Auto Generated Transcript
On a series together about Jesus. I can’t get any more specific simplistic in the Christian life and what that is all about. And to give you a backdrop, over the last three weeks that we’ve gone through this series together, it’s this Jesus is the servant King. He is God, become flesh who came to give his life for us. And we’ve seen that over various phrases within Scripture. The father, when Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, says, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. We’ve looked at that together and what that means, and how it signifies Jesus as a king. Because the father is quoting a psalm from Psalm two that pointed to Israel when a king was anointed, and then he came as the suffering servant. In whom I’m well pleased is a quote from Isaiah chapter 42, which is the passage of the suffering Servant. Uh, it went on from there. And John tells us that we beheld his glory, an aspect of of God. Glory is only given to God. The Bible tells us in Isaiah that glory belongs to God, and John is identifying glory as belonging to Jesus. And John’s statement is, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This lamb is coming to to suffer, to die, to give himself for us. In John’s statement is, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight your paths, which he sang to us, that there is someone of significant authority coming to visit.
And we know that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and he is the one coming to visit. And like all great kings. Jesus comes and proclaims his kingdom. In fact, today we’re going to start in Matthew chapter five. If you want to jump ahead there to that section within your Bible, I’ll explain to you just a little bit of a backdrop as we get there. But Jesus’s message and being king who comes to serve and suffer on our behalf, came for the purpose that we might experience his kingdom. And this is demonstrated in the message that he shares. And in Matthew chapter four and verse 23, after Jesus’s baptism and after he goes to the temptation in the wilderness, he comes out and he begins to proclaim his kingdom. And it says in verse 23, Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. We’re going to look at Jesus’s message about his kingdom in Matthew 5 to 7. But on the back end of that, in Matthew nine, it says again to us, Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew chapter five and verse, uh, chapter five and verse one on into chapter seven to the end, Jesus proclaims thoughts about this kingdom and the way that he desires for his followers to live life in light of of his kingdom.
And we call that message in which Jesus shares the sermon on the Mount from chapter five to chapter seven. Some have have dubbed this section in the book of Matthew the the greatest sermon that has ever preached. Right? So this will be funny sometimes we’re encouraging at the end of your service with the service to hashtag something. If you check in in the church, if today you hashtag something that would get people’s eye is the greatest sermon ever preached. All right. I just want to say before you do that, that I’m not claiming I’m doing that this morning. All right. We’ll give that title to Jesus. But people have dubbed this message the greatest message ever preached. Some have looked at this section of Scripture and have assumed it was just for the Jews. And one of the reasons they they’ve stated this and I don’t agree with it. I’ll tell you why in a minute. But one of the reasons they’ve stated this is that Matthew, the book of Matthew, is predominantly written with a Jewish audience in mind. Matthew was a Jew. Matthew understood Jewish law. His gospel is tailored to the Jews as a significant amount of of Old Testament quotes. But I don’t think this sermon on the Mount is distinguishable just for the Jewish people.
I think this this message is intended for everyone. And and the reason I say that is because of what stated leading into the sermon on the Mount. When you get to the end of Matthew chapter four, we we recognize in our Bible there are chapter divisions, and that’s important verses. They help us find a footing in Scripture and a reference point in Scripture. But when the Bible was written, guys didn’t sit down and was like, you know, this looks like a good place to put the next verse. Here we go. Number number 25. And it didn’t exist within Scripture. In fact, chapter divisions didn’t come in the Bible until about the 12th century. Verse divisions didn’t come in until about the 15th century. And so it gave the footing in Scripture then. And so when this was written, it’s it’s somewhat in a letter form. It’s best understood as a picture and a letter form. And so at the end of chapter four, leading in chapter five, it starts like this. Large crowds followed after him talking about Jesus as he’s proclaiming this kingdom from Galilee and from the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea. And look at this, and from beyond the Jordan. And so what it’s saying when Jesus is going around sharing this kingdom, this message, it’s not just the Jewish people following him from the areas around Jerusalem. This this following goes beyond the Jordan into the Gentile regions.
