a documentary on the African savannas and is shocked when the lioness chases down a zebra. Now, we might be sad for the zebra, but we are not shocked that the lions are hunting the zebra. Nobody watches that and says, "Well I did not see that coming! Who would have thought it?!"
Kids watch it with their parents and they wonder aloud, "Mommy, why is the lion chasing the zebra?" And our response is, "Well, that is what a lion does. Lions eat zebras. It is just what they do." What would put us into a state of amazement is if we were to hear of a lion who only eats cabbage. We would begin to wonder, studies would be done on this lion, because this is not natural, it is something that is not in a lion's nature.
So the Sermon on the Mount has served to show Christians our nature. Our new identity as children of God comes with a whole new nature. Being in Christ makes everything new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
So you and I have a new identity and a new nature.
As we have been going through this study of the Sermon on the Mount, there have probably been things that have been covered that make you think, "There is no possible way that I could do that," or, "living like that would be so hard to get used to." If you are a child of God, and only if you are a child of God, then I want to remind you that those are lies from Satan. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is now in your nature to live the Sermon on the Mount. In these verses, Jesus tells his disciples what the vision of Mufasa told Simba, "Remember who you are."
Who Am I?
This first question is important. There are many answers to that question, and they all boil down to one main answer which we will see at the end of this sermon. But let's look at the things that Jesus says directly to us here in these verses.
I Am Different
Look at V.46-47 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
I am different from the publicans. These were the Jews that had turned their back on their country and had willingly worked for the occupying empire of Rome, collecting taxes and such. Not only were these people collecting taxes for an occupying nation, but they were collecting more than was necessary and keeping it for themselves. They were stealing from their own countrymen.
In some Bible translations that are taken from other ancient manuscripts of the book of Matthew, verse 47 says "Gentiles" instead of "publicans." Gentiles were all those that were not Jewish. And what significance does that have? Well, the Gentiles were godless nations. Not that they were atheistic, but they worshipped false gods. They were godless in the sense that the gods that they worshipped were not gods at all.
So Jesus uses these phrases to indicate that there is a standard of kindness that the world has, even those that are evil and those that are traitors to their own countrymen. This wicked world has a standard of kindness and respect, and that standard is best articulated this way: "Love those that love you, respect and treat kindly those that respect and treat you kindly."
It is expected to love those that love you. Even in the unsaved world, the man that disrespects his mother is the lowest of the low. What's the phrase used with someone who is using filthy language? "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"
But why? Because mothers are naturally thought of as people that love their children despite their faults. Those faults could be of different kinds, even physical. We've probably all heard the phrase, "He has a face only a mother could love." Mothers are viewed as people that have this unconditional love, and often, they do. You and I and everyone else that has a mother that loves us this way are expected to love our mothers back. It is natural. "Those that love us deserve for us to love in return." Even the unsaved world believes this to be true. Even turncoats and traitors love those that love them.
But Jesus says that our new nature goes beyond loving those that love us. Beyond love that is common, we are called to have uncommon love. Our very identity as children of God drives Christians to love those that are unlovable, those that are our enemies, those that curse us, even those that seek to harm us. In so doing, others will look at Christians and say, "Now that is unexpected!" When you get chewed out publicly by your boss for something that was not your fault, it is not far-fetched in the eyes of the world to pray for his or her demise or to bad-mouth them about how little they know. If you were to do that, no one would bat an eye. But sit down at lunch among your coworkers, give thanks to God for your food and then turn your prayer into a prayer of blessing for your supervisor and those around you will not know what your "angle" is.
They may try to guess your "angle." You may finish your prayer and someone may remark, "You're gonna kill him with kindness, huh?" And if you say "yes," you will not have surpassed anyone's expectations, but if you say, "No, I truly want God to bless him, and I have no resentment to him," you will be demonstrating your true identity as a child of your heavenly Father.
We go beyond love in the next verse and we go to simple courtesy, common respect toward others. Jesus says, "If you greet your brethren only, what are you doing more than others." It is expected that you say hi to people that you know and get along with. That is "common courtesy." You walk into a room and there you spot a friend, it is considered rude not to go say 'hello' or at the very least to give a wave or even a head nod in acknowledgement. This is common, this is normal, this is natural in this sinful world even among traitors, and even among those who do not believe in and follow God.
In fact, it is not an uncommon thing in the unsaved world that if there is a room full of friends and a couple of enemies that you and I would greet all of our friends and skip over the enemies. No one would think that was out of the ordinary, and no one would even say that not greeting your enemies would be a breach of common courtesy.
