14 How to Understand the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)

Krisan Marotta: You're listening to Wednesday in the Word, and I'm glad you are. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today I'll introduce you to the Sermon on the Mount, which begins in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. This is the 14th talk in our series on the Gospel of Matthew. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below the podcast. You can also find them by going to the website wednesdayintheword.com slash Matthew 14. Thanks so much for listening today. I am very excited to start Matthew chapter 5 because we're getting to the Sermon on the Mount. Teaching through the Sermon on the Mount has long been on my bucket list of things to teach. Let me review how we got here. The first four chapters are basically introductory material. Matthew gave us the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew told us the story of Jesus' birth and upbringing, mostly from Joseph's perspective. He told us of the ministry of John the Baptist, of the baptism of Jesus, and the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. And in 4.12, Matthew began describing the Galilean ministry of Jesus. He gives us a narrative introduction in chapter 4, verses 12 through 22, and then a summary statement in chapter 4, verses 23 and 25, and that prepares us for the Sermon on the Mount. And this is a pattern Matthew is going to repeat in his gospel. For example, he'll give us another narrative section in chapters eight through nine, followed by another discourse in chapters ten and eleven. Chapter four ended with a general summary of the ministry of Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus made the surprising choice to base his early ministry in Galilee, not in Judea. Matthew tells us Jesus called Galilean fishermen to be his disciples and ultimately his apostles, and that Jesus traveled through Galilee healing people and proclaiming the gospel message, which Matthew summarized as repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. As Jesus traveled and taught and healed, he attracted a great deal of attention. Great crowds of people heard about him and traveled from all over to seek him out and hear what he had to say. Now Matthew gives us a sermon that Jesus preached, what we call the Sermon on the Mount. My personal conviction is that the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most important passages in the Bible. It is a profound and unique body of teaching from the Messiah himself. I think it's important for every believer to understand it. Yet throughout church history, believers have found it difficult to agree on what this sermon means and how we should apply it to our lives. If you've had any experience with studying this sermon, if you've read through some of the commentaries, you're probably aware that there are a variety of approaches to understanding it and a variety of ways of thinking about it. One of the problems is that in places this sermon doesn't sound very Christian. It doesn't sound like it has a lot of gospel in it. In fact, it sounds like it has a whole lot of law in it. It appears to have a kind of you'd better be like this or else undertone. Most Christians would describe the gospel as something like this If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again, then you will be justified by your faith and be saved. Well if that's the gospel, then this sermon really doesn't look like it has much gospel in it. It does not talk about Jesus dying for our sins, it doesn't mention the resurrection, it doesn't talk about justification by faith, and instead it lays down what seems to be rather stern and unattainable laws. Let me pull out some examples for you. When you juxtapose them, I think you'll see the force of this problem. Here we go, Matthew five thirteen. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. Matthew five twenty for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew five twenty-seven and twenty eight. You've heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew five forty eight, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Matthew six fifteen, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Matthew seven one, judge not that you be not judged. Matthew seven fourteen, for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. And if all of that isn't enough, we get what I think is one of the most terrifying passages of Scripture. This is Matthew seven verses twenty one through twenty three. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Well, that's a pretty intimidating list of verses. What are we to make of this sermon? What did Jesus want us to do in response? Well, different groups throughout history have answered that question in many different ways. Just to give a couple of examples, the dispensationalists believe that God has divided history into distinct periods or dispensations, and they would say we are in the dispensation of the church age, the age of grace, which started after the resurrection. So they look at the Sermon on the Mount as pure law and say it was not intended for us. It was intended for the Jews who were in a different dispensation, or perhaps it was intended for the millennial kingdom after Jesus returns. I've seen that one too. And more modern dispensationalists have backed off that perspective, but you'll find it in the classic literature. Classic dispensationalists would say this sermon is not intended for us in this age. Here's another example. Martin Luther would agree that the Sermon on the Mount is law, but he would say we should pay attention to it because its purpose is to drive us to despair. When