09262021 Living Like the King is Not What You Think Mike Kellett

i didn't know uh keith and nick had in them ruthie thank you for being in between those two and take care of things so good to see everyone uh here uh as well as in our uh service in the other room in our fellowship center as well as our live stream folks uh from everywhere around the country actually around the world so thank you for being with us and we're uh excited that you're you're here with us today and to read our scripture is uh sullivan stokes come on up sullivan i already know she's a good letter writer she's a fifth grader at ocs he loves singing and soccer and being outdoors and we're glad you're willing to do this scripture for us today okay now when jesus saw the crowds he went up on the mountainside and sat down his disciples came to him and he began to teach them he said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven thank you so much i appreciate you you know paul told timothy to be committed to the public reading of the word and so i'm so proud that this church honors that and that we have uh our young people learning uh to do that and publicly read the word of god uh matthew chapter 5. as we study in the book of matthew i have the small assignment to preach the sermon on the mount this morning so buckle up but uh somebody reminded me said well not jesus preached it in one sermon so you know uh well i'm not him and i can't feed 5000 either so i you know don't come by the house but we're gonna we're gonna make a run at this uh scripture and uh see what we can can do with it the whole section i want you to remember the context of matthew is writing to basically a jewish audience and their understanding of the kingdom has been all messed up and he's correcting their understanding of what it really it means to be in the kingdom of god that it's not about the physical kingdom on earth it's about the kingdom of god that jesus is the king of kings of and so jesus comes to them and in it as he corrects their understanding he also has to correct their understanding of the old testament scriptures because they had this idea that this was going to be a national movement whenever this messiah comes and he says no that's not what it's about matter of fact jesus is going to say i'm actually i'm not abolishing this old law i'm fulfilling this old law and this king that was prophesied about in the old testament i'm him and now we have the kingdom of god here and so how should people live so as he starts preaching his ministry and doing his ministry he's healing people and he and so crowds automatically start following him right now as they're following him that group of people i want you to understand who those are in chapter four he says jesus went throughout galilee teaching in the synagogue preaching the good news of the kingdom here's the sermon right preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people news about him spread all over syria and people brought him uh all who were ill with various diseases those suffering uh severe pain the demon possessed those having seizures and and the paralyzed and he healed them in large crowds from galilee the decapolis jerusalem judea and the region across jordan followed him now when he saw the crowds this is the same group of people right he sees this group of folks so he goes up on the mountainside it's kind of kind of get this picture almost of moses on the mountain bringing the law now jesus is on the mouth and bringing the real meaning of the law and he sat down which is what a rabbi would do to teach and his disciples came to him and he began to teach them and this whole crowd saying and so we're going to get into what he says to them in this sermon now the first section in matthew 5 1-20 is going to be about the kingdom blessing and fulfillment so let's kind of take off and grab that section now now the audience he's speaking to it's not just this crowd of disease and and and people needing help broken focus in life and by the way uh uh this this very first one of when he says in the beginning is blessed are the poor in spirit these folks understood that the the poor and spirit were what was called uh back uh uh back in the hebrew attached to the anawim the anawim were the group of people that when a country conquered another country and they took everybody in and took them back for slaves they left the anawim because they were useless they were old diseased crippled and they were no good to even to the enemy didn't even want them you remember what that's like right you know you're choosing up teams at the uh at the ball field and i'll take him and i'll take him and i'll take him and there's one guy left at the end okay i'll take him that's the anawim guy nobody really wants them that's the broken that's the disease that's the the people needing healing that's the that's the crowd that's followed jesus they're poor and they're poor in spirit because they recognize that they need to be totally dependent on somebody else other than themselves they can't fix what's wrong with them now you have that that group of broken folks but then you also have looking out here here in the summer of the pharisees remember them they're the rule keepers and then by the way we have some of these kind of folks in this all in our church by the way uh we have broken people that understand nothing and we kind of got some kind of pharisees type folks you know how i know that because they'll write me because there's more rules they want us to do in church right there's not enough rules here we got to lay things out and then there's the sadducees and what the sadducees did back then they would take part of the scripture but they really you know they might deny some of the miracles of it the resurrection stuff but they would take and use part of it but keep kind of the modern culture going on that's kind of how they work we got folks that do that in our culture they want to keep a little religion but not really give up kind of what's happening around them and then there was the zealots the zealots were the nationalists and you couldn't preach enough on things that you ought to protest and carry sign and talk to the government and they that was the