Studies in the Sermon on the Mount : General Introduction

     MLJ's first chapter on the Sermon on the Mount is an introduction, answering questions regarding the "Why?" and the "How?" that will inform the rest of the series and addressing various misunderstandings of the Sermon.  It doesn't constitute a full-blown methodology and it doesn't dismantle all the wrong, yet popular notions attached to this passage.  But it mentions them and does so for the very reason why reading this introduction is as important as it was to preach this matter to begin with: to set a fresh table, as it were, and to start off recognizing assumptions about the matter that so much time will be focused on.  For Lloyd-Jones, it meant dozens of weeks addressing these three chapters in Matthew.  An introductory sermon is certainly called for.

     If you've ever been around a higher-end fragrance counter at a store (sorry, Stetson and Axe guys), you'll probably notice little jars of coffee beans around the place.  I like the smell of coffee beans.  And, apparently the folks who market fragrances like them too.  But they aren't out there merely for the sake of smelling good.  They're there because the fragrance sellers recognize a unique property of the bean: it helps reset your sense of smell.  And MLJ's introduction to what follows is helpful for us in the same way.  We must ask ourselves, as this chapter draws out, What assumptions do I bring to the table regarding this pivotal passage?  Have I been influenced in any significant ways regarding the character of this sermon?  Its audience?  Its Author?  Its place in the scheme of redemption?  As we ask these questions, our spiritual "sniffer" will be on the track to being reset, in order that we might find a truer fragrance of this remarkable passage.

     Lloyd-Jones' first major observation in this chapter is more true today than it was decades ago when first preached.  "I do not think it is a harsh judgment to say that the most obvious feature of the life of the Christian Church today is, alas, its superficiality. . . . I am thinking not only of modern evangelistic activities as compared and contrasted with the great evangelistic efforts of the Church in the past. . . but I also have in mind the life of the Church in general where the same thing is true, even in such matters as her conception of holiness and her whole approach to the doctrine of sanctification" (Studies, 6).  Citing this as a reason for preaching through the Sermon, MLJ digs deeper into the superficiality he detected in the Church: "For myself I would suggest that one main cause is our attitude to the Bible, our failure to take it seriously, our failure to take it as it is and to allow it to speak to us" (Studies, 6, my emphasis).  At the core, MLJ suggests that our relationship to the Scriptures stands behind this sense of being "a mile-wide and an inch-deep."

     Is this a fair assessment?  Is it because we don't take the Bible seriously that we seem to have rather unhealthy believers in unhealthy churches?  Isn't it true that, if anything, the unity in evangelicalism centers on a common confession of the Bible's inerrant, divinely inspired origin and character?  How can that stand behind these issues?  While there are certainly numerous contributing factors, I think Lloyd-Jones is right when he traces things back to this.  See, it's not sufficient to say a good deal about revering the Scriptures and holding behind one's back, in a clenched fist, an allegiance to our "feelings" about things or the authority of our own experience to interpret the Bible.  For my part, it's easy to talk about blessing persecutors or loving my enemies when I'm not feeling particularly hard-pressed by anyone.  It's another matter to, by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, seek to love those who have caused me pain.  And it's like this, I am sure, because I am willing to make excuses for myself.  I'm willing to overlook such a penetrating passage of Scripture as this, in order to excuse away my unwillingness to submit joyfully to what is the pattern I was saved to be shaped to.  And that, I suggest, is a primary reason I need to come to the Sermon on the Mount and listen - listen - to what Almighty God, come in the flesh, has to say about life in the Kingdom.  It's not the only place, by any means, to listen, for all of Scripture is beneficial for us.  But this passage is so wonderfully condensed and so easily remembered for many of us who grew up hearing bits and pieces from it and it was delivered with such an intent as to show us the pattern for godliness that those belonging to the Savior are to inhabit.

     There are certainly wrong views out there about this passage, popular and serving as real wool over the eyes of people who think of Christianity in a perverse way because they've got their idea of Christianity from a polluted view of this Sermon.  Here are a few that might be familiar to you:

• Doing the things described in the Sermon make one a Christian or, at the least, acceptable to God and a "good person."
• The sum and substance of Christianity is to live out these "principles" and reject what Paul and other apostles had to say.
• These principles "outweigh" the Law of the Old Testament and even contradict it.
• The New Testament, even this passage, reveals a different God than the God of the Old Testament.
• The Sermon on the Mount only had to do with Jewish Christians and doesn't apply to modern believers.
• Judging others is wrong.

The list could certainly go on, I am sure.  But I know that in sharing the Gospel with folks, a good deal of the misunderstandings of what the Gospel is and does and what the Christian is and does has been provoked by abuses of this very passage.  And yet, as MLJ is keen to point out, "The Sermon on the Mount was preached primarily and specifically to the disciples" (Studies, 10)!  It has no business on the doorstep of a non-Christian because its contents are completely outside the realm of being replicated apart from the sanctifying and empowering work of the Holy Spirit!  "It is a perfect picture of the life of the kingdom of God" (Studies, 11).  Accordingly, "nothing shows me the absolute need of the new birth, and of the Holy Spirit and His work within, so much as the Sermon on the Mount.  These Beatitudes crush me to the ground.  They show me my utter helplessness.  Were it not for the new birth, I am undone" (Studies, 13).  How true, how true!  And yet, how blessed to see the contours we're designed for as Christians and appeal to God for grace to be pressed into them!

So, we need our palettes cleansed from wrong views of this passage and we need a good perspective on it.  These reflections are not intended to duplicate every word of Dr. Lloyd-Jones' work, but to provide some thoughts on what he laid out.  There's much more in this introduction than I've time or care to draw out.  But, before leaving some closing questions, I want to say that I am in great need of coming to the Sermon and listening.  Not mindlessly, not without an awareness of the context, not emptying my mind of its contents and coming back to "basics."  But listening with seriousness to the words of the Lord of Glory, who gave us so good a gift in His Word, including the Sermon on the Mount.  There is much to be enjoyed here and I am looking forward to it.


Questions for Reflection:

• What assumptions do I have about the Sermon on the Mount?
• What are some notions that I have about the Sermon that might need to leave?
• What are some ideas about the Sermon that unhelpfully stand in the minds of unbelievers you've shared the Gospel with?
• Do you think MLJ is right about this Sermon being addressed to believers?
• What are you looking forward to about studying through the Sermon on the Mount?

To God Alone Be the Glory,
-Chris