we read it, we realize we can never be the kind of people Jesus is describing. And that should drive us to seek the grace and mercy of God that we find in the gospel. And that's a very popular perspective, which has been around a long time. A lot of people hold the view that the Sermon on the Mount paints a picture of something we can never attain to, and the reason for doing that is so that we will seek grace and the gospel. And those are just a couple of examples. There are many, many other perspectives. Some see the Sermon on the Mount as teaching us a new social ethic. Some see it as a correction to the Old Testament law or even a rejection of the Old Testament law. So they would say the Old Testament law is inadequate in a variety of ways, and Jesus is now showing us the right way to apply and understand it. And there are lots more. If you read through the commentaries, you'll find them. I'm not going to take any of those perspectives. I bring them up because, as always, I do not have the market cornered on truth. I am no one from nowhere, and this is my good for nothing, worthless opinion. I am just one student of the Bible telling other students of the Bible what I learned. I disagree with all those approaches. I would argue, and I'm going to argue, that the Sermon on the Mount is intended for us today. It is not an impossible set of laws to keep. The purpose is not to drive us to despair. The Sermon on the Mount is not correcting the Old Testament law, but is rather perfectly consistent with the Old Testament and is also perfectly consistent with the gospel. As I understand it, the Sermon on the Mount deals with central issues of Christian theology. Who will inherit eternal life and what is it that characterizes the heart of the child of God? That's where I'm coming from. Now I'm not the only one who holds this view. You'll find this in the commentaries as well. There are a lot of views out there about the Sermon on the Mount. This is one of them. I'm not going to take the time to go through all the other options and explain why I think they fail to persuade. I'm just going to try to make the best case I can for this approach. So I encourage you to do your own study, to read and investigate the other options, and make up your own mind as to what you think's going on. And by the way, that's true of every passage. I hope you realize that every book you read, every sermon you hear, every podcast you listen to is someone's opinion. None of us have perfect theology or understanding, and you should always listen and read with a degree of discernment. Now when I say that the Sermon on the Mount is intended for us today, I am not denying that Jesus tailored his words to his specific audience. His listeners are mostly Jews. They have been taught in the synagogues by their rabbis, and at that time most of the rabbis were Pharisees. And Jesus is speaking to their situation. As we go through this, one theme that I think emerges repeatedly in this sermon is that the Pharisees have misunderstood what godliness is all about. And Jesus is claiming that his listeners have the wrong picture of what God wants because the picture that the Pharisees have been teaching them is wrong. The Pharisees are mentioned throughout the sermon, they show up in a number of places, and we're going to pay attention when they do. Now remember, Matthew tells us Jesus has begun his public ministry. He is healing every kind of disease. There are great multitudes following him from all over the region. He's becoming a big deal, and people are coming to hear him teach. And what is he teaching? Matthew has only told us two things so far. In four seventeen, Matthew said Jesus is teaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And in four twenty three, he is proclaiming the gospel or the good news of the kingdom. Now let's think about that. Jesus is teaching that God has promised to send his Messiah, his anointed one who will establish God's rule over all the earth, and that this is the kingdom of God. The Messiah will defeat all sin and rebellion and rule over God's people in peace and righteousness forever. And good news, the day of the Messiah's kingdom is coming upon us. However, if you want to find a place in that kingdom, you need to repent. And he's saying, I Jesus, the King of the kingdom, am here, and what do you need to do? You need to repent. And Jesus is saying these things to first century Jews. Their religious understanding has largely been shaped by the Pharisees, who were the primary teachers in the synagogues at the time, and he's calling them to repent. Now imagine how they might respond. They're probably going to say something like, Wait a minute, Jesus, we're Jews. We're the chosen people of God. We have been taught by these great students of the scriptures, the Pharisees. What do you mean repent? We're ready for the kingdom now. What do we have to repent for? We follow the law of Moses, we're keeping the law, we listen to the Pharisees. What do we need to repent for? And I would describe the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus' response to that type of question, that type of reaction to his teaching. If you want to know what I mean when I call you to repent, this is it. This that I'm going to explain in this sermon is what I mean. So I'm going to argue that Jesus' sermon is a corrective to the teaching of the Pharisees. He's saying, This is what I'm calling you to. This is what godliness looks like, and it is not what you have been taught by the Pharisees. I think his main goal in this sermon is to turn his Jewish listeners away from the teaching of the Pharisees and turn them toward an understanding of true godliness. And understanding