Welcome back to “Follow Me,” our deep-dive into the gospel of Matthew. Today we are looking at one of the most famous parts of the book - Jesus’ so-called “Sermon on the Mount.”

Now, right out of the gate I’ll tell you that we could easily spend the next 20 weeks exploring this. There is so much to unpack here.

But we don’t have 20 weeks to give it. We’re trying to get through the whole gospel. So, our coverage of the Sermon on the Mount will just be three weeks long.

The goal is not to teach about everything Jesus says here, but instead to talk about some big themes or ideas in the sermon which will help you read and study it on your own.

We’re going to give you some resources to do that. You can find them all at www.gracechurch.us/matthew.

We’ll come back to those resources later, but I want to highlight one in particular. The Bible Project - bibleproject.com. We just watched one of their videos, but they have 10 all about the Sermon on the Mount and they’re amazing.

They also have overview videos for the gospel of Matthew, visual commentaries, biblical theme videos, online classes… They even did a 41-podcast series just about the Sermon on the Mount!

And they offer their content in different languages, like Spanish.

My point is this. Last week I challenged you to make reading and study of scripture a priority in your life. It’s the Word of God that can guide you through the wilderness, just as it did with Jesus.

So, if you want to do that - especially if you’re intimidated by this ancient document! - the Bible Project is one of the best tools you could be using.

Ok, let’s pray, and then we’ll dive in. SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Please grab a Bible and turn to Matthew 5

So far in the gospel it’s been a lot of preparation. The birth of Jesus, his baptism, his testing in the wilderness. In chapter 4 he calls his first disciples and now he begins to instruct them.

Matthew 5:1-3

One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them. “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs…”

What follows are some of Jesus’ most provocative and challenging teachings about what it means to follow him.

I’ve said before that Matthew is a Kingdom Manifesto. Nowhere is that clearer than here. In this sermon Jesus radically reorients what it means to be a part of his kingdom.

It’s a kingdom where the poor and the grieving and the persecuted are considered blessed. Where victory comes not through power and dominance, but through humility, generosity, and self-sacrifice.

It’s shocking stuff, even now. But this isn’t just ideological philosophy. In this sermon Jesus wants to shape his disciples’ behavior.

And so does Matthew. Remember, this gospel is also a “Discipleship Manual”.

The original audience were likely believers in a city like Antioch who were facing an influx of Gentiles into the church, persecution from their powerful neighbors, and the chaos of a changing world.

Matthew uses this sermon by Jesus to give them guidance on how to live out radical kingdom values in their everyday lives.

And, as the Bible Project pointed out in the video, Matthew arranges the sermon very carefully to make it easier for them to memorize. Because most people were illiterate and they definitely didn’t have access to printed Bibles.

Memorizing the teachings of Jesus was how they could carry his values with them through the week.

Now, to be clear, it is possible that Jesus really did preach this exact sermon in this exact order. But I think (along with most modern scholars) that it’s more likely Matthew is actually collecting and distilling down here years-worth of Jesus’ teachings.

This sermon, in other words, is like a collection of Jesus’ “greatest hits.” Ancient biographers did this all the time.

As always, I could be wrong. But I find it fascinating to think about not just about Jesus’ teachings, but about what Matthew was trying to accomplish with Jesus’ teachings.

Ultimately what matters is that the Sermon on the Mount was meant to guide Matthew’s original readers in the way of Jesus, and it can still do the same today.

So, for the next three weeks, let’s join our spiritual ancestors on that hillside, sit at the feet of our rabbi, and let Jesus teach us how to live like him in an increasingly complicated world.

EXTREMES

Alright, the first thing you notice when reading through the Sermon on the Mount is just how extreme Jesus is.

“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out!”

“If you curse someone, you’re in danger of the fires of hell!”

“If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Even today those statements seem a little bit much. But back then? The jaws of his listeners would have been on the floor. Nobody taught like this!

But of all the shocking things Jesus says in this sermon, I think the one that would have most ruffled everyone’s feathers were the words he used to set up each teaching. “You have heard that it was said… but I say…”

Now, that probably doesn’t mean much to us today, but this would have been a bombshell in 1st century Judea.

Why? Because when Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said,” he’s referring to the commands of the Torah - the Old Testament law (a.k.a. the law of Moses). That was the basis for all Israelite society and culture.

These were the commands of God for his chosen people to be set apart. And now Jesus is contradicting them?!? Here’s some examples:

Matthew 5:21-22

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say…"

Matthew 5:27-28

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say…"

Matthew 5:43-44

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say…"

Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Love your neighbor. These are all commands straight from the law of Moses. The first two are part of the 10 Commandments! These are the commands God himself gave the Israelites.

