In His sermon on the mount, Jesus had been bringing distinction between the teachings of the religious leaders of the day and what God truly expected from His followers.  The religious leaders were teaching a works based righteousness that encouraged people to find value in their outward efforts; however, Jesus taught them that having a pure heart would lead to right actions.  The heart and actions cannot be separated.

To bring clarity to this issue, Jesus illustrated the importance of having a pure heart AND proper actions.  Jesus makes the connection between the heart and actions by looking at a couple issues: murder/hatred (5:21-26), adultery/lust (5:27-30), divorce (5:31-32), and making promises (5:33-37).  The religious leaders viewed murder as sin (5:21), but Jesus took this issue one step further by exposing hatred as the heart condition which leads a person to murder (5:22).  Many people were taking pride in the fact that they had never murdered someone, but hatred or unjustified anger toward another is an internal sin which has the potential to lead to an external, sinful action.  Jesus challenged His followers to confess any areas of anger or hatred before coming to worship God (5:23-26).

Many of the religious leaders thought highly of themselves because they had never committed adultery (5:27), but Jesus equated lust (an internal sin) with adultery, which is the outward manifestation of lust (5:28).  The only way to combat outward sin is by changing the heart (5:29-30).  Jesus also examined another issue being abused by the religious leaders – divorce (5:31-32).  They taught that divorce could take place when a husband felt it was necessary or when a major offense took place; however, Jesus reminded them that a marriage could only be dissolved when sexual immorality has occurred.  Marriage is a serious commitment made before God and should not be taken lightly.  Jesus also exposes the religious leaders’ soft view of making promises in the name of God (5:33-37).  When they could not fulfill a promise or an oath, they would justify it.  Again, this was an issue of the heart.  Jesus wanted His followers to keep their promises, especially if they had used His name to guarantee it.

Guarding our heart is imperative in our relationship with God, but if we focus all our attention on the external, we will not see long-term victory.  The writer of Proverbs says it like this, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).  What a person believes in their heart will eventually be revealed in their actions.

Dear God, I give You control of my heart.

Matthew documents one of Jesus’ most famous sermons in all of Scripture, the sermon on the mount.  Jesus has already taught those gathered regarding the character of those who have true faith and righteousness (Matthew 5:1-12).  These characteristics are known as the beatitudes, meaning that they are the attitudes manifest in the lives of those who have true faith.  The religious culture of Jesus’ day upheld a superficial religion simply based on a person’s outward actions without taking a person’s heart into consideration.  Jesus placed a strong emphasis on the heart, which reveals the true person.

Jesus knew that if the people listening would demonstrate the attitudes of true faith, they would have a major impact on the culture around them.  With this in mind, Jesus taught them that they should be “salt” and “light” to the world.  Salt creates thirst.  In a spiritual sense, Jesus called His followers the salt of the earth because their message and distinct lifestyle would create a thirst in others to walk in the same direction (5:13).  However, if Jesus’ followers failed to demonstrate true faith through their actions and attitudes, they would become useless, something that Jesus obviously warned against.  When Jesus called His followers the “light of the world,” (5:14-15) He was challenging them to allow their actions and attitudes (good works) to bring glory and fame to God (5:16).

Jesus’ message was very distinct from the message of the religious leaders.  The religious leaders prided themselves in their obedience to the Old Testament law and even the man-made laws they had added, but Jesus wanted them to realize that true religion begins with the heart and then moves to the hands and feet.  The religious leaders had confused this.  Jesus had not come to create a competing system with the law, as the religious leaders had accused Him, but His eventual death and resurrection would provide the righteousness necessary for believers to obey God’s commands and enable them to live in the power of the Holy Spirit (5:17-20).

Dear God, help others to be drawn to You by the way I live my life.

Matthew brings Jesus’ ministry alive by documenting some of His sermons and in Matthew 5:1-7:29, Jesus’ sermon on the mount is detailed for the reader.  This sermon is one of the most famous in all of Scripture.  The words of Jesus in this passage are an effort to define true righteousness as opposed to the external, works-based righteousness of the Pharisees (so-called religious leaders); in fact, Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus taught His disciples that true righteousness begins in the heart and not with the external works of the flesh.  Paul also wrote to the Romans, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5); therefore, righteousness stems from God and then flows to the heart of man.  Righteousness cannot be earned or manufactured through good works, as the religious leaders taught, but it is only through faith in God that true righteousness and lasting life change is discovered.