what true godliness looks like is just as relevant for us today as it was for his original listeners. We are all inclined to make the same kind of mistakes the Pharisees made, and we're still dealing with the same God. This is still the picture of true godliness. Now let me go back and remind you of the immediate context. This is Matthew chapter four verses twenty three and I'm going to read through five two. And he went throughout all Galilee, that's he Jesus, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them, and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decopolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, And then it goes into the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount happens when Jesus has been ministering for a while. He's been traveling around Galilee, his fame is spread throughout all of Syria, and great crowds are coming from all over to hear him teach. He's been in public long enough that his reputation is getting around. Now travel was slow in those days, it was mostly on foot or by donkey, and it would take some time for the news about Jesus to spread and people to decide to seek him out and then make the journey to wherever he was. Matthew says they came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. At this point Jesus has a large group of people coming to hear him and seek healing. They're intrigued with all these things he's doing and saying, and they want to know what he's about. Matthew makes a distinction between the crowds and the disciples. Most of the people are simply curious or they want healing, but some have actually become his disciples. They are his students and he is their rabbi. They live with him. They follow him around listening to his teaching. Where he goes, they go. They travel with him and are taught by him as their rabbi. Jesus had many more disciples than just the twelve. We don't know how many followed him, none of the gospel writers ever give us a number, but there is a story in John six that gives us a clue. Jesus teaches something hard, and many of his followers leave him, and this is John chapter six, verses sixty six through sixty nine. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of God. That event reveals that there were a whole lot of people who had been following him around as a rabbi, but then he taught something and they said, Wait a minute, this is too much, and they decided to quit and go home. The twelve stay with him, but many others leave. Now we aren't told how many are left or how many there were to begin with. I think there are probably a lot more than the twelve still following him, but in any case the numbers have decreased. So Matthew opens his sermon with this same distinction between the crowds and the disciples. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. That's Matthew 5 1. Jesus sits down on a high place to teach, his students gather around him, and then outside the circle of his disciples is the larger crowd. We know that the crowd hears him because at the end of the sermon in Matthew 7 28, it says the crowds were amazed at his teaching. So Matthew tells us he is speaking to his immediate followers, but he's speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. His fame is spreading, he has called the twelve, he's attracting large crowds, and now he sits down and gives a major body of teaching. Now there's one more question I want to discuss by way of introduction, and that is how do we relate this sermon to the sermon on the plain that we find in the Gospel of Luke? In Luke 6, Jesus gives a sermon that sounds a whole lot like this one here in Matthew. I'm going to argue that they are essentially the same talk and they are drawing on the same body of teaching. My speculation is that Jesus gave this sermon many times the way a politician might give the same campaign speech over and over again in different places, or the way a traveling preacher in say the 1800s would repeat the same sermon in each town he came to. He may not have repeated it word for word each time, but he spoke about the same ideas in various settings to different crowds. Matthew and Luke could be reporting on the exact same sermon given on the same day, or they could be reporting from different times that Jesus gave essentially the same sermon. I'm not sure, and I'm not really sure it matters. At this point I lean toward the idea that they're recording the same event, but in any case, I think Luke and Matthew are drawing on the same body of teaching, and whether that was one single event or multiple events, I don't know. I don't think that either Matthew or Luke are claiming Jesus taught these things and only these things on this one particular day in the span of a couple of hours. Rather, these teachings have been collected here as representative of the kind of teaching that Jesus was doing early in his ministry. Luke's sermon is described as being on the plain. Matthew's is described as being on a mountain, and so some people conclude that they're different events just because of that detail. It's a little more complicated than that. The word that's translated plain in Luke is only used once in the New Testament. It can refer to a long, flat stretch of land, or it can refer to level ground as opposed to difficult ground or difficult terrain. It's unclear what Luke intends. Jesus could be on the level ground that is at the top of a hill, or he could be on the top of a hill that is overlooking a flat level field. Or he could have come from a rough place, a place of rough terrain, and have found a level or smooth place where he could easily preach. All those are possible from the words. It's a translation issue, and I don't think we