Sermon On the Mount: Introduction 10/20/2024

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Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord join us here today
Meet us In our fragility and our need
Add to our hope
That in you everything is perfectly perfect
Just as it is
Even the astonishingly imperfect things we encounter all day, every day
Even our own imperfect selves we wrestle with all day, every day
Nurture in us the ways of mercy Lord
And show us how to pass your mercy along to others
Settle in us the ways of forgiveness
Releasing ourselves from condemnation as you have
And then granting the same to those who have hurt us
Learning to be at peace with all so far as it depends upon us.
It takes so much to live in this imperfect world with our imperfect selves, Lord.
Grace us with your presence in every little snippet of birdsong,
every friendly smile,
every hearty laugh.
Fill us with hope for this day
To carry us along.
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:1-2

Intro: A couple weeks ago someone told me,

“Your next series of talks should be about The Sermon On the Mount”
– that title has a pleasant ring to it, doesn’t it?
• isn’t that where Jesus talks about birds and lilies? Love your enemies? Do not judge?
• it’s like a friend has invited us on an outing:
“Hey, go with us to the park for a picnic. We’re going to sing our favorite worship choruses, then share our favorite Bible verses.”
– but the reality is, the Sermon isn’t butterflies and rainbows
• it doesn’t read like a collection of Hallmark greeting cards
• it contains the most intense demands in all of scripture
◦ some Christians have given up on it:

In L’Abri Switzerland I heard a speak say the Sermon: “was meant for an elite class of believers, not average Christians”

Some Dispensational preachers have taught that the Sermon “was prior to cross, so it was meant for Israel and not for the Church”

Others have said, “Because the moral demands of the Sermon are impossible, its purpose is to shows us how desperately we need God’s grace”

Jesus had a different purpose for this teaching
Amy-Jill Levine (professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies) tells us this is “not a sermon. It’s a series of discrete teachings, each of which could be the basis of a sermon, a lecture, a community study, or a personal mediation. . . . There’s too much in these chapters to absorb in a single lesson.”
– I’ll suggest that the Sermon is Jesus’ curriculum for life in the kingdom of God
(when I refer to Jesus’ “Sermon,” think “messages” or “talks)
• Jesus was serious that his followers experience God
◦ he was concerned with the way people were interpreting the law
• they weren’t becoming more aware of God or sensitive to God
◦ it was time for a breakthrough – and that’s why he had come to Israel
– Jesus was conditioning his followers for what he was bringing into the world

Many years ago, there was a song I would listen to over and over again
I can still hear Eric Clapton’s voice, rich with emotion, singing,
“I have finally found a way to live
in the presence of the Lord”
That’s what we learn from Jesus in his Sermon On the Mount
– how to live in the presence of the Lord

The Sermon comes early in Matthew’s gospel
– first Jesus’ birth, then a brief survey of events involving:
John the Baptist
Jesus’ temptations
The beginning of Jesus’ ministry
The call of the first four disciples
• although Matthew jumps into the Sermon right away,
◦ what comes before it was well chosen and important
• he introduces and illustrates key themes we will come to in the Sermon
– so we’ll respect Matthew’s outline, and make his introduction to the sermon our introduction
• let’s see how Matthew presents these key themes

Matthew makes clear something the angel told Zechariah regarding his son, John the Baptist
“he will go before go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk. 1:17)
– Elijah is one of the few people in the Bible whose appearance is described
“He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist” (2 Ki. 2:8)
• here is Matthew’s description of John the Baptist:
“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist”
• only Matthew adds something about John’s diet
“and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt. 3:4)
From one of my morning meditations a few years ago: “John’s rugged clothing and severe diet were not gimmicks meant to draw crowds. His asceticism and minimalist lifestyle was effect rather than cause. His complete devotion to his work required a focused attention away from the distractions of village life. He was a rare species of humankind.”
– something that is not explained regarding John
• when Pharisees and Sadducees came to his baptism, he blasted them
◦ their practice of religion was not satisfactory
◦ but Matthew gives no hint of why John did this
(there is the possibility that John knew and agreed with the Essenes who considered the Pharisees and Sadducees to be spiritually compromised and were critical of both of those religious groups)
• Perhaps Jesus provides an answer to the problem of the Pharisees in his Sermon
Don’t display your charity “as the hypocrites do . . . when you pray, you must be like the hypocrites . . . when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites” (Mt. 6:1-18; see also Mt. chapter 23)
◦ these hypocritical displays were characteristic of the Pharisees and scribes

When Jesus came to be baptized, John was uneasy and hesitated
He told Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
– Jesus answer, “Let it be so for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:14-15)
• righteousness is one of the key themes in the Sermon
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees
Beware of practicing your righteousness before others to be seen by them
–and perhaps the strongest statement:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
– Amy-Jill Levine points out that Tamar is first woman mentioned in Matthew (Mt. 1:3)
• after being impregnated by her father-in-law, Judah, he made this statement about her:
“She is more righteous than I” (Gen. 38:26) — (this confusing statement will be clarified later on)
• it was in the story of Tamar, I learned meaning of righteousness
◦ we’ll see what righteousness looks like when put into actions in the Sermon

