Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

By Daniel L. Akin and Holman Reference Staff

Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is part of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books.

Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition presented as sermons and divided into chapters that conclude with a “Reflect & Discuss” section, making this series ideal for small group study, personal devotion, and even sermon preparation. It’s not academic but rather presents an easy reading, practical and friendly commentary.

The author of Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is Daniel L. Akin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BH Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780805496697

Book preview

I always enjoy reading Dr. Akin’s writings and learn so much. He always is careful with the text, with a view not only to the immediate context and the book itself, but he also maintains a canonical view as he writes. This work is no different. As I read this commentary, I often found myself highlighting and marking whole sections. He asks the kinds of questions that I ask from the text, and his answers are researched and articulated as only a man can who has spent decades studying, teaching, and preaching the Bible with Spirit-empowered wisdom. Many of Jesus’s words are hard to hear in the Sermon on the Mount, but Dr. Akin serves as a wise guide through difficult passages. This series fills a niche that is needed, and the interspersed quotes from fellow pastor-scholars, hymn lyrics, personal anecdotes, and reflection questions from Dr. Akin are a boon to all who will read it. It is immensely practical. Anyone who spends time with Jesus’s words from the Sermon on the Mount will be tremendously helped along in their study of it by Dr. Akin’s careful and pastoral writing. To this end I recommend it highly! It is a must-read for all who want to understand and preach ‘the Sermon.’ This will serve the church for many years to come.

Barry Joslin, professor of Christian theology, Boyce College of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

When you do a commentary on the greatest sermon ever preached, you better bring your ‘A’ game. Dr. Danny Akin has done just that. His chapter on one of the most difficult topics the church faces today—divorce—is worth the price of the book. I commend this especially to preachers whenever they decide to preach on any or all of the greatest preaching from the greatest preacher who ever lived.

James Merritt, former SBC president and pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Atlanta

When it comes to the exposition of God’s Word, there are few people I trust as much as Danny Akin. For many decades now, Danny has not only been a faithful model of Christ-exalting preaching but has been unceasing in his efforts to train the next generation of pastors to proclaim the glories of Christ and him crucified. I have no doubt that this volume from Dr. Akin on our Lord’s most famous sermon will be of great benefit to students of the Bible for many years to come.

Russell Moore, president, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

Too many commentaries seem to be written for academicians and do not meet the needs of the busy pastor or the average church member. Danny Akin’s commentary is a wonderful exception. He mines the best resources on the Sermon on the Mount to produce a commentary that is exegetically sound, doctrinally faithful, devotionally rich, packed with helpful illustrations, driven by a constant concern for practical application, and accompanied by excellent outlines that can jump-start a pastor’s sermon preparation. Highly recommended!

Charles Quarles, research professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Charles Page Chair of Biblical Theology, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount

© Copyright 2019 by Daniel L. Akin

B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8054-9667-3

Dewey Decimal Classification: 220.7

Subject Heading: BIBLE. N.T. Sermon on the Mount—

COMMENTARIES \ JESUS CHRIST

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SERIES DEDICATION

Dedicated to Adrian Rogers and John Piper. They have taught us to love the gospel of Jesus Christ, to preach the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, to pastor the church for which our Savior died, and to have a passion to see all nations gladly worship the Lamb.

—David Platt, Tony Merida, and Danny Akin

March 2013

Author’s DEDICATION

Dedicated to my four sons, Nathan, Jonathan, Paul, and Timothy, whose daily walk with Jesus models well the teaching of this great Sermon.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Iwant to say thank you to Devin Moncada, Mary Jo Haselton, and Kim Humphrey, who helped me with this work and who daily bless and bring joy to my life.

SERIES INTRODUCTION

Augustine said, Where Scripture speaks, God speaks. The editors of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series believe that where God speaks, the pastor must speak. God speaks through his written Word. We must speak from that Word. We believe the Bible is God breathed, authoritative, inerrant, sufficient, understandable, necessary, and timeless. We also affirm that the Bible is a Christ-centered book; that is, it contains a unified story of redemptive history of which Jesus is the hero. Because of this Christ-centered trajectory that runs from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22, we believe the Bible has a corresponding global-missions thrust. From beginning to end, we see God’s mission as one of making worshipers of Christ from every tribe and tongue worked out through this redemptive drama in Scripture. To that end we must preach the Word.

In addition to these distinct convictions, the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series has some distinguishing characteristics. First, this series seeks to display exegetical accuracy. What the Bible says is what we want to say. While not every volume in the series will be a verse-by-verse commentary, we nevertheless desire to handle the text carefully and explain it rightly. Those who teach and preach bear the heavy responsibility of saying what God has said in his Word and declaring what God has done in Christ. We desire to handle God’s Word faithfully, knowing that we must give an account for how we have fulfilled this holy calling (Jas 3:1).

