Introduction
Last week’s passage closed with the Lord going out to a mountainside where he spent the night in prayer. Then, in the morning, he called his disciples to him and appointed twelve to be his apostles. In due course he would send the apostles out into the world to preach the good news of salvation and to call on sinners everywhere to repent and to believe the good news in order to receive forgiveness and the free gift of everlasting life in God’s presence.
That’s how last week’s passage ended. Today’s passage begins with the Lord going down from the mountainside with the apostles to stand on a level place where he began to teach the people who had gathered there. And Luke refers to three groups of people. Firstly, there were the apostles. They are the ones Luke mentions in verse 17 where he says that the Lord Jesus went down with ‘them’. That is, he went down with the apostles. Secondly, there was a large crowd of his disciples. So, these are the ones who were already committed to the Lord. They were his followers. And thirdly, there was also a great number of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be healed from their diseases. So, these people were curious about the Lord and believed he could heal them. And, as Luke tells us at the end of verse 18, people with evil spirits were cured and others tried to touch the Lord, because power was coming from him and healing them all. This was the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was working powerfully through the Lord Jesus. However, this third group of people — this great number from Judea and Jerusalem and Tyre and Sidon — was a distinct group. These people weren’t disciples yet. They hadn’t committed themselves to the Lord. They weren’t ready to follow him yet. And perhaps they never would. But all three groups were there to hear the Lord Jesus.
And what follows has become known as the Sermon on the Plain. In Matthew’s gospel, there’s the Sermon on the Mount. In some of the older commentaries I have at home, the writers believe the two sermons are the same, but Luke has abbreviated his version of it. However, in more modern commentaries, the writers say that the two sermons are not the same. Matthew and Luke have not recorded the same sermon, but two different sermons. Yes, there are similarities between them. But there are also significant differences between them as well.
And that makes sense: as the Lord went from place to place, preaching the good news of the kingdom, he no doubt preached similar things in different places and to different groups of people. And so, on one occasion, he went up on a mountainside and preached what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. And then, on another occasion, he came down from a mountain and preached what we know as the Sermon on the Plain.
But both sermons recall what we read in the Old Testament book of Exodus. Remember that I’ve said before that the life of Christ parallels the life of the Israelites in the days of Moses. And so, just as they were, in a sense, baptised in the Red Sea, so the Lord was baptised in the River Jordan. Just as they were tempted for 40 years, so the Lord was tempted for 40 days. Just as the Israelites grumbled about Moses and the Lord, so the Pharisees and others grumbled and complained about the Lord Jesus. And just as Moses came down from Mount Sinai to teach God’s law to the people, so the Lord Jesus came down from a mountain to teach the people.
The law which God gave to his people through Moses was about how they were to live in the Promised Land of Canaan. God was their king and he was giving his people his law to guide them. And God has now appointed Christ to be our king. He has been appointed by God to rule over the kingdom of God on earth. And since Christ is our king, he proclaimed his law to us in this Sermon on the Plain to show us how to live as his people in the world. This is his will for us. This is how he wants us to live. This is what he wants us to do.
And whereas the Sermon on the Mount began with blessings, the Sermon on the Plain begins with blessings and woes: Blessed are you who are poor; and woe to you who are rich.
Verses 20 to 26
We’re looking now at verses 20 to 26. When we studied the Sermon on the Mount at the Midweek in 2022, I explained that the blessings at the beginning of the sermon are not entrance requirements. The Lord Jesus is not giving us a list of qualities which we’re to display in our lives in order to be admitted into his kingdom. He’s not saying that we have to become poor and we have to become hungry and we have to weep in order to enter the kingdom of God. We know from elsewhere in the Bible that the way into God’s kingdom is by turning from our sins in repentance and by trusting in the Lord Jesus for peace with God. We’re pardoned and accepted by God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who gave up his life to pay for our sins. So, these blessings are not entrance requirements.
Nor are they ethical demands. The Lord is not saying to us that we have to become poor and we have to go hungry and weep. He’s not saying we must make men hate us. He’s not saying that we must make ourselves poor and miserable.
What he’s doing is this: he’s saying to his people who are poor and who are hungry and who weep and who are hated that they are blessed by God. That is to say, they can regard themselves as fortunate.
This seems so strange to us that we often spiritualise what the Lord says. And we have good reason for doing so, because in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord pronounced a blessing on the poor in spirit. People who are poor in spirit are people who are contrite and humble and who know they have nothing to offer God and who need God’s mercy.
