Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Reading of Scripture

This is God’s Word, Amen.

Pray

II.

Introduction

We must keep before us, pictured in our minds, the setting of this Sermon of Jesus.

Who were the people gathered around him, and what was his posture in delivering The Sermon on the Mount?

He was not standing behind a pulpit, preaching to the masses, bidding all who are lost to “come.”

Instead, He was seated on a mountain, speaking to his disciples, who had already come to him.

The subject matter of Jesus’ teaching, is not for those who are far away from Him, but for those who are near, not only in proximity, but also in identity.

His teachings belong to Kingdom people, ambassadors of Christ on Earth, to citizens of Heaven who are near to Him, who live and are empowered to obey His Word by His Spirit!

We cannot understand The Sermon on the Mount without the Preacher of The Sermon — Jesus, His Word.

We cannot obey The Sermon on the Mount without the Power of The Sermon — Jesus, His Spirit.

These are teachings from on high, literally given on a mountain.

They are teachings from the most-high, from Heaven.

Forcing us to look up with humility and dependence upon Our Father in Heaven.

And so a relationship must first be established, in which we may call God “Our Father.”

And we call God “Our Father” when we receive Christ as King — when we submit to His rule and His reign, as Lord of all.

God is our Creator — YES!

But if we have not been given a new heart and a new life, born-again as a follower of Jesus, confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in the power of God that raised Him from the dead, then we cannot call God our Father.

We cannot enter into God’s kingdom.

This message on the mountain does not apply, because there is nothing heavenly in us upon which to apply these things.

God must first do a work of change so that those who belong to Jesus “come and hear.”

This is especially true as it relates to the theme of righteousness.

A. Introduction to Theme

Righteousness is the theme that Jesus takes up in Matthew 7.

It is one of two priorities that followers of Jesus actively seek after.

And righteousness is a relational word.

It applies within the bounds of a Kingdom-relationship (in which God is king, not us)!

So “seek first” God’s rule and reign, submitted to His authority.

“I am not the king of my life.

God is!”

“I do not rule my life.

God does!”

How do I know if this is true?

Ask —

Where am I storing up my treasures?

I look at where I store my treasures.

Am I treasuring up on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal (6:19)?

Or am I treasuring up in heaven, where neither moth and rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (6:20)?

“For where [my] treasure is, there [my] heart will be also” (6:21).

Is my heart rotting away, is it being destroyed?

Is it easily stolen?

Or is my heart safe, and hid with Christ in God?

What about what I worry about?

Am I anxious about my life, what I will eat, or drink, or about my body what clothes I will put on?

(6:25)

If I live under the sovereign reign of God, I don’t not worry about any of these!

Because

God cares for what God reigns over.

My heavenly Father feeds the birds, and I am more valuable to Him than the birds, so I know that He will feed me.

Of all these things, He knows “I need them all.”

But what is most needful, and what He desires we seek after — the things our energies and efforts and resources are never wasted upon — is seeking after first His Kingdom and Righteousness.

We are empowered to seek after His Kingdom on the basis that “Our Father knows” (6:32).

We are empowered to seek after His Righteousness on the basis that "Our Father gives” (7:11).

The act of giving by Our Heavenly Father demonstrates His righteousness, in that it is His nature to answer like for like.

He is not unfair.

He is not unjust.

The merciful receive mercy (5:7).

Righteousness is the opposite of hypocrisy.

It’s the real-deal.

We can take God at His Word, and know that what God says, God will do!

We know this because God is righteous.

B. Introduction to Text

To illustrate what it means for God to be righteous, and for us to seek after righteousness, we can find help from Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist and mathematician who died in 1727.

Newton discovered three “Laws of motion,” the basic principles of modern physics (Wikipedia).

As someone said of science, “Man does not write or create laws.

He only discovers God’s laws.”

In Newton’s Third Law of Motion, he touches upon the essence of righteousness.

Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion —

“for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.

In other words, if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A.”

(https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/newton3.html)

As Jesus teaches on Kingdom Righteousness, this back and forth, action and reaction is at work.

And while the details of what Jesus teaches are important, it is the fulfillment, the intended end, that is most important — the we see the Father as Jesus reveals Him to us — the Righteous One who works a true righteousness that defines His Kingdom in Heaven, and on Earth, and in us.

III.

Exposition

A. Matthew 7:1-5

1. Matthew 7:1-2

i. Prohibition | 7:1

This is a prohibition.

“Do not judge.”

In context, this is not speaking about legal judgment, or even discerning judgment.

Here, Jesus prohibits condemning judgment.

It is a critical attitude (GCM) that seeks to render a full and final verdict against another, that is not ours to render.

To my embarrassment, I’ll use myself as an illustration.

I must confess to you that even this week, in my flesh, I failed in this regard.

There are some painful memories I’ve tried to bury and have tried to forgive, of the way someone hurt me and hurt people I love, and these memories rushed to the surface again.

And I became angry in my spirit and angry with myself, that even after time has passed those feelings are still there.

Now that is natural to anyone that has been wronged, and if you’ve been wronged you know that feeling too.

But I crossed a line in my thoughts.

I passed judgment upon the offender.

I thought — “I’m done with this person.

May I never think of their name again.”

And being critical, I condemned in my mind.

I had to confess and repent of that condemnation, of that judging.

Because in that short moment in my flesh, I became just like the one who had offended me.

This is what happens when we judge.

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

If we judge, we become one who is likewise, judged.

The way the Greek language is constructed in this prohibition, it begins with the word “Not” and then the present command “to judge” — “Do not judge” — communicates the idea of “ceasing what you are now doing” (Mounce 61).