The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life

"Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying..."

- Matthew 5:1-2


Undoubtedly the Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon ever preached; given by Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Healer, Immanuel, God-With-Us, the Lord of Glory-yes!-all of those things and more-but also the greatest teacher and preacher to ever walk the Earth. He had no church building, no cathedral pulpit to climb, no synagogue chair on which to sit and teach; instead he simply stood and spoke, sometimes at table among friends and followers, sometimes on a boat just off the shore, and sometimes on Galilean hillsides, and the people would gather in droves to hear this Man preach.

Jesus came to do more than to preach, but not less. He did not come to "lay down the Law"-that had already been done. You might say that He came to "lay down the Love", and indeed He did. He laid Himself down in Love upon the Cross as the Lamb of God for the sin's of all. But this act was more than for mere forgiveness-as important and powerful as that might be-it was also to initiate a new people. Through the life and work of Jesus the Kingdom of God was born, a dominion without borders where the Lord reigns in the hearts and minds of people and they live out the Kingdom life. Wherever people are found that live under the rule, reign, and relationship of the Lord, that's where this Kingdom is found.

In the Sermon on the Mount, contained in Matthew 5-7, the teachings of Jesus concerning this Kingdom are summarized and you had better be paying attention! If you are listening carefully to the Sermon on the Mount the clues are obvious, this is the essence of life in the Kingdom of God. Here Jesus directly addresses us and points us to the attitudes, righteousness, and relationships expected in the Kingdom of God. This is, as Steven Curtis Chapman would say, how to "Live Out Loud!"

And it is for us-the Church-today. We are living in the middle between Pentecost and the Second Coming but the Sermon on the Mount is not for the coming Millenium or New Jerusalem it's for life in the Kingdom in the here and now. You are invited into that Kingdom. You must be born again from above to see it, but you may come, and God will transform you. You will then be empowered to live the life of His Kingdom.

Since October 14, 2007, Truth4Youth has been trekking our way through the Sermon on the Mount. As we bring this series to a close I will be posting on the Sermon on the Mount and I hope that you read and grow. More than that, I hope that you hear the voice of one whose authority is above all. That is the only question: will you hear Him out? Listen to the words of Jesus, go and do, and live.

"And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes."

- Matthew 7:28-29