56. Sermon on the Mount, Part I (Matthew 5:1-6:4).

by Wesley Blackburn

So without a doubt, the Sermon on the Mount is probably Jesus' most brilliant teaching in all of Scripture. It's so brilliant that even people who don't really care about following Jesus even have to admit that this is some of the greatest teaching on ethics and morality that has ever been delivered. You could easily spend a year in Matthew 5-7 and still not even scratch the surface of what's really happening here. But in today's reading, I think there are two major themes, and I don't want us to miss out on them.

Theme #1: The Way of God is Counter-Cultural
I think we all sort of know this already, but the way of God is different from the way of the world. Just take a look at the Beatitudes (a nickname for Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:1-12). Jesus teaches that sometimes, people who mourn are actually blessed. Those who are insulted and hurt because of Christ's name? They're blessed too. In a seeming list of contradictions, Jesus is saying essentially that the way of God is different, and while it may not have immediate payoff in this life, we can rest assured that God notices the way we live, especially when it's tough.

But Jesus picks up on this theme later on here, as well. He tells us to love our enemies. He tells us to pray for those who persecute us. He tells us to turn the other cheek to those who wish us harm. I often find myself in life essentially saying, "But I don't wanna do that Jesus! It's hard!" That's exactly the point. It is hard. And different. And if we're not seeing either of those two things, then we're probably not really following Jesus, just our own little created version of Him.

Theme #2: The Way of God is About the Heart
Also in this passage, we see Jesus do some teaching where essentially He outlines a couple commandments (like adultery and murder, for example) and then takes them a step farther. No longer is adultery just about not sleeping with someone you aren't married to; it's actually about not even lusting or thinking inappropriately about someone you aren't married to. No longer is murder just about taking another person's life; it's about not even thinking the angry thoughts that lead to that point.

All this goes to show us that following Jesus isn't about just our actions. Take it from me and my own personal life experience; you can do all the right Jesus things and still be absolutely sinful and dead inside. The life of Jesus is one that starts first in the heart. It's about us doing right things, yes, but it's even more so about having the right heart. And that's hard. Again, I think that's the point. We can't change our hearts. But the Holy Spirit sure can. And I think God makes it that way so we always carry around this little miracle inside of us that serves as a continual reminder of what God has done and is doing in our lives.