And large crowds are are following him. And in verse one it says in chapter five, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And after he sat down. And his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and began to teach them sayings. And so I think this message is really specified in chapter five for the followers of Jesus. Although Jesus is acknowledging here in Matthew that he the reason he’s he’s sitting down and he’s sharing this message is that he he sees the crowds. So he’s got within this group people that are coming to get to know this Jesus, people who are deciding to follow this Jesus, which are his disciples. And so there’s a distinguishing between the crowds and the disciples. But Jesus is sharing this message with everyone, specifically focusing on on his disciples. And and what the Lord is outlining for us in this message is that his kingdom is being presented for everyone. In fact, in the book of Galatians, when when God’s identifying the promise to Abraham, this is what he says in verse 16, in chapter three, verse 16, in Galatians, now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed he does not say, and to his seeds as referring to many, but rather to one, and to your seed that is Christ. So in the book of Genesis, back in Galatians chapter, or excuse me in Genesis chapter 12, God gives a promise to Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed.
And Paul goes on in Galatians chapter three and verse 16 and says, through that seed, that seed isn’t a people group, that seed is a person. His name is Jesus. And through Jesus all nations will be blessed. And Paul goes on and says in Galatians 327, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to his promise. Eight times. Jesus specifies the phrase his kingdom or about the kingdom within the sermon on the Mount. When Jesus first begins to talk about his kingdom in verse three, he says, theirs is the kingdom, and he does it again in verse ten. Theirs is the kingdom Jesus is presenting to the world the kingdom. But one of the things we recognize about his kingdom is that his kingdom has has come, but it’s not been fully consummated. Jesus has given the keys to the kingdom, but the fullness of the kingdom has not been has not come into being. And so Jesus, it says in verse three, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. As you go through that section within verse four and nine of chapter five of Matthew, it then gives future promises of the kingdom.
It says, they shall be comforted or they shall inherit the earth. So there is an already not yet statement that Jesus is presenting to everyone on behalf of his kingdom, of which he came to proclaim. This message is important. It’s how we understand what his kingdom is about. And how we live it out. We can’t lightly dismiss the sermon between Matthew chapter five to chapter seven. I don’t think you can easily just write it off as belonging just to the Jewish people. I think it’s for everyone who desires to belong to Christ and His kingdom. I had a friend once who I remember going through Matthew chapter five to chapter seven with him, and he was just weeping over this message that Jesus shared. He was a friend of mine, that we had a lot in common in how we came to know Jesus. Both of us came to Christ later in life, in our college years. And and the only difference between me and my friend is he’s five foot five and he he grew up in the streets of Detroit, and he he did not match the ethnicity background in the area in which he lived. And and just because of that neighborhood in which he lived, he got picked on a lot, being short, not really belonging in the in that place.
And so he learned he learned to fight and he made his way through just getting a small guy, people underestimating him and just fighting for himself and defending himself and proving himself in this area in which he was from. And one day he came to know Christ and the Lord started to lead his life into following him. And he eventually was making a decision to go overseas to a closed country. Where to say you follow Jesus would result in losing your life of people knew that publicly and so he he desired to to follow the Lord in that. And he was wrestling with it with God. And he came to the sermon on the Mount, and he and he said this, this is where Jesus broke me. He understood that he belonged to Christ and he lived for his kingdom. And at this point in his life, I remember as I’m sitting there with him, he he’s got kids and he’s got he’s got a family and and. And he’s his concern is is for them now and and he could make this decision easily with just himself. But but now he’s making this decision with his family and his wife’s getting on board. And he finally gets to the place where he says, you know, I’ve come to realize that the best place for any of us to ever be. Is at the center of God’s will. And the sermon on the Mount is something he just he looks at and he says, you know, if the world could just grab a hold of this message and understand what Jesus is saying here and seek to live like they belong to Christ, how much better this this world would be in our desire for Jesus.
And so this isn’t something lightly to dismiss in this sermon, because it’s it’s Jesus himself who gave it to us. And throughout this entire section, I want to tell you, I’m not going to be able to dive into every detail of this sermon on the Mount. I’m going to hit the high points for us. But, but, but there’s something through each section as you look in your Bible, if you have sections broken off within the sermon on the Mount that specifies just an overarching theme within those sections, when you get to the end of those sections, it’s always good to ask yourself, what is it you’ve just learned about your King and His kingdom? What is it you just learn about your your king as you’ve gone through this portion of Scripture. When Jesus starts off this this message, he starts off with what’s called the the Beatitudes, which is the Latin word for blessed. It can literally be translated happy during the time of the Roman Empire. Your your region was governed by the capability and character of the individual that was placed over you.
