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Christian Chronicles, May 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 89
| The
Editor's Pen | Perspectives | Mid-East Update | Fruit of the Vine |
The Sermon on the Mount | What?
Me Worry? | A City Set on a Hill |
| Evangelism & the
Sermon on the Mount | Blessed Are the Meek
| Our Websites Have Merged |
Theologians find themselves in an uncomfortable position today when they attempt to address the public on some doctrinal positions. There are some doctrines that have been preached incorrectly for so long that the wrong teachings have become so familiar as to become widely and almost universally accepted as true. We at Christian Chronicles have not hesitated to write on those issues, knowing that, like Timothy, our primary responsibility after disseminating the Gospel is to guard that body of truth which has been entrusted to us.
The prevailing view of the Sermon on the Mount is that it is the rule of life by which Christians are to function in a sinful world. There is a tangential sense in which that is true, but those who attempt to live in accordance with those precepts quickly find that the world will not allow them to survive very long. Many conservative theologians steadfastly maintain that the Sermon on the Mount is not for this day and time, but that it is the platform for the Kingdom Age, when Jesus shall reign on the earth. There is a greater sense also in which that is true, for it will surely be the rule by which Christ shall enforce righteousness with a rod of iron in that glorious time. All the world will be made to abide by those precepts in that Day.
However, there is a sense in which the Sermon on the Mount is applicable today, although it is not the rule by which the world is governed today. The spiritual characteristics portrayed in that sermon do not describe the rule of law for the unsaved. Neither are they “required” for salvation. Nor is it “expected” that every Christian will demonstrate those great virtues all the time. We are yet fallen creatures, even though we are saved. We remain sinners, and do not have the capacity yet to live consistently as those “rules” suggest. Nevertheless, the virtues expressed therein do describe that “new man” that is born in us in the new birth. Thus, when we are walking in the Spirit, those are the characteristics that will be seen in us, and from which spring the fruits of our labors, for in them is the love of God expressed in us. In that sense alone, the Sermon on the Mount is applicable to us today.
Supposedly, there is a new paradigm in the Middle East. The Gentile powers in the world have determined that human wisdom and reasoning can and should prevail over the Word of God in the partitioning of that region of the world. With the war in Iraq in the beginnings of the reconstruction phase, focus has shifted to Middle East Peace. The route that the world has chosen is one in which Israel will surrender lands which the United Nations said many years ago do not belong to her anyway. These are primarily lands that Israel captured in the wars that were waged against her decades ago. Let us be clear about this. The nation of Jordan should not exist at all in accordance with the Scriptures. Much of Iraq is territory that God gave to Israel. Part of Saudi Arabia is land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants as an eternal possession.
As we see the end of the Church Age drawing near, we watch with greater interest and excitement the things taking place in the Middle East. Although the Gentile powers have the military might to force their will upon the peoples of the Middle East, and while they may view their “Road Map for Peace” to be the instrument that saves the world, that course will not lead to peace, but to far greater devastation than the world has ever seen. While the Gentiles may be able to coerce the Israelis and the Palestinians to go along with their plans, the “Quartet” (the U.S., Russia, England and the United Nations) does not reckon with the might that God is able to bring to bear upon those who steadfastly resist His revealed will concerning the lands in the Middle East. This struggle that we are watching with bated breath is not a struggle between Israel and the Palestinians, but it is defiance directed at the throne of God by Gentiles who resent His generosity to the Jews, at what they perceive to be the expense of the “Palestinians.” While it appears outwardly to be a continuing struggle between those half-brothers, Isaac and Ishmael, the real battle pits man against God. Guess who will win.
Syria is now threatened by the Western powers. Syria shares borders with both Israel and Iraq, the latter now on friendly terms with the United States after more than a decade of bitter recriminations and hostilities. With the U.S. holding military bases in the northern section of Iraq, and with our Secretary of State making threatening noises against Syria, we watch as Syria backs away for its bluster and begins to kowtow to the American will.
Many Arab peoples demonstrated openly against the United States prior to, and during, the war in Iraq. The resentment runs high, even among many in Iraq. Despite the removal of one of the cruelest regimes since Hitler and Stalin, the Iraqi people do not feel “liberated,” but conquered and occupied. At the same time, those nations that were the most openly hostile toward the U.S. are now starting to shift their recalcitrant positions and attitudes into something much more malleable It is certain that the whole Middle East watches with great fervor the democratization of Iraq. The peoples would probably like to see it succeed, if only because the ordinary citizens of the West live opulent lifestyles, and they hope to reap some of that largesse for themselves. But the governments of the Arab Middle East must be watching with great trepidation, knowing that the days of autocratic rule might be drawing to a close.
