Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:1-2

Sunday Morning | August 9, 2026 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In the first message of our new series through the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor John explores the purpose of Jesus’ most famous teaching in Matthew 5–7 and challenges us to recognize that it is not simply a collection of moral instructions, but an invitation to a transformed life. The Sermon on the Mount gives LIFE, calling us to be EAGER to follow Jesus today, to understand His teaching as the fulfillment of God’s LAW, and to recognize that true righteousness is INTERNAL, beginning in a transformed heart rather than merely outward behavior. Jesus fulfills the story of Scripture as the promised Messiah, bringing the FULFILLMENT of God’s covenant and creating a people who are committed to Him rather than comfortable with the status quo. Ultimately, Jesus’ message is simple: He is worthy of our attention, our obedience, and our hearts—so the question is, Are we willing to listen?

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Transcript

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Thank you. Isaac. Good morning, Valley View. It's great to be with you all. I had a few weeks off. Thank you for the number of those who came and helped preach during that time. It gave me some time to get a little downtime, but also to plan ahead to think about the coming months. We're heading into the fall, and our church is ramping back up on Wednesday nights, and so having some windows in the summer to plan ahead is is real valuable for us. In fact, we are now today going into a whole new series. We're going to work through the Sermon on the Mount in the coming months. And many people, thank you for the Sermon on the Mount. Some applause. It's a great passage of Scripture. In fact, it's probably about the longest section of direct teaching from Jesus. And so many people look at that and and see that it holds great value in weight. It's a great place to spend a lot of time processing, praying, studying. And so today we want to do a little bit of an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. What is the Sermon on the Mount about? When I applied for my first job, I was 16 years old and I went through the application process. I waited for an interview, got an interview. Many of you have been through this. The waiting, the wondering, the worrying. Got another interview and finally they called and said, we would like to hire you as an employee at Melton's Food Mart. That was a small grocery chain out in Louisville at the time, and I was so excited to have a job to make some money to know that now I am an employee. You can call me an employee of Melton's. Even though I was an employee, though I didn't quite yet know what it meant to work for them. What is their culture like? What are the things that a Melton's employee does or does not do? And that took a lot of time to figure out. I remember some of the conversations the managers would have with me, hey, I'm not paying you to chat it up with the cashier. You're not here to build your relationship with them. I'm like, I'm not trying to connect with them. Oh no, no no no. Your focus is on the the customer. You talk to them, connect with them I don't care. Go do that on your own time or the times when they would say things like, look, don't ask, can I carry out your groceries? Here at Melton's, you carry out everyone's groceries. Unless they're ripping it out of your arms, you're taking it out for them. That's what we do. That's who we are. It takes time to understand. Yeah, I'm an employee. But what does it mean to really work here? To be successful, to flourish, to know the culture? When we talk about the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying, yeah, you're in the kingdom. But what does it mean to flourish in the kingdom? To really know how to live in the kingdom of heaven? This is what he is addressing here in the Sermon on the Mount. And so today we're going to do an introduction. We're just going to look at the first two verses of the Sermon on the Mount and some of the surrounding verses in the first couple of chapters. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter five. We're going to study the Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew chapter five through seven. And we're just going to read the first two verses today if you would stand. You won't have to stand very long. It's just two verses. As we read the passage, we'll be studying as just a sign of respect for God's word. Matthew chapter five, verse one and two. Seeing the crowds. And this is speaking of Jesus. Jesus seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth. And he taught them, saying, we'll get into all that. He says, but you can go ahead and have a seat. Matthew chapter five, verses one and two. This is an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. And as we unpack the Sermon on the Mount, we're going to use one word of introduction for understanding what is meant to be conveyed here. That word is going to serve as an acronym, but also the key idea. The Sermon on the Mount is all about just one word, the word life. That's the word you want to fill in in your outline. It's the word life. We’ll unpack that word life a letter at a time. What does it mean that the Sermon is life, meaning it gives life both in its teachings, but also it tells us how to experience life to its fullest.

