and now gracious Lord we look to you for help as you know we need help and so we ask you to please come into our midst and minister to us and be our teacher and help us think the thoughts that would be in line with your thinking and see the things to do and understand how to go about doing them and and uh that would uh in such a way that that would bring honor and glory to you all right uh now um today we want to continue our descent into the details and um uh we started out with very um abstract but I think very important discussions about what God is doing and what God is like um how he works in human history and especially how he works in a hidden way and his kingdom comes into the world which he made and was a part of the kingdom and uh in time his son comes into the world and calls people to follow him and then we of course fit in there now last night we tried to talk about uh how we would um proceed in in our groups of Christians local congregations I call them and that's good enough phrase for it how we'd proceed there if in fact we had intended to teach people to do everything that Jesus said and I raised the question of whether or not what we do is actually directed towards that and said that if uh indeed that were our aim then we would evaluate everything we do in the light of that aim and uh I challenge you to think about the vision that actually governs the local group and whether or not there is a vision that is any more clear and uh focused than simply surviving and as an old man I used to listen to on the radio used to say he would ask people to send in their offerings that they might keep on keeping on and a lot of our groups are just keeping on keeping on that's the limit of their Vision survival perpetuation of what they've been doing and so the issue really is what is what are we trying to do uh and then the clarification of Our intention our decision in the light of that vision and a major part of pastoring for example is wisely arranging for people to be together for their spiritual growth and development and understanding spiritual growth and development now in terms of increasing obedience to Christ from the heart a lot of our talk today about spiritual formation doesn't have the focus on obedience so let me just say for your consideration that the engine that pulls the train of Christian spiritual formation is obedience to Christ that's what it's all about and now we've talked a lot about how you have to avoid legalism when you're going in that direction that's absolutely crucial but you have to go in that direction and you go in that direction by not by aiming at doing the right thing or not doing the wrong thing that's the righteousness Of The Scribe and the Pharisees you aim at obedience to Christ by inward transformation you aim at inward transformation and obedience to Christ is the result and so we were able to talk a little bit last evening about how how we would aim at inward transformation you recall that we we discussed this thing that Jesus says about not swearing and how we need to let our yes be a yes and our no be a no now I I do want to suggest that most of what we do together and spend our time on in the local meetings is not clearly directed towards that and if I'm wrong I want to be told and uh I hope I am wrong but I don't I think unfortunately that most of what we do do do is not clearly directed toward that inward transformation that will result in obedience and I think the results testify to that we we we are in the situation in because of what we do and what we preach or what we don't do and what we don't preach so then it's helpful historically to look at how people have been together when they were focused on that I don't have time to say much of anything about that but uh you can learn a lot just by studying how things have gone when things really were working to that end and there are cases of that and nearly every denom ation can look back at a time when they were focused on that and um that doesn't necessarily mean that you ought to go back and do that do what that denomination was doing but you need to find an equivalent where you are I need to find an equivalent where I am and it's a real struggle it's a real struggle because you are essentially trying to change the understanding that the people have who come come and who support financially and by their presence and by their efforts you are essentially changing their understanding of that and that is something that is tough to negotiate and get through we talked about some of that last night so we need to recognize those problems but not to be deterred from the goal so uh the goal namely of ourselves and then leading others to change to the point that they become uh people who routinely do the things that Jesus said do not who do that as an exception but that's the rule of their life now we want to go back to The Sermon on the Mount and we want to um we want to try to deal with this sermon more systematically and let's start at the end uh let's start at verse 21 of chapter 7 of Matthew and here is what Jesus said uh he's actually been warning in this passage about not doing the things he said and about people who don't don't do the things that he said and don't teach people to do that and um and he says in verse 20 that you will know people by their fruits in other words what they do indicates what who they really are so watch what they do and in particular if they do not do the things that Jesus said but only pretend to well then they are back in the category of the hypocrite where the pH scribe and