On a human and worldly level, democracy seems to be the most successful form of government man has yet devised. However, it is not the form of government that God has ordained for His people. Indeed, there will be no democracy at all during the Kingdom Age. Rather, every nation will be a monarchy, all the kings of which shall be subjects of the King of kings and Lord of lords. The United States will have a king, and princes and governors. Democracy, said to be founded upon Christian principles, is founded upon human reasoning, and not the Word of God. Not only will every Gentile nation have its king, but Israel will again shed her democracy and revert to monarchical rule, with God Himself as her King.
Yes, there is a new paradigm in the Middle East. It may be stated briefly thus: The United States rules, and all who resist her will suffer the fate that devastated Iraq. The will of the West is rapidly being implemented, and the world is watching with interest the progress the West is making on the Road to Peace. Beware the pitfalls and pratfalls of human wisdom!
One often goes into churches and hears the speaker referring to the Sermon on the Mount as some sort of behavioral stairway to heaven, as if the hearer, if he will only become everything that is implied in that sermon, will gain access to heaven by means of his own self-improvement. In fact, that is the sort of thing that is taught in virtually every apostate church in the world, not only among so-called Christian congregations, but also in every other religion. Indeed, the one thing that separates real Christianity from every other religion is the fact that sound doctrine gives no glory to man, whereas all false doctrine attempts to take glory from God and give it to man through some manner of self-improvement. Sound doctrine places the glory where it belongs, at the feet of a gracious and loving God who recognized that man could not in any way improve his sinful nature, and who, therefore, was required to pay for man’s sins Himself, providing the righteousness that is required for those who could not claim it for themselves. The Cross is the key that unlocks the gates of heaven for everyone who will therein enter. The Sermon on the Mount is not a message of salvation, but of regulation. If one would lead a lost soul to the Lord, it is not with a message that convicts but offers no redemption, but a message that includes the word of reconciliation. The job of the evangelist is not to convict, but to minister the word of reconciliation to those whom the Holy Spirit has already convicted. Our work is not one of judgment upon sin, but of relief from its eternal effects.
Expectantly, stands Jesus at the door,
Ready to claim His Bride, whose sins He bore:
Our Beloved will call at the last trump’s roar,
“Arise, my love, come home with Me, evermore”
The hope of the Christian is not an earthly hope. Not at all. We are heavenly creatures already, and all our hopes are heavenly hopes. The only earthly hope that we have is that which Paul called that blessed hope (Tit. 2:13). And that hope is for our removal from everything earthly, being translated into our heavenly home to remain with our Groom while His judgments are poured out on a rebellious and an unbelieving world. That is, our only earthly hope is to be experienced on earth, as the very last instant of the Church Age, but which shall also see us removed from earth to our heavenly estate. Thus, our sole earthly hope is also a heavenly hope! The end of every earthly hope is a hole in the ground. The end of every heavenly hope is eternity in the presence of a loving God, blessed forever.
Why, then , do so many preachers spend ninety percent of their sermons telling us how to get along in the world, how to become productive members of the new millennium? Why are they concerned with behavior more than with hope and the future estate of the Christian? It is not by improving the behavior of born-again saints that those saints become more fruitful. It is not through self-help and self-improvement that we become more useful to God. Indeed, the more we focus on ourselves and on our behavior, the more sinful and fruitless we become. Christians become more useful to God, not as they become less sinful, but as they increase in the knowledge of Him (Col. 1: 9-10). Far too many preachers and teachers focus on sin-avoidance, and not on God Himself. Christians cannot improve themselves by avoiding sin, but by growing in faith and in the knowledge of God, by setting their eyes on things above, not on things on the earth. What did Paul say? “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5).
It is often said that God is smarter than we are. Much more rarely is it said that the devil is smarter than we are. Yet, he is. Vastly so. He has been observing and influencing mankind for millennia, and he knows every subtle trick in the book by which he might deceive us, and he does so joyfully, without any trace of compunction. He was not smarter than Christ, however, when he tempted Him. But how did he try to tempt Christ? By using the words of Scripture and taking them out of context. It is the same method that he uses on us today in many cases. One of his favorite twists is the same one that he used on Eve, when he told her that she could become “like God” (Gen 3:5).
