Welcome to my little blog-sermons on Christ's Sermon on the Mount!
I decided to start this thread when I noticed a certain "rhythm" about how the whole sermon, in Matthew 5-7, seemed to have. I suspected that the whole speech was pointing to something that was more than your usual Sunday school lesson. And then I discovered a diagram in the Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible that confirmed my suspicions:
IT IS A DIAGRAM OF THE ENTIRE CHRISTIAN LIFE!!!
The diagram was of a "cathedral" where the Beatitudes made up the steps, the verses made up its pillars, its mini-parables made up the windows, and Christ is the Preacher, His light coming out in all directions. It was called "The Temple of Truth". I found the picture so beautiful, and the rest of the bible's maps and charts so eloquent and simple to understand, that I bought the bible right then and there! It is now my fave bible! I needed this bible when I taught Sunday school and Wednesday night bible studies.
The whole sermon is, quite simply, an illustration of how the Christian's life is supposed to be exemplified. No other sermon, in Christianity nor in any other religion, comes even close to the simplicity and depth of this one. To me, it just further proves the deity of Jesus' person.
Before I begin, let me fill you in on a little history of this sermon. The actual "mount" where Christ first gave it is actually a small hill that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. Now some of the bible's critics have said that there's no way that so many of thousands of people could have heard Jesus' lone voice on that day, therefore the whole sermon had to have been made up later after the founding of the organized church.
However, while standing on this mount, one notices something very peculiar: the sea's rolling waves isn't noisy and that one actually CAN hear the voice of someone standing far away. The mount, along with its neighboring hills, actually create a kind of natural ampitheatre, where voices and sounds can be heard for hundreds of feet, in all directions. There is a church built on the top of the mount and, according to one church legend, a monk was caught violating his vow of silence when his brothers up at the church could hear him murmuring curses about having to do all of the planting by himself one hot day...while he was still way out in the fields!
MATTHEW 5:3 "Blessed" - Happy. Not a silly and giggly kind of happiness, but an inner joy and peace. In the days of the Roman occupation there wasn't much to be happy about. Taxes were a hassle, with both Roman soldiers AND Jewish tax collectors hustling the people out of their last coin, sometimes killing anyone that even looked at them the wrong way. The "religious" leaders in the Temple (being rebuilt by Herod the Great, a monster that killed off even members of his own family, fearing that they were plotting to kill him) were making themselves "pure" through their own theologies, not really caring that almost all of it were their own invention, not having any basis in the actual Law. And there were the religious zealots, with their own "messiahs", committing terroristic acts against any Gentile for "occupying" their nation...even killing any Jew that married a Gentile. For Christ to begin His preaching with this word, much less with the rest of the sermon, was a way of stating to the world that Someone new had come onto the world scene...and would eventually, through His love and sacrifice, take over the entire world. "the poor in spirit" - Most people, especially the rich Pharisees and scribes (the "fundies" of Jesus' day), would least suspect those that are poor, both financially and spiritually, as having any reason to be happy. They thought and often taught that being poor in any area of life was either a sign of personal weakness, or a curse from God. But Christ is laying the foundation of all true spirituality: repentance from sin, self and anything else that might be a hindrance to walking with God. He is teaching that those that have come to the end of themselves are closer to heaven than they might think. A garden can't be laid until the brush is burned off, the ground is broken up to receive the seeds, and the stones are taken away to keep from impeding growth. "kingdom of heaven" - Like in modern times, the peoples of ancient Palestine thought that this phrase described a PHYSICAL kingdom, with the coming Messiah building it up through the overthrow of the enemies of Israel. But the term actually pertains to the SPIRITUAL realm: the body of all believers, both Jew and Gentile alike. The reason why a person goes to heaven when they die is because heaven, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, enters the believer's heart and begins to make him/her into the likeness of Christ. Heaven is ANYWHERE where God is...and, therefore, should be most seen in the church, with love being the rule and NOT the exception.
"mourn" - To grieve openly without care of what others may think. Not just a kind of remorse, but a deep grief that sacrifices all good feelings. In Christ's times, as in some churches today, people used to hire complete strangers to mourn at the deaths of their loved ones. These are the people who were crying but then mocked Jesus when He said to the rabbi that lost his daughter, "She is not dead, but is just sleeping." Grief that is feigned for show, I believe, is one of the worst of sins. "comforted" - Christ guarantees a happy ending. He promises that those who are hurting in this fallen world WILL have healing and deliverance from evil, exemplified in His resurrection from the dead. Fundies in those days, as in these, like to say that bad times and misfortunes are proofs of God's displeasure at the "sinfulness" of the suffering, but the entire story of Job is proof that that isn't true...showing how much the fake "religious" know about true faith.
Matthew 5:5
"meek" - Having God's supreme power under your absolute self-control. Fundies constantly vie for control of power, but Christ says that being in control of one's self is the ultimate power. "inherit the earth" - Please refer to Psalm 37:11. David tells us not to worry about the seeming "prosperity" of the wicked. He says that it lasts for a short time and when it's over, they and their evil are gone without a trace. This is how God judges the guilty. But the innocent, the Lord rewards with that which the evil vainly coveted for...and much, much more. This was comforting to those that had suffered greatly under the Pax Romana of Roman soldiers, and were thinking about joining the zealots in their fighting. One of the apostles was one of these zealots.
