Anush A. John Podcast
Anush A. John Podcast
A Disciple's Character - The Sermon on the Mount
There are no criteria to fulfill in order to become a Christian. However, once a person becomes a follower of Christ, their character must get better over time. Jesus shows some aspects of a Christian's character in the Sermon on the Mount.
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One of the companies that has been the most influential in the last 25 years is Google, and the head of people operations at Google was a man by the name of Lazlo Bok. He was the head of operations for about 10 years. In 2006, google had 10,000 employees, and by 2016, when he resigned from his post, they had 72,000 employees, and so when he was looking for potential employees, he was looking for what he called Googliness, and he wanted people to have Googliness, and this was his description of what a potential employee had to have to work at Google. He said they should enjoy fun. He said they should have a certain dose of intellectual humility, a strong measure of conscientiousness, being comfortable with ambiguity and evidence that they've taken some courageous and interesting paths in their lives, and so that, for him, was Googliness, and if you had these attributes when you came for the interview, then you had a high chance of working at Google. Every year, 3 million people apply to work at Google and they accept about 20,000, depends on the year.
Speaker 1:This morning, in a sermon entitled A Disciple's Disposition, we're going to look at what are the characters that a disciple of Jesus should have. Obviously, it's different than what Google says. For Google, you need to have those characteristics in order to work in Google, but for the Christian faith that's not true. Anybody can walk in. These characteristics are developed after you become a Christian. It's not like we have to check off some boxes and be holy before we become Christian. We come to God as we are and then we become changed because of the Holy Spirit that works in us. Now what is the character, what is the disposition, what should be the disposition of a disciple? One of the passages in the Bible that clearly describes this is that passage of Scripture called The Sermon on the Mount. So you can turn your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 5, and we will look at multiple verses here. The Sermon on the Mount goes from Matthew 5 to Matthew 7.
Speaker 1:God's plan from the beginning was to call people, and when he called people, he wanted them to be holy and different than their neighbors, but obviously the people of Israel. They didn't do it. God wanted the people of Israel in the Old Testament to be different than the Egyptians and the Canaanites, but they were not very different from the Egyptians and the Canaanites. So what happened was God sent them into exile. And you come to the New Testament and the same thing. Jesus calls his disciples and then he gives them the details of what characteristics they should have. The call is always first before God tells us how we have to be different. In Matthew, chapter 5, 6, 7 is a sermon on the Mount, but Matthew 4, jesus calls And this is important to know, that the call happens first.
Speaker 1:Now the entire sermon on the Mount is a contrast between three different groups of people And once you know this, it makes it so much easier when you read the sermon on the Mount. The sermon on the Mount is a contrast between a disciple and the religious and the disciple and the secular. So the words used is pagan and Gentile to describe the secular, and then when it says you have heard that it was said, he's talking about the other Jews. So the three groups of people that are being contrasted here. So Jesus was primarily talking to the disciples, but also secondarily with all the people that were assembled there. A few months ago I got the opportunity to go to Israel and I stood where Jesus gave the sermon on the Mount, just overlooking on the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee, just looking down into the Sea of Galilee. There's a very nice slope there where Jesus sat and gave his sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to give you a very quick overview, or an outline, of the sermon on the Mount. There are thousands of such outlines. I'm giving you only my outline. You can use this outline to study the sermon on the Mount. So the first thing is the character and influence of a disciple. This is just the outline. I'm not going to go through every single one of them, but I'm giving you something so that when you go back and want to read up the sermon on the Mount, you can use this outline. And, by the way, all this is on my webpage. You can use the QR code. It'll take you directly to this outline and all the other sermon notes.
Speaker 1:First thing in the character and influence of a disciple is the blessed state of a believer and the transformative influence of a believer. Then, secondly, in contrast with the secular people, the Bible talks about prayers and worry. And then, in contrast with the religious people, there are actually two different categories. It shows the Christian morals versus legalistic actions, and under this are the six things, or what I call the six antithesis. You have heard that it was said, but this is what I tell you. And so he goes through six of them, which include anger, lust, divorce, oaths, revenge and love, and then Christian devotion versus hypocritical piety, and under this there are three categories, which is giving, prayer and fasting. So what I'm going to do this morning obviously there is no time to go through every single one of them. I picked one from each category, so we'll do one from the character and influence of a disciple And then one from the secular and one from the religious.
