Welcome to Day 2103 of  Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Sermon on the Mount 1 - The Upside-Down Culture – Daily Wisdom

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2103 of our trek to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Beginning today, I will share the messages I have delivered at Putnam Congregational Church over the past couple of years. This first series of messages will cover the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5-7. I pray that it will be a conduit for learning and encouragement. Putnam Church Message – 05/16/2021

Sermon on the Mount – The Upside-Down Culture

Matthew 5:1-2 The Sermon on the Mount covering Matthew 5-7 is Matthew’s version of the good news. It is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though possibly it is the least understood, and indeed, it is the least obeyed. Nevertheless, it is the nearest thing to a manifesto that Jesus ever uttered, for it is his description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do. In my mind, no two words better summarize its intention or indicate its challenge to the modern world more clearly than the expression “Christian counter-culture.” You might say it is an upside-down culture. Let me tell you why. I realize that King Solomon tells us there is nothing new “under the sun.” Still, with our ever-advancing technology and ability to communicate instantly to the entire world at once, it appears that a Christian counter-culture is more necessary than ever before when we take to heart the manifesto that Christ preached in The Sermon on the Mount. We have seen through the past several decades a spirit of disillusion. Each rising generation is disillusioned with the world it has inherited. Sometimes the reaction has been naive, though that is not to say it has been insincere. For example, there were times of unrest in the recent past coming out of the Vietnam War. There were riots and bombings in our country and many other places worldwide. But, unfortunately, we tend to forget those events quickly. The pandemic of the past 18 months has brought to the forefront what has been brewing under the surface for several decades. The events and philosophies have been put into overdrive. When you consider the violent uprisings, riots, BLM, Critical Race Theory, Wokeness, Cancel Culture, Entitlement Mentality, and many other movements that we read about nearly every day, it seems like the wheels have fallen off the bus called common sense. It looks like someone has been passing out crazy pills. It is not just young adults anymore; adults of all ages have been influenced. Of course, with 24/7 always-on opinion newscasts, the talking heads constantly push an agenda. Add to that instant online social media; anyone can have their bully pulpit to spew their doctrine anywhere. When we begin to despair, we have to remind ourselves again. Although the noise may be louder today, there is nothing new under the sun. In a way, Christians should find this disturbing alternative reality prevalent in our culture one of the most hopeful, even exciting, signs of the times. For we recognize in it the activity of God’s Spirit within us who, before he was our comforter, was our disturber. We know for our current society to find true peace and comfort, it will only find it through the Spirit of Peace. Those pressing so hard against this Christian counter-culture are doing so because they desperately seek peace in their souls. In Matthew 16:25-27, Jesus tells us, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.” The current culture looks for the right things, such as acceptance, equality, inclusion, meaning, peace, love, and reality in the wrong places. The first place they should turn is the one they usually ignore: the church. Too often, what they see in the church is not a Christian counter-culture but conformism to a set of rules and expectations. They perceive not a new life but a death of morality. I opened with this information because it is an essential background to understanding the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is found in Matthew’s Gospel towards the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Immediately after his baptism and temptation, he announced that the kingdom of God, long promised in the Old Testament era, was now on the threshold. Jesus had come to inaugurate the kingdom of God. With him, the new age had dawned, and the rule of God had broken into history.  The Sermon on the Mount is to be seen in this context. It portrays repentance, which is the Greek word metanoia, and means to have a complete change of mind, resulting in the right living that belongs in the kingdom. It describes what human life and the human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God. What do living and community look like as we build God’s kingdom? Certainly something different than today’s culture displays! Jesus emphasized that his faithful followers, the citizens of God’s kingdom, were entirely different from others. They were not to take their cue from the people around them, but from him, and prove to be genuine children of their heavenly Father. A key text of the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 6:8, “Don’t be like them.” God had called Abraham to leave home and build a new nation that was distinct and set apart from all other nations. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ calls us (his church) to establish God’s kingdom on earth, comprised of all nations. Our character is to be utterly distinct from that admired by the world (the beatitudes). We are to shine like lights in the prevailing darkness. Our right living is to exceed that of those within our modern culture who believe they lead the crusade for new world order. The Sermon on the Mount, which we will be learning about over the next few weeks, is the new world order as we establish God’s Kingdom on earth. God’s kingdom is more than the USA, it is worldwide. Every passage of the Sermon on the Mount shows the contrast between Christian counter-culture and today’s modern culture, which is growing ever-increasingly. It is the underlying and uniting theme of the Sermon, touching every aspect of how we should live. As followers of Jesus, we are to be different—from church traditions not based on God’s Word, and the secular world. We are to be different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the complete definition anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, lifestyle, and network of relationships—all of which are opposite to the non-Christian world of today’s modern culture. This Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life under divine rule. Today we are looking at just two verses: the introduction to the Sermon. It is brief but impressive. Matthew 5:1-2 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. There can be little doubt that Jesus deliberately went up on the mountain to teach and draw a parallel between He and Moses, who received the law at Mount Sinai. Although Jesus was greater than Moses and his message was more good news than law, he chose twelve apostles as the nucleus of a new Israel to correspond to the twelve patriarchs and tribes of the old covenant. Jesus also claimed to be both teacher and lord, gave his authoritative interpretation of Moses’ law, issued commandments, and expected obedience. He later invited his disciples to assume his “yoke” or submit to his teaching, as they had previously borne the yoke of the Torah. At all events, Jesus sat down, assuming the posture of a rabbi or legislator, and his disciples gathered around him, to listen to his teaching. Then he began to teach them. As we consider the Sermon on the Mount, three questions may come to mind. First, what is written in Matthew’s authentic teachings of Jesus? Secondly, are its contents relevant to the contemporary world or are they hopelessly outdated? Thirdly, are its standards attainable, or must we dismiss them as a largely unpractical ideal?

