Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7

If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 5:20 and let me ask you, how’s your righteousness? At what level is your righteousness? That’s an important question. Listen to these words of Jesus in Matthew 5:20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus made this statement in what we call His “Sermon on the Mount,” recorded in Matthew 5,6 and 7. In this sermon He uses the term “righteousness” to refer simply to right living, right attitudes and speech and behavior; in other words, doing the will of God in your life. He says that our righteousness, our obedience to the will of God, must surpass or be above the level of the Scribes and Pharisees if we wish to be a part of God’s kingdom.

I imagine that statement would have come across to Jesus’ audience like a clap of thunder. It would have been shocking. The scribes were the bible scholars of that day. The Pharisees were a strict denomination of Judaism. They were very religious, paid tithes, brought offerings to the temple, said prayers, could quote a lot of Scripture and kept a lot of rules. Most people thought the Scribes and the Pharisees knew God and obeyed His Word better than anyone else. But Jesus says, “I’m here to tell you. You’ve got to do better than those guys to be in the kingdom.” And that statement appears to me to be the thesis statement for His entire sermon on the mount. It is His main point that He explains throughout His sermon.

That’s what I want to share with you this morning, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. I need to hear it often, because this sermon spells out in detail what it means to follow Jesus in my everyday life, what are the fruits of repentance, what is it to actually repent with a whole heart, to truly turn from going about life your way, to, by God’s enabling grace, go about life God’s way, and what does that life look like in practical terms. That’s what His sermon is about. And to help us get it, He contrasts what truly doing the will of God is with the ways of the Scribes and Pharisees.

The verses before 5:20 form an introduction to the sermon. He begins with a description of who’s blessed, that is what kind of people are actually best off, what sort of people have God’s favor on them and a bright and glorious future ahead. Of course, it’s very different from who the scribes and Pharisees would say are blessed. Jesus says the best off, are people who are the poor in spirit; they have this humble attitude in which they recognize that they are not entitled to anything, they are unworthy and undeserving of God’s favor and kindness. God does not owe them anything. They owe God everything. Do you realize that truth about yourself? He says the blessed are people who mourn. The present life of a blessed person is not always easy. It’s a life that involves trials and struggle and discipline. God forms our character through it. He says the best off are meek; they’re not self-promoting and self-seeking. They hunger and thirst for righteousness; they have this intense longing to be rid of sin in their lives and entirely pleasing to God. They are merciful toward others. They are pure in heart. They are peacemakers, they’re forgiving and they don’t insist on their own way. and they will experience some measure of persecution for their dedication to God. But despite what people say and do to them, they won’t give up.

Then Jesus mentions the influence such people have in the world. They are like salt and light. Like salt, they are cleansing and purifying agents wherever they are and make wherever they are tastier/more pleasant. Like light they enable those around to them to see the reality of the goodness God.

Then before Jesus states the shocking point of His sermon, He clarifies something for His audience in 5:17-19. He doesn’t want them to get the impression that He’s contradicting or throwing out the Scriptures in the Bible they had at this time, which was the Old Testament. They called it the Law and the Prophets. They could get that impression because what Jesus is about to teach them is so different from the teaching they’ve heard from the Scribes and Pharisees who claimed to be teaching them the Scriptures. So Jesus tells them that He has the highest respect for the Scriptures. He’s actually come to fulfill them. And everything they said would happen will be accomplished. We ought to pay careful attention to the Scriptures.

Then He states the point of His sermon. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

What do you mean by that, Jesus? What do you mean we’ve got to do better than those guys? Jesus says, “Well, here’s what I mean. Take first for example the area of…

Conflict with people (Matthew 5:21-26)

When you have disagreements with people; when they don’t do what you want, or you don’t do what they want; when they really irritate you…

Matthew 5:21, “You have heard that the ancients were told…” This is what the scribes and Pharisees would teach that God told their forefathers on the matter. They would say “This is what the Bible says on it.” This is their righteousness in the area of conflict with people. They’d say, “Don’t murder. Just don’t kill anybody, or you’ll be liable to the court if you do.”