After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God led him into the desert
– Matthew says he was taken there to be tempted by the devil
1. the first temptation was to satisfy his hunger by miracle
◦ Jesus did not argue with devil or explain how his suggestion was wrong
◦ he simply quoted scripture, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone . . . .”
• please note that Jesus resisted the devil by quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures, and specifically the law
2. in the second temptation, it was the devil who first quoted scripture
◦ I get the impression he’s saying,
“Oh, You want to play that game. Well, I can play it too. How much do You trust what the Scriptures say? Let’s find out if they really work”
Then he encouraged Jesus to leap from the highest point of the temple and see if God’s angels would prevent him from being injured
◦ Jesus didn’t argue the devil’s misuse of scripture, but again said,
“It is written, you shall not tempt (test) the Lord your God”
3. the third temptation was rather blatant
◦ the devil offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, provided Jesus would bow and worship him
◦ again Jesus answered him with a quotation from the law
“Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only you shall serve”
• in his Sermon, Jesus will quote from the law and then go on and reinterpret it – “But I say to you . . .”
◦ but notice that the three quotes he used to resist the devil were from the Law (specifically, Deuteronomy)
◦ Jesus never set the law aside, in fact he honored it and will insist on maintaining it

Temptation is a second key theme in the Sermon
– Jesus will go deep into the nature of temptation–down into it’s roots
• he will also teach us to pray, “lead us not into temptation”
• but we will also learn the double-meaning of temptation:
◦ it is not only our usual idea of seduction,
◦ but it also means to “test” – as we learned last week, “Everything is a test!”

The third key theme is embedded in Jesus’ rejection of the third temptation
– that is, when he rejected the devil’s offer of all the kingdoms of the world
• there is a simple reason for this – but today it has largely been lost
◦ after his baptism and the ordeal of his temptations we read:
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Mt. 4:17)
▫ repentance is certainly a goal of Jesus’ Sermon, and it is implied all the way through
▫ but I’m not including it as one of the key themes
◦ after Jesus called his first four disciples,
“. . . he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction among the people” (Mt. 4:23)
• Jesus rejected worldly kingdoms, because he came to announce the arrival of God’s kingdom
• the third key theme in the Sermon is the kingdom of God

I’m reluctant to accuse anyone of being a false teacher or a false prophet
– there are several different schools of theology,
• each one valid, and well supported, but none absolute
◦ if I disagree with the theology of others, it doesn’t mean I think they’re lost or deceived
• however, there are some doctrines that are false, and harmful!
◦ like the devil, they abuse the Scriptures by quoting out their biblical context
◦ most often they will use a single verse as a “proof text”

– Luke tells us, when the crowds asked John what they should do, he told them,
“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and who ever has food is to do likewise” (Lk. 3:11-14)
• the same with the tax collectors and soldiers:
◦ he stressed the importance of showing integrity regarding social obligations
◦ he told the crowds to give away the excess of what they owned,
not to impoverish themselves in order to clothe and feed others
• someone might argue, “That’s the ‘Social Gospel’!”
◦ an close reading of Matthew, Mark, Luke (especially), and John,
◦ we learn that the gospel is social! It is the new “society” of God’s kingdom

Yesterday morning I read in Mark’s gospel (ch. 3) where Jesus was angered and grieved
– what set him off was the unwillingness of those gathered in the synagogue to admit it is permissible to do good on the Sabbath
• the problem was, a man was there whose hand was crippled
◦ but Jesus knew if he healed someone on the Sabbath, he would be condemned by those whose interpretation of Sabbath law was that no healing could be done on the Sabbath
◦ he was angered and grieved by “their hardness of heart”
• what kind of religion bans empathy?
◦ that tells us not to help those who are in need?

There is a false teaching that claims the Church will eventually produce God’s kingdom on earth
– that eventually, the Church will advance to the point where it rules the world
• but that is the doctrine of Islam and not Christianity
◦ Jesus was very clear on this score:
“My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36)
◦ many Evangelicals have been deceived about Christians imposing God’s will on nations
– if Jesus had wanted a worldly kingdom he would have had to bow to Satan to get it
• historically, when religion joins government, both become more intrusive and oppressive
(think of Iran, of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople or Russia today, where Patriarch Krill supports Putin in his war on Ukraine)
• oddly, the Church has always been its healthiest when persecuted and its sickest when in power

Conclusion: When Jesus called the fishermen from their nets to follow him,

He told them, “I will make you fishers of men”
His Sermon On the Mount is about Jesus bringing to us the kingdom of God
and “making” us its true citizens
I hope we can let Jesus bring his message to us, in our time and place
If so, through it he will lead us into the lived experience of God’s kingdom here and now