If he was a tyrant, you had a tyrant. If he was a great ruler, you had a great ruler. But you’re all you’re always subject to, to this authority over you. And so it’s always important when you’re under authority to, to look at the one guiding to see before you jump on the ship, whether or not it’s worthy of following where that ship is going. Right. Especially if you have the control over it. And these individuals that are following after Jesus are are hearing his message. And they’re coming to to recognize how good this King is and how great this king is, and, and eventually that this king has got himself and and they’re learning about this king. So the question they’re asking themselves is, do I have a place in your kingdom? You gotta understand, in the Roman Empire. Uh, many of the people were slaves or servants. Some half of the city of Rome itself was considered slaves at the time. And so, uh, authority was one that tended to be oppressive. Life wasn’t easy. A lot of people just to make it through the day. That was enough. And to come to a good king. They’re asking themselves a question. What? What do I have to offer to this king of which he might embrace me? And Jesus just shares his message with the blessed. Let me just read it to you this morning. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 11 goes on to share another blessing, but many scholars connect verse 11 to verse ten. And just say. Within the Beatitudes, Jesus gives eight statements on what the Beatitudes are. The opening statement of what Christ is, is that he comes for those in need. His kingdom isn’t about what you have to contribute. Really. His kingdom has come for you. God sees the worth of who you are in your identity, being created in his image, not by what you have to offer. In fact, there’s nothing you’re going to give to this king that he can’t give or do for himself. And his kingdom is that good that those who are in need and those that need him, the needs are capable of being being met by this King. In fact, as Jesus goes on through the Beatitudes, when he gets to verse 13 to to verse 16 of chapter five, it’s saying to us, not, not only, not only is this King desirous of you? Not only, not only does this King want to serve you by coming as this lamb, not only can this King meet the the need within your heart, this King sees you as more than that.
He sees your worth and value. He. He sees you as a contributor to this kingdom. In verse 13, he calls you the salt of the earth. I don’t know about you, but I like my salt. Every once in a while that cravings are driving down the road for a bite of that McDonald’s fry, right? That’s salt. It’s the flavor of life. It draws out that beauty. And Jesus describes his people belonging to his kingdom as the ones who draw out the beauty of who your king is being created in his image. But not only that, you’re you’re the light of the world. You ask yourself the the question. Well, well, how could I even be invited to this kingdom? Every king that I’ve been a part of in this, uh, Roman generation has, has always wanted something and demanded taxes and and taken things from us as individuals. What? Why is this King so capable of meeting us and wanting to invite us into his kingdom? And he goes on and tells us in verse 17 of chapter five, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Jesus is saying to, to the Jewish people, listen, I’m I’m not casting aside the laws of the Jewish people. I don’t think that they’re insignificant. In fact, I’m about to raise the standard. Jesus elevates the bar on on what God’s righteousness is, but he gives an important warning. He says in verse 20, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses the that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. He’s speaking counterintuitively to religion. In. This king comes for you. You are blessed and his kingdom. He has come to fulfill the law by his power. It’s not by religious earning that you enter into his kingdom, but this king has come to give his life on your behalf, that through him you may enter into this kingdom which he’s describing. It’s by his worth, his value, his life. The opportunity has been given. In fact the latter half of of Matthew. The scribes for us some of the ways Jesus recognizes the laws. Um, you know, it’s it’s really impossible to write the amount of laws that could cover the wickedness of man’s heart if we want to pursue sin. There’s not enough paper in life to cover the way we can scheme. How to be deceptive and dishonest and sinful in our life. There isn’t.
