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We're going to be in Matthew 5 in just a minute. I'm thankful for those who helped us set up some

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different things up here as we began a new year. I'm thankful for Russell, who has taken care of our

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backdrops and making them and putting them up, and those who have helped organize and put things

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together, those who helped decorate for Christmas, those who helped take them down. I'm thankful for

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Rachel and Eric coming over and hanging up a little bit of art that helps us, directs us to the Sermon on

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the Mount far more meticulously than I would have, right? It would look like stickers slapped on a

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lamppost if I would have been doing that. So I am so thankful for those who helped. So we'll be in

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Matthew chapter 5. We're going to begin sort of seeing Jesus' call to the kingdom. We'll find the

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Sermon on the Mount sort of begins with two sections that both sort of summarize and introduce us to what

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Jesus is going to teach as the crowds gather together. Then Jesus is going to unpack for us

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this picture of righteousness that goes far deeper than often what we think of when we think of

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righteousness. And then we see in chapter 7, he ultimately calls us both to make a decision about

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where we're going to walk or where we're going to build. This is not just something that intellectually

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informs us, but rather it calls us to action. So before we dive into the Sermon on the Mount,

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let's pray together. Father in heaven, as we come before you, may your word be the two-edged sword

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that both defends and cuts into our hearts. That you would help us to see your goodness

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and your grace, but also to see the power of your kingdom. That we would understand your authority

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and your love. Like Lydia, you would open our eyes and our hearts to understand your word.

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Be with us this morning in your word. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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So we have a bit of a problem this morning as we come to the Sermon on the Mount. And the question,

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I think, simply is this: how do we introduce the most important sermon that has ever been preached?

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And not only is it the greatest sermon, but it is given to us by the Son of God. And what's interesting

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is that even if you don't know anything about the Sermon on the Mount, and you hear those words,

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"Sermon on the Mount," I don't know what that is, it's likely you are at least familiar with a little

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bit of this sermon. And so if you have your Bible, if not there's some in the chairs in front of you,

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if you want to turn to Matthew chapter 5, I'll just walk through just real quickly here some of those

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most familiar places in the Sermon on the Mount. And so it begins with the Beatitudes, those blessings

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that say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And out of this, in our

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world, oftentimes we hear this word, this phrase, "Blessed are the peacemakers." That's not just something

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that people say, that's something that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5. Or maybe you've heard about

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being salt of the earth or light of the world. That's Jesus speaking in 5:13 and 14. Maybe Jesus's

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words about anger, lust, divorce, retaliation. Probably one of the hardest for us is these words, to love your

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enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We hear about giving in chapter 6, and probably one of the

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most familiar prayers to all people. "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." We hear about

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fasting, treasures in heaven. For some of us, Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 25, is a place that we

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go to for deep comfort. "Do not be anxious about life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about

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your body, what you will put on." Then he goes on to say, "Look at the sparrows." You may have heard

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from Matthew chapter 7 about not judging. It'll be a fun time when we get there in a few weeks.

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Probably almost universally known, it's what's called the golden rule, so whatever you wish that

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others would do to you, do also to them. We're familiar with these words about trees

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and fruit, and we're familiar with the picture of the wise man and the foolish man building their house

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upon the rock. And so even though we probably know this, and even though this sermon is important,

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I think there are some struggles that we face when we come to this passage of Scripture, this sermon

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of Jesus. And I think, in part, we will struggle because it's familiar. It's very easy when we hear

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things we've heard before to simply say, "I already know that." And so one of the struggles that I think

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the church has when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount is that maybe we don't think deeply about

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it or engage honestly with with it. We take for granted Jesus's words and thus miss something very

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important. But there's another struggle that happens when we come to the Sermon on the Mount that's more

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than just familiarity. In Matthew 7, at the very end, as it sums up this Sermon in verses 28-29, it says,

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"The crowds were amazed because Jesus was preaching as one who had authority." And we struggle, I think,

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with the content of this Sermon, because authority for us is a bit of a struggle, right? We don't want

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to be told what to do. And in fact, sometimes we'll go to great lengths to not do what somebody tells us

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to do. I remember my roommates from college and I, we went to Vermont, and we were hiking around, and we

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were at that point in the trip where we'd been so close for such a long period of time, we were really

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all sick of each other. And so we were on top of this mountain, and there was kind of a, it was kind

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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

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this way." And one of the guys who was really getting on my nerves was like, "Well, you shouldn't do that."