When Jesus saw the multitudes which had gathered to see Him (4:23-25), He went up onto a mountain and called His disciples to Him (5:1).  He first teaches them (5:2) regarding the character of those who have true faith and righteousness.  These characteristics are often referred to as the beatitudes (5:3-12), meaning that they are the attitudes of true faith.  The world finds satisfaction in pleasure and material things, while those with true faith exhibit satisfaction through their character, which is produced by the Holy Spirit.  Here is a brief description of each of the beatitudes:

Poor in Spirit (5:3) – a recognition of my utter need of God
Mourn (5:4) – a deep sorrow over my sin
Meek (5:5) – self-control even in difficult circumstances
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (5:6) – seeking the righteousness of God instead of attempting to earn it
Merciful (5:7) – not seeking revenge or having compassion on the undeserving
Pure in Heart (5:8) – an internal cleansing of the heart
Peacemakers (5:9) – striving for togetherness instead of strife
Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake (5:10-12) – a willingness to suffer hardship for doing good

These attitudes can only be realized when a person has true faith and righteousness from God, apart from his own works.

Dear God, produce these attitudes in me so that I might reflect true faith and righteousness.

Matthew has been following some major pints in the life of Jesus, whom He passionately believed was the long-awaited Messiah.  He was primarily writing to a Jewish audience in order to prove that Jesus Christ was God’s Son and therefore worthy of their worship.  In the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel, the writer extensively covered the genealogy of Jesus right back to David and ultimately, Abraham (1:1-17).  Matthew also recounted the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ (1:18-25), including the visit of the wise men and His family’s escape from the hands of Herod, who was attempting to exterminate Jesus (2:1-23).  Although Matthew skips most of the narrative of Jesus’ youth, He introduces his readers to John the Baptist who prepared the hearts of the people for the arrival of the Messiah (3:1-11).  Matthew documents Jesus’ baptism (3:13-17) and His face to face encounter with Satan, who unsuccessfully tempted Him in the wilderness (4:1-11).

After His baptism and temptation, Jesus begins His public ministry in Galilee where he preaches, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:12-17).  Jesus’ message was identical to the one John preached (3:1-2) and was a call for people to turn from their sin and embrace the forgiveness of God.  When Jesus referred to the “kingdom of heaven,” he was pointing to a present rule of God in the heart of those who repent, but He also had a future kingdom in mind.  In the midst of His public ministry, Jesus called out several disciples, Simon Peter and Andrew (later James and John), who left their jobs as fishermen in order to follow Jesus (4:18-22).  Jesus promised them that if they followed, He would make them “fishers of men.”  Making them fishers of men meant that He would equip them to “catch” men through the preaching of truth and persuading them to repent and have faith in Jesus.  Ultimately, Jesus invested in these disciples because they would be the ones to carry on the message long after Jesus had died, resurrected, and ascended into heaven.  These men would ensure that the message of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ would be passed to the next generation.  Every generation has men and women who faithfully proclaim this same message to ensure that everyone has the privilege to experience the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

Dear God, make me a fisher of men.

Immediately following one of the highlights of Jesus’ life (His baptism), He experiences one of the lowest points in His life.  Matthew writes that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (4:1).  Adding to the severity of the temptation was the fact that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights before His encounter with Satan, which obviously brought Him to an extreme state of hunger (4:2).  The tempter, Satan, brought three specific temptations against Jesus (4:3; 4:5-6; 4:8-9) and each one was designed to cause Jesus to ignore the plan of God the Father by using the divine power He had willingly set aside to become like man (Philippians 2:7).  At the heart of every temptation is the desire to act independent of God, so in order to resist, Jesus had to be more desirous for God’s way than the ways of the devil.  At the beginning of human history, Adam and Eve failed miserably at this and chose to live independently of God and their disobedience ultimately threw the entire human race into sin (Romans 5:12).  Jesus also faced this same direct pressure from Satan, but He successfully resisted each time through remembrance of and perfect obedience to God’s words (4:4; 4:7; 4:10).  At the core of resisting temptation is seeing God’s ways as good and worthy to be obeyed.  If we cannot find worth or relevance in God’s way of living, we will never be able to resist temptation.  Paul provides great comfort to the church at Corinth regarding temptation when he writes, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT).  God’s presence accompanies those who are His and He has equipped them to handle any temptation which comes their way.

Dear God, I look to Jesus as my example of resisting temptation and I pray for the strength to also resist when I am confronted with evil.