Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Sermon On The Mount - Part 1*

*Matthew 5: 1-48*

 

*Chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew’s Gospel is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount.

It includes many memorable teachings of Christ.

The Sermon on the Mount contains the core of Jesus’ moral and ethical teaching.

These are the principles of the **Kingdom** of **God**.

The **Kingdom** of **God** is Eschatological in the sense that it is both future and present.

Jesus said that the **Kingdom** of **God** is within us.

He is also coming again to establish His physical kingdom upon the Earth during the Millennium.

Although the principles set forth in the Sermon on the Mount will not become universal until the Millennium, Jesus expects believers of His day and ours to live by them now.*

*We enter the Kingdom through the new birth (John 3:1-16) and we enjoy the kingdom by living for those things that please God (Matt **6:33**).

*The world (and worldly believers) would disagree with Christ’s description of a blessed (happy) person, but the description is true just the same.

God majors on character, and so should we.

There is little doubt that the Lord’s discourse found in Matthew 5-7 and in Luke 6 are the same sermon.

Mathew describes it being given on a mountain and Luke speaks of it being given in a plain.

It is probable that a discourse of this importance was given on more than one occasion.

*The Beatitudes*

[READ Matthew 5:1-12]

Chapter 5 Verses 2-12 are commonly called the Beatitudes.

They contain eight sayings that speak of blessings or happiness.

The Greek word used throughout is *μακάριος** *which (1) pertains to being fortunate or happy because of circumstances or (2) pertains to being especially favored, blessed, fortunate, happy, privileged from a transcendent perspective.

Genuine happiness, said Jesus, comes from:

•     *recognizing your need for God* (spiritual poverty) (5:3) .

Blessed/ are/ the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

*To be poor in spirit means to be humble*, to have a correct estimate of oneself (Rom.

12:3) – “3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think/ of himself/ more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly , according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

It does not mean to be “poor spirited” and have no backbone at all! “Poor in spirit” is the opposite of the world’s attitudes of self-praise and self-assertion.

It is not a false humility that says, “I am not worth anything, I can’t do anything!”

It is honesty with ourselves: we know ourselves, accept ourselves, and try to be ourselves to the glory of God.

The* poor in spirit* are the opposite of the proud or haughty in spirit.

*Poverty and piety were often associated in Judaism*; the term /poor/ could encompass either physical poverty (Lk 6:20), or the faithful dependence on God that it often produced (“in spirit,” as here).

•     *mourning over your sin* (5:4) Blessed/ are/ they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

This does not refer to mourning because of the state of life.

It is the sorrow which one experiences because of fellowship with the Lord Jesus.

It is an active sharing of the world’s hurt and sin with Jesus.

*/Therefore, it includes, not only sorrow for one’s own sin, but also sorrow because of the world’s appalling condition, it’s rejection of the Savior, and the doom of those who refuse His mercy./*

This Beatitude reflects Isaiah 61:2c – “To  proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To  comfort all who mourn,”- and refers to those who mourn because of man’s disobedience to God, as well as for their own sins.

•     *submitting to divine authority* (5:5) Blessed/ are/ the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

*/Meekness never implies weakness.

In contrast to weakness, meekness is controlled strength./*

It is an attitude of heart in which all energies are brought into the perfect control of the Holy Spirit.

This promise to the meek is but a repetition of Ps 37:11 – “*11 *But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

- ; only the word which our Evangelist renders “the meek,” after the /Septuagint,/ is the same which we have found so often translated “the poor,” showing how closely allied these two features of character are.

It is impossible, indeed, that “the poor in spirit” and “the mourners” in Zion should not at the same time be “meek”; that is to say, persons of a lowly and gentle carriage.

•     *desiring justice or righteousness* (5:6) Blessed/ are/ they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are promised satisfaction.

*/These people have a passion for righteousness in their own lives; they long to see honesty, integrity, and justice in society; they look for practical holiness in the church.

/*They experience a deep desire for personal righteousness, which in itself is a proof of their spiritual rebirth.

Those who are poor and empty in their own spiritual poverty recognize the depth of their need, and they hunger and thirst for that which only God can give them.*

They shall be filled (KJV)* (Gr.

/chortazō/) refers to a complete satisfaction.

The psalmist proclaimed: “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (107:9).

•     *showing mercy* (5:7) Blessed/ are/ the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

In our Lord’s kingdom, *the merciful* are *blessed ... for they shall obtain mercy*.

To be *merciful* means to be actively compassionate.

In one sense it means to withhold punishment from offenders who deserve it.

In a wider sense it means to help others in need who cannot help themselves.

*The merciful *extend mercy to others, thus demonstrating God’s mercy which has been extended to them.

Those who have been born again by the mercy of God through His Holy Spirit desire above all else to see the unregenerate around them find this same mercy and salvation.

Jesus Himself became the ultimate example of this attitude when He cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

(Luke 23:34)

•     *maintaining a pure heart* (5:8) Blessed/ are/ the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

The pure in heart are given the assurance that *they shall see God*.

A pure-hearted person is one whose motives are unmixed, whose thoughts are holy, whose conscience is clean.

The expression *they shall see God* may be understood in several ways.

First, *the pure in heart see God* now through fellowship in the Word and the Spirit.

Second, they sometimes have a supernatural appearance, or vision, of the Lord presented to them.

Third, *they shall see God* in the Person of Jesus when He comes again.

Fourth, *they shall see God* in eternity.

•     *working for peace* (5:9) Blessed/ are/ the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

The next description deals with the *peacemakers.*

They are the ones who are themselves at peace with God and live in peace with all men (cf.

Rom 5:1).

They are called “the” peacemakers for these are not social reformers, but rather the ones reformed by the regenerating power of the gospel.

They are peacemakers because they themselves are at peace with God.

They have entered into the peace of Christ and thus are able ambassadors of God’s message of peace to a troubled world.

Hence, they shall be called *the children of God.*

These only shall be called the sons of God! Throughout the Beatitudes Jesus clearly underscores that only those who have the life-changing qualities herein described are citizens of His kingdom.

•     *rejoicing in the face of persecution* (5:10–12)[Luke 6:20–49] Persecution can be related to more than a single reason:

10 Blessed/ are/ they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when/ men/ shall revile you, and persecute/ you/, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

1.      Verse 10 deals with those *who are persecuted*, not for their own wrongdoings, but *for righteousness’ sake*.

*The kingdom of heaven* is promised to those believers who suffer for doing right.

Their integrity condemns the ungodly world and brings out its hostility.

People hate a righteous life because it exposes their own unrighteousness.

2.      Verse 11 it is persecution *for* Christ’s *sake*.

The Lord knew that His disciples would be maltreated because of their association with, and loyalty to, Him.

History has confirmed this: from the outset the world has persecuted, jailed, and killed followers of Jesus.

*Salt of the Earth – Light of the World*

[READ Matt 5:13-16]

The power of the kingdom citizen is in his difference from the world, just as salt is different from that into which it is placed.

Salt also acts to preserve, and the kingdom citizen must act to preserve the world from corruption and to save it from condemnation (cf.

Lev.

2:13).

As the “light of the world,” a subject of the kingdom is to witness to his faith through personal example and manifest the light by his testimony and actions.[1]

*13 *“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

In the time of Jesus salt was connected in people’s minds with three special qualities.

#.

Salt was connected with /purity./

No doubt its glistening whiteness made the connection easy.

The Romans said that salt was the purest of all things, because it came from the purest of all things, the sun and the sea.