The Right Posture
Notes
Transcript
Deep Discipleship—The right Posture
(Mt 5:1-5)
Intro: People have shared with me over the years that of all scripture, the Sermon on the Mount is often their favorite. Second is James. It makes sense; both are very similar—very practical. They both express the wisdom of Christ
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
It’s also a sermon straight from the Lord Jesus. No flaws like other human teachers.
If asked what’s the greatest sermon ever preached—or greatest preachers, it’s not Spurgeon, Edwards, MacArthur, Piper…it’s the Lord Jesus Christ.
The SOM is a teaching that is clear, practical, applicable, and comes with authority (Mt 7:28-29)…..that’s why people love it, and disciples need it.
GETTING ORIENTED
GETTING ORIENTED
1) What’s the main point?
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Mt 28:20)—here we have the most comprehensive teaching of Jesus on how to live
**That is really the main point.
Sermons tend to have one, central dominating theme from the text.
The dominating theme is the Kingdom (expressed in the prayer--Thy Kingdom Come)
Disciples must live as citizens of the future kingdom they will inherit
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
KOG= “God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule & blessing” (Vaughan Robert’s God’s Big Picture)
That means that Kingdom today—Christ people, in the church, joyfully submitted to his will and his ways…being blessed.
Apply: The SOM in one sense is pretty comprehensive as far as our hearts are concerned. It will touch on many areas that, quite frankly, need attention.
—It’s a whole sermon for the whole disciple
John Stott, “Christian-counter culture” So true! So much of what is tough runs counter-culture.
The broader culture may love one piece “Do not judge” but they can’t swallow the whole. How about the demands the Jesus placed on our hearts regarding lust, taking revenge…the high bar he sets on marriage, extending love to enemies?
Scripture calls disciples to counter-cultural thinking and living
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Apply: Whenever we assimilate into the culture around us, we are failing at being Disciples.
If our lives look very much that same as our secular neighbor—how deep are the Spiritual root?
*Which is why we need this sermon to examine us, wash over….renew us!!
2. How to receive this sermon?
Be teachable (v2)
Listen to Jesus as you would listen to a prophet
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
We are on the receiving end of a prophet’s voice
Apply: The art Listening well continues to deteriorate—even listening to God and His Word
Partly because there are so many competing voices—endless news, commentary, blogs, social media, Podcasts that endlessly enter our minds.
Plus—we live in the age of the “expert” but who? Who do you listen to?
There is only one that we need to hear; that needs to be the loudest voice.
The Lord Jesus
In the Bible, Jesus fulfills 3 offices: (prophet, priest, and kings)
Often evangelical Christians have highlighted the priestly work of Christ—but all 3 are vital to grasp the fullness of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus as prophet who speaks with kingly authority marks this Sermon, (7:28-29)
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Finally, as we jump in, note the audience (v1): His disciples. Jesus taught the masses, but here disciples broke off to be taught
disciples=people who at some level are attached to Jesus.
This is disciple-directed teaching. Meant to grow Deep Disciples.
THE BEATITUDES
THE BEATITUDES
The sermon begins with “beatitudes”
Now I was tough early that beatitudes are “attitudes” you are to have. But it’s more than that
That almost suggests that its something I can produce—I can turn. No, these are all works of the Spirit.
“Blessed” is a good translation
Happy is too flat, an misleading in our age of feelings
Blessed=to live under the favor of God; it’s far beyond the superficial happiness that many set their hopes on.
**In other words, living the way marked out in these beatitudes is how we know God’s face is shining upon us, we are living under his favor, his smile
POOR IN SPIRIT (V3)
POOR IN SPIRIT (V3)
First, this beatitude has pride of place for an obvious reason. Miss this and we miss all of it!
It reminds me of a math test I took once in school. It had a list of questions—but above all the questions was a small blurb that said: to pass this test, simply write your name and turn it it. Do not answer any of the questions.
—Miss that and you fail that whole exam!
If Jesus just said poor, we would think that God favors those who are needy....but Jesus added “in Spirit”
Often in the OT—poor people had a real dependence on God—it was’t just lip service, but a matter of life or death
Poverty in the biblical times was opposite of entitlement —but stood knowing how unworthy they are to receive grace
Describes:
Spiritual bankruptcy
Unworhtiness
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
The opposite is the mindset in Rev 3—Jesus words to the church of Laodicea
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
To enter the Kingdom—gain heaven, you will need to be humble and broken before God—the first steps into the gospel
Contrition must come with conversion
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must come to the end of yourself
THOSE WHO MOURN (V4)
THOSE WHO MOURN (V4)
The next place we see God’s favor shine is with those who mourn
What kind of mourning is it? When life does not go well? When there is sickness, suffering, setbacks
Illus: Is that what we write in a sympathy card?
In Jesus day, Israel was in such a state of humiliation living under Roman rule; it’s traced back to centuries of “forgetting God” —which should cause deep sadness
When God is largely forgotten in the world, it should cause his people deep sadness
My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law.
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Apply: Is the normal posture of Chris’s people to have an emotional sensitivity to sin—and not just our own. It should grieve us for the “acceptable” sins or tolerated around us.
And is case we think this was just how OT life went, consider
I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
**This is most definitely an area we need awakened in; a reformation and revival
The promise is that when God’s people mourn over sin, they will be comforted
Apply:
**Do we want to be comforted, or remain comfortable with the sin we are surrounded in.
THE MEEK (V5)
THE MEEK (V5)
The final place we see God’s face is when we take the posture of meekness
What is meekness
You’ve probably heard before “Meekness is not weakness”
So true! Jesus was “meek and lowly” and that the same time the strongest man who ever walked this earth.
Or Moses, meekest man on the earth (Num 12:3)
The promise is to “inherit the earth” (Ps 37:9)—it’s a promise a gaining real-estate in the new creation (Rev 21)
Apply: As we go through the Beatitudes, we will see that some apply to God, some how we live before others. Meekness is how we live before others.
It’s the opposite of harsh, aggressive, arrogant, domineering behavior—which often can get one far in the world.
Lloyd-Jones:
“The meek man does not demand anything fo himself. He does not make demands for his position, his privileges, his possessions, his status in life”
A Meek person is truly able to forget themselves!
Apply: This is proof that this has to be Spirit-enabled activity.
Has to be supernatural
**The hardest thing on earth to do is forget myself.
Conclusion:
A few weeks ago I was on a short date with my wife. These days it’s either Chic-Fil-A, or Sonic for Ice cream. Sonic won that time
As we are eating our Sonic Blasts, she asked me a striking question: What would you be doing now if you were not a Christian?
Would my life be different?
What a great, thought provoking question
The short answer is: I don’t know what exactly my life would look like if I were not a believer in Christ. But I think it would look really different.
Especially my posture. I don’t think I would have an inkling of poverty in spirit, mourning over sin, or meekness before others.
Jesus changed all of that.
The question is for us all: What difference has the Lord Jesus made in your life? What would your life look like if you were not a follower? The fundamental question is: has the gospel changed your posture.? Has hit make you a meeker person before others? Have you a spiritual sensitivity that mourns over sin? Do you come before Christ lacking all resources and trusting fully in him?
Are we set up to live counter-culturally, as the roots of discipleship, by God’s grace grow deep?