Citizens of the Kingdom (Part 5): Law of Christ- Sermon on the Mount

Law as Grace

• The Torah was Grace. God didn’t say get right and then I’ll free you from Egypt.
• Torah was Israel’s instructions on how to live in a wise way and how to properly represent God in the world. Not necessarily rules but a way of life.

What is the Sermon on the Mount?

• The context is about the kingdom of God (Matt 4). So this is the kingdom ethos… the “law of the Kingdom”
• The Sermon on the mount is an all-out assault on the ego… a call to be crucified and live the Jesus way. 

Beatitudes

• Makarios can mean happy or blessed. In classical Greek it meant the divine life… the life of the gods

Poor in Spirit

• Kenosis (Phil 2/ foot washing)
• Poor= beggar… kingdom of the desperate
• This flows into all the other beatitudes
  • Gentleness that renounces selfishness and my rights over others
  • The capacity to mourn with the broken and not be obsessed with fixing them
  • Mercy that puts aside dominance and coercion
  • The hunger for justice and God to set things right as in the Amos, Micah, and Isaiah prophetic traditions.
  • The pure heart of the peace maker who does not demand vengeance.

Salt and Light

• Light bearers… it’s about reflecting God’s light to those we come in contact with… bearing the name, imaging God
• Salt is about impact. Salt was put on sacrifices (covenant), purified things, preserved and restored, was also a weapon of warfare (spiritual?), connected with friendship in the NT.
• Light was connected to the gentile mission and Israel’s calling to represent God and also connected to good works (1 Peter 2:11-12)

Dealing with the heart issues

• Not legalistic but transformative
• Murder… Don’t hate… go even further, actively seek restoration (leave your sacrifice and go reconcile… remember communion last week)
• Adultery… Don’t lust
• Don’t make Oaths… Be a person of integrity
• From the heart your actions flow

Enemy Love

• Eye for and Eye was about limiting retaliation in a violent culture. Jesus says don’t even get retribution even if you are entitled to it. This is a picture of Jesus forgiving enemies.
• Our love must be displayed as God did… kenosis, service, self-giving (not self-seeking) love.
• If this is our high calling, how do we treat those that the church has seemed to make into enemies… Muslims? Gays? Political opponents? … religious, political, and opposites in lifestyle? Jesus would eat with these people.

Be perfect

• Telios means complete and the context of this is not moral perfection or without error, but it is about love. Luke 6 translates this same verse as be merciful as your father is merciful. The Jews concentrated on God’s mercy as his chief attribute and not his perfection, power, or sovereignty. For a Jew to be perfect was to be full of mercy.

Conclusion (Matt 7:12-28)

• Jesus gives a few parables. Narrow and wide gates, true and false prophets (I never knew you), and wise and foolish builders
• We often hear these in the context of salvation… the real context is in living the way of Jesus, walking his path. The way of the sermon on the mount life is narrow (difficult)
• Believers can do miraculous things but might not know Jesus. Jesus is looking for the fruit of this sermon… Kenosis, Enemy love, surrender, taking up our cross, …. It’s the christoform life.