zealots so you got all this group here and jesus tells him blessed now he starts this section of blessing this he bookends it the very first one is blessed are the poor in spirit for what you're the kind of people i value in the kingdom of god now think about that if everybody in your town is not picking you even your enemies don't want you and everybody says just stay away from them they're useless they have no value to us and jesus comes along and says i'm going to tell you what you you're valuable to me this is not about commands this is about blessings matter of fact you cannot practice the rest of the sermon on the mount until you've been blessed by jesus and matter of fact he's going to end this whole beatitude section on the very folks that look and when you're persecuted hey guess what yours is the kingdom of god too he bookends it with those two things now with that in mind think about it blessed are the poor theirs is the kingdom of heaven they're not poor just physically it's not about that it's poor in spirit they understand their brokenness and so that has to be the way we are about our own sinful condition that that we are broken people and we can't fix ourselves and so then not but jesus blessed are you i value you the kingdom belongs to people like you not only that blessed are those uh blessed are those who mourn not just not about physical grief they're going to be comforting what are they mourning over if i look at the brokenness of my sin what am i mourning over i'm mourning over the fact that i've been that i'm this way before my god blessed are the meek for they'll inherit the earth now this isn't by the way personality sometimes we'll read to them well you know that guy there he sold me this is something about the whole kingdom of god people who are blessed understand meekness is not weakness jesus said he was it says he was meek and lowly of heart and yet he was able to give people what rest and blessed are those who hunger and thirst that's about desire to do the right thing just have a good heart about doing the right thing uh blessed are the merciful for they'll be what show mercy i love that one you know why because i need mercy and i'm like the old testament guy i need it every day his mercies are new every morning and i need them every morning blessed are the pure in heart for they'll see god here now think about this it's not just this pure is not about purity just morally it's not about that the pure in heart here is about it's something that clears up your vision because look what it says you're pure in heart they will what they see god because see when we're not pure in heart the impurity pollutes and dilutes our vision and we can't see clearly what we need to but he says those blessed are those that are pure in heart then they see clearly who god is and blessed are the peacemakers not peacekeepers peacemakers for they'll be called sons of god well isn't that great when somebody recognizes you there's my son there's my son are you proud to have the name that you have you're a son of god blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people insult you persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you then because of me now look the persecution not everybody's persecuted is blessed kingdom people are blessed even though they have persecution but they have it because they're living in the name of jesus they have it because of him so you rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you you and i need to take this and understand we are blessed we're blessed we are valued jesus says in your brokenness your sinfulness your weakness i'm saying you're valuable you're the kind of people that belong to the kingdom of god and finally all the unworthies of the world that see themselves properly say wow i i belong to somebody god sees me as valuable i don't know how you see yourself today but you need to understand how jesus sees you you are valuable to the kingdom and what are valuable people who what's that lifestyle like this kingdom of being blessed what happens well in that life once you're blessed and you understand you're blessed by jesus then you're able to make an impact on the culture around you your salt he says and your light to the world and we live in a dark world do you not agree we need salt and like people who have been blessed by jesus then jesus said in verse 17 don't think that i've come to abolish the law of the prophets he said i didn't come to do that i've come to fulfill them when you see jesus you see the whole fulfillment of everything god has written and laid out and prophesied for the kingdom of god and he calls us to be like him matter of fact later on he says i'm going to tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the pharisees and the teacher of the law you'll certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven and people say how can i be more righteous than the pharisees he's the most righteous of all be because look he's only keeping outside rules jesus is telling them we're taking this thing to the heart here's a word i want you to get heart or to work heart space there's an empty space in the heart of the pharisees they're doing the outside stuff but it's not making them righteous they're really not righteous so when jesus says you're going to be more righteous than those guys it's about the heart inside filling up that empty space with god and who he is in your life matter of fact that's why your behavior is going to be so different look right conduct always flows from a right relationship with god you can only do this when you've been blessed by jesus now he gets into not only do we have the kingdom blessing we have the kingdom character in matthew 5 21 through 48. in this you're going to see over and over again he's going to say as it was said in the old now i'm telling you something new you've heard it said this way but i'm going to re i'm going to correct your interpretation so you get the real message because it's going to be about an inside job it's going to be about having that heart space right so jesus corrects their view as he goes through six different things that a lot of times they fight and argue over and and and the very first one of them of all