Jesus says, “You’ve got to do better than just not killing anybody. If you’re someone who harbors anger against your brother or belittles him with insults, you’re guilty in God’s court, you’re not at kingdom level righteousness. The kingdom is not for angry people or those who verbally abuse others.” Now, of course there’s forgiveness available when we fall short in this area. We can confess and repent and He’s faithful and righteous to forgive us (I John 1:9). But Jesus is saying that bitterness and anger and slandering people cannot remain characteristic of us.

Also, when it comes to conflict with people, Jesus says, “We need to do what we can to mend any relationships we’ve damaged. If you’ve offended someone, don’t bother to come worship God until you’ve first tried to make things right with that person, until you’ve gone to them and said, ‘I’m sorry. I was wrong. Is there any way I can make it up to you?’ A right relationship with God depends much on having right relationships with other people as much as it depends on us. “Blessed are the peacemakers” (5:9).

And let’s talk about…

Sexual Purity and fidelity (5:27-30)

The scribes and Pharisees would say, “Well, the Bible says we’re not supposed to hop in bed with somebody else’s spouse. Don’t commit the act of adultery.” Similar to our culture which says, “You can look, but don’t touch.”

Jesus says, “If that’s the extent of your righteousness in the matter, that’s not going to cut it. I say to you that when you look at a woman you’re not married to, to lust for her, you’ve committed adultery in your heart, and God looks at the heart. If your right eye makes you stumble [if you have a looking problem and think you can’t help it, that your eye is like an uncontrollable magnet to hot bodies and makes you entertain impure imaginations], tear it out and throw it from you If your right hand makes you stumble [if you have a touching problem and think you can’t control your hand], cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” He’s saying, “There’s no excuse. You need to do whatever it takes to keep your eyes and your hands on your own spouse. Practice true purity and fidelity from the heart.” “Blessed are the pure in heart.”

Let’s talk about…

Divorce (5:31-32)

The scribes and Pharisees would say “Divorce is fine, just divorce nicely when you do. Give her a certificate of divorce. Give her all the paper work that she needs.” That’s what our culture says today, “Divorce is okay, just divorce nicely.”

There’s some translation issues with verse 32, that we won’t get bogged down in right now. But I believe Jesus is saying, “If your spouse hasn’t been unfaithful to you, then breaking up your marriage so you can go be with someone else is tantamount to adultery as far as God is concerned.”

Though your spouse may spend money frivolously, or may be kind of lazy, your spouse doesn’t look like they did when you married, your spouse is unaffectionate, or pays more attention to work than to you, or has this fault and that problem… God still wants you to keep your vow, for better or for worse. God wants you to keep loving that man or that woman and to be His instrument to touch and change their heart. That’s the kind of commitment to marriage that kingdom people have.

And let’s talk about…

Honesty (5:33-37)

The scribes and Pharisees would say, “You need to keep your vows to the Lord.” Then they’d be real sneaky and deceptive with people by saying things like “I swear by heaven to pay you this amount every month.” Or “I swear by earth that I’ll be there.” Or “I swear by Jerusalem…” Or “I swear by my own head that I’ll do this.” But they wouldn’t keep their word and they’d justify themselves saying, “It wasn’t a binding oath. I didn’t swear by the Lord. I swore by heaven or the earth or whatever it was. That’s not binding.” Like when you were a little kid lying, with your fingers crossed behind your back, like that made it okay to lie.

Jesus says “You’ve got to do better than that when it comes to honesty. Don’t be making these oaths by heaven or by earth or by Jerusalem or by your own head, because all of that is God’s stuff and those oaths are binding. In fact don’t even be a person that needs to take an oath. Be a man or woman of your word. Be one that people know if you say “I’ll do it” then you will do it, even if it becomes unexpectantly costly or inconvenient. Don’t be one who needs to say ‘Yes, I swear.’ Just say, ‘Yes’ and have that be enough.

