Category: Sermon Supplements

The Sermon on the Mount is kind of like the TV series Lost; it is very popular and yet few people know what it actually means.  I did say that it is kind of like, because unlike Lost, this sermon does mean something, a great immeasurable something.  John Stott commented, “The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood and certainly it is the least obeyed.”

There have been a variety of approaches to this sermon.  I came across lists of 4, 7, 8, and 12 different interpretative approaches.  Grant Osborne says there are as many as 36 different interpretations I think the most popular way evangelicals approach the sermon can be seen in how they handle this first section (5:1-12).  They add a “t” and subtract the cross.  What are the beatitudes?  Don’t add a “t”.  They are not simply attitudes that you ought to be.  Beatitude comes from the Latin beatus, meaning blessed, fortunate, happy.   The Beatitudes are a description of the character of the Christian, those who possess the kingdom, the saving reign of God come in our Lord Jesus.

Notice Jesus is directly addressing His disciples (Matthew 5:1-2), though the crowds soon gather around to listen in (Matthew 7:28).  Jesus is addressing those who are the salt and light of the world, those who call God Father (Matthew 5:45, 48; 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 15, 18, 26, 32; 7:11).

The Beatitudes then are a description of those who enjoy the favor of God, those who are regenerate and have a new heart.  The unregenerate man is incapable of displaying these qualities.  He is lost, they lose their meaning for him.  To expect the unregenerate man to live the kingdom life described here is heresy.  It denies the sinful nature of man and the necessity of regeneration.

The Sermon on the Mount , or as R.T. France better titles it, “The Discourse on Discipleship,” then is not about how we get into the kingdom, but what the kingdom does when it gets into us.  It’s not about how we can bring the kingdom, but what the kingdom does when Jesus brings it.

Don’t read the message and forget the Messenger.  Normally this is what you want to do during a sermon.  You want the preacher to disappear and the Word of God to become prominent.  But with Jesus the message is the Messenger, He is the Word of God.  When read simply as a new morality, or as the good news itself this sermon is ripped from its greater context in Matthew.  The cross is lost and we forget that it is Jesus who came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21); not just the guilt of them, but the practice of them.

Why does Jesus “withdraw” into Galilee? A casual reading might lead one to think that Jesus is afraid, or more reverently, that He seeks to avoid premature death. If this is how Herod deals with the herald, what of the legit King? But Jesus does not escape Herod’s domain, He just relocates to a different part of it. Next one may be tempted to think the reason is primarily pragmatic. Nazareth was a small out of the way village, whereas Capernaum was located by the Sea of Galilee, was more substantial with a population of approximately fifteen thousand, and was home to at least five of the disciples; but this isn’t the reason the Holy Spirit gives us. Jesus relocated to fulfill scripture. He will headquarter His ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles.

Galilee was the most northern edge of the former united kingdom of Israel and was surrounded and influenced by Gentiles. Gentiles not only resided around Galilee but were constantly traversing through it on the Via Maris, “the way of the sea,” a major trade route running from Damascus in the north to Egypt in the south. Galilee was a land of darkness influenced by idolaters. It was far from Judea, far from Jerusalem and the Temple, far from the light. The Messiah has come, but not where we expect Him, why? I believe this communicates to us something of Jesus’ mission.

When Jesus comes in to the world it is a place of darkness, not light; it is a Galilee not a Judea; it is a Sodom, not a Jerusalem. Galilee pictures the world.

God sent His Son into a world of darkness to magnify His Light. So when you look within and see only sin, remember God’s Light, Jesus Christ, is greater than your darkness (John 1:5). Don’t be arrogant about your sin; it isn’t greater than God’s grace. The darker the stain, the mightier His blood is shown to be.

