The Sermon of the King – 3/3/24

Fun fact for the day, the Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in history. The Mongols were nomadic horsemen scattered throughout East Asia who were organized and weaponized by a man named Temujin, who is ordinarily known in the West as Genghis Khan. Military historian Bevin Alexander, in his classic book How Great Generals Win, describes Genghis and his commanders as some of the most effective military strategists ever. So, how did they conquer so much? A few reasons.

One is they eliminated favoritism. Their commanders were chosen based on competence, not nepotism or nobility or bribery.

Second, they continued learning. Genghis had some massive setbacks early on, lost big time. But every time he learned things and they improved their strategies. For example, they eventually mastered the art of siege craft. They adapted their methods to different regions and topography.

Third, they established structure and communication. Genghis was a master organizer who united fractured tribes, arranged his forces in groups of 10 thousands, one thousands, one hundreds, tens, with commanders over each. They had a fascinating flagging system to coordinate military movements so their forces could move with mechanical precision. By the way, they also opened up the Silk Road for trade and, unfortunately, later for the bubonic plague.

Number four, they valued mobility. The Mongols were master horsemen, and their cavalry could surprise and ambush much larger forces.

Then the big one: they practiced brutality. The Khans were known for their ruthless tactics. For example, in 1258, Hulagu Khan (one of Genghis’ grandsons) conquered Bagdad, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people (including surrendering soldiers, men, women, and children), then severed the heads of some of those they conquered and sent them ahead to villages and cities that they were moving toward to induce surrender.

I want, for a moment, to imagine that. Not the severed heads, but imagine: what would it be like to be in a city in the path of an army like that? You know that cities with greater fortifications have already been crushed. You know if you seek to resist, they will eventually slaughter the men, rape the women. If the children survive, they will be sold into slavery. You could surrender. Then you’re putting down your arms and you’re placing yourself at their disposal, at least being charged massive tribute indefinitely.

I’m not picking at all on the Mongols. We could look at the Egyptian Empire, Assyrian, Macedonian, Roman, all the Muslim caliphates, Ottoman, Russian, British. These are just the big ones. We could look at tribe-on-tribe conflict in Africa or American Westward expansion. Whenever kingdoms come, victims rise, atrocities, unthinkable terror.

I think, in a weird way, this is good for Americans to think about because most of us have never had to imagine this, which is an unusual period in history. Of course, many would remember Sherman’s March or Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Those would be the closest we can imagine to something like this. But an army conquering city after city. Like you hear, Charlotte’s falling. Then Boiling Springs. Gaffney, they get the peach. Spartanburg. You know what’s coming. Refugees are flooding Greenville. The stories are horrific. You can have a gun case, but so did the other cities.

You say, why are we imagining this? Because it’s an unusual thing to live in a country where we have not had a history of invading armies wreaking havoc city to city. In Matthew 4, Jesus announces the arrival of a kingdom. Matthew 4:17,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The empire of Heaven has come near. You imagine, what is this going to be like? If earthly empires produce victims, imagine a heavenly empire. Will we survive? Will we be enslaved? Then the more you learn as you’re reading Matthew, you see that this empire is quite different because this King is quite different.

Look at Matthew 5:1,

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them.”

We got an avalanche of personal pronouns, verbs with undefined reference. To whom is “he,” “his,” “him” referring? It’s so fascinating. What Matthew is doing is linking the preacher of Matthew 5 to the person of Matthew 1-4. The King who came as a baby in the line of David to, Matthew 1:21,

“save his people from their sins.”

Woah. So, we’re not talking a king who’s going to slaughter and sever heads. We’re talking a king who comes to save. Sought by wise men. Hunted by the king of another kingdom, Herod. Heralded by John the Baptist. Baptized rather than coronated. Tempted rather than applauded. He chooses ordinary people, fishermen, to follow him and moves toward the weakest, the sickest, the strangest—just look at us—with the

“good news of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23).

So, the invasion of this kingdom is like no other kingdom. And chapter one through four sets the stage for what is commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount.

As we’ve been talking about, Matthew alternates between action and instruction (works and words). This section (chapters 5-7) is the first major instruction in the book of Matthew. This is Jesus’ most famous sermon, but it’s also the most famous sermon in history. It’s the most quoted. It’s the most misunderstood, misrepresented, most influential of all sermons. And today we’re going to preach the whole thing. You laugh for good reason. There’s just so much in this, so I want to prepare you.

