God's New People

Matthew 5: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+5&version=NIV

            Matthew 5 begins the Sermon on the Mount, the first of five long discourses that break up Matthew’s story. Many, many have been written about this long passage. (The Sermon fills 3 chapters in the Gospel.) But for our consideration today, I’d simply point out that the Sermon is the charter for how God’s new people—who they are, their role in the world, and how they are to live out that vocation.

            Significantly, Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, the eight (or nine, depending how one counts them) statements of blessedness of God’s people. Less than a call for action, the Beatitudes are a description of God’s people. They are the poor in spirit, meek, merciful, peacemaking people. They live between two ages, one foot in this fallen age and one foot by faith in the age to come. So, you notice that the first and eighth Beatitudes are in the present tense (“Theirs is the reign of heaven”), while the middle ones are in the future tense (“They will be…”) Colossians 1:13 describes it this way, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”  In the next paragraph of the Sermon, they are described as light and salt for the world.

            Let me make a few quick points: first, it is very helpful to be reminded that we live between the ages, more to the point, that we live in the new age of God already by faith. When Christians fall into despair over the condition of the world, it is often because they have forgotten that they are already living in that age, that they have been redeemed and renewed, that they are in on God’s project. The surest antidote for despair is to remember that Jesus’ death destroyed the power of the old age, dominated as it was by sin, death, and the devil, and that His resurrection was the dawn of the new creation. Of course, we have this by faith, not by sight, so it’s an easy thing to lose track of—one of many reasons it’s important to stay connected to Word and Sacrament!

            Second, we have a role in God’s plans for the world. Jesus’ likens His people to a city set on a hill. It’s the church that shines as a beacon of hope for the world. In troubled times, that’s an important thing to hear. How we respond to and hold up under difficult circumstances speaks loudly to the world that God is up to more in the world than our eyes can see. Our peace and our hope are part and parcel of our witness. That Jesus compares us to salt is interesting, too. Salt has often been used to preserve food, and there is something about the church that preserves the world. Our witness of patient endurance brings others to the Lord, and for the sake of those who will believe the Lord preserves the earth (.