the Pharisee wound up now verse 21 says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of the heavens I remember the righteous The Scribe and the Pharisee that was a talk about how to get beyond that and enter the kingdom of the heavens now do you understand by this point he's not talking about going to heaven when you die that's the way this verse is often applied and obviously there's some relationship right if you just say Lord Lord that's that doesn't get you to the Heart level Beyond the righteousness Of The Scribe and the Pharisee not everyone who says that will enter the kingdom of the heavens but he who does the will of my father who is in the heavens now see if you don't understand how Jesus teaches you'll Rush right off and make up a bunch of laws and say I'm going to do that and I'll enter probably go to heaven when I die that misses the whole point of the teaching he's talking about becoming the kind of person who would do that the kind of person who would do the things that he said is the kind of person who's going to be in an interactive relationship with the kingdom of the heavens many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles now I want you to notice that he doesn't reply to this by saying you didn't either you didn't do that he he doesn't say they didn't do that what he says is well that's a different story then I will declare to you I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness or people who work iniquity or you may have some other translation there let's see the references back to again who are you and not what you do there's some people want to rush right off and say well this is demonic they were they were casting out demons in the name of demons but just notice now he doesn't say that and I leave you to think that out because you see you can get involved in works like that and still not be changed did you know that you can that that does not require that you remember Samson Samson did some pretty and pretty impressive stuff and you'll notice he did it in a strength that was not his and you'll remember the story well will you not that when he lost his connection with God he couldn't do those things anymore he wound up isas in Gaza grinding at a mill one of the great things you learn in the Book of Judges is that Mighty Deeds do not necessarily have to do with character God performs Mighty Deeds through people in many cases because he has something he wants accomplished and he's prepared to use people to accomplish that you look at the book of uh First's books of first and 2 Corinthians in the opening of first first Corinthians he says to the Corinthians now you do not come behind in any spiritual gift and what is Corinthians basically about it's basically about character problems and about the inner life and then Gifts of course are fitted into that and I said last night and I want to reemphasize you can't dispense with those that's what Ephesians 4 was about you have to have gifts and you have to have people who are empowered to do things that are not in their own power and you can't just get along with the fruit you have to have gifts in order for the body to work and for people to grow but you do have to understand that these do not necessarily mean christlikeness and sometimes people who have gifts aren't even well balanced and a gift sometimes seems to require that you not be well balanced to Bear the gift so you have to understand that now look at what Jesus says there I will declare to them I never knew you and depart from me and then the following verses from 24- 27 everyone who hears the words these words of mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise person who built his house upon the rock do you see what it says hears and acts hears and and does them other translations will say the rain in his case he took the word and he just did it so now what I'm belaboring here with this passage is simply this I want to ask you the question after looking at that do you have the thought that we're supposed to do what Jesus said that impress you as being the situation and what what is he referring to he's referring back to all the things he said in the sermon it starts out with blessed are the poor in spirit proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom moves on to anger and so on we're going to go back and spend most of our time this morning on those particular details but I I have to ask ask you is it your impression that there is some good reason why you don't need to do the things that Jesus said now there have been whole systems of hermeneutics built around avoiding The Sermon on the Mount this is sometimes called dispensationalism but there are actually other versions of it too dispensation ism is the most commonly known version in our country because there was for many years really a wonderful name man named CI scoffield who wrote a Bible called The scoffield Bible and that scoffield Bible was the Seminary to which huge numbers of ministers went for several decades and I'll tell you it had wonderful things and very helpful things in it but one of them is if you look at the old scoffield notes the original addition you will see he plainly says that the Sermon on the Mount is for the Millennium and the only exceptions that he makes are divorce and forgiveness you should forgive people before the Millennium and before the Millennium you are not permitted to divorce I I presume that will extend into the Millennium but so you have wh systems of avoiding see now that's I'm Southern Baptist Southern Baptist Bibles wear out at Romans 