Session 2: Sermon on the Mount

My notes from Jen Wilkin's session 2.

The disciples were new to Jesus and vice versa.  What would the disciples be thinking about at this first sermon?  What did they know of Messiah?

1. Someone who would free them from Roman rule.

2. A King in the literal sense.

3. Thought He would restore Israel to its former greatness.

4. They think the Kingdom of Heaven is finally going to be set in place here on earth.

Jesus is going to tell them what His Kingdom is going to be like.  He gives His expectations and crushes their earthly expectations beginning in Matthew 5.

He utters 8 simple statements that will completely overturn everything they are expecting.

Mattew 5:2-12 Jesus has set expectations beyond what His disciples expected.  He describes for them the character of what a Jesus follower is and what a citizen in this Kingdom is.

We so often think with these beatitudes that we will be blessed if we are these things.  But what He is saying is something different: the Divine benediction rests on this kind of person.  The beatitudes are not a list of "do-ing".  It's a list of "be-ing".  Two things Jesus shows us in the beatitudes:

1. Where character takes root (v. 3-6)

2. How character bears fruit (v. 7-10)

Verse 3

Poor in Spirit. Who does the world see as blessed? Those who are rich in the things of this world.  But it's poverty in Spirit: insufficient resources to help ourself.  We must recognize that we lack these resources.  

Character takes root in spiritual poverty.

Verse 4

Mourn.  This is a different kind of mourning.  This is a mourning over sin.  Remember Nehemiah reading the law and the people grieve.  They understand that their sin is an offense to God and their hearts are broken.  

Character takes root in grief.  A Godly grieving over the sinful state of our hearts.

Without grief there is no comfort.  We search for things that will give us comfort when we do not grieve over our sin, when our poverty of spirit is revealed to us. For the citizens of Heaven it will not be so when we see our poverty in spirit and mourn over our sin.

Verse 5

Meek. Meek is not weak. Meekness is someone who sets aside their will for the sake of someone else.  How does a citizen of Heaven know what it means to be meek? By first being poor in spirit and then mourning over their sin.  When they see what their way has brought them, they say "not my will but yours".  

Character takes root in meekness - "not my will but yours".

Why will the meek inherit the earth? Because they set aside their will and want His.  They recognize that everything in this life is for His joy and glory and when we have recognized our poverty and mourn our sin.  Therefore, we inherit the earth.

Verse 6

Hunger and Thirst.  Righteousness: utter purity of Character.  We hunger and thirst for Christ (our righteous One).  Communion table is a great example of this.

The blood of Christ - "I thirst"

The bread of Christ - "I hunger"

These are more nourishing than anything we can crave.

There is no satisfaction that awaits us outside of those things.

Character takes root in famine - in a hunger and thirst for the things of God.

Progression:

1. Poor in Spirit

2. Mourn

3. Lean meekness then...

4. We hunger and thirst for the right things

The Lord is transforming us.  This is a picture of salvation.  Think of the Prodigal son:

1. Sees his poverty

2. Grieves

3. Meekness

4. Then hungers and thirsts to be filled

As citizens of Heaven, we make a habit of remembering these 4 things: poverty, grief, submission and famine all point our relationship vertical to God.

Next, how character bears fruit (horizontal relationships)

Verses 7-10

Character bears fruit. Vertical - love the Lord....heart, soul, mind, strength. Horizontal - love your neighbor.

We see the same pattern here in the beatitudes.  Once we hunger and thirst for righteousness, the Lord begins to do a work in our hearts that enables us to act differently in our relationships.

The first thing we see is in Matthew 5:7:

Merciful. Can you image what the disciples thought? They wanted justice from being oppressed by Rome.

The fruit of growing righteousness is mercy for those who offend us.  Why? Because we have been the offender too.  When we've offended, we want the offended to give mercy.  This does not mean that we earn God's mercy.  It means someone who has experienced God's mercy gives mercy.  

So character bears the fruit of compassion - we act out what we have seen the Lord do for us.

Verse 8

Pure in Heart. What does that mean? Pure = unstained. It has a literal meaning as well: like a vine that has been refined by fire.  A torch used to refine a vine.  This is the picture here.  They are not sinless, the pure heart, but their desires are being purified as by fire.  "He will give you the desires of your heart" means He will give you new desires.  Desires sometimes that have been refined by fire and trial, or by failure, but He uses those firey times to refine us and reshape our desires, so that we long for the things of Heaven and God.

So character bears the fruit of purification - desires reshaped and refined as if by fire.

Verse 9

Peacmakers. The disciples are not expecting to be men of peace.  They are expecting to be men of war.  How do we make peace as citizens of Heaven?  We make peace between man and man (mankind).  A peacemaker is different than a peacekeeper.  Peacekeepers manage the status quo.  Peacemakers actively set out to reconcile brother to brother, sister to sister.  They are called the Sons of God because what are one of the names given to Jesus?  Prince of Peace.  

Character bears the bruit of reconciliation.

Verse 10

Persecuted.  Why would someone who is a peacemaker be persecuted? Why doesn't the world love peacemakers? We are also called to make peace between man and God.  The way we do this is not by saying God has a beautiful plan for your life and loves you.  It is more often by saying "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". When that is our message, persecution will follow.

Verses 11-12

We can know that in those times of terrible trial, there is a greater purpose.  He needs the disciples and us to understand that this world is not our home.  Trials reminds us that we should hate sin and long for Heaven.

He sets this expectation for them and the perfect example for them.  we must understand this when we read this list of blessed.  

OT speaks of curses, but we need to understand that when Jesus invokes the word blessed here, He is laying a stark contrast to what they are used to hearing.  Blessed are you when character takes root and fruit.

Being persecuted for righteousness sake is a fruit of identification.  We identify with Christ in His suffering and we are called blessed.

Character bears the fruit of identification with Christ Himself.  Why is it possible for Jesus to go up onto a mountain and speak a blessing over the people? Galations 3:13-14 is why.  Jesus becomes a curse for us so we might be called blessed.

• Jesus who took on poverty
• Jesus who grieved for our sin
• Jesus took meekness and set aside His own will for the Father's for 33 years
• Jesus who hungered and thirsted that the Father's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven
• He is most merciful
• He is most pure in heart
• He is most peaceful
• He was more persecuted than we could ever be for He had offended none

Meditate on what it means to be a citizen of Heaven.  Is character taking root?  Is character developing fruit?

Next: Session 3 Matthew 5:13-20