The Ministry of Christ (Part 6)

The Sermon on the Mount --Matthew 5:1-16)

This morning, in our series on the Ministry of Christ, we want, to consider a well known event in our Lord's ministry, THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. As we look at this sermon on the mount, let us note TO WHOM our Lord was speaking; WHAT our Lord was teaching and HOW we today should relate to this sermon.

We will find this Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapters Five through Seven. You will also note that Luke 6:12-49 covers much of the same teaching, but these are TWO DIFFERENT SERMONS, spoken to TWO DIFFERENT GROUPS at TWO DIFFERENT TIMES. In our Matthew passage, we find our Lord "IN THE MOUNT" speaking to His DISCIPLES (Matthew 5:1). In the Luke passage, you will find our Lord speaking to "THE MULTITUDES," AFTER He comes down from the Mount, for He is now "IN THE PLAIN" (Luke 6:17). It is quite reasonable that our Lord repeated this teaching to the multitudes after He had given these truths to His Disciples.

In the Matthew account, Christ speaks of the MORAL CHARACTERISTICS of the Kingdom and emphasis is laid on the necessity of a NEW BIRTH, hence the points about sin in the heart. In Luke, outward actions are reviewed and the distinction between STANDING and STATE is made clear to the multitudes who had come for physical healing.

What we find in this Sermon on the Mount is in reality the CONSTITUTION of the Kingdom. In this sermon, we see the qualifications and the activities required of those who will enter the Kingdom. Christ shows the SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION of the Law in contrast to man's view, which is the LETTER of the Law. Many of these requirements are beyond the abilities of the fallen children of Adam. Only those who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit can fulfill these requirements for these actions are only possible through the NEW NATURE (note Ezekiel 36:27).

The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are NOT steps a fallen man can take to gain acceptance into the Kingdom. Rather, these Beatitudes are the MORAL CHARACTERISTICS God demands in the lives of those entering the Kingdom.

Let us look at a few of these Beatitudes to see what Christ was telling His Disciples.

In Matthew 5:3, Christ is saying, "HAPPY ARE THEY WHO ARE CONSCIOUS OF THEIR MORAL POVERTY, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." It is ONLY those who realize that they have NO RIGHTEOUSNESS in themselves who are allowed in the Kingdom. Those who are conscious of their moral poverty will REPENT and Christ will give them HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Christ, says, in Matthew 5:4, "HAPPY ARE THEY THAT MOURN, FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED." Here Christ is NOT speaking of mourning for the loss of personal property or loved ones, but of those who are GRIEVED because of personal sinfulness. It is these who are grieved who will REPENT. Then Christ will SAVE them and they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:8 speaks of those who are "PURE IN HEART." This is a condition that NO natural man can achieve by his own efforts. This "PURE IN HEART" means those who are purified in heart, that is, those who have received a new moral nature in regeneration. Only these will see God in the Kingdom.

The Spirituality Of The Law

The Scribes and the Pharisees of Christ's day were proud of their Law-keeping and felt their perfection in the Law made them righteous before God. Yet, in speaking to His Disciples, Christ makes it clear that unless their righteousness exceeded that of these religious leaders (Matthew 5:20) they could not enter the Kingdom. Christ's point was that this self-righteousness of these Law-keepers WAS NOT the qualification for entrance into the Kingdom, but the very righteousness of God was what was needed. They could only come into the Kingdom as they recognized their own
Spiritual Poverty and REPENTED so that God could give then HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

To the Law-keeper, the commandment about Murder was clear - don't plot to take another man's life. Christ shows the deeper inter intent of the Law, for He says, `WHO SO EVER IS ANGRY WITH HIS BROTHER WITHOUT A CAUSE IS GUILTY OF MURDER IN HIS HEART" (Matthew 5:22).

The same Spiritual Truth is brought out concerning ADULTERY. The Law keeper only saw the physical act as being condemned, but Christ goes to the HEART of man-looking at the DESIRES. Remember, man looks upon the outward activities of other men, but God looks upon the HEART. Here, again, we see that the need of man is a NEW NATURE and this only comes with REGENERATION.

When Christ speaks of plucking out and casting away any physical member of the body that offends, He is only speaking in FIGURATIVE TERMS. Never did Christ mean that a person was to mutilate his body. Here we have the SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION of the responsibility of being single minded toward gaining the Kingdom. The point Christ was making was that they were not to allow anything, regardless of how valuable, to cause them to loose out on entering the Kingdom. What ever it was that would cause them to offend and not enter the Kingdom, it would be far better to get rid of it so that end result would be the blessedness of the Kingdom.

Alms----giving

In Matthew chapter six, Christ speaks of Alms-giving and Prayer. The giving of gifts to God's work was to be done for GOD'S GLORY, not to gain respect or praise from men. What is given was to be done without fan-fare or attention-getting, if there was to be any reward from God. The man who made a show of his alms-giving to receive praise from men, that would be all the reward he would get. The man who made no show of his giving, but who gave it for God's Glory, he would be rewarded openly by the Father in the Kingdom.