The Sermon on the Mount describes the nature of God. It describes the nature of the new man that is born of God’s seed in the new birth (1 Jn 3:9), but it is often used as a sort of whip by charlatans to belittle both believers and unbelievers, making them see their inability to attain those lofty standards, and providing no relief from what they see. It is set before them as the standard to which they must arrive if they are to please God. Sometimes it is said to describe the requirement of the unbeliever if he is to become saved. Other times it is said to describe the behavior of every saved person. Yet again, it is often used as the standard by which men can judge whether or not they are saved in the first place. All of these are treacheries.
The Sermon on the Mount is beautiful indeed, and instructive, but has nothing to do with salvation, or even with the “normal” behavior of the saved person. It describes what we shall be in that Day when Christ establishes His Kingdom in Person on the earth. It does tell us of the nature that is born in us when we first believe the Gospel, but it is not the rule of life for either the believer or the unbeliever in this mystery aspect of the kingdom of heaven. Those preachers who use that sermon as the ax of judgment do not seek to edify or uplift anyone, but to frighten believer and unbeliever alike so that they will not serve God, despite their protestations to the contrary. We do not and cannot live up to those standards in this sinful flesh, and those who demand that we do so are not servants of God, but are deceived and deceiving by the very one who deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. While it is in the heart of every Christian to attain those standards, and while we will one day do so, it is not in sinful flesh that it is or will be possible. When the Day dawns when we hear the trumpet and the shout, then shall we evermore bear fully those characteristics!
It is not known precisely which mountain or hillside Jesus spoke from, but there was apparently a level place (Luke 6:17). Some men hold that Jesus was speaking to His disciples, but it is clear from Mt 7:28 that He was addressing a large crowd of people who were amazed at His teaching. Christ had left Nazareth and come to Capernaum, preaching and healing every sort of sickness and ailment. Following His temptation by Satan, the evangelist records, “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Mt 4:17). The crowds He addressed were composed of both Jew and Gentiles, who dwelt in the lands assigned to the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali, including some lands on the east bank of the Jordan River, in accordance with the prophecies of Isaiah (42:6-7).
Jesus came to reign as King over Israel. Matthew is the Book of the King, and it is appropriate that His message should be that the kingdom is at hand, for He was there and ready to rule. His teachings and His miracles were not acts of kindness as much as they were demonstrations of His power and authority. The miracles were validations of His words, proof that His claim of Messiahship was from God and not from man.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth…” (2 Tim 2:15). When one studies the Bible, the first three rules are context, context, context. The Sermon on the Mount, placed where it is in Scripture, proves the conservative position that Jesus’ monologue formed the “platform” for the kingdom of Christ on earth. Indeed, the opening verse of the Beatitudes declares the advent of the kingdom. Those who reckon the Sermon on the Mount to be the rule of life for the world in this Age do not realize that fallen man is wholly incapable of living up to those standards. Whenever men attempt to apply those standards to their lives today, they wind up frustrated, discouraged, and fearful of a vengeful and judgmental God. At the same time, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16). Thus, we find a difficulty that must be faced and addressed: If the Sermon on the Mount is not written for this day and age, how are we to apply its truths in our own lives? Are we to ignore it, waiting to live under its precepts in that great Day when Christ shall reign in the flesh in Jerusalem, or are we to attempt to order our lives around the ideals posited therein?
Look at it this way. Every living Christian remains a fallen man or woman all his life this side of the grave. To suggest that he must live according to the Sermon on the Mount is to require an impossibility of him. Those are the ideals that characterize the unfallen man, the one who has never sinned. The difference between fallen and unfallen man is the difference between selfishness and selflessness. Fallen man (even saved man) is characterized by selfishness. Even the most noble among us are selfish and vain. Conservatives hold to the doctrine of the total depravity of man, and that includes both saved and unsaved alike. Among the unsaved, except for notions of civility, integrity and nobility, there are no ameliorating factors to reduce the level of depravity. Among the saved, there is the presence of the indwelling Spirit of God who generates the characteristics in us that are propounded in the Sermon. However, even among the most spiritual Christians, walking in the Spirit is an extremely erratic experience, as we spend far more of our time with our eyes focused on earthly issues than we do looking expectantly toward heaven, so that those virtues espoused in the Sermon on the Mount are not exercised much in us. We do not often, or for very long at a time, display any of them. Nevertheless, when a Christian is walking in the Spirit, those characteristics are displayed to a degree commensurate with our spiritual maturity.