However, the Lord is not referring in the Sermon on the Plain to the poor in spirit. He’s referring to the poor. That is, he’s referring to believers who are poor. In those words of John Calvin, they have been afflicted and brought low by adversity. And so, they are hungry; and they weep; and they are also persecuted for the sake of Christ. That’s what verse 22 is about: they are hated and excluded and insulted and they are treated as evil because of the Lord Jesus, who is the Son of Man. At the midweek each week, we hear about believers around the world who are persecuted for their faith. They are hated and excluded and insulted and treated as evil because they belong to Christ.
And the Lord says to his people in the world who are poor and who are hated: you are blessed by God. You can consider yourself fortunate. How can that be?
And then there’s the other side of what he says. Not only are there blessings, but there are also woes. A woe is not the same as a curse. To curse someone is to call down bad things on them. Woe, however, means ‘Alas’. Alas, because of your misery. And so, alas, you who are rich. Alas, you who are well fed now. Alas, you who laugh now. Alas, when all men speak well of you. Alas, because of your misery.
So, Christ’s people who are poor are fortunate, whereas those people who are rich now are unfortunate. How can that be? How does that make sense?
The fact that we wonder how this makes sense shows us how we have been infected by the ways of the world. Everyone just takes it for granted that the rich are the fortunate ones and not the poor. But here’s the Lord saying the opposite. So, how can this make any sense?
Believers who are poor are fortunate, because, since they’re believers, they belong to God’s kingdom. That’s in verse 20: ‘yours is the kingdom of God’. And since they’re members of the kingdom of God, then they have forgiveness and peace with God and the hope of everlasting life and all the other benefits we receive from Christ. And while believers who are poor may be hungry now and they may weep now, nevertheless they will be satisfied and they will laugh. They might be hungry and they might weep now, but in the future they will be satisfied and will laugh. And though they are hated now for the sake of Christ, they can still rejoice and leap for joy, because great is their reward in heaven. This is a reward they did not earn and do not deserve, but which God freely and graciously gives to his people. And so, while God’s people may suffer affliction and adversity now, in this life, they can look forward to receiving a great reward in the life to come, where they will also enjoy eternal peace and rest in the presence of God.
On the other hand, the rich — and he’s referring now to unbelievers who are rich — the rich have already received their comfort. And though they are well fed now, they will go hungry. Though they laugh now, they will mourn and weep. And though all men speak well of them now, it will not always be like that. The day will come when all these good things will be taken from them and they will be sent away by the Lord to suffer eternal punishment in hell away from the presence of the Lord.
Our life in this world is only for the time being only. It’s temporary. It will not last. And so, the believers who suffers in this life can look forward to everlasting blessedness in the presence of God in the life to come. But for those who don’t believe and who are not part of God’s kingdom, what they have will be taken away from them and they will go to that place where there is only the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Is the Lord against the rich? No, the Lord is not against the rich. We read last week how the Lord appointed Levi the tax-collector to be one of his apostles. Since he was a tax-collector, he was probably well off; and we saw last week how he was able to put on a banquet for the Lord Jesus. The Lord also called Zacchaeus, another tax-collector. Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John were fishermen. They may not have been rich, but they would have earned a good living. In the book of Acts, Luke tells us about believers who owned property and who were able to sell some of their property to help their fellow believers. And the early churches were house churches. They met in homes of the believers. And therefore some believers had homes which were big enough to accomodate a congregation. The Lord Jesus is not against the rich. But wealth without faith is worthless when it comes to eternal life.
Nor is the Lord saying that everyone who is poor will enter his kingdom. Poverty is not an entrance requirement. Faith in Christ is what we need to enter his kingdom and to receive eternal life. But believers who are poor can regard themselves as fortunate, because, despite their adversity, they belong to God’s kingdom and they can look forward to eternal life.
Verses 27 to 38
That’s the blessings and the woes. But that’s only the beginning of the Sermon on the Plain. That’s the introduction. We’ve still got the rest of the sermon to study. And in verses 27 to 30, the Lord gives us eight commands: love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who ill-treat you; if someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other; if someone takes your outer cloak; do not stop him from taking your inner tunic; give to everyone who asks you; and if anyone takes who belongs to you, don’t demand it back. And all of these are summed up by the golden rule in verse 31: Do to others as you would have them do to you. That’s how we’re to treat one another.
