What Does My Life Say?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
College bible studies, valentines dinner, prayer cards
What is the Sermon on the Mount?
From Matthew 5-7 we see something called the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is just that- it is a sermon that Jesus preaches while sitting on a mountain!
Now, Rabbi’s of the time would often preach the same message multiple times. This is why Luke and Matthew record it at different places in Jesus’s ministry.
Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount covers a LITANY of topics, but if I had to give you one central idea it is this: WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO LIVE AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS!
I want to be clear- there’s a difference between teaching on how we ought to live and LEGALISM!
Legalism is thinking that if you DON’T DO SOMETHING THEN YOU CAN’T BE SAVED, or that YOUR WORKS SAVE YOU!
That is not at all what we see in the Sermon on the Mount.
Instead, what we see is HOW WE ARE TO LIVE AND HOW WE ARE TO FOLLOW CHRIST!
We could break down the sermon on the mount like this:
Chapter 5 shows us how the LAW CANNOT SAVE US!
Chapter 6 teaches us what our faith should look like!
Chapter 7 teaches us how we can EITHER HAVE JESUS OR THE LAW!
We can’t have both! We just can’t! Look at it like this- either you are saved by God’s GRACE ALONE or you are saved by YOUR WORKS! THEY CAN’T CO-EXIST!
Main Point: Our Entire Life Should Reflect Our Faith in Jesus!
Main Point: Our Entire Life Should Reflect Our Faith in Jesus!
Matthew 5:1-12 is painting a picture for us of what it looks like for our life to be marked by being DISCIPLES OF JESUS!
Body
Body
Matthew 5:1-2
Matthew 5:1-2
The Sermon on the Mount starts with the setting. Jesus has been traveling around in Matthew 4. In fact, Matthew 4:23-25 provides some good context.
23 Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 Then the news about him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And he healed them. 25 Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
Jesus has called disciples and has begun traveling around preaching when Matthew 5 opens up.
1 When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them, saying:
Jesus sees the crowd and he goes up on a mountain side and sits down.
As Jesus sits there, his disciples and others come to him and JESUS BEGINS TO TEACH!
This sermon covers many different things, but it is going to begin with 8 statements that tell us what our HEART ATTITUDES AND WHAT OUR LIVES SHOULD LOOK LIKE!
Each one of these statements comes with a promise- and we know that God will ALWAYS BE FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES.
The structure of these statements is interesting. They always begin with an ADJECTIVE- BLESSED.
Now why is that? Why does that matter?
It matters because an adjective is used to DESCRIBE SOMETHING! An adjective gives the innermost TRAITS of something!
And WE ARE DESCRIBED AS BLESSED! As followers of Jesus we are INHERENTLY BLESSED!
Matthew 5:3-10
Matthew 5:3-10
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Looking at the first statement- we read, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
And the promise? FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS THEIRS.”
The phrase “Poor in Spirit” is used one time in the Bible- it is only used here.
It’s made up of a few words.
The word we translate as poor is πτωχοὶ which can also mean DEPENDENT!
So let’s sub that in- “Blessed are the dependent in spirit.”
But now what are these blessed people dependent on?
They are dependent on God! They are dependent on Jesus! They are DEPENDENT ON THE SPIRIT OF GOD RATHER THAN THEMSELVES!
And friends, if we truly grasp the GOSPEL- THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS- then we should grasp this! This is exactly where we SHOULD BE! We SHOULD BE DEPENDENT ON GOD!
Look at the promise- “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS THEIRS!”
And this perfectly lines up with passages of scripture like John 14:6
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So who do we depend on? JESUS! WHO DO WE APPROACH “POOR IN SPIRIT,” OR LITERALLY NEEDING SOMETHING!
JESUS!
WE APPROACH GOD LIKE THIS AND WE WILL BE GIVEN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN- OR LITERALLY, WE WILL SPEND ETERNITY WITH GOD! THIS IS WHAT SALVATION IS ALL ABOUT!
Also, notice something- verse 3 and verse 10 both give us the SAME PROMISE!
Friends- Jesus is using a CHIASTIC STRUCTURE HERE TO EMPHASIZE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO FOLLOW HIM WHILE REMINDING US OF HOW WE WILL SPEND ETERNITY IN HEAVEN WITH HIM!
Matthew 5:4
Matthew 5:4
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
The second beatitude deals with what we do when we are hurting.
BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN- or literally grieve, or lament! BLESSED ARE THEY BECAUSE THEY WILL BE COMFORTED!
This is a really interesting promise from God. See, 5 of the 8 beatitudes have PASSIVE promises, or in other words promises that will occur but don’t require action.
The first and the 8th promise have an active verb- “IS” referring to how the kingdom of HEAVEN IS OURS!
But this one is a little different. Here is AN ACTIVE VERB THAT SHOWS US HOW GOD WILL ACTIVELY COMFORT US WHEN WE ARE MOURNING!
Cornerstone Family, are you hurting? Listen, GOD IS ACTIVELY BRINGING YOU COMFORT!
Cornerstone Family, are you mourning? GOD IS ACTIVELY BRINGING YOU COMFORT!
God is our COMFORTER!
Matthew 5:5
Matthew 5:5
5 Blessed are the humble,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are the HUMBLE!
Really this one TIES IN SO CLOSELY WITH THE FIRST ONE!
If we are going to be DEPENDENT ON GOD, then we MUST BE HUMBLE!
Now- you may have heard this word translated as meek, which today has a slightly different connotation and can be seen as weakness, but in a BIBLICAL SETTINg, it really is talking about HUMILITY!
And we see that the HUMBLE WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!
This can bring us back to a prophecy from Daniel 7. Daniel 7:27
27 The kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey him.’
THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOW GOD ARE THOSE PEOPEL WHO WILL INHERIT THE KINGDOMS UNDER HEAVEN!
Now, as we know from Jesus’s life, God isn’t promising political power, but God is promising this ETERNAL UNION WITH HIM THAT THE HUMBLE WHO KNOW HIM WILL HAVE!
Matthew 5:6
Matthew 5:6
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Fourth we read that we should be HUNGRY AND THIRSTY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS- which means to be WITHOUT SIN!
As we hunger and thirst for righteousness there is only one possible thing that will SATISFY US!
And that is GOD!
If we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, then WE MUST GROW TO BE MORE LIKE GOD!
And the promise in verse 6 is that GOD WILL MAKE US MORE LIKE HIM!
In other words- as we hunger and thirst for GOD, WE WILL BE SANCTIFIED! WE WILL GROW CLOSER TO GOD!
If you want to grow closer to God, GOD WILL PROVIDE THAT!
What a great promise this is!
AND LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TODAY- HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS- or being WITHOUT SIN!
Further, if your faith is in JESUS THEN YOIU HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE RIGHTEOUS!
See, Romans 5:1 makes clear that WE ARE CALLED RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE OF OUR FAITH!
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
JUSTIFIED=SET FREE AND MADE RIGHTEOUS!
Matthew 5:7
Matthew 5:7
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
This THRUST TOWARDS SALVATION AND GOD’S MERCY continues in verse 7.
BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL!
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY WILL BE SHOWN MERCY!
The mercy here in verse 7 is not talking about “If you are merciful towards people, some random person will be merciful towards you.”
Instead, it is saying, “YOU HAVE GOD’S MERCIFUL HAND ON YOU!” AND WE SEE THAT THROUGH JESUS’S LIFE AND OUR SALVTATION!
The merciful in verse 7 reflect God’s mercy to us!
Once again- this is not a legalistic command- this is not something to use when a Christian is upset or frustrated because you’ve wronged them.
Instead, this is a STATEMENT BACKED UP WITH A PROMISE FROM THE GOSPEL!
THIS VESRE SHOULD GIVE US CONFIDENCE! The BEATITUDES SHOULD GIVE US CONFIDENCE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT JUST STATEMENTS, THEY ARE GOSPEL CENTERED DECLARATIONS OF FACT!
Matthew 5:8
Matthew 5:8
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Next we see that the PURE IN HEART ARE CALLED BLESSED!
This is literally talking about someone with a CLEAN HEART- or a HEART FREE FROM SIN!
BUT ACCORDING TO ROMANS 3:23 that is impossible!
And it is IMPOSSIBLE… for us to make our hearts clean.
A few weeks ago I was working on Hope’s car. And after about an hour my hands were basically black. Imagine if I would have gone in to change sheets on a bed without washing my hands.
I could have taken those sheets and put them on the bed and by the time I did, they would be FILTHY!
And that’s our hearts! We need something to change! For my hands, I need soap and water, for our HEARTS WE NEED GOD!
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
So who is speaking here? GOD IS! GOD IS PROMISING A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT!
BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE THEM PURE IN HEART!
AND THEY WILL SEE GOD! Cornerstone Family, what more could we want then to SEE GOD!
And we WILL SEE GOD!
Matthew 5:9
Matthew 5:9
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
The Seventh statement is about peace.
BLESSED ARE PEACEMAKERS!
AND? BECAUSE THEY WILL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD!
Can I tell you something?
AS CHRIST-FOLLOWERS, AS DISCIPLES OF JESUS, WE ARE CALLED TO BE PEACEMAKERS! 1 Thessalonians 5:13 reminds us of this!
But further we are seeing a call to a new identity!
We are called SONS OF GOD!
This is a new identity that we carry as PEACEMAKERS!
And further, we don’t just make PEACE, we BRING THE MESSAGE OF PEACE! WE ARE AMBASSADORS OF PEACE!
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”
We simply must declare this message of PEACE TO THE WORLD! IT IS OUR DUTY, IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY, IT IS OUR HIGHEST CALLING!
WE MUST BE PEACEMAKERS!
Matthew 5:10
Matthew 5:10
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Finally- blessed are those who are PERSECUTED BECAUSE OF GOD!
Listen- this is serious stuff. Jesus promises us persecution. John 15:18
18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you.
Like I think that sometimes we think that if we face rejection it means that we MUST STOP!
But in reality, it means that we need to double down and keep going!
See, all around the world believers are facing peprsecution as JESUS’S WORDS in John 15:18 are true.
There’s a great resource called “Open Doors US” that publishes a guide for praying for the 50 countries that persecute christians the most.
And this week I was reading through it and praying through it and I was just struck by the reality of the situation.
Listen, it’s easy for us to read this verse and say, “Great.” But when Boko Haram shows up to a house in Nigeria and asks if you’re a Christian, or when the Somalian police show up to arrest a believer, it becomes very real.
Now, I’m not saying that we never face someone who disagrees wtih our faith or who looks down on us for being a Christ-follower- we definitely do. But we also have been SO BLESSED!
And yet even in the face of persecution God still is with and BLESSES believers!
How you might ask? BY GIVING THIS PROMISE!
“THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS YOURS!”
Just as verse 3 promised this earlier, the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO THEM!
And listen, the disciples themselves experienced this exact thing!
Except for Judas they were all martyrs. They were persecuted for their faith but it was all worth it because at the end of this race on earth is eternity with Jesus1
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BELONGS TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW GOD!
HEAR THAT THIS MORNING! REJOICE IN THAT THIS MORNING! REST IN THAT THIS MORNING!
Matthew 5:11-12
Matthew 5:11-12
I love how Jesus ends this section of the Sermon on the Mount- listen to what He says:
11 “You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
It’s the opposite of what our world tells us to want!
We are Blessed WHEN:
Someone insults us
Someone persecutes us
Someone falsely speaks evil against us because we follow god!
And then, rather than getting even, or seeking out justice, we should respond by:
Being Glad!
Rejoicing! (This is a passive verb- so it means that we should be rejoicing as a state of being!)
And why do we do this when we face rejection?
We do it because our reward is in heaven.
As we were told i verse 3 and 10, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS OURS!
THAT IS OUR REWARD! NOT EARTHLY COMFORT!
And then Jesus reminds us of how the prophets were treated.
I just want to spend like 2 minutes touching on some of these:
Jeremiah- thrown in a cistern- BECAUSE HE PROPHESIED THE TRUTH- GOD’S JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM!- Jeremiah 38!
Isaiah- Sawed in two because King Manasseh hated his MESSIANIC PROPHECIES!
Daniel- was a slave in a foreign country
Amos- is a shepherd who is an outcast in society
Zechariah- 2 Chronicles 24:20-22
20 The Spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the Lord’s commands so that you do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, he has abandoned you.’ ” 21 But they conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple. 22 King Joash didn’t remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him, but killed his son. While he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and demand an account.”
He’s killed!
Zechariah (who wrote the book)- Matthew 23:35
35 So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
They killed THE OTHER ZECHARIAH ALSO!
That’s how the prophets were treated! They were absolutely DESPISED!
They were HATED!
And Jesus Himself talks about how HE FACED REJECTION in Luke 4:24.
24 He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
Or consider that Jesus’s family tried to take Him home because they THOUGHT THAT HE WAS INSANE!