The Disciples Prayer

On the subject of prayer, Christ points out how the Scribes and the Pharisees like to make a show of their praying to call attention to their piety. The heathen, on the other hand, would recite players over and over, thinking God would be pleased by hearing the same prayers hundreds of times. To His Disciples, Christ tells them not to "USE VAIN REPETITIONS" (Matthew 6:7) but to be intelligent when they bring their petitions to the Father. Then Christ gave the Disciples a model prayer which is not only an outline of the perfect way to approach the Father, but it is the very substance of what the Disciples will be praying just before the Kingdom is set up.

This prayer is perfect in that it carne from Christ Himself . It addresses a petition to the Father and shows the respect which should be given to the Father. The request of the prayer is for the KINGDOM to come (Matthew 6:10). There is an urgency in this prayer because Israel will be (in
that future day) in a time of great trouble when Satan will have full sway here on the earth and will be doing everything in his power to destroy the Jews and the testimony of God. .This prayer has its Dispensational setting in the TRIBULATION PERIOD which will come just prior to the return of Christ to set up His Kingdom.

During the time Christ is absent from the nation of Israel, awaiting Israel's invitation for Him to return and establish His Kingdom, Satan will have his political leader (the Anti-Christ) and his religious leader (the False Prophet) controlling the earth. Israel will be experiencing the 70th
week of Daniel's prophecy - the time of JACOB'S TROUBLE (Jeremiah 30:7). All the world will be submissive to Satan except Israel. Satan directs his efforts to crush and destroy the Jews. One way Satan will try to kill the Jews is to demand everyone to identify themselves with his program by taking his mark upon their foreheads or their hands. Only those with this mark will be able to purchase goods or sell anything (even their labor). Those people who are opposed to Satan would
starve were it not for God's intervention and provision. Those of God's people who are able will flee to the mountains where God has prepared a place for them to hide (Revelation 12:13-14). There God will feed His people the same as He did when Israel was in the wilderness between the time they left Egypt and their arrival in the promised land.

It is this time of trouble that Christ is telling the Disciples about and thus instructs them to pray to the Father, "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD."

No one can pray this prayer today in this age of God's Grace for there are no restrictions keeping anyone from working and providing his own food. Paul makes it clear that if a man will not work today, he is not to be fed by the community (Second Thessalonians 3:10). In the Tribulation, the believers will NOT be able to work and purchase their food, but will have to rely upon God for MANNA from heaven, just like Israel did in the wilderness.

Because the Kingdom program required outward works of faith in the lives of the believers to show they had repented and were identified with the Kingdom, Christ points out, in this prayer, that the forgiveness of their daily sins against others will be forgiven in direct proportion to the way they forgive others. THIS IS NOT SPEAKING OF WORKS FOR SALVATION. These who will be praying this prayer are already believers. This is part of that MORAL ATTITUDE that will be expected during this time and this prayer will come from those who are "MEEK" as we saw in Matthew 5:5.

The "TEMPTATION" spoken of in Matthew 6:13 is the temptation these believers will feel during the Tribulation, urging them to take the MARK OF THE BEAST so they will be able to provide for their families. It will take GREAT FAITH in that day to just TRUST GOD for one's every need, even for his food. The delivering from "EVIL" is a request to the Father to protect them from the EVIL ONE -
Satan, who will be waiting just outside this mountain sanctuary to kill anyone who would venture
outside God's protection in the mountains (First Peter 5:8).

This "Disciples Prayer" will be Israel's invitation and cry for Christ to come as their King and set up His Kingdom. Israel will BEG God (at that time) to send Christ to reign over them.

Trusting God Completely

In Matthew 6:25-34, Christ encourages His Disciples by the example of God's faithfulness to provide for His creation, to place their trust completely in God's ability to provide their every need. The birds do not work for their food, but God is faithful to feed them. The flowers of the field are beautifully dressed, but their glory is only passing and they end up being burned. If God is this faithful to the birds and flowers, will He not do as much and more for these Disciples? Surely He will and so Christ encourages them in verses 33-34 that their main goal should be the KINGDOM ,then the Father will give them everything they need. They are not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.

a. The phrase, "SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF" (Matthew 6:34) has caused much anxiety, but all Christ is saying is that there is no need for the Disciples to worry about tomorrow, for in so doing, they would only be compounding whatever problems tomorrow heId. Let
tomorrow's problems cone as they will and trust the Father to handle them as they arise. You can't change things by WORRYING ahead of time, you only spoil the opportunities of today.

Conclusion

This portion of Scripture. we have looked at this morning is KINGDOM in every respect and was directed to the; Disciples for their learning and encouragement as they entered their

ministry of being co-laborers with Christ. Also, it instructed them as to how they were to face the TRIBULATION PERIOD.

Let us remember that we Gentiles, living in this Dispensation of. God's Grace, ARE NOT to go to the four Gospels and apply them to our lives today. `We ARE NOT promised any of these blessings nor any of these provisions. We ARE NOT to pray the "Disciples Prayer" as recorded in Matthew 6:10-13 for this has it's Dispensational setting in the Tribulation Period - the time of Jacob's trouble.

Matthew 6:34 IS NOT for us today. We DO have to take thought for tomorrow. We DO have to provide food and clothing for our families. BUT we are not to WORRY about tomorrow (Philippines 4:19). We must TRUST CHRIST to direct and take us through the trials of this life, as we see in First Corinthians 10:13.

Pastor Marvin Duncan
Bible Treasures, 120 Drollinger Street
Wichita, Kansas 67218

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