Second, the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series has pastors in view. While we hope others will read this series, such as parents, teachers, small-group leaders, and student ministers, we desire to provide a commentary busy pastors will use for weekly preparation of biblically faithful and gospel-saturated sermons. This series is not academic in nature. Our aim is to present a readable and pastoral style of commentaries. We believe this aim will serve the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, we want the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series to be known for the inclusion of helpful illustrations and theologically driven applications. Many commentaries offer no help in illustrations, and few offer any kind of help in application. Often those that do offer illustrative material and application unfortunately give little serious attention to the text. While giving ourselves primarily to explanation, we also hope to serve readers by providing inspiring and illuminating illustrations coupled with timely and timeless application.

Finally, as the name suggests, the editors seek to exalt Jesus from every book of the Bible. In saying this, we are not commending wild allegory or fanciful typology. We certainly believe we must be constrained to the meaning intended by the divine Author himself, the Holy Spirit of God. However, we also believe the Bible has a messianic focus, and our hope is that the individual authors will exalt Christ from particular texts. Luke 24:25-27,44-47 and John 5:39,46 inform both our hermeneutics and our homiletics. Not every author will do this the same way or have the same degree of Christ-centered emphasis. That is fine with us. We believe faithful exposition that is Christ centered is not monolithic. We do believe, however, that we must read the whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Therefore, our aim is both to honor the historical particularity of each biblical passage and to highlight its intrinsic connection to the Redeemer.

The editors are indebted to the contributors of each volume. The reader will detect a unique style from each writer, and we celebrate these unique gifts and traits. While distinctive in their approaches, the authors share a common characteristic in that they are pastoral theologians. They love the church, and they regularly preach and teach God’s Word to God’s people. Further, many of these contributors are younger voices. We think these new, fresh voices can serve the church well, especially among a rising generation that has the task of proclaiming the Word of Christ and the Christ of the Word to the lost world.

We hope and pray this series will serve the body of Christ well in these ways until our Savior returns in glory. If it does, we will have succeeded in our assignment.

David Platt

Daniel L. Akin

Tony Merida

Series Editors

February 2013

Sermon on the Mount

How Are Citizens of the Kingdom to Live among the Nations?

Matthew 5:1-12

Main Idea: God’s people can delight in their call to live differently, knowing that true blessing comes from submission to and dependence on God who will reward them as they become more like Jesus.

I. Delight in Your Spiritual Bankruptcy apart from God’s Grace (5:1-3).

II. Delight in Your Deep Grief over Sin because God Will Comfort You (5:4).

III. Delight in Your Dependence on and in Your Submission to God, and He Will Reward You (5:5).

IV. Delight in Your Longing for God, and See God Satisfy You in Him (5:6).

V. Delight in Graciously Helping Others, Knowing God Will Graciously Help You (5:7).

VI. Delight in a Clean and Pure Heart, for You Will Enjoy Eternal Fellowship with God (5:8).

VII. Delight in Being a Peacemaker because It Gives Evidence that You Are a Child of the God of Peace (5:9).

VIII. Delight in Inevitable Persecution because You Will Receive a Great Reward, and You Are in Good Company (5:10-12).

Over the years I have heard more than once, This is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. The reference is to the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5–7, a title given to the sermon first by Augustine (AD 354–430) (Quarles, Sermon, 6). Now, not everyone would agree with this judgment. Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged, regarded its prescriptions as among the vilest ever uttered. . . . She [also] regarded Christian morality as a poison (Hart, Trouble, 18). In contrast, Mahatma Gandhi praised the writing and said, [T]he Sermon on the Mount . . . went straight to my heart (Ghandi, 68).

As we prepare to walk through this gold mine of biblical truth, it might be helpful to gather a few facts about the sermon itself. First, we find a Reader’s Digest version of the sermon in Luke 6:20-49. Second, the sermon does not teach men and women how to live to get into the kingdom but how men and women in the kingdom should live. This is a discipleship discourse. Third, its teaching is to be personally applied to us today, as citizens of God’s kingdom, though there is a now/not yet reality to our citizenship: we are kingdom citizens now, but we await the full manifestation of that kingdom when Jesus returns. Fourth, Luke’s account especially (but also Matthew’s) is a beautiful balance of both the positive and the negative, and its breadth is extensive. It deals with

Fifth, both accounts are certainly a summation or condensed version of a much longer, more detailed sermon. Jesus preached for more than ten minutes! Sixth, it is the first of five major discourses in Matthew’s Gospel.

