The Sermon on the Mount
“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.”
Matthew 5:1
The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon ever given. The topics are broad and expansive, covering all of the Christian life. I have never written on them before, so this will be a new undertaking. Some sections I will take a verse at a time and others I will unpack as a group of verses. There has been much debate regarding the Sermon on the Mount. Some mistakenly take it as a repudiation of the Old Testament because of how Jesus corrects some of the false ideas. As we will see, Jesus does not contradict the Old Testament but rather fulfills the Old Testament ceremonial laws. Further, what Jesus corrects is not the teaching of the Old Testament but the wrong interpretation and application of the Old Testament by the Scribes and Pharisees. The moral standards of the Old Testament are repeated in the New Testament and are a part of God’s unchanging character and are still true today.
Some mistakenly treat the Sermon on the Mount as an impossible standard to live. They see the superlative commands and the categorical demands and see it as unlivable. In one sense that is true. For instance, Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:48)” Have we ever been perfect for a day? An hour? A minute? Has our love and devotion ever been perfect without mixed motive? Undoubtedly the answer is a resounding no. So, in one sense this is unlivable. Like the rest of God’s moral law, when we examine it, we see the perfection of God and our imperfection and sinfulness by contrast. This has led some to say that the sermon isn’t an accurate guide for the Christian life.
Since it is an impossible standard for anyone to live, does this give us the right to ignore it or write it off? The Bible tells us that what we cannot do in our own strength we can do in the power of the Holy Spirit. The moral law of God, his commands and imperatives, have the effect in the life of the non-believer to cause him to recognize his sinfulness and the impossibility of earning his way to heaven. It is a mirror for us to see how sinful we are and in need of being rescued from our sin. For the believer it has the effect of humbling us and causing us to cry out for God’s grace and strength through the Person of the Holy Spirit. We recognize that we still have indwelling sin that wages war against our soul, but we also have a new desire to follow Jesus and lovingly obey him. In humility we ask for the strength we do not have, and God gives it to us so that we can actively obey.
Before we were Christians, we were slaves to sin. We were not able not to sin. In other words, we did not have the power or ability to overcome sin and please God with our behavior. Sin had affected every area of our lives including our motives and desires. When we became a Christian, we were enabled to obey through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are still able to sin which is why we wage war against our fallen desires. But when we humbly turn away from self-reliance and rely on the strength God provides, we are able to not sin and rather act in ways that are genuinely pleasing to God. We will not be perfectly obedient, but we can be genuinely obedient from the heart. The Sermon on the Mount then instructs us on how to properly understand God’s commands and how to live out the Christian life that God has given us. Join me as we examine passages each week from this great sermon.