Christ is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16), and the characteristics of the new man are couched in selflessness rather than in selfishness. Christ’s selflessness was displayed in His death on the cross, surrendering first of all His preincarnate glory in order to come to the earth as a Servant of God (though He will yet become the King of kings and Lord of lords), and then bearing the sins of the whole world on the cross, paying the fullest penalty of the Law on everyone’s behalf. His entire ministry was selfless. He never begged for money, never sought thanks for His labors, never sought to acquire riches or fame, never wore proudly the accolades of men, but Jesus lived humbly, poorly, in service to everyone but Himself. This is love.
Most who attempt to live by the principles of the Sermon on the Mount do not do so with an eye toward others, but with a heart that is set on self improvement. And therein lies the rub. It is still not about others, but about self. It is about the attempt to become like God. Now, that certainly sounds like a noble and an admirable thing, doesn’t it? Why should one not seek to be like God? Ah, could it be because it is an impossible task? Well, maybe, but not really. Hearken back to Isaiah, chapter fourteen. What was Lucifer’s great sin? He said, “I will…” five times. Every statement was about himself, and the relationship of those statements to God was one of only rebellion. He concluded his list of “I wills” by saying, “I will be like the Most High…” (Isa 14:14). And with what did Satan tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden? What did he say to that deceived woman? He said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will opened, and you will be like God…” (Gen 3: 4b, 5). It is incredibly arrogant to think that fallen man can be like God. Yet, every works preacher, and many grace preachers, not only suggest but command that very sort of attitude on the part of their constituents. Such teaching does not draw the sinner closer to God, but pushes him away in fear and shame. In order to be like God, one must first become absolutely as sinless as God. Falling short of that, then, leads one to fear the judgment of God. To demand it of a sinner is to make the sinner want to hide in darkness, not bask in the light of God’s all-seeing eye (Jn 3:19-20).
For the unsaved, no admonition to be godly bears fruit. For the saved, it also does not bear fruit. Rather, the unsaved person needs to hear only the Gospel of God’s grace, and the believer needs to be grounded in faith, not works. Those works of the Spirit that are done in us are not accomplished through self improvement, but through faith in the workings of God. The middle verse in the Bible says that it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man (Ps 118:8).
The time will come when saved Christians will bear only the virtues and characteristics of the new man, but that will not occur until after the rapture of the Church. In the Kingdom Age, we will all walk in a worthy manner, without stain of sin or blemish of imperfection. We will serve the Lord in absolute and resolute perfection. Until then, we must realize that our obedience is going to be very spotty. Those who believe that they are walking according to the principles of the Sermon on the Mount today deceive themselves, and the more they believe it, the worse their adherence to those principles actually is. They become proudly Pharisaic. Oh, some people are more selfless than others, and some are more selfish, but selfishness or selflessness are not the gauges of spiritual maturity. The real gauge of spiritual maturity lies in faithfulness to God without thought of self. That is, spiritual maturity begins when one does not depend upon his own goodness or education or riches or wealth or deeds for anything pertaining to his spiritual life, but when he looks to God for his sustenance and fruitfulness from moment to moment. When a man trusts God, He can use that man. Let us begin for a moment to think that we are at all worthy, and we become immediately useless and unprofitable to God. Conversely, when a man realizes his true estate in this life, and it becomes real in his own heart, then he becomes useful to God and God will make him fruitful and blessed. For the unbeliever, no admonition to follow Christ will produce anything other than rebellion, but for the believer, service comes not from trying to act like Him, but from trusting Him, in spite of self.
What good, then, comes from the Sermon on the Mount? Why is it in the Scriptures? In the first place, it was given in the context of the coming kingdom, and those to whom it was delivered needed to know what the standards during that kingdom would be. They needed to know what to do, how to live, and what was expected of them while the tempter was locked away in the bottomless pit. It was in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you , till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven ”(Mt 5: 17-20).