That's what John 10: 4:27

10 is about. We quote it here all the time Jesus came, he said, I came that they may have life and have it abundant, overflowing to the full, which is what everybody here wants. That's why you're here. Most of life is just lived, kind of existing. I'm alive sometimes, barely alive, just getting by. But we want life to the full and abundant, overflowing to its maximum. That's what the Sermon on the Mount is about. How do you get the most out of life? Not just get by, but experience the kingdom of heaven on earth to its fullest. The instructions are here to be followed. How do we maximize this life? Now some have read the Sermon on the Mount and they've said, now look, really, this can't be for us today. These are pretty high and lofty standards. Who can really hold to this? Can anyone really follow this? That can't be what it's about. But I think there's enough clues in here that tell us no. The Sermon on the Mount is for you today, and in it you can find life. And so to do that, we're going to start with the letter E. We're actually going to start with the letter E, not the letter L I know it's out of order. I apologize to the OCD folks or the some of you have said I'm more CDO because that's OCD in alphabetical order. We're going to start with the letter E. We'll make it through. It'll be okay. I think when you read the Sermon on the Mount, the letter E, you see in it an eagerness. You see this urgency, this presentness to it, this idea that this is for today, this is for the here and now. This isn't just off in the future somewhere. And maybe a millennial reign of Jesus off at some point, maybe then we’ll obey it. No. Everything about this says this is for today. This is for you today. In fact, Jesus's first Sermon that we have listed in

