THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT – GOD’S LAW OF THE HEART

Mt 5:1 “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them”

Picture the scene, the master sits and teaches, an inner circle of disciples and an outer circle of the common people. All listening intently indeed – to the Sermon on the Mount, the best sermon in the world – and the most offensive! And recall how it ends “the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority”. My prayer is that today and in coming weeks we accept his authority, and begin to understand the master’s teaching.

A key question to ask is what kind of teaching is the Sermon on the Mount? Some have tried to make parallels with Moses, and said, even as law came on Mount Sinai on tablets of stone, so Jesus is setting out a new law for everyone to follow. But my understanding is different. Preaching to an audience of his committed followers, Jesus is saying, this is how anyone who wants to be his disciple will grow to behave as the Holy Spirit enables them. He is showing the spiritual qualities of those in the kingdom of heaven. They are not laws that anyone can obey without God’s empowering

In fact, to follow Jesus’ teaching we need a new heart from the one we’re born with. In Ezekiel’s words, we need a heart of flesh and not a heart of stone. And only God in his grace can do that heart transplant operation, giving us one that responds to his prompting, by the power of his Holy Spirit. We need a realisation of the promise made in Jeremiah 31:33-34 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The Sermon on the Mount tells us how mankind will be when this prophecy is fulfilled and the law is written on our hearts – not some other people at some remote time in the future, but us, now, when we accept Jesus as Lord and the Holy Spirit lives in us. It means our relationship with God, which was lost in Eden, is restored.

But the commands are challenging! The Sermon prevents us being complacent. It prevents us ever saying “I have done all I could, I am a complete servant of God”.  No matter how long we have journeyed towards God’s standards, there is always further to go. Let’s now look at verses 2-12 of Matthew 5, often called the “beatitudes”:

Mt 5:2-12 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

What does “blessed” mean? While one translation is “happy” this is an emotion that comes and goes, and depends too much on our outward circumstances. Better is “fortunate”. It’s the ultimate well-being and distinctive spiritual joy of those who share in the salvation of God’s kingdom. When we are fortunate in this way, our relation with God, that we lost in Eden, is re-established. In the blessings, I think we can detect a progression through the Christian life – it’s no accident Jesus put them in this order. The first four I call “blessings of progress” towards the Christian life like a plane taking off and the others “blessings of fruitfulness” in that life, like a plane rising to cruising altitude. You’ll soon see what I mean.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”. Who are they? They needn’t be actually poor. Rather, they are those who recognise they can do no good thing without God’s help, and have no power in themselves to do what God requires them to. They see that the first step toward real joy is to realize that you are spiritually bankrupt, have no merit and that you really need God in your life. Calvin calls someone who’s poor in spirit “he only who is reduced to nothing in himself and relies on the mercy of God”. In Jesus day it was people like the tax collector, whom the Pharisees looked down on. Today, I think social misfits are likely to be poor in spirit. As John Ortberg puts it “blessed are the geeks, the nerds and the wimps, those who have no fashion sense. And the anxious, the unemployed, the divorced, the homeless and the dropouts. The parents who failed, and the children who ran away.” They all know they need God. It’s the rich, the proud, the popular and self satisfied who are at risk here, of being self sufficient. And here’s a question; are you aware how much you need God in your life?

“Blessed are those who mourn”. In the cartoon strip “Peanuts”, Charlie Brown is always saying, “Good grief!” Yet, how can grief be good? When we hear the word “mourn” we usually think of someone dying. But in this context I think “those who mourn”, is focused on those who are full of sorrow for their sins and failings which mean they mourn loss of relation with God. Mourning things like our innocence, our righteousness, our self respect that we have chucked away in random acts of folly. Often when we followed the crowd, trying to impress friends who couldn’t care less about us. This follows naturally on from realising a need for God – we then see how far our sins separate us from him. It also entails grief for the evil in the world that causes so much suffering and misery, including grief at loss of loved ones. God longs to comfort his people,” wipe away every tear from their eyes”. The opposite is to be unrepentant for sins, which entails being cut off from God. That’s why it’s vital for the church to teach on sin, something modern churches often forget. And here’s a question: Have you taken an inventory of your life lately, and grieved over your own shortcomings before God?

