ATTN:One of the values at As One is biblical authority. We believe that the entire Bible is the word of God and not just a portion of it so that we can pick and choose. And we believe the word of God should dictate to us how to live rather than us dictating it to justify whatever lifestyle we choose. Therefore, we take utmost care in handling the word of God. And one of the ways in which we do that is by synthesizing. What I mean by that is when we quote from the Bible, we make sure that it aligns with what the rest of the Bible says and not in isolation as to take it out of context. For example, we often hear Christians say to one another, “Well, the Bible says not to judge,” to mean that a person should never tell another person what he or she is doing is wrong. But is that what is meant by the Bible? In Matthew 7:1 Jesus says“Judge not, that you be not judged.”So, Jesus says not to judge. But Jesus says elsewhere in John 7:24, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” Well, according to that, Jesus is not saying that we shouldn’t judge at all, but how to judge. So, then what was Jesus saying in Matthew? If you read the context, Jesus is really saying that we should not condemn or judge someone’s motive. But what He is not saying is that we should never tell another person what that person is doing is wrong. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us to do that for one another – James 5:19, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” So, being faithful to the word of God means to look at it as a whole and interpret it in context. That’s what I mean by synthesizing – putting together all relevant parts to harmonize as to accurately interpret its meaning.

I say all that to introduce to you the next sermon series: The sermon on the mount by Jesus. This is the perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus preached. It is certainly the longest. This sermon came early on in His ministry and what we will do in the next several weeks is to look more closely at this sermon and draw out what truly mattered to Jesus and how we are to live in light of it. It is known as the ethical teachings of Jesus and most people take it as such, but if we do not interpret it in context of the rest of what Jesus said, in other words if we do not synthesize it, we will horribly distort it and make Christianity into simply do’s and don’ts.

Let me be more specific. There are many topics Jesus touches upon in this sermon. To name a few…  being a good example to those around us, fighting anger and lust, about divorce, swearing, taking revenge, dealing with enemies, prayer, dealing with money, dealing with anxiety, judging others, etc. These are what are called Christian ethics that the believers are to live by.

Now, most people, Christians and non-Christians alike, think these things that Jesus alludes to are to be learned and practiced so that we will become acceptable to God. If you obey these imperatives reasonably well, then God will be pleased with you and accept you and you will have blessings in your life. But if you don’t obey them well, then God will be mad at you and He will punish you by letting bad things happen to your life. So, that’s what most people think these ethical teachings of Jesus are for, including Wikipedia when I looked up “Sermon on the mount by Jesus.”

But is that what Jesus is driving at- Live a good life and God will accept you and give you blessings? We must synthesize! We must see this sermon in light of everything else Jesus said and did. If you’ve grown up at a church where grace is taught, then you know that we are not accepted by God based upon our good works. We are saved solely based upon the good works of Jesus Christ on our behalf and our faith in Him. And the good works come as a fruit of the love and gratitude we have in God for saving us. But then, why does Jesus preach the sermon demanding us to live ethical and moral lives? Shouldn’t they simply flow naturally from our faith in Him? Why didn’t Jesus simply tell us to love God and everything will naturally flow from it? Why does He demand specific actions and behaviors? For example, He says, “Don’t look at a woman lustfully!” or “Don’t get angry with your brother/sister!” or “Don’t get a divorce!” Why demand such specific ethics if we are saved not by doing good works but by grace? So, we can synthesis and conclude two things. 1) It can’t be that we are saved by doing good works. Romans, Philippians make that crystal clear. But then 2) It can’t be that God does everything, and so everything is automatic and we don’t have to do anything. Or else, Jesus wouldn’t be demanding us to do these things.

Furthermore, looking at these demands from Jesus, those of you who grew up hearing about God’s grace, you’d think that Jesus would be very gracious and lenient with these demands – “Do the best you can. And if you mess up, it’s OK. I died for you anyway. No big deal. I’ll forgive you.” But rather Jesus is ultra strict: “If you get angry with your brother, you are going to hell!”, “Don’t even look at a woman lustfully. If you do, gouge out your eye!” “Divorce is adultery. Don’t even think about it!” “Be perfect as I am perfect.” Well, so much for soft and easy Jesus! Oh, how we cannot fit Jesus into a box!

Here is what I believe Jesus is really saying after synthesizing: 1) Here’s what people who belong to the kingdom of God look like. 2) You can never look like that on your own effort. 3) You absolutely need me to become this kind of people. 4) Once your heart is changed by what I’ll do for you, your fight to death is a means God uses to achieve the once impossible.

Take the area of loving your enemies, for example. Matthew 5:44 says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”  So, 1) Jesus is telling us what a person who belongs to the King and thus to the kingdom look like – S/he loves his enemies, does good to them, and prays for them! 2) When we hear that, Jesus expects us to think, “But I don’t love my enemies. I hate them! I don’t want to pray for my spouse who cheated on me! I want to kill him! In other word, it’s not in me to obey this command. 3) “I need Jesus to change my heart to become like God’s which sent His Son to die for those who would kill Him because I can never be this kind of person that God expects me to be on my own effort!” 4) “With God’s help, when my heart is broken over my own sins who broke Jesus’ body, now I’m enabled to do good and pray for my enemies until my emotions obey my will.