Scripture is in 4: 6:32

17, Matthew chapter four. So he's gone. He's he's been born. He's been baptized. His ministry is being launched. And in chapter four it says this verse 17, here's his first Sermon. He says, from that time Jesus began to preach, saying, repent. That's his first Sermon. Repent. One word. Why? For the kingdom of heaven is at hand, not repent because it's coming, and it will come in its fullness, but it is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is here. It is near. It is now. Now also, the Sermon on the Mount ends that way with chapter seven, verse 24. You may. You've probably heard of this. The wise man built his house on the rock. Some of you are singing the song in your head. You remember from being in kid's church. If you went through that, the wise man built his house upon the rock. But the foolish man built his house on the sand. And the reason the person who built his house on the rock is wise. Because it says he hears my words and obeys them. These words in the Sermon on the Mount aren't just theoretical. They're meant to be heard. They're meant to be obeyed. Now, today, in this life, at this time, they’re for us now, they’re for today. Now, there's a lot of fascinating background to the Sermon on the Mount, what Jesus is trying to accomplish, where he's trying to center life. One of the things he is interacting with is their view. And this is letter L that we're going to unpack to set the context, is their view of the law. Jesus is trying to help them understand the role of the law in their life. Now that he is on the scene, and they have thought that the place where they found life up to this point is in the law, Jesus is going to help them understand that there's something else happening now. In fact, what we see as we look on the Sermon on the Mount, we see all kinds of comparisons between Jesus and Old Testament figures. You see comparisons, you see contrasts to help set up the stage for who he is and what he's trying to say. Even just this phrase in in verse one, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. That very first sentence, that very first verse is meant to call to mind someone else who went up on a mountain, the the language there, the Greek. It's very similar to the Hebrew. Old Testament was also translated into Greek, and the language is very similar in that Greek translation of Moses going up on the mountain three times in the Old Testament it says, Moses went up on the mountain, and each time it was to receive the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. And so the parallels here are clearly Moses went up on a mountain to get God's law. Jesus is now going up on a mountain. But there's a big difference. Moses went up on the mountain to receive God's law. Jesus is going up on the mountain to deliver truth. He's not. He is the authority. Moses had to receive it from God. Jesus is going up as the authority. So there's comparisons, there's contrast. Moses was great. Here's something better. When we see the Sermon on the Mount, this is where life is going to be found. The law was good. The law directed us. But now there's something greater. So he's compared to Moses. We also see there's this comparison to the law itself. This is more subtle. And some say not sure if this is here or not, but I thought this was interesting that in the book of Matthew there's five key sections of teaching. There's more than that, but there's five big blocks of teaching, of sermons from Jesus, of teachings from Jesus, and each of those end with this same phrase of when he had finished these sayings, or when he had finished what he was saying, setting them apart as five blocks. And of course, the law, the Hebrews, especially the Jewish leaders, would have seen the law as the first five books of the Old Testament. They called it the Torah. And so you see this comparison. You have your law. I'm presenting a new law. There's not a direct comparison between each book, but the numerical aspect of it is saying, I am bringing a better law. I am bringing a new teaching. You also see that he's complemented even with the idea of fulfillment. All throughout this, we see that Jesus is spoken of as someone better than Moses, better than David, better than those who have gone before. I think another thing, though, that Jesus is doing here, when he goes up on the mountain, he's looking for those who are really committed to following him. He always seems to be, you know, we're always trying to do all we can to attract people to come to church. Jesus seems to drive away as many people as he can. Who is really committed? When Moses went up on the mountain, the people said, you go for us. We don't want to go. It's too scary. You go, we don't want to try to get close to God. You go for us. And Jesus says, come with me. I'm going up on the mountain. Come with me. It's really easy to follow him down on the plain where it's nice and grassy, probably shade trees to hear the sermon. Probably a nice stream running by. But when we're going to go up on the mountain, that takes some effort. That takes some commitment. If you've climbed a big mountain, you know it's hard. Last year I did a climb to Big Mountain with my son in Colorado, and we got to the top and I said, I do think that is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I don't know how I survived it. He wasn't sure either. He wasn't sure I was going to, but we did. Who is committed? Who is going to follow me even to the hard places? It's fascinating to me and discouraging at times when I talk to friends who are struggling and they're trying to figure out how do I grow my church, how do I get people to come to my church? And it's crazy how often, in fact, I would just ask you to just go ahead and guess in your mind, what do you think the number one challenge they face is? Just just take a guess. Just think. If I could think of the number one challenge to people coming to church, what would it be? Over and over. And I'm not saying it's right, but this is what I hear from them over and over again. It's the parking. It's the parking. We chuckle. It's not lit well enough. People can't get close enough to the building to be able to come in easily. They struggle to get the spot they want and so they just stay home. You know, when you're excited about something, parking doesn't matter. When your favorite band comes to town, you know you're going to have to hike miles to the Yum Center. You don't care. I have walked many miles with some of you after hours of arriving early to a football game, and we didn't care. We were having a blast. It was great. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with that. That's not wrong to be excited about a band or a football game or. But parking. You know, we rent out part of our parking lot to Ford. They parked their trucks on it. Pay us a little money. It helps out. We don't use that part. And I'll confess to you, I've thought, what if we rented out the whole thing to them? Just to all of it. Let them fill it up. What would people do and should show up Sunday? The whole parking lots fenced off. What would we do? I guess I'll go home. Or would we figure it out? Would we say I got to be there no matter what? I don't care where I have to park, I don't care how far I have to walk. And I know not everybody can walk. And I know I probably, even though I'm pastor, would be very confused if the whole parking lot was closed off. But you see the point. That is our biggest challenge parking. Part of the problem is not commitment. It's that we are addicted to comfort. All of us. By the way. Look, this is I struggle with it too. We want everything easy. Make it as easy as possible. Make it as comfortable as possible for me. Don't present any possible obstacle that I might have to step over. This is part of being an American Christian, sadly. But Jesus is saying, I'm going up on the mountain and if you want to follow me, come along. It won't be easy, but come follow me. Come up on the mountain because you think life is in the law, but it's not. It's in me. In fact, here's where the Sermon on the Mount is going to turn the corner. We go from law external to law internal. This is letter I, law internal. This is the transition that has to take place. The law historically and the Old Testament was an external moral code for you to measure yourself up to, for you to follow, for you to be directed by. But what we want is for the spirit to be within us, directing and guiding us to not just be governed by an external law. We see hints of this in Matthew chapter two, Matthew one, Matthew two, Matthew three, Matthew four. These are all setting up the themes of the Sermon on the Mount, and in Matthew two you have Jesus. He's born. The wise men come. Herod finds out there's a future king. So they flee because they know. They're told Herod's going to try to kill you. And of course he comes through, kills all the children in that town under two years old. And then this happens here in chapter two, verse 17, it said, this happened for a reason. This happened to fulfill what was in the Old Testament. Look at verse 17, then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. Now that quote, just on its surface, probably feels a little obscure. But here's the point. The context of that. And you know how this works. When you quote something you're quoting often the broader idea, the bigger concept.