If you say, “I’ll pay X amount every month until the debt is paid.” Then pay it if you say you’re going to pay it. If you say “I’ll help out next Saturday,” then show up and help out next Saturday. It shouldn’t make any difference to us whether we’ve signed documents or taken an oath or just given somebody our word.

Let’s talk about…

When you’re wronged (5:38-42)

When somebody hurts you in some way, insults you or cheats you or takes something from you. The scribes and Pharisees would take a verse out of the Law of Moses, out of the book of Exodus, that in its context was telling the judges of the nation of Israel how to deal with people convicted of crimes. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” That was for the nation’s courts and justice system. They’d rip that verse out of context and apply it to how we should deal with anybody who wrongs us in our personal life.

Jesus says “No. You leave the vengeance to God. Don’t concern yourself with getting even with people. Not only that, you ought to respond to evil done to you with good to them. That’s how you change peoples’ heart toward you. They wrong you, you think of something kind, something helpful that you could do for them. They sue you for your shirt, probably they need clothes, give them your coat too. That Roman soldier who drops his baggage and orders you to pick it up and carry it for him for a mile, shock the daylights out of him by offering to carry it two miles for him.”

And let’s talk about…

Love for others (5:43-48)

The Scribes and Pharisees would say “Here’s what God said. Here’s what He told our forefathers. Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Of course only the first part, “love your neighbor” was in the Scriptures. That second part “hate your enemy” was something they added to clarify what they understood the word “neighbor” to mean. They didn’t take neighbor to mean what God meant by it. God meant whoever you come in contact with in your life. They interpreted neighbor to mean basically friend, somebody who has the same political opinions as you, that likes the same stuff as you, that’s the same color and speaks the same language and is from the same part of the country as you, people that you like and who like you. They said you need to love those people and that’s all who you need to love; it’s okay to hate your enemies. Well, that’s the ethic of the world. Most everybody loves their friends. Most everybody greets and shows kindness to the people they like.

Jesus says, “You need to do better than the world. Look at how God treats ungrateful and evil men. He sends His sunshine on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the fields of the righteous and the unrighteous. God doesn’t have to do that. God could cause dark little clouds to overshadow the unrighteous everywhere they go. And God could keep rain from watering their fields. But God does good to people who don’t care about Him at all. To be sons of the heavenly Father, you need to strive to imitate Him. You need to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Let’s talk about…

When we practice our righteousness (6:1-18)

Scribes and Pharisees were like the man who comes before the assembly at church and leads impressive prayers, uses all the right phrases, and everybody thinks, “Wow! What a beautiful prayer! What a godly man he is!” But he has no private prayer life. Nobody would ever find him at home in his room on his knees talking with God. Nobody would ever find him just holding the hand of his wife at the kitchen table or just with his kids in their room and honestly thanking and praising God for His goodness and asking for His guidance and help. But at church or before a potluck, he’ll say beautiful prayers. Or when people are going to know about it, when people are going to see it, he takes out a wad of money and he gives to a good cause and people think he’s wonderful. But when there’s nobody else around, when there’s just somebody needing help, when only God is going to see it, he holds on to his money until there’s people to see him give. That’s the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Jesus says, “When you give, don’t announce it. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give when only God is going to know about it. Go in your closet and pray. When you fast, don’t tell people, don’t neglect your appearance or give hints that you’re fasting. Practice your righteousness just to draw near to God and to help others, not to receive the praise of others.”

And let’s talk about…

Money (6:16-34)

The Scribes and Pharisees heaped wealth upon themselves while People around them were hungry. People around them were inadequately clothed and needing medical attention. People around them were suffering, desperate for financial assistance. But their daily concerns were just things like, “Which pair of shoes should I wear with this outfit? Should I sell that piece of property I have north of town and by a motor home with the money? Should I have lunch at ‘Famous Daves’ or that new fancy place downtown? I wonder when the new i-phone is coming out. I want to be the first person at work to get one. Should I remodel that 6th bathroom in my house?” Luke 16 gives a story about a typical Pharisee. It says “There was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen [very expensive clothes in the day], joyously living in splendor every day.” And at his gate was that poor sick hungry man named Lazarus, covered in sores and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from his table. They justified selfish extravagance and ignored the needs of others.

Jesus says “Your righteousness must surpass that. Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. Storing up for yourselves treasures in heaven where you won’t lose them,” which you do by good works. And Jesus says “Don’t kid yourself thinking you can serve God and wealth.” God and wealth are two different masters who constantly call us to do different things. God says things like “If you have two tunics and someone doesn’t have clothing, give him one of your tunics. If you have food, give to the one who doesn’t have food.” It’s not that it’s necessarily sinful to be rich, but it sinful to ignore the needs of others in order to get rich.

“And I promise you,” Jesus says, “if you put God first, then there’s no reason for you to worry about money or what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear for clothing. Like God provides for the birds and clothes the lilies of the field, God will provide for all your needs if you seek first His righteousness and His kingdom in your life.”

And let’s talk about…

Judging other people (7:1-6)

The Pharisees had their traditions, their interpretations about how to properly keep the commands of the Law of Moses. And they would bind these interpretations on people as if they were the word of God. They’d accuse people of sinning whenever they did something against one of these opinions of theirs. For instance, one Sabbath day they saw Jesus and His disciples walking through a field and Jesus’ disciples picked some heads of grain as they walked and rubbed them in their hands to knock the chaff off and then blew the chaff away and ate the grain, but they jumped all over them for that. “Jesus, if you were really a teacher from God, you wouldn’t let your disciples do what is not lawful on the Sabbath.” The Jewish law said they were not to work on the Sabbath. Because in their opinion, picking heads of grain was a form of harvesting, and rubbing them in your hands was a form of threshing and blowing the chaff away was a form of winnowing, each a form of work, and therefore sinful to do on the Sabbath. Or they would condemn Jesus and His disciples for eating without first washing their hands in a certain manner, and for associating with tax collectors and sinners because their interpretation said that was wrong. They nitpicked and condemned people for these little things when they didn’t have a clear word from God that condemned it.

Could we be the same way, judge people when we don’t have a clear word from the Lord on the matter? “Did you see what he wore to church today? I don’t know if he thought he was going to the beach this morning or what. Total disrespect for God!” “Oh I saw him at the grocery store, I kid you not, purchasing a lottery ticket! Can you believe that?” “You know, they didn’t even come out and help us with our service project. If they really loved the Lord they would have been here.” “If they were really committed to the Lord they’d be here at our mid-week Bible study.” “So and so is not a true Christian, because she goes to that entertainment-based church.”

It’s okay to have your interpretations, to have your views of right and wrong. The Bible says we each need to live according to our conscience. If you feel something is wrong then don’t do it. If you feel you should do something, then do it. Don’t violate your conscience. But don’t bind your opinions on people. Don’t call something sinful when you don’t have a clear word from the Lord that says that.

And the Pharisees failed to critically examine and scrutinize the one person they really should have – themselves. They had so much stuff in their own hearts and lives that was displeasing to God; Jesus pictures it like they have a log protruding out of their own eye and they can’t see too well because of the log. But when they think they see some sawdust in somebody else’s eye, they say, “Ugh! You have wood in your eye!”

Jesus says you really don’t want to be nitpicking people, you really don’t want to be hypercritical, because God will judge you like you judge people. By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return. You want to give people the benefit of the doubt.