things is murder he says you've heard it that it said that people long ago do not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment but i'll tell you look i'll tell you don't even get angry now you don't have to raise your hand but did anybody have a fight coming to church today some of you did some of you you argued with your wife and you hollered at her and she hollered back and no i'll turn that air off i said turn it on and that's kind of things we fought about right and this and that and then all of a sudden you pull up the church get out of the park well hi brother smith good to see you he says look this ain't about hit look i'm gonna tell you how to handle murder you first start by handling anger matter of fact this whole progression not only that you don't call people foolish you don't call them reiki you don't say they're stupid you don't belittle people when you be little people that leads into a progressive thing that all of a sudden how do you think people end up murdering people so if jesus says take this thing down it's not about that i want to get feel that empty space in your heart with how to have right relationships it's kind of sad that in our culture people who are sarcastic and in and are good at insulting others get honored and laughed at and paid to do it yet when we belittle people we fail to see the human value of folks instead jesus says instead of doing that what i want you to do is i want you to restore your relationships and do it quickly matter of fact he says in the text if you've got a problem with a brother go to him don't come off your gift at the altar go to him now and solve it see what he says he says you solve that relationship quickly jesus elevates reconciliation over worship and says get things right not only do you not murder you don't belittle people and when you do have a problem with somebody you take care of it quickly whether it's your enemy or whether it's your brother and a matter of fact you don't even go to worship t take care of that problem wow what a challenge then it gets on this thing of adultery you've heard that it was said do not commit adultery but i tell you anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her and in his heart if your right eye causes you to sin gouge it out and throw it away it's better to lose one part of your body than for the whole body to go to hell you know the emphasis there right he says they say just don't commit adultery he says no it's greater than that it's greater than that it's an inside problem now he doesn't literally mean gouge your eye out right he doesn't literally mean that if he did i would be preaching to a bunch of one-eyed lusters in this room right now right i'd have a patch over mine i'd be the first one so he says you got to solve that problem inside the heart it's not about just the physical thing taking place but he's trying to say you have to take extreme action to make sure that problem doesn't get out of hand then he says the same thing about divorce it's not about what you can or can't do it's not about deciphering who's right and who's wrong remember the whole problem with this is how do we live in the kingdom you live as people who settle problems quickly you live as people who understand by the way listen listen by the way on this adultery thing everybody listening love is patient lust is not it's a young woman that first time that guy says if you love me he won't wait you know what ain't love it's lust love is patient lust is not so it's a inside problem and we don't divorce because why because we understand the power of faithfulness so we sell our problems quickly we love with patience and and when we hold our relationships together and we're faithful in doing that we do what god says to do not only that we keep our word that's where he gets the next section by the way you've already said not to make an oath but i'm telling you just let your yes be as you and nobody know let me just say a word about this one right here for me i remember a day when watching my dad do business and if he shook somebody's hand that settled it you don't have to have anything in writing nobody was going around suing each other this kind of world we live in is ridiculous and sometimes we get caught up in ourselves look if you give your word you keep your word now i'm gonna step on our toes just a little bit you thought i already did didn't you now this is gonna hurt some of us but you know what if i say i'm going to be somewhere at nine o'clock keep your word if we can't keep a word expected to keep our word in this little things then why would people expect us to keep our word in the big this is lifestyle of kingdom people and lifestyle of kingdom people is always counter culture to the world it's always different than the world the world put up with stuff but we shouldn't put up with it in ourselves they'll let us get by with it because that's how they live but we as kingdom people cannot do that and then he says don't retaliate you've heard that it says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth by the way that whole eye for an eye tooth for two things in the old testament was to protect the proper justice taking place in other words you didn't over punish somebody for something small and you didn't under punish them for something serious that's where that came from he says it's at nine or nine two two but i'm gonna tell you something different you don't resist an evil person what do you mean you don't resist if someone strikes you on the right cheek turn the other one also boy this is difficult isn't it now remember again it's not literal somebody wants to sue you and take your coat while let him have the cloak as well if somebody says go with me a mile which that soldier by the way roman soldier could compel them to do go with me a mile and they had to do it you just go ahead and say i'm going to tell you why not will i do that i'll carry your stuff two miles don't retaliate instead serve and remember this christianity got it ready christianity is two miles long then he says would love our enemies you heard it said love your neighbor and hate you in it but i'm telling you jesus tells them love your enemies really i mean love people that persecute