You’re not going to be able to get everything because, just when your mind lands on something, we’re going to be moving on. And that’s okay. What we want to do is see the sermon as a whole because one of the problems, I think, with the way people interpret this sermon is they take it in little fragments. We quote little portions out of context and use it however we think we want to use. So, it helps to take it in as a whole, and then we’ll come back over the next six and a half months (March to September) and walk through this sermon. This seems to be similar to the way Jesus did it. He preaches the sermon, just dumps all this on his hearers and then he—you’ll see through the Gospels many times—sits down with his disciples and works through parts to help them understand. So, we’ll do the same thing.

We’ll work slowly through the sermon on the Mount over the next few months. We’ll have live groups interacting, praying for one another, applying so that we can get what Jesus has for us. One suggestion as we work through this: I strongly recommend you pick a portion to memorize. Many of you are memorizing the whole thing. That would be ideal. But if you say that’s overwhelming, then pick a paragraph. Or if you say that’s overwhelming, pick a verse or phrase. Aim high. So, let’s begin.

When this King and his kingdom come near, what is it like? How is it different than the Mongol kingdom? Or in the case of the first hearers, the Roman kingdom. Jesus, the King, tells us five things we’re going to see here: who we are, how we live, what we live for, how to fix what is broken, and the choice before us. The sermon has a clear movement. We’ll see, I believe. So, let’s walk through this.

Number one, who we are— a new identity (Matthew 5:1-16). Here Jesus reveals what the citizens of this kingdom are like. Verse three,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

So, these citizens, their identity is described as “blessed” nine times. “Blessed” means favored by God, happy, fortunate. I think the best way to understand the meaning is to see its contrast.

Think about the American kingdom. What is living “the good life” look like in America? Don’t think Christian. Think our culture in general. I want you to throw out some ideas here. Online, you can call out to the TV. What does it look like in our country to live the good life? Wealth. You got money, position. You have status, position, and all that goes with that. What else? You got a white picket fence. Those are a pain to keep white. Okay, someone over here. You have food. Oh, that’s big. You have a boat. You get around, travel. What else? You hike. You get outdoors. You have love. A Tesla, you drive a nice car. Freedom. That’s big in our country. What else? You have retirement, you have plenty set aside for the future. How about Taylor Swift is cheering you on at football games. That’s the good life. Okay, we could list many other things, but you know what I’m talking about. Obviously, it’s going to vary person to person, but generally speaking, there are patterns of “wow, they’ve made it.” They are someone, they have something there. They live a life that is enviable. That’s the meaning of this word. Jesus is just redefining it based on his kingdom. What does happily ever after look like? He tells us.

We’re going to go through the details in the next few weeks, but just in general, notice the Beatitudes. Couple of things that jump out. First, or the whole introduction, is this favored identity is for the unlikely. Verses 3-10, Jesus identifies the citizens of this kingdom as outsiders, misfits, the ones who might be slowest to label themselves as fortunate. Poor in spirit. Those who mourn. Those who are meek. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is why it’s often called the “upside down kingdom.”

Secondly, this favored identity is now and not yet. Notice the first description of a “blessed” is in the present tense: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v3). And if you skip all the way down to verse ten, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” present tense. But notice everything else in between, and the last one is future. It’s like Matthew is putting a bracket around this to communicate a couple of things. One is it’s a package. You don’t just pull out one and say, that’s who we are. It’s a package, but also, it’s a “now,” “is.” But “shall be comforted,” “shall inherit.” It’s now, but not yet. In other words, we are this but aren’t this yet fully. We haven’t received all of this. Third, this favorite identity is for the common good. It’s not individualistic, and we see this a couple different ways. The adjective “blessed” is plural. There’s no such thing as the solitary citizen of Jesus’s kingdom. Also, number two, and there are others, but verse 13,

“you are the salt of the earth.”

Verse 14,

“you are the light of the world.”

In other words, this is not a private blessing to be hoarded or hidden behind the walls of a church. It is to overflow into the community for the common good. Look at verse 16,

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

So, our new identity is good for our neighbors and for the glory of God.

