Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, opens with a brief description from Matthew, “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” (Matt 5:1-2). This may be a brief description but leads us to two fundamental questions. The first, “What is the Sermon on the Mount?” I believe John Stott answers this question best when he wrote, “The sermon is the nearest thing to a manifesto that Jesus ever uttered, for it is His own description of what He wanted His followers to be and do. The second question is, “How are we to receive Christ’s teaching?” We are to listen with a willingness to obey.
Of all the teachings in Scripture, the Sermon on the Mount has captivated many, even those who have yet to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Even those who follow other religions value the self-evident truth contained therein. These people see Jesus as a moral teacher. It’s like this account from the Christian missionary, theologian, and author Stanley Jones’ life. A Hindu professor once said to Jones, “the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount and the cross I am drawn to.” Similarly, a Muslim Sufi teacher told Jones that he could not keep back the tears when he read the Sermon on the Mount. The complication with these statements and thoughts of Christ is that it is impossible to separate the Jesus of the sermon with the Jesus of the Scriptures as a whole. Thus, the main question we are confronted with by the sermon is not so much “What do we think of the sermon’s teaching?” but “How do we understand and receive the teacher?” Here is the question we all need to ask ourselves, “What will my response be to the Sermon on the Mount and Christ?”
Matthew concludes his account of the sermon in a similar brief description as he opened it, “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” (Matt 7:28-29). We read that the crowd was amazed. I believe they were amazed for two reasons.
The first reason the crowds were amazed was the content of Christ’s teaching. I propose that the crowd listening to the Sermon on the Mount did not expect what they had just heard. Although the Old Testament prophecies pointed to Christ’s coming as a descendent of David, the child of a virgin, and the suffering Servant, at the time of Jesus’ sermon, there were great misunderstandings about His mission and even the promises of God. When Jesus taught, He dealt with the wrong concept of Himself and the culture of His kingdom. They awaited a warrior king who would overthrow the Romans. Jesus doesn’t teach rebellion against a people, but a revolutionary counter-culture to the worlds based on Christ’s character, love, purpose, and priorities. This is why, by the end of the sermon, the crowd came away amazed and likely stunned. In the Sermon on the Mount, all that the crowd had been wrongly taught, all they had falsely expected about the Christ and His kingdom, had been clearly corrected. Still, today, when people are introduced to the Christ of the Scriptures, they often find Him to be much different than what had been taught and expected.
The second reason the crowds were amazed was the manner of Christ’s teaching. Jesus taught as “one who had authority” and “not as their scribes” or “teachers of the law.” Jesus did not quote other authorities as did the rabbis. He did not even say, “Thus says the Lord,” as did the prophets. Rather He spoke with direct authority, “I say to you” (see Matt 5:18, 28, 44). Jesus called people to be loyal to Himself and declared that He would be their judge (Matt 7:21-23). Jesus spoke as one who knew what He was talking about. A.B. Bruce notes, “The crowd is recognizing that teachers of the law spoke by authority, while Jesus spoke with authority.” In fact, Christ speaks as the authority.
Jesus spoke as the Christ, God incarnate, Savior and Lord. Jesus insisted that He had come not “to abolish the Law and Prophets,” but “to fulfill them.” He asserted that all the statements and predictions of both law and prophets found their fulfillment in Him. Here is an important point to not overlook. Jesus, in varying degrees, in His sermon, teaches that He inaugurated God’s kingdom and had the authority to admit people into it and impart its blessings on them. Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that works, or mere lip-service, does not admit one into God’s kingdom. This only occurs to those who are genuinely devoted to Him. Here is the point, Jesus did not only teach the way to salvation but as Savior and Lord grants it. Therefore, Jesus taught that He was one with God.
Since Jesus claims to be the Christ, God incarnate, Savior and Lord, He can’t be accepted as merely a moral teacher. If Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of the Living God, then we have a personal decision that must be made. As we look at the Sermon on the Mount and Christ Himself, we need to respond with sober seriousness.
The sermon has looked at Christ’s teaching of God’s kingdoms’ counter-culture. It has laid out the standards, the values, and the priorities of the kingdom of God. The crucial question all of us must ask ourselves then is, “What will my response be to the Sermon on the Mount and Christ?” When everything is said and done, we can sum up the Sermon on the Mount’s teaching as a call to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, enter into a genuine lifesaving relationship with Him, and be a part of the Christian counter-cultural. So, will you receive Christ as Lord and Savior? Will you enter into a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ? Will you choose to be a part of the Christian counter-culture? I hope you will. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!