Jesus's Authoritative Kingdom Teaching
If you’ve followed along in the Sunday message series “Glimpses of Glory”, you’ll note that on several occasions, Luke records the amazement of the Judeans at the quality of Jesus’s teaching. The note that it is “with authority”. In Matthew’s account of Jesus, we read a similar phrase at the conclusion of the “Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7):
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.(vv.28-29
In contrast to the Jewish scholar class ( the scribes and Pharisees), Jesus’s teaching was unlike anything the people had ever heard. The Sermon on the Mount is representative of this “authoritative teaching” of Jesus, the content of which is the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with himself as God’s anointed King. These 3 chapters in Matthew, then, are of central importance in understanding the message that Jesus and his disciples repeated from town to town before and after his resurrection. In this collection of teaching, Jesus isn’t throwing out a list of disconnected sayings. Rather, he has arranged the parts of the message (proclamation, instruction, application, warning, and exhortation) into a memorable and arresting unity.
Chapter 5 begins with the famous list of Beatitudes. In this section, Jesus establishes both the values of the Kingdom of God and their antithesis. These qualities of Kingdom Citizens are then illustrated (along with their opposites) and instruction given on how to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. for example, Kingdom Citizens are “merciful” (v.7) and thus receive mercy. This is later included as part of the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:12) and in Jesus’s follow up commentary on the prayer (Matthew 6:14-15)
Again, the “pure in heart” are blessed because they will see God (v.8). A pure heart is one that is undivided or single minded in its affections. This is what Jesus targets in saying, “no one can serve two masters…You cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24)
Citizen’s of Jesus’s Kingdom have a purpose, to reveal the righteousness of God through their lives so that his loving rule is realized “on earth as it is in heaven”. In his comments following the Beatitudes, Jesus compares his listeners to salt (flavor and preservative) and light in the darkness that drawing people to God through acts of love. Jesus’s Kingdom people live our their transformed lives of Christ-like love in visible and practical ways to produce a “buzz” about the goodness of their Kingly, Heavenly Father. The last two Beatitudes (vv.10-12) presuppose that many people will not respond well to the seemingly upside down values of God’s Kingdom, but that is only possible if Jesus’s followers “let their light shine before others.”
Next, Jesus addresses the elephant in the room: is he overthrowing God’s law, the ones taught by the hyper-observant (at least externally) scribes and Pharisees? No, he says. In fact, he himself is the completion of all that was taught in the Old Testament. He is not calling people to a looser way of life, but to God’s own righteousness which is required in order to “enter the kingdom of heaven.”
To demonstrate how righteous one must be to enter into the Kingdom of heaven, he points to the ultra-observant scribes and Pharisees. Those who “regular” Judeans thought of as the cream of the crop don’t have the price of admission in Heaven’s economy. Jesus then gives five examples of what had “been said” followed by “but I say to you”. This is a clear example of Jesus being authoritative since he doesn’t “relax” the law, but ratchets up the level of goodness to include the inner life not just the outer appearance of goodness. “How can anyone possibly do this?”, Jesus’s audience must be asking themselves. “If not even the Pharisees and scribes can meet God’s standards, with all of their stringent observance of laws and traditions, we don’t have a chance!”. Not to worry, Jesus addresses this next.
Some eighteen times throughout these three chapters, Jesus refers to “your Father in Heaven” or indicates the father/child dynamic between God and his listeners. God’s Kingdom rule is primarily one of fatherly concern, affection, and care. Rather than focus on performing to gain God’s attention and man’s approval, Jesus recommends adopting a view of God as a father who wants his children to succeed and experience the blessedness of life with Him through his Son and Spirit.
In chapter 6, Jesus teaches how good deeds (aka “practicing righteousness”) are not some kind of weird performance art, but result from a deeply personal relationship with God as our loving, emotionally involved Dad. He targets three well-known categories of righteous action: alms-giving, prayer, and fasting. In every case he says to reject the acclaim of the public spotlight and make the Father the sole audience and source of reward.
This “Father-focus” of the Kingdom life is most clearly presented in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-14). We assume the Father’s divinely good, loving, and gracious character (i.e. name). With this settled, we delight in working to establish his loving rule on earth through our good deeds as we walk in his Spirit. He provides for our every need and forgives us to the same degree that we are merciful to others for the wrongs they’ve done to us. This last piece, forgiveness, is so important, that Jesus gives additional commentary in v. 14 focusing on the consequence of failing to forgive.
Jesus recommends making the Father himself and his righteous perfection in relationship the treasure of our lives. When we do, we have a new relationship to material possessions that sets us free from anxiety. Our life becomes full of light since our eye (‘the lamp of the body”) sees the world as full of God’s goodness and full of opportunity to work with our Father to expand his good rule. Love of money (or status, or power, or significance) no longer has tyrannical rule over our lives. We are no longer tossed around by disappointment or feelings of worthlessness because we are loved by the God who values us far above sparrows and wildflowers, which he also takes care of.
But what about that righteousness bit? Will we be able to exceed the shallow performance-based external goodness of scribes and Pharisees? You bet! Jesus says to Ask, Seek, and Knock and we will Receive, Find, and Enter in. Who responds to our persistent efforts to “seek first the kingdom of God”? The Father, of course! Jesus compares human fathers who are “maliciously evil” yet provide their children with the necessities of natural life when asked. God, he says, is an infinitely better Dad and gives us the good things (righteousness, peace, patience, humility, wisdom, joy, endurance, courage, etc.) we need to live in his Heavenly Kingdom.
Jesus, far beyond relaxing the righteous demands of the law, sums them up in the law of love: Since God loves you and provides for you (just as he forgives you as you have forgiven others,) “whatever you wish that others would do for you, do also to them, for this is the law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
Finally, Jesus concludes with four warnings:
Suffering for righteousness gives confidence so be cautious of a conflict-free life. Maybe you are not offensive enough in a society who values performance over substance and acquisition of wealth and comfort over self-giving sacrificial love for others.
Beware of false prophets who will come to eat you up. You can tell them by the fruit of their lives. Just invert all of the beatitudes and the teachings on good deeds for a profile of “wolves in sheeps clothing”.
Beware of false disciples. They won’t be driven by love of the Father and his righteousness. They will be driven by performance and doing things “for Jesus”.
Don’t fail to put into practice what Jesus taught in these message about Kingdom life. Build your present and future life securely: your treasure can’t be stolen, and your house will stand intact.