That is how the gospel operates. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, rather than work based self-salvation. It’s recognizing 1) God’s perfect standard, 2) “I can’t meet up to it”, 3) Jesus did it for me, 4) Broken, now I do it. But that’s not the type of gospel sermons you would normally hear in churches unfortunately. Typically, this is how most sermons go and I admit that my sermons went that way too often in my younger years: 1) God’s standard. 2) Some example of the people who did them and got blessed. 3) This is how you can do them practically.

Take David and Goliath’s example. Typically, this is how it would be preached: 1) God wants us to have courage when we are faced with a giant obstacle. 2) Look at the good example of how David, though small, defeated Goliath, the giant. 3) Now, go and do the same with your giant obstacle and here are some practical guidelines on how to do it. Where is the gospel in that? How’s Jesus’ death on the cross relevant to that message? Who gets the glory in the end when we defeat the giant? How is it different from any other children’s story that is written to instill morals?

But the gospel way to look at that story of David and Goliath is: 1) God wants us to have courage when we are faced with a giant obstacle. 2) We are like the Israelites who were shaking in their boots in front of the giant, powerless to defeat this giant. 3) David, who is a type of Jesus, came and defeated the giant for us. 4) Now, we can get behind Jesus and defeat the remaining philistine army which we couldn’t do before. Who gets the glory? Jesus! How’s Jesus’ death on the cross relevant? Every bit of it because it’s His work on the cross that defeated the giant. But do we have a part? Absolutely. We must go behind Jesus and wield our sword and defeat our enemy after our commander Jesus!

And that is the way to hear the sermon on the mount preached by Jesus. I believe Jesus meant to provoke and make desperate the hearts of the hearers. When they heard his sermon, theyshould’ve been thinking in their minds, “I don’t measure up. I can’t do what Jesus is telling us to do. I can’t love my enemies. I cannot not lust after a woman. I can’t help but think that some people are fools and idiots. I’m not what God expects me to be” That’s precisely where Jesus is driving us to. So that we would not rely on ourselves but rely on the goodness of Jesus and His work on our behalf. Beware of churches and sermons that make you feel all warm and fuzzy by telling you that you have infinite potential and you can do anything you put your mind to. No! Jesus says, “You can do nothing apart from me!” But “We can do all things through Him who strengthens us!”

Is it any wonder then Jesus starts out His sermon by saying, “Blessed are…” This can be translated, “Happy are you….” For example, “Bless are the poor in spirit,” or “Happy are the poor in spirit.”

But I don’t feel happy or blessed when I’m poor. Exactly. You don’t. Without Jesus that is. But if you belong to the kingdom, if you are a child of the king, then all things are yours. And your poverty is only a reminder that though you do not have anything now, very soon, you will own and enjoy everything as an heir. So, as you are looking at the Costco brochure of Fiji island which you will never go to in your life time because it’s too expensive, you think to yourself, “Well, I don’t have to. I don’t have to have a bucket list of all the things I want to do and places I want to visit before I die because I can do them after I die! The Bible says they are all mine! I can go there and live there since it will belong to me one day!” So, you are happy. Just like a son of a billionaire who is working at his dad’s company filing papers and fetching coffee happily knowing that that company belongs to him because it’s already in his father’s will. We are happy even though we are poor because we belong to the kingdom and our king, our dad owns the universe and it belongs to us!

Just think of what’s promised to us, who belong to God.

v.3 – ours is the kingdom of heaven.

v.4 – we will be “comforted.” Everlasting peace. No more worries about finances or illness.

1. 5 – we shall “inherit the earth.” That’s why I don’t have to have bucket list of things to do and places to visit before I die because all things are mine and I will have all eternity to do them!
2. 6 – we will be “satisfied.” No more sin. No more craving for a drink. No more fight with food and dieting! No more restlessness! No more guilty feelings!
3. 7 – We shall receive “mercy.” What we didn’t deserve.
4. 8 – We shall “see God” – the most beautiful being that is the source of all things good and beautiful and joyful! I want to see the face of the One who created my girls.
5. 9 – we shall be “sons of God.” He is our dear Father. We belong to Him. He’s got our back. Nothing will harm us! Ever!
6. 10 – ours is the kingdom of God. Again!

No wonder we are so happy. When all these things are true, how can we not feel blessed or happy? Even when we are poor.Even when our loved one is taken away from us. Even when we are ignored…

Jesus describes for us the kind person we would be if we belong to Him, the king and thus to the kingdom. And then He goes on to describe for us what kind life these people who belong to the kingdom live in all those areas. Are you seeing the context of this sermon? Jesus is NOT prescribing what you must do if you want to enter into heaven. Jesus is describing what people do who already belong to the kingdom. But there is also prescription for those who belong to the kingdom. Why? Because God uses our effort as a means to bring about the fruit which is the evidence for our salvation. So, our effort, eye-gouging, hand-cutting, effort is necessary take hold of Christ and work out the salvation that Jesus has worked in.

CONC: I know that’s a lot of theology! Thank you for enduring it. But I just wanted you to see the complexities and the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is so much more to Christian life than we realize. If anything, God gives us eternal life to figure out how this God working in and us working out truly works. So, for the next couple months, we will go deeper and more specifically into these wonderful demands that are meant to free us and give us joy!