"hunger and thirst" - Just as the human body needs food and water to live, our souls need sustenance, too. Just as no one eats and drinks just one day a week, so does our souls need daily nourishment from God's word, prayer, meditation and worship. For a Christian to say that he doesn't need to walk with God seriously is to say "so what" when their doctor tells them to either eat and drink right or they'll die. And just as those that are anorexic try to pass off their disorder as "keeping thin and beautiful", the "spiritual anorexic" tries to pass of their repeated ignoring of God's word as just being "too busy for a daily quiet time". "righteousness" - Not an attitude of "I'm better than you", nor a fearful legalistic keeping of God's law, but simply an honest, straight-from-the-heart walking with the Lord by His grace and power. "filled" - A complete fulfilling to contentment. Christ teaches that those that are TRULY seeking after God will find Him...and that, in the end, they will be the MOST HAPPIEST to have done so. Unlike the teaching of the fundies, who often try to pass off either self-denial OR self-debauchery as the means of this, the Bible teaches that the process of being transformed daily into the likeness of Jesus IS the reward that gives one ultimate bliss. Just read the very first Psalm to see this.
Matthew 5:7
"merciful...obtain mercy" - Blessing guaranteed to those that live in God's forgiveness. While fundies claim that being so forgiving will just make you into a "walking mat", Christ is just stating a simple law of both God and His creation: for every action (sinning, and being sinned against), there is an equal but opposite reaction (grace from God, forgiveness from a forgiven soul). And just as trying to break natural laws will just get one killed, so will trying to harbor resentment and bitterness while after one has been given by God the same love and grace (Matthew 18:21-35).
Matthew 5:8
"pure in heart" - Having a clean and clear conscience. All have sinned, but God, through His Son, have given us the blood that washes ALL of our sinful deeds and desires away. "see God" - How one sees God through their faith. Fundies talk about their god as being a little "schizo", in that while He's a God of love, you can "out-sin" His grace until He hates you, taking away your salvation and damning your soul to hell. But Christ is simply stating another law of both science and faith: you cannot get something (matter/grace) from nothing (empty space/dead works). One's daily actions is a good revelation of their "views" of God.
"peacemakers" - Not ambassadors that write up peace treaties (anyone can do, and break, stuff like that), but "heavenly ambassadors for Christ" that help reconcile lost sinners to faith in God through the gospel message. "sons of God" - In those days, the fundies claimed that in the last battle with the "sons of darkness" (which they believed to be the Romans), the "sons of the light" (which they thought themselves to be) will vanquish them and usher in heaven on earth. But Christ teaches that a true child of God is a "new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17) that is reconciled to God by His love and mercy, so he MUST try to share that same love and mercy to others.
Matthew 5:10
"when" - Not "if". A true believer's new walk with God will cause those walking in the opposite direction to stumble. Just as salmon can't live to reproduce unless they batter and bloody themselves going upstream to mate, a Christian will get his nose bloodied as he tries to preach the gospel in both word AND deed. "persecuted for righteousness' sake" - To be maligned and shunned for doing the right thing. The fundies taught that persecution was a sign that God had abandoned you. But any student of the bible can site stories of everyone from David running away from Saul, to the prophet Jeremiah being thrown into a muddy well, to Joseph being beat up and sold into slavery by his own brothers.
Matthew 5:11-12
"for My sake" - The Gospel. "Rejoice", "exceedingly glad" - Having an inner celebration. "reward in heaven" - Not having a mansion "on the hills of glory", but coming face to face with the Almighty, Himself and being told, "Well done, my good and faithful servant...Enter now into my joy!" Fundies only care about making it to heaven, but the true believer seeks after God's will for THAT is his "heavenly delight".
The Beatitudes are more than just the "atitudes" that a believer is to have towards life: they are a mini-diagram of how a person becomes a Christian, and continues to live as one.
The first three demonstrate how one becomes a believer: first, he sees his need for salvation (v.3); then he's upset at his sinfulness (v.4); then he swallows his pride (becomes meek) and repents (v.5).
The next three demontstrate his inner changes of spirit and character: first, he hungers to be and live righteously (v.6); then, he uses God's mercy in his relationships with himself and others (v.7); then he changes his habits because his heart and soul no longer longs for the "sins" that he used to fill them with (v.8).
The final three demonstrate how his relationships with those around him have changed, both positive AND negative: first, he tries to be a "reconciler" with those that are living in alienation with both God and men (v.9). Some will comply, but others will reject God, His message and, lastly, the believer trying to share the gospel of love and peace (v.10). Some of these rejectors will even go as far as persecuting the believer, even unto death (v.11); where, upon arrival in heaven, the Lord blesses him with his eternal reward (v.12).
In the Beatitudes, we see a kind of "Roman's Road" to salvation of the lost soul, which includes the washing and changing of the heart and mind and will, the building of a spiritual life, and the sharing and receiving of eternal rewards...most of which can NEVER be truly tallied up, for just as ripples on a pond move outward when one throws a stone into it, so does one's actions affects EVERYONE on into eternity.