And and and Jesus identifies that. He tells us in the latter half of Matthew. You’ve heard it said that murder is wrong. But I tell you who he who has angered in his heart. You’re guilty. Or you’ve heard it said that adultery is wrong. But the truth is, he who has lusted in his heart has committed adultery. The problem has never been that we don’t have enough laws to describe what’s right or wrong in life. Um, the issue that we’ve always faced has been the same. It’s our heart. And no matter how many laws you write, the heart will continue to find ways to rebel. That’s what Jesus is recognizing for us. But he didn’t come to abolish the law. He. He came to fulfill it. I don’t have time to dive into all the specifics of that, but if you want to do a study on how Jesus fulfilled it in your free time. Hebrews chapter nine and ten is a beautiful way of helping us describe how Jesus fulfilled the law. But as people, this is what is important for you to know. You no longer live by the letter of the law, but rather if you belong to Christ. His spirit now rests in you, and you live by the fruit of the spirit or the Spirit of God making its life known in your life. We’ll talk more specific about that next week. But the spirit governs us in love and peace and patience and goodness and gentleness.
And Jesus makes a statement here to summarize. He came to fulfill the law because we couldn’t fulfill its demands. We. Our hearts are what? Air. Our heart. It validates where it’s at, when it demonstrates our desires. Lived out, for instance, is what Jesus said in anger and lust in our hearts, that that is living life of murder and adultery. The seed of murder and adultery originate in the heart. And he warns the Pharisees, unless your righteousness surpasses that, you’ll not enter the kingdom. But then he says in verse 48, therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. Again, if you if you read that as as in living life perfectly and impossibility, but the Hebrew or the Greek text here, it’s saying to us that that God wants us to be complete or mature. God’s desire is for you to be mature in Him and His kingdom. And the only reason we’re able to do such a thing is not because of your strength, but because of Christ’s strength on your behalf. Grow in this maturity in Christ. And understanding what he has done for you. Kingdom. Living is impossible without the power of the king and his people. Romans eight and verse one says this. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the law could not do, talking about the Religious law week as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but now according to the spirit. Jesus has set us free. This king. Comes to a humble people. And the crowds that are following Jesus in this moment. They’re they’re following Christ because they’ve seen Christ travel into the cities, and he’s healing the blind. And and he’s casting out demons and he’s speaking words of life. And he’s saying to us just as he comes and proclaims us as blessed in him you also. You also are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. You represent him. We as people have the opportunity in just what Jesus is saying, to go and to speak into the lives of people that are hurting. To love and to care, and the Minister for the downcast and the. And the people that feel broken and and that recognize they have a need. I mean, it’s beautiful when when God gives you the opportunity just to encounter others and talk to them about the goodness of who Christ is.
He is a good king. Last week we ended with a thought worthy is the lamb. The last few encounters I’ve had and being able to talk with people. Um, it was it was really weird moments for me. I remember going out and just having some time to sit next to a couple people, traveling and and talking to them about the Lord, and some of the strangest things happen. When I was when I was talking, I was just sharing, sharing, sharing. And they kept asking questions and sharing and I’m talking, talking about Jesus and His goodness and why he came and what life is about. And and I get up to walk away. And the last two times I did this, when I get up to walk away, these people start following me like like walking through the grocery store, like, you know, get away. But the goodness of God. Salt of the earth. And you get the opportunity to share that. And and Jesus reminds us at the end of Matthew, it’s it’s not because you’re perfect. It’s because he’s perfect and his work is happening in you, maturing you and and working on you and and you are the light being an invitation to the world with the proclamation of this message of who Christ is. And so as he begins chapter six, he he says to us, center your heart upon the glory of your king, because he’s a he’s a caring king.
And he and he starts on the backdrop of religion and sharing this. If you look in, in chapter six and and verse one, he tells us to be beware of certain practices of people. He tells us why in verse two, there are those who who only give to people so they can toot their own horns. It literally says, I read it, they’re blowing their trumpets, they’re tooting their horns in verse two and in chapter five and six it goes on, it says, there are people that like to to pray in public so everyone can, can just recognize the how godly they are and then gets down to five and 16 and it says, and there there are people that even fast, they fast and then they just make themselves look like they’re suffering. And so you just feel so bad for them, how godly they are because of their suffering. And Jesus says this in verse one. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who is in heaven. Look, you don’t follow God to look good. You’re not following God to lift yourself up. The reason we belong to this king and this kingdom is to make much of our King who presented this kingdom to us, that his glory may be made known, that others may come to walk with him. It’s not about us.
