Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Theme for the Day by Rev. Reagan Cocke: The Sermon on the Mount
All that Jesus taught is good and possible for his disciples. He did not teach law but how we are to live in his kingdom. He calls his disciples to live and grow in grace. In the Sermon the Mount, Jesus gathers his disciples around himself and then lays out an ethical standard by which to live. He warns them that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Sermon on the Mount is probably the least understood of all Jesus’ teachings. In it Jesus describes what he wants his followers to obey, delivering a Christian value system with ethical standards: attitudes to money, ambition, lifestyle, and religious devotion. All of these are at variance with the world in which we live. Are his ideals unattainable—attractive but totally unrealistic? John Stott answers: “The standards of the Sermon are neither readily attainable by everyone nor totally unattainable by anyone. Jesus spoke this Sermon to those who were already his disciples and thereby also citizens of God’s kingdom and the children of God’s family. It describes the kind of people reborn Christians are or should be.”
The eight blessings (beatitudes) Jesus sets forth at the beginning of his sermon, are given by God to disciples in whom he is working such a character. These blessings are not a reward for the religious; these blessings are gifts of grace for repentant sinners. These are marks that give evidence to God’s grace working in us, displaying what we are in Christ and being made Christ-like. We are perfect in Christ, yet we are still a work in progress. We display the firstfruits but await the true harvest. As Paul says, We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Of the eight blessings found in Matthew 5:3-10, the first 4 describe a Christians’ relationship to God and the second 4 describe our relations to our fellow man:
· Blessed are the poor in spirit. Jesus is saying that we are to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, our spiritual bankruptcy before God, and out total need of him.
· Blessed are those who mourn. Jesus is speaking of those who not only recognize their spiritual poverty but actually grieve over it. Confession is one thing; contrition is another.
· Blessed are the meek. Jesus is speaking of those who have a humble and gentle attitude toward others which is determined by a true estimate of oneself. In our age that promotes self-esteem, it’s hard to find the meek.
· Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus is speaking of those whose deepest desire is for the whole human community to be pleasing to God. Martin Luther says: Jesus’ command is not to crawl into a corner or into the desert, but to run out . . . and offer your hands and your feet and your whole body, and to wager everything you have and can do. A hunger and thirst for righteousness that can never be curbed or stopped or sated. If you cannot make the world completely pious, then do what you can.”
The first four beatitudes reveal a logical, spiritual progression: those who are poor in spirit mourn over the cause of it, admit their spiritual poverty in meekness, and long for God’s righteousness in their lives and in all human life. These four attitudes lead to four more beatitudes:
· Blessed are the merciful. Jesus is speaking of those who, having repented of their own sins and received God’s mercy, likewise show mercy and compassion for people in need. What people; what need? Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan and the man who showed mercy. God’s mercy extends to all, and so must ours.
· Blessed are the pure in heart. Jesus is speaking of those with a single heart, a heart of flesh given by God, who serve one master only. The pure in heart have their whole lives, public and private, transparent before others. They are people without guile.
· Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus is speaking of those who actively pursue peace at a cost. The peace of God is not peace at any price but at the price of his Son. True peace and true forgiveness are costly treasures of divine work. God forgives us when we repent. Peacemaking comes through repentance. Jesus told us to forgive when others repent: “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”
· Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Jesus is speaking of the reality of being a Christian. He suffered for righteousness’ sake. Those who hunger for righteousness like Jesus, will suffer for the righteousness they crave. Suffering is a badge of true discipleship, for a disciple is not above his master. Following Jesus means we will suffer. If you aren’t suffering, you are following at a safe distance. This is one time that tailgating isn’t sinful.
The beatitudes paint an accurate and comprehensive portrait of discipleship, one that John Stott describes this way: We see the disciple alone on his knees, acknowledging his spiritual poverty before God and mourning over it. This makes him meek and gentle in all his relationships, since this honesty of who he is as a sinner compels him to allow others to think of him what before God he confesses himself to be. Yet he is far from acquiescing in his sinfulness, for he hungers and thirst after righteousness, longing to grow in grace and goodness and holiness. We see him with others, engaged in society, not insulated from the world’s pain and messiness because he longs to serve God. He shows mercy to those battered by adversity and sin. He is transparent in all his dealings, actively seeking to be a peacemaker. Yet, like Jesus, he is not thanked for his efforts but opposed, slandered, insulted, and persecuted on account of the righteousness for which he stands and the Savior with whom he identifies.
The world dreams of progress, of power, of winning the future, but the disciples of Jesus focus on the end, the last judgment and the coming of the kingdom. To these heights the world cannot rise. So the disciples of Jesus are strangers in the world, unwelcomed guests and disturbers of the peace that is not peace. The culture of the world and the counter-culture of Christ are at loggerheads. No wonder the world rejects and despises those who are blessed by God. No wonder Jesus was killed on a cross. Not only do these beatitudes paint a portrait of discipleship, they also paint a portrait of the cross, of Jesus dying for the sins of the world. That is why disciples live cross-centered lives grounded in a cross-centered message.
The Sermon on the Mount is built on the assumption that Christians are different. Jesus calls us to be different. The tragedy of the Church throughout history is our constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture. Consider in your own life where you can live counter-culturally.