have enough data to go on. People also think these are different events because the sermons are not identical. There is significant overlap, but they don't have the exact same material. Basically, Luke has a lot less material than Matthew. But I think that the similarities make it likely that they are drawing on the same body of teaching or drawing on the same talk. Both of them introduce the sermon by talking about the large crowds gathered for healing, both mention the disciples as distinct from the crowds, and both start with the beatitudes, and both end with the saying that those who heed his words are like those who build on a rock. In between, Luke has three sections that are essentially the same as Matthew and in the same order. However, Luke has a lot less material. He omits whole chunks that Matthew includes. But the beginning is the same, the ending is the same, and they have the same idea. Three sections in the same order in the middle. It's just Matthew has a lot more detail. And that makes sense to me because Matthew was a firsthand eyewitness. As one of the twelve and one of the disciples of Jesus, he would have most likely heard this sermon given many times. It makes sense to me that he would remember a lot more the detail than Luke, who was not one of the twelve, and got his material from interviewing the other eyewitnesses. So I think it makes sense to see these two sermons as the same event, but if not the same event, at least as drawing from the same body of teaching. And I bring that up because I think, therefore, we can use Matthew to help us understand Luke, and we can use Luke to help us understand Matthew. I think they're consistent and they reflect the same body of teaching. And sometimes I'm going to bring in Luke to further our understanding. Now there's one more issue I want to talk about today before we end, and that is I want to explain how I approach the teaching of Jesus in general. What I do with the Beatitudes is what I do with almost everything Jesus says, and I want to explain it to give you some idea where I'm coming from. As a teacher, Jesus spoke in striking and challenging ways. I've heard other teachers talk about, oh, Jesus uses such simple language, he makes it so easy for everyone to understand, and they praise his teaching style as simple and clear and straightforward. And I don't know if we're reading the same scriptures, because if there's one thing that seems obvious to me, it's that Jesus is not simple to understand. Jesus did not make it easy to understand him. He spoke in parables and riddles and allegories. He spoke in hyperbole and metaphor. Just look at the number of times that the gospels tell us that as soon as the disciples get him alone, the first thing they say is, Hey Jesus, what did you mean by that? And he has to explain to them what he meant. As a Bible student, then I have reached two conclusions about how to approach the teaching of Jesus, and I offer them as kind of a lesson in how to study the Bible, but mainly so that you know how I'm going to approach the Sermon on the Mount. My first conviction is that Jesus speaks cryptically and he does so on purpose. He often says things in such a way that it is not immediately obvious what he means, and I think he does that on purpose. When it comes to the Beatitudes, as simple and as beautiful as they sound, I do not assume that it is immediately obvious what he means. When he says something like poor in spirit, if you stop and think about it, there are a lot of options about what that could mean. And if you read a few commentaries, you'll find lots of different options about what people think he means. He is not being didactically straightforward, he's speaking poetically. That means when I'm studying, I question my first knee-jerk reaction. I don't bet on my first hunch. I keep asking myself, what else could he mean? What is the context pointing to? What point is he building and how does it all fit together? What might he be drawing on from the Old Testament? I think quite often Jesus intends us to stop and think, wait, what exactly does that mean? So first, I think Jesus speaks cryptically on purpose. Second, Jesus makes many categorical black and white kinds of statements. He says things like, if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. You can't serve both God and money. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery. He makes many such kinds of categorical statements, statements that imply a strict dividing line, either you're in or you're out. And I would argue that these categorical statements are intended to stand for a bigger process of discipleship, struggle, growth, and maturity in the faith. Jesus is describing the goal, the thing that will ultimately mark a person of mature faith. But that goal is not reached instantaneously with the snap of a finger. It is all part of the process which we call sanctification. It's the journey of shaping and molding and maturing us, this journey God takes us through during our lifetimes. When you become a believer, these things do not become immediately true of you. Rather, they become true of you over time and through the process God takes you through as He grows you in maturity and faith and wisdom. Let me give you an example and hopefully this will become clear what I mean. I find the example of the Apostle Peter very helpful in sorting this stuff out. I think this explains a lot about the connection between faith and works because of what we see in Peter. Jesus said in Matthew ten verses thirty two and thirty three Everyone therefore who shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. This is one of those straightforward black and white dividing line kind of