I started reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount this morning. I’ve read it many times before, after all, it’s a classic. But, in reading the beginning this time God gave me an interesting insight. Matthew 5:1 says:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Jesus walks up the mountain, to give the most famous sermon in history, in front of the kind of crowd that most pastors would drool over (the large and wanting to learn kind), and He sits down. I don’t know about you, but that feels a bit anticlimactic to me.

If He’s sitting down how will he pace back and forth as He makes each point in his (more than three point) sermon? If He’s sitting how will he yell to get the crowd fired up or make grand gestures to inspire confidence in His listeners? If He’s sitting won’t it be harder to hold the audience in the palm of His hand and take them on an emotional rollercoaster?

It seems to me that Jesus is sitting for two reasons. The first is that it was customary for a rabbi to sit and teach. The Jews would have expected this type of teaching from Jesus and been ready and willing to listen to it. And, I think He sat down so that the power behind His teaching was in His words, not in His ability to entertain.

I imagine that Jesus, being the son of God, could have been the most entertaining speaker in history, but sheer entertainment doesn’t change lives and help people to know Christ. Jesus spoke in the power and authority of God, through His complete understanding of scripture. Only in this way is Biblical teaching truly powerful and life changing.

I am writing about this to say a few things. First let me say that teachers and preachers who are entertaining are fine. I try to be somewhat entertaining when I teach; at the very least I hope to entertain myself. However, all teachers need to understand and remember that entertaining the crowd is not the end, but a means to it. The end result should always be that people focus on the teacher’s words (that are Biblically based), learn from them, and apply them to their life. Secondly, to everyone who listens to teachers and preachers, we must focus on their words and not their ability to get us excited. Are the teachers that we listen to teaching good doctrine? Are they actually teaching God’s word, or are they using God’s word to prop up whatever idea they are trying to push? Is there real power in their words, or are they just telling a lot of interesting and funny stories? We must always examine how we teach, and who teaches us. We must always ask, where does their power come from?