1 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God into salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also the Greek charismatic Bibles were at Acts 2 so that's where the leaves began to fall out or maybe 1 Corinthians um 12 and 12 and 14 but the gospels remain rather pristine in those circles you might not know I've actually had people say to me in churches where I've gone and and preach the gospel why don't we hear this Jesus is pretty clear about it is he I mean he doesn't say now in the Millennium the poor in spirit are going to be blessed and in the Millennium uh you shouldn't speak with contempt for people you doesn't say that that's an imposed system and it reflects a serious doubt about whether or not we are supposed to do or can do the things that Jesus said Johnny Cash has a song we had Johnny Cash on here yesterday I think I love Johnny Cash he has an old song that says the beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars that means it's in there the beast in me stays and there's a very frail hold over that beast and you hear people present the Christian faith as if that's what it that's that's the way it is until you die and you can't really do it Charlie Daniels you know Charlie Daniels oh Jesus how could you love me oh Jesus how could you love me cuz when I have a choice between good and bad I choose bad two out of three you ever hear that song see that's a part of culture down in South Missouri we had an associational missionary named ER Elliott and er had really been around the road he was a wonderful fellow and he used to say well when you convert him you might as well just knock them in the head real quick because they're bigger then than they're ever going to be again he said they're like wasps you know when wasps hatch hatch out they're still still damp and swollen and then after they're out for a little while they dry out and they get smaller he said they're like wasp now I ask you sincerely do we really believe that what Jesus said is for us to do you believe believe we can do it believe we should do it well I mean I I collect sayings and things that people say about all of this and I think the overwhelming sense is that we don't need to do it and probably can't and so then The Sermon on the Mount sits there and at most makes people feel a little guilty and if they get very very serious they have to be driven into legalism but they never come to terms with it and so now what we want to do this morning is try to talk about the sermon in a way that it will become the substance of our teaching and of Our Lives and in such a way that each of us will say yes this is for me this is for me and each of us will set our course to live out the things that Jesus is talking about we become the kind of person who would just do what he says not in the physical way but in the way of discipleship which moves us toward inward transformation and the kind of inner life that leads us easily to do that okay are you ready for that now because I mean if I mean there's enough people in this room to turn the the world on its ear people in this room but you're not going to do it with a slick plan of church growth and you're not going to do it in any other way than by your own transformation and that spreading out to other people that's the only way it works so now um before we get into the details of it let's think about the whole sermon and you can you can think of this whole sermon as expressing the kind of heart that Jesus gives to people and I like to I like to address the whole sermon Under The Heading of the heart that Jesus gives the heart that Jesus gives and then as you go through the sermon you see different aspects of that showing up uh we won't have time to do all of them but I do want to cover the main points in the sermon and so um if you want to follow this breakdown now in terms of aspects of life that show up from this heart that has changed the kingdom heart here's how it would go first of all you have presented lives that are free of anger and contempt and that's Matthew 52- 26 and we'll talk about why we why he gives us the order he does later and then secondly you have lives free from Domination by sexual lust and disgust sexual lust and disgust free from Domination by those that is Matthew 5: 27-32 Matthew 5 27-32 and if you have your text open there I think you can almost see the the breaks as they come by then the third uh section is on being lives free from desire to dominate and control verbally now that we talked about that last night as an illustration that's where he's talking about swear not and I hope you remember now that's he's not saying don't cuss it's not about cussing it's about swearing it's not even about profanity or filthy language it's about using language in such a way that you don't just plainly state things and let them stand for people to respond to you try to manipulate people by the way you put things now that can be can be swearing or cussing too because you ask uh why people cuss well that's an interesting topic uh you could do some good sermons and teaching on that if you think about it where they say things like Jesus Christ well what is that what do they doing you know why do they do that well actually it is a form of what Jesus is talking about so that's in 5 33-37 uh then on uh the next section section four free from grudges fairness issues and paying back grudges fairness issues and paying back so if you look at 38 through 42 you'll see these are things like turning the other cheek and so on going the second mile know those are those are teaches teachings about fairness grudges and paying back so what he's presenting here is a heart that is free from that it doesn't carry grudges it isn't obsessed with what's fair and what isn't that really hits people today because so much of our culture is devoted to fairness issues children very quickly learn about that and and try to use it so that's a major thing that has to be addressed and then of course paying back and then the fifth section is on the heart that is able to love enemies and bless those who curse and that is 5 43-48 now that finishes chapter 5 what's chapter six about well chapter 6 deals with two things and I'm going to have less time to deal with these than any of the rest of it um I think but actually I may change my mind on that before the day is over depending on how the discussion here develops but chapter 6 has two main sections one is 6 1-8 and that deals with performing for human credit performing for human credit and um the first section deals with doing good deeds with praying and fasting and uh this issue of performance is a major one but the the Kingdom Heart does not perform for human credit and then the second half of the sixth chapter is about not trusting in physical substances really that whole chapter is about trusting one is trusting in your reputation and the other is trusting in money and so from 619 through 634 it's about trusting physical means or money mainly and that's the one that concludes of course with the section about not being anxious about what you're going to eat or what you wear and so on and has the great verse seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added the final section of the sermon in terms of the heart that is expressed is in chapter 7 1-12 and we do want to try to spend significant time on that uh towards the end of the day this is about not managing others by condemnation engineering that's a word I or phrase I try to use to indicate how people try to get people to do things by judgment and condemnation and laying good stuff on them uh so we'll have to look at that in some detail and we'll see how that moves out into the community of prayerful love so you have a section here um that you go right from how you deal with others uh into the life of prayer um that's really fundamental for understanding community life especially uh in our churches and uh the that life of prayer then leads over in verse 12 of chapter 7 to the great statement therefore however you want people to treat you so treat them for this is the law and the prophets treat people as you want to be treated now the therefore we want to explain why that therefore is there because you move right from the life of prayer to how you treat others in the in the kingdom of God and then the last section of the sermon all all has to do with this business of doing it and um really warnings about hearing and not doing now you see I I hope you realize at this point I hope you've thought the thought that we've actually established a culture of hearing and not doing we've established a culture of hearing and not doing not just in our churches but in the larger society people here they don't do it and that's why life does not go very well um and so those are the main divisions that we'll be looking at as we go on through the day and with that we turn back to chapter 5 now then um why does he begin where he does why does it develop the way it does the first thing you want to understand when you look at The Sermon on the Mount is that this is a master teacher who knows exactly what he's doing and therefore there is a reason why he orders things the way he does that's why he starts off at the opening of the sermon with the issue of who is blessed because who is blessed is going determine how one behaves we act for what is good in our eyes and so the first um thing that he has to discuss is who is well off and that that covers those Beatitudes and what comes immediately after it and uh shocking statements that he made like you are the light of the world you are the salt of the earth we pause over that for a moment see because um that that is often not thought to apply to me and you and so here's a suggestion I mean put us put on your bathroom mirror you are the light of the world you are the salt of the earth now you say well Jesus is the light of the world no you can't get off easy you're the light of the world where you are if you are not the light there isn't going to be any light that's your calling now one of the reasons why you have to understand the Beatitudes as taking a list of the humanly un bless and announcing that they too can be blessed in the kingdom of God is because if you don't understand that then you won't know the connection between those next statements where he announces to Ordinary People very Ordinary People in verse 13 of Matthew 5 you are the salt of the earth and then he warns that salt can become tasteless what they call Salt in those days was not what we call Salt what they call Salt in those days was more a kind of rock compound and you could leech the salt out of it and it would still be there that's what it means here when it talks about salt becoming tasteless the salt you have in your Shaker can't become tasteless because it's pure salt but the salt that they had in those days was not pure salt it was a kind of rock compound often Limestone or other things and you could actually leech the salt out of it and that's what he's talking about here and if it it does loses its salt you can't give the salt back to it not in in those days they didn't