It began like any other day, and like any other day it had twenty four hours, no more and no less. And yet before those twenty four hours were over their world was turned upside down. Who would have thought so much could happen in a mere twenty four hours, that things could change so much from one day to the next.
And yet throughout history there have been any number of days that literally shook the world of those involved.
What is a day? Technically it is 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds and depending on what is happening it can happen like that (snap fingers) or it can stretch on forever.
But what can happen in a day? Ask the residents of Pompeii whose city was destroyed on August 24th 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying their city under volcanic lava and ash. And it only took a day
Ask citizens of the United States what December 7, 1941 means to them. A day President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “A date which will live in infamy.” Or for that matter ask them about November 22nd 1963 or September 11, 2001.
The 24 hours that made up March 8th 1917 not only changed the face of Russia but impacted the entire world as the Russian Revolution began and Communism became a reality. And August 6 1945 changed the face of fear as the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. 24 hours, and yet what an impact those events had. On those who perished, those who survived and the world in general. Never before had the threat of global annihilation been a reality, but it was after that one day.
And each one of us has at least one 24 hour period that looms high on our horizon. Our wedding day, the birth of your first child, the day a loved one past away or the day the doctor told you “I hate to tell you, but. . .” What is a day? Technically it is 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds and depending on what is happening it can happen like that (snap fingers) or it can stretch on forever.
And for the past six seasons we have the opportunity to observe Jack Bauer time and time again save the free world in only 24 hours on the hit TV program by the same name.
And just as Jack battles terrorist in that 24 hour period Jesus Christ drew a line in the sand for spiritual terrorist during a 24 hour period almost 2000 years ago.
In a culture where religion had become increasingly burdensome with rules and regulations weighing down the faithful Jesus proclaimed their freedom. And to those who had sought to follow their own ways without regards to God’s guidance Jesus gave them direction. In a mere 24 hours Jesus preached the most famous sermon ever delivered, taught his followers the most recognized prayer in the history of the world, healed the sick, cast our demons and displayed his mastery over nature.
Of the 28 chapters that make up the book of Matthew the first two deal with events leading up to the birth of Jesus while the last one deals with the events following his death. Of the 25 chapters that record the 3 years of Jesus earthly ministry 4 of those chapters deal with this one day. In other words 16 % of the book of Matthew deals with less then 1/1000th of the time covered in that book. If every 24 hour period in those 3 years received the same attention from Matthew as this one day the book would contain 4,380 chapters.
Even the 24 hours which encompass the Last Supper, the betrayal of Jesus, his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death are dealt with in only 2 chapters. And so it would lead us to believe that Matthew considered this one day, this one 24 hour period of vital importance to those he was writing to. And because God in his infinite wisdom choose the Gospel of Matthew to be preserved for us today as a part of his word then it must have a vital importance for us as well.
And so for the next 24 Sundays we are going to focus on the 24 hours that made up this day in the life of Christ. And during that time we will allow the words of Jesus to teach us the secrets to happiness and contentment. We will deal with the relationships that we have with those we like, with those we love and with those we dislike. We will look at subjects as diverse as prayer and lust and how they affect who we are and how we act.
It began like any other day, and like any other day it had twenty four hours, no more and no less. And yet before those twenty four hours were over their world was turned upside down.
And so the day began, Jesus got out of bed, went to the bathroom, got washed, ate breakfast and thought about what he was going to do for the rest of the day, who he would see, where he would go, what he would say. It really is the mystery of the incarnation that God Almighty, master of all things and creator of the universe became just like us for thirty three years. As a matter of fact if he had of worn pants he would have put them on one leg at a time.
And so it was a very ordinary morning in an very extraordinary life, and the anchor of that day we know as the Sermon on the Mount
Mark Twain was asked once if he was bothered by the parts of the Bible he didn’t understand, Twain responded by saying he wasn’t bothered by the parts of the Bible he couldn’t understand as much as he was bothered by the parts he could understand. We try to rationalize the Sermon on the Mount, or we try to explain it but if we got right down to brass tacks, right down to where the rubber meets the road and took the Sermon on the Mount at face value it would not only change the church it would change the world. After all it was preaching like this that got Christ crucified. But we try to soften the blows and turn the Sermon on the Mount into a soft user friendly message, but that isn’t how it was intended.