This is a quote from Jeremiah 31: 17:43

15. And just following this is the promise of a New Covenant. And the New Covenant says, there'll be a day where I'll put my law within your heart. Says that in Jeremiah. Ezekiel says, I'll give you a new heart. I'll take out your heart of stone. I'll give you a heart of flesh. My law will be within you. This is all the difference between legalism. I'm going to follow an external code and try to please God by obeying it perfectly in life. When his law, when His Spirit is within you, guiding you. In fact, there's a great quote. I've been reading a book by a Puritan, John Owen, and he was a well-known Puritan writer in the 1600s, and he wrote a book on the Holy Spirit. He runs. He wrote tons of books. He was probably the most prolific Puritan writer of that time. But look at what he says about the difference between being driven by an external code and an internal code, he says. And it's on the screen. If you don't have a copy of the notes. Mere outward morality is like a sailing ship dependent on outward winds to blow it along. But the person who has this ruling principle of holiness in him, and he called this the sanctified heart. The Holy Spirit presence in your heart is like a ship with its own inward power, moving independently of any winds that might or might not blow it along. Here's what's interesting about that quote. He he wrote that probably 150 years before the first self-powered ship. I mean, other than rowing, but steam powered. It was like 1809 before the first. He was already thinking about this. How amazing is the difference between a ship that can just drive itself and not be dependent on some outward force upon it? And I remember and some of you will relate to this. I remember being in school and there's nothing I could stand less. There's nothing that bothered me more than people telling me what to do. It gave me a lot of troubles back then and maybe some now as well. People telling me what to do. Don't tell me what to do. Who are you to think you know how to tell me what to do? It gave me problems at school. It gave me problems at church. I remember being at a lock in when our recreation minister at the time was on crutches, and comes hobbling across the gym floor to get on me about something. I didn't even know what I'd done. I wasn't even sure why he was so upset, but I had done something against the rules and he was there to correct me. And looking back, I can see as much as I did not like that I desperately needed it because I didn't have self-regulation. I didn't have the rules within me. I didn't have the ability to control myself. I had to have adults to come alongside me and go, that's not right. There's a different way to act. You can't act that way. John, what's wrong with you? Have you gone crazy? Do you have any sense? You know, I heard it all sometimes. Still hear it here and there. But you see the difference. Do you want to live your life only governed by an external outward law? Or do you want the Holy Spirit living inside of you, working inside of you, internal to you, guiding, directing, recreating, making you new? That's where life is found. That's the new covenant, the promise of the New Covenant. Jesus is all about that. In fact, we'll see other hints of this in these first couple of chapters, right? Look back here. We get a glimpse of this in chapter one, verse one. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. That phrase, just the word book of genealogy, in the original language it was more like the book of beginnings, the book of. In fact, genealogy is the same word in Greek Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We memorized it. We've talked about it this morning. Jesus was there. The book of John says he was there at creation. He was there creating in him all things are created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers, authorities. All things are created through him and for him. Jesus creates. He brings about new life. We get a glimpse of that there. We also get a glimpse at his baptism. Look at chapter three. This also relates to Genesis chapter one. At his baptism in verse 16, chapter three. When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. This image of the Holy Spirit coming upon him like a dove, connects back to creation. The Spirit of God hears the word for a bird fluttering over something, hovering over the waters, the spirit creating Jesus there at creating. He's all about making things new. That's why I've listed

Second Corinthians 5: 23:12

17 in your notes. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. He is about making things new. And if you know him, he has made you new. He has changed your nature. He has transformed you. This is what the Sermon on the Mount is driving at. You want life. It comes by being made new in him. Ultimately, that's found that life is found in Jesus. That leads us to letter F, this idea of fulfillment, fulfillment. Jesus fulfills all that was in the Old Testament, all the promises that were made in the Old Testament. They're fulfilled in him. And we're going to see a number of comparisons here. I've listed some of them out in your notes. First chapter one, it says, and you remember back at Christmas, we spent some time looking at the genealogy and the focus on David and how David is repeated over and over again. And you have these three blocks of 14 in the name of David in Hebrew is the number 14. But he's even called in the very first verse back in chapter one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. There was a promise given that after David would come, a king who would sit on the throne forever. And Matthew chapter one is saying, the one you've been looking for is here. David's here. He is the one. There's other comparisons as well in the notes he's compared to Israel. If you look back at chapter two, we saw that Jesus, when he was born, just like Israel, faced a murderous king who wanted to kill him off. He wanted to kill all the children of Israel, the Pharaoh. And of course, Herod wanted to kill all the children that might be Jesus. You see these comparisons between Jesus and Israel. But there's a big difference in chapter four. In chapter four, Jesus goes into the wilderness to face temptation. Israel went into the wilderness and faced temptation. Israel did not stand up to a temptation. They grumbled. They chased idolatry. They ran from the Lord. But Jesus held up under all temptation. Where Israel failed, he was faithful. Jesus is better than Israel. He succeeded where Israel failed. He was faithful when Israel was unfaithful. So he's the one you've been looking for. And David, he's the one that fulfills what was pointed towards in Israel. Also, it says in Matthew ten different times this happened to fulfill the whole book is pointing towards fulfillment, fulfillment, fulfillment. And of course, we know the Jewish people were looking for a messiah, looking for a ruler to come and to lead them. But many had in mind a political ruler who would come and make things right, who would set them free from the Roman rule. I want you to see two words in here that tell us and help them see who Jesus is meant to be. What does he fulfill as Messiah is not a political Messiah.

