Jesus became so well known after his first year of public ministry that large crowds from every part of Israel and the neighboring regions followed him. So many people gathered around him that his disciples kept a small boat available for him to get into when he was pushed to the water’s edge.

“For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.” Mark 3:10-12

There were lots of testimonies about what Jesus did for people, but Jesus didn’t want the testimony of demons. When he healed people they were changed and made whole; their testimonies brought Jesus appropriate praise. But demons remained evil when they encountered Jesus and Jesus didn’t want their corrupt testimonies about who he was.

Jesus Chooses the Twelve

Jesus couldn’t have close relationships with all of the people who followed him. Crowds came and went. Jesus wanted to narrow down the numbers to the few he could really influence and train.

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” Luke 6:12-16

Jesus called them “Apostles,” a word that comes from the Greek word apostolos. It means “messenger, or envoy.” Jesus chose the people who would be his envoys to the world and training for their life work began in earnest.

The Sermon on the Mount

Jesus focused on teaching his disciples, but he didn’t exclude other people. Lots of folks listened in on his teaching sessions and sometimes he preached to the crowd.

“Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.” Matthew 5:1-2

The sermon Jesus preached that day was the longest of his discourses in the New Testament. In it he drew upon his intimate knowledge of the Law of Moses, and his thirty years of experience of life on earth.

The Beatitudes

I believe Jesus spoke as much from practical experience as from theology in this sermon. He testified to what he had experienced in life as well as what he had learned from Scripture. Anyone who followed Jesus was going to walk the path of the Beatitudes.

• They would learn how to stand before God, confessing their spiritual poverty, and have him give them his kingdom.
• They would have many reasons to mourn, but they would be comforted.
• They would hunger and thirst for righteousness and God would fill them.
• They would be called upon to be merciful, and they would receive mercy when they needed it.
• Their hearts would be refined until they were made pure and then they would see God.
• They would learn how to make peace and be known as God’s children.
• They would suffer persecution for doing the right thing because they were citizens of God’s kingdom.

People didn’t come by these character traits naturally. They could only be developed by following Jesus and by living the life he taught them. Jesus warned them it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

Practical Discipleship

The Sermon on the Mount was a manual for how to live as a disciple of Christ. People who learned to live this way were going to please God the Father and be blessed.

Jesus described his followers as the light of the world. They were like a city built on a hill, giving light to the dark world around it. It was through their good works that their light would shine and people would give thanks to God because of them.

Jesus’ followers were the salt of the earth; they were people who made the world around them better. Jesus talked with them about not giving in to anger, not betraying their spouses, not being rash with their words, and not taking revenge when they found themselves in conflict with someone.

He cut through outward appearances to the very heart of his disciples. Not only should they be careful with what they said and did, they should also guard their thought life. It was as important to confess sinful thoughts, as it was to confess sinful actions.

If a person realized that someone had something against him when he came to the altar to worship, Jesus wanted him to go away and make things right with that person, then come back and worship.

Love Your Enemies

Perhaps the hardest teaching in Jesus’ sermon was that we are to love our enemies.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:43-44

It’s hard to pray for people who cause us pain. We want to hurt them back, avoid them, or plot revenge against them. We want to talk about them so others know how badly they have treated us.

The last thing we want to do is love them.

But Jesus never told anyone to do anything that he wasn’t willing to do himself, so we know Jesus loved his enemies. Pharisees were plotting to kill him and sitting in on his teaching so they could try to trip him up.

They weren’t glad when Jesus did miracles. They tried asked the people he healed to testify against him as a law-breaker. They were heartless, wicked enemies of the Son of God, but he loved them. And he prayed for them.

How to Love Your Enemies

The way to love an enemy is to look at what God does for them, and join him in his work.

“Pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:44-45

God has uncounted enemies in this world, but he still sends them sunshine and rain. He is patient; he gives people what they need to live while he waits for them to repent. God is good to difficult people and we can be, too. Praying for blessing in the lives of our enemies is one of the quickest ways to change how we think about them.

We can also set aside our need to judge our enemies. They are going to face the Lord someday and he will deal with what they have done in this life. Whatever happens on Judgment Day is God’s business. Maybe then we will learn the rest of our enemies’ stories, and discover they weren’t as bad as we thought they were.

We’re going to face judgment someday, too, and we don’t want to be guilty of disobeying the Lord’s command to love our enemies.

Serve in Secret

Whatever we do to please the Lord should be done for him alone. There is no reason to call attention to it in front of other people.

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 6:1

Jesus did a lot of good works in public, but the only person he cared about pleasing was his Father. He wasn’t concerned about the opinions of people, whether they praised him or hated him for what he did. He didn’t care whether they rewarded or punished him.

That attitude set Jesus free to go on doing good works. His satisfaction came from pleasing his Father and that’s what he wanted for his followers, too. All of his teaching and preaching were to prepare us for a good relationship with God and a wonderful eternity in his presence.