1. Is the Sermon authentic?

The Sermon on the Mount occurs only in the first Gospel (Matthew). There is a similar sermon in Luke’s Gospel, sometimes called “The Sermon on the Plain.” Luke says it was delivered “on a level place” to which Jesus “came down” after having gone “into the hills” to pray. But the apparent location difference need not detain us, for the “level place” may well have been not a plain or valley but a plateau in the hills. A comparison of the contents of the two sermons reveals at once that they are not identical. Luke’s is considerably shorter, consisting of only 30 verses in contrast to Matthew’s 107, and each includes material absent from the other. Nevertheless, there are also obvious similarities between them. Both sermons begin with “beatitudes.” Both end with the parable of the two housebuilders. In between contain the golden rule, the commands to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek, the prohibition against judging people, and the vivid illustrations of the log or speck in the eye and of the tree and its fruit. With a shared beginning and ending, this common material suggests that the two are versions of the same Sermon. Bible scholars have some questions about whether these passages were given in one sitting or were an accumulation of Christ’s teachings during His early ministry. Since we believe that all Scripture is inspired, God allowed Matthew and Luke to record these teachings using their unique personalities and styles in the form of what we call a sermon as a means for us to grasp Christ’s teachings. Both give it a precise historical and geographical context, ascribing it to his early ministry in Galilee and stating that he delivered it “on the mountain” or “on a level place” in the hills. Matthew records the astonished reaction of the crowds when he finishes, primarily because of the authority with which he speaks. And both say that, when it was over, “he entered Capernaum.” It is believed that Luke gives a briefer summary, omitting a good deal, while Matthew records more, if not most, of it. Another thought is that Matthew elaborates an originally shorter sermon, enlarging it by adding authentic and appropriate utterances of Jesus from other contexts. Nevertheless, we could still assert that the Holy Spirit directed the selection and arrangement.

2. Is the Sermon relevant?

Some people in our modern culture question whether the Sermon is relevant to everyday life.  We can only judge this by a detailed examination of its contents. What is immediately remarkable is that, however it came to be composed, it forms a wonderfully coherent whole. It represents the behavior that Jesus expected of each of his disciples, who are also citizens of God’s kingdom. We see Jesus as he is in himself, in his heart, motives, and thoughts, the secret place with his Father. We also see Jesus in the arena of public life.  We see his relations with his fellow humans.  He is showing mercy, making peace, being persecuted, acting as salt, letting his light shine, loving and serving others (even his enemies), and devoting himself to the extension of God’s kingdom and righteousness in the world. Let me briefly analyze the Sermon that will comprise our messages over the next few weeks and help demonstrate its relevance to us in the twentieth-first century.  As I prepare for the following few messages, we will see the following seven aspects to integrate into our lives.

1. A Christian’s character (5:3–12)

The beatitudes emphasize eight principal marks of Christian character and conduct, especially in relation to God and humans and the divine blessing that rests on those who exhibit these marks.

2. A Christian’s influence (5:13–16)

The two metaphors of salt and light indicate the influence for good that Christians will exert in the community if (and only if) they maintain their distinctive character as portrayed in the beatitudes.

