For years I have taught that the Sermon on the Mount is the clearest teaching on the Kingdom of God in found in one place in Scripture. Going through Matthew this time as our church prepares for Sunday, I’ve walked through the passage again to find if that still holds true as a statement for me.

The pattern I have found in walking as an apprentice to Jesus over the years is this:

1. Faith.
As Dallas Willard says in The Divine Conspiracy: no one is beyond Kingdom blessing. (That is the purpose of the Beatitudes.)

We are touched by the Kingdom and respond in faith. The Kingdom reaches to us. No one is beyond the reach of the Kingdom. The call is to respond in faith.

2. Knowledge
Walking as an apprentice takes trust. We trust who we know. I have to know the Father.

That knowledge comes as I walk with him. Matthew 6 gives a few spiritual disciplines as examples of how can truly know the Father and the power of the Kingdom of God: Giving, praying, fasting. Each of those exercises is a process of truly knowing the provision and power of the Kingdom of God. Those aren’t the only disciplines. Those are only examples. But as I know my Father and the power of the Kingdom, I can move to trust.

3. Trust
The latter part of Matthew 6 is about trusting the Father. If we trust HIM we live free of our own anxieties. We fret too much over the basic stuff of life. Walking with the Father gives us true Kingdom perspective that allows us to trust him more.

4. Obedience
In Matthew 7, especially those final verses, we find the call to action. The Kingdom has touched us and we are truly blessed. We walk with him to know him. Out of that knowledge we begin to trust. But at some point we have to step out. We have to obey. 

It’s not enough to simply hear the words of the Lord and think, “Well, that’s nice.”

You have to act.

I am still finding the Sermon on the Mount to be the best place to go for the basic and clear understanding of the Kingdom of God.