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This thread will be about one of the most important sections of the New Testament focusing on Obedience to the Lord Jesus. That is the so-called "Sermon on the Mount".
I prefer the name given to Matthew 5:1 - 7:29 as "The Constitution of the Kingdom".
This thread is dedicated to all the Bible readers on the Forum who express frequent dismay over Christians incongruity with the words of Jesus in the synoptic Gospels (usually).
Many basic principles of the kingdom in its demand for the highest human morality will be discussed.
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The Gospel of Matthew by (I believe) God's sovereignty the FIRST book in the New Testament. Matthew is the introduction to the New Testament. It is the WELCOME book and the entrance into the New Testament.
Matthew is a book about God's government. That is a realm where God can exercise His administration. The result is a description of a kingdom living and the highest morality a human being can express.
There is a phrase which is peculiar to Matthew's book alone. It is found nowhere else in the New Testament in the precise form in which this writer employs it. It is not the kingdom of God which he occasionally uses. The phrase unique to Matthew is "the kingdom of the heavens".
We do have "heavenly kingdom" in one of the epistles. But Matthew alone used this phrase "the kingdom of the heavens".
It does not mean Heaven. It means kingdom whose ORIGIN is in Heaven. It means a realm of government in God's people which has its SOURCE in Heaven. It is not sourced in the earth.
Too much can be said about this. But for now I express that this whole book of Matthew concerns the kingdom that has its SOURCE and its ORIGIN in the heavens - "the kingdom of the heavens". That is where God's throne is.
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This is very important to anyone who wants to understand the Gospel of Matthew well.
The phrase "the kingdom of the heavens" takes on three different aspects in Matthew. And they can be described in this way:
1.) The reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
2.) The appearance (or facade) of the kingdom of the heavens.
3.) The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
Do you have that ?
Now of these three aspects TWO are positive and ONE is negative.
1.) The reality of the kingdom of the heavens - positive
2.) The appearance of the kingdom of the heavens - negative
3.) The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens - positive
Pause a little and digest this. Then move on.
The reality of the kingdom is before the manifestation of the kingdom.
The reality and the manifestation are positive and according to God's desire.
The appearance of the kingdom is a negative matter inbetween the reality and the manifestation. It is the facade of Satan of all things related to the kingdom. Apparently it is related to the things of God. But actually it is a counterfeit, a facade, a false appearance to misled and confuse, to dilute and water down and thwart God's purpose.
The reality of the kingdom is during the church age before the second coming of Christ.
The appearance is the negative facade which goes on on earth concurrently to oppose the reality of the kingdom.
The manifestation of the kingdom is a REWARD to those who have lived in the reality of the kingdom when Christ comes back.
Read this again and see if you can grasp the distinction between these three crucial keys to understanding the Gospel of Matthew.
The Reality of the kingdom of the heavens
The Appearance (or facade) of the kingdom of the heavens
The Manifestation (or open reward) of the kingdom of the heavens (the millennial time),
Without this frame work it is rather difficult to find your way through Matthew's book.
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I will come back to the Reality, the Appearance, and the Manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
We better move into the "sermon on the mount" which i follow some other teachers to call "The Constitution of the Kingdom".
First. This teaching is for the DISCIPLES of Jesus.
" And when He saw the crowds, He went up to the mountain. And after He sat down, His DISCIPLES came to Him.
And opening His mouth, he taught them, saying ... " (Matt. 5:1)
He saw the crowds.
He went up higher into the mountain.
Not the crowds went up but disciples went up.
If you can receive it, the effect is that He left the general crowd and went up a little higher. Those who were really intent to live as He taught followed Him up the mountain, somewhat higher than the general crowd.
To these, His disciples, He opened His mouth. And the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens was taught them.
His first article of the Constitution of the kingdom.
" And opening His mouth, He taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens."
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" And opening His mouth, He taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens." (Matt. 5:2)
Again, the kingdom of the heavens in Matthew does not mean heaven. It means the kingdom that has its source from heaven.
And the very first aspect of Christ's constitution is that this kingdom belongs to those who are "poor in spirit" .
What do you think it means to be "poor in spirit" ?
Anyone ?
Anyone serious ?
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It is sometimes easier to say what is not being poor in spirit.
If you are self confident that you can please God, you are not poor in spirit.
If you have a lot of self confidence that you have a lot of knowledge so that there is no space in your heart to receive anything from God, you are not very poor in spirit.
To be filled up so that you cannot learn anything is to be rich in spirit and not poor in spirit. If you think you can make it to be a kingdom person because you know better than everyone else, you are not poor in spirit.
To receive GRACE from God to live a kingdom life you have to empty yourself to be poor in spirit.
