Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount - Part 1

Turn to Matthew Chapter 5

This Chap and the 2 that follow make up what has become a pretty famous sermon -

the Sermon on the Mount

It is Jesus’ longest continual discourse that is recorded in the gospels

I was hesitant to talk about the Sermon on the Mount

Most are familiar with it, many can recite portions of it

I was like, “Lord,REALLY? What can we possibly find that’s new?”

The Lord’s response was, “Oh ye of little faith.”

I think to have the Sermon on the Mount in context we need to start in Matt 4 so lets read -

Read Matt 4:17 - Matt 5:12

In 4:17, Jesus begins public ministry with the proclamation - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matt 4:17)

More detail in Luke 4:14-21

Jesus Work is Accompanied by the Holy Spirit - Luke 4: 14-15

14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

Jesus’ work is accompanied by the Holy Spirit from the very beginning. As Luke shows, the Spirit leads, fills, and empowers.

Zechariah in Luke 1:15, 67-79,

his wife, Elizabeth in Luke 1:41,

Simeon in Luke 2:25-32,

and John the Baptist in Luke 3:16,

They all experience the Spirit and proclaim truth through the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:22,

the Spirit then leads Jesus into the wilderness for a time of fasting and temptation - Luke 4:1.

Spirit leads, fills, and empowers for prophetic work -

Zechariah - Luke 1:15, 67-69

Elizabeth - Luke 1:41

Simeon - Luke 2:25-32

John the Baptist - Luke 3:16

Jesus - Luke 3:22, Luke 4:1

So, when we see Jesus being led by the Spirit in Luke 4:14, we shouldn’t be surprised to encounter guidance, empowerment, and prophetic words.

16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

In a lot of ways, this was one of those “hometown kid makes good” stories.

You know the kind.

Promising young guy heads off to college and comes back a multi-millionaire because he invented this thing called Facebook while he was in school.

That cute girl with the dimples and long hair who played piano in high school becomes the United States Secretary of State. It’s that sort of thing.

The neighbors and relatives who knew Jesus as a boy are eager to see him now,

He’s grown man who has achieved some fame for doing remarkable things.

So, on the Sabbath, everyone flocks to the synagogue, to hear this young preacher and to see if maybe he might perform one of those healing miracles they’ve heard about.

And, as was his custom on the Sabbath day, Jesus also goes to the synagogue to worship. The local religious leaders approach him the minute he comes through the door. Would he be willing to read from a book of the Prophets, and perhaps share some insight into those words with the people?

“Jesus’s central message in the sermon will be that God sees and cares about the heart, not external righteous deeds and religion.” 

Luke had just revealed to us that Jesus was in fact truly righteous. • We saw it DECLARED at His baptism • We saw it DEMONSTRATED during His temptation.

Jesus is the righteous and holy Son of God, And the only One capable of imputing righteousness to us.

Jesus is beginning His ministry, And it is nothing short of Him offering that righteousness to the world.

Sure, Jesus says, I’ll read.

They bring him a large scroll, which he carefully places on the reading desk.

As he starts to unroll the scroll, all eyes are on him.

Mary is trying hard not to show any emotion, but this is her boy up there in front of everyone.

It’s a long scroll, and it takes a while for Jesus to find the passage he has in mind, near the very end.

Jesus opened to, and read from, Isaiah 61:1-2 -

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Can you imagine what it might be like to totally and completely fix our eyes on Jesus?

Because when we focus our attention completely on Him, we can also see our place in the world more clearly.

Instead of letting our gaze settle on those things that irritate us, anger us, or cause us pain when we think about them, we would see only Jesus, and the disagreements that divide us would suddenly lose their importance.

This past couple of weeks, as we’ve been getting moved, I have been very guilty of letting the cares of the world overtake my thoughts of Jesus.

I’m sure Toni and Mom will tell you that I’ve been less than happy on several occasions as I’ve allowed my focus to turn to moving and cares of the world, rather than Jesus.

But when our eyes are fixed on Jesus, good news is good news.

But that’s not how that day ended.

28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

They wanted a miracle, and Jesus did an unexpected one right in front of them, by escaping miraculously.

Jesus began his public ministry by declaring the words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17) Then he began to call disciples to follow him.

The First Disciples - Matthew 4:18-20

18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Why call these nobody fishermen rather than the well educated religious leaders who were already supposedly in God’s service?

They were supposed to be shepherds for the people; but they were hypocrites instead.

They too lived in the darkness— the darkness of self-righteousness.

They pretended to live a holy life, but in reality had no idea about the truth of God.

They knew the word of God really well. But they used it only as a cover.

They wanted fame.

They wanted fortune.

They got rich at the cost of those who were poor and oppressed.

In a situation like this, what could Jesus do?

He could destroy them or remove them from office, or even despair at their false leadership.

But Jesus didn’t!

Instead, Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee and found some fishermen casting their nets, and he called them to serve.

Who were they - the disciples?

They were simply ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Jesus said, “Come follow Me.”

Those words weren’t temporary like ‘come follow me today as we walk along the beach.’

