Kingdom Standards
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever tried to join a club? Maybe it was little johnny’s treehouse down the street when you were growing up, maybe it was a fraternity or sorority in college, or maybe it was as simple as AAA. Hey just pay the annual fee, you’re in you can get some discounts at places and not worry about dealing with a tow truck if you break down on your road trip. They’ve all got expectations for their members. It might be as simple as no girls allowed for johnny’s treehouse or as complicated as being enrolled in the right degree program, knowing the right people, and showing enough prospect of influence in the world to be invited to that special fraternity.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not a club that you just have to pay dues for or answer all the right questions on a test like getting into MENSA it’s just not like the kingdom of the world. The Kingdom of Heaven has much higher standards, it requires perfection.
We’re going to be in the book of Matthew for a three part series about this Kingdom. We start this week with Kingdom Standards then we’ll look at Kingdom Mission, and Kingdom Reality over the next weeks.
The sermon on the mount underscores Kingdom Standards with Character, Heart, and Foundation. These standards of kingdom citizens gets laid out over chapters 5 through 7 that make up the sermon on the mount.
We start in chapter 5
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
This is amazing, can you think of another man who went up a mountain and then taught people about what God is establishing and how they would live? If you’ve been joining us Wednesday nights I really hope you’ve immediately leapt to Moses and Mt Sinai. There is a big difference between the events that happen. Moses stands to receive and repeat the law to the people. Jesus sits down and gives new teaching directly. This is one of the moments that I expect would be obvious for the first century Jew to notice; Whether they were there or are reading the book of Matthew. It’s Matthew’s purpose in this book to show his people the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah they have been expecting. The first point this morning is all about the character of the citizens of the Kingdom.
Character
Character
We are kicked off with the beatitudes. A word I thought meant the attitude you should be but it turns out that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about the “Blessed” referenced in verses 3-12. The Word that’s used here in Matthew is a word that was used for the Greek god’s of Mt. Olympus. This weekend the new big movie coming out is an epic telling of the classic Homer’s Odyssey. Homer uses this same word all over the story to speak of the gods or occasionally of a mortal with untouchable wealth. You see the kingdom of the world says “blessed” is a description for the ones with all the power and wealth. But Jesus, unlike Homer, is describing the Kingdom of Heaven where He applies it to the people in the opposite condition.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted.
Poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted.
These aren’t just random attributes look how it progresses. You have to start at the beginning. Crushed by your own sin realizing your state of spiritual bankruptcy. You mourn your sinfulness. That kills pride and makes you meek. This life that lives on God’s grace hungers and thirsts for righteousness. It continues on as it matures in mercy, purity, and peacemaking and it perseveres through persecution and revilement. This takes us to examine the heart, because many might claim they are those very labels.
Heart
Heart
By this point in history there have been hundreds of years of tradition that started to put these extra guardrails around the law that we see given in the books of Moses, those first five books of the Bible. These weren’t all bad certainly the intention was good to help the people not fall into sin and rebellion that lead to their exile into Babylon. But It also took away things like the purpose of the law in the heart of man and turned everything into a checklist. If you remember this was a little bit like what I had done in my own walk. I think the impulse to reduce things down is very human. This lead to claiming they were without sin by lowering the bar so far down it could be walked right over. So when we keep reading Jesus’ sermon here we get to moments He says “You have heard it said” He isn’t talking about what Moses wrote in the Bible but what the rabbis have all reduced to a checklist of holiness. Let’s see the first example here.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Jesus is pointing out how the tradition pointed to the prohibition of murder. Their commentary and approach to the law allowed everyone to go right up to the line of actually killing someone and only take one step back. Then since you didn’t kill them you must be right before God. This is the definition of taking the letter of the law but not its spirit. So Jesus flips it to taking the spirit of the law to the furthest extent like they took the letter. If you’re angry with another you will be the one accountable to judgment. Then Jesus walks through the progression of anger before actual murder happens.
Anger in your heart? That’ll get you sent to the local courthouse. Oh you step it up and insult them? That’s worth taking you before the highest human court the whole council of the sanhedrin. And if you say “You fool!” which might sound silly to our ears but for these people who understand the scriptures they know what the fool of proverbs is. They know those who are considered a fool in the scriptures are the ones who have rejected God, who have become morally corrupt and a blight on humanity before God. So for someone to call another a fool in that context is like the vile character assassination an argument online tends to devolve into. It goes beyond the human courts and you’ll be subjected to the fire of hell! Jesus is stepping up the intensity here.
Anger to insult, insult to character assassination. Before you even get to murder you have already exceeded the punishment scale. That’s the way the law was supposed to affect the people. It should be the mold for your heart that shaped you in godliness. Instead it became the simplistic most basic checklist. Did I end the life of another human today? No? I am amazingly holy. It’s absurd!
What’s the opposite posture look like? Jesus gives an example for it. Remember at this moment he’s speaking in Galilee a several day journey to the temple, If your brother has something against you. Not if you’re angry, if someone else is angry with you, go and make peace! This is turning things around even more. Here we’re not even focused on the one that got angry but the one receiving the anger. Do you see how far away from murder we’ve gotten at this point? So the one who is the object of another persons anger should stop, leave the gift of offering there at the temple. Abandon the likely once a year most holy religious ceremony to make a multi-day trek back home and make peace, then you can once again take this expensive journey to the temple and complete your religious duties and honors before God. Being religious doesn’t get you out of dealing with the mess of human existence and reconciliation. This is exactly the character of the peacemaker Jesus mentioned before.