Now, this is a radically different view of identity than the American kingdom has. Let me give you one example of this in the past. Cultures have tended toward what we could call the oppressive “we.” In other words, the collective overshadows and at times stifles the individual. Think about statements in the past like, “This is who we are. Don’t rock the boat.” Your grandfather was a farmer. Your father was a farmer. You’re going to be a farmer. This is who we are. See the collective? Overshadows the individual. I think any sane individual would agree that we have overcorrected, and our culture has swung all the way from the oppressive “we” to the expressive “me.” Very different view of the individual. Robert Bellah calls this “expressive individualism.” My standard is me. My authority is my feelings. I am the hero of my story. My view of success is discovering, expressing, and being affirmed in my authentic self. If you want to know what this looks like, watch practically any Disney movie. It’s coming out.

Tragically, with the expressive “me,” it is at the same time mass-produced in the factory of cultural conformity. Millions of expressive “me’s” are expressing themselves in a remarkably similar way. They all sound the same. Why? Because we are far more products of our culture than we realize. But at the same time, while it’s mass produced, it is siloed, solitary, alone. That’s why there’s just an epidemic of loneliness that goes along with this. Jesus is liberating us from both the oppressive “we” and the expressive “me” in telling us who we are in a very different way.

Second, he tells us how we live— a new authority (verses 17-48). Many today try to portray Jesus as an anarchist whose primary purpose is to jettison anything traditional or ancient and replace it with something fashionable and free. He chucked the system and calls us to do the same. Of course, there’s truth to that. Jesus didn’t bow to any human system, so that part is true, but the part of viewing Jesus as some disconnected Messiah floating in the atmosphere of individuality is missing his point. Look at verse 17. This is where the main body of the sermon begins. 1-16, introduction. Here he begins verse 17,

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

The old covenant is filled up in me. Right and wrong is defined and embodied in me. Jesus is saying, I am filling up this vision that has been described by the law and the prophets.

He outlined six case studies that follow the pattern “you have heard… but I say to you,” and he invites us to imagine living in a kingdom with a King who transforms us from the inside out. Look at the examples. First is anger toward another. This king cares about my heart of resentment, not just putting a happy smile on my face.

A lustful intent. Verse 27,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus is saying, in my kingdom, people are not commodities or objects for private consumption. What’s happening on your inside matters.

Groundless divorce, covenants matter. Swearing falsely, words matter. Retaliating against wrong and loving your enemy. This is all mind-blowing stuff in the culture that Jesus was teaching in and in our culture as well. Matthew 5:43,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Imagine living in a kingdom like this.

When Jesus comes near, he tells us who we are, he tells us how we live, and third, what we live for— a new security. Chapter six. In this chapter, Jesus warns us against two sources of false confidence that his followers must not live for. You could summarize them “status” and “stuff.”

Number one, don’t live for status (chapter 6:1-18). What do we mean “status?” An unhealthy dependence on what people think. Living for likes, what the Bible would call “fear of man.” I am very worried about what you think about me, and what you think about me motivates my good works and causes me to hide other things. Matthew 6:1,

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

There’s a clear contrast in this section between living to be seen or praised by people (6:1, 2, 5, 16, 18). Or seen or rewarded by God (6:1, 4, 6, 8, 18). Two totally different things to live for. And he applies it to giving (2-4), praying (5-15), fasting (16-18). So, don’t live for status.

Secondly, don’t live for stuff. Matthew 6:19,

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth and rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where treasure your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus is saying, when you live for stuff, you’re living a very insecure life, constantly vulnerable to moth, rust, thieves, IRS. It’s in the Greek. Secondly, you’re trading light for darkness. You’re serving money rather than God. You’re setting yourself up for anxiety (verses 24 to 34).

We’re actually going to spend, Lord willing, our whole Wisdom Fest this summer in that one section on anxiety. Anybody ever feel a little anxious? Welcome to the club. Jesus offers so much help for us, what it looks like to not be bound by anxiety. Look what he says in Matthew 6:25,

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

That’s what we live for: his kingdom. Not status, not stuff.

Fourthly, King Jesus tells us how we fix what is broken— a new responsibility (Matthew 7:1-12). Jesus is making clear that because we live in a “now and a not yet” kingdom, we will interact with broken people and face unresolved problems. It’s so difficult when we encountered these to know, what is the level of my responsibility in this? What should we do? Jesus, in some of his most well-known words (and often misunderstood), Matthew 7:1 says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.” Jesus is saying judgment is like owning a weapon. This weapon could be used for great good or great harm, so he offers us a safety course. Four tips here.

Number one, start with yourself. Look at the log in your own eye. Verse five,

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Hugely helpful. Second, stop trying to force feed. Get your finger out of your neighbor’s eyeball. Verse six,

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

The point there is not, I knew my neighbor was a pig. That’s not the point. It’s an analogy. The point is the kingdom of Christ is never coercive or manipulative. You’re not jamming.