In his excellent book, The Gospel Driven Life, Michael Horton comments on the disciples that,

They sought to learn the wisdom of his ways and imitate his example.  However, they missed the most important elements that true discipleship entailed.  They misunderstood the point of the journey.  They failed to realize that the most important part of following Jesus was realizing that they could not go everywhere that he was going; could not do everything that he alone could accomplish; and could not even understand why he had come, apart from the Spirit opening their hearts to recognize Christ in all the Scriptures.  The most important things that had to be done for the establishment of this kingdom Jesus had to do by himself.  In fact, the disciples had fled for their lives.

We are just as foolish.  We try to make this text all about us.  No doubt Christ is our example in overcoming temptation and we can glean many practical helps from our text, but this text is primarily about Jesus overcoming temptation, not us.  We are arrogant little fools trying to skip the prerequisites and go straight to graduate work.  Without the prerequisites we flunk temptation.

Jesus is doing here what we cannot – overcoming temptation and resisting the devil.  Remember Jesus has just identified Himself with us in His baptism.  Notice all the other marks of identification here.  He is in the wilderness for forty days and then He quotes from Deuteronomy 8.

The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.  And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.   – Deuteronomy 8:1-3

So Israel, God’s son failed the test of living by God’s Word alone, but the true and greater Israel, God’s only begotten Son doesn’t.  He succeeds where they – where we failed.  In His second and third temptation Jesus does more of the same.

Also there is something implicit here that Luke makes more clear in his gospel account.  Both Matthew and Mark go straight from Jesus’ baptism to His testing, but Luke, he inserts a genealogy in between.  What a weird place for a genealogy right?  But remember unlike Matthew who works forward from Abraham to Jesus, Luke works backwards from Jesus all the way back to Adam.  Now we can compare the first Adam in whom we fall to the Second Adam in whom we are risen to newness of life.

The first Adam had every provision, he could eat of every tree save one; the second Adam had been fasting for forty days.

The first Adam falls after one temptation and is driven out; the second Adam resists three temptations and Satan is driven out.

Here is the point, we fall to temptation continually, He didn’t, ever!  His victory over Satan, sin, and temptation is ours.  The prerequisite for overcoming temptation is union with Christ (Romans 6:6-7; 1 John 5:4; Revelation 12:11).  His victory is ours.  Faith, not merely technique is the key to overcoming temptation.

All divine power and strength against sin flows from the soul’s union and communion with Christ (Rom. 8. I0; 1 John 1. 6, 7). While you keep off from Christ, you keep off from that strength and power which is alone able to make you trample down strength, lead captivity captive, and slay the Goliaths that bid defiance to Christ. It is only faith in Christ that makes a man triumph over sin, Satan, hell, and the world (1 John 5. 4). It is only faith in Christ that binds the strong man’s hand and foot, that stops the issue of blood, that makes a man strong in resisting, and happy in conquering (Matt. 5. I5-35). Sin always dies most where faith lives most. The most believing soul is the most mortified soul. Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith.  – Thomas Brooks in Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices

John, well, he’s different.  Jesus’ kooky cousin wears camel’s hair and eats locusts and wild honey.  So its only fitting that his baptism is a little different too.  Christian baptism symbolizes and identifies us with the death burial and resurrection of our Lord (Romans 6:1-11).  That hasn’t happened yet so what is John’s baptism about?  It is the baptism of repentance (symbolizing repentance) in preparation for the coming King’s redemptive rule (Acts 19:1-7 emp. v. 4).

So if John’s baptism is symbolic of repentance, what is sinless Jesus being baptized for?  Matthew’s account is written to give an answer to that question.  All four gospels record Jesus’ baptism, but only Matthew includes Jesus’ explanation,  “To fulfill all righteousness!”  Yet this explanation only seems to make things worse!  But notice Jesus says to fulfill – not because He lacks but to fulfill, not because he is repentant, but to fulfill.  Three interpretations have gained favor among evangelicals.  I don’t think the first one is valid; I think the second one closer to the truth, but only as understood in light of the the third option.

1. Jesus’ baptism is anticipatory of His death, burial, and resurrection whereby he will fulfill all righteousness and make many righteous.
2. Jesus’ baptism is an act of obedience as a man to the new command of God going out through John.
3. In Jesus’ baptism He is identifying Himself with the sinners for whom He came to fulfill all righteousness.

So Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness not for Himself, but us, as our substitute.  He doesn’t lack righteousness, we do.  He comes as the second Adam, achieving all righteousness in our place (Romans 5:18-19).

Theologians have a helpful way to understand this; it is called the active and passive obedience of Christ.  Christ not only passively bore your sins and the wrath of God, He also actively achieved all righteousness in your place.  But don’t misunderstand this language to say that Jesus’ life comprises His active obedience, while His death comprises His passive obedience. Jesus suffered for us during His life, and His ultimate act of obedience was that of laying down His life. Yes, the cross is the ultimate, climatic act of both the passive and active obedience of Christ, but it cannot be dissected form His life. Jesus Christ didn’t just need to die for you, He needed to live for you. All of Jesus is necessary to save you from your sins. Christ fulfills all the obligations we shirked, and bears the penalty we deserve.  He didn’t just die in your place, He lived in your place.  He has become to you righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30)!  In Christ you become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

This is how the Holy God of heaven now sees you, righteous in Christ.  As God is well pleased with His Son, He is well pleased with us.  We are loved in the Beloved.  His love toward His beloved is His love toward us (John 17:23, Ephesians 1:6).  The rays of the Father’s pleasure that go out toward His Son are the very rays of bliss that strike us.

And what a comfort is this, that seeing God’s love resteth on Christ, as well pleased in him, we may gather that he is as well pleased with us if we be in Christ!  – Richard Sibbes

The “guy” on the corner yelling “repent for the end is near,” and holding a “turn or burn” sign might think he is carrying on in the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of John the Baptist, but I think he is missing something.  I have nothing against his open air public preaching, I admire his boldness, I am thankful for his commitment to the doctrines of repentance, hell, and the return of King Jesus, but there are some problems.

His message markets Jesus simply as char prevention.  Repentance becomes just another adventure in self-seeking for  our narcissistic culture.  By all means preach the ugliness of sin and the reality of hell, but only to preach the glories of Christ.  You must preach the heinous nature of sin and its consequences for the good news of Jesus to be good news, but it is not until you preach the good news of the cross that sin is seen in its most ugly, true form.  If you preach repentance without redemption you are not longer preaching the gospel, but law.

Our calling is not to preach an isolated hell or repentance but the gospel.

When the guy says “repent for the end is near” he is not saying the same thing John does when he says “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What is the “kingdom of heaven” that Matthew will reference 32 times?  Let’s begin with what it is not.  It isn’t the people of God, nor the church.  Just try replacing them sometimes and you will see the absurdity.

Your [church] come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.   – Matthew 6:10

The [church] is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  – Matthew 14:44

The time is fulfilled, and the [church] is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.  – Mark 1:15

So what is the kingdom?  Lets narrow in on a precise definition in three steps.

1. The kingdom is here now but not yet, near yet far, present (Matthew 12:28, Luke 17:20-21) yet future (Matthew 6:10; Luke 22:18).
2. The kingdom primarily is the dominion, rule, and reign of God.  Edmund Clowney said it well, “In the Scriptures, God’s kingdom is the shadow of His presence; not so much his domain as his dominion; not his realm but his rule.  God’s kingdom is the working of his power to accomplish his purposes of judgment and salvation.”
3. Primarily the kingdom is the saving rule and reign of God that began radically to break in with Christ’s first advent and will be consummated upon His return.  It isn’t that God wasn’t working His plan of redemption prior to the coming of Jesus, but with Jesus’ advent our redemption was at hand.

The good news that we preach is the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14; Acts 8:12, 28:31).  The text says that the reason why John was doing what he was doing was to fulfill Isaiah 40:3.  He is the herald sent ahead of the king telling them to prepare for the coming of the King.  In Isaiah 40 the coming of the King is good news.  So the reason why the “kingdom is at hand” is because the king has come.  Now the question is why has he come?   Matthew has already answered that question in chapter one, “you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.”

