The Sermon on the Plain

Intro

*Start by explaining family tradition of watching Muppet Treasure Island at Christmas*

Kids wonder about buried treasure (at least didn’t call it “booty”)

Treasure seems like a foreign concept

We don’t bury it anymore, or stash it somewhere safe. We don’t often refer to things as “treasure”

But it is anything but foreign; there are so many things that we truly treasure

The problem is that we often do not treasure the things that we ought to

This is what Jesus address in his sermon on the plain

Read Luke 6:20-36 and pray.

The Setting

Sermon on the plain vs. sermon on the mount (Mat. 5)

Mountain or plain? Most likely a natural ampitheatre

Luke has a brief account; Matthew’s is more extensive.

What do we do with these tensions?

*Explain the Gospels as 4 different eye-witness accounts*

Jesus uses compare/contrast teaching tool to great effect.

“Blessed are you” vs. “Woe to you” (first section)

Focuses on how God relates to us as disciples of Christ

“love your enemies” vs. “even sinners love those who love them” (second section)

Focuses on how we relate to others as disciples of Christ

Both sections of compare/contrast end with the promise of heavenly reward

We often don’t like talking about heavenly rewards (feels too easy to equate to earning salvation or the prosperity gospel)

But if Jesus teaches it, we will learn from it

There is a treasure principle at play throughout this passage

Identify Your Treasure (v. 20-26)

The Beatitudes (blessings and woes) require us to ask an important question: Where is your treasure?

Our first step in learning this lesson from Christ is to identify our treasure

Those who are “blessed” find their treasure in the kingdom of heaven (“your reward is great in heaven”)

They may be poor, hungry, weepy and persecuted, but they have found true treasure and fufillment in Christ

Shows the “upside down” nature of the kingdom of God (second section does too)

Cf. Matthew 19:29-30.

Not just blessed in the future; there is present promise of fulfillment in the kingdom of God

It is so much more than just where we go when we die; the treasure is fulfillment in the midst of poverty, hunger, sadness and persecution

*Share story of John Bunyan; quote from p. 75-76*

Those who are woeful find their treasure in the kingdom of earth

They are rich, full, laughing and spoken of well by others

Wait! Aren’t those good things?

It is not in having these things that Jesus declares woe; it is in treasuring these things above the things of God

If you want to get rich, you can… but that is all you will get (and it will fade away)

If all you seek after is pleasure, you will find it… but that is all you will get (and it will fade)

If you only care about what people think about you, you can make them think well of you… but how does your Heavenly Father see you?

If your treasure is in the things of this world, then you are to be pitied, because you have already received your reward, and it will leave you lacking.

Cf. Matthew 6:19-21.

Where is your treasure?

The best way to find out is to look at your calendar and your bank statement

How you spend your time and money will reveal where your priority (treasure) is

Live out Your Treasure (v. 27-36)

Jesus teaches that once we seek after the treasure that God chooses to give to us, we need to treat others in the same fashion

Final verse (36) sums it up: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful

How we treat others is an overflow of how God has treated us; He gives us our eternal treasure, and we live out our treasure

Cf. Luke 6:45.

Once again, Jesus uses compare/contrast to drive his point home

Compare contrast = his followers vs. sinners

Followers of Christ should love without requiring anything in return

Love your enemies; bless those who curse you; pray for those who abuse you; turn the other cheek, give more to someone who steals from you

Jesus uses different examples to show how all areas of your life should be driven by this self-sacrificing love:

Love, pray, seek peace, be generous, etc.

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great” (v. 35)

Once again, Jesus ties in how we treat others to His treasure principle: Our reward will be great

This is what it means to “live out our treasure;” We don’t need to get even right now because all will be put right eventually

We do not require others to give us what we need; God alone can do that

Living this way will be counter-cultural

The “upside down” nature of the kingdom of God means we live differently as disciples

Those who do not know Christ treat others based on what they can do for them:

Love those who love them, do good to those who do good to them, lend money to those who can repay them

*Talk about derogatory attitude towards the unvaccinated as an example*

This is what we can expect from the world, but we are called to more

What is your habit in treating other people?

Do you fall into the easy category of loving those who love you back? How do you react when somebody wrongs you or takes something from you?

*Use story of garage break-in and softened attitude*

This is hard! But the teaching of Jesus on the sermon on the plain (and on the mount) is not some unacheivable ideal: We are designed and expected to live this way, based on the treasure we have been given.

“Humanly speaking, we could understand and interpret the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways. Jesus knows only one possibility: simple surrender and obedience, not interpreting it or applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only way to hear his word. He does not mean that it is to be discussed as an ideal; he really means us to get on with it.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Conclusion

So, let’s get on with it!

Realize that we have been given a tremendous treasure by God; He has been merciful to us.

Allow this realization to spill into how you obediently treat others; with that same mercy

All of this will draw us closer and closer to the God who gave himself up for us

For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Pray.