Well, if I’m not jamming things or I’m not manipulating things with my words or my physical force or intimidation, what am I doing? Am I just being a noodle? Look at number three, keep asking your Father. Verse seven,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Verse 11,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Notice how the opposite of manipulation is intercession. People who don’t pray are much more prone to manipulate. Jesus is saying, keep asking your Father.

By the way, there is so much confidence and humility in that. Where do we get the confidence? Verse seven is present tense. He is saying, as you’re asking, you are receiving. As you’re seeking, you are finding. As you’re knocking, doors are being opened to you. It’s happening. That is filling us with confidence. But it’s humbling as well because our Father only gives good gifts. So, if I’m asking for something and he’s not giving me the gift that I want, maybe it’s not a good gift. Maybe he’s giving me a better gift than I think I need. Confidence (as I ask, he’s giving), humility (you know best, Father. You give really good gifts). Keep asking your Father.

Safety tip number four: if you’re unsure what to do, be creative in your kindness. Verse 12,

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets.”

Do you see the way Jesus phrases that? You have to use your imagination. “Whatever you wish.” Jesus is calling us out of our narcissistic bubble, puppet pal. Imagine for a moment, what would it be like to be her? To be him. How would I want to be listened to or loved? What would love look like for him in this situation? So, you’re using your imagination not for malicious purposes but to be creative in your love.

This wraps up the main part of Jesus’s sermon. Began in verse 17 with law and prophets, ends in 7:12 with law and prophets. First part was introduction, the last part we’re about to hit is the conclusion.

The choice before us— a new destiny (7:13-27). In this conclusion, Jesus uses four vivid images to highlight the difference between real versions of his kingdom and fake versions of his kingdom. He talks about two gates, a narrow one that actually leads to life and a wide one that leads to destruction. Two trees: one bears good fruit, the other bad. Two workers: one who does God’s will and another who does spectacular works but doesn’t have a relationship with the king. And then two builders, the wise and the foolish. Verse 24,

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

When the storm comes, that house stands. However, verse 26,

“everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

And the rains fall, and the floods come, and the winds blow and what happens to that house? It falls. So, Jesus is calling us to a place of choosing between a life built on sand with a temporary illness and a life built on his words within eternal stability.

The epilogue is in Matthew 7:28-29,

“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

How should we respond to a message like this? There’s so much in there. As I suggested earlier, all of us should be asking the Spirit to lead us to certain parts we’re going to memorize, asking Him to apply this. We don’t want to be like the builder who builds on the sand. But for today, let’s end where we began, the way Jesus begins this sermon back in 5:3 is vital for us to understand. I think it sets the tone for the whole thing.

Verse three,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Greek word for “poor” there is beggarly or destitute. It’s not, “I have an old car and I have a tiny apartment” kind of poor. It’s “I don’t have any food for today, I don’t know where I’m going to sleep tonight, I have nothing” kind of poor. This poverty is not just external, it’s internal. Poor in spirit. Inner bankruptcy. Like, I don’t even have any hope that things could be better. I don’t even have any strategy or connections or a plan.

We have to be very careful at this moment because we can easily turn this into something performative. I just need to feel worse about myself. That’s it. I’m a jerk. I’m a doormat. A lot of people think that’s what he’s talking about. That’s not what he’s talking. Or, if I could just write a big enough check, maybe I could earn my way into the kingdom. That’s not what he’s talking about.

Dallas Willard says,

“Jesus did not say, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ because they are poor in spirit. He did not think, ‘What a fine thing it is to be destitute of every spiritual attainment or quality. It makes people worthy of the kingdom.’ … We merely substitute another banal legalism for the ecstatic pronouncement of the gospel. Those poor in spirit are called ‘blessed’ by Jesus, not because they are in a meritorious condition [like they can earn something], but because, precisely in spite of and in the midst of their ever so deplorable condition, the rule of the heavens has moved redemptively upon and through them, by the grace of Christ.”

Whew! That is all of our hopes right there. “Poor in spirit” is really important because this gets at the purpose of the whole Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is not some impossible ideal. Yeah, Jesus just set the standard so high I know none of us can meet it, so forget about it. Neither is it something we have to try to attain, as in achieve. So, we can feel worthy of being in this kingdom. He starts right at the beginning, blessed are the poor in spirit, from the outset. There’s no one who gets in this kingdom because they felt bad enough about themselves or worked hard enough to get their poverty of spirit. What should we do? If there’s nothing to do, what do we do?