statements. You confess me and I'll confess you to my Father in heaven. You deny me and I'll deny you to my Father in heaven. That's an either or choice. You either do it or you don't, you confess or you deny. Now if you've read the gospels, you know that in a key and crucial moment of history, the apostle Peter denied that he knew Jesus. Jesus had been betrayed by Judas, Jesus had been arrested and hauled before a Jewish court, and the events that are leading to the cross have been set in motion. If there's ever a time to stand up and be counted, this is it. If there's any time for the followers of Jesus to take a stand and support him, now that he's staring down the cross, it's now. And what does Peter do? He denies that he even knows Jesus three times. Not once, but three times. I would argue that what Peter has done is exactly what Jesus says. If you do that, I will deny you before the Father. And yet, we know that Jesus does not deny Peter before the Father. After the resurrection, Jesus meets Peter face to face and forgives him and commissions him to carry the gospel message to the world. The fact that Peter actually failed to confess Jesus before men and actually denied Jesus before men was evidence that at that moment Peter was fearful and weak and sinful. But it was only a step on the road. Ultimately, we know that Peter did confess Jesus before men. Ultimately, Peter was willing to be jailed, to be beaten, and eventually to be martyred rather than deny Jesus. From that example, I think we can see it is not the case that believers will consistently keep all the commandments of Jesus perfectly and courageously. But if we love him, we will ultimately choose to follow him and our lives will show it. Jesus is not saying if you fail to forgive once, you have failed the test and you're out. He's not saying if you deny me just once, you have failed and you're out. He's not saying if you've lusted just once, you failed the test and you're out. Or if you've loved money more than God one time, you've blown it. He can't mean that or he wouldn't have forgiven and accepted Peter. The Christian life is a process. It's a journey toward maturity. After his denial, Peter went out and wept at his failure. He despaired because he realized he wasn't the kind of person he wanted to be. And that reaction to his sin shows what path he's on. Believers ultimately repent and grieve over their sins. If he had gone away and hardened his heart and said, Boy, I was right to deny Jesus, it's really not worth getting killed over this stuff, that would show that he is on a different path. And if he had stayed on that different path, ultimately Jesus would have denied him. By making these categorical statements, Jesus is saying as you live your life in this world, these are the kinds of issues you're going to have to confront. Every single day as you live your life, you're going to have to make these kinds of choices. Are you going to be forgiving? Are you going to lust? Are you going to seek after money and fame and glory? Are you going to stand up and be counted as a follower of Jesus or not? What is your life going to look like? Who and what are you counting on? And who are you going to serve? And ultimately, over time, if you have saving faith and are a genuine child of God, your life will be characterized more and more by a desire for the things of God, and your choices will reflect that. So my understanding is that these categorical statements are one of the fundamental ways Jesus teaches. We are his students and he is telling us the lessons we need to learn. To be his disciples, to enter into eternal life, he makes these statements. But in all those cases, he's not describing a one strike and you're out kind of set of rules. He's not saying go do this and pass with flying colors and you'll be saved. He's telling us what the end result of a mature faith and godliness looks like. Now we're going to struggle with those lessons now. But if we refuse the struggle, if we abandon the choice and walk away, then we show ourselves to lack faith. So to summarize then how I'm approaching the Sermon on the Mount, I think this is a very important talk given by Jesus at a time when he was very popular. Jesus sets out to show his audience the issues they will face if they want to be children of God. He contrasts his teaching with the teaching that they have heard from the Pharisees. Luke 6 is the same sermon, but a shorter version of it. And that as we approach the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, we must always be aware of these two points. One, Jesus speaks cryptically, he makes concise, provocative statements that we must think about to understand. And two, he makes strong categorical, black and white statements that ultimately reflect the end of the process of growing in faith and maturity. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to explain not only what a passage means, but how we figure it out. Your podcast feed may be limited to the last 20 or so episodes, but you can hear all of the 500 people of the previous episodes by going to wednesdayintheword.com. There are no advertisements, no spam, only podcasts and Bible study resources. It's all free and it's designed to help you improve your skills and your understanding. I don't take any advertising and I don't accept donations. If you want to thank me, please join the mailing list. Leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen to your podcast. Subscribe to the podcast, and most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and what you learned. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coast. You can find his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.