He doesn’t stop there either he does the same thing through this chapter with the interpretations of adultery and lust, lies and oaths, retaliation and grace, then concluding with a radical push back of their twisting the command to love your neighbor to allow you to hate your enemy.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The book of Leviticus is where we first see the command that you should love your neighbor as yourself.
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
The problem is how this later gets twisted and interpreted. First they end up defining neighbor as only those who are pious and following the law. Then they add something entirely on top of this. They say hate your enemy. That phrase isn’t in the scriptures or the law. In fact you can see counter examples through the law about treating your enemies well but that did not deter the Rabbis from interpreting it to lower the bar. After all if you lower the bar, it looks like you’re standing much higher! We do have evidence they were teaching this too. It was found in one of the dead sea scrolls in the instructions for the Master of the community for who they should admit and what they should teach and we see this about the kind of people that should be part of the community. “ and that they may love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God's design, and hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his guilt in God's vengeance.” (1QS I:9-10) So this is the sort of teaching Jesus is boldly contradicting. Like the other points he makes here in what the heart of a citizen of the Kingdom looks like, he flips the expectations around; Love your enemies. Jesus grounds this with the justification of God’s own actions through nature. The sun rises and the rain comes for all good and bad. What kind of sign would it be, or how would the Kingdom of Heaven be any different than the Kingdom of this world if you only loved those who loved you? Then he lands the final blow that wraps up what our hearts should have been molded to.
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Now it’s important we go back for a moment to how this section of the heart was prefaced. In verses 17-20 Jesus makes clear he’s not against, or rejecting the scripture, he didn’t come to abolish but fulfill. He’s pushing back against this relaxing of the law as we saw he elevates to the spirit of the law which is perfection. He makes a critical point here though.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
In other words unless you are perfect you won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Not perfect like the ones who said love your neighbor hate your enemy made their own loopholes to claim perfection, but the higher standard of a heart that is perfect. The Heart of a Kingdom citizen cannot be achieved it can only be given. In Justification God treats sinners as if they had never sinned and grants them His righteousness. That is what we call good news!
What follows in chapter six and seven are the examples of what it means to live a life with the character and heart of a Kingdom citizen. Don’t be showy with your generosity or prayer to get the praise of other people. Here is where we get an example of prayer in its simplest form. We can use the Lord’s prayer as the example to ward against the religious checklist that takes us away from God and puts reliance on ourselves.
In prayer like the Lord’s prayer we start with Worship of God. “Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name.” then Align ourselves with God’s desire above our own. “You kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” now Rely on God to be sustained and forgiven. “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” and lastly our need for God to Deliver us “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” WARD Worship, Align, Rely, Deliver
How do we fast, handle money, deal with the things of everyday life, and judge correctly? These questions are answered differently by the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven than they are by those of the world. We’re reminded we should seek out good gifts from God. Our relationships change. We love people the way we want to be loved, but we aren’t naive, we pay attention to what fruit they produce. It’s not good enough to just hear the message of the Bible and say “oh yes that’s right.” You need to be someone who has been changed by God and lives as a Kingdom citizen.
Which brings us to the final point, what other standard makes the Kingdom of Heaven different than the Kingdom of the world?
Foundation
Foundation
“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.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The foolish builder heard the same words as the wise man. Notice the wise man is named first and then his actions the same with the foolish man. The actions, the obedience didn’t make the man wise, or the fool a fool. It was because he was wise that he was obedient. How can we know that character and heart are followed by our actions rather than the other way around?
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
He knew you, he chose you, he made you Christ like. It is the work of God that has placed you into the Kingdom of heaven. The character and heart of true citizens are not self made but God made. How does a citizen of Heaven respond to what Christ has commanded? Obedience. How does the worldly citizen respond? By doing what they want. For the Kingdom citizen there is a call to obedience. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean turning into an instant and perfect robot who no longer messes up as they walk through the world while a citizen of heaven. The difference is the Kingdom citizen has a desire to obey the King.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not like the Kingdom of the world. The foundations we have are built on a completed work of Christ. Jesus humbled himself to be a man and walk among us. He was tempted, he suffered, and was persecuted. He lived a perfect life that did not sin. That perfection took on our sin that we would be justified before God. As justified believers we’re reminded that following our Lord is a radical walk of character and heart firmly planted on the foundation of the Gospel. Christ is our rock and when life’s problems arise, when the rain falls, flood comes, and winds blow our house does not fall. Our citizenship in a heavenly Kingdom does not crumble because it is anchored to the rock. You can see this in the lives of saints who have been through the wringer of a worldly kingdom where most would crumble. The world answers with self help books or destructive distractions from reality. Even some churches point to moralism or preach “you should try harder to be a better person and do the right thing.” I preach to you this: Christ crucified for your sins risen the third day according to the scriptures and seen by many before ascending to the right hand of the Father. Your strength is not of a self made willpower like the world sees strength but from Christ who has completed his work for you. The citizens of the world around you need to hear the Word of Christ.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Our mission as a kingdom citizen is to take the Gospel to the world, that they may be transformed through faith into citizens of the heavenly kingdom. Next week we’re looking at kingdom mission but this week I want you examine yourselves. Are you living a Christian life from a clipboard checking off your own holiness or are you standing firm on the completed work of Christ? Jerry and I will be down front to pray with you, encourage you, and exhort you to live out kingdom citizenship.