Instead, this calling was a lifetime commitment to follow Him and to become a disciple.

To respond to the call of Jesus is to respond to a life change.

They were no longer going to be fishermen.

They were not going to be in business anymore, owning boats and nets.

With the call comes the requirement that they were leaving their old life behind and were starting out a new life with Jesus.

Disciples response to Jesus’ call was what every person should do in light of Jesus’ call.

Leaving the life of sin behind and beginning to follow the new life that Jesus calls us to follow— the life of faith and the life of mission.

Ministry in Galilee - Matthew 4:23-25

23 Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

In those three verses, we see the entire ministry of Jesus.

He heals and restores everyone with whom he comes into contact.

Sick, in pain, possessed, troubled by afflictions of all manner – Jesus heals them all.

Matt 4:23 is the first occurrence of gospel in the New Testament.

Gospel means - Good news.

Dictionary definition is - the revelation of Christ

Did Jesus preach the gospel?

How could he?

He hadn’t died yet, so he wasn’t telling the Galileans about him dying for them on a cross and inviting them to make decisions.

That’s not what Jesus meant by the gospel.

Jesus was doing something different from what had ever been done before.

In Palestine’s history, people came to power by killing their predecessors.

Jesus wasn’t training killers.

He was acting as if God was already king.

If things were already set right, disease would not cripple people or send them to the grave before their time.

If God was sovereign, evil spirits would lose their grip.

In healing people, Jesus enacted God’s kingship.

Jesus’ plan was not to deal death to Israel’s enemies, but to deal life to Israel.

Every person he healed was another portrait of God’s sovereign authority over human struggles!

Nothing can stop that kind of authority. Not even national borders: “So his fame spread throughout all Syria”

25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

That brings us to the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and the archeological site of Gennesaret (Ginosar), on the southern slopes of the Korazim Plateau

The Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes - Matthew 5: 1-2

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

The first thing to notice is that the Sermon on the Mount wasn’t for everybody.

The Sermon on the Mount wasn’t for the multitudes.

Jesus is not here talking to the multitudes, he is talking to his disciples.

Disciple is defined as - a follower

The disciples were interested in learning what Jesus was teaching.

The multitudes were interested in receiving “stuff” - healings, etc.

Unless a person is a disciple of Jesus Christ, they're going to have an extremely difficult time with the Sermon on the Mount because it really doesn't have application to them.

It has application only to his disciples.

Certainly some of the multitude heard Jesus’ words. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew says in Matthew 7:28-29 -

28 [a]When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

So seeing the multitudes, he left the multitudes. He went up into a mountain and when his disciples had come unto him he opened his mouth and he taught them.

Jesus was sitting down; that was the posture of a teacher.

In those days the teachers would sit, the students would stand.

Somehow things have become all twisted.

When they would stand it would be to really drive home a point or some truth.

For example, when Jesus stood on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7, and cried, "If any man thirst".

He's declaring a truth to all people, so he stood. But when teaching, he would sit.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:3

Now Jesus, in the beginning of this message, is describing the people that he is addressing the message to - the child of God.

Later on he says, "that you may be the sons of your Father"(Matthew 5:45), and he talks about "your Father".

But here is the description of the children of God, and it is in the form of what are known as beatitudes.

The word "blessed" literally means "oh, how happy" and because that is the literal meaning of the word "blessed", it seems paradoxical immediately to say, "Oh how happy are the poor in spirit".

Somehow we don't think of the poor in spirit as being very happy people, and yet Jesus, in beginning his description of the child of God declares

Oh how happy are the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3):

I've known poor people who have a very bitter spirit and poverty does not make for a blessed or a happy spirit necessarily.

First of all, he's not talking about physical poverty, poor in spirit.

This is in opposition to being proud, and this is always the inevitable consequence of a man coming into a personal, real confrontation with God.

If you have come into a true confirmation of God in your own life, the result immediately always is that of poverty of spirit.

If you see a person who is proud and haughty, that’s a person who has not had a true encounter with God.

In Isaiah chapter six, upon the death of the popular king Uzziah, when the throne of Israel has been emptied of this great popular monarch, Isaiah writes,

"And in the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and his train did fill the temple...Then said I, woe is me! For I am undone; and I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips:" (Isaiah 6:1,5).

That's always the result of a man seeing God in truth. "Woe is me! I am undone".

Daniel, when he saw the Lord said, "My beauty was turned into corruption" (Daniel 10:8). When Peter had his confrontation he said, "Depart from me; for Lo, I am a sinful man" (Luke 5:8).

The man who truly sees God sees himself in truth.

Jesus said we error because we so often are comparing ourselves with others around us.

You want to feel better about yourself? Go to Walmart and look around, that’ll pick you right up!

Often times, when I look at others, I don't look near so bad.

But when I look at the Lord, that purity, that holiness, that righteousness, I say, Oh, God help me.

Woe is me, I'm undone.

That is what poverty of spirit is.

It's a true evaluation of myself, not in the light of man but in the light of God, where I see the real truth about me and it brings me to the realization - oh God help me. I need help.

The same thing that Paul said, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24).

