Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is God's blueprint for walking in agreement with God. God is jealous with vibrant desire to be close to me. He only made one of me, individually fashioning my heart for His enjoyment as I walk into the purpose and plan He envisioned as He forged my heart with its desires and capacities. Because I am the only me God will ever make, He jealously desires that my choices would agree with Him so He could see me live in the fullness of what He has for me!


The Sermon on the Mount is the manual for walking into that fullness. It is a road map to wholeheartedness. The Sermon on the Mount can be most easily found in Matthew 5,6, and 7, where it is relayed in it's continuous entirety. It starts with the Beatitudes (blessed are the poor, etc.). The Beatitudes are the goal...my goal is to grow these blessings in my heart.


An awareness of the gap between what God says is possible and what I am actually experiencing is the first and most valuable Beatitudes. It is called "spiritual poverty" by Jesus, and it is the key to unlocking all the others. The next Beatitudes is "mourning" of that gap...crying out to God to bring me closer to what is available. When I mourn, I demonstrate to God that I am not ok with missing out on fully experiencing the vibrant connection in agreeing with him about what my life is about. The rest of the Beatitudes flow from that realization of what is available and reaching for more.


God desires for me to walk in a vibrant and fascinating experience of life connected to him...His power flowing into the world through my agreement with Him. When Adam and Eve rebelled against this partnership, sin clouded man's ability to agree with God. What was formerly written on our heart by the Holy Spirit, God's truth, was no longer readily apparent to mankind.


God gave the law to Moses, to demonstrate the difference between the way fallen man was living and what God intended. Man could never fully keep the law, and over time even missed the entire Spirit of the Law...corrupting it into religion. It takes God to love God, and only through grace, provided by Jesus paying the price, could man have His heart made new:


John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.


Jesus came to fulfill the letter of the law and give us an opportunity to return the Spirit of the Law. When I took Jesus up on His invitation to pay the price for my sins and to be the leader of my life, He sent the Holy Spirit to take up residence in my spirit. Now, it is up to me to draw on the Holy Spirit (talk to Him) and invite Him to re-write God's truth on my heart. The Sermon on the Mount is a step by step guide to do exactly that.


The Sermon on the Mount, when I read what it says, sounds extreme...giving away my money secretly, going without food regularly, letting people take things from me, resist me, judge me...all the while not only resisting retalliation , but actually blessing those who would do these things to me. Praying for those who hate me. Going above and beyond for those who selfishly demand things from me...and then teaching others to be like me! It isn't enough to just quietly do these things (as if that isn't hard enough), God wants me to tell others this is the way to life in full:


Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


Jesus said the Sermon on the Mount isn't extreme Christianity. This is the only real relationship with Him there is. The more I let God write truth on my heart by agreeing with Him about the Sermon on the Mount in the grace and power the Holy Spirit gives, the more prepared my heart will become to enjoy closeness with God in the age to come. God is powerfully bright holiness. After the fall, man's body, heart, and spirit could no longer withstand God's bright holiness. It is only renewal made possible by Jesus that will remake us in a way that is capable of being physically near God. Jesus really wants to make me new:


Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”


Jesus talked about rewards in heaven for living this Sermon on the Mount lifestyle that is radically different than the world's self-centered lifestyle. The rewards are all about our quality of life...our proximity to God...in the New Jerusalem. There are positions in heaven prepared for those who say "yes" to allowing God to write truth on their hearts:


Mark 10:40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”


Matthew 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?


Matthew 6:1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.


Jesus taught about rewards more than anyone, because He really wants me to let Him renew my heart...HE DESIRES I would be right next to Him, but because of love, I have to desire it back.


The renewal (justification) of my spirit happens in full the moment I am saved, the glorification of my body will happen in full the moment I meet Jesus in the sky at the seventh trumpet. Only the renewal of my heart, the process of sanctification, is up to me. God will take it as far as I will let Him, but He gives me control over the extent I allow truth to be written on my heart. A man could be saved and have his name written in the book of life, but if he didn't try to live in agreement with God, he could ,mostly prevent his heart from being prepared to be close to Jesus. This man will live in a less full measure of glory than God had desired for him, and his experience of life on earth would be much less victorious than it could have been. There are eternal (forever) ramifications of resisting letting God renew my heart.


I Corinthians 15:41-42 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.


I don't want to leave anything on the table. How much truth will you write on my heart, Lord? How close to You can a man come on this side of eternity? How much experience of God can a natural frame handle? I want to know. I want to say yes. Help me say yes! Teach me to live this new and different way, God!


Agreeing with God is disagreeing with the enemy. The enemy desires for me to be driven by his lies: look out for number one, an eye for an eye, establish and draw attention to yourself, get while the getting is good, every one else does it...


Because of free will, God allows me to agree with the enemy's lifestyle, if I want to. How much I am willing to agree with God in my heart is up to me. These choices damage me and cause harm to those near me. These choices steal everything from me that could have been mine:


I Corinthians 3:13-16 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?





BUT, if I will agree with God, and live by His plan...asking the Holy Spirit to write truth on my heart...I will short circuit the enemy's plans to manipulate me and those around me! To live the Sermon on the Mount is to step into God's brilliant plan to reach the most people at the deepest heart level without ever violating free will...all the while preparing my heart to experience close proximity to God's brilliant and bright holiness!