Last Sunday I preached a sermon on the last words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This was the climax of what I call the most important three chapters in the Bible. "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock," Jesus said. The words that Jesus was talking about were the words of the Sermon on the Mount. "Everyone then who hears these words [of the Sermon on the Mount] and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock."
This Wednesday night at our Central Family Dinner we are going to engage in a great new adventure together. We are going to have a gifted guest teacher to come in and lead us in a six-week study of the Sermon on the Mount. Bible Study is what our congregation is asking for. So the Rise, Shine! Central Coordinating Team is responding to what you asked for. They are making this special Bible Study the next step on our journey for renewal.
Our teacher, Garry Wright, is going to use the text: "Jesus’ Model For Community." The Sermon on the Mount is the pattern our church, our "community of faith," needs to use to build a genuine community. The Sermon on the Mount is the mold which should shape our goals, our dreams, our aspirations. It is the mold that should shape our character, our relationship to others, our relationship to God.
The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of Christian life. Please understand from the beginning that it is NOT a new set of laws. The Sermon on the Mount describes a new style of life, a new style of life that proceeds from a new heart and a new mind. The Sermon is about happiness that comes by living in the spirit of mercy, hospitality, kindness, graciousness, humility, meekness, purity of heart, peacemaking and hungering for righteousness.
It is important to understand that the sermon is not referring to just happiness in the future; it is a present reality.
When you go to the Holy Land in Israel, you are struck by the contrast between Mount Sinai and the mountain where Jesus delivered this sermon. Sinai is where Moses brought down the law. Sinai is awesome and forbidding. It has deep crags and is surrounded by desert. But the mount from which Jesus taught overlooks the Sea of Galilee. In the days of Jesus this territory was well-populated and there were sparkling and bustling cities on the lake nearby. Jesus spent most of his life in this part of the Holy Land. He was a man of Galilee. Though he loved the large capital city of Jerusalem and wept over it, Jesus was a Galilean.
There is something of country simplicity about Jesus and the faith of which he was the center. He moved among the people and through the countryside. And the Sermon on the Mount partakes of that gentle and humble spirit.
Many of us began our spiritual journey with a Sinai-like faith. Do you know what I mean? The Sinai faith is legalistic and formal. It says "Be good and you’ll be blest." It has more to do with law than with spirit. There is nothing wrong with a Sinai faith -- on the contrary, it is very, very right. But have you noticed that the legalistic faith has a tendency to become distorted into a self-righteous and me-centered attitude? The person who has a Sinai faith is oftentimes right; it is very important for them to be right. I have seen them so very right that they shake their fist in your face. "I know the way of God and you’ll be damned if you disagree with me."
I think that the greatest growth comes in our spiritual journey when we can grow from the legalistic Sinai faith to the spiritual Sermon on the Mount faith. The Galilee faith is free and spontaneous. The righteousness comes not from external restraint, but from internal goodness.
I really do hope that each one of you will join your Church Family in the Bible Study this Wednesday night!
This morning I want us to reflect on the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, the first Beatitude. Some have called it the most important beatitude because it is the foundation of all the others. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Now, let’s be perfectly clear: this beatitude does not mean economically poor. There is nothing blessed about poverty and Jesus never praised poverty. Believe me, it is not blessed to live in a slum.
It does not mean poverty and it does not mean "poor-spirited." It does not mean "spinelessness."
What this beatitude is about is the recognition of our own deep need. Now that’s not easy for most of us. We may recognize that others may need help. But, especially in today’s climate, we are more likely to think of ourselves as perfectly self-sufficient. "I don’t need you! I don’t need anybody." Isn’t that the macho image we like to convey?
A man told his friend, "I’m a self-made man." "That’s what I like about you," his friend replied, "always taking the blame on yourself."
No, we are proud and we call pride a virtue. We are proud of ourselves. We are proud because we are white, because we are Americans, because we are beautiful, because we are not poor.
But what have you done for yourself? We are not self-sufficient for sixty seconds. We are always reaching out to take what God has provided: the lungs to take in air, the mouth to take in food, the ears to listen for sound, the eyes turning toward sights to be seen, the mind grasping for ideas, the heart yearning for love. And behind it all is God; God the great creator-giver.
Well, the blessed person is the person who recognizes that they cannot make it on their own. You may remember the way I told you my New Testament professor at seminary defined "faith." It made quite an impression on me and I hope it has in you. He said "faith is utter dependence on the grace of God." So this beatitude says that the blessed person is the person who recognizes that they cannot make it on their own. We are dependent on God; blessed is the person who recognizes their poverty of faith.
But so often we walk around sure we have a halo on our heads. Someone has said that half the headaches and many of the heartaches are caused by halos that don’t fit. The student who knows everything learns nothing. You simply cannot learn unless you recognize that you don’t know it all.
The alcoholic who insists that he can take it or leave it in his own strength ... well, he keeps on taking it and never leaves it. It has been one of the great strengths of Alcoholics Anonymous that they recognize that one cannot be helped until the alcoholic admits the need for help. "I am an alcoholic" every person says when speaking at a meeting. Every speech begins with this recognition: "I am an alcoholic."
You know, perhaps we need to rediscover this truth in the church. How might our attitude and behavior change if each time we spoke, we said, "I am a sinner and I am dependent upon God."? WE ARE, AND WE DO, YOU KNOW!
Why are the poor in spirit blessed? Because they recognize their own deep need. And they are happy because they have become detached from things.
Julie Andrews, in the musical, "The Sound of Music," sings a delightfully beautiful song, "My Favorite Things." It is certainly enriching to have "favorite things," to be aware of the simple things that bring joy into our lives. The poor in spirit put "things" in their proper place.
How high on your priority list are "things?" Several years ago my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter were going on a tour to Europe. They each had two suitcases packed to the brim with things. When they arrived at the airport they found they could only take one suitcase. The had to open them up and determine what things were essential and what things were not. That’s not an easy thing to do, is it?
Just what are the essential things on the "Journey of Life?" You know, I believe we can answer that question with more insight and wisdom in an intensive care waiting room than anywhere else. I have been in thousands of waiting rooms, and people have a way of talking about the really important questions in life in the waiting room than anywhere else. Suddenly, in those anxious moments, we have a way of coming close to getting our priorities right when we are confronting death than anywhere else I know. When we come face to face with death we become more fully aware that it is not the things that count.
Those who are blessed are those who lean not on their own strength, but recognize their utter dependence upon God.
The poor in spirit are blessed because thy are dependent upon a great and glorious God. Who was that comedian that said, "Ain’t God good?" Well our God is good. God is filled with grace that reaches out to us all. It ain’t we ourselves who are good. Our attempt to be obedient to the law does not bring failure, not blessedness. It is our good and gracious God that we can depend upon. The person who recognizes that they are poor in spirit are building their lives on a great foundation.
Jesus closed his Sermon on the Mount by saying, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock." I think I’ll close my sermon that way, too.
