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Matthew 5-7 – Don’t Be a Victim
Don’t Be a Victim
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counterculture concepts:
1. Suffering doesn’t make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances.
2. Victimizing others doesn’t make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your oppressive eyes.
Check out the Sermon on the Mount and what it says concerning suffering.
• Beatitudes (5:10-11). “Blessed are those who are persecuted.”
• Practical Section (ch.5). Go the extra mile; Turn the other cheek.
• “Religious” section (ch.6). People made themselves victims of their sins and so fasted to get a righteous acclamation from those they then victimized with self-righteousness.
Do you think some today find “righteousness” in living as a victim?
Jesus lived his sermon:
• He walked the “extra mile” carrying his cross. But Jesus was not a victim.
• He turned the other cheek when slapped. But Jesus was not a victim.
• He didn’t rely on acclamations from his peers because he said to God, “Not my will but yours be done”. This didn’t make Jesus a victim.
• He suffered for righteousness’s sake because he got his blessing from God. And Jesus was not a victim.
Jesus lived the Sermon on the Mount, suffered, and died, and rose again because his life was founded on solid ground. Jesus was and is counterculture, and always a victor!
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