me and make that have a hard time yeah love your enemies we sat around here all the time we love everybody because we've all started out as enemies of the cross if god didn't love enemies we wouldn't be here so who are we not to love enemies we love everybody that's the character of kingdom living now he gets into kingdom piety or holiness in chapter 6 verse 1 through 18. he lists three things that they counted on as jesus being doing in front of people to say i'm holy first one was giving and by the way since we're on giving i just got to go ahead and say thank you ahead of time for what you're going to give next week to one kingdom uh and uh and look by the way i like what kyle smith says about giving uh uh you're not making a donation you're making a difference i love that but he says when you give you don't do it in front of everybody so everybody claps and says how good you are look what he says with each one of these with the giving with the prayer and with fasting all three of these acts that the jews said man that's practicing holiness but they did it in front of everybody with each one of them he says when you do it says in chapter six and verse four then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you same thing when he says pray and you go in your closet and pray and you don't do it out here so everybody can see then he says the same thing your father sees what's done in secret and rewards you and then when you come to fasting he says you don't make a big show of this well everybody knows what you're doing no you don't do that matter of fact you make yourself look like people can't even tell your fasting and what did you say about that you what you do your father sees what you do in secret and he will greatly reward you yeah kingdom piety and kingdom holiness is not practiced for the praise of men but for the glory of god then he gives some kingdom priority matthew 6 19 through 34. what matters most in the kingdom this is what he's talking about so he says you don't store treasures for yourself and you don't do that you don't gather up a bunch of stuff and we're pretty good stuff gatherers aren't we but he says that's not your goal is to have a bunch of material things that's not it now he's going to say here that where your where your treasure is their what their heart will be also it almost feels backwards doesn't it you think well jesus are you sure you shouldn't have said where your heart is there your treasure will be kind of stick that within him box and think about that one this is where your treasure is there's your heart will be also it's cause your heart's gonna follow your treasure and he says when you put up stuff for yourself that's not having the kingdom being the priority of your life it's having you be the priority your life you can't serve god money so you're going to have to make a choice here are you going to be on the on the throne here or are you going to let god reign kingdom people keep that priority matter of fact he said not only do you do that you don't worry about things you don't worry about what you eat drink or how you look and look we worry about that a lot don't we look at this verse right here i kind of got i got tickled when i was reading about this not worried therefore i tell you do not worry about your life what you eat or drink or about your body what you will wear is not life more important than food and body more important than clothes look at the birds of the air they do not sow a reef or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are they not much more valuable than are you not much more valuable than they who of you by wearing can add a single hour to his life and why don't you worry about clothes see how the lilies of the field grow they do not labor or spin yet yet i tell you that uh uh that not solomon and all the splendor uh was dressed like one of these if that is how god closed the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire will not much more clothe you oh you little face so do not worry watch you'll eat watch your drink what you wear the pagans run after these things your heavenly father knows that you need them but seek first there's the priority seek first the kingdom and as righteousness and all these things will be added unto you wow if i could just learn to trust god and make kingdom business the priority of my life i wouldn't be caught up in someone now do you see again how this is so counter culture this is so opposite of the world he really turns the lifestyles upside down we find ourselves sometimes having that tendency to try to live like the world as much as possible instead yet still be following christ he says no you just got to flip that thing upside down when you follow christ you're going to run against the grain of the world he says in matthew chapter 7 verse 1 through 12 you have the kingdom challenge and reminder here's the challenge and and we all have this tendency by the way don't we he says look don't be judging your brother now i love this verse gets you so out of context so much because you can't make one decision and say he's not saying there's not a time to judge and make decisions about writing it's not about that he's saying look uh the idea here is in in this in this relationship you have the challenge is it's always easier to look at the wrong stuff in somebody else's life right it's kind of like i remember i remember one day i walked out the back of this auditorium and somebody said oh my said lord that was a great sermon i'll tell you i wish old joe was here he needed that it's always the other guy that needs it he said don't don't judge your brother he's got a little bitty speck there in his eye and you're trying to take it out but you can't see to take it out why now picture this because you got a big old beam coming out of yours you got a log coming out of your eyes you can't even turn around swing without hitting somebody with that thing and yet you're trying to get something out of somebody else's eye that's not the character of kingdom people now what he says here is he says the kingdom challenge is to be humble be humble look at your own self first but be helpful look at yourself make sure you're right with god and then be ready