Speaker 1:First let's look at the character and influence of a disciple. Turn your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 5. Matthew 5. And here he talks about salt and light. Salt and light And we've heard this a thousand times about salt and light. Matthew 5, verse 13. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again? How shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. First thing about salt is that there are multiple uses, and we know that there are multiple uses. In those days, because they didn't have electricity or refrigeration, salt was used to preserve food, just to make it last longer. It was also used in Old Testament sacrifices. But light to date is also used in seasoning food.
Speaker 1:Any of you all cook. What do you cook? What kind of foods do you cook? Curry Curry is very good, very good. What do you cook? Everything, everything. You are a chef here. You saw that you were going to be a chef here. You are a chef here. That's great. Obviously you cook. What is your specialty? What kind of foods? Indian food, indian food yeah, i love salt. Go ahead. He cooks for me. Oh, you cook for weddings. You said Wendy's. Oh, you cook for Wendy's. It does require a certain level of skill. You cook for us.
Speaker 1:In the last five years I've picked up this hobby of cooking. Initially it was just as a hobby, but now it's great fun. I love cooking different curries. Like you said, i'm not an official chef, but I cook at home, so I cook a ton of Indian food. You know and you cook I don't know whatever. Chicken, tikka, masala.
Speaker 1:There are so many different flavors and spices that go into it. Sometimes, as you cook, you taste the different. Okay, is it? No, it doesn't taste right. And as you're cooking, you're like man. This tastes a little bland. It's a balance between spices and sour And you get the sour from the tomato and the yogurt, right, and then you get the salt, and then you put some little bit of sugar, you get the bitter from the Kasuri methi, right, and so you try to do this combination of flavors And sometimes, after you've done all the stuff, you taste it and still a little it's not popping up like you want it, and all you need to do at that point is just add a little bit of salt, because salt brings out all the flavors and it's used for seasoning.
Speaker 1:So it's possible that Jesus was talking about all the multiple uses of salt in this culture and the way salt had influence in that culture, but also he was trying to show the ineffectiveness of salt. Sometimes salt can be ineffective. It's not scientifically possible for salt to lose its saltiness. So what Jesus is saying here is that it's contaminated. The salt was contaminated and therefore ineffective.
Speaker 1:The literal reading is not saltiness or losing saltiness. It's about becoming foolish. That's a literal reading. It's moreno to become foolish. So Jesus is saying salt has become foolish. And how can salt become foolish? in the sense it has become less effective in its job. It gets mixed in with impurities that make it ineffective.
Speaker 1:A Christian's influence is also ineffective if we are mixed in with purities. The interesting thing is, the more a Christian's character is like the world, the less respect we will have. So if your church looks like the world which there are some churches that look like culture the culture is reflected inside the church. If your church looks like the culture, you will have less influence and less respect. But if your church looks different than the culture, you will face more ridicule, but you will have respect and have an influence. It is tempting for us to want to be liked by culture, but the more we try to compromise who we are, what the Bible says we are supposed to be, and we become more like the world, we will face less ridicule, but we will have no respect and no influence.
Speaker 1:Second, jesus talks about light. Turn to Matthew, chapter 5 and verses 14 through 16. Matthew 5, 14 through 16. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house In the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Jesus is assuming that we do good works, that they're going to see your good works. Now let's turn to another verse about two chapters before. In Matthew, chapter 3, verse 8. It says bear fruit in keeping with repentance, which is you become a Christian, you've repented. Bear fruit related to that, Good works are assumed.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go into it, but you can read up Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 through 10, which says we are God's workmanship, created in Christ for good works. In every other religion you have to do good works to go to heaven, but in the Christian faith you don't need to do anything to become a Christian. Because of that view, sometimes we go in the opposite direction Where we say, okay, we don't need to do good works at all. But that's not what you're saying. Good works are expected if you're a believer, not in order to become a Christian, but because you're a Christian. Let me ask you a question What good works would we do if we thought good works could take us to heaven? What good works would we do if we thought good works would take us to heaven? We would do a lot of good works because we're trying to get into heaven. Jesus is essentially saying those good works should come out, not in order to become a Christian, but because you're a Christian.
