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SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Living In The Kingdom of Heaven
I Believe the "Sermon On The Mount"
is the "social contract" of the believer. A
constitution of laws to be set in our heart and mind and as such is a
very important part of being a Christian. It is not only a code of
conduct, but Jesus also explains to us the individual traits and
characteristics that believers are to live by. Have you ever REALLY
studied and understood what the "Sermon on The Mount" is all
about?
What are we waiting for? Let's start with how we are
to live in God's Kingdom here on earth.
Matthew 5:3
says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
Here we see Jesus is comforting to the poor. Unfair religious
and civil laws of the time were the cause of much persecution of
these people. In the next verse he is asking us all to be meek
toward all but perhaps even more so to the poor he was comforting.
When we act proud, or behave smug and arrogant with others, we are not
doing the will of God, but behaving selfishly. We don't want to be
selfish, do we?
If we are to be true believer's we need to be willing to humble
ourselves to God and therefore also be humble toward our
neighbor, meaning, we should not think we are a cut above because we
live in a bigger house, or think we are smarter and wiser, or think we
know more about religious matters, or because...
When we act with genuine humbleness, not only are we pleasing our
neighbor, but doing the will of God, which is showing evidence of a "poor
spirit" rather than a haughty or mean spirit.
You don't know how many times a day that I must give up my swollen
pride and submit to God, my husband, friends, or relatives. About 3 or
4 times a day!! Most of the time, I don't want to do it, but I
know that it is the right thing to do. This is a trait that
Jesus would like all believers to instill into their heart. It is a
" way of living" in the kingdom of heaven. We're not
perfect, but if we don't try, we'll never be better either.
The Kingdom of God is already here!
Jesus preached in Matthew
5:5, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Meek" in
this verse means humility. God surely doesn't want us to be proud and
arrogant. Pride closes us off from God. Pride makes us blind to the
truth. Again, those who humble themselves before God are the true
believers who do in fact inherit the earth.
It is when we let go of haughtiness that our path in
life becomes so much clearer and we can begin to understand and submit
to Jesus' love for us. As Christians we should let down our defenses,
give up whatever we feel is holding us in devils bondage and meekly
follow God. Again, that would be submitting our will for God's
will.
Can you trust God with your life? Do you want to
live in the Kingdom of Heaven now? Humble yourself and submit to God
with all your heart. Let go of those things that are making you proud
in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is yours now -- if you want it!
God's kingdom is spiritual for all believers in
Jesus Christ now. God's kingdom is in our heart and mind. We live for
God's kingdom by being "poor in
spirit" and showing God that we need him, and allowing our
self to be needed. God doesn't want anyone to be too proud to
feel they don't need him.
The Kingdom of Heaven is already
here!!
Matthew
5:6 declares to us, Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled.
No amount of law abiding, self perfection, doing
good works, self-correction, or religious effort can make us right
with God. What will make us right with God is giving up "our
way" for "His way". Learning to be meek and poor in
spirit is a good start on the road to setting us right with God.
Righteousness only
comes from God, it is a gift. We are, in fact MADE RIGHTEOUS BY
TRUSTING IN JESUS CHRIST.
Jesus exchanges our sins and shortcomings for his
complete and absolute righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says,
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.
Sin was given to Jesus Christ at the crucifixion and
Jesus Christ's righteousness is given to
believers. If we hunger for Christ's righteousness,
it will be given to us and our hunger will be satisfied through
Christ's love for us.
The Kingdom of God is here now!
Let's go for it!
So far we have learned that to live in the kingdom
of heaven now, we must be meek and humble -- Believe and Trust in
Jesus.
Matthew
5:7 says, Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Just as your children obey what you do, we should
obey the precepts of God. God loves us so much that he sacrificed
himself so we could live forever. He also has forgiven us a multitude
of sins because of his great mercy for
us. Having received this great forgiveness from God, believers shall
want to pass it onto others. Any person who is unwilling to forgive is
not one with Jesus Christ.
All who want to live in the kingdom of heaven should
be willing to forgive trespasses against them by forgiving.