to help a brother who does have a problem because you actually can help him but there has to be humility before help can be practiced and then he says be holy because see when you need help where do you go you ask you seek you find and god provides it and he knows how to give good gifts to his kids you don't have to worry about it he won't mess up god knows how to take care of that kind of thing in our life matter of fact jesus even says in that section when you do this and you treat other people right you're practicing what normally referred to what the golden rule so in verse 12 he says so in everything do to others what you would have them do to you for this sums up the law and the prophets you ought to have a little echo in your head right now going back to chapter 5 verse 17 where jesus says i didn't come to abolish the law i came to what fulfill it and when you practice right relationships and you treat other people right you're fulfilling it too you're being like jesus which after all is the whole goal of christianity anyway then this last section chapter 7 verse 13-29 is kingdom choices now he writes this jesus does or speaks this as he's doing it in a very traditional jewish teaching style where he contrasts things he gives you several twos two things that contrast each other the first he gives is two gates right there's a wide one and there's a narrow one and look most of the people in the world they're going to go the wide one it's easy and a lot of people saying come this way he said but kingdom people don't kingdom people go the narrow way and doing it they find life you go to broadway it's destruction how many turns around look at the road and say you know what there's destruction at the end of that thing but i think i'll take that anyway i don't know of anybody i've worked with a lot of people over the years i don't know of anybody in addiction that were sticking they said my goal in life was just to go down to a path where i just wanted to stick needles in my arm i've never found that person yet yet that path of destruction was broad and easy to go to narrow broad he gives you a choice kingdom choices then he says there's two fruits and actually these two fruits there's the there's the the there's bad fruit and there's good fruit now this bad fruit he says it comes in the form of these false prophets and they sound like they're really good but they're they're not very authentic in their life matter of fact he's going to go ahead and say later on jesus says not everyone that says unto me lord lord is enter the kingdom of heaven and you're going to say well didn't we cast out demons in your name and then we do good things in your name we did miracles we preached in your name we did all these things in your name he's going to say i never knew who you were you were bad fruit you were wolf in sheep's clothing he said now kingdom people have that heart space filled with christ and god is their priority and when they do that their actions produce real fruit and you can recognize it in people's lives then he gives them the old two builders by the way before i leave that two fruit thing because jesus is telling you to do some stuff here james in the book of james james writes james says faith without works is dead jesus says works without faith is dead we're saved by grace and once we've been blessed to be kingdom people we become salt and light we live different than the world and we get busy working for god and are honored to do so because he rescued us out of such a mess that we were in then he says there's two builders we all sung the song if you went to sunday school at all right the wise man built his house upon the rock the foolish man built it and when the rains come flop right thing just destroyed so the question becomes for me to ask mike kellet and for us to ask each other really am i wise or am i foolish look what jesus says 7 21 therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock you know what that tells me the sermon on the mount is something you and i can practice so if you think my that loving your enemies that's too hard that forgiving people when they've committed adultery that's too difficult i can't do that i can't keep my word i can't live like that no yes you can jesus says kingdom people who have been blessed by him can practice the principles in this sermon don't you swallow that pill that somebody out there that says oh that's just ideal stuff nobody can really do that oh yeah you can practice it you can do it and we don't work in order to be saved we work because we are saved we work because we're kingdom people living a kingdom lifestyle that is totally different than how the world lives yes this sermon can be practiced but it cannot be practiced until you're blessed by god and you fill that heart space with the spirit of god the word of god and the grace of god you are valuable even in your worst brokenness disease dependence on other people you're valuable and jesus says to the broken people i want you the kingdom belongs to you are you in the kingdom are you broken about your own sinfulness are you mourn the brokenness of your life are you willing to make him the lord and let him reign and bless you so that you can become salt and life and feel that empty space in your heart that's what our invitation is about or maybe you've just gotten away from walking the way jesus hey look we're all in this thing together we're all family right we'll help you walk the journey we help each other i need help other people in this room understand they need help but if you have a need today to be baptized into christ and start your journey if you have a need today to just regain your zeal for following god letting him reign in your life because you kind of let some other things creep into rule get him back on top right that's what our invitation is for it's a forever family saying we love you and we'll walk with you if you ever need come while we stand and sing

Channel: Whites Ferry Road Church

Views: 283

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Whites Ferry Road, WFR, WFR CHURCH, Church of Christ, Duck Dynasty Church

Id: 42OCs4_tKZE

Length: 37min 30sec (2250 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021