It’s about him. He’s the one that cures. He’s the one that heals the spiritually broken hearted. He is the one that provides. It’s about him and his kingdom. Not about how great I am. The only goodness that rests in any of us is only because of the grace of God to begin with. And so Jesus shares this, this famous prayer for us in Matthew chapter six and verse nine, he says, instead of praying for your own glory, how about you think about praying this way? He says, praying this way. Our father. Who is in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. And there’s a stark difference between the individual of chapter six, verses two, five, 15, 16, and the individual in Matthew chapter six, verses nine and 13 or 9 213. Chapter six was an individual who used Jesus as a tool for their own glory. And when you get to verse nine, it’s those who are coming to Jesus for his glory. And you could see that in the mark of the prayer. God, it’s your kingdom. Come, God, it’s your will be done.
You know, as I was going through this passage this morning, this becomes really important when you get to chapter seven. I was going through this passage this week and praying through it, and and I was looking at the individual who’s whose heart is, is using Jesus as a tool and the individual whose heart is about his glory. And I just ask myself, you know, God, how how do I know I’m not deceiving myself? And how how do I know that I’m pursuing life for your glory and of not just fooling myself? Chapter seven really starts to bite down on that. But I think Jesus gives the answer in verses 14 and 15, or at least a way to demonstrate it in verses 14 and 15. He says, for if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your father will not forgive you your transgressions. Now, I’ve had people read this verse and just, like, freak out, you know? Um, ah, I’ve not forgiven them. I’m losing my salvation or whatever in Jesus. That’s not what this passage is saying. I think this passage is talking in relationship because Jesus is predominantly sharing this to his disciples of the crowds are present, and he’s referring to Heavenly Father as someone that you’re connected to intimately. So what I think God is saying is, is an unforgiving attitude.
Affects your relationship with God, right? An unforgiving attitude distances you from the Lord because forgiveness is exactly what Jesus had to do for you to be reconciled to him. Because at one point, apart from Christ, you were enemies of God. And God’s desire for you is to work on your forgiveness with others and to forgive others so that they can can then, through that reconciliation, begin to see Jesus lived out in your life. Any time there’s division, there’s sin, and sin causes disunity and distances us in our relationships, and it distances you from the opportunity of being salt and light in the world. And so what Jesus is identifying here, I think in Matthew chapter six and verse 1415 here, let me give you a test real quick just to see where your heart is and your pursuit. Because when you live for Jesus and His kingdom, you understand one thing for Jesus and His kingdom is that people are important to Jesus and His kingdom. Jesus came for people and Jesus created us in his image. And and Jesus gave his life. And all of that just identifies the significance of people and of Jesus is willing to do that for his kingdom. Then who am I to stand in the way from the work of the kingdom which Jesus wants to conduct? Your willingness to lay yourself down. It was really seen in forgiveness.
Harboring vengeance in your heart. Or the focus of vengeance often becomes about self and me and getting mine and elevating me and serving me and finding that I have what I need. But forgiveness. Forgiveness. Lets go of self. It starts thinking about others and serving others and elevating others for the sake of Christ. It’s what Jesus did. He didn’t come to be served, but to serve. The eternity is important. Jesus and His kingdom is important. You know, I think one of the ways that we get to Matthew chapter six and being able to live that life. Just to recognize just how blessed you are in Christ. And there are things in life I know things matter to us, but sometimes we make things matter so much that they’re bigger to us than the things that are the greatest. Belonging to Jesus. That’s as great as it gets. Being a part of a kingdom. That endures for eternity in all of its goodness that that matters. Some of the battles that we put before that. When Jesus himself let go of it all. For us, it’s it’s important to recognize where our heart lies in Jesus. I think continues to speak towards this type of attitude, because sometimes we want to hold on to vengeance, and sometimes we want to harbor things for ourselves. But can I can I just tell you this morning, whatever God plans to do with things in your life that are frustrating you, or have made you mad, or have have treated you unjustly, whatever Jesus plans to do with those are going to be far greater than what you do in your own strength.
