The Life of Those Under God's Rule
Rev. Sang Ho Bae's 12th expository work on the gospel of Matthew provides an overview of what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.
Matthew chapters 5 through 7 contain the most radiant of Jesus’ teachings, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount or the Great Charter of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Japanese scholar Kuroki described it as “a crown adorned with hundreds of jewels.” The Sermon on the Mount is the secret of the kingdom that only the Lord, the Master of heaven, can reveal, and in it He discloses what the law of that kingdom is and who the people of that kingdom are. The law of heaven is a beautiful and sacred law that belongs to a realm entirely different from the principles of this world. A believer who has been born again by the Holy Spirit becomes moved with awe as he realizes through the Lord’s sermons that he has already become a citizen of heaven who lives according to its principles. The contents of the Sermon on the Mount are not a mere ethical code but an expression of the inner life that naturally flows from a person under God’s rule.
The early church fathers called the Beatitudes “a mirror that reveals the identity of the people of the new covenant,” and the Reformer Calvin described them as “the image of Christ that the Holy Spirit engraves within us.” In other words, the Beatitudes are not an ideal standard that humans must reach by their own effort but the actual life that the Holy Spirit forms in those in whom the kingdom of God has already come. For this reason, when believers read the Sermon on the Mount, they feel grace before they feel burden.
The background to the Lord’s giving of the Sermon on the Mount is as follows. When He began His ministry and the reports of His authoritative teaching and miracles spread, people flocked to Him from every direction. At that time Israel was suffering under foreign oppression, and the people thought Jesus would be a political Messiah who would bring national independence. Even the disciples held the same misunderstanding. But the kingdom of God is not a kingdom ruled by power or force; it is a kingdom governed by spiritual laws and principles. The Lord sensed the need to teach His disciples the true nature of the Messiah’s kingdom, and so He went up the mountain and explained the principles of heaven—this is the Sermon on the Mount. In short, the Sermon on the Mount is the law of heaven for God’s people who live on earth. A citizen of heaven is someone who lives according to the law of heaven. The reason heavenly citizens experience spiritual culture shock in this world is that the ways of the world and the principles of heaven collide with each other. When a citizen of heaven follows the patterns of the world, he is imitating the world. Scripture teaches us not to conform to the world but to live according to the principles of heaven. The citizens of heaven must live by the law—the principles—of heaven, and the Sermon on the Mount reveals that law most clearly.
Furthermore, the Sermon on the Mount does not simply list “things to do" but first reveals what kind of people the citizens of God’s kingdom are. Being gives rise to doing. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount is not so much a command saying, “Live like this,” as it is a declaration saying, “This is who you are.” In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord spoke of the Beatitudes. The blessings He described are entirely different from the blessings the world speaks of. If "worldly blessing" refers to outward prosperity such as health, long life, and wealth, the blessings Jesus speaks of refer to inner character and spiritual condition. The Sermon on the Mount shows what the life of a Christian is. Whether clergy or laity, every Christian must live the life taught in the Beatitudes, for all citizens of heaven are called to such a life. Even if one’s faith is still immature and the traits are not yet clearly formed, every born-again Christian must possess the characteristics revealed in the Beatitudes. These traits are not produced by human effort but are newly formed by the Holy Spirit working within the believer. A believer is fundamentally different from an unbeliever. An unbeliever does not have this new character, nor does he pursue the same things as a believer. Just as Koreans and Japanese may look similar outwardly yet think in entirely different ways, so believers and unbelievers differ in worldview and values. So when a believer follows the ways of the world, it makes his heart uneasy. The person who finds the ways of the world uncomfortable—that is the one who belongs to heaven.