Forming a Kingdom People

Forming a Kingdom People

Psalm 1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

POP

True human flourishing comes through spiritual formation as our lives are rightly ordered toward God and enjoying Him. 

Kids

Following God’s way helps us to love him and live with joy.

Introduction:

“God wants us to be happy.”

Delighting in God’s law

Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Flourishing comes through obedience

Psalm 1:3–4 “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

The righteous will stand on the last day

Psalm 1:5–6 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Having briefly observed the blessedness of the one who delights in the law of the Lord, let us now make a few introductory observations on how to read the Sermon on the Mount and how Jesus forms such a people into citizens of his kingdom.

1. The sermon forms a virtuous kingdom people. 

By virtue, I do not mean mere moralism or being a ‘good’ person.

Rather, I mean a life that shows a disposition of doing good shaped by God’s revelation of His law and the freedom experienced through Christ.

We are called to live holy by God’s standards, and we are free to do so through Christ’s accomplishments.

Let me be clear, this freedom is not to earn our justification before God. The Sermon on the Mount is not the way to earn God’s love or to become kingdom people. Rather, because of our justification, we can freely obey God’s law. The Sermon on the Mount is the way of life for the justified, not the way of life to become justified.

Notice the Psalmist does not say the man is blessed because he begrundgingly follows the law, is free from the requirements of the law, or outwardly checks all the boxes of the law, but he is blessed because he delights in the law.

Bedtime/naptime — we do not like this as children, over time, we begin to delight and desire this sleep and realize this sleep can bring us greater joy when rightly observed.

“The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not meant to be admired but to be obeyed.” R. T. France

Matthew 5:17–20 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Psalms 1 calls the wise man a tree that will not wither, and Jesus calls him the house that will not fall.

The blessed and wise experience joy because God is their enjoyment.

We will experience joy and peace with God when we rightly order our lives aimed toward living for him.

And the law will be our delight when we understand the gospel frees us to live by the law, which instructs us how to live as we were created to live.

2. The sermon reveals a flourishing kingdom life. 

The Psalmist shows that the one who delights and lives by God’s law becomes fruitful and shows signs of health.

“The Sermon is Christianity’s answer to the greatest metaphysical question that humanity has always faced—How can we experience true human flourishing? What is happiness, blessedness, shalom, and how does one obtain and sustain it?” Jonathan Pennington

The sermon begins with the Beatitudes — the term “Blessed” could be translated “happier”, “fortunate”, or “flourishing.”.

The idea is not a prosperity gospel ‘happy’ of health, wealth, and happiness or an earthly version of ‘happy’ that seeks to find it from within, your feelings, or your circumstances.

Rather, this happiness is an experience of true joy that is not rooted in our circumstances but in our position before God.

The Beatitudes show that we can suffer and face persecution and be blessed. The Sermon as a whole shows us that our blessed state comes from delighting in God. You can resist retaliation because you belong to something greater than this world when you are belittled. You do not have to worry because God cares more for his people than the rest of Creation. We can face any storm in our lives because our foundation is built on Christ.

You can be happy and blessed, and you should be, because you are free to enjoy God and to be in his kingdom.

Matthew 7:24–26 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

The blessed life is the life aimed toward enjoying, trusting, and honoring God.

3. The sermon shapes an anticipating kingdom hope. 

The hope of the Sermon, and the thrust of its imperatives, is rooted in the kingdom not yet fully experienced.

The Sermon does speak of a kingdom people, and it does imply, and point toward, the king, but it is a kingdom not yet realized.

We know from the rest of Scripture that the eternal and final kingdom of God will not include suffering and sin. Therefore, these kingdom people described in the Sermon are not yet home.

This is an already-not-yet kingdom with an already-not-yet kingdom people.

The king is already on the throne, and the people are already promised citizenship in the kingdom.

However, the kingdom is not yet fully realized, and the kingdom's people are not yet glorified.

Matthew 6:19–24 ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

The Sermon on the Mount instructs us that sanctification is not merely about obedience but much more about delight.

Sanctification is not merely about doing all the right things but enjoying them, for only by living according to God’s standard of living do we truly experience human flourishing.

The Sermon on the Mount teaches Christians how to live as citizens of his kingdom, though we have not fully entered that kingdom yet.

Romans 5:1–11 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

At the beginning, I said that God wants us to be happy. This is not an earthly, shallow happiness the world pursues, but a joy and peace only experienced through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and ordained by the Father. It is a life that can only be shaped by Christ and aimed toward God, marked by eternal contentment, peace, and satisfaction.