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And he's like, "Well, now I'm gonna die, right? Because I'm gonna do it no matter what you say, because you

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told me not to, and now I am morally obligated to do that." And this is sort of a thing that is built into

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our personhood, it's built into our culture, is that you don't get to tell me what to do. And so when we

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show up and Jesus says, "I have authority to tell you what to do," right, we tend to bristle with that if

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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

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convinced, right? Do everything but command me. And the reality is, if we're with ourselves about the

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Sermon on the Mount, you cannot miss the Lordship of Christ. He is not in this sermon making suggestions or

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giving us little proverbs or sound bites, although that's how we often treat it. We are commanded to

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live in this way. And the teaching of Jesus is not just difficult because of the issue we have with

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authority. It's difficult because it contradicts our hearts. Just one example, love your enemies and

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pray for those who persecute you. That's not something that I want to do. It's not something

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that is easy to do. It's something every one of us probably struggles with. And because we struggle

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with both the authority and the brokenness of our hearts, people have spent like 2,000 years trying

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to explain why we don't have to listen to the Sermon on the Mount. And so what some people do when it

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comes to minimizing the Sermon on the Mount is they just do so by engaging shallowly, sort of putting

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all of this into platitudes. For example, "Oh, love your enemies." Not really meaning the kind of love we

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see in the Sermon on the Mount, right? Missing the fact that Jesus, when he loves his enemies, what does he do?

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He dies for them. Right? While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so it's easy to sort of

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treat this shallowly and say, "Oh, go out and love your enemies." But what did Jesus mean when he said, "Love your

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enemies?" Some have tried to play with the time frame of when this sermon applies. And so some people have

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said, "Well, Jesus, knowing that his time on earth is short, is saying, "While I'm here, this is what you're

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supposed to live." And this really only applies when Jesus is sort of right there. And there's a big

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group of people who sort of interpret this as only for a certain amount of time in the first century.

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And on the other hand, people will look forward to the future and say, "What this really is, is sort of

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the rule of law in the millennial kingdom of Jesus that's sometime over there." So you have one group

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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

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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.

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Because ultimately, our hearts say we really don't want to follow what Jesus has said.

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And then what happens, in addition to struggling with authority, trying to make this shallow and saying,

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"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

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with the Sermon on the Mount. For example, not to keep going back to this, but we like the idea of love and

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forgiveness, and so loving our enemies and forgiving. For us, we say, "Well, maybe it's hard. It's difficult. I can

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think about that." But what about lust, right? Jesus has some pretty harsh things to say about lust.

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And in our world, that's pretty okay. And so there is a tendency sometimes, as we go through this,

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to sort of say, "Yes, I like this part. I'll hold on to that." But that part, that no longer really applies

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to me today. And so three things to keep in mind as we study the Sermon on the Mount. First of all,

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Jesus is our Savior and our King. He loves us, and He saves us, but He's also our authority. Everybody loves

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Savior Jesus, but King Jesus is a little bit more difficult. So I want to remind us of three things:

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that Jesus saves us, but Jesus also is our King. And these words carry the weight of His authority.

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So that being said, let's jump into Matthew chapter. Actually, I've got a couple more verses before we

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get there. One more thing I want to share with you is that these words are intended

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to be lived out properly. So in Matthew 7:24, it says this: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does

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them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock." Right? Jesus, who our King, our Savior,

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whose words are authority, these words are meant to be lived out in the lives of His people. And what

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Jesus says is that this is going to change how you live and how you face trials in terms of your

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foundation. And so I think as we ask ourselves the question, how do we introduce the most important

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sermon that's ever preached by Jesus, the Son of God? I think the way we do that is by doing it like

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Jesus did. And so here's the situation. In Matthew 5, beginning in verse 1, it says this: "Seeing the crowds,

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he went up on the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and

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taught them," saying, and then we're going to proceed into the sermon. But I want you to notice

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the setting, likely in the hills and mountains around Galilee. This is later on in Jesus' ministry,

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not at the end, not at the beginning, but at the point where crowds have begun to follow him in big

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numbers. And so they have gathered to hear Jesus' teaching. So he goes up on a mountain, so he can

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speak down. Remember, there's no loudspeakers and microphones, so he can speak to the crowds. And

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notice that there are two groups engaging with the teaching of Jesus, right? The first is sort

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of the crowds in general, but then circled around him more closely are his disciples. And what we're

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going to see, I think, is that there are two levels of closeness in this sermon. There's also two levels

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of commitment. So I want you to hear this, what Jesus says, and how he begins this morning. "Blessed

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are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they

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shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger

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and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall

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receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they

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shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs

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is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of

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evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so

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they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In this section of Scripture, it's what is called the