Another way of treating one another is in terms of tit-for-tat: do to others what they did to you. Did someone hit you? Hit him back. Did someone insult you? Then insult her back. Was he kind to you? Then I’ll be kind back. It’s tit-for-tat: I’ll treat you the way you treat me. And I’ll give something to you if you give something to me. No more and no less.
So, I’ll hate my enemies, because my enemies hate me. I’ll do evil to my enemies, because they do evil to me. I’ll curse the person who curses me. And if someone strikes me on the cheek, then I’ll strike him right back. If someone takes my cloak, then I’ll take something of hers. I’ll not give him what he asks for, because he did not give me what I asked for. Because she demanded that I return what I borrowed from her, then I’ll demand that she return what she borrowed from me. It’s tit-for-tat.
But the Lord Jesus commands us to break the tit-for-tat pattern. He says that we should do to others what we would like them to do for us. I’ll treat you the way I’d like you to treat me. So, you may regard me as your enemy and you may hate me, but I’m going to love you. And loving you isn’t a feeling, because it involves action. And so, I’ll do good to you, even though you may hate me. And I’ll not hit you. And I’ll not steal from you. In fact, I’ll give you what you need. If you ask me for something, I’ll give it to you. If you’ve borrowed something from me, I’ll not demand it back in a hurry. The Lord wants us to treat one another the way we would like to be treated.
And he continues the same theme in the following verses. If you only love those who love you, then it’s only tit-for-tat, isn’t it? What good is that? Anyone can live like that. If you only do good to those who do good to you, then it’s only tit-for-tat. And if you only lend to those who can repay you, then it’s only tit-for-tat, isn’t it?
And do you see the word ‘credit’ which appears in verses 32 and 33 and 34? The Lord asks: ‘what credit is that to you?’ It’s actually the Greek word for ‘grace’. So, where is the grace? Where is the kindness? If you only love those who love you, where’s the grace? If you only go good to those who do good to you, where’s the grace? If you only lend to those who can repay you, where’s the grace? Where’s the kindness? You’re not being gracious and kind. It’s just tit-for-tat.
And the Lord expects more from his people, because the Lord doesn’t treat us on a tit-for-tat basis. He doesn’t deal with us according to what we deserve. If he did that, if he treated us as our sins deserve, then all of us would be condemned and punished forever.
Instead he treats us with grace and with kindness. He gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us forgiveness. And he gives us peace. And he gives us the hope of eternal life. And he fills our lives with good things which we don’t deserve.
And that’s how we’re to treat other people. And so, love your enemies who don’t love you. Do good to your enemies who don’t do good to you. Lend to them without expecting anything in return. Treat them with kindness, because God has treated you with kindness in Christ Jesus. And he has also promised to reward you for your faithful service. And this is not a reward which you can earn or deserve. In that case, it would be payment for services rendered. But it’s a reward, which God graciously and freely promises to his undeserving people.
And then, we’ll be regarded as sons of the Most High. In other words, by being gracious and kind to others, we display a family likeness to our Heavenly Father, who is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Every day, God bestows good gifts on those who don’t believe in him. He fills their lives with good things to enjoy. God is good to all kinds of people: the wicked and the good. And he wants us to do the same; and, therefore, to become like him. To be merciful just as he is merciful. And to be merciful means to help them.
And so, since I don’t want people to judge me, then I won’t judge them. And when he refers to judging people, he means condemning them, righting them off as no good. And since I want people to forgive me, then I will forgive them. Since I want people to give to me, then I will give to them. And I’ll not be stingy with them; instead I’ll give them a good measure of what they need, pressed down, and shaken together and running over. Think of when you put something in a bag for someone. If you’re being generous, you press it down and you shake the bag a bit so that the contents sink down to the bottom and there’s room for more. And if you’re being very generous, you keep pouring until it runs over the top. That’s how you’re to give to others. Since I’d like people to be generous to me, then I’ll be generous to them.
It’s not tit-for-tat. It’s about doing to others as I would like them to do to me. And since God has been gracious and kind to me, pardoning my sins and accepting me for the sake of Christ, then I’ll be gracious and kind to others, no matter who they are or what they have done to me. Even if it’s my enemy, I’ll treat him or her with kindness and not with hatred.
Verses 39 to 49
And in the final part of the sermon, the Lord refers to blind guides, and trees and builders.
Verses 39 to 42 are about blind guides. And so, here’s a blind man who thinks he can be a guide. But he can’t. Whoever follows him will only fall into a pit. Well, there were plenty of blind guides in the Lord’s day. Think of the Pharisees and teachers of the law and the Sadducees. And there are plenty of blind guides in our day. But instead of following them, we should follow the Lord, who is the True Teacher of God’s people and who can train us in the way we should go.
