We have been studying the “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5-7 in our Sunday services. This is the longest recorded sermon by Jesus found in the Bible. In it, Jesus lays out what the kingdom of God looks like in this present world.
At the beginning of the sermon, we learn the kind of people that make up the Kingdom of God. They include those who know their need for Jesus, who mourn over their own brokenness and that of the world around them, who are humble and don’t try to be large and in charge, and who long for everyone and everything to made right in the world. The Kingdom of God consists of those who extend the same kind of mercy they have received from Jesus to everyone else, who have undivided loyalty to doing the will of Jesus with their lives, who make peace where there is no peace, and who are even willing to suffer for what is right and true in the eyes of Jesus. Such people belong to the Kingdom of God. They are the “blessed” ones. They live under the kingship of Jesus. He rules their hearts and lives with his Word and his Spirit.
Jesus then describes the impact his people can have in this world as they remain true to him and his call upon their lives. We will be like salt and light in the world. As we live out the words of Jesus in everyday life, we will have a redemptive effect on the world. Every falsehood and every false way will be exposed for what they are, and truth and love will be made plain for all to see. The reign of Jesus will spread though his people as we overcome evil with good.
Following this, Jesus clarifies his relationship to everything God commanded in the Old Testament. He says he did not come to do away with those commands; he came to help people understand their true meaning and enable people to obey them. In this way, he came to “fulfill” them.
God’s commands are so important to Jesus, he warns his listeners, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:20). The religious leaders mentioned by Jesus were hypocrites. They looked righteous on the outside but were filled with wickedness on the inside. They were motivated by pride and greed. Their hearts were far from God despite appearing so zealous and fastidious in their duties. Jesus even described them as whitewashed tombs. They looked good on the outside, but they were dead to everything good, beautiful, and lovely on the inside.
Such disconnect cannot be true for those who belong to the Kingdom of God. Jesus teaches that those who belong to him experience the new covenant miracle promised by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In this gracious miracle the Spirit of God transforms the heart. The heart hardened by sin is taken out and a heart of flesh is given in its place. This new heart has the law of God written upon it. This is a metaphorical way of describing how the Spirit works in our hearts to make us willing and able to understand and obey the will of God from the depths of who we are. He makes duty our delight. He changes what we love and want. He creates an inside out righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law! He makes us wholly devoted to Jesus.
Jesus concludes this opening section of his sermon by giving us a portrait of the genuine disciple’s transformed heart that produces a righteousness that surpasses that of the religious leaders of his day. Their defective righteousness is seen in their contemptuous attitude and speech toward others, their inward lust for illicit sexual relationships, their casual attitude toward divorce and their callousness regarding the consequences it had for women in that culture, their flagrant misuse of vows and oaths to mislead and deceive others, and their pathetic rationalizations for hating their enemies and seeking revenge against them. By contrast, the hearts and lives of those who truly belong to Jesus, are becoming with ever increasing measure more conciliatory, pure, committed, trustworthy, generous, and loving, even to those who don’t deserve it.
In this famous sermon, Jesus is showing us what it looks like when he is king. He has come to create a new humanity that is far different than the old with which we are familiar. He has come to lead people to real life and freedom. His kingdom is marked by true righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. We can experience this new life as open our hearts to him and let him rule us with his Word and Spirit. Entrance into this glorious kingdom is simple. All we must do to gain access is surrender. That’s also how we live in it daily. Surrender involves removing ourselves from the throne of our lives and letting Jesus occupy that place. That’s what he came to do. Nothing less will work.