Now, understand that the Jews were under the Law of Moses. So was Jesus, for that matter. Yet, He knew that He would fulfill the Law at Calvary, paying its full penalty for all of us. He also knew that it would not be through keeping the Law that anyone’s righteousness would exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Those were the two groups most familiar with Moses’ Law, and were the most devoted to keeping it. However, their eyes were not eyes of faith, but of vanity. They looked to their own righteousness, and not the righteousness that comes from God alone, the very righteousness of God Himself. There is a way for a person to achieve that righteousness, but there is only one way.
Christ’s offer of Himself as Messiah was genuine, even though He knew full well that He would die on the cross before He would come into that earthly kingdom. Since it was a sincere offer, He was bound to lay out the platform for His government. The principles laid down in that monologue will be the rule of life for everyone living in the Kingdom Age. These are the rules that Church Age saints will enforce, under Christ, during that grand and blessed time.
It may have been a sincere offer, but the offer was rejected. The rules of the Kingdom Age would not apply world-wide for many, many years in the future. But there is indeed an application that is exquisitely instructive and rich in blessing for the Christian today, in this age and in this life.
When Christ’s offer of Himself as King was rejected, He immediately left the house of Israel and opened His ministry to everyone who would believe on Him. His rejection is recorded in the twelfth chapter of Matthew, and the thirteenth chapter begins with His ministry to the great unorganized sea of men. His rejection is recorded, and He immediately announces a mystery age. It was in this context in which Jesus put forth the parables of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Having been rejected by His chosen people, Jesus begins to inform His disciples that His kingdom would actually begin in a “mystery” form, a form not foreseen in the Old Testament, but which would be inaugurated at some point in the not too distant future.
The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed in a series of eight parables: (1) the sower and the seed; (2) the tares among the wheat; (3) the mustard seed; (4) the leaven; (5) the hidden treasure; (6) the pearl of great price; (7) the dragnet; (8) the householder. In these parables, Jesus gives us rich details about the course of this mystery aspect of the kingdom of heaven. He tells us that not everyone who hears the Gospel will be saved, that many false professions of Christianity will be made, that the Church will grow very rapidly, that false doctrine will infiltrate the Church, that He will surrender everything He has to purchase both the Church and Israel, and that many, many unbelievers will pose as genuine Christians, and that He would bring to them many things that they did not understand fully then, though they thought that they had understood those parables. After the resurrection, and ten days after His ascension, the Holy Spirit came upon those men who were gathered in the Upper Room, and the Church was born.
The true Church is not an organization, but a living organism, called the body of Christ, of which He is the Head (Eph 4:15,16). This new living creature was not in existence prior to the Feast of Pentecost, and the advent of the Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence in those who were present that day created a new living thing, the body of Christ on Earth. We cannot know how long it had been since a new living creature was created before that day but, surely, it had been ages. From that small beginning, even on that very day, three thousand were added to the body of Christ, and, like the mustard seed, it began to flourish and grow. New souls were added to the body daily.
There were Jews from all over the world in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, and representatives from many parts of the world were present in the streets below the balcony of the Upper Room. Of those three thousand, perhaps most were from places other than Jerusalem. These people carried the Gospel back to their native lands, spreading the Word of God among the Jews in those far-flung regions. Thus was the Church almost immediately springing up in the entire civilized realm. A mustard tree, indeed!
A Christian is not like any other human being who has ever walked the earth since the Fall of man. Indwelt by the living Spirit of God, Christians are not earthly creatures, but heavenly. Well did Scofield say, “The Christian is a heavenly person, and a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth (Heb 3:1; I Pet 2:11) (Scofield Study System, NKJV, Oxford University Press, New York, NY 2002 — Page 1619). As such, he has gifts that other men do not have, empowered and driven by the Holy Spirit. When a Christian is walking spiritually, those virtues and characteristics that are delineated in the Sermon on the Mount become evident in him. This, not because his essential human nature has changed at all, but because in the new birth, he is given a nature that is born of the Seed of God (1 Jn 3:9). If a Christian “tries” to walk in the Spirit, he finds that it is not possible. But if he looks to the Author and Finisher of his faith, he finds that he is walking in the Spirit. If he attempts to manufacture in his character those qualities, he finds himself frustrated by his inabilities, but if he looks to God to use him however He will, he finds that God is willing and able to use him fruitfully.
