Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Theme for the Day: The Sermon on the Mount
All that Jesus taught is good and possible for his disciples. He did not teach law but how we are to live in his kingdom. He calls his disciples to live and grow in grace. In the Sermon the Mount, Jesus gathers his disciples around himself and then lays out an ethical standard by which to live. He warns them that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The Sermon on the Mount is probably the least understood of all Jesus’ teachings. In it Jesus describes what he wants his followers to obey, delivering a Christian value system with ethical standards: attitudes to money, ambition, lifestyle, and religious devotion. All of these are at variance with the world in which we live. Are his ideals unattainable—attractive but totally unrealistic? John Stott answers: “The standards of the Sermon are neither readily attainable by everyone nor totally unattainable by anyone. Jesus spoke this Sermon to those who were already his disciples and thereby also citizens of God’s kingdom and the children of God’s family. It describes the kind of people reborn Christians are or should be.”
The eight blessings (beatitudes) Jesus sets forth at the beginning of his sermon, are given by God to disciples in whom he is working such a character. These blessings are not a reward for the religious; these blessings are gifts of grace for repentant sinners. These are marks that give evidence to God’s grace working in us, displaying what we are in Christ and being made Christ-like. We are perfect in Christ, yet we are still a work in progress. We display the firstfruits but await the true harvest. As Paul says, We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Of the eight blessings found in Matthew 5:3-10, the first 4 describe a Christians’ relationship to God and the second 4 describe our relations to our fellow man:
· Blessed are the poor in spirit. Jesus is saying that we are to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, our spiritual bankruptcy before God, and out total need of him.
· Blessed are those who mourn. Jesus is speaking of those who not only recognize their spiritual poverty but actually grieve over it. Confession is one thing; contrition is another.
· Blessed are the meek. Jesus is speaking of those who have a humble and gentle attitude toward others which is determined by a true estimate of oneself. In our age that promotes self-esteem, it’s hard to find the meek.
· Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Jesus is speaking of those whose deepest desire is for the whole human community to be pleasing to God. Martin Luther says: Jesus’ command is not to crawl into a corner or into the desert, but to run out . . . and offer your hands and your feet and your whole body, and to wager everything you have and can do. A hunger and thirst for righteousness that can never be curbed or stopped or sated. If you cannot make the world completely pious, then do what you can.”
The first four beatitudes reveal a logical, spiritual progression: those who are poor in spirit mourn over the cause of it, admit their spiritual poverty in meekness, and long for God’s righteousness in their lives and in all human life. These four attitudes lead to four more beatitudes:
· Blessed are the merciful. Jesus is speaking of those who, having repented of their own sins and received God’s mercy, likewise show mercy and compassion for people in need. What people; what need? Think of the parable of the Good Samaritan and the man who showed mercy. God’s mercy extends to all, and so must ours.
· Blessed are the pure in heart. Jesus is speaking of those with a single heart, a heart of flesh given by God, who serve one master only. The pure in heart have their whole lives, public and private, transparent before others. They are people without guile.
· Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus is speaking of those who actively pursue peace at a cost. The peace of God is not peace at any price but at the price of his Son. True peace and true forgiveness are costly treasures of divine work. God forgives us when we repent. Peacemaking comes through repentance. Jesus told us to forgive when others repent: “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.”
· Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Jesus is speaking of the reality of being a Christian. He suffered for righteousness’ sake. Those who hunger for righteousness like Jesus, will suffer for the righteousness they crave. Suffering is a badge of true discipleship, for a disciple is not above his master. Following Jesus means we will suffer. If you aren’t suffering, you are following at a safe distance. This is one time that tailgating isn’t sinful.
The beatitudes paint an accurate and comprehensive portrait of discipleship, one that John Stott describes this way: We see the disciple alone on his knees, acknowledging his spiritual poverty before God and mourning over it. This makes him meek and gentle in all his relationships, since this honesty of who he is as a sinner compels him to allow others to think of him what before God he confesses himself to be. Yet he is far from acquiescing in his sinfulness, for he hungers and thirst after righteousness, longing to grow in grace and goodness and holiness. We see him with others, engaged in society, not insulated from the world’s pain and messiness because he longs to serve God. He shows mercy to those battered by adversity and sin. He is transparent in all his dealings, actively seeking to be a peacemaker. Yet, like Jesus, he is not thanked for his efforts but opposed, slandered, insulted, and persecuted on account of the righteousness for which he stands and the Savior with whom he identifies.
The world dreams of progress, of power, of winning the future, but the disciples of Jesus focus on the end, the last judgment and the coming of the kingdom. To these heights the world cannot rise. So the disciples of Jesus are strangers in the world, unwelcomed guests and disturbers of the peace that is not peace. The culture of the world and the counter-culture of Christ are at loggerheads. No wonder the world rejects and despises those who are blessed by God. No wonder Jesus was killed on a cross. Not only do these beatitudes paint a portrait of discipleship, they also paint a portrait of the cross, of Jesus dying for the sins of the world. That is why disciples live cross-centered lives grounded in a cross-centered message.
The Sermon on the Mount is built on the assumption that Christians are different. Jesus calls us to be different. The tragedy of the Church throughout history is our constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture. Consider in your own life where you can live counter-culturally.
Self-examination, repentance, prayer, and worship:
Fridays and Saturdays are days to focus on self-denial and fasting. Last week we considered the discipline of watching. Having done that, consider your insights into your own life and how you live counter-culturally for the Lord. Spending an extended time in prayer, ask the Lord to help you plan to live this way for him. Ask him to reveal when you need to make some changes in your life, and ask him to change your heart so that you can live that way joyfully for him. Use the confession below as you begin your time of prayer:
Almighty God, our heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what I have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my offenses; and grant that I may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Spend further time in prayer and worship before studying the Gospel of John below.
Study: John 12:12-50, The Triumphal Entry
12The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" 14And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15"Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!"
16His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him."
Some Greeks Seek Jesus
20Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up
27 "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 29The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." 30Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." 33He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34So the crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" 35So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."
The Unbelief of the People
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
"Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
39Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them."
41Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Jesus Came to Save the World
44And Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me."
Reflection Questions:
1) If not for the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, the crowd greeting Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem would have been much smaller. How do you see God in control of this event?
2) John writes that people of high position, who believed in Jesus, did not confess it because they feared they would lose their position. Are there times and places you fear losing your position if your confess your belief in and allegiance to Jesus?
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