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Beatitudes. Words come from Latin that means happy or blessed. And so Jesus's words, I think, first of

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all, meet us in the midst of a confused world. And if you've been to parties, maybe as a child, or been

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to parties with a child or grandchild, sometimes, I don't think it's as popular as they were when I was

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growing up, where we had some party games, right? So sometimes you would have, right, pin the tail on the

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donkey. I guess they also have, pin the nose on the clown, pin the horn on the unicorn, pin the wings

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on the pegasus, right? Basically pin this on that. So what you do, right, is you blindfold, or put a little

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blindfold on somebody, you know, give them this. I guess it's tape. Back in my day, it was pins, so you

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could really do some damage with that if you were really intentional about it. And then they spin you

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around, and then you have to try to find and get this into the right place.

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And so here you are, and you're all turned around, and where are you supposed to go? And then

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everybody laughs as you, you know, stick the tail on the donkey on the door instead of on the picture

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of the donkey that was right in front of you. And for those watching, right, it's kind of humorous,

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right? Here are little kids, and they're stumbling around, and they're getting the answer wrong

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continually. But if you're the one trying to find the right place, it's a little more difficult. And

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eventually, somebody would grab the kids, especially if it was like a piñata you were trying to hit,

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been spun around, you're dizzy, and everybody's just swinging and missing. Eventually, somebody would

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grab them and sort of direct them to the right place. And in a world that is confused, where we find

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ourselves in darkness, and we find ourselves in confusion, and it seems like everything is shifting

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and twisting and moving, and we're dizzy with everything that's happening,

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one of the things that Jesus does in the beginning of the sermon, and it continues throughout all of it,

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is essentially He is grabbing us in the midst of a confused world, setting us straight, bringing

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the light of the truth of God's Word into the world, and pointing us in the direction that we should go.

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And what you'll find is that these Beatitudes, these sayings, "Blessed are," or "Happy are," they're going to correct us,

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they're going to welcome us, they're going to heal us, and they're going to prepare us just as the entire

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on the mount will. And so let's begin this morning where nobody wants to begin, right? And that is the fact

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that Jesus ultimates us. Consider what Jesus has just said about those who are blessed. And does this sound

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like the definition of blessing that maybe we have today, right? First of all, He begins with those who

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are insufficient. He says, "poor in spirit." And He's not necessarily speaking about physical wealth, but He's

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speaking about being spiritually empty. Your spiritual bank account is not just at zero, but in the negative.

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There is brokenness and loss. There is mourning over the fact that you are poor in spirit. There is humility.

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That's what meekness means. Dissatisfied. We hear hunger and thirst for righteousness, but the

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reality is those who are hungry and thirsting for righteousness are dissatisfied because everything

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else they have tried has come up empty. If you've ever been really hungry, and somebody starts suggesting

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food to you, and you're like, "Well, that doesn't sound good to me. That doesn't sound good to me. That

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doesn't sound good to me." So many times in this world, that's how we feel. I've tried this, and it

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doesn't satisfy me. And these people are searching for something deeper. They're hungering and thirsting

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for that which truly satisfies because they're dissatisfied with the brokenness of this world.

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So they're hungering and thirsting for righteousness. There's a spiritual and eternal focus, especially

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in the middle of a world that is focused on the physical and the now rather than the eternal. Pure

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in heart is that focus. Peace and suffering. If this was like a buffet of the things that we wanted

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in life, most of us probably would not be choosing. Let's be poor in spirit. Let's mourn. Let's worry

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and focus on eternal things and things of the kingdom because our eyes are so fixed on the here and the now.

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And this isn't just Jesus contrasting the comfort of doing difficult things and seeing the difficulty and

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brokenness of the world, but it's a contrasting sermon of what's being preached in the world in

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which we live and what Jesus is telling us in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, Jesus on the

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mountain says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, followed by blessed

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are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." And in this we see both the emptiness spiritually and a

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sorrow over sin. And if you contrast that with the sermon that is being preached in the world in which

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we live, it's not be broken about your sin, right? It's be proud of your sin. Enjoy your sin. Do what

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makes you happy. Seek those desires with which you want. Be proud in it. Live in it. Go deeper in it.

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One of our immediate problems is that these pictures of those who are blessed

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are both difficult and contrary to everything that we see in the world.

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Jesus is asking, how is your life going? Has your pursuit of happiness really made you happy, or do you

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feel the emptiness? Has your pursuit of joy really worked, or are you still filled with sorrow and loss?

