Matthew 5:1-2
People of the Kingdom
Woodlawn Baptist Church
February 1, 2004
Introduction
“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth, and taught them…”
I have thought long and hard this week for some fanciful way of introducing today’s subject, for some thing that I could say or do, some joke or story that would set up the thoughts that I will present, but I have been at a loss for such a thing. This morning we are going to begin a series through what has become best known to us as The Sermon on the Mount, the sermon Jesus delivered early in His ministry that constitutes the 5th, 6th and 7th chapters of Matthew’s gospel. It is not my intention to rush through the Lord’s sermon, and in fact there is no need to, for there is much more here than we will be able to draw out in a very long time.
Perhaps an explanation of why I feel compelled to begin this series would be in order. I mentioned to you last week the term “Christianity Lite.” It is not original with me, but I want to use it and hope that it will stick in your minds. Christianity Lite is that form of Christianity that tastes great – but is less filling. It is Christianity with all the show and go and hoopla, but which has very little substance to it. It is Christianity that concerns itself with feelings and emotions and getting people stirred up, but gives them little to build their faith upon, that which we need to sustain us in the dark hours, those trying moments when we have been backed into a corner and discover what we’re really made of.
Not that there’s anything wrong with feeling and emotion; the Lord’s people show too little of it. We show strong feeling about sports and movies and family, why not show strong feeling about Christ and His Word? We get emotional over dogs and cats and kids, why not get emotional when someone is saved or when someone rejects Christ? We have become so indifferent and reserved in our expressions of feeling and emotion concerning our faith that people mistake us for not caring too much about it. However, as much as we are lacking in the area of feeling and emotion, we are more lacking of people with a deep faith, with deep and strong convictions, of people who would be willing not only to give their lives for what they believe, but people who would live their lives for those beliefs.
There is such a wide spectrum of people who claim to believe in Christ and live for Him today. There are those who really do: people who are in their Bibles daily, people who are praying, people who are in church every opportunity they get, enjoying the fellowship of other believers and serving God in every way they know how. Some of you are that kind of believer. Others who claim to be believers and followers of Christ are not quite so radical. “There’s more to life than church” they say. These are those who will attend church, at least on Sunday mornings, who own Bibles and bring them to church, but still have trouble finding the various books when they are called out. They usually don’t attend Sunday School or volunteer for places of service – though they might agree to do something if asked. Most Sunday nights and Wednesday nights they are at home or work, doing something else, because, after all – they have a life and need their rest and all that good stuff. Some of you are this kind of believer this morning and you know it – and I want to suggest to you that anytime you say to yourself or someone else that “you have a life” as a reason not to serve or attend church, you are spurning the very thing you say you believe, because following Christ is not something you add to your busy life, following Christ is to be your life. There are still others for whom Christianity and church are all right, but when something better comes along they will be gone. Family comes before Christ. Recreation comes before Christ. Work comes before Christ. Bed comes before Christ – and there are some of you who are like this as well.
If I may quote one of the great preachers of our day, “I do not think it a harsh judgment to say that the most obvious feature of the life of the Christian Church today is…its superficiality.” I realize that some of you are serious about your faith, but I know just as well that there are some of you who could take it or leave it. It is beyond me to try to explain to you how the Lord leads me to preach anything, so let me just say that I am compelled to lead you in a study of what the Lord taught concerning what it means to be a follower of Him. Before we dive into the specifics of the Sermon on the Mount though, I want you to think with me about what has led the Lord to preach this sermon. Look at Matthew 4:23 and following.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.”
As Jesus was traveling, preaching and teaching the gospel of the kingdom, He was carrying on this great healing ministry. What was it that was attracting such a great multitude? The teaching and preaching or the healing? Look with me to Matthew 8:1. Jesus has just finished preaching this sermon, the greatest collection of thoughts on Kingdom living in the gospels, and do the people flock Him with questions? Do you see people coming forward to give their lives to Him?
“When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
Go to verse 5.
“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.”
Look at verse 14 – Jesus is healing; verse 16, people were still bringing the sick and afflicted, and then in verse 18, the multitudes are still coming and Jesus decides to retire to the other side of the lake. Do you see the point? To be sure, Jesus cares about our physical well-being and He loved people and healed them and fed them and He was glad to do so. In fact, I think He took great delight in helping them with these physical needs, but that wasn’t His chief concern! Turn to John 6:14.
“Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”
In Jesus the people found all they had been looking for. He would be their King who would take care of all their needs, the One who would give them freedom from Rome, who would feed them when they were hungry, would heal them when they were sick, would provide for them when they were in need, and would inspire them with words of wonder. For all the times the Scriptures say that they were amazed at His teachings, and they were in awe of His knowledge and wisdom, how often do you remember reading that people were moved to obedience or service or salvation because of what He said? Times really haven’t changed too much – people will flock to hear a dynamic speaker, stadiums are filled for the next healer to come along. Pay a few electric bills and hand out some groceries and our phone rings off the hook, but for all that we say or do, how many people are really giving their lives wholly over to Christ?
Jesus was deeply aware of man’s tendency – and I believe that as He saw the multitudes, He knew that He was dealing with a people who were interested in what He could do for them here and now. What they wanted was Christianity Lite – it tasted great – but it was less filling. Fill the bellies of the 5,000 with fish and bread and they want to make Jesus king, but when He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood, speaking of a spiritual filling that would be found in identifying with Christ, the people turned away and never followed Him again.
What exactly did Jesus teach in this sermon, and why did He present it the way He did? What was He driving at? Go back to Matthew 5 and let’s take a broad look at Christ’s message. People have tried and tried to make things out of Christ’s teachings that He never meant, and some of what He said has perplexed us for ages. There are several wrong views of this Sermon on the Mount that people hold to, but there are two in particular that I want to address as we study it.
First is the view that Jesus presents these teachings in such a way as to say “If you will live like this you will become a Christian.” Let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth, and for two reasons. Number one, you cannot live by the Sermon on the Mount. You can’t do it, not in your own power. It is not natural to be poor in spirit, we are boastful by nature. It is not natural to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we crave sensual and material things by nature. Jesus says not to look at a woman with lust in your heart, but most men will readily admit that looking at a woman with lustful thoughts comes naturally. Jesus says to love your enemies, to do good to those who despitefully use you, and much more that comes unnaturally to us. In fact, Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Can you do that? If you could, then you wouldn’t need to be saved. So the teaching that says if you live like this you will become a Christian is false – you can’t do it!
Secondly, becoming a Christian has nothing to do with whether you live by any prescribed set of rules. Salvation only comes through repentance and faith. Salvation is not a process that occurs over some period of time as you hold out faithful or maintain some level of obedience. When you recognize that you are a sinner and that you stand condemned in the sight of a holy and righteous God, you need to repent of your sin and confess it to God. You need to be sorry for what you are and for who you are and trust in the only provision that has ever been made for your soul, and that is the shed blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. When you stand before the Lord God and He asks you why He ought to let you into His heaven, the only answer He’s going to accept is that you repented and trusted wholly in Christ for your salvation.
The second wrong idea about the Sermon on the Mount is a little more difficult to describe, but it has to do with law and grace. Some people so emphasize the law as to turn the gospel of Jesus Christ into nothing but a collection of moral maxims that must be obeyed. The Christian life is then reduced to a collection of dos and don’ts, which is pure legalism and there is no grace in it at all. Listen, we are not under the law, but under grace, but just because we are under grace, that doesn’t mean that we ought not keep the law. Let me give you a classic example: The Old Testament taught us to tithe 10% of our income to the Lord. It was taught before the Law, and it is contained in the Law. Some would say that it is law that you tithe, and if you do not, then you are not a Christian, or not much of one. That is law keeping and that is legalism, which kills and leads to death. Others on the other hand would say that today we are under grace and not under the law. The New Testament does not teach the tithe per say, so we are not obligated to give the tithe. Let us enjoy the freedom of God’s grace. However, I say to you that both views are wrong. No, we are not bound to the Law in the sense that it condemns us; it no longer pronounces judgment or condemnation on us, but because we are under grace, we ought to be willing to obey the law and even go beyond it! The proper response to grace is not to abuse our freedoms, but to be willing to go even farther because we are so grateful for the freedom we have been given! Grace is being able to say, “I love God so much because of what He has done for me that I will keep His laws because I love Him, not because I will be punished if I don’t.”
Jesus was not under the Law, but He kept it, and in fact raised the bar in this sermon. The Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Jesus raised the standard and said, “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” They say “Thou shalt not kill.” Jesus raised the standard by saying, “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger…” not as law, but as the proper response to God’s amazing grace!
