The Sermon on the Mount, Part 1

2007-05-30

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has always been very intriguing to me. What significance is this in Matthew’s Gospel and the New Testament as a whole? Though I do not have all the answers, a lot of things have become apparent to me each time I have read it.

I am confident that a theme of this sermon is to get people to take their eyes off of themselves, and get them to look to the redeeming God and trust in Him. This discourse astonished many. In Matthew 7:29, this is attributed to His teaching with authority. It is no doubt that this was something very different from what they had heard from former rabbis. Jesus opens with the Beatitudes, which honors those whom the world has not honored. The weak, the mourners, and the persecuted are all mentioned as those who are blessed. This is alien to our every day thinking.

After this, Jesus states that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. This does not make sense until He begins His references to the Decalogue and Levitical law. Murder and adultery are explained with a higher standard: they can occur in the heart, and are treated the same as if the acts were physically committed.

He deals with false interpretations of the Law, such as hating enemies. Dealing deceitfully with enemies is customary to many cultures, and often even admired. The familiar “eye for eye” of the Old Testament dealt with governmental law for the commonwealth of Israel, and was not a license for personal revenge; i.e., the punishment was to fit the crime. Oaths are not to be sworn to prove how genuine one is or to prove one’s truthfulness.

In short, the teaching thus far is summarized well in Matthew 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This has striking similarity to Deuteronomy 18:13: “Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.” In this original context, it is significant that God foretells of a Prophet that will arise like Moses with amazing authority, which is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. Jesus speaking these words is significant, since Jesus tells His audience that the standard of Mosaic Law applies to both to one’s actions and the thoughts of one’s innermost being. The audience must have been very humbled by Jesus’ words.

As Jesus continues, He speaks of alms, prayer, and fasting. These have been vehicles for promoting the self before God and men, but God knows the motives behind all the masks of piety. Jesus is once again exposing matters of the heart that are the motivators of behavior. He keeps the people asking, “What, then, can we do?” When we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we cannot change our motivations to do any action other than something that will somehow benefit ourselves.

Jesus also includes in this discourse human need: money, food, drink, and clothing. These are things for which we lust. Once again, Jesus is trying to get people to look away from themselves and their circumstances, and to look to the living God who knows all of their true needs (Matthew 6:32).

Starting in Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells the audience that God will give to those who ask Him for things. This does not contradict His former statements. This saying, considering the context, does not mean that one should pray to God for the easy life and physical blessing with the absence of any hardship. We should also not conclude that this is a didactic approach to get us to pray for change in our behavior as a means to spiritual renaissance. The conclusion we must make is that we need a change of heart and mind that only God can stimulate. If we ask God for this change, He will by no means deny us. The strait gate through which we must enter is not our behavior that makes us acceptable to God. Jesus ultimately demonstrates this by showing the rejection of alleged disciples that even look to their own accomplishments in His name: prophesying, casting out devils, and wondrous works. Those who do such things forget that these things were done by the name of Jesus, not in some work of their own hands! Again, He reminds His audience to look away from themselves, and look to the Lord who can empower their lives.

The closing of this sermon juxtaposes two lifestyles: one who hears and does what Jesus says and one who does not do what He says (Matthew 6:24-27). Notice in the text that both types of people have heard His sayings. The two are likened to men who build houses on foundations of rock and sand, respectively. In life, both now and in eternity, we need to “do” His sayings. But how do we do them without the Spirit? We cannot! This is our need: for us to recognize that we need God to change our hearts to give a God-centered outlook. This sermon is awesome foreshadowing for the listeners’ understanding of their need for Jesus to suffer and die to bring them peace with God, and also for them to be empowered by the risen Lord. Then we can do these things that Jesus wants us to do, and be the new man that he wants us to be.

I may have only scratched the surface by looking at this discourse, but it very well may be a good start. Jesus has risen from the dead and He is our Advocate in Heaven, waiting for us to entrust our lives with Him. Only when we look to Him will we be saved. Only when we look to Him can we live lives that will count for eternity.

Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

John 3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Proceed to Part 2.