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Has pride made your life better, or has it filled you with conflict because you have to fight and defend

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yourself at every turn? What are you seeking to fill your life with? Are you satisfied, or does everything

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that you try turn to dust, and you're still hungry and thirsty? And we can walk through every one of

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these. You see, Jesus isn't just saying, here's some great sayings about some spiritual ideas. What he is

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doing is drawing a line and contrasting the world of the kingdom with the world in which we live, and he's

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saying, one of these is blessed and will satisfy the desires of your soul, and the other leaves you empty,

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tasting like dust. Let me show you a better way. And I want you to see that the kingdom

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doesn't move forward because we sort of figure it out, but because Jesus is the one who comes to us

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and shows us the way. I want you to very clearly understand Jesus isn't just saying there's a better

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way. He's saying, well, if you optimize your productivity, the way you live, the way you work, things will be

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better. He's saying that there's not just a better way. There is only one way, and it's the way that

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he has laid out, and it's only made possible because he has come to save us and transform us to walk in

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that way. You see, Jesus begins by correcting us, showing us the way that we have tried to live life

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does not work. He corrects us, and then he invites us to a better way. And I love the picture that comes

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next because Jesus first of all says, "Everything you're doing isn't working. Now, let me welcome you."

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You know, we live in a world that is just sort of constantly filled with qualifications, right? Want

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to go to college? Make sure you have your transcripts. Make sure you've properly tested to the approved test

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the school has laid out before you. Want to get a job? Make sure you have the qualifications. Want to get

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a loan? Make sure you have good credit. Want to get a house or a car? Qualify. Everything. So many

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things. Almost everything in our life. You go to get a library card, right? Do you live in the right area?

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Right? Do you have an address we can contact you? You have to qualify in some way for almost everything

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in our life. And frankly, it's exhausting because the constant pressure says you must be enough. And how

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many people live with that? That I'm not enough. I don't have the qualifications. I'm not good enough.

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Notice Jesus' words here. They're a call of invitation.

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Think about how we pick teams, right? I remember in middle school we would play football, tackle

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football when the teachers weren't looking, right? No pads, no protection, just hard clay ground,

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right? And you'd go to pick teams, right? You'd pick the guy who was fast, the guy who could

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catch, the guy you could throw, right? You could block other guys, right? You picked based on who you

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thought would bring you victory. And here Jesus comes and goes for the empty, the poor in spirit,

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for the grief-stricken, the sin-laden, broken people, people who are hungry and thirsty. And yes,

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they have their eyes fixed on the kingdom, but they're also in sorrow over their sin and they're bankrupt.

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What you find is that this is an invitation to the people who look at everything and say, "I'm not

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enough." Jesus is saying, "If you're spiritually empty, come to my kingdom. If you're mourning, come to my

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kingdom. If you're filled with sorrow over your sin, come to my kingdom." In humility and gentleness and

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hunger and thirst, focused on what is good, seeking peace, and blessed in opposition and suffering.

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That Jesus in these words is both correcting us, but then he's saying, "There's no way." And then something

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amazing begins to happen. As we see both the correction and the welcome, so far we've been primarily

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looking at the first part of each of these, right? "Blessed are," right? "Blessed are the poor in

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spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek, the hungry, the merciful." Consider now the

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transformation that's found in each of the Beatitudes, right? The next words after this beginning,

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"Blessed are," it says, "for they." "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom." "Blessed are those who mourn, for

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there is comfort." "Blessed are the meek, those who aren't seeking everything for themselves, they will

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inherit the earth." Jesus takes all of these things, and then he fills them up. Your dissatisfaction,

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your sorrow over sin, it's transformation. But also, if you start at the beginning and end at the end,

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it's a picture of growth, right? This is so beautifully and meticulously and wonderfully crafted that in the

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same words, Jesus corrects us, he invites us, he transforms us, and then he brings us to growth.

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As we see our poverty, we're brought in. As we see our sin and our sorrow over that, we're comforted.

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And we begin to grow in humility from poor, hungry, mourning, humble people, right? We become merciful,

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focused on the kingdom, peacemakers willing to suffer for what is right. The Beatitudes are both a picture

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of salvation and of transformation. I want you then to see that Jesus not only heals us, but that Jesus

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prepares us. So the question is, after Jesus has corrected our broken standard, as he calls us into the kingdom,

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as he heals, transforms, and brings us to growth, the question is, what now? Blessed are you when others

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revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad,

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for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Not

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just qualifications, not just welcome, not just healing, not just growth, but this points us to a

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way of life, and it's not an easy one. In verse 11, Jesus says there's going to be conflict. In fact,

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verse 10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

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And one of the things we learned, first of all, is Jesus prepares us for what it's like to live in the

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kingdom, corrected, transformed, healed, growing, is that first of all, Jesus is honest with us that this

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will not always be easy. I learned very early on, right, that when a doctor says, "Hey, this is only

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going to pinch a little bit," or you'll only feel a little bit of pressure, right, you're about to be in

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for a world of pain. And finally, I got to the point where I was like, "Just tell me it's going to hurt,

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because I'd rather face that reality than find out the hard way." And notice what Jesus does. He

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doesn't pull the punches. He doesn't say, "Everything is going to be easy and simple," but what does he say?