I think Jesus’ advice to the church at Laodicea was spot on. Revelation 3:17,

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing—”

Pause there for a second. Like, I have a house. I have a car. People think well of me. Or even Christian versions of that. I kept my nose clean. Try to do the right thing. Give some money in the offering, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. What makes Christ’s kingdom so difficult for an American to enter into is not that we have an Xbox, or a car, or a house, or clothes, or food in our pantry. It’s not that if I lived in a tent downtown on the street, I would be more spiritual than if I lived in a house. That’s not the point. That’s just creating another caste system. The point is that when I live in a house, I drive a car rather than live on the street, it’s far more difficult to see my need. That makes sense. When you have nothing, you know you need something. When you have something, you can be deluded into thinking you need nothing.

What Jesus is doing right at the beginning completely levels us, whether you’re rich or you don’t know how you’re going to pay your power bill. As Francis Spufford says,

“Of all things, Christianity isn’t supposed to be about gathering up the good people (shiny! happy! squeaky clean!) and excluding the bad people (frightening! alien! repulsive!) for the very simple reason that there aren’t any good people.”

That sounds like bad news. But it’s actually quite good because Jesus says, from the beginning of his sermon saying, if you’re going to be in my kingdom, you have to acknowledge this. You have to confess that, Lord, I don’t have anything that I can bring to you to say I should be in your kingdom. I don’t have a legal team behind me. I don’t have a resumé that would get me. And I can’t give enough. Work enough. Serve enough. Be sincere enough. Pray enough. I’m destitute.

The trouble with things is we tend to use them as delusions to think, well, I know I’m not perfect, but I’m okay. I pay my bills. I’m a good neighbor. Keep my fence white. “I’m okay,” so we can be diluted by those things. But also, we tend to look to them as a means of confidence, of God’s blessing. Like, God must be happy with me, look. Most of us would push against that and say, no, that’s health-wealth gospel. But watch what happens in your heart when you lose any of those things. You begin to automatically think, what did I do? Where’s your love? Have you forgotten me? No. We are all spiritually bankrupt before God. Yet the good news of the kingdom, as Paul writes, is 2 Corinthians 8:9,

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

He became what we are so that we might become what he is. Remember, he came to save his people from their sins.

I know we’ve been flooded with so much in this Sermon on the Mount, but the question we need to end with is, will you acknowledge that? For some of us here, today may be the first time we’ve really said, Lord, I’m turning from trusting in status and stuff and all my achievements, and I’m putting my faith in Jesus. What you did for me, if we keep reading in Matthew, on the cross through your death, through your burial, through your resurrection— that’s where I’m putting all my trust. I am poor in spirit. I have nothing I can bring to you to earn a way into this kingdom. For some of us, today may be the first time the Lord hears that prayer and saves. For others of us, it may be the 400th time or the ten millionth time. It’s not like we have to keep praying that to try to earn anything by the prayer. It’s the Lord continually reminds us of our dependence on him, and that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing. Lord, apart from you, I’m homeless. Helpless. Hopeless. Apart from you. But because you became poor that I might become rich, I have everything: forgiveness of sin, hope in heaven. You’re working. Your kingdom desires in me together with my brothers and sisters. There’s no greater joy. But apart from you, I will try to establish the kingdom of me, which will be built on status and stuff. It will be pure quicksand. It will not stand in the storm.

We want to take a few moments to respond to him in quietness. Then I’m going to pray, and then some people are going to come up and pass out a piece of bread and a cup called the Lord’s Supper, which is just a reminder that it’s all him. He gave his life that we might be part of his kingdom, his family. So, if your faith is in Jesus, please participate in a few minutes. So, let’s just be quiet before him for a moment. If the Spirit is speaking to your heart and you want to pray, “Lord, apart from you, I would be homeless, helpless, hopeless,” talk to him about that. It’s a good thing for us to be reminded of. Let’s pray.

Father. Thank you that you’re hearing our prayers. As we’re asking, you’re answering. As we’re seeking, we’re finding. As we’re knocking, doors are being opened. You remind us of our poverty not because you want to shame us or crush us, but you know if we won’t lose our lives, we won’t find them. If we cling to status and stuff in our own efforts, our hands will be so full they won’t receive what you have for us. So please continue to hear our cries as we call out to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.