At first glance, it sure seems like Jesus is just throwing out the old law and presenting a new one. Which is a pretty shocking thing for a Jewish rabbi to do.

FULFILLMENT

But is that what Jesus is doing? Well, he thought you might ask that. Which is why he says this near the start of his sermon. Take a look with me.

Matthew 5:17-19

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Ok, so how can Jesus claim to be honoring God's laws when he keeps overriding them with his own commands? (“But I say…”)

Well, the key is in verse 17. “I did not come to abolish the law… I came to accomplish its purpose.” Literally in the Greek, “I have not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

There’s that word “fulfillment” again, one of Matthew’s primary themes. Jesus is not throwing out the law. He is fulfilling it. He’s accomplishing its purpose.

What does that look like? Well, let’s look again at those three examples I gave and see what Jesus says next.

Matthew 5:21-22

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!"

Matthew 5:27-28

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Matthew 5:43-44

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!"

What we’re seeing here is that Jesus doesn’t contradict Old Testament laws at all. He’s actually multiplying and expanding them to the nth degree. He’s elevating the value of the law.

For example, the law is correct to say that murder is wrong. Murder breaks God’s intended order of life and peace for humanity. It takes a life that isn’t ours to take.

But it’s like Jesus is saying, “if all we do is not murder people, nothing in this world is going to change. We have to do something about the hate in our hearts if we want to actually heal brokenness.”

Same thing with adultery. Yes, covenant faithfulness is a bedrock principle in the Bible. For good reason. Faithfulness in our marriages is vital for God’s people to represent his heart of love and forgiveness to our broken world.

But Jesus says, essentially, “yes, but if we don’t address the lust that leads to unfaithfulness - if we’re still being driven by our animalistic urges internally and objectifying others in our minds - then we will never truly demonstrate God’s desire for a community based on self-giving love and respect for the image of God in one another.”

Finally, loving your neighbor is great. But if that’s all we’re doing - just loving the people who love us back and hating everyone else - then tribalism and war and genocide are still possible.

It’s only when we learn to love our enemies that we can show our broken world that there is another way to live… That is how we’ll reverse the cycle of hate and violence which has kept us trapped for so long.

This is how we heal the world. Not by following the law to the letter, but by fulfilling its purpose to its logical extreme.

Matthew 5:18

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.

And that purpose? It’s to bring humanity back to God’s intentions. Back to Eden. Back to abundance and life and justice and peace and joy.

The exact same attributes on display in the life and the ministry of Jesus. The characteristics of the kingdom of God which he wants us to exemplify.

The Sermon on the Mount is an invitation for us to join Jesus in his mission to heal the world.

The question is, have you said “yes” to that invitation? I don’t just mean “do you believe in Jesus?” I mean, have you committed to follow him as his disciple?

Matthew’s original readers held on to the Sermon on the Mount because it helped them live radically transformed lives in a broken world. And people flocked to the church because they were demonstrating an entirely new way to live.

It’s easy to see these teachings as just ridiculous extremes. But if these really are the teachings of our rabbi - the hallmarks of his kingdom - and if they really do fulfill the purpose of the law God gave to the Israelites…

Then I think we’ve got some work to do. We live in a time of darkness. But as Jesus says in his sermon,

Matthew 5:14

You are the light of the world.

I think it’s time we start learning how to shine.

CHALLENGE

So here’s the deal. As I said before, we are flying high over the Sermon on the Mount in this series. But I want you to go a bit deeper. Which is why I’m going to give you a three-part challenge today.

I want to challenge you to 1) Read the whole Sermon on the Mount this week (Matthew 5-8). It’ll take about 10-15 minutes.

Now, if reading is a struggle for you, I’m going to record a guided meditation where I read the whole thing aloud on our Between Sundays podcast feed. Feel free to listen if you don’t want to read.

But my challenge stands. Read or listen to the whole Sermon on the Mount this week.

Now, second. With that reading, I want you to 2) Let God’s Spirit bring one of Jesus’ teachings to the forefront.

In other words, as you’re going through it, pay attention to what pops out at you. It might be a verse or a word. Maybe it’s even a teaching that rubs you the wrong way. Pay attention and identify what God is highlighting for you.

And then, once you’ve done that, 3) Spend the week praying and asking God what he wants you to hear through that teaching of Jesus.

Is it something he wants you to grow in? Maybe a word or encouragement for someone else? Maybe he wants to re-orient your mind to understand what his kingdom is really all about.

That’s my challenge to you this week. And as a reminder, you can find a lot of great resources to help you at gracechurch.us/matthew, including links to Bible Project videos, recommended books, and some key concepts from the series.

But for now, since this has all been rather heady, let’s wrap up our time together communing with Jesus in a very tangible way.

Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need,

and forgive us our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

And don’t let us yield to temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one.