The Sermon on the Mount Part 11

[HKHaugan]

The Sermon on the Mount Part 11

There is still one more thing we have to resolve. It's the parallel Jesus is giving us when we see Him fulfilling the Law and its signature statement, the Ten Commandments. Remember how Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law from the Lord to be the moral lifestyle for the Jewish people? Jesus is taking His disciples up on a mount to teach them a spiritual lifestyle, really a heartstyle, that fulfills the Law. Whereas the Law was given to whip a people into shape to be a moral example as a nation, the Sermon is given for each believer to be Spirit filled. It takes us one step further. It's attitudinal. Our attitude is spiritually shaped by the Holy Spirit living in our heart (Jn.14:25). It is not a chameleon attitude that changes with the cultural wind. It is a singular eternal attitude that comes from Jesus Himself through the Holy Spirit (Php.2:6-11).

But there were Ten Commandments and The Sermon on the Mount presents us with only nine Blesseds. If Jesus is paralleling the Commandments, where is the 10th? Let's return to Moses given those first ten by God. It was God who identified Himself to Moses as “I Am.” Now Jesus said He came to fulfill all righteousness, which only God can do, so what is the 1st Commandment? God who said to Moses “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods but me (Ex.2:2-3).” Now hear what Jesus said about Himself, “Before Abraham was, I Am (John 8:58).” Jesus is the 'I AM' out of whom the Blesseds come, thus the 1st Commandment is fulfilled.

Whereas the Ten Commandments came without from God to Moses, the Blesseds come from within Jesus to the disciples. Only nine are needed.

Jesus is the “I AM”, the Lord God. So He issues nine Blesseds as the Lord God. These are different in that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people to be a unique moral family of God among immoral idolatrous nations. The Blesseds are given to take God's people one step further. Now, through Jesus, each person, no matter who they are or where they come from, is able to have a unique and direct personal relationship with the Father. It's a heart to heart relationship. Each person is to be a moral beacon in a dark world, to be filled with the light of the Spirit and share Jesus with everyone they come in contact with.

Again, Jesus is the 1st Commandment fulfilled. In the Blesseds He brought the Law into the fullness of the Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount, the fulfillment of the Commandments did not come from outside Him, like with Moses, but from within Him, God in the flesh.

There is one more occasion that seals this reality. Remember when Moses came down from the mountain? He glowed from the light the Lord God's presence had placed on him. What Jesus did was something new. He took His disciples on a mountain and He glowed from within. It's called the Transfiguration (Mt.17). He was God in the flesh, the One who Moses set the stage for, the Light of and for the world. The new law of love from within Jesus revealed the God of love and every human being can receive Him by faith.

Jesus is the bridge between the physical and spiritual dimension. Now we can go where we have never gone before in every next moment, event, circumstance, occasion and activity. As we approach each, we think, feel and act spiritually. We have a direct connection in the spiritual dimension and it is belief, trust and faith in Jesus Christ that redeem the physical world so that it can serve the Lord.

“I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock [belief], my fortress [trust] and my deliverer [faith]; my God is my rock [belief], in whom I take refuge [trust], my shield [faith] and the horn [power] of my salvation, my stronghold (Ps.18:1-2).”

Having covered the Beatitudes, the Blesseds, we are ready to look at the commentary that follows them in chapter 5 through 7. Now it's up to each reader to proceed further into the Sermon and feel the impact of the Holy Spirit restoring us to grow as disciples and witnesses for the Lord Jesus. Where will it take you? Only you can answer that. May the Lord bless you on your personal journey through the rest of the Sermon.