Is Kingdom Living Relevant in a Modern World? 

January 30, 2022 Rick Applegate

Text: Matthew 5:1-5 

Why the Sermon on the Mount? 

Two things: 1. Authority – what He says is the standard; He is the standard for truth. 2. Astonished – literally “out of mind”; they had no category for what Jesus said. 

“What we do springs from what we are.” Michael Green 

Focus Point: There is no better life than living in the Kingdom. 

1. What does this mean? 

“Blessed” – It is the result of a particular condition. To be happy – deep seeded state of being; love, joy,  peace. Gal. 5 

“Kingdom of Heaven/God” – The King who rules. It is not spatial, but dynamic. Those who have bowed  their knee to Jesus. 

It has an already/not yet element to it. Already for those who believe Jesus; not yet in its fullness. “Inherit the earth” – Power over sin now and will find its fullness at the end of time.  

“They will be comforted” – From the sorrow of confessed sin and full comfort when sin is finally  eradicated. 

2. Who are these people? 

“Poor in spirit” – Accounting word meaning to be bankrupt.  

“Those who mourn” – Grieve over their own sin, the sin of others and the effects of sin. 

“The meek” – Those who walk in humility before God because of who they were and what God has  done for them. 

The meek are those who have seen the horrors of sin, who have tasted of its death, but have now been  brought from death to life and given forgiveness; mercy snatching them from the justified jaws of  damnation. 

3. What should I do? 

Gratitude – Thankful for what God has revealed and done in use. 

Confess – All the previous truths and submitting any area of life that we are not yielding to God; instead act like who you really are. 

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted  creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant  child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the  offer of a holiday at the sea. C.S. Lewis 

Go live it! – Walk in the way of the Kingdom.