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"You'll be reviled, persecuted. People are going to utter all kinds of evil against you."

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Jesus is honest with us, but he's also not leaving us hopeless. Right? Jesus shows us that there is a

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blessing in the midst of suffering. What does he say? "Rejoice and be glad." Those are challenging words

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right there. What are your responses when somebody reviles against you or persecutes you or falsely

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accuses you? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to defend myself, to stand up for myself, to say, "This is

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what is right." Jesus says this, "Rejoice and be glad." In part, because frequently the opposition of the world

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shows us that we are on the right track. He says, "Look at the prophets. They were before you, and they had

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this struggle." That in some cases, right, the opposition we face is because we are living in

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opposition to the world's values. Just as Jesus preaches through the Beatitudes and the world preaches

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the opposite, there is conflict in this kingdom. And one of the ways in which we see our Christian walk

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is that if we are living righteously, we will be persecuted. And he says, "Rejoice and be glad." You find

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the early church doing the same thing, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer the same

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as Jesus was. And then look at what he says, "There is something greater than what you're facing right now."

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And what Jesus is doing is drawing a contrast between the temporary comfort of this world

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and the ultimate permanent comfort of being with him. The same thing you read about in Hebrews chapter 11

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is these men and women of faithfulness often reject comfort and ease, because they'd rather be in the

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wilderness with God and his people than to be in Pharaoh's house with all the pleasures of Egypt.

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You see, from his very first words, what Jesus is doing is transforming us. He's reorienting our

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hearts. He's welcoming us. He's growing us. He's preparing us for what comes next. And here we are.

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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

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wanted." Or turned around and struggling to grow, and in uncertainty and difficulty, saying, "I can't do it." And

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Jesus shows up in the midst of our spinning around in darkness, and he sets us straight. And he says, "You need

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to be corrected, to be straightened and focused on what truly is important, to know that you are

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wanted in the midst of your sorrow and your brokenness over sin, and that I will heal you, and I will grow

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you, and I will mature you, and I will walk with you in the midst of those difficulties, and there is a

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reward in heaven that is great." Jesus, in these first words, sets our feet on the right path. That's what he's

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going to do through the whole sermon. In fact, he gets toward the conclusion, and he's going, "Hey,

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there's two paths. Make sure that your feet are set upon the narrow way." There's two ways to belt:

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belt on the sand or on the rock. You see, these opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, these Beatitudes,

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they correct us, they welcome us, they heal us, they grow us, and they prepare us for what is in front

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of the Sermon, just as this entire sermon is going to do. So just a minute, we're going to sing a song,

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probably a familiar one, maybe an old hymn that we haven't sung in quite some time,

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written by a guy by the name of Augustus Toplady. I always think that he probably got beaten up in

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elementary school a lot, right? One of those names you don't want to name your kid, but this is a man

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who died, I think, at age 38. And he wrote this song as he became a Christian early on. He very much

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looked to his own effort and his own strength and his own ability. But as he grew and he got to know

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Jesus more deeply, and he gets to the second part of his life, he writes these words we're going to sing

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in just a minute. "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress.

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Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul or dirty to the fountain I fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die."

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That's the call of the Sermon on the Mount. To come to Jesus, to be transformed, and to live in a new way.

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Under King Jesus, whose authority has called us to live with righteousness, and whose power saves us,

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heals us, and strengthens us to follow him. Let's pray. Father in heaven,

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I thank you for Jesus and for grace.

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I know we struggle with authority, so we ask for humility as we encounter his words.

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We ask for grace and for strength. We ask for quiet from all the other voices that are

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preaching a very different message to us. Father, this is not simply a battle of the intellect or

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of the heart or the actions, but this is a spiritual battle, one not flesh and blood. And so we ask that

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you will fight for us, that we would be a people who walk and live in righteousness, that as we see,

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we would be a light in the world, that we would be the salt that seasons your world. Give us strength.

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Help us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and we're going

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We're going to sing together this morning.