Alright, I want to do one more round of framing on this whole Sermon on the Mount thing in Matthew chapter 5. Well, starting in Matthew chapter 5, because what we are tearing into here is gigantic. So yesterday, we talked about the whole idea of changing currencies. You're operating with one currency and then you realize that it's actually another currency that is going to hold value here. We read the Beatitudes, the opening foray of this big speech from Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and it made our heads spin because it's just weird. It feels like all the stuff you would want in this world is like the opposite of what you would want in this kingdom that Jesus is starting to describe. We've considered what's going on here in terms of the play. What's the big ask? Jesus isn't asking for money, he's not asking for your ladies, he's not asking for power, he's not engaging in what looks like some kind of long con. Instead, he's treating this as though it's real. Matthew is holding this out as though it's real. So this Sermon on the Mount thing, look, for my money, this is the most important passage in the Bible. Now, you could say, like, well, Jesus' death on the cross or his resurrection are more important. Well, yeah, because if those things didn't happen, none of this really matters very much or makes a ton of sense. I would say it's important because this is the clear explanation of what the point of Jesus being here is about, of what it looks like for you to participate in this reality. It is a defining of the reality of God and Jesus and his kingdom in a way that we can start to wrap our brains around and wrap our brains around more as we move past it and then look back on it as we hear more from Jesus moving ahead in the Gospel of Matthew. You ever read The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx? I mean, uh look, I'm not going to pretend for one second that I think that communism is a good idea. Uh, there are people who I like and care about deeply who would disagree with me on this. And if you're one of them, hey, I like you and I care about you and I wish you well, and I would like to think that we can have a reasonable, friendly disagreement on this point. I think the results of communism have been really bad. And I think it's the opposite of the kingdom that I believe in. So look, I'm not a huge fan. Um, but setting that aside for the moment, I got to acknowledge that what Karl Marx accomplished in the Communist Manifesto was genius. I'd heard about it and you know would occasionally like quote one little line here or there, but it's one of those books like 1984 where everybody acts like they know what it says, but nobody's ever actually read it. So I also went and read 1984, so I could look better at parties because of that too. The Communist Manifesto is brilliant because you figure it's just going to cover government and how to run money, you know, financial monetary theory and stuff like that. But the implications of Marxist thought are infinite. It's effectively a set of lenses through which to view all of existence, to reinterpret or redesign all of existence. It is a manifesto in the truest sense. That is a a description, a brief manifestation of what this could be and what it could look like if the values of Marx were internalized and implemented, not just at the level of the state and the level of authority, but at the level of the human heart, who reads it? I think what we're looking at in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus' first of five very big, very important speeches that frame the Gospel of Matthew. I think what we're looking at here is a kingdom manifesto. You're gonna hear me use that term a lot because I think Jesus is doing here is much bigger than just a description of how he wants church to be. Much bigger than just a description of how he wants this country to be run. Much bigger than just a description of how the money ought to be moved around properly. This isn't on the spectrum of political thought. This obliterates the spectrum of political thought. This is not a positioning within the Overton window of acceptable ideas for how government and society ought to be run. This is a flipping over of the tables of common thought on how society and government ought to be run. The implications of what Jesus says in this passage, if internalized in the individual who responds to it, if carried out by the people who buy into the concept of this kingdom and the king behind it, are beyond paradigm changing. This again is not a location on the graph. It's not a spot in the argument. It is a rejection and a transcendence of all of the arguments, of all of the political parties, of all of the bickering, of all of the claims to authority ever. Jesus is flipping all of that stuff over and articulating an upside-down kingdom with different values, with different end game, with different measurements for what it looks like to be a part of the thing, with a desire to see us not just pledge allegiance or offer our incense to Caesar once a year and say how great he is, but to be transformed all the way to the level of the heart, so that we don't just not do naughty things, but that we do right things and that the heart would be right and would want the values of this kingdom, which would entirely preclude screwed up, messed up, weird behavior. Now look, and I know whenever I say, now look, you're starting to catch on that that means I'm about to talk to people who disagree with me. Hey, people who disagree with me about all of this stuff, you are awesome, first of all, because we're, I don't know, like what, 70, 80? I don't