3. A Christian’s righteousness (5:17–48)

What is a Christian’s attitude to God's moral law? Should the Old Testament law be abolished in the Christian life? Is Jesus advocating a new set of morals ‘not under the law?’  Jesus said he had not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. He stated that greatness in God’s kingdom was determined by conformity to this moral teaching.  Jesus taught that entry into the kingdom was impossible without righteousness greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:17–20). He gave six illustrations of this greater Christian purity (5:21–48), relating to murder, adultery, divorce, swearing, revenge, and love. In each contrast, he rejected the easy-going tradition of the scribes, reaffirmed the authority of Old Testament Scripture, and drew out the full and exacting implications of God’s moral law.

4. A Christian’s righteousness (6:1–18)

In their religious devotion, Christians resemble neither the hypocritical display of the Pharisees nor the mechanical formalism of pagans. On the contrary, Christian righteousness is to be marked above all by reality, by the sincerity of God’s children who live in their heavenly Father’s presence.

5. A Christian’s ambition (6:19–34)

The “worldliness” that Christians are to avoid can take either a religious or a secular shape. So we are to differ from non-Christians not only in our devotions, but also in our ambitions. In particular, Christ changes our attitude about material wealth and possessions. It is impossible to worship God and money; we must choose between them. Secular people are preoccupied with the quest for food, drink, and clothing. Christians are free of these self-centered material anxieties and instead give themselves to the spread of God’s rule and God’s righteousness. Our supreme ambition is to be the glory of God and not concerned with our recognition or material well-being. It is a question of what we “seek first.”

6. A Christian’s relationships (7:1–20)

Christians are caught up in a complex network of relationships arising from our relation to Christ. Once we correctly relate to him, our other relationships are all affected. New relationships are created; old relationships are changed. Thus, we should not judge our brother but serve him (1–5). We are also to avoid offering the gospel to those who have decisively rejected it (6), to keep praying to our heavenly Father (7–12), and to beware of false prophets who hinder people from finding the narrow gate and the hard way (13–20).

7. A Christian’s commitment (7:21–27)

The ultimate issue posed by the whole Sermon concerns the preacher's authority. The fundamental question is whether we mean what we say and do what we hear. On this commitment hangs our eternal destiny. We are wise only when we obey Christ as Lord. For only he is building his house on a rock foundation, which the storms neither of adversity nor judgment will be able to undermine. When we conclude our teaching about the Sermon on the Mount a few weeks from now, we will see the crowds were astonished by the authority with which Jesus taught. It is an authority to which the followers of Jesus in every generation must submit. So to answer the second overall question, we understand the lordship of Christ is as relevant today, both in principle and in the detailed application, as when he originally preached his Sermon on the Mount.

3. Is the Sermon practical?

This third question is that of the pragmatist or realist. It is one thing to be convinced of the Sermon’s relevance in theory but quite another to be sure it will work in practice. Are its standards attainable? Or must we rest content with admiring them wistfully from afar? When we consider the reality of human perversity, are the Sermon standards on the Mount unattainable? Should we say that its ideals are noble but unpractical? Are they attractive to imagine but impossible to fulfill? How can we be meek if we know something of our self-assertive egotism? If we know about our absolute sexual passion, how can we refrain from lustful looks and thoughts? How can we be forbidden to worry if the world's cares absorb us? We know our proneness to anger and thirst for revenge; how can we be expected to love our enemies? More than this. Is not the requirement to turn the other cheek to an assailant as dangerous to the health of society as it is beyond the attainment of the individual? Inviting further violence in this way leaves it unchecked and actively encourages it.  After these questions, we may conclude that The Sermon on the Mount is of no practical value to individuals or communities. At best, it represents the unpractical idealism of a visionary. It is a dream which could never come true. At the beginning, I said that the Sermon on the Mount was best characterized as a Christian counter-culture that Jesus was making exceptional demands for an exceptional situation. It is upside-down from today’s culture. Only when we understand that our primary purpose as believers is to promote and build God’s kingdom will we be able to understand and apply Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Otherwise, we will view His teachings with foolish optimism or hopeless despair. Jesus spoke the Sermon to those who were already his disciples. If we are his disciples, we are the citizens of God’s kingdom and the children of God’s family. The high standards he set are appropriate only for those who are building His kingdom. We do not, indeed could not, achieve this privileged status by attaining Christ’s standards. Instead, by fulfilling his standards or similar to them, we give evidence of God’s free grace and gift we already are.  It is not the Sermon on the Mount that is upside-down. It is our modern culture. As disciples of Christ, it is up to us to turn our culture right-side up. Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal. As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously