Introducing Our New Series – Sermon on the Mount: Life in the Kingdom
We are excited to begin our new sermon series this Sunday entitled The Sermon on the Mount: Life in the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the most well known sermon ever preached. Even many outside the Christian faith admire its ethical teaching. Yet despite its popularity, it is also one of the most misunderstood portions of Scripture.
What is the Sermon on the Mount All About?
Over the past 2,000 years different interpretations of the Sermon have largely centered around the question: What did Jesus intend for us to do with it? Did he mean for us to seek to put this teaching into practice, or did he have other purposes for preaching it?
Some see the Sermon as a call for all humanity to embrace a new way of life, believing its ideals can transform society as we treat one another as we would want others to treat us. Others believe it is intended for an elite group of Christians, not the average Christian in the pew, but those who have committed to a more radical spiritual life.
Still others argue that the demands of the Sermon are so high that they can’t possibly be lived out. According to this view, Jesus preached it to show us our desperate need for grace. It is meant to show us how high God’s standards are and to drive us to Christ, the only One who can truly live it out.
So which is it? As with any good study of Scripture, we must begin by understanding the context in which the passage is found.
Context
Matthew’s Gospel is all about how Jesus is the long awaited King, and with his arrival has also come his kingdom.
- Matthew Chapter 1: Jesus the King has come. He is the Son of David and the rightful heir to his throne.
- Matthew Chapter 2: Wise men from other nations come to worship this King, while Herod the current king of Israel seeks to destroy him.
- Matthew Chapter 3: John the Baptist declares that the kingdom of heaven has now come near and because of this calls people to repent and live in light of this reality.
- Matthew Chapter 4: Jesus begins his ministry by enduring and overcoming the temptations of the devil and then also calling for repentance because the kingdom of heaven has come near.
In chapter 5 Jesus gathers together those who have responded to his call to repent, who have now become his disciples, and begins to teach them what life in his kingdom is to look like (Matt. 5:1).
This means that the Sermon is about more than simply showing us our need for grace. Jesus preaches it to those who have already responded to their need for grace. Jesus also intends his disciples to live out and obey his teachings. Yet from the very beginning he reminds us that we cannot live this way through our own strength. We must live this out aware of our own spiritual poverty and our need for him (Matt. 5:3). The way of life in his kingdom is a life of dependency.
Dependency=Blessedness
This is why our pastoral team felt led to study this passage. Our church theme this year is Dependency. All of our lives as disciples are meant to be lived in dependency on him, even as we face different challenges and the brokenness of life. That is why the sermon is so practical as well. In it we will see a range of topics discussed on the challenges we face living as God’s people in this world, including:
– Anger
- Lust
- Worry
- Pride
- Finances
- How to pray
- Our motivations
- Marriage and divorce
- Relational conflicts
As we learn to live in dependency on our Lord in this world despite the different challenges we face, we experience what Jesus calls blessedness. Throughout history, humanity has sought to discover where true flourishing and happiness is found. Jesus tells us the answer is found in the fact that we were created for his kingdom and we can live out the life of this kingdom and its blessedness even while living in this world. Even though the values of the kingdom are often diametrically opposed to where the world says true happiness is found. That is why throughout the Sermon Jesus contrasts the ways of the Kingdom with the ways of this world. While the world celebrates the strong, the self-confident, and the self-sufficient, Jesus declares in his kingdom it is the poor in Spirit- those who recognize their need for him – that are blessed.
This counter-cultural way of life is also meant to have an impact on the world around us. The world doesn’t need Christians that live indistinct from everyone else. It needs those who proclaim and embody the values of the kingdom of heaven. As Jesus tells us, we are to stand out as lights in the darkness (Matt. 5:14-16). When we live this way as his disciples we bring honor to our King and will have a missional impact on those around us.
How Can I Make the Most of this Series?
Jesus preached this Sermon not merely to inform us but to transform us. As we study this together, let us seek to lean into dependency on him. We can benefit by hearing sermons by preachers we will never meet, but studying this sermon will accomplish nothing if we don’t know the One who preached it and depend on him through the power of his Spirit to transform us through it.
As a church family we are seeking to do this in three ways.
First, through prayer. Prayer is one of the greatest expressions of our dependency on the Lord. Pray about what the Lord is showing you and pray with others about what you are learning. During our Sunday gatherings, different members will lead us in times of prayer related to the Sermon on the Mount. Let us be praying that we will grow in dependency on our Lord as we live out the life and promises we have through the Kingdom we have been brought into.
Second, through Scripture memorization. We plan to memorize portions of the Sermon on the Mount together as a church family. Memorizing Scripture provides a great way to keep it in our hearts and minds, and in our conversations with one another.
Finally, through additional study and reflection. Below are several books that I have found particularly encouraging. I encourage you to pick one up and use it as a companion in our time together. We will also be sharing different resources throughout our time.
Recommended Resources
- The Sermon on the Mount by Sinclair Ferguson – A short but very helpful book by my favorite living theologian.
- Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones – A more in-depth look into the Sermon. This classic book was taken from Dr. Lloyd-Jones 60 sermons on the Sermon on the Mount.
- The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott – An accessible commentary that should be helpful for everyone.
- The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple by Daniel M. Doriani – Another helpful look at the Sermon on the Mount that is both accessible and practical.
- The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing by Jonathan Pennington – Dr. Pennington provides a more advanced look at the Sermon, describing its cultural context as well as doing in depth word-studies for key terms. It also contains a helpful commentary on the Sermon in the second half of the book.