Jesus Preaches the Sermon on the Mount

In this “Walk as He Walked” series, we now come to the most famous of Jesus’ recorded messages—the Sermon on the Mount. Yet despite its widespread recognition, it is perhaps the least-applied set of moral teachings in history.

Both Matthew and Luke included the sermon in their Gospels, but Matthew’s account is much more detailed and spans three chapters (Matthew 5-7). Luke’s account condenses the sermon to only 30 verses in a single chapter (Luke 6:20-49).

This difference in length reflects the different styles and approaches of the Gospel writers. Matthew was one of the 12 apostles who heard the sermon live. Luke was called years later and learned about the sermon by interviewing primary sources.

For the purposes of this short article, we’ll primarily rely on Luke’s account. We’ll examine some of the highlights, how Jesus applied them and how they apply today.

The Beatitudes—spiritual blessings for righteous character

Jesus began the sermon with a series of statements about spiritual blessings. Luke recorded four, while Matthew recorded nine.

Jesus pronounced blessings on His faithful followers who now suffer physically and spiritually for His sake (Luke 6:20-23; see also Matthew 5:3-11).

Poor. Being “poor in spirit” describes someone with the humility to always view himself or herself as poor and powerless compared to God. Despite preexisting for all eternity, Jesus viewed Himself as powerless in comparison to His Father: “I can of Myself do nothing . . . I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30).

If the Son of God said He could “do nothing” by Himself, how much more should we view ourselves as impoverished compared to God?

Hungry. When Jesus blessed those who hunger, He was also referring to hungering for God’s righteousness. Jesus exemplified this mindset: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34). Just as food energizes us physically, God’s will must energize and sustain us spiritually.

Weeping. Christians will suffer and experience hardships. The blessings of the Beatitudes aren’t about living a life free of suffering. On the contrary, just like Jesus, true Christians “will have tribulation” (John 16:33). But, also like Christ, we must endure and stay faithful to receive the ultimate blessing of the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).

Hated. When Jesus said we would be blessed when others hate, exclude and revile us, He was describing a willingness to be disliked and persecuted for obeying God. Jesus endured mistreatment throughout His life, especially at the end.

When baseless accusations were hurled at Him during His trial before Pilate, He “answered him not one word” (Matthew 27:14). When Christians face mistreatment for doing what’s right, they should emulate Jesus’ example by not compromising or retaliating.

A life characterized by love—even toward our enemies

Jesus also addressed interpersonal relations—specifically how we respond to those who mistreat us.

To be true Christians, we must make Christ’s teachings—especially in this sermon—the foundation of our lives. Our human nature doesn’t typically struggle with being kind to our friends and family. But when it comes to those who make themselves our enemies, it’s natural to respond in kind—not to be kind.

However, Jesus taught a much more challenging way to respond: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you” (Luke 6:27-28). This is one of the highest and hardest ethical standards ever taught.

We could point to many examples of how Jesus treated His enemies with love and kindness, but one of the most striking occurred on the night He was betrayed.

When a group of officers came to arrest Jesus, although He had broken no law, Jesus did not argue or resist.

Peter, on the other hand, hadn’t entirely internalized Jesus’ teaching. He drew his sword and aimed it at the head of the servant of the high priest, slicing off his ear. Instead of endorsing Peter’s resistance, Jesus mercifully healed the man’s ear (Luke 22:51). Even though this man was part of a group seeking to take His life violently, Jesus did good to him.

Though showing love and kindness to an enemy goes against every fiber of our being, Jesus’ example demonstrated that it’s not impossible. He did it, and we can too.

Be harder on ourselves than others

Jesus also tackled the issue of judging. Judging is usually defined as evaluating and rendering a verdict on another person’s behavior. Jesus, however, turned the lens of judgment around 180 degrees.

He taught that we should be more concerned with judging ourselves than others. It’s counterintuitive to human nature to think of serving as a one-person jury in our own trial.

First, Jesus made the oft-quoted statement, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged” (Luke 6:37). It is essential to note that Jesus didn’t forbid all moral judgments. Throughout His ministry, He denounced sin and wrong when it was presented to Him. His emphasis here was to teach us not to fixate our attention on the moral failings of others.

Instead, He taught us to use the moral microscope on ourselves.

He made this point through one of His most creative analogies. In verses 41-42, He shared a humorous scenario where someone nitpicked about a tiny splinter stuck in another person’s eye while ignoring a large beam wedged in his or her own eye.

Jesus’s point was crystal clear: Before worrying about anyone else’s issues, “remove the plank from your own eye” (verse 42)—make yourself your target of judgment.

Jesus taught us to be self-reflective by honestly analyzing ourselves for failings and growth needs. The apostle Paul would later teach the same principle: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Focusing our judgment lens on others can make us comfortable with or ignorant of our shortcomings. On the other hand, self-examination helps us grow and make frequent course corrections to stay on the straight and narrow path.

The necessity of outward change

Along with teaching the importance of self-judgment, Jesus explained the intended outcome: change. Tackling the problems on the inside will lead to change on the outside. Jesus compared conduct to fruit on a tree: “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:43-44).

In other words, inward growth must be reflected externally through good conduct and excellent speech (verse 45).

Some religious traditions deemphasize outward conduct by claiming that God is only concerned with the heart, not outward actions. That’s a mortally dangerous half-truth.

According to Jesus, God is equally interested in both.

James would later explain the need for both when he wrote: “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Faith, a matter of the mind, must be demonstrated by works—what we do on the outside (verse 18).

Throughout His life, Jesus demonstrated perfect thinking and blameless conduct. True Christianity is endeavoring to walk as He walked both in our thoughts and in our conduct.

Life built on the proper foundation

Luke closed his account of the sermon with Jesus’ words on foundations.

A truly successful Christian must build his or her life on the right foundation. In our world, people build their lives on many different foundations—money, pleasure, careers, leisure—or they live aimlessly without any foundation.

Jesus’ words and teachings must be the foundation of our life. He said that whoever “hears My sayings and does them . . . is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock” (Luke 6:47-48).

As we noted earlier in this series, from a very early age, Jesus built His life on a rock-solid spiritual foundation (Luke 2:40, 52).

To be true Christians, we must make Christ’s teachings—especially in this sermon—the foundation of our lives.

Go deeper

Due to space, this article focused on Luke’s condensed account of Christ’s sermon. However, to grasp the full depth of Jesus’ teachings in this epic message, one must closely study Matthew’s more detailed account.

To build our lives on these words, we must study and understand them. That’s why we’ve prepared an in-depth, 91-page booklet covering the Sermon on the Mount. You can download your free copy of The Sermon on the Mount from our website.

We recommend you first read Matthew’s account in your Bible, using a notebook to jot down questions and the main points. Then read the booklet, which will answer many of your questions and crystallize the points Jesus made.

It is essential that we both understand and apply Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount so we can . . .

Walk as He walked.