“...the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

Jesus climbed a hill. Three chapters later, he came down. Between his ascent and his descent, he delivered the famous Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew chapters five through seven. This was no ordinary sermon, as the people testified in 7:28 and 29 above.

That message touched on several subjects–from prayer to God’s provision, to hypocrisy, and more.  But above all, it was a proclamation. Jesus proclaimed that he is the King over a great Kingdom and that his followers must live according to the King’s ways. The earthshaking difference between this proclamation and any other is that citizenship in the Kingdom is not granted by reforms, good deeds, nationality, race, religion, or creed. It comes by confessing one's own utter inability to be righteous. It comes by trusting solely in Jesus to make new creatures out of old. It comes by new birth. Legalistic Jews despised the King and the Kingdom because they believed that their good works and lawkeeping (instead of salvation by grace through faith) would earn them a place in the Kingdom. Those Jews in Jesus’ day deserve no more ridicule than others. Anyone in any age who chooses religion (or any system of good works) over forgiveness through the blood of Christ for our sins is deceived and hopeless.

The Sermon on the Mount is more than sublime sentiments to soothe the heart. It announces Jesus as King, the greatness of his Kingdom, and shows a portrait of how true Christians think and live. It is revolutionary, it challenges the religious status quo, and it represents a seismic shift in understanding who goes to heaven.

Are you a Sermon on the Mount kind of Christian?