Thanks to the Gospel of Matthew, the author has taken the writings of the disciple, and has given us one of the most valuable pieces of the New Testament.
The teachings, known as the Sermon on the Mount, are instructions of Christ spoken to his disciples only, and they are the directions on how to enter this spiritual state called the kingdom of God.
This term was first introduced by John the Baptist, and then, Yeshua continued with the teaching.
The kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven as recorded in Matthew, was mentioned 85 times in the Gospels, and only 28 times in the rest of the New Testament.
Sadly, Christ’s kingdom of God was phased out after his death, and this is where God’s people got off track.
So, what is the kingdom of God?
In the book of Luke, Christ says that it is not a place where you can say see here, or look there, but it is within you.
The kingdom of God is a spiritual place that resides in the hearts of humans, the heart being the center of spiritual life.
Christ taught that in order to find the kingdom of God, a person must seek.
According to the parables of Christ, it is the kind of seeking that one would do if they lost something valuable and were desperate to find it.
In the first 6 verses of Matthew chapter 5, Christ gives the attributes of someone seeking the kingdom of God.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These are those who come to God humbly begging for spiritual truth, as humbly as the poor beg for food. Without it, they know that they will perish. They are desperate, and Christ says that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
No one is more humbled than when their heart is broken and contrite before the Lord, and Christ says that God will comfort them.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
The earth is the same as the land that Abraham was promised. It is the promise of a spiritual place that flows with milk and honey, and Christ says it is for those who are meek.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
This expounds upon the poor in spirit. These are the ones who are seeking the kingdom of God as desperately as a person dying of hunger or thirst would seek for food or water.
Christ says that they shall be filled.
This is the junction where people have missed the mark, because of the teachings of Paul.
You must seek to enter the kingdom of God that Christ taught.
The kingdom that Paul teaches is easily entered as a free gift, and not by works.
For the kingdom of God, one must work diligently in seeking it, and must desire truth more than their own sustenance necessary to sustain life.
This is no free gift.
One must want the kingdom of God more than anything else, especially money.
Many of today’s Christian Churches are built upon the free gift teachings of Paul and preach wealth as God’s main desire for his people.
Can you see how far off these churches’ doctrines are from Christ’s teachings of the kingdom of God?
These are the ones who Christ will say on that day, I never knew you.
Yeshua taught that you cannot serve God and money.
Christ said that it is easier for a camel to go through eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Does this mean you have to take a vow of poverty?
NO, it means that if God chooses to bless you with money, you need to handle it with unselfish integrity, and realize that it belongs to God to do what He wants to do with it in order to bless those who are less fortunate.
Christ said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.
A great example of wealth in the right perspective is found in Luke chapter 19 in Christ’s interaction with Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector.
Zacchaeus wanted to get a glimpse of Christ as he passed by while traveling through Jericho, but since Zacchaeus was short in stature, he had to climb a tree to see the master because of the crowd.
And when Yeshua came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for today I must abide at your house.
Once again, the crowd murmured because Yeshua was hanging out with a publican.
The publicans were believed to be chief sinners by the religious leaders due to their cooperation to collect taxes for the Romans—they were considered treasonous.
When inside the home of Zaccheaus, he stood and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
And Yeshua said unto him, “this day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”
Zaccheaus had been rejected by the religious leaders and despised as being worse than a sinner.
He was a man who was seeking to just get a peek at the one whom he considered to be Lord.
Zaccheaus showed that he honored the teachings of Christ when he told of his generosity toward the poor and the generous retribution to those whom he had mistakenly accused.
Yeshua saw the humble heart of a man who freely gave to those in need and quickly righted his wrongs.
Christ welcomed Zaccheaus into the salvation of the kingdom of God that day.
We can all learn a lesson from Zaccheaus about entering into the kingdom of God.
Zaccheaus had rejected religion or else he would have never become a publican in the first place, knowing that he would be thrown out of the synagogue.
Unlike the religious leaders, Zaccheaus honored Christ and overcame barriers just to gaze upon the one who he believed represented the God of his father Abraham.
That day, Zaccheaus was just seeking to get a glimpse of the Messiah. However, he got much more. He not only got to see Christ, but he got the honor of hosting him in his home.
Zaccheaus was a humble man who could call Yeshua Lord, because he honored Christ by doing what Yeshua taught.
He demonstrated that he knew what Yeshua taught when he told how he treated the poor kindly and that he dealt honestly with others.
Zaccheaus, a man deemed worse than a sinner, demonstrated the attributes of one who would enter into the kingdom of God.
**If you want further study on the Sermon on the Mount, visit our website at RemnantsofUr.com and listen to our 5 Podcast postings, entitled, Sermon on the Mount Part 1 through Part 5.