The Sermon on the Mount is the central, essential message of Jesus. It contains His most brilliant, incisive, and challenging teachings. If you want to know what Jesus is all about, look no further than the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is, at its core, about a Kingdom. A Kingdom that turns the world, and our lives, upside-down.
But let me warn you: to follow the upside-down Way of Jesus means going against the flow. It’s an inverted way to live. It’s cross-grain to almost everything else. Because this broken-down world is like a turtle flipped on its back that can’t tell which end is up; and Jesus is in the business of setting it right-side-up. To live in the upside-down Kingdom of Heaven is actually to discover the right-side up Way of life!
The Sermon on the Mount begins in Matthew 5:3-12. In this passage, we’ll see three things:
- Unexpected Kingdom: The Kingdom of Heaven is “at hand” in Jesus.
- Unusual Blessing: The favor of God is bestowed upon the least likely.
- Unparalleled Offer: The blessed life of God is on offer in Jesus.
Takeaway: Jesus invites ever one of us, “Follow me.”
Matthew 5:3-12