You can look. I've listed here verse 1: 26:46

21. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people, not politically, not from an evil ruler. He will save them from their sins. He is Savior. What we need more than a perfect government. And by the way, do your best to vote the best you can to have the best government we can. We want to see our country flourish. We want to see people to be able to flourish. But what we need more than that is to be rescued from our own sin a million times more. Because it doesn't matter what government is at play. If we're not right with God, it doesn't matter. He is Savior. He will rescue people from their sins, he’s Savior. But also look at the other one, verse 23. The other thing that is said of him, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. He is Savior, and he is Emmanuel. He is God. This fulfills what everything before him is before here has been pointing towards who is coming, who will save us? Who will rescue us? How can we find life? What does it mean to follow him? It's all about Jesus. Now let me make something clear though. When Jesus comes, he's not just coming to give us a slightly better version of the Ten Commandments. Moses brought the Ten Commandments and those were okay. Jesus is going to come and bring 11 or 12 just a little bit better. No, no, no, no. When Jesus comes, in fact, there's a really powerful passage in Matthew chapter 17 when he goes up on the mountain again at the Transfiguration, and he's there with Moses again in person with Moses. The disciples see he's there, Moses. God meets them there, and he issues a verbal command. Here's the command for you to follow, not ten. He gives them one. And it's just this simple. This is my son. Listen to him, listen to him. And so when it comes to finding life, we're studying the Sermon on the Mount. That's where we're finding life. But don't turn that into another list of external rules. The point of the Sermon on the Mount is to move towards Christ. In him is where we will find our life, not just in our ability to keep a new set of rules. It's in him, and he's going to help us understand how the law was meant to point toward him and how we follow it now. I did a Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount with some friends in a neighborhood we lived in when we lived in little Rock, Arkansas, and one of the guys that came to this group, he had grown up around the church, he had grown up Catholic, and he had was familiar with parts of the Bible. But he came to this group, and the first week we gathered, I told everyone hey, be reading on the Sermon on the Mount, on your on your own. Before we study it, be looking at it on your own. Get familiar with it. And he he showed up that morning. He got he said, guys, before we start, before anything else is said, I've got something to say. I thought, man, where is this going? Is he going to end the whole thing right here? He said, all my life, for my entire life, I have looked for something I have longed for, something to live by. And I gotta tell you right here, I've found it. This is it. And the room was silent. The joy that was in his voice, the hope that was in his voice you could hear. I've longed for life abundant. I've longed for real life, and I've found it in the words of Jesus. My prayer is that as we study the Sermon on the Mount, you would say the same. Let's pray. God, we're so grateful for your word that guides us. We know your Spirit. For those who know you, your Spirit is within us, guiding us. And thank you that you also give us your Word to help give us direction. Thank you for the community of believers here. We can lean on one another. God, I pray over the coming months as we meditate on your teaching. As we meditate on the Sermon on the Mount, that it would bring a fresh sense of life, a fresh sense of joy, a fresh sense of commitment to following you, that those who are feeling downcast and distant from you, even today, would have a renewed sense of hope that they can have the abundant life. Doesn't mean it's easy. Would you direct us towards life today? Help us to find our life in you in all that we do. We love you, Jesus. Amen.