Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount (1)
Pray Psalm 128.1.
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
Sing joyously Psalm 128.1, 2
(Fountain: There is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
How blessed are they who fear You, LORD, who walk within Your ways!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!
They prosper all their days, they prosper all their days!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!
Read Matthew 5.1-12; meditate on verses 1 and 2.
What catches your attention as you read and meditate on these verses?
Prepare.
1. Where did Jesus go to teach the people?
2. Who sat closest to Him as He began to teach?
Meditate.
I find Matthew’s introduction to this sermon (chapters 5-7) instructive. Jesus saw a multitude. He must have been getting used to that, even this early on in His ministry (cf. Matt. 4.24, 25). Jesus was wary of multitudes, however, since He knew what was in every person’s heart (Jn. 3.24), and He understood that a good many, if not most, of those people had come to Him because they wanted something from Him (cf. Jn. 6.26-67).
But Jesus was about to give the people something much more valuable—a new state of being and way of life. His teaching would throw down a gauntlet at the feet of those who heard Him and would begin to distinguish Him as a teacher unlike any they had heard before.
So in view of the assembling multitude, Jesus headed up to the top of a nearby mountain. Would everyone follow Him? We don’t know. But we can imagine the groans and complaints of some in the crowd, who had already walked a long way to get to Jesus, only to have Him add to their trek by heading up a mountain!
There is also something very symbolic about His ascending the mountain to give this sermon. Just as Moses received the Law on the top of a mountain, Jesus would give a new Law—clarifying and enlarging the old Law without displacing it—on the top of a mountain. Jesus is the new Moses, the new Lawgiver (Jn. 13.34, 35), and the One Who gives not only the demands and promises of the Law, but the Law itself, in His life, death, and resurrection. In leading the multitudes up the mountain, Jesus also symbolically fulfilled—and pointed to an even greater fulfillment—of such prophecies as Micah 5.1-8. A new day of reversal had begun.
We also note the seating arrangement of this great sermon: Disciples (only four at this time) sitting nearest to Him, and whoever had the stamina to make the climb scattered out from there. Jesus wanted to make sure His disciples—who had left all to follow Him—got every word He would speak. And so did they.
The message in this setting is clear: What Jesus teaches is important and demanding. If we’re coming to Jesus merely for what we want from Him, we might miss what He wants for us.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Out of Bethlehem shall come forth
“The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting…
And He shall stand and feed His flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the Name of the LORD His God;
and they shall abide,
for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth;
and this One shall be peace” (Mic. 5.2, 4, 5).
“Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
and in their kingdoms,
there is none like You” (Jer. 10.7).
So this One, this King and Ruler, this wisest of all men, this One Who has no equal—past, present, future—has come to earth to teach more clearly about the Kingdom of God, to proclaim its arrival (present and future), and to teach His loved ones how to live within it.
Jesus said to them, and to us, “Sit down and listen up!”
God, His Father, the Creator and Ruler of heaven and earth, said of this One:
“This is My beloved Son, hear Him!” (Lk. 9.35).
Those that gathered at Jesus’ feet to hear Him, chose like Martha’s sister Mary, the one thing needed, to listen and learn from Him—that good part, “which will not be taken away from” them, or from us (Lk. 10.42).
“Want to learn from Jesus?”
Every day Jesus opens His mouth to teach us from His Word.
Every day we must choose that good part of our lives that will never be taken away—
our Savior King and our Kingdom citizenship.
Every day we must choose to pull up a rock—perchance a chair will do—sit down and listen up.
Reflect.
1. To follow Jesus is to be a lifelong learner. What does that mean for you?
2. Paul says we are to “learn Jesus” (Eph. 4.17-24). How do you know when you are “learning Jesus”?
3. What can you do to encourage your fellow believers to be true lifelong learners of Jesus?
When the law was first given on the mountain, the people were forbidden to draw close. But now, as the Lord was teaching on the mountain, no one is forbidden. Rather, all are invited that they may hear, because there is severity in the law and grace in the gospel. In the former case, terror is instilled in the unbelievers. In the latter case, a gift of blessings is poured out on the believers. Chromatius (ca. 400), Tractate on Matthew 17.1.3-4
Pray 128.2-6.
Give thanks to God for His many blessings. Ask Him to make you a blessing to the people you will see today.
Sing Psalm 128.3-6.
Psalm 128.3-6 (Fountain: There is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
Their homes with happy children bloom who fear Your holy Name.
Their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!
Declare Your glorious fame, declare Your glorious fame!
Their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!
O LORD, from Zion send Your peace, and prosp’rous make our ways.
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon us all our days!
Upon us all our days, upon us all our days!
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon all us all our days!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast begins a series of readings from our book, The Kingdom Turn. Our Crosfigell teaching letter has begun a new series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column is studying the Church and why we need it. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
