THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT:  AN INTRODUCTION

The most familiar of all the teaching sessions of Jesus is that portion of the gospels which we know as the Sermon on the Mount.  William Kelly, in his book titled Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew, states:  The Sermon on the Mount treats...the character and conduct of those that belong to Christ - the true, yet rejected King.

The main purpose of this sermon is Jesus' teaching about what is true righteousness.  The religious leaders of the day had a righteousness, an external one based on the keeping of the law.  They were concerned about the details of conduct.  They developed an elaborate system of rules and regulations for every possible situation in life.  Only by keeping the rules could one approach being righteous.  They were so conscious of rules that they had developed over six hundred additional rules besides those within the Old Testament Law.  Their laws brought people into a form of paralysis.  There certainly was no sense of freedom under their system.

On the other hand, Jesus taught that righteousness was not based upon what you do.  Righteousness has nothing to do with our conduct.  Instead, Jesus proclaimed that righteousness was cultivated through who a person was, upon his or her character.  You see, friends, a person's conduct always arises from his character.  What you are on the inside will be reflected by what you do on the outside.

So, Jesus begins this sermon on "character building" with a series of pronouncements with which we are all familiar.  We call them, "The Beatitudes."

Now, what exactly is a beatitude?  Well, the word comes from the Latin beatus which meant "happy or blessed."  Someone has defined it as "perfect happiness or blessedness."

So, what does it mean to be blessed?  Jesus alone uses this word over 50 times within the gospel accounts.  One of the best definitions I have read concerning this word blessed comes from the pen of Dr. Warren Wiersbe, for many years the pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago.  He writes:  This word was not used for humans; it described the kind of joy experienced only by the gods or the dead.  It implied an inner satisfaction and sufficiency that did not depend on outward circumstances for happiness.

You hear what Dr. Wiersbe is saying?  To be blessed has nothing to do with the outside forces pounding against your life right now.  It has everything to do with what God is doing inside your life.  You can be as poor as a pauper and still be blessed by God.  You can have your health removed from you and still be blessed by God - just ask Job about that one.

Friends, over the course of the next several weeks, we are going to discover the secrets to that inner peace through which God brings His blessings into our lives.  I trust that you will join us each day and that you will read and reread Matthew 5-7 until it becomes a part of your life.

• Father God, We have begun an exciting adventure into discovering what it means to be blessed by You.  We speak so flippantly about being blessed by God without fully understanding exactly what we are saying.  Father, open our eyes in the coming weeks, so that we might search the inner recesses of our heart to know the joys of Your blessings.  We pray this in Christ's name.  Amen. 

 

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