The Life That Blesses the Father

The gospel of Matthew is arranged around five teachings of Jesus for His disciples. These five “sermons” have been used since the beginning of the church as a catechism for new believers. The message in all five is a revelation of the life of Jesus. Each one describes the life of Christ and what His life looks like in the life of the new believer.

The first of these sermons is the most famous, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 – 7. Some have tried to understand the teaching in these chapters as a new outline for what we are supposed to do, as if Jesus were the new Moses with a new set of rules to keep. Others see it as a far look into the future of how God’s people will one day live in heaven. Both overlook the main message of the sermon, Jesus and His life, which is offered to whoever will follow Him.

When you read these chapters, you will soon discover that what Jesus is describing is His own life, how He thinks, feels, and acts. You will also quickly discover how totally foreign this way of thinking, feeling, and acting is to the way you are, which is the main point of the message.

This message reveals the truth that man needs a new heart, a new life. The problem we have is not our environment, nor is it ignorance, nor is it a lack of opportunity; it is our sinful heart, which is totally dead to the things of God and is the spring of every thought, feeling, and act, regardless of our environment, education, or opportunities. The Sermon on the Mount describes the new life that is offered in Jesus Christ to those who desire to receive from Him the life that pleases the Father, His life for you.

The most difficult part of the Sermon on the Mount is coming to the realization that you do not in any way, shape, or form come close to actually thinking, feeling, or doing the things that Jesus outlines in His message. This also becomes the most blessed, the good news of the message. You can’t, but Jesus did! And He offers what He did to you and for you.

As you hear His words and begin to follow Him, He begins to live His life in you, with you, through you, as you, before the Father and the watching world around you. The light of His life begins to shine from within you so that others “…may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16. This pleases God and is what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth.

Today, ask Jesus Christ to be your life, to live His life in you, with you, through you, as you, before the Father and the watching world around you. Do this because you have come to see that without Christ there is nothing that pleases the Father, and that in Christ everything pleases the Father! His life is the life that blesses the Father because it is the Father’s life! Meditate on this today.