Omc: Family Chapel

The local church displays the good news of the Kingdom through being a collective witness. As citizens of God's Kingdom, who have received the Gospel, we also have the awesome privilege to share the Gospel together. The local church serves as a collective witness through our love for one another and through our love for our neighbors.

Another important role that the local church plays in helping us live the Kingdom Life is through being a covenant community. As Christians are in covenant relationship with Christ, we are also in covenant relationship with one another. Life together in the covenant community helps us to grow as Kingdom people.

The local church plays an important role in helping us live the Kingdom Life, and one of the major roles it plays is through corporate worship. Corporate worship forms us into Kingdom people because the more we look at Jesus, the more we will look like Jesus. Some of the major elements of corporate worship in the local church are preaching, communion, and praise.

As we close our series through the Sermon on the Mount this week, we will be directed to the important truth that the entire sermon is not merely about principles or rules to follow, but rather about a Person - Jesus Christ our King. True believers are those who see and submit to the authority of the King, and this shows in our active obedience to the King. Rather than simply being concerned with the outward appearance of Christ-likeness (building our house on sand), we must build our lives on the solid rock of Christ by being conformed inwardly to His image.

After unpacking the Kingdom Life, Jesus issues the call to follow Him on the difficult journey into the Kingdom. While there may be dangerous detours by false prophets and deceptive displays of false worship, this is the way Jesus calls his disciples to follow Him.

Christians have a living hope that is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ (past), that points to the lasting inheritance awaiting us in heaven (future), and that is secured by God’s power through faith here and now (present). This is the living hope we have in our living Savior!

Jesus invites his disciples to just ask of God through prayer. Disciples of Christ can pray with confidence because God is generous. God responds open-handedly to our requests. And disciples of Christ can pray with confidence because God is good. God responds for our good to our requests.

As we continue to journey through the Sermon on the Mount, we see in our passage that Jesus clearly lays out the right attitude of the Kingdom citizen: "judge not". While this does not mean that Christians ought to never make any judgments ever (we are commanded to discern false teachers, to discipline sin, etc.), we are never to look at others with a judgmental, critical attitude. Kingdom citizens understand that they too are prone to sin, and are to approach others in humility, having first taken the plank out of their own eye. It is only with this right attitude that we can truly build up those around us.

Disciples of Christ should not be anxious because anxiety is incompatible with Christian faith and anxiety is incompatible with common sense. Rather than being anxious, disciples of Christ should be ambitious for God’s kingdom and righteousness.

Jesus calls upon his disciples to lay up treasures in heaven, rather than on earth. And he gives three key reasons why we ought to do that. Disciples of Christ should lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth because (1) what you treasure will capture your heart, (2) what you treasure will shape your life, and (3) what you treasure will be your master.

As Christians, we know that prayer is an important part of the Kingdom life, but prayer can be difficult. With the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches his disciples three important truths about prayer. (1) Prayer is addressed to our heavenly Father. (2) Prayer is aimed at glorifying God. (3) Prayer is to be accompanied by a matching life.

After unpacking what true righteousness looks like, Jesus addresses the problem of fake righteousness. And in our passage, we see that false piety seeks the praise of others and is rewarded with empty applause, while true piety seeks the presence of God and is rewarded with lasting fulfillment.

Jesus wraps up his section in the Sermon on the Mount on righteousness, by talking about love. At the core of this new Kingdom righteousness is Kingdom love. In our passage, we see that Kingdom love never returns evil for evil and that Kingdom love seeks the good of even our enemies. And that's because Kingdom love looks like the King's love.

Jesus continues to make radical corrections as He unpacks the Kingdom Life, and in this passage, Jesus addresses our sexuality. While the world's conception of sexuality is self-identifying, independent, and consumeristic, in God’s Kingdom, our sexuality is to be marked by inner purity and our sexuality is to be guarded in marital fidelity.

Jesus now begins to unpack the details of the Kingdom Life and he first tackles the issue of murder. While murder is universally condemned as evil, we may all be complicit in that evil. Jesus shows us that hatred in the heart is the seed of murder. And because hatred is so serious and dangerous, Jesus calls upon his disciples to take action to remove it. The seed of hatred is to be uprooted through the work of reconciliation. And when we pursue reconciliation, we are living the Kingdom Life because we are living in the way of the King who has gone to the cross to make reconciliation with us.

As Jesus is everything the Old Testament has pointed to, He alone can bring the righteousness needed to enter into God’s Kingdom. Jesus fulfills the Kingdom promises of the Old Testament. Jesus provides the righteous requirements to enter the Kingdom.

As we continue our series through the Sermon on the Mount, we will see that life in the Kingdom (the blessed life) is not meant to be lived out in isolation or in self-interest, but it is a life that is visibly different than the world's. Living obediently in God’s kingdom means that we live out our identity in a dark and decaying world, seeking to bring life and light to those around us.

As we begin our new series through the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), we'll see that the blessed life is living the Kingdom Life in the present as we wait for the Kingdom's fulfillment in the future. We often see life in God’s Kingdom as a burden to be endured rather than a blessing to be enjoyed. But with the Beatitudes, Jesus provides the encouragement we need to continue in the way of the Kingdom.