- Gospel of Matthew is one of the earliest accounts
of Jesus of Nazareth.
And in chapters 5 through 7, we find a collection
of Jesus' most well-known teachings,
often called the Sermon on the Mount.
Here we learn what Jesus means when he announces
that the kingdom of the skies has come near
and what it looks like to participate in God's Kingdom.
The whole sermon has been given a three-part shape.
There's the introduction,
then the large main body, and then the conclusion.
The introduction announces the surprising, counterintuitive
identity of those who are a part of God's Kingdom.
Then comes the main body of teaching where Jesus explores
what he means when he calls his followers to be righteous.
- What does he mean by righteousness?
- Righteousness is about living in right relationship
with God and with others.
It's a character trait that creates justice
and peace in the world.
And the body of the sermon is like Jesus'
manifesto on righteousness, examined from three angles
and three big parts: how this righteousness relates
to the Torah, how this righteousness relates
to religious practices of his day,
and how this righteousness is expressed in our relationships
with God and with neighbor.
Finally, Jesus concludes the sermon by calling people
to make a choice about how they're going to respond.
- Okay, I see it: three main parts of this whole sermon,
and the middle part itself has three parts.
- Right.
And then, every one of these parts itself has three parts.
There is a lot of design in the structure
of the Sermon on the Mount,
and we are gonna go over all of it.
In the introduction, Jesus offers a surprise announcement
to the people standing in front of him.
They are invited to experience the good
life of God's Kingdom.
He first offers nine sayings that redefine
who is experiencing the good life,
commonly called the Beatitudes.
Here, we learn that those entering God's Kingdom first are
the lowly outsiders who hunger for righteousness
and suffer as peacemakers.
- Next, Jesus calls his followers "salt
of the land." What's this all about?
- In the Hebrew Scriptures, salt is a symbol
of God's long-lasting covenant relationship with Israel.
So Jesus is claiming that he
and his followers are carrying Israel's covenant
relationship to its fulfillment.
- Next, Jesus calls them "the light of the world"
and "a city set up on a mountain."
- Jesus is referencing here a promise from the prophet
Isaiah that one day the inhabitants
of Jerusalem would reflect God's light, peace,
and blessing out to all the world.
- So Jesus is saying that he
and his followers are fulfilling that promise.
- Right. And how they go about doing that is what the rest
of the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
- Now, in the main body of the sermon,
Jesus calls his followers to do righteousness.
- Righteousness means living in right relationship with God
and with others, and Jesus explores his vision
of righteousness from three perspectives, resulting in three
big parts to the main body of the sermon.
- The first perspective is
that his teachings about righteousness fulfill the
Torah and Prophets. What does this mean?
- Well, the Torah and Prophets referred
to the Hebrew Scriptures. And this big idea
that Jesus fulfills them,
it's unpacked in three parts.
First, Jesus claims
that he's not setting aside the laws of the Torah.
Rather, he's bringing Israel's story
and all of its laws to their completion.
Next, Jesus offers six case studies of
how his righteousness fulfills the Torah.
He explores the topics of anger, lust, divorce,
telling the truth, revenge, and enemy love.
Finally, Jesus sums up this way of life
as "teleios," a Greek word that means complete or whole.
The purpose of the Torah is to teach people God's wisdom
so they can become mature, whole people
who spread God's blessing to the world.
And this call to become whole
or complete links back to this section's beginning
where Jesus claims that living by his teachings will
fulfill the Torah and the Prophets.
- Next, Jesus looks at how his righteousness relates
to the religious practices of his day.
Now, this section has three parts. 97 00:04:09,815 --> 00:04:10,815Right.
In the first part, Jesus claims
that living in right relationship with God
and others results in a reward.
But be careful, Jesus says,
because if you're doing your righteousness
to get public praise,
then you'll miss out on the real reward
that God has in store.
- Next, Jesus gives three examples of
how religious devotion can go sideways.
His examples are generosity to the poor, prayer, and fasting.
- In each of these, Jesus challenges his followers
to express their devotion to God in subtle ways
that don't attract attention.
Then he completes this section by teaching about
what the real reward is.
- Yeah. He says, don't store up for yourself treasure on the land,
but store up for yourself treasure in the sky.
So what is the sky treasure?
Well, this idea of treasure links back to Jesus' opening claim
that true righteousness brings a reward.
The greatest treasure is not admiration from people.
Rather, the real reward is knowing
and being known by the loving God of the universe.
- And that leaves this third
and final perspective,
how doing righteousness affects our relationship
with God and neighbor.
- Now, this section itself has three parts.
First, Jesus talks about money and possessions.
- Why start with money?
- Well, our stuff tends to claim our allegiance
and causes us to worry.
And so our relationship to our stuff can be one
of the biggest obstacles to healthy relationships
with God and with other people.
- Jesus teaches, don't store up your stuff on the land.
Rather, store up treasure in the sky.
- Then Jesus gives two parables.
One is about two kinds of eyes
you can have: a healthy, generous eye or an evil, stingy eye.
The second parable focuses on two masters
you can serve, God or money.
Then Jesus gives a beautiful homily about worry.
Why chase after security from things
that are ultimately insecure?
Jesus invites us to trust the generous God of creation
who cares about us more than we can imagine.
That's the first part.
Next, Jesus directly addresses our
relationship with God and neighbor.
- Yeah. This section begins with, "Do not judge others,
or you too will be judged."
Then come two more parables.
Another about eyes, how you shouldn't try
to remove a speck out of someone else's eye
- When you have a log in your own.
- Then comes a parable about not tossing holy pearls
to pigs and dogs.
It's a riddle with multiple meanings,
but essentially it's about using discernment when we try
to help and correct others.
Then, because relationships are so complex,
Jesus encourages his disciples to ask God
for the wisdom they need.
Ask, seek, and knock, and the door will be opened for you.
- This section of the Sermon on the Mount ends
with the Golden Rule: Do to others
what you want them to do to you.
- Jesus says that this simple teaching is what the Torah
and Prophets are all about.
And so the golden rule
concludes the third perspective on doing righteousness.
And it also links us back to the opening of the main body
of the sermon where Jesus said he came to bring the Torah
and Prophets to their completion.
- Finally, we're going to look at the last major section
of the sermon, the conclusion.
Here, Jesus places a choice in front of his listeners about
how they're going to live their lives.
- Now, the section has three parts.
- And each one illustrates this choice
with a different image.
The first image is about two paths with two different gates.
One leads to life and the other to ruin.
Second is about discerning between two kinds of leaders
who claim to represent God.
They're like two kinds of trees, one good and one bad.
Not everyone who says they speak for God really does,
but Jesus says, "You will know a tree by its fruit."
The last image is about two types
of houses you can build. If you ignore Jesus
and build your house by your own wisdom,
it's like building on sand,
and good luck when the storm comes. But if you listen to him
and build your house with Jesus' wisdom,
you are building your house on a rock.
And with that, the Sermon on the Mount comes to a close.
- Okay, so let's review the whole sermon.
It begins with the surprise announcement about
how the good life of God's Kingdom has come
to the least likely people.
And then, in the main body, Jesus teaches how
to do right by God and others.
And finally, the conclusion calls for a decision.
In light of everything Jesus has said,
what choice will you make?
- That's a great summary. Now it's time to read
and then re-read, and re-read again, the Sermon on the Mount.