"Lord Jesus, I have no confidence in myself. Lord I am like Peter. I may WANT to be true to you but before the rooster crows I am likely to deny you before men multiple times. Lord I need You to live for You. I need You Lord Jesus to live unto You. I need faith from You. I need consecration from You. I need dedication from You. And without You coming in to be my all and all I cannot make it.
Forget about loving my enemies Lord. I can't do it or turn the other cheek or not lust after a woman or not call someone a idiot losing my temper. Lord in myself I can never be a kingdom person."
If you learn to pray in this way of dependence on God, then you are learning what it means to be "poor in spirit" .
The kingdom of the heavens belongs to those who are poor in spirit.
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"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens"
Why was Jesus BAPTIZED in the Gospel of Matthew? He was God become a man. He was the Son of God. But He took the LEAD to demonstrate that He did not trust in what He could do. Though He was sinless, He allowed John the Baptist to bury Him into the water to show that the natural man is only good for death and burial.
He took the lead to be poor in spirit towards His Father. He elected to do nothing on His own initiative. He demonstrated -
"Though I am a sinless man, i do not want to live by that. I want to live by the indwelling Father. I voluntarily become poor in Myself, in my humanity's strength and wisdom in order to be dependent upon the Father.
John did not want to baptize Jesus. He was amazed and said that Jesus was the one who should be baptizing him. Jesus insisted that all righteousness be fulfilled. Even a sinless man must be dependent upon the Father. He was poor in spirit. Now He instructs His disciples that the kingdom belongs to those who are not self reliant in themselves in any way. They are open to God. They are poor in spirit. Only God is RICH. Only God is everything we need to live a kingdom life.
Originally posted by sonship[b] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens"
Why was Jesus BAPTIZED in the Gospel of Matthew? He was God become a man. He was the Son of God. But He took the LEAD to demonstrate that He did not trust in what He could do. Though He was sinless, He allowed John the Baptist to bury Him into the water ...[text shortened]... ey are poor in spirit. Only God is RICH. Only God is everything we need to live a kingdom life.[/b]What is the Kingdom of the Heavens? You go to great lengths to tell us what its origin is, what is situated there, who are its recipients etc etc but don't actually tell us what it is.
Originally posted by robbie carrobieWhy don't you look it up on your organisation's web site? Won't you find your opinion on this issue there?
Can anyone tell us what the Kingdom of the heavens is? Is it not incredulous that the central teaching of Christianity is inexplicable for many Christians?
Originally posted by FMFI know what my perspective is but I want to know what other people think that it is. You were allegedly a Christian for twenty years, why don't we ask you? What was your understanding of the Kingdom of the Heavens FMF.
Why don't you look it up on your organisation's web site? Won't you find your opinion on this issue there?
Originally posted by robbie carrobieI am not a Christian anymore and I don't contribute here as a Christian. If you just want to brandish your organization's theology and wave it at other Christians, why not just lay it out there for them to discuss?
I know what my perspective is but I want to know what other people think that it is. You were allegedly a Christian for twenty years, why don't we ask you? What was your understanding of the Kingdom of the Heavens FMF.
Originally posted by FMFI am not asking you what your perspective is at present FMF, you were a Christian for twenty years surely you must of had some inkling of what the Kingdom of the heavens was? Or could it be that you were completely unaware? Don't you find that incredulous? I do. How can a Christian be unaware of what the central tenet of Christianity is?
I am not a Christian anymore and I don't contribute here as a Christian. If you just want to brandish your organization's theology and wave it at other Christians, why not just lay it out there for them to discuss?
Originally posted by robbie carrobieThere are Christians here you can ask. I am a non-Christian. Whether or not what my awareness of the "Kingdom of the Heavens" used to be when I was a Christian coincides with what your happens to be, or whether I had my theology right or wrong back when I was a Christian, is completely immaterial.
I am not asking you what your perspective is at present FMF, you were a Christian for twenty years surely you must of had some inkling of what the Kingdom of the heavens was? Or could it be that you were completely unaware? Don't you find that incredulous? I do. How can a Christian be unaware of what the central tenet of Christianity is?
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Paul was a man who learned to be "poor in spirit" and his was living in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in the church age. His also will be the manifestation of that reality in the millennial kingdom as a reward.
Here the very first axiom of the kingdom - belonging to the poor in spirit, is exemplified in brother Paul's life (and his close co-workers)..
" And such confidence we have through Christ toward God, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from our selves; but our sufficiency is of God. " (2 Cor. 3:4)
They were not self-sufficient. But they did have sufficiency of God. Through Another, through Christ they had this sufficiency. In themselves they were "poor in spirit". They did not account anything as of themselves. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens."