Sunday, January 4, 2026

We're going to be in Matthew 5 in just a minute. I'm thankful for those who helped us set up some different things up here as we began a new year. I'm thankful for Russell, who has taken care of our backdrops and making them and putting them up, and those who have helped organize and put things together, those who helped decorate for Christmas, those who helped take them down. I'm thankful for Rachel and Eric coming over and hanging up a little bit of art that helps us, directs us to the Sermon on the Mount far more meticulously than I would have, right? It would look like stickers slapped on a lamppost if I would have been doing that. So I am so thankful for those who helped. So we'll be in Matthew chapter 5. We're going to begin sort of seeing Jesus' call to the kingdom. We'll find the

Sermon on the Mount sort of begins with two sections that both sort of summarize and introduce us to what Jesus is going to teach as the crowds gather together. Then Jesus is going to unpack for us this picture of righteousness that goes far deeper than often what we think of when we think of righteousness. And then we see in chapter 7, he ultimately calls us both to make a decision about where we're going to walk or where we're going to build. This is not just something that intellectually informs us, but rather it calls us to action. So before we dive into the Sermon on the Mount, let's pray together. Father in heaven, as we come before you, may your word be the two-edged sword that both defends and cuts into our hearts. That you would help us to see your goodness

and your grace, but also to see the power of your kingdom. That we would understand your authority and your love. Like Lydia, you would open our eyes and our hearts to understand your word. Be with us this morning in your word. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we have a bit of a problem this morning as we come to the Sermon on the Mount. And the question, I think, simply is this: how do we introduce the most important sermon that has ever been preached? And not only is it the greatest sermon, but it is given to us by the Son of God. And what's interesting is that even if you don't know anything about the Sermon on the Mount, and you hear those words, "Sermon on the Mount," I don't know what that is, it's likely you are at least familiar with a little

bit of this sermon. And so if you have your Bible, if not there's some in the chairs in front of you, if you want to turn to Matthew chapter 5, I'll just walk through just real quickly here some of those most familiar places in the Sermon on the Mount. And so it begins with the Beatitudes, those blessings that say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And out of this, in our world, oftentimes we hear this word, this phrase, "Blessed are the peacemakers." That's not just something that people say, that's something that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5. Or maybe you've heard about being salt of the earth or light of the world. That's Jesus speaking in 5:13 and 14. Maybe Jesus's words about anger, lust, divorce, retaliation. Probably one of the hardest for us is these words, to love your

enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We hear about giving in chapter 6, and probably one of the most familiar prayers to all people. "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." We hear about fasting, treasures in heaven. For some of us, Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 25, is a place that we go to for deep comfort. "Do not be anxious about life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on." Then he goes on to say, "Look at the sparrows." You may have heard from Matthew chapter 7 about not judging. It'll be a fun time when we get there in a few weeks. Probably almost universally known, it's what's called the golden rule, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. We're familiar with these words about trees

and fruit, and we're familiar with the picture of the wise man and the foolish man building their house upon the rock. And so even though we probably know this, and even though this sermon is important, I think there are some struggles that we face when we come to this passage of Scripture, this sermon of Jesus. And I think, in part, we will struggle because it's familiar. It's very easy when we hear things we've heard before to simply say, "I already know that." And so one of the struggles that I think the church has when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount is that maybe we don't think deeply about it or engage honestly with with it. We take for granted Jesus's words and thus miss something very important. But there's another struggle that happens when we come to the Sermon on the Mount that's more

than just familiarity. In Matthew 7, at the very end, as it sums up this Sermon in verses 28-29, it says, "The crowds were amazed because Jesus was preaching as one who had authority." And we struggle, I think, with the content of this Sermon, because authority for us is a bit of a struggle, right? We don't want to be told what to do. And in fact, sometimes we'll go to great lengths to not do what somebody tells us to do. I remember my roommates from college and I, we went to Vermont, and we were hiking around, and we were at that point in the trip where we'd been so close for such a long period of time, we were really all sick of each other. And so we were on top of this mountain, and there was kind of a, it was kind

of a cliff, but it wasn't straight down. It was kind of an angle. And I was like, "Hey, I'm gonna go down this way." And one of the guys who was really getting on my nerves was like, "Well, you shouldn't do that." And he's like, "Well, now I'm gonna die, right? Because I'm gonna do it no matter what you say, because you told me not to, and now I am morally obligated to do that." And this is sort of a thing that is built into our personhood, it's built into our culture, is that you don't get to tell me what to do. And so when we show up and Jesus says, "I have authority to tell you what to do," right, we tend to bristle with that if we're a little bit honest, right? We want to suggest it to us. We want to be talked into it. We want to be

convinced, right? Do everything but command me. And the reality is, if we're with ourselves about the Sermon on the Mount, you cannot miss the Lordship of Christ. He is not in this sermon making suggestions or giving us little proverbs or sound bites, although that's how we often treat it. We are commanded to live in this way. And the teaching of Jesus is not just difficult because of the issue we have with authority. It's difficult because it contradicts our hearts. Just one example, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That's not something that I want to do. It's not something that is easy to do. It's something every one of us probably struggles with. And because we struggle with both the authority and the brokenness of our hearts, people have spent like 2,000 years trying

to explain why we don't have to listen to the Sermon on the Mount. And so what some people do when it comes to minimizing the Sermon on the Mount is they just do so by engaging shallowly, sort of putting all of this into platitudes. For example, "Oh, love your enemies." Not really meaning the kind of love we see in the Sermon on the Mount, right? Missing the fact that Jesus, when he loves his enemies, what does he do? He dies for them. Right? While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so it's easy to sort of treat this shallowly and say, "Oh, go out and love your enemies." But what did Jesus mean when he said, "Love your enemies?" Some have tried to play with the time frame of when this sermon applies. And so some people have

said, "Well, Jesus, knowing that his time on earth is short, is saying, "While I'm here, this is what you're supposed to live." And this really only applies when Jesus is sort of right there. And there's a big group of people who sort of interpret this as only for a certain amount of time in the first century. And on the other hand, people will look forward to the future and say, "What this really is, is sort of the rule of law in the millennial kingdom of Jesus that's sometime over there." So you have one group that goes, "Well, it's only for the past." Another group says, "It's only for the future." And notice how we never pick the time where it is where we live, right? It was for them there or for them there. But for me, right, this isn't really for me.

Because ultimately, our hearts say we really don't want to follow what Jesus has said. And then what happens, in addition to struggling with authority, trying to make this shallow and saying, "Well, it's for back then or for sometime in the future." It's real easy to end up being sort of a picker and a chooser with the Sermon on the Mount. For example, not to keep going back to this, but we like the idea of love and forgiveness, and so loving our enemies and forgiving. For us, we say, "Well, maybe it's hard. It's difficult. I can think about that." But what about lust, right? Jesus has some pretty harsh things to say about lust. And in our world, that's pretty okay. And so there is a tendency sometimes, as we go through this, to sort of say, "Yes, I like this part. I'll hold on to that." But that part, that no longer really applies

to me today. And so three things to keep in mind as we study the Sermon on the Mount. First of all, Jesus is our Savior and our King. He loves us, and He saves us, but He's also our authority. Everybody loves Savior Jesus, but King Jesus is a little bit more difficult. So I want to remind us of three things: that Jesus saves us, but Jesus also is our King. And these words carry the weight of His authority. So that being said, let's jump into Matthew chapter. Actually, I've got a couple more verses before we get there. One more thing I want to share with you is that these words are intended to be lived out properly. So in Matthew 7:24, it says this: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock." Right? Jesus, who our King, our Savior,

whose words are authority, these words are meant to be lived out in the lives of His people. And what Jesus says is that this is going to change how you live and how you face trials in terms of your foundation. And so I think as we ask ourselves the question, how do we introduce the most important sermon that's ever preached by Jesus, the Son of God? I think the way we do that is by doing it like Jesus did. And so here's the situation. In Matthew 5, beginning in verse 1, it says this: "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them," saying, and then we're going to proceed into the sermon. But I want you to notice

the setting, likely in the hills and mountains around Galilee. This is later on in Jesus' ministry, not at the end, not at the beginning, but at the point where crowds have begun to follow him in big numbers. And so they have gathered to hear Jesus' teaching. So he goes up on a mountain, so he can speak down. Remember, there's no loudspeakers and microphones, so he can speak to the crowds. And notice that there are two groups engaging with the teaching of Jesus, right? The first is sort of the crowds in general, but then circled around him more closely are his disciples. And what we're going to see, I think, is that there are two levels of closeness in this sermon. There's also two levels of commitment. So I want you to hear this, what Jesus says, and how he begins this morning. "Blessed

are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In this section of Scripture, it's what is called the

Beatitudes. Words come from Latin that means happy or blessed. And so Jesus's words, I think, first of all, meet us in the midst of a confused world. And if you've been to parties, maybe as a child, or been to parties with a child or grandchild, sometimes, I don't think it's as popular as they were when I was growing up, where we had some party games, right? So sometimes you would have, right, pin the tail on the donkey. I guess they also have, pin the nose on the clown, pin the horn on the unicorn, pin the wings on the pegasus, right? Basically pin this on that. So what you do, right, is you blindfold, or put a little blindfold on somebody, you know, give them this. I guess it's tape. Back in my day, it was pins, so you

could really do some damage with that if you were really intentional about it. And then they spin you around, and then you have to try to find and get this into the right place. And so here you are, and you're all turned around, and where are you supposed to go? And then everybody laughs as you, you know, stick the tail on the donkey on the door instead of on the picture of the donkey that was right in front of you. And for those watching, right, it's kind of humorous, right? Here are little kids, and they're stumbling around, and they're getting the answer wrong continually. But if you're the one trying to find the right place, it's a little more difficult. And eventually, somebody would grab the kids, especially if it was like a piñata you were trying to hit,

been spun around, you're dizzy, and everybody's just swinging and missing. Eventually, somebody would grab them and sort of direct them to the right place. And in a world that is confused, where we find ourselves in darkness, and we find ourselves in confusion, and it seems like everything is shifting and twisting and moving, and we're dizzy with everything that's happening, one of the things that Jesus does in the beginning of the sermon, and it continues throughout all of it, is essentially He is grabbing us in the midst of a confused world, setting us straight, bringing the light of the truth of God's Word into the world, and pointing us in the direction that we should go. And what you'll find is that these Beatitudes, these sayings, "Blessed are," or "Happy are," they're going to correct us,

they're going to welcome us, they're going to heal us, and they're going to prepare us just as the entire on the mount will. And so let's begin this morning where nobody wants to begin, right? And that is the fact that Jesus ultimates us. Consider what Jesus has just said about those who are blessed. And does this sound like the definition of blessing that maybe we have today, right? First of all, He begins with those who are insufficient. He says, "poor in spirit." And He's not necessarily speaking about physical wealth, but He's speaking about being spiritually empty. Your spiritual bank account is not just at zero, but in the negative. There is brokenness and loss. There is mourning over the fact that you are poor in spirit. There is humility. That's what meekness means. Dissatisfied. We hear hunger and thirst for righteousness, but the

reality is those who are hungry and thirsting for righteousness are dissatisfied because everything else they have tried has come up empty. If you've ever been really hungry, and somebody starts suggesting food to you, and you're like, "Well, that doesn't sound good to me. That doesn't sound good to me. That doesn't sound good to me." So many times in this world, that's how we feel. I've tried this, and it doesn't satisfy me. And these people are searching for something deeper. They're hungering and thirsting for that which truly satisfies because they're dissatisfied with the brokenness of this world. So they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness. There's a spiritual and eternal focus, especially in the middle of a world that is focused on the physical and the now rather than the eternal. Pure in heart is that focus. Peace and suffering. If this was like a buffet of the things that we wanted

in life, most of us probably would not be choosing. Let's be poor in spirit. Let's mourn. Let's worry and focus on eternal things and things of the kingdom because our eyes are so fixed on the here and the now. And this isn't just Jesus contrasting the comfort of doing difficult things and seeing the difficulty and brokenness of the world, but it's a contrasting sermon of what's being preached in the world in which we live and what Jesus is telling us in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, Jesus on the mountain says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, followed by blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." And in this we see both the emptiness spiritually and a sorrow over sin. And if you contrast that with the sermon that is being preached in the world in which

we live, it's not be broken about your sin, right? It's be proud of your sin. Enjoy your sin. Do what makes you happy. Seek those desires with which you want. Be proud in it. Live in it. Go deeper in it. One of our immediate problems is that these pictures of those who are blessed are both difficult and contrary to everything that we see in the world.

Jesus is asking, how is your life going? Has your pursuit of happiness really made you happy, or do you feel the emptiness? Has your pursuit of joy really worked, or are you still filled with sorrow and loss? Has pride made your life better, or has it filled you with conflict because you have to fight and defend yourself at every turn? What are you seeking to fill your life with? Are you satisfied, or does everything that you try turn to dust, and you're still hungry and thirsty? And we can walk through every one of these. You see, Jesus isn't just saying, here's some great sayings about some spiritual ideas. What he is doing is drawing a line and contrasting the world of the kingdom with the world in which we live, and he's saying, one of these is blessed and will satisfy the desires of your soul, and the other leaves you empty,

tasting like dust. Let me show you a better way. And I want you to see that the kingdom doesn't move forward because we sort of figure it out, but because Jesus is the one who comes to us and shows us the way. I want you to very clearly understand Jesus isn't just saying there's a better way. He's saying, well, if you optimize your productivity, the way you live, the way you work, things will be better. He's saying that there's not just a better way. There is only one way, and it's the way that he has laid out, and it's only made possible because he has come to save us and transform us to walk in that way. You see, Jesus begins by correcting us, showing us the way that we have tried to live life

does not work. He corrects us, and then he invites us to a better way. And I love the picture that comes next because Jesus first of all says, "Everything you're doing isn't working. Now, let me welcome you." You know, we live in a world that is just sort of constantly filled with qualifications, right? Want to go to college? Make sure you have your transcripts. Make sure you've properly tested to the approved test the school has laid out before you. Want to get a job? Make sure you have the qualifications. Want to get a loan? Make sure you have good credit. Want to get a house or a car? Qualify. Everything. So many things. Almost everything in our life. You go to get a library card, right? Do you live in the right area? Right? Do you have an address we can contact you? You have to qualify in some way for almost everything

in our life. And frankly, it's exhausting because the constant pressure says you must be enough. And how many people live with that? That I'm not enough. I don't have the qualifications. I'm not good enough. Notice Jesus' words here. They're a call of invitation. Think about how we pick teams, right? I remember in middle school we would play football, tackle football when the teachers weren't looking, right? No pads, no protection, just hard clay ground, right? And you'd go to pick teams, right? You'd pick the guy who was fast, the guy who could catch, the guy you could throw, right? You could block other guys, right? You picked based on who you thought would bring you victory. And here Jesus comes and goes for the empty, the poor in spirit, for the grief-stricken, the sin-laden, broken people, people who are hungry and thirsty. And yes, they have their eyes fixed on the kingdom, but they're also in sorrow over their sin and they're bankrupt.

What you find is that this is an invitation to the people who look at everything and say, "I'm not enough." Jesus is saying, "If you're spiritually empty, come to my kingdom. If you're mourning, come to my kingdom. If you're filled with sorrow over your sin, come to my kingdom." In humility and gentleness and hunger and thirst, focused on what is good, seeking peace, and blessed in opposition and suffering. That Jesus in these words is both correcting us, but then he's saying, "There's no way." And then something amazing begins to happen. As we see both the correction and the welcome, so far we've been primarily looking at the first part of each of these, right? "Blessed are," right? "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek, the hungry, the merciful." Consider now the

transformation that's found in each of the Beatitudes, right? The next words after this beginning, "Blessed are," it says, "for they." "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom." "Blessed are those who mourn, for there is comfort." "Blessed are the meek, those who aren't seeking everything for themselves, they will inherit the earth." Jesus takes all of these things, and then he fills them up. Your dissatisfaction, your sorrow over sin, it's transformation. But also, if you start at the beginning and end at the end, it's a picture of growth, right? This is so beautifully and meticulously and wonderfully crafted that in the same words, Jesus corrects us, he invites us, he transforms us, and then he brings us to growth.

As we see our poverty, we're brought in. As we see our sin and our sorrow over that, we're comforted. And we begin to grow in humility from poor, hungry, mourning, humble people, right? We become merciful, focused on the kingdom, peacemakers willing to suffer for what is right. The Beatitudes are both a picture of salvation and of transformation. I want you then to see that Jesus not only heals us, but that Jesus prepares us. So the question is, after Jesus has corrected our broken standard, as he calls us into the kingdom, as he heals, transforms, and brings us to growth, the question is, what now? Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Not

