When the Problem Is Inside
A conversation on the Sermon on the Mount
Today we are continuing our conversation through the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7. In these chapters, we see Jesus teaching a diverse crowd that has gathered to listen, and He takes this moment to flip their world and expectations upside-down.
This “sermon” can be divided into six general sections:
Matthew 5:1-16 is about the character of kingdom citizens. It includes the Beatitudes, inner qualities that God blesses, and the mission of the disciples to be salt and light in the world.
Matthew 5:17-48 is about the righteousness of the kingdom. This includes Jesus’ relationship with the Law (fulfilling, not abolishing), the truth that real righteousness goes beyond outward obedience, and then six contrasts in the form “You have heard… but I say…” These contrasts address anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love for enemies.
Matthew 6:1-18 is about the practices of kingdom living. Jesus discusses practicing righteousness for God's approval, not man's, giving to the needy, prayer (including the Lord’s Prayer), and fasting.
Matthew 6:19-34 is about the priorities of kingdom people. This section includes the ideas of storing up treasure in heaven instead of on earth, serving God instead of money, and trusting God instead of worrying.
Matthew 7:1-12 is about relationships in the kingdom. Jesus tells His listeners, Don’t judge hypocritically. Seek God in prayer. Treat others as you want to be treated (the Golden Rule).
And finally, Matthew 7:13-27 includes warnings and a call to action. Jesus contrasts the narrow and wide paths, warns against false prophets, tells them that not everyone who says “Lord” will enter, and encourages them to build their lives on the rock of His words.
In this series we are dividing up Jesus’ teachings to process together. But there is also beauty in reading the whole thing in one sitting, which takes less than 15 minutes.
Today, let’s look for a moment from 30,000 feet. Jesus is “generally” saying that life in relationship with God is marked by heart-level righteousness, not just outward behavior; that as His followers, we are called to live with humility, mercy, integrity, and trust in Him, reflecting His character in all relationships; and that we are invited by Jesus to be transformed and simultaneously experience His grace.
It’s simple enough to hear this and repeat it, and reasonably easy to understand it. But our goal in this series is to process this deeply, leaving us working out the transformative power of Jesus’ words and how they will impact our lives all the way to the core.
It’s beautiful that we get to do this together. And then there is also the work of the Holy Spirit, who provides leading and counsel and insight. Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit in John 14:
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:26-27)
This is foundational. And this is my prayer: God, I need your Spirit. Remind me of all the things. FIll me with peace. I trust that you, God, are generous. Help me be calm, fearless, and comforted.
This is a moment to relax. We can hear Jesus’ teaching and start to feel a tightness in our chests and tension in our shoulders, like the moment when a professor goes over a syllabus on the first day: I don’t think I can do all of this! But take a breath. Jesus is calling us to a lifelong process. He isn’t calling for an external show but internal progress. And the Holy Spirit—that internal voice, comforter, encourager, convictor— will help. And there is grace.
It isn’t all up to me. I need to trust God. I fall short. I have to depend on the Holy Spirit.
Okay, back to the Sermon on the Mount. Take a look at the crowd, such a diverse group of people who are listening to Jesus.
If these people were given the task to look around and rank everyone else’s righteousness, I think they would have felt well-equipped. The insiders, the curious, the outsiders, the educated, the uneducated—they all had the tools to judge one another. What measuring sticks would they have used?
The religious insiders, the Jews, might have looked at other people’s Torah knowledge and interpretation, at how strict their observance of ritual purity was, at how carefully they observed the sabbath, at their practices of prayer and fasting and almsgiving, at whether they observed the food laws, at how much they separated themselves from “sinners” and Gentiles, and at their public displays of religious identity. On a superficial level, they would measure by how someone dressed, who they associated with, and what their public religious behavior was like, as well as their health or physical status, their lineage and education, and their respect toward religious authority.
But the religious people among the crowd would not have been the only ones equipped to judge. The outsiders had their measuring sticks too! They might have looked at someone’s political resistance, their ethnic and cultural separateness, their odd religious practices, their social standing, as well as various stereotypes and prejudices.