So that's always the beginning, the beginning consciousness of a man who has a true relationship with God.

But Jesus said, really happy is that man.

Why?

Because he has had a true encounter with God, and as the result, the kingdom of heaven belongs to him.

He's no longer living in just this temporal material realm, but he is now transferred into the kingdom and as a child of God and as a citizen of the eternal kingdom.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. - Matthew 5:4

Now that really is even more paradoxical, isn't it?

Happy are they that mourn.

But having come to a true awareness of myself in the light of God, coming to that poverty of spirit, my heart is broken over my own condition.

I mourn over my failures, over what I see of myself and in myself.

But the promise of the Lord is

They shall be comforted (Mat 5:4).

As the Lord begins to minister to me, the power of his Holy Spirit and his strength, and I begin to experience victories of Jesus in my life and that makes me indeed happy.

But that doesn't come until I've come to the end of myself, and that place of just mourning in the fact that I have no strength, no ability, no power.

I feel that helplessness.

I cry out from helplessness and then I begin to experience the glorious power of God, doing in my life what I could not possibly do for myself.

That leads me then to a true evaluation of myself.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. - Matthew 5:5

Now that I’m seeing myself in truth, I’m no longer puffed up.

I’m no longer deceiving myself about myself.

The word meek can probably best be defined by putting a hyphen in the middle of it: me-ek.

It is again looking at myself in the light of the Lord and realizing that I am nothing.

It’s interesting that these aren’t characteristics that are admired by the world.

If this were being written by man the blessings would include wealth, pride, victory, strength, domination, popularity, power.

Jesus turns all that upside-down because Jesus is describing the child of God, he's describing the characteristics that are admirable in the Kingdom of God.

The meek: they shall inherit the earth - Matthew 5:5

This earth is not the earth that God created.

This earth has been spoiled by rebellion against God, but God is going to restore this earth to His original divine intention.

Wars are going to cease.

Man is going to dwell together in righteousness, in true justice, in peace.

And God's kingdom will come to earth and those who are the children of God will inherit the earth.

Jesus said, "And I will say to them in that day, come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundations of the earth" (Matthew 25:34).

Revelation tells us concerning the body of Christ, "And they shall live and reign with him a thousand years on the earth"(Revelation 20:4,6).

What a glorious place this earth could be if it weren't for the pollutions that man has brought.

If it weren't for the wars,

the hatred,

the greed

but we will see the earth as God intended it.

We will inherit the earth as God intended it.

Those first three are more or less what we might call the negative characteristics.

The fourth of the beatitudes is the benchmark;

Seeing myself in the light of God,

recognizing the truth of my own weakness,

having a true evaluation of myself;

I begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. - Matthew 5:6

Paul said in Romans chapter 7, paraphrased - "I consent to the law that it is good, but how to perform it I can't discover. For the good that I would do I'm not doing and that which that I would not allow, that is the thing I am doing. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"(Romans 7:16,7:18-19,7:24)

There is that cry, oh God, help. I hunger, I thirst after the ideal but I haven't been able to attain it. Who will help me to find the ideal?

If you're hungering and thirsting after righteousness, God will answer that hunger and thirst of your heart and you will be filled with the righteousness of God.

Now we come to more positive kind of characteristics.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Jesus declares that our having been forgiven so much should be the incentive for our forgiving.

Having obtained the mercy of God, then we should be merciful, but here he puts it the other way. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy".

Well, we have obtained mercy and that's really what makes us merciful.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. - Matthew 5:8-9

This ends the description of the child of God.

In the next beatitude, Jesus declares what will be the response and the reaction toward that kind of person from the world.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. - Matthew 5:10-11

Reading these characteristics you'd say, oh that guy ought to be well-accepted anywhere he goes.

He would be in any church, but when he gets out in the world it's another story.

Jesus said, "Don't be surprised that men hate you, they hated me. Don't be surprised they didn't receive you, they didn't receive me"(John 15:18).

Each of these characteristics where surely present in the life of Jesus Christ and the world crucified him.

Jesus says this will be the response of the word towards a child of God showing these characteristics.

So he said,

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake

If you are this kind of a righteous person, you'll be persecuted for being that kind of person.

People will take advantage of you,

people will run all over you

people will resent you,

because you will make them uncomfortable when you are around them

because you are doing the right thing and they're wanting to do the wrong thing.

Thus they will begin to project against you their feelings of guilt.

And Jesus said,

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. - Matthew 5:12

That's a difficult thing to do when you are being reviled and persecuted for the sake of Jesus, it's awfully hard to rejoice.

Our natural tendency is to mope, well Lord, all right. If that's the way you're going to let people treat me, I'm just going to keep quiet, and just sulk because we don't like to be reviled.

We don't like to be persecuted but Jesus said "rejoice".

Can you?

Consider a time when you were extremely thirsty. What emotions and desires did that stir within you? What could that experience of thirst tell us about what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6)?

The last two beatitudes warn that there may be resistance or even persecution as we seek to live as followers of Christ? Have you experienced either, and if so when and how? What makes it hard to follow Christ today?