As Christians, we know that prayer is an important part of the Kingdom life, but prayer can be difficult. With the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches his disciples three important truths about prayer.

(1) Prayer is addressed to our heavenly Father.

(2) Prayer is aimed at glorifying God.

(3) Prayer is to be accompanied by a matching life.

After unpacking what true righteousness looks like, Jesus addresses the problem of fake righteousness. And in our passage, we see that false piety seeks the praise of others and is rewarded with empty applause, while true piety seeks the presence of God and is rewarded with lasting fulfillment.

Jesus wraps up his section in the Sermon on the Mount on righteousness, by talking about love. At the core of this new Kingdom righteousness is Kingdom love. In our passage, we see that Kingdom love never returns evil for evil and that Kingdom love seeks the good of even our enemies. And that's because Kingdom love looks like the King's love.

Jesus continues to make radical corrections as He unpacks the Kingdom Life, and in this passage, Jesus addresses our sexuality. While the world's conception of sexuality is self-identifying, independent, and consumeristic, in God’s Kingdom, our sexuality is to be marked by inner purity and our sexuality is to be guarded in marital fidelity.

Jesus now begins to unpack the details of the Kingdom Life and he first tackles the issue of murder. While murder is universally condemned as evil, we may all be complicit in that evil. Jesus shows us that hatred in the heart is the seed of murder. And because hatred is so serious and dangerous, Jesus calls upon his disciples to take action to remove it. The seed of hatred is to be uprooted through the work of reconciliation. And when we pursue reconciliation, we are living the Kingdom Life because we are living in the way of the King who has gone to the cross to make reconciliation with us.

As Jesus is everything the Old Testament has pointed to, He alone can bring the righteousness needed to enter into God’s Kingdom. Jesus fulfills the Kingdom promises of the Old Testament. Jesus provides the righteous requirements to enter the Kingdom.

As we continue our series through the Sermon on the Mount, we will see that life in the Kingdom (the blessed life) is not meant to be lived out in isolation or in self-interest, but it is a life that is visibly different than the world's. Living obediently in God’s kingdom means that we live out our identity in a dark and decaying world, seeking to bring life and light to those around us.

As we begin our new series through the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), we'll see that the blessed life is living the Kingdom Life in the present as we wait for the Kingdom's fulfillment in the future. We often see life in God’s Kingdom as a burden to be endured rather than a blessing to be enjoyed. But with the Beatitudes, Jesus provides the encouragement we need to continue in the way of the Kingdom.