We as a pastoral team even talked (sarcastically) about doing a ranking of the room here today. What might our measuring sticks be? Church attendance, Bible reading and devotional life, prayer habits, tithing and generosity, avoidance of “major” sins, volunteering and serving, theological knowledge and correct doctrine, political or social views, expressions of public worship, or Christian reputation and online presence…? Whew…
Now of course we are not going to be doing a ranking. Instead, we’re going to process the impact that it can have.
As we keep going in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explodes the idea of being good enough, that it is all about what people see. Instead, He welcomes us all into transformation in relationship with Him, through grace.
Jesus will end His sermon (Matthew 7:24-27) by saying, Hear these words and put them into practice. Life's challenges will come but you will stand strong. Or hear these words and do not put them into practice, and when life’s challenges come, you will crumble.
So we won’t rank each other, but let’s talk this out:
What is the impact of judging or ranking everyone around you? (on the one doing the judging)
What is the impact of being judged or ranked by everyone around you? (on the one being judged)
Over and over again in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, righteousness is a focal point. But Jesus turns it upside down. This isn’t righteousness just so you can be seen as being righteous, and it’s not so that you can rank high in other people’s judgment. It’s an internal righteousness, and this internal righteousness is completed—made full—with Jesus’ grace.
This is foundational: it’s not about aiming to do what’s right in order to deserve grace. It’s responding to the gift of grace by aiming to do what’s right.
Paul processes this in Ephesians 2:
it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:5b-10)
Similarly, Jesus could have told His disciples that if they wanted Him to love them, they’d better not screw up. But He didn’t. Instead, this is what He said:
“If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15)
Okay, before we jump into Jesus' words in Matthew 5:27-30, I want us to look at a parable Jesus told in Luke 12 that deals with motives. In this chapter, a crowd of many thousand had gathered to hear what Jesus had to say. He talked about hypocrisy, about the tension between the fear of man and the. fear of God, and about priorities. And then it seems that Jesus, in front of this crowd, is interrupted by someone who wants Him to settle a family dispute.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:13-15)
What fuels or motivates the insatiable desire for more stuff?
Jesus uses a strong phrase: Watch out! And then He continues with this parable:
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)
We could ask easy questions about what happens in the parable, but we’re not going to. Instead, let’s dig deeper:
If life is not in more and more stuff, then where is it?
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15)
Life is not about storing up more stuff. But there are some things that are worth storing up! Things like faith in God, obedience of and love for Jesus, a generous heart, service to others, forgiveness, compassion, trust in God’s promises, righteousness…
Okay. We have already processed a lot today. We have talked about what fuels the motivation for more and more stuff. We stretched to seek what has more value than “more stuff.” And earlier we talked about judging others.
As we strive for the internal transformation that Jesus is calling us to, we need to move away from the motivation of being seen and judged. But what motivates someone to give effort to things that truly have value, like the things we listed as being worth storing up? Let’s discuss:
What internally motivates a person to give effort to things that truly have value?
Let’s now turn to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’” (Matthew 5:27)
Good advice. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He moves from the pin-pointed external act to the more complex and hard-to-fence-in internal:
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:28-30)
WOW. This is an intense response to internal struggle.
Hear this: today is not about eye removal or hand removal! And while this passage is about lust or coveting, the foundational idea can and should go so much further.
What are some external actions or practices that can be done that have profound positive impact on the internal?
Let me interrupt with this addition: Jesus’ illustration of eye and hand removal is intense, and it would take some serious motivation to go to these extremes. And again, this is not the moment for limb removal! But let’s talk about motivation:
What fuels radical external effort in order to have internal health?
I’m going to give you a moment for internal, private processing. Write out your thoughts, just for yourself:
What external actions would have a profound impact on your internal health?
And now, we’ll close with one more conversation together:
How are you challenged and/or focused by Jesus’ calling for extreme action in order to have positive impact on what “really matters” internally?
Take It Deeper Questions
Read Matthew 5:27-30.
Were you good at keeping secrets as a child? Why or why not?
It has been said, “never meet your hero,” because when you see who they really are, you will be let down. What causes that potential letdown?
Why is it easier to focus on looking good on the outside than working on who we are on the inside?
What external actions would have a profound impact on your internal health?
How are you challenged, focused, encouraged, and/or confused by this text?
Bible Reading Plan
Matthew 5
Matthew 6
Matthew 7
Luke 12
Proverbs 6
James 1