We are to be a light to the world and the salt of the earth and Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount some very practical ways in which we should be different. Christ did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it and in Him we have a new law of the heart. Today the why of what we do is just as important as the what. It is not good enough to just do right; we must also do what we do for the right reasons. Christ illustrates this in several examples in the Sermon on the Mount.
We should be those who share our faith and live daily as Christ would want us to. Our faith should manifest itself in action. The Pharisees were criticized because they appeared very religious on the outside, but inwardly were very cold — lacking mercy, justice and faith. We need to be those who are different. We should not have hate or have anger toward a brother, and if we do we should seek immediately to take care of getting rid of that hate. God does not want us to come before him with hatred in our hearts. Christ said that hating our brother is the same as murder and we know that no murderers will be in heaven.
Our life in Christ should also cause us to think differently. One example of this that Christ noted was that a man should not lust after a woman because if he did he had already committed adultery in his heart. Additionally, our desires to do right, as well as our love for God, should cause us to do everything within our power to put those things which hinder us from living as God would want us to out of our life. Christ emphasized this when he said, “if your right eye offend thee, pluck it out”. This doesn’t mean we won’t be tempted. An evil thought could come to our mind, but our trained conscience should confront it immediately and dismiss the thought as wrong.
Our word should be true, our yes should mean yes and our no should mean no. Christians should be the most honest people there are. As Christians we should be those who are willing to go the extra mile, we should be those who pray for our enemies and who do good to those who wrong us. You can see how very different our lives should be compared to the world. As we do good, we do not do it to be seen by men, but we do it to please our heavenly Father. We do good because we love God, we do not do good to others because they have already done so for us. We do not love men because they love us. Today, the world does good to those who do good to them and loves those who love them, our lives in Christ should show how great our love is, by our compassion for the needs of all men.
God loves us and we should seek his will and remember that he has promised to see us through. Christ reminds us that God takes care of the birds of the field and that he will care for us. If our fathers on earth cares for our needs how much more will our heavenly Father? We should not be those who build our storehouses on earth. Our storehouse of treasure should be in Heaven; because, if we have laid up our treasure in Heaven no man can take that treasure from us.
If we seek God’s desires for our life we will be blessed and can stand temptation and trial. This doesn’t mean life will be easy as the world sees it. It is promised that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Seeking God in all we do we allow us to have the greatest inner peace, inner joy, and inner love on this earth and the reward of being in the presence of God for eternity in Heaven. Our love for God should manifest itself in action. Christ closes this sermon illustrating that if we hear and do God’s word we have a foundation that will stand the tests of time and weather, but if we do not the will of the Father we have no hope in time of trouble. Let each of us build on the rock.
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