I understand that there are certain civil laws and government that God uses to help us, and I’m not telling you to ignore. Um, I’m just justice. And I’m not telling you that forgiveness means you have to sweep things under the rug. I think forgiveness means that you actually get to confront things, um, and talk about things, but you also release people in things. And and so Matthew or in Matthew chapter six, Jesus says this. He’s talking about those who are full of anxiety. And and he says, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Do not then worry. Then saying, what will I eat? Or what will I drink? Or what will we wear for? For clothing? The tension within our lives, and one of the reasons that we like to grab hold of things and we like to harbor our own vengeance, and we like to worry about the days because it’s me controlling it. It’s me having the power. It’s me being the top dog. And and what Jesus is saying here is what his kingdom is about.
Really. Is letting go. Letting go of you and your kingdom and your throne. And trusting in the God who cares for you and honestly better than you can care for yourself. Maybe starting with a clean slate when you come to this kingdom and just saying to your king, King, this is your life that you have created for you. And God, what is it that you desire as my King in your kingdom that I can? I can live for you and and honoring you and letting you write the book. And, um, there was a story where you pop my clock up. There was a story I heard once, um, about a pilot, and and he was talking about repentance. And John’s message was, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. That’s what he said was, Jesus is coming to the earth. And and he was talking about learning to fly with his instructor. And his instructor beside him had control of the wheels. And and he was teaching him to to climb with his, his plane and cut the engine and dive back down and start the engine again before they crash. It’s a part of, I guess, getting a pilot license I will never do, but but he was comparing this to a relationship with God and he said, you know, the first time I did it, the instructor did it. I got to feel all the the way he controlled the stick and the way he controlled the engine and and when he cut the power.
And then he said, after I’m as I was filling the will beside him as he was doing it, he said, now you do it. And he did it the first time. And he cut the engine and everything happened great. And the instructor was like, yeah, I’ll try it again. And he did it again. And and he was he was coming back down, he said, only this time, as he was, as he was coming back down and he was trying to start the engine, he just noticed that he could see this bay below him. And everything was just spinning, just spinning, just spinning. And all of a sudden he really regretted everything that he did, right? He regretted doing what this this instructor had told him to do. And and sometimes we look at repentance like that. We just regret we we regret getting caught or we regret or we feel bad or whatever. And he felt really bad. But he said this. That wasn’t what fixed the situation. It wasn’t what helped at all. Feeling bad didn’t do anything. It just meant I felt bad. And that’s not what repentance is. He said it was like this. It was at the moment where I let go of the will. And I told my instructor. Take control. It’s yours. That’s what Jesus’s kingdom is about.
God, this feels like a mess. God, I don’t like how this is going. God, my heart is cut deep here. God, you are my king. And you said I’m blessed. And you. And you’ve come from me and you are good. And so what I’m asking right now is that you just take control. God. The will is yours. When Jesus encourages them. Chapter seven. Be wise in the way that you live for your king. I can’t go there. Chapter seven. Chapter seven and verse one is an interesting statement that follows behind chapter seven and verses 15 and 16. If you read these two statements, they seem counter-intuitive, like they’re juxtaposed against one another, and they almost don’t make sense when you just read them at glance. But it says this chapter seven, verse one, probably one of the most quoted verses in the sermon on the Mount and the most wrongly quoted verses in the sermon on the Mount, it says, do not judge, so that you will not be judged right. But then Jesus goes on in verse 15 and says this beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered for their thornbushes, nor fig leaves for thistles are they? And so what Jesus is saying is, don’t, don’t judge. And oh yeah, judge, right. Don’t judge. And then there’s these bad guys.
Judge. Um, how how do these work together and what does it mean? Um, well, Jesus is saying in this statement, he actually goes on in verses six, he says, don’t cast pearls before swine and don’t don’t give dogs nice clothes. Right. Um, they’ll destroy them. And pigs don’t look good in pearls. Right. So what is that? What does all that mean? It sounds like it’s judging animals. Um. Don’t judge so that you will not be judged. There is a difference between judging someone to put them beneath you. And judging for the sake of discernment, right? I mean, you use discernment probably. I’m going to guess, hopefully every day when you’re driving down the road, it’s a good, good idea not to cross the yellow line oncoming vehicles when you’re hiking in the mountains. Probably good not to get too close to the ledge. Some discernment going on there, right? You’re using judgment in that way. And I would say good for you. Continue to do that. This verse is not telling you not to do that. And what this verse is saying is that as you’re using discernment. Don’t use it to push people down. And don’t use it to make people worthless before you, or don’t use it to build yourself up above other people. People are valuable to God because of their identity. And people are important to us because of their identity. God has given us our worth.