The early church tried to take the Sermon on the Mount Sermon on the Mount as a literal code as an alternative to Jewish legalism. Eventually this was relaxed to include only those who had separated themselves from the world, for example those in Monastic orders. The early reformers rejected the double standard saying that if the Sermon on the Mount applied to some Christians they it should apply to all Christians. Makes sense. Of course they reasoned if you couldn’t keep the commands in the Sermon on the Mount they you could always rely on grace to save you. Of course the indication of whether or not you were under grace was whether or not you could follow the rules. If you followed the rules you were under grace if you didn’t follow the rules then you weren’t under grace. What the reformers had done was to resurrect the Jewish legalism which Jesus had spent the entire Sermon on the Mount denouncing.
The orthodox Protestants viewed the rules of the Sermon on the Mount as simply gimmicks to drive men to despair. Christ never intended for us to keep the commands they were just meant to show us our utter dependence on God. It was a set up pure and simple.
By the late 19th century another view came along and that said that Christ was not laying down rules for either the church of the world. Instead he was trying to develop fundamental attitudes in us. This line of reasoning goes something like this “Jesus didn’t remove the yoke of Jewish legalism to put us under bondage to another set of rules.” In other words Christ was telling us what we ought to be not what we ought to do.
Today we believe that Christ meant exactly what he said, every word, every comma, every period. The words that Christ spoke were spoken to be obeyed. 2000 years ago. But really the Sermon on the Mount can’t be taken serious by those of us who function in today’s world. They can’t apply to the political, economic and social realities of today’s world. What with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda who could really take serious the admonition to not resist our enemies. And how could we seriously consider giving to everyone who begs, think about it, if your mailbox is like mine it is filled every week with requests from good intentioned people and organizations looking for my money.. And I’m sure that it was a lot easier to not lust after women when they were covered from their neck to their toes with robes. I mean it was hard to say what was under all that, you’d have to have a pretty good imagination to struggle with lust back then.
Have you seen what they’re wearing these days? Or what they are not wearing.
When we were in Australia & went to the beach there were women who must have forget half of their two piece swim suits at home cause they apparently only brought half with them to wear.
Or maybe, it’s not that the Sermon on the Mount isn’t for the past as much as it is for sometime in the future. You know a glorious new time when God established the New Jerusalem. Maybe the Sermon on the Mount is just a cosmic preview of the Sweet by and by.
Although these views have presented by sincere Christian men and women they were formulated for one reason only and that was to take the sting our of Jesus’ words and to soothe our guilty conscience for neglecting to implement in our life style the words of the Sermon on the Mount.
I wonder what would happen if instead of looking at the Sermon on the Mount as a set of quaint antiquated teaching we put the words of Christ into action and practice on an everyday basis? If we accepted his ideas as the rule and not the exception, both as individuals and society? I wonder what would happen if we sought to make the words of Christ come to life in our personal relationships, international relationships, political relationships and economic relationships. I can’t answer that because in the 2000 years since we were given the Sermon on the Mount we have failed to take it serious because it contains ideas that make us nervous. And because we have failed to implement the basics that Christ laid out for us we have ended up with a pretty messed up society and church. So let’s start by laying down some guidelines about the Sermon on the Mount.
1) The Sermon On The Mount Does Not Contain Everything That Jesus Taught. The Gospel of Matthew contains five major discourses of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount is the first of them and that means that several of Christ’s major teachings are not treated in that sermon.
The great commandment, the meaning of Jesus death and resurrection, Justification by faith, the work of the Spirit, the definition and purpose of the church, baptism, nor the Lord’s supper are covered by the Sermon on the Mount.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a complete body of Christ’s teaching. Instead it is the meaning of everyday discipleship. Up to now Matthew has covered the birth of Christ, introduce John the Baptist, narrated the account of the baptism and temptation of Jesus. We have watched the first four apostles being called. And we have followed Christ through His preaching and healing ministry in Galilee.