have the technology for it it's good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and Trampled Under Foot of men they took it and and would strw it uh in a muddy place to make a pathway where you could walk like we would do with gravel today and that's what he's saying here then he goes on you're the light of the world you're the light of the world now here he makes a different point that a city that is set on a hill can't be hidden what he's saying here is being the light of the world all you have to do is be the light of the world you don't need to make an effort to be seen and no matter how dark it gets Darkness cannot put out a light light you ever know that that's one of the interesting asymmetries between light and darkness light expels Darkness Darkness does not expel light the darker it gets the brighter the light shines and that is true of the disciple Jesus that's why when it gets dark you can be proud and thankful to be a disciple of Jesus and you can be assured that you don't have to announce that you are shining right you don't have to announce that you just shine and so one of the things that Jesus is telling us here is we can put God in charge of our public relations if we have the real stuff it can't be hid it cannot be hid now you see that comes together with the things that I've been hammering on here the true Acumen among Christians is obedience to Christ we can have people now who work next to next to one another for years and they both attend church and are professing Christians but at work they never find out they're Christians and you might be tempted to say if you have a spiritual life that can be hidden maybe it should be maybe it should be that might be the best thing Jesus says you if you are the light of the world where you are that's your appointment that's what God foresaw for you from the foundation of the world that's a part of what's built into the idea of the kingdom of God is that you did not take God by surprise he foresaw the world in which you would be born and the family and all that goes into that world and he had you in mind for that place from the foundation of the world so now that's your place to be the light of the world how are are you going to be the light of the world you're going to be the light of the world by living out the kingdom of God in that place that's how you are the light of the world you bring the kingdom of God into that place and you let it work now you I hope you you would know by you all know because you're students of the scripture and we've talked about here what that means what form that's going to take you're going to be a person who does the right thing why do you do the right thing because you're a person of love and because you live in faith a faith in God that allows you to know that if you do the right thing God will stand with you see that's one of the things you learn as a disciple of Jesus you never have to do anything wrong you never have to do anything wrong wrong people who do not not stand there always think you know people want to be good but they're ready to do what's wrong if necessary let see that's the little Clause you ever hear the phrase business business when do people say business is business when they're getting ready to do something wrong right or at least something they believe is wrong and they're going to say well we have to do it we have to do it that's when they say business is business and now the Christian will always say business is never just business could I get you to write that one down business is never just business see there's a popular idea that you can't do business in a Godly way because you're always going to come to that point where business is business that means you're now prepared to trust yourself and your own devices and not God that's what it means at that point the light diminishes and everyone says well really you're just like everybody else let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and say you are really wonderful did I misread did I misread verse you wonderful no no they not they're going see your father in Heaven that they may see your good works and glorify your father in Heaven they're not going to see your good works if you say the all those words like business is business or whatever it is we do to explain why we find it necessary to do what we believe is not best or perhaps is outright wrong they'll never see that light it's when you stand there in the world and you say blessed are those who are facing unemployment not because unemployment is good but because they too can live in the kingdom of God even if they're unemployed facing bankruptcy facing shutting down the business or whatever see so now you have to have that solidly in place the order of the sermon is fundamental and anyone who does not know where their blessedness is in the kingdom of God is not going to be able to go on beyond the righteousness Of The Scribe and the Pharisee am I making any sense that make any sense maybe I better say that again you have to know where your blessedness is or when you come to deal with anger you won't be able to deal with contempt unless you know where blessedness is because for example you'll say some people who fit certain categories contemptible you won't say well the kingdom of God is over all and it's over them [Music] too and God made them and called them now they may not they may be in the category here of the salt that has had the saltiness washed out of it and human beings can't restore that but God can and so that's crucial now to understand this order