As we read through last week’s passage (Matthew 5:1-10), we see in its words the character of the Christian – the attitude focused on God, the actions that follow righteous living, and the response of the world. It can be easy to turn this list into a law, something to be done mechanically that then becomes our “righteousness” rather than standing on Christ, our rock. The righteousness called for in the Sermon on the Mount always springs from a regenerated heart; it cannot be separated from the new birth.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones applied some tests to our interpretation and application of the Sermon on the Mount. Let me highlight two of them that struck me:
- “If you find yourself arguing with the Sermon on the Mount at any point, it means either that there is something wrong with you or else that your interpretation of the Sermon is wrong.”
- “Finally, if you regard any particular injunction in this Sermon as impossible, once more your interpretation and understanding of it must be wrong.”
The Sermon points us to Christ. He fully lived the Sermon on the Mount; he taught these things to his disciples. And, he expects his disciples to live in his kingdom with this kind of behavior; he meant them to be practiced. Dr. Lloyd-Jones sums it up by saying “These things were taught by the Lord and were meant for us, His people. This is how the Christian is meant to live.”