I am going to take us back in time to the start of this Backyard Conversations series that I have called:

Pray Kingdom, Think Kingdom, Act Kingdom
We stepped away from this series to look at some important cultural issues like our national election and the Thanksgiving holidays. Now we return to the famous sayings of Jesus from his even more famous Sermon on the Mount.

This world-changing sermon is arguably the best known of all the teachings of Jesus. His challenging words bring definition to living the Kingdom life on earth and are filled with difficult and profound truths.

Weirdly, the place I want to start today in in the middle of the sermon!

In Jewish tradition, many writings use a literary device or structure called chiasm. Chiasm is a sequence of ideas or topics usually presenting thoughts that build upon themselves until they come to a grand conclusion. Then these same ideas are repeated in reverse order. Think of a photo of a mountain reflected in a lake.
From the tip of the ‘mountain of content’, the teacher unpacks the contents of their sermon down toward the broad, big foundation of the mount. It is at the base of this mountain that the big idea is presented. Then the ‘reflection’ of the content builds back up in reverse order. The term chiasm comes from the Greek letter chi, which looks like our letter X. Back in the times of the Old and New Testament, where pens did not exist and oral traditions were so important, this chiastic literary structure made it easier to accurately memorize a large body of Scripture.

I go through all that so that we can get right to the guts of this famous sermon. It is found, of course, in the middle of this ‘hourglass’ structure! That would be halfway through Matthew 5, 6, and 7 – in chapter 6 verses 19-33:

Matthew 6:19-33
¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

The biggest of the big idea of the entire sermon is verse 33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

This is the core message of Jesus. It is the essential and primary message of Jesus in everything he lived, taught, and sacrificed for. The Grand Purpose of our lives is found in the center of this sermon. Summarized,

“Make it the first priority of your life to seek, find and then set up residence in the Kingdom of God, where Jesus rules and reigns. Then you will find the joy and hope and peace and power and grace to live truly abundantly!”

Jesus surrounds this ‘big idea’ with instructions on how to actually live in this new Kingdom here on earth right now.

As these Sermon on the Mount reflections continue into 2025 here at our Backyard Conversations, we will center our attention on: Praying, Thinking, and Acting Kingdom.

I look forward to exploring this sermon with you. By the time our next edition of this blog comes out we will have experienced Christmas 2024 and we will be on the cusp of the new year! I am sure we will find a way to fold these momentous events into our next offering of Backyard Conversations! This is Dave Scherrer and you can reach me here at dave@100foldministries.org.