Discourse 1 5–7

Discourse 2 10

Discourse 3 13

Discourse 4 18

Discourse 5 24–25

Matthew’s Gospel portrays Jesus as a new and greater Moses. He is the greater lawgiver and prophet promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-20. Seventh, the sermon consists of three basic types of discourse material: (a) beatitudes, (b) ethical admonitions, and (c) contrasts between the teachings of Jesus and the traditions of the scribes and Pharisees.

Eighth, there are numerous interpretive approaches to the sermon:

Utopian ideal ethic—teachings are impossible, unrealistic demands in this age.

Millennial ethic—teachings apply to the future kingdom of Revelation 20.

Spiritual elite ethic—teachings are only for the truly spiritual.

Eschatological (end-time) ethic—believing the end of the age was imminent, Jesus gave principles for such an impending period. Thus, the sermon provides only an interim ethic.

Intentional/internal ethic—one’s intention and internal motivation is the thrust of the sermon.

Call to repentance—the sermon’s intent is to reveal our spiritual impotency and drive us to repentance.

Principles of life for kingdom citizens—the sermon is a charter of conduct for Jesus’s followers at any time in any age. This view sees God’s kingdom as inaugurated in the first century, currently present, and still awaiting complete consummation at Christ’s second coming.

This last is the best understanding and easily incorporates views E and F. As Sinclair Ferguson well says, The sermon is a description of the lifestyle of those who belong to the Kingdom (Sermon, 3), what Augustine called a perfect standard of the Christian life (Serm. Dom. 1.1.1).

The sermon begins with a preamble known as The Beatitudes (5:3-12), eight declarations or pronouncements of blessing that possibly draw on Moses’s words in Deuteronomy 33:29. The word beatitude comes from the Latin word beatus, meaning happy or blessed. The Greek word is makarios. The word captures the idea of those who are the fortunate and blessed recipients of God’s grace and favor (Quarles, Sermon, 42). It is, therefore, more than an emotion. As Donald Hagner notes, It refers to the deep inner joy of those who have long awaited the salvation promised by God and who now begin to experience its fulfillment (Matthew 1–13, 91). For our study I will use the word delight. I believe it will serve us well.

Preachers commonly do individual sermons on each beatitude. This is a tempting approach, but I have chosen to take them as a group to experience their full impact. Citizens of God’s kingdom, having been redeemed by Christ and brought into this kingdom, are to live a certain kind of way among the nations. Here we learn what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (5:13-16). Let’s delight and take joy in this high and holy calling from our King!

Delight in Your Spiritual Bankruptcy apart from God’s Grace

Matthew 5:1-3

With the crowds flocking to him (4:23-25), Jesus ascends a mountain, likely located on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Taking the traditional posture of a teacher or rabbi, this new and greater Moses (e.g., greater Lawgiver; cf. Deut 18:15-20) sits down, gathers his disciples around him (v. 1), and [begins] to teach them (v. 2). There are two concentric circles of listeners: the inner circle is his disciples, and the outer circle is the crowds.

The eight beatitudes all begin with the word blessed. The first begins, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Why? It’s because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Those who see themselves as a spiritual beggar and a pauper before God, totally destitute of personal righteousness before a holy God, should take great delight. Why? Jesus says that today, right now, their citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven (God). The poor in spirit cry out to God for help, depend entirely on God’s grace to meet their needs, have a humble and contrite spirit, experience God’s deliverance, and enjoy His underserved favor (Quarles, Sermon, 43). Psalm 86:1-5 is probably one Old Testament background for this beatitude. This verse from the song Rock of Ages by Augustus Toplady is a wonderful expression of the psalm’s truth:

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

John Piper summarizes well the poor in spirit:

What then is poverty of spirit?

It is a sense of powerlessness in ourselves.

It is a sense of spiritual bankruptcy and helplessness before God.

It is a sense of moral uncleanness before God.

It is a sense of personal unworthiness before God.

It is a sense that if there is to be any life or joy or usefulness, it will have to be all of God and all of grace.

The reason I say it is a SENSE of powerlessness and SENSE of bankruptcy and a SENSE of uncleanness and a SENSE of unworthiness, is that, objectively speaking, everybody is poor in spirit. Everybody, whether they sense it or not, is powerless without God and bankrupt and helpless and unclean and unworthy before God. But not everybody is blessed. (Piper, Poor in Spirit)

Do you see yourself as a spiritual cripple who can hope only in Jesus? Rejoice! Be happy in your spiritual plight. Delight in the truth that you are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven now and forever!

Delight in Your Deep Grief over Sin because God Will Comfort You

Matthew 5:4

The first two beatitudes find a similar theme in