just qualifications, not just welcome, not just healing, not just growth, but this points us to a way of life, and it's not an easy one. In verse 11, Jesus says there's going to be conflict. In fact, verse 10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And one of the things we learned, first of all, is Jesus prepares us for what it's like to live in the kingdom, corrected, transformed, healed, growing, is that first of all, Jesus is honest with us that this will not always be easy. I learned very early on, right, that when a doctor says, "Hey, this is only going to pinch a little bit," or you'll only feel a little bit of pressure, right, you're about to be in for a world of pain. And finally, I got to the point where I was like, "Just tell me it's going to hurt,

because I'd rather face that reality than find out the hard way." And notice what Jesus does. He doesn't pull the punches. He doesn't say, "Everything is going to be easy and simple," but what does he say? "You'll be reviled, persecuted. People are going to utter all kinds of evil against you."

Jesus is honest with us, but he's also not leaving us hopeless. Right? Jesus shows us that there is a blessing in the midst of suffering. What does he say? "Rejoice and be glad." Those are challenging words right there. What are your responses when somebody reviles against you or persecutes you or falsely accuses you? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to defend myself, to stand up for myself, to say, "This is what is right." Jesus says this, "Rejoice and be glad." In part, because frequently the opposition of the world shows us that we are on the right track. He says, "Look at the prophets. They were before you, and they had this struggle." That in some cases, right, the opposition we face is because we are living in opposition to the world's values. Just as Jesus preaches through the Beatitudes and the world preaches

the opposite, there is conflict in this kingdom. And one of the ways in which we see our Christian walk is that if we are living righteously, we will be persecuted. And he says, "Rejoice and be glad." You find the early church doing the same thing, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer the same as Jesus was. And then look at what he says, "There is something greater than what you're facing right now." And what Jesus is doing is drawing a contrast between the temporary comfort of this world and the ultimate permanent comfort of being with him. The same thing you read about in Hebrews chapter 11 is these men and women of faithfulness often reject comfort and ease, because they'd rather be in the wilderness with God and his people than to be in Pharaoh's house with all the pleasures of Egypt.

You see, from his very first words, what Jesus is doing is transforming us. He's reorienting our hearts. He's welcoming us. He's growing us. He's preparing us for what comes next. And here we are. We're turned around by our pride. I'll go my own way. Or we're turned around by our brokenness, saying, "I'm not wanted." Or turned around and struggling to grow, and in uncertainty and difficulty, saying, "I can't do it." And Jesus shows up in the midst of our spinning around in darkness, and he sets us straight. And he says, "You need to be corrected, to be straightened and focused on what truly is important, to know that you are wanted in the midst of your sorrow and your brokenness over sin, and that I will heal you, and I will grow you, and I will mature you, and I will walk with you in the midst of those difficulties, and there is a

reward in heaven that is great." Jesus, in these first words, sets our feet on the right path. That's what he's going to do through the whole sermon. In fact, he gets toward the conclusion, and he's going, "Hey, there's two paths. Make sure that your feet are set upon the narrow way." There's two ways to belt: belt on the sand or on the rock. You see, these opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, these Beatitudes, they correct us, they welcome us, they heal us, they grow us, and they prepare us for what is in front of the Sermon, just as this entire sermon is going to do. So just a minute, we're going to sing a song, probably a familiar one, maybe an old hymn that we haven't sung in quite some time, written by a guy by the name of Augustus Toplady. I always think that he probably got beaten up in

elementary school a lot, right? One of those names you don't want to name your kid, but this is a man who died, I think, at age 38. And he wrote this song as he became a Christian early on. He very much looked to his own effort and his own strength and his own ability. But as he grew and he got to know Jesus more deeply, and he gets to the second part of his life, he writes these words we're going to sing in just a minute. "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul or dirty to the fountain I fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die." That's the call of the Sermon on the Mount. To come to Jesus, to be transformed, and to live in a new way.

Under King Jesus, whose authority has called us to live with righteousness, and whose power saves us, heals us, and strengthens us to follow him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus and for grace. I know we struggle with authority, so we ask for humility as we encounter his words. We ask for grace and for strength. We ask for quiet from all the other voices that are preaching a very different message to us. Father, this is not simply a battle of the intellect or of the heart or the actions, but this is a spiritual battle, one not flesh and blood. And so we ask that you will fight for us, that we would be a people who walk and live in righteousness, that as we see, we would be a light in the world, that we would be the salt that seasons your world. Give us strength. Help us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and we're going We're going to sing together this morning.