The new man, that nature that is the fruit of the new birth, is poor in spirit. Not that he is not blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, but his attitude toward earthly riches is one that declares, like the Apostle Paul, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…” (Phil 3:7-9). The new man is not oriented to earthly things, but to heavenly things. The old man, who remains in us until either death or, for that fortunate and most blessed generation, the rapture intervenes, wages vigorous war against the new man, and is largely successful. The Christian who denies that his walk is more that of sinner than of saint does not reckon truly the state of his being today.
There is a Day coming in which Christians will never again be plagued with that old human nature that can do nothing but sin. But that Day is not today. Or perhaps it will be today — let us hope that it is! It is the Day of the rapture of the Church. From that day forward, we will wear those shining robes of white, and shall walk in that new man, exclusive of any blemish of sinful flesh.
There is a Day of hope beyond compare,
A Day in which all Church Age saints will soar
From Earth to meet the Lion in the air,
To see the Lamb and hear His mighty roar,
And touch His face, and feel His hand on ours –
Tears of joy flowing from eternal eyes
As His pure love our hungry heart devours,
His great glory fore’er to scrutinize!
The world may speak of safety and of peace,
Of security in their gods of war,
But we shall find of time there is surcease,
Of sinning contradictions so bizarre!
We each shall wear such robes of shining white
That we may walk in His eternal light!
Until that Day, though it is the heartfelt desire of every Christian to embody every principle espoused in the Sermon on the Mount, it is not possible for us to do so. Instruction in righteousness? Oh, and how sublime! There is a part of us that yearns to wear those robes today. What we must ever remember is that those robes are reserved in heaven for us, and though we remain as sinful now in the flesh as ever we have been, and while we desire to be as holy as He is holy, and yet cannot do the things we wish (see Rom 7:15-25), one day, perhaps very, very soon, we shall indeed don those robes and serve our Lord as perfectly as Adam and Eve before the Fall. Until then, if we wish to display the characteristics of the saint, we must keep our eyes firmly affixed on things above, not on things on the earth (Col 3:1-4). Let us walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh!
It is interesting to note that those who dismiss the Sermon on the Mount with the contemptuous statement that it has no bearing in this age or to Church Age saints do so on the basis of the practical impossibility of living consistently in accordance with the beatitudes and similitudes. Those passages are found in the first twenty verses of the sermon, or about a quarter of the whole sermon. The other fifty-nine verses do not seem to trouble anyone very much. Often, the same preacher who dismisses the beatitudes and similitudes will jump on, for example, 5:27-32 to argue against marital infidelity and divorce, feeling no compunction at all for using those verses when he would not use the first twenty.
The fact is, there are universal truths all through the Sermon on the Mount. Even the beatitudes and the similitudes, though they form the platform for Christ’s government during the Kingdom Age, also bear some relationship to Church Age saints. They are not the rules by which we must order every moment of our lives, but they do describe the nature of the new man who is in every Christian. To the extent that we should walk in the Spirit, those virtues and attributes should characterize the Christ who indwells us. The fact that they have nothing to do with salvation itself does not preclude some application to the Christian walk. That we are unable to consistently manifest those great qualities does not imply that we ought not value them highly and seek to walk spiritually.
However, there are other aspects to this great monologue that Christ delivered on the mountain. How is it possible to say that the “so-called” Lord’s prayer applies to the Kingdom Age saints and not to the Church Age saints, seeing that the first petition in it is “Thy kingdom come?” If this is only for Kingdom Age saints, then why are they told to pray for the arrival of a kingdom that is already in existence? Or, shall we hate our enemies today and only love them in the Kingdom Age? Shall we be like the Pharisees and be as ostentatious in our prayer life today, reserving our decorum for the Kingdom Age? And why would a Kingdom Age saint pray, “Lead us not into temptation…” at a time when we are already in glorified bodies, and will never sin again?
This is not to say that one should use this sermon to convict sinners and hope that they will find repentance in it. Neither is it to say that the sermon is not indeed the platform for Christ’s kingdom. But it is to insist that there are spiritual applications in every portion of the Bible that might be used for instruction and correction. The Church Age is, after all, that mystery aspect of the kingdom of heaven.
There is no more sublime passage in all the Bible than Mathew 6:19-34. No better counsel has any minister offered than the counsel offered in those sixteen verses. If every Christian would take that brief passage to heart, his life would be simpler and his faith would be stronger and his service would be more fruitful, even as the vicissitudes of life swirled about him like the whirlpool of water at the bottom of a hole. Let us take a brief survey of this great portion of the Sermon on the Mount.