So Jesus calls us to be salt in the earth and light in the world. He calls us to be peacemakers, not angry grudge holders. He’s calls us to pursue purity and fidelity from our hearts. He calls us to respect marriage. He calls us to integrity. He calls us to respond to evil done to us with good. He calls us to love even our enemies. He calls us to practice our righteousness to please God, not to gain the praise of men. He calls us to be unselfish with our money. He calls us to not be judgmental, but give people the benefit of the doubt. Does that sound difficult? Do you feel incapable of living such a way? I think Jesus knew we might feel like that. So He made some wonderful promises to us, Matthew 7:7-11,

Keep asking and it will be given to you, keep seeking and you will find; keep knocking and the door will be opened to you (7:7-11)

All the grace, power, guidance and help you need to live this life to which Jesus calls us, to bear these fruits of repentance, to walk in kingdom level righteousness, is very available us. The Lord describes God as a wonderful Father, so good that compared to Him even the best of earthly fathers are evil. His heart longs for every one of us whom He has made to be free from our sins and all the misery that comes with them and to live righteously and experience His love and share in His kingdom. But He won’t force us into living that way. But He will gladly give us everything we need to succeed if we want it and we ask and we try to go this way in the steps of Jesus.

Then Jesus gives a…

Conclusion (7:12-27)

He says “Here’s what I’m saying when it comes to how you treat other people, how you treat all people in every circumstance of life. Treat people the same way you want them to treat you.” You want to know the will of God in any given situation with people? Put yourself in the other person’s situation and ask yourself, “If I were them, how would I want to be treated by someone like me?” Well, if I were them, I’d want me to give another chance. I’d want me to give the benefit of the doubt. I’d want me to lend a helping hand. That’s how you treat other people. And that’s how you know what you should do.

And Jesus warns us about

3 things that tend to prevent people from following the way of life that He’s taught us to live (7:13-23)

One, is the fact that,

The majority of people are not living this way (7:13-14)

It’s easy to think, “If nobody is doing that and everybody is living this way, then surely this is okay. God will excuse it.” So Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” You follow most people, you’ll end up in destruction.

Another thing that prevents people from living how Jesus has told us is

False prophets (7:15-20)

Some people don’t follow the way of Jesus explained in this sermon because they’re following religious people who claim to be speaking for God. They follow these other people because they look like they know what they’re talking about and they don’t appear dangerous. They seem sincere and friendly and they speak eloquently and confidently, and others respect them. But Jesus says “False prophets don’t come with signs hanging from their necks that say ‘Hi, I’m a false prophet.’” They come in sheep’s clothing, but they are wolves and if you follow a wolf you’ll be devoured. Anyone who tells you that you have eternal life by some other road than the narrow road that Jesus told us to take is a wolf that will lead you to destruction.

And some people don’t feel the need to put into practice the teachings of Jesus, because

They call Him Lord or they have affected amazing things by the power of the name of Jesus (7:21-23)

For some reason, maybe it’s what their preacher told them or their parents or friends, that as long as they call Jesus “Lord” or if they’ve experienced the supernatural in His name, then they can rest assured in their salvation. But Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter [We actually must repent to follow this way of life that Jesus calls us to. He says]. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

We’ve got 2 options with these words of Jesus we’ve heard (7:24-27)

Option 1 is we can take His words very seriously and put them into practice in our life. We can trust Him that all this stuff is true and with God’s grace and help really try to live like this. And if we do that, Jesus says that’s like building the house of our whole life on a rock-solid foundation. And when the storm of judgment comes, our house will stand the test.

Or option 2 is to let these words of Jesus just go “whoop,” right over our head, just go on living however we like and forget about what Jesus has said. But if we do that, Jesus says, that’s like building the house of our life on sand. And when the storm of judgment comes our house will not stand the test.

None of us are perfect. We all still fall short of His glory. But unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. That’s not me saying that, that’s the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 5:20. We can do this by the grace of God. All the power and help we need is available. Our Father is ready to give it to us.

-James Williams

 

 

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