So we plead with people to repent not simply because sin is vile and hell is hot, but most deeply because Christ is glorious!  Our primary motivation toward repentance is not negative but positive.  There is sorrow in repentance, but there is also joy; sorrow over sin and joy over Christ.  Repentance is not the begrudging sacrifice of great pleasures to avoid dire consequences.  Repentance is seeing by faith the glories of Christ, and then comparing His promises and pleasures with those of sin and shouting, “No contest – Jesus!”  True repentance not only hates sin, it loves Jesus.

Though [repentance] be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation, yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight. Repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God’s excellency and mercy, but the apprehension of excellency or mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder. ‘Tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure, and it’s impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God, and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us, and not be affected with pleasure at the thoughts of [it]; but this is the very affection that begets true repentance. How much sovever of a paradox it may seem, it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow, so that the more of this sorrow, the more pleasure.  – Jonathan Edwards

While at a Robbie Seay concert I saw a guy with INVICTUS tattooed on the underside of his arm.  It was inked such that the letters began at his wrist and read down toward his elbow.  That way it would be shown off when he held a microphone.   It looked cool, but I think the message is foolish, especially for a Christian.  It seems safe to say he professes Christ since he works for a Christian radio station.

Invictus, Latin for unconquered, could be tolerated if one meant to communicate that because of Christ they are victors, not conquered by sin, Satan, or death.  If that is what the aforementioned person means, my apologies for referring to his tattoo as foolish.  But that is not the popular idea behind the word today.

The word’s current popularity is no doubt due to the film, which, by the way, I really enjoyed.  I do admire Nelson Mandela, and I love Clint Eastwood as a director / actor, but Invictus, well, it’s a lie.  The popular meaning is informed by the poem by William Earnest Henley.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I think Herod would have loved this poem.  I bet he had an invictus tat too.

Outside of Christ we are not conquers but conquered – in bondage to sin and death.  Yes in Christ we have victory, but it is His victory, a victory that we enter into by grace.  Christus Victor!  – that is our battle cry, not Invictus!

So will you seek the King?  Will you bow? Will you submit?  Will you give your treasures?  Will you worship?

Don’t fail to recognize how you may be similar to Herod.  Do you look at the humility of Christ and see it as an opportunity to exploit Him?  Do you tolerate or excuse sin by presuming upon His grace?  Do you treat Jesus as a ticket to get to some other main attraction?  Do you think you can dissect Him and take Him only as Savior and reject Him as Lord?

Woe to those who think they can conquer the unconquerable King.  There is only one man who legitimately wears Invictus; it is written down His thigh, “King of kings and Lord of Lords.”

A sad effect of the fall is that we find man’s fiction more fascinating than God’s fact.  Man’s fiction should awaken us to the bigger reality we live in.  Man’s mind is smaller than God’s and God’s story is more glorious than any we could dream.  “Avatar” is a children’s board book.

Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy.  This is not a speed bump slowing your entry into the book, it is a majestic mountain to be stunned by.  Unless you are a Tolkien nerd you have very little clue what it means when Strider says, “Elendil!  I am Aragorn son of Arathorn and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dunadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil’s son of Gondor.”, but you know it means a great something!  The one with the rightful claim has come, here is the one hoped for, the one with authority.  A hidden hope has come to light and the darkness now trembles. Matthew is doing something like that with this genealogy.

Here is a line of kings, but the glory has faded; the regal glory and power that once flowed giving life, hope, protection, and salvation has run dry.  But from this dry ground a Savior and salvation spring forth.  His name is Jesus (meaning “Yahweh saves”, cf.  Matthew 1:21).  From the stump of Jesse a shoot comes forth (Isaiah 11:1-10).  He is the son of David, the Christ, meaning the Anointed One, the Messiah.

The King has come.  He will come again.  And of His rule there will be no end.

Matthew’s genealogy does not get boring, but it does get dry.  But from this dryness springs the one who is the Life.