Can The Sermon on The Mount Help Us Cultivate Inner Strength?

Written by Alison Noll

This past Sunday, I (Alison) was excited to kick off a new sermon series called "Jesus's Parables: Meeting God Through Story." Each week during this series we are going to take a look at one — or maybe two — of Jesus’s parables. And we are going to explore how these engaging, provocative, and often ambiguous stories can help us to meet God in new, life-giving ways. 

The first parable we explored is referred to by a variety of names — the Parable of Hearers and Doers, or the Parable of Wise and Foolish Builders, or the Parable of the Two Foundations. It appears in both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke at the very end of Jesus’s most famous recorded sermon — commonly known as The Sermon the Mount (Matthew) or The Sermon on the Plain (Luke). It was as if Jesus ended his sermon by saying something like, “I have shared much wisdom with you today. What you do with it is up to you. Will you act upon what you’ve heard? Or won’t you? The choice is yours.”

Matthew's version of the parable says this:
“Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. 
“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” (Matthew 7:24-27, NRSVUE)

It seems to me that this parable is less about what labels we embrace or what beliefs we hold, and more about our ability to respond to the wisdom that we receive. When we encounter thought-provoking ideas and practices that resonate with us, how able are we to take what we’ve heard and apply it to our lives? Does it come in one ear and go out the other? Or does it stick with us, shaping us, and spurring us to take action? When it comes to Jesus’s teachings, how able are we to not just understand and agree with what Jesus taught but to also do the things he said to do?

What’s really interesting to me is that in this story Jesus did not say that those who fail to act on what they hear are bad people, or that they’re lazy, or that they don’t love God, or that God is disappointed in them, or that they are going to be punished in the afterlife. Instead Jesus appealed to his audience’s self-interest regarding their experiences of life on Earth. To me, this sounds a lot like Jesus saying that following his teachings — especially those laid out in the Sermon on the Mount — can help us to develop the inner strength we need to better weather life’s storms. The storms will still come — that’s just the nature of life — but putting Jesus’s words into action can help us to feel more grounded and resilient.

Dr. Rick Hanson's Research on Inner Strength
Toward the end of my sermon, I briefly mentioned the research of psychologist Dr. Rick Hanson. Much of Hanson’s work is focused on how, in his words, “we can use the power of positive neuroplasticity to change our brain and grow inner strengths so we can be happier, more confident, and more calm — no matter what life throws our way.”

Hanson says that inner strength — which he defines as “the reservoir of psychological and emotional resources within us that allows us to face life’s challenges with resilience, grace, and determination” — is not purely innate. Instead, inner strength is actually something we can cultivate by taking steps to change our brain.

Through his research, Hanson has identified twelve aspects or qualities that contribute to inner strength. The Awake Network summarized them this way:

• Self-Caring: Be on your own side and become more resilient
• Mindfulness: Steady your mind and become more focused
• Learning: Grow beneficial traits and take in the good
• Vitality: Befriend your body and become determined
• Gratitude: Find the beauty and take more pleasure
• Confidence: Let go of shame and satisfy your core needs
• Calm: Learn to cool your anger and become more relaxed
• Motivation: Honor your desires and enjoy the fullness of life
• Intimacy: Get connected and create better relationships
• Courage: Become assertive and rise to challenges
• Aspiration: Deal with fears and realize your dreams
• Service: Resource yourself and become compassionate

As I considered these qualities, I found myself curious to see how much they connected with Jesus’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. I discovered that they actually correlate quite well! As a bit of a thought exercise I connected sections of the Sermon on the Mount to each of the twelve qualities, identifying specific teachings from Jesus that can help us to cultivate the different aspects of inner strength. Below, I've outlined what I came up. Let us know what you think! We are always happy to hear how you are responding to our sermon messages and Resource of the Week Posts.

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Self-Caring: Be on your own side and become more resilient

• “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
• Notes:
  • ​The logic of the Golden Rule only works if we start from a place of loving and treating ourselves well.
  • Thus, learning how to love ourselves well is an aspect of spiritual growth.

Mindfulness: Steady your mind and become more focused

• “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the gentiles who seek all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:25-34)
• Notes:
  • ​It’s wise to plan for tomorrow. Please do!
  • At the same time, there is wisdom and freedom in acknowledging and learning how to identify the limits of our control. There are limits to how much worrying can accomplish. ("And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?")
  • The encouragement of this teaching is to ground ourselves in the only time that truly exists (the present) and to not miss the “wow that’s happening now.” (Thanks Daniel Tiger!)
  • Jesus tells us that connecting with God's creation (the birds of the air and the lilies of the field) can help us to lean into mindfulness.