Speaker 1:We need to do all kinds of good works. As individuals, i need to do good works because I'm a Christian. As families, i need to do good works because we are Christians. As a church, we need to do good works because we are Christians. The church where I'm in in Maryland one of the ministries that we have is called Disability Ministries, where we minister to a lot of disabled people, and so we have a lot of people come for our weekly weekend church meetings from far and wide because they have a disabled child And they know that at our Sunday morning service there is the main service and there is a service for the disabled people. So that is the ministry, that is the good work that our church is doing. In that setting, for each of our churches, for each of our families, for each of us as individuals, we need to figure out what is the good work that I need to do, not in order to become a Christian, but because God has already saved us. Over the centuries, the church has done some amazing things in terms of good works all these orphanages, all these deaddiction facilities, all the schools, all these different things that were started because they were Christians.
Speaker 1:And then Jesus talks about light and he says that it should not be hidden. It should not be hidden, but actively engaged. Sometimes we can focus on one and not the other, which is we focus on inner quality. I want to become the strong Christian. That's great, but we forget about the outward effect. We are so focused on being inner, have inner great Christian quality, that we forget about the outward effect that God wants us to have. Many times we are hidden Christians. We are great in our family prayers, we are great in our churches, but we are hidden. Nobody else knows it.
Speaker 1:Turn your Bible to John, chapter 17, verse 15, verses 15 through 18. John 17, 15 through 18. This is called the high priestly prayer of Jesus, where Jesus is praying and in this part of the prayer he's praying for his disciples. And this is what he's praying to his father for his disciples He says I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world. So we are not of the world, but we need to have an effect in the world.
Speaker 1:Holiness has to do with separation, but many times we think it has to do with physical separation. It's not physical separation, it's moral separation. We need to be morally separated from the world around us, not physical separation Other than moral separation. Every Christian needs to be connected to the world. Every Christian needs to be connected to the world. In fact, the more we look at culture and we see culture going down, there is a tendency to pull back and say, okay, i'm going to stay in my little shell and avoid culture. But that is the exact opposite thing that the church needs to do. The more culture becomes evil, the more the church needs to engage with culture and shine the light. Otherwise, we are hiding the light. And the purpose of all this, the purpose of good works, is so that God would be glorified, and that's what Jesus says there. Second, let's look at the contrast with the secular, contrast with the secular. So first we looked at the character and influence of a disciple and second we will look at the contrast with the secular.
Speaker 1:Turn to Matthew, chapter 6 and verses 25 to 34. Matthew 6, 25 to 34. This is a passage that we've all read. There are several verses that we know from memory. Therefore, i tell you, do not be anxious about life, what you will eat, what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither so, nor reap, nor gather into bonds, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not a raid like one of these. But if God saw clothes of grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more cloth you or you of little faith? Therefore, don't be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear, for the Gentiles seek after all these things, and whether you are Gentiles, he's talking in contrast with the secular. The Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient, for the day is its own trouble.
Speaker 1:Now this passage is talking about anxiety and worry. You know what it's not saying. It's not saying don't think about the future. It's not saying don't plan about the future. It's saying don't be worried about the future. This is where the King James Version translation is not accurate. If you read the King James Version translation, or maybe even the New King James, it says don't think about the future, and that's not the actual word. It's worry. Do not be anxious. We have to think about the future, we have to plan about the future, but we don't need to be anxious about the future, because worrying doesn't change anything. What are we worried about? What are the different things that we worry about? Parents worry about their children. What, and when you become a parent, you'll know the different things that you worry about your children. The more you see culture going downhill morally, the more you worry about your children. What are they now going to learn in fifth grade that you know I didn't learn in tenth grade? You're worried about the future. You're worried about your job. Some of you are studying in colleges. You want the job market to still be there when you leave the college, not just when you start. We worry about our jobs, our education, our finances, our taxes and children. I mean there's so many things.
Speaker 1:The essential problem with worrying this is what Jesus is trying to show here is a distrust of God. We distrust God. Let's say that. You know, when we were driving yesterday from Toronto up here to Bank of 3 Hour Drive as you're driving, let's say that your three-year-old child is in the backseat. Okay, if your three-year-old child is in the backseat and constantly gripping the sides of his little chair and wondering if there's going to be an accident or not, what does that tell you? It tells you that that kid does not trust his father who's driving, or the mother who's driving. Right, it's a question of distrust. But usually three-year-olds don't care. You know why? Because they know that their parent is going to take them. They have complete faith in the person who's driving the car. Worry is essentially a distrust of God. It is almost practical atheism where you think that you need to drive the bus yourself For non-Christians.