It takes effort to forgive someone, but once you do, you will see what
a lighter load you are carrying. Being merciful
is behaving with compassion and kindness towards others. Is
there someone that you need to forgive? Maybe you need to forgive
yourself too?
God's kingdom is waiting for you.
Come and enter in. Jesus is calling you!
Matthew
5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Pure in heart? No one is completely pure in heart.
How can this be?
"Pure in heart" means
to be morally straight, free from the corruption of sin. Sin
eventually corrupts the heart by making it bitter and rebellious to
anything that has to do with God. This allows satan into the heart and
mind. Often satan is so sly that he bribes us into sinning when we
don't even know that we are sinning. He bribes us with riches and
lustfulness. Pretty soon sin has corrupted our whole outlook and
attitude on life and we become blind to God's words. A corrupt heart
will never see God.
The only way to get rid of sin is by truly humbling
our self and submitting to God. It is then that we acknowledge that we
have sin in our life. This takes effort on our part. We won't be able
to acknowledge that we have a weakness if we keep looking to the world
for the answers. The world endorses sin.
The next step is to trust and believe in Jesus with
all our heart and mind, which will give us the power through the Holy
Spirit to stop the sin. And finally Jesus Christ will make temptations
of the world less tempting to us after we have trusted and believed in
him. And by forgiving others we will learn to love like Jesus Christ
loves us. And we will be living
in the Kingdom of heaven!
Notice how Jesus always says we have to
"be" before we can "have". Meaning, first we are
to practice being meek, humble, righteous, and forgiving before any of
those things become a part of our life. In other words our walk with
Jesus is living these things first, and the reward is the
Kingdom of heaven.
Only the forgiver will receive forgiveness. Only the
merciful will receive mercy, etc.
This is what the kingdom of heaven is all about.
Living righteously, meekly, and forgivingly. Always with love as the
foundation. Those who do these things are living the Sermon
On The Mount ministry and will receive a taste of heaven NOW!
What are we waiting for? Don't think that the
Kingdom of Heaven is only for later, it is here now for all believers.
Matthew
5:9 says, Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
The peacemakers are those who can forgive, be meek
and humble, kind and compassionate and love their enemies.
Everything we have been talking about thus far. The Christian
with the Christ spirit attains these traits and uses them sincerely
with others only through the righteousness
of God. Remember, to receive the righteousness that comes from God, we
first must give up our weaknesses to the Lord Jesus by believing and
trusting in him. The next verse sums up who the peacemakers are.
Romans 12:9-21
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be
devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above
yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,
serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful
in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice
hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do
not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to
associate yourself with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful
to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as
far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take
revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is
written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On
the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry,
feed him;
If he is thirsty give him
something to drink,
in doing this, you will
heap burning coals on his head.
do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Wow! The above scripture is a lot of traits
believers should have in them to be peacemakers. Actually these traits
are fruits given to the Christian for his labor in Jesus Christ. You
see, nothing comes without effort. We need to put forth effort to
receive the fruits of our labor. God gives great abundance and wealth
to those who follow Him.
The first sentence really says it all. "Love
must be sincere." Genuine love comes after God has
given us the gift of righteousness though our acceptance of the
holy spirit of Christ as our guiding light, and only after our
repentance. God's gift will be given to those who
TRUST and BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST. If
love is not sincere, then all the other traits will be pretend too.
The kingdom of God is here!
Matthew
5:10 states, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
In what ways might a Christian be persecuted for
righteousness? Let's look again at what righteousness is.
Righteousness is the Christ morality, decency, and uprightness in the
eyes of our Lord and it comes from God. That means it is in
contradiction to the world. When you go out into the world do you see
meekness, humbleness, compassion, purity, morality and peace?
Individuals in the world carry those traits, but the world as a whole
is the opposite of God's world. The world is in contradiction of the
things Jesus preached about on the Sermon On The Mount.
