I had dinner with a friend recently who was pleased tell me about the “great sermon” she had heard this week. She was both encouraged and challenged to take a step toward God and away from the world because of it and that is shareworthy, absolutely. Those moments when God’s message is actively speaking to you are very powerful!
Likewise, I am excited to share about our reading this week, it is Jesus’ most famous sermon! It’s relevent, it’s challenging, it’s new and timeless all at the same time. If you want to know how to live as a Christ-follower, what your purpose and priorities should be, this is it. You could “camp” here for a good long time and grow tremendously.
If you haven’t read Matthew 5-7 yet, let me break the wealth of words into outline for you, so it might be more manageable. This bit of wisdom comes from my “Life of Christ” course years ago. (Best course I ever took, by the way.)
Edicts of Happiness 5:1-11 (The Beatitudes)
Edicts of Responsibility 5:13-16 (salt and light)
Edicts of Authority 5:17-48 (the Law, anger, lust, divorce, vows, retaliation, and enemies)
Edicts of Sincerity 6:1-18 (compassion, prayer, and fasting)
Edicts of Security 6:19-24 (money and worry)
Edicts of Humility 7:1-6 (do I need to say it? humility)
Edicts of Necessity 7:7-12 (God’s provision)
Edicts of Stability 7:13-28 (bearing fruit and building a solid foundation)
These are the facts. There is so much here I’m only going to repeat the summary that I gave to begin with. We could all dwell in these chapters for a lifetime. A sermon in which Jesus answers the questions that are essential to thrive in this world while we prepare for our eternal home, and try to take as many people with us along this journey as we can. The outline might help you decide which piece of this message to read first, or to share with someone else.
There are two themes that impacted me as I dwelled on this passage throughout the week.
First: Salt and light. There is a whole lot of change happening in our world currently, or is it just me? Has it always been that way? I am getting old, and I can truly say that even during the most tumultuous times in my lifetime, it never looked like this. There is storm brewing. Or more aptly, in my opinion, the road to Jesus’ return it being paved quickly. Maybe people will be saying the same thing generations from now, I don’t know, but this leads me to Jesus’ words. FOLLOWER, “YOU are the salt of the earth.” If you get distracted, discouraged, or too busy with other thoughts and actions your salt will “lose it’s saltiness”. You’re going to be less effective, possibly worthless, to the cause of Christ. Jesus goes on to say, “YOU are the light of the world” and again my question has to be, “am I?” or has my light been hidden by fear of people’s attacks, or their disapproval? These questions have dominated my prayers over this past week especially. Christian, how effective do you think you are as salt and light today?
Secondly: Clear warnings:
There are a few clear messages that I would categorize as warnings that stood out like a beacon to me. Let me share them and a few personal thoughts.
- “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life [eternal], and only a few find it.”
In other words, not everyone enters into eternal LIFE. God has created the way for ALL, but not ALL choose His way. There are MANY people in my world that need to HEAR and HEED the the words of this sermon.
So how do you know? Who are part of the few and how do you recognize them? - “by their fruit you will recognize them”
The question is, what kind of fruit is produced in their life? How about my life or yours? For our answers let’s look at another place in the Bible that speaks about fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the Spirit of God in us produces fruit that looks like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Out of curiosity what does the bible say about bad fruit? You could use verses 19-21 for examples. Have you seen hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension division, envy….. any of these evident? Recently? These are actions that can, and should be expected, from a person who is controlling their own life. Their lives are not submitted to the will of God. There is no transformation from the old sinful life to a new creation, so bad fruit is going to be produced. But what about those people who you might think are producing bad fruit but they say they believe in God. Let’s examine our own lives first and foremost. - “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven”
There are false prophets, false witnesses, and people who are pretending to be, or think they are Christians, but are not really interested in doing the will of God or making Christ the Lord of their life, nor is there any lasting evidence of change in their life.
Unfortunately there is so much deception spoken in churches and in our culture that has created false gospels and led people away from God’s truth. For example: the gospel of all who accepts the “man upstairs” to whom they can pray whenever they need help, or sing about whenever they feel like attending a church service, is a Christian. Another example I’ve seen and read about is: the gospel of in order to be a Christian you need to carry banners for all groups of people who are different from you. A third gospel that is culturally accepted: that everyone who wants to go to heaven will, and anyone who doesn’t will just party with the devil and have fun down there instead. This third idea is the way I grew up, and it is a very nice idea on it’s cover, but underneath is it’s just not true.
These are harsh words. I know. I was a little taken aback when I read the screen after my fingers moved over the keys. But friends, I don’t think I have time to beat around the bush. Jesus made this teaching very plain and people were amazed according to Matthew 5. They may have been amazed, just as we may amazed at a sermon today, but did it change their life? Did it make a difference that turned the direction of their life? In the case of Jesus’ disciples it sure did change the lives of 11 men (not the thousands that were listening), and those 11 created a movement that is still alive today. Today I am so privileged to know many many Christ-followers who love the Lord and whose lives have been changed, who like me are imperfect, but are bearing fruit that is good because of their relationship with God.
I do not stand in judgement of all of the people on the wide path who are following their sinful desires. I don’t judge the people who believe everyone who dies becomes angels in heaven. I think compassion and care for those who suffer is admirable, but it’s not God’s gospel message and the two shouldn’t be tied together. The Bible says that ALL have sinned and says that Christ died for those sins for once and for ALL. My heart is really broken for those who have not yet put their faith and trust in Christ. I want them to see the truth and turn to Jesus. Because just like Him, I would love to see everyone’s life transformed.
My message to all of us today is: 1. If you are a devoted child of God, be the salt and light the world desperately needs, our time is passing quickly. 2. If you are not sure about God or think you are a Christian but don’t see any good fruit in your life, I pray that God opens your eyes and ears to His call, and pray that you would have the courage to reach out to me or another Christ follower for help.