Verses 19-21 speak of treasure in heaven, and its value relative to earthly treasures. In fact, it is not a comparison of the two, but there are two commands, one negative and the other positive. Do not lay up treasure on earth. Lay up treasure in heaven. And then the reason is given: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Those whose treasure is earthly spend their lives and substance managing that treasure, protecting it, investing it, caring about it. Those whose treasure is in heaven are always mindful of it, and their hearts desire to see and possess it, keeping their hearts and minds on the prize. If the Christian in this mystery age would focus his thoughts and his desires on his heavenly treasure, he would not be so quickly diverted from his work.
Verses 22-23 truly give us the basis of a spiritual walk. In the verses above, the issue was treasure, earthly or heavenly. In these verses the issue is light and sight. Those whose treasures are earthly focus their thoughts and attention on earthly matters. Those whose treasure is in heaven tend to look to where their treasure is, seeking to enlarge that, often at the expense of earthly treasure. As we look to the Light, all of our earthly fears and concerns dissipate and a calm spirit illuminates our lives. As soon as we take our eyes off that Light (see Jn 8:12), we must necessarily turn them onto the darkness of worldly matters. John said (1 Jn 2:15-16) that everything in the world is either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. That is a bold statement, but it is a true statement. As such, there is no light in any worldly treasure. Take our eyes off the light, and fear begins to invade our hearts and minds until itfinally pervades our whole bodies. The beginning of a spiritual walk is not avoiding sin, but looking at the Light.
Verse 24 concludes the matter by informing us that we cannot serve both God and mammon (read: money). Bob Dylan, American poet and songwriter, said, “Ya gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but ya gotta serve somebody.” And that is true. Our eyes must be upon either Light or darkness, and the choice remains with us. Let us walk in the Light!
The last ten verses (25-34) of this magnificent passage are reassuring in practical and temporal ways that no other passage of Scripture surpasses.
The first petition in the Lord’s Prayer is, “Thy kingdom come…” These ten verses deal with God’s provision for all our needs in our temporal lives. Those whose treasure is earthly tend to desire self-sufficiency, without dependence upon God. Those whose treasure is heavenly tend to care little about earthly treasure, seeking to enlarge their eternal coffers, depending upon God to provide what He will of their temporal needs and desires. Our Lord closes this passage by saying, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry aoubt tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (33-34). When our treasure is in heaven, our eye is good because it seeks that Light, and our hearts seek always the coming Kingdom.
The Sermon on the Mount, although it is the platform for the kingdom government, is not to be feared, but revered.
In his address to the Republican National Convention in 1980, Ronald Reagan spoke of the United States as a shining city on a hill, a great nation that all the world should emulate. It was, perhaps, his finest political hour. Mario Cuomo, the Keynote Speaker at the Democratic Convention that same year, following the Republican Convention, told “A Tale of Two Cities,” showing the great disparity between the very rich and the very poor in the United States. It was one of the great and defining political seasons in American history. Ronald Reagan was likening the United States to the great body of translated saints in the Kingdom Age, and Mario Cuomo was using Charles Dickens great epic, “A Tale of Two Cities,” to counter Reagan’s brilliant speech. Both were examples of the best of American oratory, but neither came near to understanding what this great passage of Scripture (Mt 5:14-16). intends.
The Apostle John tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world. And so He is. And He is in us, Christians. Even in the Kingdom Age, there will be many, many lost souls. Even though Satan and his minions will be locked away in the abyss, the unregenerated heart of man will yet be stumbling in a darkness so profound that it is impossible for him to find his way to God. It is a great and deep spiritual darkness, born of sin, that knows no light at all. In the Kingdom Age, the saints of this and prior dispensations will no longer have sin natures, and we truly will shine as lights in a dark world. The unsaved will see the works of the translated saints and marvel over the glory of a God whom they do not know. As innocent then as Adam and Eve before the Fall, we will rule with Christ over a world that is still fallen and dark, and we will bring the light of the Gospel to that world in ways that we cannot do today.