“Blessed are the meek” refers to those who humble themselves before God, realising their dependence on him. This makes them very gentle and forgiving of others, as Jesus was. Meek is not weak, rather a meek person can be physically and mentally strong but choose not to assert themselves. In the original language, “meek” is used in bridling a horse, or taming a wild animal. The word “meek” is a picture of “power under control”, like Jesus taken to his crucifixion. The opposite is those who are arrogant and resist God’s will, seeking to stay in the driver’s seat themselves. They will be destroyed on judgement day, leaving the meek indeed to inherit the new heaven and the new earth. Are you still trying to control your life?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”. When we are grateful for God’s salvation we will long to see his kingdom established on earth, and hence seek to do what is right and just ourselves. It means, we will not only behave in a way that pleases God but also seek liberation of men and women from oppression, seek justice, maintenance of integrity in business and honour in family life. Like our friends serving the homeless in TW. We will only really know God’s will in this way when we “feed on his word”. Those who do not seek righteousness in this way again have no part in God’s kingdom. Do you hunger to see God’s “will be done on earth as it is in heaven” as the Lord’s Prayer says – or are they just words?

So those are the blessings of progression, which save and justify us before God. Stott calls them a “spiritual progression of relentless logic”. Only if we see we are spiritually bankrupt will we mourn about our sin, and the fallenness of the world. Then we can indeed be meek and humble, gentle towards others and indeed start to yearn for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven. Then when we have moved through them we can put that hunger into practice in our Christian lives, become sanctified, following the blessings of fruitfulness that we now go on to. But here’s the challenge – knowing is not enough – we need to do them!

“Blessed are the merciful”. We become merciful to others when we realise how unworthy we are of the great blessing of God’s forgiveness. When we know without God’s forgiveness we would be condemned sinners. The issue is shown in Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant. He refused to forgive small debts to himself despite being let off enormous debts of his own – and was cast out from God’s presence as a consequence on judgement day. James wrote, “…judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful” (James 2:13). Are you harbouring unforgiveness for anyone in your heart? It’s easily done!

“Blessed are the pure in heart”. Remember, we can only follow the Sermon on the Mount truly with a new heart from God, a heart of flesh and not a heart of stone. Such a God-given heart will be single minded in serving God, not seeking to serve the world at the same time. Having godly intentions in everything we do. Those with such a heart will be holy and will indeed see God. Remember Eric at Ashburnham reminded us God is all around us – as Jacob put it, “surely God is in this place but I was not aware of it”. But when we are pure we will indeed see God. Those who are not pure in heart in this way have divided loyalties. They have other things they worship, idols like our appearance, our clothes, what people think of us, our money. Are you single minded in your dealings with God?

“Blessed are the peacemakers” those who are at peace with God and thus show they are his children by seeking to make peace among those who quarrel, actively overcoming evil with good. They lack selfish ambition or desire to better themselves by conflict, rivalry or gossip. Look at it this way, there are 2 kinds of people: “thermostat” people and “thermometer” people. A thermometer reflects the climate of the room. If the room is cold, it’s cold. If the room is hot, it’s hot. But a thermostat can change the climate of the room. By its setting a thermostat can change a cold room into one that is warm, or a hot room into one that is cool. And a peacemaker is a thermostat person. A peacemaker can change the climate of the room when he or she walks in. Have you ever been in a room where everybody is negative and complaining, and everything is going wrong? Then a thermostat person enters the room, and soon says something that causes people to say, “We never thought of it like that.” And the whole climate changes. God wants peacemakers in His church, people who never dwell on the negative, but concentrate on the positive and see the good things God is doing in His church and in the world. And who are willing to pay the cost of peace in terms of forgiving others. Are you a thermometer or a thermostat?