know, we're way into this thing. And here you still are, kicking this thing around. You're amazing for thinking beyond your own set of assumptions and considering something that I think is very formative. And I salute you hugely. You might disagree with me about whether or not there's a God behind this. I cannot be cranky with you about this. I've been where you are. I was a Christian, then I was not a Christian, I was a Christian again. I just, I'm enormously empathetic to people who are in a process of faith or are in a place of where they would say they reject the whole notion altogether. Cool. I get it. I'm tracking with you. But I would say this, my friends. Whether you are a religious person who is just absolutely positive there's a God behind all of this, whether you are someone who maybe thought that for a while and then youth group was weird and stuff got bizarre and it just quit making sense as you grew up and now you remember all the stuff you got taught, but you don't think there's a God behind it, or whether you've just never thought there was a God behind it. Wherever you are on this, I would submit this for your consideration. If this were true, that would be the best. The values that we see in here accomplish all of the stated goals of today's modern political left, today's modern political right, everything in between, except for the gross, nefarious, selfish, unstated goals of those two groups. And if you're on the left and you're like, well, we don't have any of those, only the right does, you're fooling yourself. And if you're on the right and you're like, no, only the awful people on the left do, you're fooling yourselves. All of our political mechanations are about power and control to a certain degree. And we all have weird mixed motives in this. And nobody, including my little tribe of not Republican nor Democrats, we have our weird quirks and selfishness as well. What I'm saying is this: if this stuff is true, it addresses every good thing that we're trying to achieve through our social and political mechanisms. All the justice, all the equality, all the civil liberties, all the hope, all of the prosperity in a metaphorical sense, or heck, maybe at times, even in a practical sense, all of the good government, all of the good structure, all of the security, all of the hope. It's here if this is real. And so, whether you're someone who doesn't think there's a God behind this, or someone who does think there are God, there's a God behind this, I'm really excited to game out and run together the simulation of Jesus' descriptions of this kingdom because I think it's enormously important, and I do think it's absolutely beautiful, and at its core, it's what we all want. We're going to jump ahead in Matthew just a little bit to chapter 13. I want to read two little microparables about this kingdom that we're about to read a manifesto about and process through in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says this the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. And then in his joy, he went and sold all he had and he bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Can't wait to get to chapter 13 to break all of this down and where it fits in the context. But the language here on the most basic level is Jesus saying that the astute, attentive observer, like the merchant who is out shopping looking for something of great value, sees something of great value because they've got a good eye for it. And when they do, they're willing to cash in everything, to change currency to latch onto that thing of greatest value. Additionally, the person who isn't really looking for anything, they're just digging around in a field, maybe digging a foundation or doing something else, and they find something amazing. Well, they didn't mean to look, but they still know what awesome is when they find it. And when they find it, they're willing to change currency because they discover the truest, realist thing in their lives. I think that's kind of where we're at. Some of us here in this conversation, we're like, man, I got an eye out for this. This is what I read, this is what I think about. I'm kind of a purveyor and fine religion. Let's see if we get something cool out of this. And if the kingdom checks out, hey, maybe I'd change currency if it's the real deal. I'm looking for something to change currency over. Maybe some of you are listening are like, I don't know, I'm just digging around and feel. I like to like things that are true. I like to kick around ideas, and yeah, I generally know something that uh smacks of reality and truth when I see it. And if I ever do, sure, I might be willing to make a move. Okay, well, together, two different groups, we're gonna consider this thing and see what's actually being said here, what's actually being proposed here in this kingdom manifesto, and whether or not it might be worth metaphorically cashing out the currency that we're all chasing for a currency that is truer and realer and eternaler. Yes, I understand those aren't words. Last thing, and this is important, my friend Shane has the Psalms project. He's spectacular at music, he's spectacular at Bible. It's just the Psalms put to music in a way that you're really gonna like, straight through them. Can't recommend it enough. There's a link down in the show notes. Just go Google it or Spotify it or however you musicify things and give it a listen. It will make your life better. All right, I'm Matt. This is a 10-minute Bible hour podcast. We really literally are into the Beatitudes tomorrow. I totally promise. I'm looking forward to it, my friends, and I will catch you then.