He taught his disciples

Read Matthew 5:1-2

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Matthew has set the scene perfectly for the great section of teaching that we call The Sermon on the Mount (Mt.5-7). Jesus has announced the coming of God’s kingdom (4:17) and now he begins to teach what that means in practice. The teaching is heard by the large crowds who followed him (4:23-25) but it was given specifically to his disciples i.e. to those who followed him with true commitment (4:18-22).

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It’s important to recognise this as many people assume that the Sermon on the Mount is intended by Jesus as ethical teaching which everyone should live by. As such it is widely admired, not only by Christians. But the Sermon on the Mount is not a new set of laws - it's a description of the way of life inside God’s kingdom, a lifestyle very different to that of the world (Jn.17:14).

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John Stott summarises it like this: “Here is a Christian value-system, ethical standard, religious devotion, attitude to money, ambition, life-style and network of relationships – all of which are totally at variance with those of the non-Christian world. And this Christian counter-culture is the life of the kingdom of God, a fully human life indeed but lived out under the divine rule”.