Sermon on Mount
Keys to greatness
April 25, 2004
Today we start working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. I will start the Sermon on the Mount with an eight-week series on the Beatitudes. To do that I want us to look at the Beatitudes with a wide-angle lens to see the larger context of how they fit into the Gospel of Matthew and then look at them through a narrow lenses and see what the beatitudes are and how they fit with life today.
I must acknowledge my spiritual barreness/ bankruptcy
Assess my spiritual condition
It is at the outset of the Sermon on the Mount that we learn that we do not have the spiritual resources to put any of the Sermons precepts into practice. We cannot fulfill the demands ourselves. If we recognize our emptyness we are able to have him fill us.
Poor in spirit means that we are realize our spiritual and moral bankruptness or barreness. We have no moral goodness or spiritual goodness to offer to God in any way that earns merit or brownie points with him.
We come to God as beggers and in need. There is this recognition in the mind and the heart. We not only see ourselves this way, understand the implications and feel this great need for God to bring resolution. If someone is poor or even bankrupt and they understands their need for help they will seek it out. The poor will go to public assistance, they will beg on the city streets, they do any kind of job to make money. A bankrupt person will go to a bank and do anything to get themselves out of their hole. Both people when they understand the depths of their financial posiion will go to great depths to get themselves out of that position.
It is the cnscious confession of our unworth before God. So it is the deepest from of repentence. It is not our confession that we are without value but rather that we are sinful and rebelliousand utterly wihtout moral virtues adequate to commend ourselves to God.
The contrast between thee Pharisse and the tax collector in Luke 18 displays what Jesus is talking about. contrasts this realityPaul exemplifies this condition when he says I am the least of the apostles or when he says when I am weak I am strong. When the Lord mircaulously gave Peter the catch of fish, Peter falls to his knees and says to Jesus, ’depart from me, for I am a sinful man’. Or the tax collector who stands next to the pharisee asthe pharisee spouts off his list of works righteousness and in contrast the tax collector standing far off would not even lift his eyes to heaven, beating his chest cries out to God to be ’merciful to me, a sinner.’ Jesus commends this man and not the Pharisee! Carson I think rightly suspects that there is no pride more deadly than that which finds its roots in great learning, great external piety, or showy defense of orthodoxy. Pride based upon genuine virtues has the greatest potential for self deception. Poor in spirit is the complete recognition of our personal moral unworth before God.
Another contrast is the story of the prodigal son. He insults his father and household by leaving his fathers house and asking for his share of his inheritance. He sows his oats and then when he is forced to work for someone else feeding slop for pigs the The pigs are eating better than him. He comes to his sense realizing his own foolishness. He comes home in humility asking only to come back as a hired hand with his father.
Carson beleives the idea comes from the OT where God’s people are often referred to as ’the poor’. Other Hebrew words that convey the idea mean lowly, humble. For instance:
NIV Proverbs 16:19 Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
NIV Isaiah 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
NIV Isaiah 66:2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
But Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17). In other words, the only people who will ever come to get what Jesus has to give are sick people, people who know that they are spiritually and morally and very often physically crippled.
Abraham:
In dealing with the Lord about Sodom and Gomorrah he said, "Behold, I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes" (Genesis 18:27).
Jacob:
When Jacob returned to the promised land after spending 20 years in exile, he wrestled with God in prayer and said, "I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness which thou hast shown to thy servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies" (Genesis 32:10).
Moses:
When God came to him with a mission to lead his people out of Israel, he said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? ... Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue" (Exodus 3;11; 4:10).
The reason God got angry at Moses is not because of his humble assessment of his own abilities, but of his lack of faith in God’s ability. God responded and said to Moses, "Who made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak" (Exodus 4:11-12).
What is the Biblical solution when a person is paralyzed by a sense of guilt or unworthiness or uselessness? I believe with all my heart that the solution is not self-esteem. God did not say to Moses, "Stop putting yourself down. You are somebody. You are eloquent." That is not the Biblical way. What God said was, "Stop looking at your own unworthiness and uselessness and look at me. I made the mouth. I will be with you. I will help you. I will teach you what to say. Look to me and live!"