Christ has been at work long enough now to have built up a group of recognized followers or disciples and it’s to them that he talking, telling them what will be expected of them and ultimately what will be expected of us.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a full blown theology of Christ. Instead it is practical instructions to those who dare to be His disciple. Realistic and literal not an ivory tower fantasy those who dare to take the message of the Sermon on the Mount serious will change the world.
2) The Sermon on the Mount Is Not A System Of Laws For The Christian. Christ didn’t plan on his followers simply exchanging one set of rules for another set. His mission here was to free us to be what we were designed for and that was to be Christ like. Up to this point the kingdom of God was seen as being at the top of the ladder of righteousness, and you climbed said ladder rung by rung until you reached the top. The rungs were the rules and rituals that you followed to find favour with God.
And so you can imagine everyone’s surprise when Jesus announces, “No, no, no you’ve got it all wrong, you’re looking in the wrong direction, the Kingdom of God isn’t up there it’s down here. You don’t have to climb ladders to qualify. (and you’ll never know the relief that is to me.) All you have to do is to repent and to believe.
Well if we aren’t to view the Sermon on the Mount as some cosmic rule book how do we see it? If it isn’t guidelines for God’s approval in our Christian life then what is it? Well let’s ask ourselves, who was it written for? That’s easy, it was written for those who had already entered into the Kingdom of God. After all it was delivered to the disciples of Christ. Christ was being harassed by miracle seekers and we read in Matthew 5:1-2 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.
Who did He begin to teach? The Crowds? Uh-huh. When he saw the crowds he left and went up on a mountainside. It was the disciples that he was teaching. The words of this sermon were for them. The Sermon on the Mount was not rules by which you get into the Kingdom of God; instead it was guidelines to be followed after you’re in the Kingdom. They are goals for Christians, not ideals but goals.
And ideal is something which hasn’t got a real big chance of being reached, like peace on earth and good will to men. It’s something to strive for and yet it is virtually unobtainable. A goal on the other hand is something unreached but reachable, unachieved but achievable the Sermon on the Mount is not a pipe dream. It is a set of principles that we can live by, if we couldn’t live by them then God wouldn’t have asked us to.
Salvation is a wonderful gift. God gives it to us; we can’t earn it, ever. We couldn’t earn it by following the Ten Commandments and we can’t earn it by following the Sermon on the Mount it is a gift freely given. But that does not mean that we are without obligation after we get salvation. To accept the Kingdom of God is to accept a new way of life, new goals, new objectives and a new power to move toward those goals and objectives.
3) The Sermon On The Mount Is Centered Around The Concept Of The Kingdom Of Heaven or the Kingdom of God which are one and the same. The kingdom of God refers to God’s sovereignty over any person or community that acknowledges Him as King. The kingdom is God’s rule over his people.
a) The Kingdom Has Always Existed. From the time of creation people have chosen to accept it or reject it, free choice.
b) The Kingdom Is Today. Everyone who accepts Christ as saviour expands and adds to the kingdom.
c) The Kingdom Is Tomorrow. There will come a time that everyone will acknowledge God as king, and His kingdom will fill the earth. Philippians 2:10-11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Christians are God’s partners in bringing about the kingdom of God and that means that the Sermon on the Mount is a manual for God’s partners. To transform the world is to take the Sermon on the Mount seriously and to reach for the standards that Jesus laid down for us that sunny afternoon on a hill outside of Jerusalem. To the world around us these standards seem absurd, given what surrounds us, but they are the keys to the Kingdom of God.
We have never dared to take the Sermon on the Mount serious, but have pawned them off as dated, impractical and idealistic teachings. Instead of using them to change culture we have allowed culture to change them. We have to hear Jesus’ sermon one more time, this time the way he preached it. During the next few weeks as we look at what Jesus taught on that day I trust that you will read it several times in different translations. And perhaps, like me you will discover that your impressions of what the Sermon on the Mount says and what it really says are two different things.
And so his day began and it began like any other day, and like any other day it had twenty four hours, no more and no less.
Powerpoint may be available for this message contact me at denn@cornerstonewesleyan.ca
