8 Standards of Christ's Kingdom
/In Matthew 5:1-12 Jesus clearly lays out what it takes to be part of His Kingdom.
There are eight standards in these verses that I would like to draw your attention to.
If you name Jesus as your King, each of these MUST be true of you or you have NO part in His Kingdom!
In His own words, Jesus said, “You are either for me or against me.
The King’s subject must be destitute.
Before we discuss this, I want to point out the term “blessed” which means “happy, fortunate, and blissful.” However, we must understand this term with the undertone that I believe Jesus intended as He spoke to the faithful.
Here is how I would define “blessed” -a deep, abiding joy based not on one’s circumstance but on the God of the circumstances.
So, for each Beatitude a blessing is PROMISED for a STANDARD lived. And the standard here is that the disciple must be destitute -poor in spirit.
What is poor in spirit? It is when you come to grips with the fact that you are spiritually bankrupt! You have nothing to offer. You are dead in your sin and destined to spend eternity in Hell.
For the disciple, the subject of Christ’s Kingdom, it is a continual reminder that if it weren’t for God’s grace and mercy, I would be lost, lost, lost! How dare I ever be arrogant! What do I have to offer the King? Nothing, so I MUST be poor in Spirit!
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2
Are you poor in Spirit? Then the Kingdom of God is yours now, present tense. Starting in your heart and culminating with Christ’s literal, future rule on this earth!
The King’s subject must be broken.
The fact is we are all broken and in desperate need of repair. When we come to terms with our sin it breaks our hearts.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
The weight of our sin should break us. We should be like Isaiah when confronted with the holiness of God.
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Isaiah 6:5
We should be disgusted by our sin, not revel in it.
Repulsed by our transgressions, not enthralled with them.
We should sound like Paul when it comes to our sin:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7:24
By the way, Paul was a seasoned Christian when he penned those words...And like Paul, we must continue to mourn over our sin.
The unbelief that creeps into our hearts over time.
The barrenness we allow to overtake our soul.
Our lack of communication with God.
"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it! Prone to leave the God I love!"
What Jesus is saying here is this...His subjects must live a life of continual repentance. You must keep your sin-list with God short and never, NEVER grow comfortable with sin!
Are you broken by your sin? Let Christ comfort you!
The King’s subject must be compliant.
Meekness is not weakness. We hear the word meek and we instantly imagine a coward, someone who hides in the corner or runs away in fear. But that's not what the word means at all.
John MacArthur says, "Meekness is the opposite of being out of control. It is not weakness, but supreme self-control empowered by the Spirit."
And that is what the subject of Christ’s Kingdom is, meek, under control.
Not fly-off-the-handle, lose your cool, hot-tempered, but meek. Strong, but under control. Knowing that your words have the power to hurt or heal. Your actions have the power to injure or encourage.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7
If you are truly poor in spirit, if you are truly mournful over your sin, you will be meek and you will inherit the earth.
The King’s subject must be needy.
We live in a needy culture.
I need a new house, I need a new car, I need this, I need that!
As a subject of the kingdom, there is something I truly need.
I need to be filled with righteousness! I need to hunger and thirst for it. How does this hunger and thirst become satisfied? In salvation, Christ imputes, or assigns His righteousness to me.
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19
I have no righteousness of my own. I am in desperate need of Christ’s.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 42:1-2
We yearn to be more like him! We long to know Him and the power of His resurrection. Just like our physical hunger and thirst are perpetual in this life, so we continually desire for His righteousness.
Are you needy for Jesus? You need Him far more than you realize.
The King’s subject must be merciful.
“Mercy is love for those in misery and a forgiving spirit toward the sinner. It embraces both the kindly feeling and the kindly act.”- William Hendricksen
The subject of Christ’s Kingdom understands mercy. Their account with God was so great there was no way they could pay the enormous debt owed. All they could do, all I could do was fall down before Him and hope for mercy. And He gave it RICHLY! Liberally!
How then could a disciple of Christ withhold mercy from another? They shouldn’t, they can’t! In fact it is a barometer of whether you are a believer or not.
But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:15
Jesus promises that those who give mercy will receive it.
The King’s subject must be untainted.
The Scriptures are clear.
None is righteous, no not one. Romans 3:10
Then how could Jesus say “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"?
Isn't this a paradox?
No, not at all, for all things are possible with God. He gives His subjects a spiritual heart transplant!
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
He cleanses His disciples and gives us the propensity for purity!
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:17-18
You can be pure! You can say no to sin! You can be whole!
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
"Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:21-22
Because of Jesus, we can have victory over sin.
The King’s subject must be a reconciler.
We are no more like God than when we help people make peace with God...in fact Jesus refers to peacemakers as sons of God!
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. Colossians 1:19-22
As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20
As subjects of Christ's kingdom, we are called to share the good news of Jesus with others and to show them how to make peace with God.
Are you helping people to be reconciled to God?
The King’s subject will be persecuted.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
Persecution of believers has been a long standing tradition!
Cain killed Abel...
Joseph was persecuted by his brothers, and in Egypt he was thrown into prison...
Moses was reviled again and again...
Isaiah was reportedly sawn in two...
Nehemiah was oppressed and defamed...
Jesus Himself was put to death...
Stephen was stoned...
Peter and John cast into prison...
James beheaded...
The Apostle Paul’s Christian life and ministry was one long series of bitter and relentless persecutions..
Believers will be persecuted!
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15:19-20
But Jesus says that when we are persecuted, we are blessed. He says, the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are persecuted.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5
We should consider it an honor and a joy to suffer for Christ.
Destitute.
Broken.
Compliant.
Needy.
Untainted.
A Reconciler.
Persecuted.
Talk about a counter-cultural way of life!
If you simply made it your goal to live out the standards of Christ’s Kingdom, what would your life look like? What kind of impact do you think you would have on those around you?
Are you a subject of the kingdom of Jesus?