Jesus
The Kingdom of heaven is at hand
Isaiah 9 - oppressor on our shoulders is broken, the government in on his shoulders
Healing, freedom, truth
Mountain and Teaching
Torah
Moses
Ten Words vs. 9
Great sin - we just think their cute
Bless Jesus’s little heart
Decimate our categories
Expecting Do not’s instead we get Blessings
Some are virtues, but not ones that are very pragmatic
Hunger and thirst for righteousness? Pure in heart?
Meek?
Have you ever really met a meek person?
It’s not just that they don’t inherit the
In our world right now, they have a hard time getting a sandwich
Poor in spirit? Are you commanding me to do that?
Blessed are those who mourn…wait should I go mourn? Are you asking me to mourn?
Another category that Jesus breaks down
Private things with very public consequences
Meek…inherit the earth
Poor in Spirit…theirs in the Kingdom
Blessed when you are persecuted? Great reward in heaven?
Salt - flavoring and preserving the world
City on a hill that must
Jesus - not a new law
Law shows us our sin
Paul - Romans 7:7-13
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. —Romans 7:7-13
Shows
Torah is good
But alone, it can only reveal our sin. It cannont save us
Jesus not only took our sin…but he also gave us an empty tomb
Took our sin and gave us life
Jesus saved us FROM sin and death
Jesus saved us FOR Christ-centered life
We don’t know how to live it, so Jesus shows us the way
These are blessings and not laws, because Jesus already fulfilled the law
In Christ, we have life - blessings
These blessings flow as we live into our new life in Christ
No longer merely to do the bare minimum of law
But to live into the light and love of Christ that I already have
The light we have in Christ shines, and should not be covered up
Repurposes the law
Now that Christ has fulfilled it
I am free to follow him
Free from its shackles, I’m now free to follow Christ as he has followed it
This new Kingdom looks very different from the world’s systems
They were counter culture then, and they are counter culture now
Jessica Joustra helps us understand Herman Bavinck here…
Imitating Jesus is only possible on account of a primary “spiritual-life relationship with Christ.”To be a public example of a lawful life, Christ must first redeem us for lawful living. But from Christ’s redemptive work “proceeds reforming, recreating, renewing power,” enabling Christians to actively pattern their lives on his example and law.
Christ’s Spirit sends us out to follow him in our “various walks of life,” including the “state, society, art, science, agriculture, industry, [and] commerce.” Rather than following Jesus out of the world, Christ’s Spirit drives us into the world, toward a law-patterned and culturally engaged form of holy worldliness. Christians can and must, therefore, imitate Christ not only in prayer and piety but also in the public square. —Jessica Joustra, Reformed Public Theology
Holy worldliness
in the world but not of it
Beautitudes aren’t cute
radical when rooted in Christ
He won our victory living in this way
He won our new life, where we are blessed as we do the same
1). We need to seek and follow him
Look for them in Jesus life
2). Not read them as law to get God
But, as ones in union with Christ - this is the law of love
3). Celebrate Salt and Shine
Living another way - we lose our saltiness
Living another way - that puts it under a bushel
Not a brash stance of arrogance
But a mouth and life lived imitiating Christ only because of Christ’s Spirit
Again, Joustra:
Rather than following Jesus out of the world, Christ’s Spirit drives us into the world, toward a law-patterned and culturally engaged form of holy worldliness.
Let’s pray.