Learning: Grow beneficial traits and take in the good

• “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-17)
• Notes:
  • If we want to be intentional about taking in the good, then we need to look at the fruits. Whether it's a teacher, a teaching, a practice, a theology, a habit, a relationships pattern, a coping mechanism, etc., we can evaluate it's usefulness by the fruit that it bears.
  • A "good" tree bears "good" fruit, while a "bad" tree bears "bad" fruit. For example, "good" theology leads to "good" results, while "bad" theology leads to "bad" results; "good" coping mechanisms lead to "good" outcomes, while "bad" coping mechanisms lead to "bad" outcomes; and so on.
  • By “good” results I mean more love, more connection, more life rather than more shame, more disconnection, more death.
  • At the River, we believe that engaging with God should be life-giving and that the spiritual journey is meant to positively engage all aspects of our selves — our hearts, souls, minds, bodies, etc. So, we seek to embrace theology that bears "good" fruit — or living water — for ourselves, for others, and for the world around us. As a result, this means that we try to emphasize things like freedom, joy, and emotional health, and that we are adamant that things like shame, fear, pressure and manipulation are not compatible with the way of Love.
  • This approach — evaluating the fruit — is one that you can apply to so many aspects of your life, not just the ones that are viewed as explicitly spiritual. 
    
    

Vitality: Befriend your body and become determined

• “The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
• Notes:
  • This may not be exactly what Jesus was getting at here, but these verses make me think about he ways that all the different parts of us are interconnected  — heart, mind, body, soul, etc.
  • Unfortunately, much of Christian tradition has a strange relationship with bodies — fearing them, shaming them, controlling them, punishing them. These impulses are odd for a faith that is centered around embodiment or incarnation — God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus.
  • The stories of Jesus in the gospels are incredibly physical: a mother giving birth, water being turned into wine, a woman bleeding, a person being lifted down through the ceiling, mud being wiped on a man’s eyes, bread being broken and eaten together, feet being washed, wounds being touched, and so on.
  • It seems that matter matters to God. And yet, many of us can testify to the ways that we have been taught to treat our bodies as hindrances to spiritual practice.
  • I wonder, what might it look like to reclaim our bodies as good, sacred, and made in the image of God? To engage our senses as entry points into deeper spiritual practice? Might this be one way of embracing the kind of healthy vision that can fill our bodies with light?
  • I've found the work of Dr. Hillary L. McBride to be a helpful resource in this area.

Gratitude: Find the beauty and take more pleasure

• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.​
• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
• “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
• “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
• “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
• “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:3-11)
• Notes: 
  • The Beatitudes remind me that one of the challenges of faith is to learn how acknowledge and hold both the good and the terrible. To not bury our heads in the sand; or slip into toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing, or be overcome by cynicism, hopelessness, and despair.
  • In my own life, I have experienced incredibly comfort (from God and from friends) in the midst of profound grief. This comfort did not magically make everything okay or fully relieve the pain of mourning, but it did help me to continue to put one foot in front of the other and to know that I was not alone in what I was going through. It was a blessing in the midst of terrible circumstances.
  • My theological understanding of these ideas has been shaped significantly by the work of both Kate Bowler and Thomas Jay Oord. I encourage you to check out their work and below I've included a couple quotes that have been meaningful to me over the years:
    • “Victims needn’t say, ‘thank you, God,’ because evil occurred. It wasn’t God’s will. But they can believe God works in every situation, trying to squeeze good from the bad God didn’t want in the first place. They say, ‘In spite of pain and tragedy, I’m grateful for the good that is in my life, good that has God as its source.’” --Thomas Jay Oord
    • “Life is so beautiful and life is so hard. For everyone.” --Kate Bowler

Confidence: Let go of shame and satisfy your core needs

• “People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16)
• Notes:
  • Shame is such a pervasive force. In the Garden of Eden story, we see how Adam and Eve go from being naked and unashamed to covering up and hiding themselves from God. 
  • Overcoming shame, letting go of our "coverings," learning how to receive the unconditional love of God, and learning how to love and accept ourselves are all crucial aspects of spiritual growth.
  • It can be very scare to let ourselves be seen, to let our light shine before others. It is an inherently vulnerable act because it involves opening ourselves up to potential judgement. It takes courage, but it's important to remember that this is how we let the love in and help to set others free.
  • I am reminded of these quotes from Marianne Williamson, Brené Brown, and Hillary L. McBride.
    • "​We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.” —Marianne Williamson
    • “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” --Brené Brown
    • “Belonging is the innate, human desire to be a part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for belonging, but often barriers to it. True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world. Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” —Brené Brown
    • “Seeing and being seen are rehumanizing. Feeling felt inherently connects us back to ourselves and to each other.” --Hillary L. McBride

Calm: Learn to cool your anger and become more relaxed

• “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment, and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” (Matthew 5:21-26)
• Notes: 
  • Feelings themselves are neither good nor bad — they are messengers trying to tell us something important. What matters is what we do with our feelings — how we choose to process them, express them, act in response to them, etc.
  • Anger expressed in healthy ways can be healing and constructive. At the same time, it's worth considering the ways that anger expressed destructively can lead to experiences of “Hell” on Earth in our lives now.
  • Interestingly, the second half of this passage seems to be about someone else having something against you — meaning you have done something to harm them and you now need to pursue repentance/restoration/restitution. What does healthy engagement with anger (theirs and yours) look like in this context?