Speaker 1:Why should they trust God? Why should non-Christians trust God? In Hinduism and Buddhism, there is no personal God. In the Jnana Marga, the way of knowledge, brahman, is this indescribable non-being. It's not a personal God. In the karmic system there is no. So in the karmic system, if you do good deeds, you get good rewards. If you do bad things, you get bad rewards. But who is giving the reward Or who is giving the blessing? There is no person there. It is an impersonal karmic system. In the Islamic faith, allah is a non-personal God. In atheism and secular humanism, there is no God.
Speaker 1:So why should a non-christian trust God? In fact, a non-christian should worry Because they don't know who is driving that car. They should hold on to the sides of the seat and wonder what's going to happen next, because it's an impersonal being that's driving the car, or they themselves are driving the car. So they have to be worried. But for a Christian, whose God is a personal, omniscient, omnipotent being, who is described as a good and loving Father in the Bible, we don't need to worry about God because he is the one that's driving this bus. When we seek God first, then we can trust God with everything else. Does that mean that everything is going to go smoothly? Absolutely not. Ask about the Christians in Ukraine. Ask if things are going smoothly for them. Ask about the Christians in North Korea. Ask if things are going smoothly for them. It's not. The issue is not whether things are going to go smoothly or not. The issue is knowing that a sovereign being is in charge. He will do what is right, and trusting. That is what takes care of worry. Ultimately, it's knowing that God is sovereign number one and that we live in a fallen world, number two, and this is not all that. There is, number three, that God has planned something much bigger. Once we understand that, then, even if things don't go the way we want it to go, it's okay. We can trust God. Third, let's look at the character of a Christian in contrast with the religious, character of a Christian in contrast with the religious. And let's turn to Matthew, chapter 5, verses 43 to 48. Matthew 5, 43 to 48.
Speaker 1:You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, and that is the sons of your father, who is in heaven, for he makes his son rise in the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you get? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same. You therefore must be perfect, even as your heavenly father is perfect.
Speaker 1:First, we will look at the object of love. What is the object of love? You have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now, there are two parts to that sentence You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. The phrase you shall love your neighbor comes from Leviticus, chapter 19. But, importantly, the phrase you shall hate your enemy is not in the Old Testament. It's nowhere in the Old Testament.
Speaker 1:God in the Old Testament never commanded his people to hate their enemy. In fact, even throughout the books of the Pentateuch, as the people of Israel are going into this foreign land, god says be favorable to the alien and the foreigner among you, because you were aliens and foreigners in a foreign land. He has never said you should hate your enemy. And yet the command to be morally separate from their neighbors that resulted in the Jewish people hating their enemies, hating their neighbors, and that still continues. Where that hate still continues. So when Jesus says you have heard that it was said love your neighbor. That is from the Old Testament. But the hate, your enemy part, that is from their own culture. That is what they practiced and that is what they preached Then Jesus gives this unbelievable command to love enemies.
Speaker 1:We can love our friends, we can love family, we can love friends. That's normal, that's natural. But loving your enemy how can you love somebody that is against you? It is beyond human logic, is what I'll call supra-logical. Who is your enemy? Think about the worst person in your life, and some kids will think about their parents, but I can promise you they are not the enemy. You will find that out later. Think of someone. What's that? After a long time? After a long time, yeah, and don't care. Think about the person who's done the worst thing in your life to you. That is your enemy. And the point of this is, if we can love our enemies, we can love everyone else. But that is a point of this.
Speaker 1:Obviously, it's a bigger challenge for those who are living in hostile countries. So there's in Manipur, my family. We have like an orphanage in Manipur with 120 kids there HIV positive kids But that's been shut down because of the persecution that's happening in Manipur Churches are being ransacked and burnt, believers are being beaten, so we have to shut down the school, send all the kids back to their villages. Obviously, in a hostile region, it is much harder to love your enemy, but when you're living where you've got freedom of speech, freedom to practice your religion and nobody bothers you, it's much easier. So what does God want us to do? when we say love and does it just mean, okay, i'm going to call you and say I love you. I'm going to just say in my mind I love you. What does it mean? There's an object of love and then there is the action of love, where Jesus wants us to pray for our enemies, to pray for our enemies. Many times we do the opposite. Where we pray against our enemies, jesus wants us to pray for our enemies. So think about the person who's your enemy. Think about a prayer of profound blessing for that enemy. Very, very hard to do, very, very hard to do.
