Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 5-7 (Click title for audio access)

"A Sermonic Retrospective" • 6.27.10 • Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- We have finished an examination of the sermon on the mount, from a section by section vantage point. I will not lie: I could not have enjoyed 6 week journey much more.

- To bask in the very thoughts of the Lord Jesus and to look at my life through His lens, is at once daunting and satisfying.

- When we began chapter 5, I told you that we would be incapable of covering everything in one pass. I promised that we would again quickly fly back over to gather a few more insights.

- That is what we are going to do today.

- In the two final verses of chapter 7, Matthew records the response of that first audience.

• Matthew 7:28,29 : "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."

- Literally, their mouths were wide open. They stood in silence and in awe. Matthew records that it was His authority that impressed them.

- This primarily refers to a direct difference between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees.

- It was not unusual for Rabbis to quote other Rabbis, ad nauseaum. It would have been a very rare Rabbi who finally gave his own opinion on any matter.

- In contrast, Jesus says over and over again: "You have heard it said, BUT I SAY to you."

- Additionally, there are three other impressive elements. The first was the brevity that marks this sermon. There is no fluff, simply swift movement from one amazing thought to another.

- Second, is the breadth that marks His sermon. It covers every aspect of life on earth and carries us into the depth of eternity.

- Finally, there is the definition. Jesus sets a definitive tone on 4 different subjects that are most important to our Christian lives.

- Today, I want to pick up these themes that are worthy of a little more of our attention. We'll look at them in this order:

I. His Righteousness

II. His Fatherhood

III. His Kingdom

IV. His Reward

Text

I. His Righteousness

- The overarching theme of the sermon on the mount is the righteousness of God. Matthew 5:20 is the thematic centerpiece of Christ's thought.

• Matthew 5:20 : "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

- The righteousness that Jesus respects is a righteousness that is different from that of the scribes and Pharisees. This righteousness is overabundant, overflowing righteousness.

- It is given to God's people, the ones who recognize their poverty and who hunger consistently for God's righteouness.

- To that person looking outside of Himself and toward God, God grants the righteousness of Christ. It is foreign to any natural human being.

- It does not originate in us. It cannot be worked up. We cannot attain it. It must be given to us. It must be declared over us.

- Turn with me to Genesis 15. Abram has been told that His descendants would be numerous and that they would bless the families of the entire earth via the Messiah.

• Genesis 15:6 : "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

- In this case, I would commend the rendering of the New Living Translation which is a more accurate rendering.

• Genesis 15:6 (NLT) : "And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith."

- God saw Abraham's belief. He saw genuine trust and He said, "I declare that He is as a righteous man."

- Abraham believed in what was yet future to Him in the same way that we believe what has been done in the past. When that happens, we have righteousness that comes from God.

- Literally it is Christ's righteousness that we will never achieve, but that we can experience.

- His righteousness expresses itself through me when I stand and commit to allow the Lord to act through me.

- His righteousness seeks to honor God above and beyond any human audience. It is His righteousness within us that makes us act out the tenets within the sermon on the mount.

- It's His righteousness that is seen most clearly in what has been called the "Golden Rule."

• Matthew 7:12 : "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

- To act in such a way expresses the totality of what was expressed within the Old Testament.

- How can we experience this? That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He reminds us of His Word and then enables us to surrender to what God wants to do through us.

II. His Fatherhood

- Early in the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells His disciples of God's Fatherhood relationship to them. It is seen as early as the Beatitudes.

• Matthew 5:9 : "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God."

• Matthew 5:16 : "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

- Looking at God as a our Father causes us to consider many different things. We begin with an understanding of divine, intimate concern.

- To the original audience, this was a foreign concept. God's eye was toward Jerusalem and towards His people but that was the extent of that concept for the Jewish people.

- To comprehend a God that desired to exist in a Father/Son relationship required a bit more, but it is well within the Sermon on the Mount.

- Note from these verses what the Father's role is in our lives.

• Matthew 6:31,32 : "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."

