Welcome to our series called Rethinking Our Faith.  Why should we rethink our faith?  When Jesus shows up and teaches the Sermon on the Mount, it radically changes everything we may have understood about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  

If you have never read it, it’s wild.   It’s confusing.  And it challenges every area of our lives.  Jesus says things like If you sin with your eye, cut it out.  If you sin with your hand, cut it off.  That’s confusing because if we lived that out, we would be blind with no hands.   Jesus taught, If you are angry with someone, you have committed murder. If you stare at a woman lustfully, you have committed adultery.  And if those things aren’t challenging enough, Jesus drops some huge commands, but didn’t provide any details.  Jesus said, Love your enemies.  Well, who is that exactly?  Does that include people at work or people in other countries?  He said, Don’t store your money on earth.  Okay, but how?  He said, Don’t worry about tomorrow.  How do you do that?  Does Jesus know about the world we live in?  

The reason the Sermon on the Mount seems wild to us is that Jesus is introducing us to the kingdom of God.   And God’s kingdom clashes with the kingdom we live in.  We are so used to the kingdom of this world that when we hear about God’s kingdom, it seems super weird.

The point of the Sermon on the Mount is about God’s kingdom being established in our hearts and transforming how we live day by day.  It’s an invitation into a fully surrendered life that wakes up every day with the purpose to please Jesus.  Let’s stop to allow that to impact us for a second.  What it means to allow God’s kingdom to be established in your hearts is, we wake up every day with the purpose to please Jesus.

I want to read it for you, it’s in scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:15 He died for all so that all who live - having received eternal life from him - might live no longer for themselves, to please themselves, but to spend their lives pleasing Christ who died and rose again for them. TLB

Did you know that?   What it means to be a Christian, a Christ follower, is that we wake up every day with the purpose to please Jesus, not ourselves.  And practically, that shows up in how we live out each day.  How we set priorities.  How we treat people.  How we view eternal things.  That’s why The Sermon on the Mount is so practical.  Matthew 5, in general, is about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.   Jesus introduces us to a whole new understanding of God’s values called the Beatitudes.  He talks about anger, lust, divorce, and your enemies.  Matthew 6, in general, is about our relationship with God.  He teaches us how to be real and not a religious fake.  Jesus teaches us how to pray and fast.  Jesus teaches us that if God’s kingdom is established in our hearts, it should change how we view money and worry.  Matthew 7, in general, is about how you treat others.  Before you judge others, clean up your own life first.   Treat others the way you want to be treated.  When God’s kingdom shows up in our lives, it shows up in very practical ways.

It is really important to point out that attending church and just floating along through life isn’t what it means to have God’s kingdom established in your heart.  What can happen if we don’t intentionally surrender is that we can continue to live to please ourselves.  We stay in control and we hold onto selfishness.  It can be common to grow up in church, attend church, and learn all the right Bible stories.   We can go on all the right mission trips, attend the right Christian concerts, youth groups, and classes.  We can have all the right information, but if we don’t have a changed heart to purposely please Jesus in how we live practically, we missed it.  One of the clear indicators that we don’t have God’s kingdom in our hearts is when we go numb to the things of God, the church, and how we treat others.  Scripture calls this a lukewarm condition, and it’s extremely troubling.

Let’s read the first two verses, and let’s see how the Sermon on the Mount started.

Matthew 5:1 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down 2 and taught his climbing companions. MSG

What is happening?  Jesus is new to everyone.  He is preaching.  He is healing.  He is freeing people from the demonic.  No one has ever seen anything like Jesus.  It’s exciting.  There is a buzz.  He is drawing huge crowds.  Everyone wants to see what is happening.  And like most crowds, many people are there just checking things out.

What does Jesus do?  Jesus climbs higher on the hillside.  Why?  He intentionally pulls away from the huge crowd because he wants to talk to those who want to follow him.  He is pulling away from those who are there just for the excitement.  And as expected, a lot of people didn’t follow Jesus up the hillside because the show was over.  They went home because to see more of Jesus would have required something of them.  

Here is my big question for you.  What would you have done?  Would you have followed Jesus up the mountain, or would you have gone home?  Would you have wanted to be one of the committed or just one of the crowd?  I ask because in this story, people were forced to make a decision.  Those wanting more of Jesus would have to follow after Him.   But those who didn’t see or understand what Jesus had to offer went home.     

We have the same decision to make today.  We either believe the answer to life’s struggles is God, or He is just a show.   We either decide to pursue God or we decide to go back into our lives unchanged.  We all live lives with highs and lows, and we are all trying to figure out how to make it through the day.  We all have hurts that make us feel less.  We have insecurities that make us doubt ourselves.  We all have sins that make us feel like God is tired of us.  We all struggle in life to make money, raise a family, have friends, find joy, and stay healthy.  And we are all trying to figure it out.  