David:
"The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Everyone agrees that this is the spirit that pleases God after you are taken in adultery and murder. But what about the times when you are doing good?
When the collection for the temple was being taken David prayed, "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from thee, and of thy own have we given thee" (1 Chronicles 29:14).
In other words, that even when David and his people were performing an act of virtue, David did not yield to the impulses of self-esteem. Instead he was carried away by the impulses of sovereign grace: "Who are we that we should be able thus to offer willingly! To God be the esteem, to God! and not to us, even in our virtue.
Solomon:
"O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in" (1 Kings 3:7).
Job:
"I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6).
Isaiah:
"Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5).
So we learn from Job and Isaiah that one source of lowliness is to see God in his power and holiness.
John the Baptist:
"I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie... He must increase, I must decrease" (John 1:27; 3:30). Could this be why Jesus said, "Among those born of women, none is greater than John" (Luke 7:28). "If anyone would be first he must be last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35).
The tax collector:
Jesus told a parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector who went up the the Temple to pray. Concerning the tax collector he said, "But the tax collector, standing far off, he would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ’God be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you this man went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:13-14). Which is just another way of saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit.
The centurion:
When Jesus was not far off from his house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, "Lord do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed..." When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude, "I tell you, not ever in Israel have I found such faith" (Luke 7:6-9).
The Canaanite woman:
When Jesus at first refused her request for help, since she was not a Jew, she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table." To which Jesus responds, "O woman, great is your faith!"
So we learn from the centurion and the Canaanite woman that poverty of spirit is right at the very heart of what true faith is.
Peter:
When he saw the power of Jesus on the Lake of Gennesaret, "Simon Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ’Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord’" (Luke 5:8).
Paul:
"I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is , in my flesh..." (Roman 7:18).
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us..." (2 Corinthians 4:7).
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth..." (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
"I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life" (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
What then is poverty of spirit?
It is a sense of powerlessness in ourselves.
It is a sense of spiritual bankruptcy and helplessness before God.
It is a sense of moral uncleanness before God.
It is a sense of personal unworthiness before God.
It is a sense that if there is to be any life or joy or usefulness, it will have to be all of God and all of grace.
The reason I say it is a SENSE of powerlessness and a SENSE of bankruptcy and a SENSE of uncleanness and a SENSE of unworthiness, is that, objectively speaking, everybody is poor in spirit. Everybody, whether they sense it or not, is powerless without God and bankrupt and helpless and unclean and unworthy before God. But not everybody is "blessed".
When Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," he does not mean everybody. He means those who feel it. That is why it is so appropriate to take the first and second beatitudes together. "Blessed are those who mourn," clarifies the subjective side of being poor in spirit.
Blessed are the poor in spirit who mourn. Blessed are the people who feel keenly their inadequacies and their guilt and their failures and their helplessness and their unworthiness and their emptiness -- who don’t try to hide these things under a cloak of self-sufficiency, but who are honest about them and grieved and driven to the grace of God.
Blessed are you! because you are going to be comforted. Fear not, you worm, Jacob! Fear not, Moses, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:6-8), Isaiah, Peter! For I will be with you, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Yours is the very kingdom of God. Amen.
I must look to God for my resources
The sermon on the mount is about entrance into the kingdom. 4:17 tells us to repent for the kingdom of heaven is near; the poor in spirit inherit the kingdom; those persecuted for righteousness’ sake inherit the kingdom; entrance inot the kingdom is not based upon a fruitful ministry but is based upon obedience, 7:21; unless ones righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the pharisees they will never enter the kingdom.
But it is also about positions in the kingdom. The way to greatness is obedeince to the law and teaching others to do the same.
It is also about orientating onese life arouond the kingdom, 6:33.
The one with this attitude is promised to be blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This phrase is a favorite of Matthew.