- He is a God intimately acquainted with our needs. He knows and our understanding of His knowledge should propel us to trust Him more.

- Furthermore, He is a Father who sees.

- In chapter 6, we are given several practices that are meant to be done unto the Lord. We are to do them, but not to be seen by men. We are to do them solely unto the Lord.

• Matthew 6:3,4 : "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."

- This statement is repeated twice after this in chapter 6. He is involved in our lives and He sees our activities.

- He is a Father who is intimately concerned and intimately involved in our lives. Our response is to be like Him by taking on characteristics that glorify Him and that reveal our relationship to Him.

• Matthew 5:43-48 : "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

- Take note of those phrases: "That you may be sons of your Father in heaven." "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

- When He expresses His character through us, when we respond as He responds, we reveal our relationship to Him! People say, "He (or she) is acting just like their Father."

- That is at once, our responsibility, our goal and our greatest compliment!

III. His Kingdom

- God's Kingdom plays a strong note within the sermon on the mount. Matthew uses two interchangeable terms: The Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God. It's the same thing.

- The Kingdom concept is divided into two parts. First refers to the immediate surrender to Kingdom rule.

- That is what a Christian is: An individual living with a claim to and a responsibility toward God's Kingdom. His Kingdom belongs to those with Kingdom attitudes.

• Matthew 5:3 : "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

• Matthew 5:10 : "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "

- His Kingdom belongs to those with Kingdom priorities.

• Matthew 6:10 : "Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven."

• Matthew 6:33 : "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

- Christians live today as people who already belong to a Kingdom that has yet to come to complete fulfillment. We live in light of Kingdom reality, all of which is assured to us in the future.

- Turn over to Philippians 3. Paul explains a little more about this reality.

• Philippians 3:18-21 : "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself."

- Someday, as our cry "your Kingdom come" intimates, we will see it in it's full expression, where Christ is lifted to the highest place, where we will serve and love Him without shame or fear.

- It will be there, in His fulfilled Kingdom, where the principles and commands of the sermon on the mount will be the normative activity. It will be standard. It will be the rule of the streets!

IV. His Reward

- In many ways, what we have seen thus far qualifies just fine as a reward. When you and I think of reward, we have to understand that we have enough reward right now.

- We have peace with God in this life. The hostility between us has been settled at the cross.

- We have been given His Spirit who gives us wisdom and direction.

- That being the case, reward is a constant theme throughout the sermon.

• Matthew 5:11,12 : "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

- Jesus says in 6:4, 6:6 and 6:18 that "the Father who sees in secret will reward openly."

- Each time that the word "reward" is used, it refers to a laborers wage. It is the natural expectation that comes from work.

- I read this week that unless a thing is good for something, it is good for nothing!

- There is a reward at the end of the Christian life, an expectation of good. What is that reward? Is it precious metals and jewels?

- Looking at the book of Revelation and we understand that gold is pavement and jewels are part of the walls of the heavenly city!

- The reward for a Christian in the life after is the same as it is today, except that the benefits there will be to the perfect degree.

- The reward is a simple as the first word of this sermon: "Blessed." We noted that the word has been translated happy, but that a more appropriate understanding is one of satisfaction.

- The Christian man or woman can look forward to a contented, satisfied eternity.

- On the other hand, the opposite is true for those who seek satisfaction in this life.

- They seek the approval of men through religious show and they have their reward.

- They seek to serve material things (mammon) and those are their rewards.

- They choose the wide, comfortable road, thinking that they have found life, but are indeed moving steadily, digressively toward utter and complete ruin, and that, for eternity.

• Matthew 7:13b : "for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."

- In the same way that the reward of satisfaction is perfected in the presence of Christ, so also is the ruin perfected in the absence of Christ!

- For eternity, there are those who will know ruin and experience loss upon loss, as they are tormented, cursed and lost forever.

Conclusion

- These are the stakes. This is what we are all playing for. When I surrender my life to Christ, I am opening the door for His righteousness to flow through me.

- He is my Father and I am His son. He is my King and I am His subject. He is my reward and He is yours as well.