So, then knowing this a believer may at anytime
exhibit outward signs of rebellion to the world and it's ways, while
actually walking in the righteousness of the teachings of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and therefore, they may be subject, in some manner
to persecution, scorn and, or hate.
This is what Jesus was talking about when he meant
being persecuted for righteousness; persecuted for using "His
name" in daily affairs.
Righteousness is a gift from God given to those who
trust and believe in Jesus Christ. It's that simple! Righteousness is
then doing what Jesus Christ has done for us out of his unconditional
love, which would be once again would be exchanging our sins and weaknesses
for his complete and absolute righteousness.
2 Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who
wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Think of your own life in the above scripture. If
you have not been persecuted, scorned, or hated because of the Kingdom
of God, then what are you NOT doing that maybe you should be?
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Following The
Sermon on The Mount For Marriage
What do you think would happen to your marriage if one spouse
dutifully follows the teachings of the Sermon On The Mount? What
kind of a marriage would people have if both husband and wife followed
the characteristics of the Sermon on the Mount for their marriage?
There would be way less divorce, wouldn't there? Also there would
definitely be happier spouses/children in the household, wouldn't
there?
Below I have made a one week affirmation guide for marriage using
the "Sermon on the Mount.
Copy/paste/print this weekly marriage guide out -- follow it for three
weeks and see how you feel about yourself/spouse.
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1.) Today on Monday, I will not act proud with my spouse. I
will humble myself, even if I think I'm right.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for their is
the kingdom of heaven
Matthew 5:3
2.) Today on Tuesday, I will only please my spouse, not myself. The
whole day I will be sincerely gentle and kind to my spouse. I will do
only those things that would be giving and thoughtful to my
wife/husband.
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
the earth. Matthew 5:5
3.) Today on Wednesday, I will give in to my husband/wife wishes.
Whatever they ask, within reason will not be denied. I will not be
self-seeking.
4.) Today on Thursday, I will find one or more biblical ways to
enhance my marriage. What would God want me to do for my marriage
today? How can I make my wife/husband feel good about themselves? How
can I make them happy?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6
5.) Today on Friday, I will forgive my wife/husband for wounding my
heart. I will ask God to rid my heart and mind of negative feelings
and resentment towards my spouse. I will truly forgive.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy. Matthew 5:7
6.) Today on Saturday, I will admit my weakness to my spouse and
most importantly to God. today I will ask God to grant me forgiveness
and free me from the temptation to sin.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will
see God Matthew 5:8
7.) Today on Sunday, I will be a peacemaker. I will not quarrel or
fight with my wife/husband. Today I will find one or more ways in
which I can bring contentment and peace into my marriage.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called sons of God. Matthew 5:9
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GOD’S VICTORY PARTY
One day, God is going
to have the biggest party the world has ever known. One day,
Jesus is going to be rewarded for all He suffered for us.
The
world could care less about Jesus, much less make time for Him.
The world is so busy with schedules, television, and sports that they
push Jesus into a corner if they think about Him at all.
There
is nothing wrong with watching television provided you would watch the
same programs if Jesus was sitting next to you. There is nothing wrong
with going to basketball, football, baseball games and other
activities if you include Jesus.
I
used to be just as guilty. I would sit by the hour and watch
basketball games on television without once opening my Bible or
praying. Prayer is just talking to God about our lives.
I
used to think I had to pray at least an hour a day until I heard a
Pastor friend of mine say in a sermon, “God is not impressed with a
long, eloquent prayer. He is touched by the condition of our
hearts.”
Are
you telling the world that Jesus Loves them? Are you telling the
world that you love Jesus? Are you kneeling in prayer? If so,
are you kneeling in your heart? If you are only kneeling
physically and not in your heart, then it is in vain.
Are
you bragging on Jesus? If not, you are missing out on a lot of
fun and excitement. There is Joy in serving Jesus. Start
telling others of the Love of Jesus and then prove Jesus Loves them by
your actions. It will make the Heart of Jesus happy.
Joanne Lowe
March
21, 2005
Romans 14:11
“For
it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue confess to God.”
King
James Version
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