The following two paragraphas are from ISBE. The difference cannot better be expressed than by saying, as is done by B. Weiss, that He and they laid the accent on different halves of the phrase, they emphasizing "the kingdom" and He "of God." They were thinking of the expulsion of the Romans, of a Jewish king and court, and of a world-wide dominion going forth from Mt. Zion; He was thinking of righteousness, holiness and peace, of the doing of the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven. So earthly and fantastic were the expectations of the Jewish multitude that He had to escape from their hands when they tried to take Him by force and make Him a king. The authorities never acknowledged the pretensions of One who seemed to them a religious dreamer, and, as they clung to their own conceptions, they grew more and more bitter against One who was turning the most cherished hopes of a nation into ridicule, besides threatening to bring down on them the heavy hand of the Roman. And at last they settled the controversy between Him and them by nailing Him to a tree.
But in the phrase "the kingdom of God" there are elements of living power which can never pass away. (1) It expresses the social Power inside of Christianity. A kingdom implies multitude and variety, and, though religion begins with the individual, it must aim at brotherhood, organization and expansion. (2) It expresses loyalty. However much kings and kingdoms may fail to touch the imagination in an age of the world when many countries have become or are becoming republican, the strength to conquer and to endure will always have to be derived from contact with personalities. God is the king of the kingdom of God, and the Son of God is His vicegerent; and without the love of God the Father and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ no progress can be made with the Christianization of the world. (3) It keeps alive the truth, suggested by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer, that the doing of the will of God on earth is the one thing needful. This is the true end of all authority in both church and state, and behind all efforts thus directed there is at work the potency of heaven. (4) It reminds all generations of men that their true home and destiny is heaven. In not a few of our Lord’s own sayings, as has been remarked, our phrase is obviously only a name for heaven; and, while His aim was that the kingdom should be established on earth, He always promised to those aiding in its establishment in this world that their efforts would be rewarded in the world to come. The constant recognition of a spiritual and eternal world is one of the unfailing marks of genuine Christianity.
The kingdom is something that is both present and future. Its present is demonstrated in the preson and ministry of Jesus; its future aspect waiting to be fulfilled with the future coming of Jesus. It is demonstrated in God saving realm; his power over demonic activity; and his healing power. It is like a mustard seed that though starts out small, ends with far reaching power. It is future in that the kingdom is not fully established in it’s glory until the return of Christ. So we are in the in-between times where these two realities overlap. So this is why there is this struggle, this imperfection in the rule of the kingdom.
The kingdom is is ruled by the king and his vice regent, Jesus. They have sway over the memebers of the kingdom. The also shoose memebers of the kingdom. The kingdom is offered to everone who gives themselves to the vice-regent of the kingdom with complete loyalty or Lordship. When one comes to faith in Christ they enter into and under the rule of God in their lives. The also are given the power and authority of the kingdom, already but not yet.
As members of the kingdom we are representatives of the king and his vice-regent. As such we are invested with his power and authority to be his ambassadors. Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." As we go about the business of making disciples Jesus promises that he will be with us to the end of the age in his power and authority to accomplish the task of making disciples. in the disciple making process Jesus commands us to teach them to observe all that he has commanded us.
Along wiht that power and authority our personal lives they are freed from the power and control of satan and his dominion. He is no longer our king and ruler. Our lives are now swayed by our new king. Yet their old king seeks to usurp Jesus’ lordship in our lives by enticing us that his rule is better than Jesus’ rule. Here is an example of the already and not yet aspect of the kingdom. We are under the rule of Jesus but that is not complete and total. So we battle with being citizens of the kingdom of God but live in this present world that is ruled by the kingdom of satan. Dailly is this battle for the loyalty of our hearts. Although we are freed from complete control of demonic activity in our lives we battle against its influence. We might even be taken captive by the kingdom of darkness and be inprisoned by him yet we still remain a citizen of the Kingdom of God. This needs further refelction concerning demonic influence, possession, etc.
The kingdom is the reward (blessed) of those who are poor in spirit is the kingdom.
