When Do You Want Your Reward?

The central idea of the Sermon on the Mount is correction. Jesus is correcting all the wrong ideas that the Jews had been taught. Chapter 5 focuses on the wrong ideas about God's righteousness, as the Jews had broken the law and taught others to do the same by teaching their own truncated view of the commandments. Chapter 6 focuses on wrong ideas about rewards. The Pharisees did much on the basis of getting earthly recognition and earthly gain. To them, though they wouldn't admit it, earth was more important than heaven, and man's opinion was more important than God's. This is the hallmark of an unbeliever. Christians are distinguished by their desire for heaven more than earth; for God's approval more than man's; and for heavenly rewards more than earthly rewards.