Friends, this is what we are promised as disciples! It won’t always be easy and peopel will look at us differently!
But let me challenge you with this- Living a life where we follow Jesus is not a life of ease or luxury but it is what we are called to do.
Today, for our applications, I have 4 statements on what BEING A DISCIPLE IS FOR US THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MATTHEW 5:1-12.
Application
Application
Being a Disciple is Our True Calling
Being a Disciple is Our True Calling
Like we established at the very beginning of our time today, MATTHEW 5:1-12 is about BEING A DISCIPLE!
There’s a reason that Jesus talks about this first in His sermon on the Mount.
THE FIRST THING THAT HE SAYS- THE MOST IMPORTANT AND BASIC THING IS TO BE A DISCIPLE!
We could say it like this- BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS IS OUR TRUE CALLING!
We all have to build our life on something and I want to challenge you that this passage shows us that THE FIRM FOUNDATION OF OUR LIFE MUST BE FAITH IN JESUS BECAUSE OUR TRUE CALLING IS BEING A DISCIPLE!
Practically, let me explain what that means.
GOSPEL- THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO!
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
REPENT AND BELIEVE!
EMBRACE THE TRUE CALLING THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU!
If you are saved- Example of how we build our lives- sand, rocks, etc.
Our calling is to BE A DISCIPLE AND TO BE A DISCIPLEMAKER!
Being a Disciple is Our Real Purpose
Being a Disciple is Our Real Purpose
Being a disciple is our REAL PURPOSE- it is TANGIBLE
Being a disciple is a tangible thing.
We can see that we are a disciple when we OBEY JESUS!
And that directly shapes our lives.
Let me highlight some of what Jesus talked about today:
Being a peacemaker
Being Merciful
Hungering for Righteousness
Being Humble
Friends, in just these 4 characteristics we start to see a glimpse of what it really means to BE A DISCIPLE!
Being a disciple IS NOT JUST A CALLING, it GIVES US A PURPOSE!
See, as we live out these different attributes, we have the opportunity to bring GLORY TO GOD AND TO BRING THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE AROUND US!
Glorify God- Psalm 100!
Bring the Gospel to someone around you- Matthew 28:18-20
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Our purpose is to BE A DISCIPLE AND TO BE A DISCIPLEMAKER!
Being a Disciple is Good for Us
Being a Disciple is Good for Us
Being a DISCIPLE GIVES US A CHANCE TO IMPACT THE WORLD!
Our lives will be different if we are DISCIPLES AND NOT ONLY DOES THIS SCREAM THE GOSPEL TO PEOPLE, it ALSO CHALLENGES US TO GROW! AND WE NEED TO GROW TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS!
As we walk with God we will naturally hunger more for righteousness and more and more and more!
The hardest step in growing to be like God is the first step!
So today, take the first step to follow God. (Baptism, get in God’s Word, join a CG, join a Bible Study, get involved in discipleship- if you are interested in being discipled or discipling someone else, TALK TO ME!)
Being a DISCIPLE AND A DISCIPLEMAKER IS GOOD FOR US AND FOR THE WORLD AROUND US! DISCIPLEMAKING IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO IMPACT THE WORLD!
Being a Disciple is Beautiful for Our World
Being a Disciple is Beautiful for Our World
Being a disciple is beautiful- because nothing else seems or is good enough or meaningful enough. Being a disciple gives us RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD AND OTHERS, A CAUSE- (What we just talked about) and requires ALL OF US!
Being a disciple of Jesus is a beautiful thing!
It’s easy to feel frustrated with the world in one way or another. And there’s no shame in that.
But I do want to move us from CYNISCISM TO OPTIMISM!
Because there’s a BEAUTIFUL SOLUTION THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US!
And it’s worth investing our LIFE INTO!
And that is being a disciple and a disciplemaker!
Friends, being a disciple is WORTH INVESTING OUR LIFE INTO!
It’s how we see the world CHANGE!
If you are looking for something to change the world, it will be PEOPLE COMING TO KNOW GOD!
And as DISCIPLES, OUR JOB IS TO POINT PEOPLE TO GOD!
Friends, I just want to invite you- BE A DISCIPLE! DEDICATE YOUR LIFE TO BEING A DISCIPLE! PRACTICALLY, let’s LIVE OUT MATTHEW 5! Let’s PURSUE GOD AND MAKE THAT OUR CENTRAL FOCUS!
Let me pray for us.