Then Jesus shows up, like today, and interrupts our lives.  Jesus offers us the opportunity to a new life, a changed life, but we must make a decision to go after Him.  We have to ask ourselves: Do I want to go up the mountain?  Do I want a changed life?  Do I want a new life?  Do I really want more of God?  Do I want His kingdom in my heart?  Do I want to understand how to live it out?  Or do I want to go back home?  Do I want to continue to loop in my struggles?  Do I want to keep my old life?  

So, Jesus goes higher, a few follow, and Jesus starts teaching the greatest sermon ever given.   He teaches about God’s kingdom being established in our hearts and transforming how we live day by day.  It’s an invitation into a fully surrendered life that wakes up every day with the purpose to please Jesus.

Remember, I said this sermon challenges every area of your life?  It does.  And it can create tension inside of you.  When you read what Jesus said, you may be tempted to create reasons why what He said doesn’t apply to you.  Some of what Jesus says may come naturally to you.  Some of what Jesus said may be the greatest challenge to you.  You might feel the tension in your heart that says, I don’t know if I want to live out what Jesus taught.  And that tension is okay.  Wrestling with what Jesus taught is good.  The real danger is when you go numb with no interest in God’s kingdom.  

That’s why Jesus said, if you're going to follow Me, you must surrender your life.  This discipleship thing won’t work out if you don’t surrender.  God’s kingdom in your heart doesn’t really work when you try to have one foot in each kingdom.  Jesus used the analogy of picking up our cross.  Let’s read it.

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” ESV

The Message Version says, Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. MSG

When Jesus said, ‘Pick up your cross,’ the disciples knew exactly what Jesus meant.  The cross was how the Romans executed people.  Jesus wasn’t saying Follow me, and I will make your life more successful.  Jesus wasn’t saying Follow me, and I will make your life easy, fun, and comfortable.   Jesus wasn’t saying live how you want to live, and now and then go to a religious event.  Jesus was saying, to follow Me, for My kingdom to be in your heart, you must die to your old life.  You must crucify the old life.  You must be done with control and selfishness.

Jesus is telling us, if you want to live out being a disciple of Jesus, you must do what I teach.   You will need to embrace the struggle you have to surrender your life.  You will need to surrender control and selfishness.  And when you do that, you will be living out what it means to be a disciple.  If you don’t want to surrender your life, Jesus taught, you will lose your life.   You will experience the slow pain of trying to stay in control, stay selfish, while nothing seems to work.   Nothing seems to change your life.      

What is the first step in surrender?  I want to read it for you.

John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” NLT

Did you see what Jesus said?   The only way to heaven is through Jesus.   What does it mean to be born again?   Let me give you another scripture to help, and I will try to explain.

1 John 5:1-3 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-born. If we love the One [God] who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome. MSG

Step one in surrender, Jesus taught, is that we must be born again.  It’s a spiritual birth.  It’s when we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and has come to save us from our sins and bad attitudes.  We surrender our lives and ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins.  And when we do that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are spiritually born again.  The curse of sin and death is broken over us.  God comes to live in us to empower us.  And the reality test, the proof that we love God, is when we obey what He taught, and it’s not a burden to us.  

When we surrender our lives to Jesus, it prepares us to read the Sermon on the Mount.  Here’s why.  Remember, I told you what Jesus said is wild and confusing?  It is.  Jesus is introducing God’s kingdom to us, and it clashes with the kingdom of this world.   The only way you can live it out is if you are fully surrendering control and selfishness and are empowered by God.  

Let me give you an example.  This is what Jesus taught.  Buckle up.

Matthew 5:43-37 I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best - the sun to warm and the rain to nourish - to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. MSG

After hearing what Jesus taught, how many of you are excited right now to leave here and love your enemy?   Love that neighbor who is a sincere pain.  Love that group in school who have cut you off and made you feel alone.  Love the couple who live in your neighborhood and vote differently from you?  Love the people at work who stabbed you in the back?  Love your spouse who just can’t seem to hear you or love you the way you want them to?  

The reality is, we can’t do it.  If we stay in control, hold on to our selfishness, if we live to please ourselves, we can’t do it.  The only way we can live this out is if we surrender our lives to Jesus and are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  

I want you to Rethink your Faith.  Has it transformed your heart?  Do you wake up every day living to please yourself?  Or do you wake up every day living with the purpose to please Jesus?  Have you fully surrendered your life to Jesus?   That includes all control and selfishness.  

Did you surrender your life in the past, and today you have noticed that you have drifted away from Jesus?   Maybe you feel numb to God, church, and other people.  Today is a chance for you to recommit your life to Jesus.  

Here is what I want everyone to do.  Read The Sermon on the Mount and journal about it.  What is it that you like?  What is it that confuses you?  What is it that makes you angry?  What is it that seems impossible to you?  I want you to then share that with someone close to you.