Speaker 1:I listed out five reactions that we can have towards our enemies. Five reactions that we can have towards our enemy. So if you want to think of who your enemy could be, think of a person who abused your child and killed them intentionally. Wow, that's who your enemy would be. Think of someone who would abuse your child and kill them intentionally. Now think about loving them.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you five possible reactions that we can have to our enemies. The first is hatred or revenge. In this, you can actively do something to hurt your enemy. They did something to you to hurt you. You can do something back to hurt them. This is the basis for the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. You do something to me, i do something to you. That is completely human. This is our natural reaction. If somebody intentionally did something to me, i want to do something so bad to them that is equal to what they did to me. Right, that is the normal natural reaction.
Speaker 1:The second kind of reaction that you can have is what I'll call dislike, where you don't actively do something to hurt them, but you will passively do something to hurt them. So, for example, let's say that you have a colleague or a classmate that is your enemy. You may not go out of your way to do anything against them, but if they are, let's say, getting a promotion, you will try to prevent them from getting the promotion. Or if their paycheck is going to go high while yours stays down, you're going to try to prevent them from doing that. That is, you dislike them. You passively do something to hurt them. A third reaction is indifference, where you don't do anything to either hurt them or help them. You don't care. As far as you're concerned, they are your enemy and they don't exist to you. A fourth reaction that you can have is like where you can do something passively to help them. So let's say, your enemy is your neighbor and your neighbor comes to you in the middle of the night. You've got nothing to do with them, it's your enemy. They come in the middle of the night knocking on the door and they say you know, my wife had a heart attack. Can you take him to the hospital? You will passively do something to help them. But Jesus wants us to go beyond all this, doesn't he? He wants us to love them, where we will actively, intentionally, go out of our way, sacrificially, choose to help them. Let me end with the story.
Speaker 1:The Amish are a religious and cultural group of people that came from Europe in the late 1700s, 17th century. They come in multiple states in the US and Canada. They live in rural communities and they are very peaceful people, moral people, very conservative Christians, and they have this very simple lifestyle, agricultural lifestyle, and they don't bother anybody. They reject all the modern advancements. But October 2nd 2006 would be a very dark day in their history.
Speaker 1:In the little town of Nickelmines, pennsylvania, a milk truck driver by the name of Charles Roberts he was not an Amish person, but he entered this one room Amish schoolhouse And when he entered this Amish schoolhouse he was loaded with weapons. He had a handgun, he had a shotgun, he had a rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition. As he entered there there were boys and girls and some adults there. He let all the boys go, so about 15 boys left. There was one pregnant lady that he told the chicken go. There were three other mothers with little infants that he said could also go. Remaining were 10 girls. He barricaded the doors and windows of this one room schoolhouse. He tied the hands and feet of the girls and had them line up against the chalkboard And by then the teacher from outside called the cops. In nine minutes the police came there and they tried to establish communication with him, but it failed. And then they tried to break down the door and that's when they heard the shots. In the shots, five out of the ten kids were dead, including the killer.
Speaker 1:How would a Christian group that believes in the command of Jesus to love your enemies? how would they react? Because now, this is not theory, it's practical. How are you going to react to your enemy that is now at your doorstep? And, ladies and gentlemen, in the midst of pain and grief, they obeyed the command of Jesus to love their enemies. They reached out to the family of the killer, to his wife and family, and offered their condolences and their support, and most of the Amish went for his funeral.
Speaker 1:Two thousand years ago, as Jesus hung on the cross, he had the opportunity to practice what he preached. And how did he respond to the people that were crucifying him? He said, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. I want to give the opportunity for us to respond to the sermon. I want to ask three questions. At the end of the day, jesus was salt and light. At the end of the day, jesus trusted his father completely. And at the end of the day, he showed love to his enemies. But let me ask you three questions.
Speaker 1:What do I need to do to have influence as a Christian? What do I need to do to have influence as a Christian? What areas of my life do I worry about that I need to trust God with? And how is my love for people? Is it anger? Is it dislike? Is it indifference? Is it dislike, or is it love?
Speaker 1:Let's pray, heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning that you've given. Thank you for your word, thank you for your word that goes against normal human thinking. Your truth is so different than what we, as sinful humans, think about. Thank you for the reminder from your word to love. And, more than anything, we thank you for what you did for us That while we were still sinners, you died for us. While we were enemies, you exhibited your love to us. I pray that you would give us the strength, the courage, even if we face hostile situations and people, that we would do as you have asked us to do, and that, as we let the Holy Spirit of God change our lives, that we would have the disposition of a disciple. We would be more and more in the character of Jesus Christ. In your name, we pray Amen.