But just as we are called, and indeed our nature dictates that we show uncommon love, our nature also dictates that we live beyond common courtesy into the realm of uncommon kindness. If I only greet those that I get along with, then I am just like the world. You and I are different. You and I are called to be more.
The phrase, "What do ye more than others," tells us a lot. We are called to do more than others, more than what is common. This is expected of us because this is in our nature as children of God. This is who we are. But there is a little detail that I want to point out that makes this even more clear. Notice that the question is recorded as, "What do ye more than others?" This may cause us to think that as long as we are doing more than other people, we are good to go. But we are never meant to compare ourselves with others.
If you have a King James Version, you will notice that the end of this question is in italics. Specifically, the words "than others" are found in italics. When you see words in italics in the King James Version, this normally indicates that these particular words have been added for clarity. Translating will always bring about the challenge of conveying the proper meaning of the of the original language while trying to use, as best as possible, the same words that were used in the original language.
This is not always possible. For example, we understand the meaning of the phrase, "to jump the gun." This is a negative phrase that means that someone started something before they were supposed to. However, if I were to translate this into Spanish, I would not be able to use these words. Otherwise, in Mexico, I would be conveying the idea of someone jumping up and down on a pistol. The meaning would then be lost in translation. So, instead, I would translate the phrase to mean something along the lines of, "to start early in a way that has or could have an negative consequence."
Similarly, words need to be added that were not included in the original language at times to clarify a phrase or sentence that is being conveyed. This is what has happened here in this verse.
It makes more sense to the English-speaking person to hear the phrase, "If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?" On the other hand, it sounds as if something is missing if we were to hear, "if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more?"
The words "than others" were added so that were wisely added by the translators so that we could more effectively understand the verse without having a whole commentary to read about it. However, what it also has a danger of doing is that it communicates a standard of comparison that did not exist in Jesus' original sermon. We are simply to do more. How much more? Just more than what is common, more than what others in our immediate vicinity are doing? How much more? The amount that will show the unsaved world that we are God's children.
Our only standard of comparison is Jesus Christ.
We are to be different. How different? As different as Jesus was from the world around him.
I Can Be Perfect
Not only am I different, but I am perfect, or I can be perfect. V. 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
The word "perfect" in verse 48 does not mean "sinless." It means complete in the area of labor, growth, or mental and moral character. It also means finished, lacking nothing, fully grown, or mature.
What then does this mean for me and you? "Be perfect", be complete, be fully developed philosophically and morally. How? By being more. Being more than the world and being like your Father in heaven especially in the areas of loving others.
When you can love your enemy, when you can love others that no one would blame you for hating, when you can treat others with respect that no one would blame you for ignoring, then, and only then, can you be perfect, complete, mature like your Father in heaven is perfect.
Remember Who You Are
I want to end with v. 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
The reason behind why we let God develop these character traits within us, the drive behind being poor in spirit, mournful over sin, meek, hungry and thirsty after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers; the drive behind us not holding on to anger, mortifying the sin in our lives, being true to our spouses, being true to our words, dying to self, and loving our enemies is so that we can reflect the truest thing about us and that is that we are the children of God.
It is so easy to remember that we are when we are here in this building. But what about at home? What about at work? Do we remember who we are there?
If you are a Christian and these things are difficult for you to do, then you have departed from your true nature. Your nature is now that of a child of God. But right now you have two natures in you. You have the sinful nature, what Paul in his epistles often called "the natural man." And you have God's own spiritual nature in you as well. The one you feed, the one that you tend to the most will be the one that you will act out.
Remember who you are.
Invitation
God gives us a victorious nature.
The fleshly, sinful nature is a condemned and defeated one.
Life Groups
Did anything stand out to you?
How does understanding your identity as a child of God influence the way you interact with others, especially those who may be difficult to love?
In what ways does the Sermon on the Mount reveal the contrast between the world's standards and the standards of God's kingdom?
What does spiritual maturity look like in practical terms?
What does it mean to go beyond "common courtesy" and practice "uncommon kindness"? Can you share a time when you saw or experienced this?
What role does the Holy Spirit play in helping us live out the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount?
How do you deal with the tension between your old sinful nature and your new nature as a child of God?
Why do you think Jesus emphasizes identity over behavior in the Sermon on the Mount?
How can we support each other in our journey toward spiritual maturity and completeness in Christ?
In what ways can the community of believers help remind you of who you are in Christ, especially when it’s difficult to live out that identity?
What practical steps can you take to remember and live out your true identity in moments of stress or conflict?
