Kingdom Living, Life Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus said, I’ve come to introduce you to a new kingdom. The children of Israel thought that Jesus would be their political messiah… the one sent to deliver them from under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire. However, his new kingdom was not of this world… but from heaven above. This kingdom was not founded on worldly political power and the might of earthly armies. His was a kingdom based on the love of God. From the world’s perspective, the kingdom of our Lord is an upside down kingdom.
The world taught that you should hate your enemies and seek retribution against those who wrong you. However, Jesus said in John 13:34-35, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
The Church of Jesus Christ is the temple of God, God’s dwelling place. The journey to the inner chamber is the journey to the heart of God. Jesus came to live with us and within us… that we would be born again, not of corruptible seed inherited fro Adam, but of God’s Holy Spirt. To live the Christian life is to live from the heart of Christ’s heart behind our hearts. Believers who enter into the inner chamber of God’s Holy Spirit come to the understanding that his spirit of life in Christ has cleansed us and delivered us from the darkness of this world.
Jesus taught the sermon on the mount so that those who follow him could live according to his righteousness, godly in this present age according to the blessed hope of his return. He taught his disciples by his example how to live with him and within him…. motivated by the love of God.
The first lesson of the sermon on the mount is the absolute need for His Holy Spirit living within us. When we are born again of God’s Holy Spirit, we can see and perceive from Christ’s eyes behind our eyes. Jesus did not come to minister to the unbelievers who would reject him, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who would choose to accept spiritual life on his terms, not the world’s. Without being born of God’s spirit we cannot love God because love is beyond our own natural ability… love is empowered by his gift of Holy Spirit.
Titus 2:11-14 says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
The second message of the sermon on the mount is that those who are blessed live according to the beatitudes…. Jesus Christ’s blessed beautiful attitudes. The blessings are “the kingdom of heaven” for those who are meek to receive his word. The blessing is in God’s comfort for those who mourn. It is in God’s mercy and grace for them who are merciful. The blessing is in seeing God and being called the sons of God for peacemakers and those who are pure in heart. The blessing is for those who have been persecuted, wounded, reviled and slandered for Jesus’ sake, for great is their reward in heaven.
The third message of the Sermon on the Mount is our witness of evangelism…. the good news of the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Living the gospel message is the way of an evangelist. As Paul said, ye are our epistles, God’s love letters, known and read of all men.
Even though the church looks for better methods, God looks for better men. The best evangelistic method is to live as a testimony for the Lord…. to live according to the sermon on the mount as an example of God’s love made manifest. Instead of praying for revival, we need to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer… that God sends us as laborers into his harvest, making disciples of all nations through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Christianity is a rescue mission for desperate men. When men come to the place that they are starving, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, then God can fill them with the power of His Holy Spirit. When men become desperate enough to to forsake the pain, suffering, strife, contention and confusion of this world and run to the Lord for deliverance, Our loving Heavenly Father will run to embrace them.
You can’t have a testimony without a test. The trials and tribulations of this world bring us to the place where we understand that we cannot overcome the pain and pressure on our own. Christianity is a rescue effort for desperate men. When we approach his throne of grace with a broken and a contrite heart of repentance, he will save us, rescue us, and deliver us from trials and temptation… from the darkness and depression of this fallen world.
When others see the God’s transformation in our lives… When we turn around and live according to Christ’s heart behind our heart, this will win others to the Lord… For it is God who works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.
In an upside down world, what the world meant for evil, God meant for good. When we see things from God’s perspective, he’s concerned for our integrity and righteousness as we set our affections on things above and not on the things of this world. When we live according to the blessed attitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, we will live according to His purpose…
… to live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
