The Right Side Of The Bus - Matthew 5:3 Series

Matthew 5:1-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Introduction:

When Jesus delivered the greatest sermon ever preached He did not beat around the bush in His introduction. He did not start with a few jokes to warm up the crowd. He wasted no time at all. In the very first line He pinpoints the most essential, fundamental difference between His kingdom and the kingdom of this world. What Jesus lays down in the first beatitude is not only the foundation for the rest of the beatitudes, and the foundation for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, but it is the foundation for the entire gospel. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. That is a message that you can find in the Law of Moses, in the Psalms, in the Proverbs, in the Prophets, in the Gospels, in the Epistles – everywhere you look in God’s Word you will see it repeated again and again. God really wanted to make sure we understand that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble so it is no surprise that that is the beginning point of the Sermon on the Mount.

And not only does Jesus lay the foundation for His message, at the same time He strikes a blow right at the core of the world’s philosophy. Jesus is at war with the philosophy of this world, and right out of the hatch He draws a bead on the very bedrock foundation of the whole superstructure of worldly, natural, human thinking. Jesus is not just lobbing a missile at some random part of the world’s kingdom. He goes right to the foundation. So one sentence into the sermon we are right dead center at the middle of the core of the Christian message – and right in the middle of the heat of the battle where the fighting is the most fierce and the most crucial.

Most of the major errors ravaging the church in our day – easy believism, the church growth movement, the prosperity gospel, the emergent church movement, nominal Christianity, the invasion of secular psychology into the Church – all of them are debunked by the Sermon on the Mount. And most of them are debunked by the very first sentence in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus’ model

In fact, many of the errors of the church growth movement and the emergent church movement could have been avoided just from the way Jesus preached the sermon.

1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:

In Matthew a mountain always signifies a special event. Jesus sitting down points to a posture of an official teaching. When it says He opened his mouth that adds to the import – signifies the beginning of a public address. So it is an elaborate introduction signifying a speech of great significance.

And from there Matthew gives us a very interesting description of the audience. According to verse two Jesus was teaching His disciples. The Sermon on the Mount is for disciples – believers – Christians. When Jesus said “Blessed are you” in verse 10 that applies to believers, not unbelievers. When He tells us to ask and we will receive, or not to worry because the Father will care for us – those promises are for the children of God only – no one else. So the Sermon on the Mount is for disciples.

However, it is very important to also note that Jesus taught all this to His disciples in the presence of the crowds. And at the end of the sermon the crowds respond with amazement at Jesus’ teaching. Jesus was instructing the twelve, but He did it in front of a multitude, and He spoke loudly enough for the entire multitude to hear Him. It is for the disciples but it is designed to be overheard by the world.