In that day, we will not seek material or temporal treasures, and we will be rich in both material and spiritual blessings. Our hearts will not care for those things then, and they will be showered upon us as gold, silver and precious stones. Our mourning will be on account of the sins of the world, even as we ourselves hunger and thirst after righteousness and are filled. Our hearts will be pure then, without the slightest stain of sin, our robes whiter than snow. For every flake of snow is built around a speck of dirt, but we shall be completely pure. Though we shall reign with Christ, who shall Himself reign with a rod of iron, we shall extend His mercy to all, and the works that we do will be the works of peacemakers, bringing peace with God to the unregenerate, through the same faith that we enjoy today. We shall rejoice in the persecutions of the lost against us, the love of God filling our hearts and minds instead of the resentment and anger that impose themselves upon our hearts today when we are persecuted.
These are the qualities that will completely characterize the saints in the Kingdom Age. So often we seek the rapture in order to “escape” a wicked world. Far better would it be if our hearts could embrace what shall be ours in the Kingdom Age, and seek the rapture for all of that rather than merely as a means of escape from temporal trials and troubles. If our minds were eternally-oriented rather than temporally blinded, we could have such peace and tranquility, even amid the trials of this life, that we could serve God much more effectively today than we do. If we could train our hearts to think “beyond the grave,” toward eternity, then the Light that is in us even now would shine more fruitfully into the hearts and minds of the lost souls whom the Holy Spirit sends to us today for ministry. We are already that shining city on a hill today, but our light is dimmed by the baskets of temporality and sin that veil our hearts and minds and divert us from what we wish that we could be. Take heart, weak souls! The just shall live by faith!
Evangelism & the Sermon on the Mount
If an evangelist begins speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, one must wonder how he is going to tie his message in to the cross. The Sermon on the Mount is not a message of salvation at all. It does not speak of how one is saved, but of a time yet future, when Christ shall reign on the Earth. As noted pastor and Bible scholar, Hugh Sherrill, Jr., writes, “The Sermon on the Mount teaches the ethics of Jesus, not the shed blood. The Sermon on the Mount has no provision for salvation. A person, by his own decision, cannot be, if he has never been born again, poor in spirit, or mournful or meek. The unsaved certainly cannot hunger and thirst after righteousness, because “the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14). Man, by nature, is not meek or mournful or merciful, and certainly, he is not pure in heart (Jer 17:9; Mk 7:21-23; Prov 23:7; Eccl 9:3).
Evangelism is the spreading of the Good News of the Gospel of God’s grace, the Gospel of the cross, the word of reconciliation (See 2 Cor 5:18-21). It is telling the tale of that shed blood in such a way that the unsaved can understand their own need for redemption and learn that the redemption they need is found only in a crucified Christ. Evangelists are those gifted with the ability to do a single job: take the Gospel to the unsaved and present it clearly and effectively and, therefore, fruitfully. When evangelists begin to wander from this singular course, they become ineffective and fruitless. When they begin to focus their words on the deeds and behavior of their hearers rather than upon the accomplished work of Christ at Calvary, they invariably begin to teach a doctrine of works, and they cease to be evangelists at all, for their message, which ought to be good news, becomes a message of fear and judgment, alienating their listeners from God rather than drawing them to Him.
...for they shall inherit the earth. The American Heritage Dictionary says that the word means: “Showing patience and humility, gentle; easily imposed on, submissive.” Strong says it means “mild” or “humble.”
It is a word that is often misunderstood. Especially in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Ask a hundred people what “meek” means, and probably as many as seventy-five will tell you that it means “timid,” or something akin to “faint-hearted.” In most minds meekness is related to weakness.
But that is hardly the concept that Jesus had in mind. Jesus was not talking about a personality trait, but a character quality. That is, one becomes meek by decision. One who is weak might be walked on because he is too weak to resist. One who is meek, on the other hand, determines to allow himself to be imposed upon out of a sincere love. Jesus was not weak, but He was certainly meek. He had the strength of character and personality to call the Pharisees a brood of vipers, yet He also had the meekness to suffer being spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns. Those things were not signs of weakness, but of great strength. It takes little strength to strike out when one is insulted or struck. Anger takes over and things just happen. But it takes great strength to stand and turn the other cheek. Strength of character. Strength of faith. What it takes is not a weak mind or body, but utter selflessness. And that selflessness need not be driven by a low opinion of oneself, but real meekness is driven by a real love that prefers others over self.
Many people mistake timidity and faint-heartedness and weakness for meekness, but those who do so do not reckon with the great virtue that love and faith produce in the one who is genuinely meek, though strong in character and personality.
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www.e-grace.net. Webgrace.net is available now at www.e-grace.net/webgrace. Be sure to use both sites in your Christian theology studies.
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