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness”. Think of Daniel who was thrown in the lions den for not worshipping the King of Babylon’s idol. For us too it means suffering for upholding God’s standards of truth, justice and purity. Like refusing to lie to get out of a difficult situation. Only by following God – and suffering ridicule as a consequence, can we truly be citizens of the only kingdom that matters, the kingdom of heaven. See how this is the summit of the beatitudes, the crown of blessing as a disciple, the ultimate proof of fruitfulness. It is only when we become fully followers of Jesus by being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek and hungering for righteousness, and then we show the fruit of being merciful, pure in heart and peacemaking that the world begins to take note and react negatively to us.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” For indeed Jesus warns his followers that following his way in these eight approaches to life will not be easy. The world hates people who show its shortcomings by being holy, following God’s way. We shouldn’t be surprised at the growing pressure against our faith in England, for instance, where the BBC website invariably has ant Christian news on it. Rather, we should rejoice. It would be a sign that the church is dead if there is no opposition to it.

Together these qualities add up to a Christ like character, only attainable to us as God softens our hearts and we allow his Holy Spirit to work in us. Then the relationship that God always intended for us has been restored. The beatitudes are a process of becoming more like Jesus. It begins when we put our trust in Jesus and become free from Satan’s power, and become justified. It continues as we emulate him and become sanctified. But besides being a progression, the structure of the beatitudes offers powerful clarification if we look at the matrix in columns – you’ll soon see what I mean.

Column 1, the qualities that the beatitudes highlight sum up Jesus’ own character, as the suffering persecuted servant going to the cross. He relied on his father, mourned for the world’s sins, was meek, pure in heart, merciful and a seeker after righteousness like no one before or since. And, as Paul puts it in Colossians 1:20 “he made peace by his blood shed on the cross”. And yet he calls us to be like him!

Column 2, if you want proof that the beatitudes are about a restored relationship with God, look at all of the rewards: possessing the kingdom of heaven; being comforted; inheriting the earth; being filled; being shown mercy on judgement day; seeing God; being called sons of God; having a great reward in heaven. These are the characteristics of those who are exonerated at the last judgement, and who enter the New Heaven and the New Earth – it’s all there in Revelation 20-22! Truly, for those who show these qualities, the relationship with God, that he intended for all of us from the beginning of time, has been restored! And that is what Jesus is calling to us here.

Let’s now invert the matrix, the opposite of the beatitudes shows exactly what corruption, what negation of the good, Satan brought into the world when he seduced Adam and Eve in Eden. Being proud and self sufficient; unrepentant for sin; arrogantly resisting God’s will; not seeking righteousness; being unforgiving; worshipping idols of the world and being selfishly ambitious. And Satan seeks to tempt Christians to fall back into these traps, so he can continue as “Prince of this World”.

Thinking of these anti beatitudes, highlights exactly the values of the world – that the rich are blessed and not the poor; the carefree and not those mourning, the strong and brash, not the meek and gentle, those who mind their own business and not those who “meddle” by being merciful and seeking to bring peace. Who attain their ends by devious means rather than keeping a pure heart; and those popular and secure, not those persecuted. That’s why the Sermon is so offensive, it’s a fundamental challenge to the non Christian world’s outlook of “secular humanism”. Bonhoeffer put it this way “while the world keeps holiday the disciples stand aside…they see the ship is starting to sink. The world dreams of progress, power and the future, the disciples meditate on the end, the last judgement, coming of the kingdom. To such heights the world cannot rise. And so the disciples are strangers in the world, unwelcome guests, disturbers of the peace. No wonder the world rejects them!”

Let me conclude. The beatitudes are not just a bunch of words nor even a beautiful poem. I believe they are a powerful example of a text that interrogates us, as though God is speaking to our hearts. Can we stand against the world’s values? Be different enough to show a better way? Do we rely on God enough to become meek, merciful and pure in heart? I urge you to use this text this week for prayer and reflection. Let the words speak to your heart, and allow God’s work to do its good work in your spirit. Not just for our sake but for the poor fallen world we are called on to serve. Recall from Hebrews: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” May we all become more like Jesus this week, as we ponder how those who truly follow him, who the world pities and rejects are truly blessed – and do something about it in our own lives!