So, if the Sermon on the Mount is not a formula for becoming a Christian, and it is not a set of laws that must be obeyed to earn God’s favor, then what is it? Let me state it like this: Jesus says, “Because you are Christian, live like this.” This is how Christians ought to live and how they are meant to live. Listen, we don’t belong to this world – we’ve been saved and set apart as different, and why? Because above all we are Christian; we are different by birth – a supernatural birth called salvation, and in that new birth you are given a new nature, “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Turn with me to Leviticus 18:1-4. When God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, He was trying to get them to see that they belonged to Him and that He was calling them to act like it.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.”
Do you see the point? No matter what their physical address was going to be, they didn’t belong to this world and they weren’t supposed to live like the people of this world. God delivered them from bondage and set them free. It’s a beautiful picture of what He does in our lives today. Turn to 1 Peter 2:9. Peter said,
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Titus 2:14 says,
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
God has saved us and called us to be a different kind of people, a people who are counter-cultural, a people of His kingdom. Too often what the world is seeing though is a people who are not counter-cultural. Instead, we are just like they are, not a new society but another version of the old society, not life but death.
“It is urgent that we not only see but feel the greatness of this tragedy. For insofar as the church is conformed to the world, and the two communities appear to the onlooker to be merely two versions of the same thing, the church is contradicting its true identity. No comment could be more hurtful to the Christian than the words, “But you are no different from anybody else.”
Paul said that we ought to offer our lives as living sacrifices – God doesn’t want you to die for Him; He wants you to live for Him! “And don’t be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” What is Paul saying? He’s saying that we are to be counter-cultural, genuine, committed followers of Jesus Christ. Followers of Jesus Christ are to be different – different from the people of the world and even different from the people who fill the world’s churches. We are to be different from anything and everything that is not of Christ, even that which calls itself religious. How do we do that? Jesus is going to tell us. In Matthew 5, Jesus is going to show us what the Christian facing the law of God and its demands ought to look like. He is going to show us that we can only meet those demands in Christ, for our righteousness falls far short of God’s standards, so we are to cast ourselves upon Christ and His righteous character. Chapter 6 is going to show us how as Christians we are to live every moment of our lives in the presence of God and in utter dependence upon Him, then in chapter 7 we will find that as Christians not only should we live in God’s presence, but we are to live as one who is always under the judgment of God and in the fear of God.
Now, I want to assure you, that if you were to take off reading the Sermon, you would quickly find that its demands seem impossible. “Be perfect…” “Your righteousness must be greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees…” How can Jesus demand such lofty things? Because we are people of the Kingdom. These are Kingdom teachings for Kingdom people who love their King and want to live for His honor and glory. I trust that those of you who belong to Christ have a deep desire to be people of the Kingdom. I also trust that those of you who have been following from a distance will come with open hearts and with a genuine desire for what Christ wants for you. Why bother coming to church and hearing God’s Word if you’ve already decided that you’ve gone as far as you’re willing to go? What Christ has for you will revolutionize your life, but maybe that’s just the thing you’re afraid of. Turn loose of your fears today, come to the feet of Jesus as He shares with you His Words of life; let them run deep in your thoughts, let them have free course in your heart, and allow Christ to take you farther in your faith than you’ve allowed Him to before.
As I share these messages in the weeks to come, regardless of the particular section of Christ’s sermon we’re in, you’re going to be faced with five things:
1. The absolute necessity of the new birth. Its standards are much too high and demanding to be met by your human power. Only those who partake of God’s own nature through Jesus Christ can fulfill such demands, demands that you not only do right before God, but that you be right before God. If you’ve never given your life to Christ in salvation, let me assure you that there’s no other way but through Him.
2. Jesus Christ is your only hope of meeting God’s standards. Jesus died to enable you to live obediently to God, and unless you cast yourself on Him you’ll flounder around, up and down, enjoying victory for a moment, then failing the next. “Without me you can do nothing.”
3. God’s pattern for happiness and for true success. When you are living as God intended for you to live, you fulfill what God has designed for you and you experience the peace and joy and hope and contentment that can only be found in Christ.
4. The best means of evangelism in the world. A Christian who is living the demands of the Sermon on the Mount in the power of Christ will be a spiritual magnet that attracts others to the Lord. You start living the Sermon on the Mount, and people are going to take notice.
5. The only life that is pleasing to God is one lived in complete faith and obedience. This is the greatest reason of all to live the Sermon – we live for the glory of God! Are you?
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martin. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, MI) 1976 p. 5
Stott, John R.W. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Inter-Varsity Press: Leicester, England) 1978 p. 16-17
MacArthur, John. Adapted from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-7 (Moody Press: Chicago, IL) 1985 p. 135