God’s saying in this passage of Scripture in verse one, he’s telling us, he goes on and says, don’t, don’t pull the splinter out of your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own right. Let me let me give you an illustration. Um, our our culture is over centralized and sex and sexuality. And I don’t even know if we know what way’s up at this point, but, um, we had, uh, I had an interesting conversation with a young high school guy. Not from here. Just so you know, parents of high school boys. And and he’s telling me, you know, it’s it’s okay for him to, um. Have sex with his girlfriend because he he loves her and okay, I don’t know what, 16 years old. I mean, let’s, let’s probably define what love is, but we’ll get there in a minute. What? What do you think? I’m curious when it comes to the boundaries of sex and sexuality, what are the boundaries for you? Because as I understand it, biblically, God gives us our sex and sexuality. It’s it. He gives the identity for it. So I just ask him some questions. I said, um, what do you think? Um, what do you think about adultery? Oh, that’s that’s wrong. Okay, well, what do you think about rape? Well, that’s wrong and. Okay, what do you think about. And I just went on and on and just scenarios of of just describing topics of sexuality and, and his identity was continuous.
Wrong. It’s wrong, it’s wrong. And then I just said, well, what do you appeal to morally to tell me whether or not that’s right or wrong? I mean, what governs what’s right or wrong there? Well, of course it’s God, right? Well, God says those are wrong. And I’m just interested. If God governs that and God’s over sex and sexuality. Um. What do you think he says about your stand? I’m not going to tell you. I just want to know what you think. I mean, when you’re taking your stand. You’re identifying your stand by your standard, right? What do you think God’s standard is? If it’s a gift from God, it matters to the Lord, right? And this individual told me that he belonged to God. And I said, well, if it’s he is your king and you belong to his kingdom. His. His standard is what we live for. I say all that to say this, we come to identify sex and sexuality as people. Um, somewhere along the lines when it comes to holding a stand as God’s people. We don’t ever do that to push people down. We don’t ever do that to belittle people. We don’t ever do that to isolate ourselves from people. And at the same time, we don’t have to embrace what anyone else defines. We belong to a king. Here’s the greatest thing I think we could understand in this statement is, guys, um, it is good to always love people, regardless of where they are.
And you can still walk with your king. You can have love and truth. Just because you belong to a king and kingdom doesn’t mean your expectation is that everyone belongs to king. Kingdom has to live like they belong to this king and kingdom. If they don’t, then then they they define what is right in their own eyes. That’s what the Book of Judges says. But you can still love them. You can love. And you can still have a stand. And that’s what this passage is saying. Listen, the church loses its power when it looks like the world. There’s something different about us. We’re the light of the world. We are. We are the salt of the earth. When? When you as a king. Uh, when you. When you represent this kingdom, when you have a log in your own eye. Just just confront your log before you worry about the splinter in your brother’s. Don’t be hypocritical. Live for your king and his kingdom. And then it just says this Matthew 728. He taught Jesus as one that taught with authority. I want to give you this last thought for us, and this is what Jesus says about his kingdom in Matthew 17. This is just a closing thought. When Jesus walks around and sharing about his his kingdom, it says this in Matthew 17 verse 20.
He said to them, because of the littleness of your faith, truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. He’s talking about the way that you represent Christ in this world. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you’d say to this mountain, move and you belong to this king. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. And Jesus uses the illustration of a mustard seed in our lives and the mustard seed, if you ever, if you’ve ever seen it, is just it’s just a tiny little insignificant speck. I mean, it’s just puny. And from that seed, a large tree grows. And and this is what I think Jesus is saying about the kingdom. It isn’t the size of the seed that matters. It’s the power that lies within that makes the difference. So some of us come to Jesus. And we understand that he’s invited us into his kingdom to represent the King. And we ask ourselves the question, what can I do? It isn’t the size of your seed that matters, but the power that lies within the counts. And Jesus, to those that belong in him, tell us that we are in His Spirit and by his strength we live in this world.