And here’s another kind of blind guide. He’s quick to point out what’s wrong with other people, while being blind to his own faults. But before he can help others, he should deal with his own faults and failings.
And then the Lord refers to trees. A good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit. That’s obvious. But the Lord is not talking about trees. He’s talking about people. A good person does good, whereas an evil person does evil.
However, all of us, by nature, are evil. We inherited Adam’s fallen nature so that sinning and doing evil comes naturally to us. But the good news of the gospel is that Christ changes our heart so that we’re able to do what’s good and not what’s evil. Or think of yourself as a branch which was once attached to Adam. And while you were attached to him, you did evil. But then God took you and he detached you from Adam and he grafted you to Christ. And since you are now attached to Christ, with his life and power flowing into you, you’re able to go what is good.
And right at the end of the sermon, the Lord makes clear that listening to him is not enough. Not only should we listen to him, but we also have to do what he says. The foolish builder is the person who listens to the Lord, but who doesn’t put it into practice. The wise builder is the person who listens to the Lord and who puts it into practice. And what does the Lord want his people to do? He wants us to do to others what we would like them to do to us. When we do that — when we love them and do good to them and show kindness to them — then we will display the family likeness to our Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, who loved us before we loved him; and who gave up his life for us, while were yet sinners.
Conclusion
But before we finish, let me point out the influence that Christ our King has had on the world. And I want to do that by contrasting the way the world once was with the way it is now.
Tom Holland, the English historian, has written about the influence of Christianity on the world. In his book, Dominion, he argues that, though we may not realise it, the western world has been profoundly shaped by the Christian faith. For instance, the Roman Emperor Julius wanted to introduce a relief programme to help the poor. But from where did he get the idea for such a programme? He didn’t get it from his religion, because the Greek and Romans gods cared nothing for the poor. He didn’t get it from literature, because the heroes of Homer’s Iliad, for instance, didn’t care for the poor and weak. He didn’t get it from the philosophers either. No-one in the pagan world believed that the poor deserved sympathy or help. Instead beggars should be rounded up and deported. And so, from where did Julius get the idea for providing relief to the poor? He got it from Christianity.
No society in the western world cared for the poor and the weak until Christ was installed as King over all in heaven and on earth. From his throne in heaven he sent his Spirit to renew his people in God’s image and to break in us the tit-for-tat habit and to teach us to treat others with kindness, not expecting anything in return.
And Christ not only renews his people by his Spirit, but he also restrains the natural sinfulness of those who don’t believe and he enables them to good to the poor. That’s what we see in the Emperor Julius. And Christ has continued to exert his influence on the western world so that today people in the United Kingdom and other western countries will give millions each year to help the poor and destitute in other countries. When there’s some natural disaster in a far off country, all kinds of people respond to relieve the suffering of strangers overseas who will never ever repay us. And millions of pounds are given to charities to help the poor and needy in the UK. Foodbanks have been set up to help the poor. And all kinds of people give generously to support the work. The government uses our taxes to fund the national health service so that health care is available to all. And the government supports all kinds of other initiatives to help the poor and the weak and the vulnerable.
Helping the poor was once unknown in the western world. And so we went from a world where no-one cared for them to a world where we now regard it as normal; and where all kinds of people do what we can to help the poor; and where we give to the poor without expecting anything in return.
And we now live in a world where people know that it’s not right to judge and condemn others unnecessarily. And we now live in a world where people know that it’s good to forgive and it’s good to be merciful and it’s good to help people rather than take advantage of them. We live in a world where people know it’s not right to exploit the weak. People will still exploit the weak, but most people agree that it’s wrong to do so.
That’s the world we now live in. And we got here because of Christ our Saviour who was installed in heaven as king over all and who exerts his influence over all things in heaven and on earth. And so, in every generation, he both renews and restrains. He renews his believing people in God’s image so that we learn to love our neighbour as ourselves. And he restrains the natural sinfulness of unbelievers so that they’re enabled to go what is good.
And that means that believers who are poor are blessed in another way than the way I already mentioned. So, they are blessed because there’s a great reward waiting for them in the life to come, where they will be satisfied and where they will laugh. But they are blessed in another way, because Christ their King causes men and women in the world to help them. Christ the King takes away, not only their sin, but also their misery, by causing men and women in the world to give generously to help them. And all glory and praise goes to Christ our Saviour-King who does it for us.
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