Introduction to Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 4:23-5:3

 

23   And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

 

1   Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

 

2   And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Sermon on the Mount

 

Liberals—

 

•       Forget that the Sermon also teaches obedience and a changed life on an existential level.  Jesus mentions hell in this passage more than any other place in the Gospels. 

 

Conservatives—

 

•       Forget the social implications.  Set up the Sermon on the Mount as a new set of the Decalogue.   This doesn’t work either.

 

 

What does it mean to live out this thing called the Gospel?  In a tradition that so emphasizes grace, it is easy to either forget that Jesus calls us to be like Him or it is easy for us not to be concerned with whether or not we are progressing in our faith and in our ability to understand and apply the teachings of Jesus to our lives.

 

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ most definitive statement in all the New Testament about living the Gospel.

 

Before we actually get into the sermon, which we’ll do next week, we have to set in a context.

 

It’s not about living a moral life—it’s about living the Gospel.

 

I.                    Before you can live the Gospel, you’ve got to believe it. (23)

 

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

 

A.     What is the Gospel of the Kingdom?

 

1.      Adam and Eve in the Garden as our representatives.

 

•       They fall and they take the whole human race with them—the once perfect relationship with God was destroyed.

•       Good news is that even then, right after God promised to do everything it took to heal the rift between himself and his creatures.

 

2.      The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

 

•       Edmund has fallen under the spell of the white witch by eating her forbidden Turkish Delight.

 

•       Aslan comes and Lucy says, “Aslan, can anything be done to save Edmund?”

•       He simply replies, “All shall be done.”

 

3.      This is the message Jesus preached—you’re broken and sinful and alienated from God, but all shall be done to fix that.

 

•       It is bigger, even, than “all shall be done,” because what Jesus was preaching was that “I am here to do it.”

•       “I’m here to live the life you should have lived and to die the death that you should have died.”

•       Whoever trusts that God will forgive them because Jesus has already taken all their punishment will be forgiven—no questions asked.

 

You see the Sermon on the Mount is about what it means to be/live as a Christian.  Before we hear how to live as a Christian, we hear how to become a Christian.

 

If you are at all unclear about how to become a Christian, let me tell you briefly:

 

1.      You’ve got to see yourself for who you are—a sinner with nothing to offer God but your brokenness.

 

•       The Emperor’s New Clothes

•       In the Gospel, Jesus says you’ve got no clothes—you can’t get anywhere until you’re willing to admit that.

 

2.      You’ve got to see Jesus for Who He is—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by His death on the cross.  You look to Him and say, “I trust that because my sin was punished in You, God will never hold them against me.”  You look to him and say, “In as much as I understand what it means, I am going to stop being defined by my sexuality, or my money, or my race, or my status or my brokenness, and I am going to be defined by You.“ You cast your lot in with Jesus.

 

Transition:

 

The mistake most people make after believing the Gospel is trying then to gut it out.

 

You see, just as you can’t live the Gospel until you believe it, you can’t live the Gospel unless and until you understand its power.

 

II.                 Before you can live out the Gospel, you’ve got to have some understanding of its power (24)

 

 ²⁴ Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.

 

A.     It’s no accident that before we hear Jesus talk about living the Gospel we have this sentence.

 

•       What we have here is a very comprehensive list of brokenness.

 

•       There is no person, no disease, no malady, no situation that escapes the healing power of the Gospel.

 

B.     Do you understand that?

 

•       Most of us, whether Christian or not, are plagued by our brokenness both within and without.

•       You take a person like that and you set the Sermon on the Mount in front of them and it is death.  Among other things, it says “be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

•       However, if you understand the power of the Gospel to change any person or any situation, you then look at the Sermon on the Mount and, instead of being broken by it, you can be encouraged.  Because you say, “Jesus has the power to make me into these things.  He has to power and the desire to make me someone who is reconciled to my family, to make me someone who is no longer governed and defined by my sexuality or my money.”  You know this because every one of your issues is addressed here.  I guarantee it.

 

Most of us go through life like Sisyphus—doomed by the gods to push a huge boulder to the top of a hill and every time it gets to the top, it just rolls down the other side and he has to start all over again.

 

*Remember the movie Shine?

 

•       He grew up under the harsh tutelage of his father who wouldn’t be satisfied until he could play perfectly Rach 3.

•       He pushes and pushes until he finally does it and instead of being satisfied, it has broken him.  He’s institutionalized.

•       He’s redeemed by love—then he plays again, but it’s different.  He’s relaxed.  He talks to him.