Motivation: Honor your desires and enjoy the fullness of life

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
• Notes:
  • Connecting with our desires can feel scary. What if they don’t come true? Sharing them with God can feel vulnerable. What if my prayer isn’t answered (at all or in the way I hope)?
  • These feelings are valid. At the same time, it’s important to remember that there are also natural consequences to not connecting with and pursuing our desires. ("If you don't ask, the answer is always no." "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." And so on.) 
  • Additionally, unacknowledged and unexamined desires can come out sideways. They often make themselves known in the form of things like jealousy, judgment, dismissiveness, a sour grapes attitude, mean-spiritedness, and/or superiority. Getting curious about our envy, instead of shutting it down, can be a path to joy, fulfillment, and better relationships with ourselves and others.
  • I have faith that God cares about our needs, hopes, desires, and dreams, and that God is always, always working for our good. But, there are limits to what God can do in our lives and in the world without our cooperation. (For more on this consider Thomas Jay Oord's concept of “amipotence.”)

Intimacy: Get connected and create better relationships

• “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
• Notes:
  • These teaching from Jesus encourages us to lean into self-awareness, to be able to see ourselves more clearly, and also to be more generous in how we engage with others.
  • Drs. John and Julie Gottman are known for their research around what allows relationships to be healthy and long-lasting. In particular, they’ve done a lot of work on marital stability and divorce prediction. While they focus primarily on romantic relationships, their advice can be applicable to many different types of relationships.
  • The Gottmans have found that the four most common relationships killers are Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling. Unhealthy judgement (which is different from critiques or complaints offered in constructive ways) and lack of self-awareness add fuel to the fires of these destructive relationship patterns.
  • The good news is that there are antidotes — specific habits we can adopt instead. You can read more about them here and here.
  • I'd also recommend reading here about how boundaries are an essential component for developing a generous spirit.

Courage: Become assertive and rise to challenges

• “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
• Notes:
  • Pursuing unconditional love and putting Jesus's words into practice — i.e. entering through the narrow gate — are not easy tasks. They invite us to be reflective and intentional about how we move through the world; to, at times, act counterculturally so that we can live in accordance with our values; to be willing to let go of things like power, status, and wealth for the sake of defending the dignity and worth of all people.
  • The Bible is clear that taking up our crosses daily is an important part of following Jesus. This means reckoning with things like pain, hurt, rejection, disappointment, remorse, failure, loss, and grief. Borrowing language from Brené Brown, it means “putting our vulnerability on the line.”​
  • This is what it means to die to the self, to lose your life for the sake of finding it. And all of this requires courage!
  • If we choose to enter through the narrow gate, let’s not do so because we are glorifying suffering and sacrifice, or out of guilt, fear, shame, or manipulation. Instead, let’s follow the way of love with courage — even through life’s inevitable pain and hardship — with a deep sense of freedom. And let’s do so because we are truly convinced, each of us for ourselves, that this is ultimately the path to life and to mutual flourishing.

Aspiration: Deal with fears and realize your dreams

• “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
• Notes:
  • A life of faith asks to us to consider what really matters. What kind of treasures are short-lived (treasures on earth) and what kind of treasures are long-lasting (treasures in heaven)?
  • Fear often drives us to pursue the former. Embracing, sitting with, and moving through fear helps us to set our sights on the latter.
  •  The final line of this teaching is so interesting: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
  • It seems like common sense that if we care about something we will naturally invest in it, and in many cases we do operate this way. But the reverse is true as well! We have a tendency to protect, and to continue to invest in, places where are treasure already is.
  • This instinct to safeguard, to double down on our investments, can be constructive if the target is worthwhile (i.e. treasures in heaven). However, this instinct can also keep us stuck (focusing on treasures on earth) and prevent us from moving toward things that would be more life-giving. (Consider the sunk cost fallacy.)
  • In the capitalist society we live in, we often find ourselves placing greater value on things that we have spent money on (regardless of their value when measured through other lenses) and devaluing things that are "free." It is worth trying to push back against this tendency by being intentional about putting our money into the things that really matter (treasures in heaven). Even a small amount can speak volumes to our hearts and souls!

Service: Resource yourself and become compassionate

• “Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:42-48)
• Notes:
  • It’s very important to take care of ourselves, to take steps to protect ourselves from harm, and to do things like setting healthy boundaries. All of these things are part of loving ourselves well — the foundation of The Greatest Commandment.
  • Some of the challenges of faith are learning how to pursue our own needs while also considering the needs of others; how to honor our own unconditional dignity and worth while simultaneously doing the same for every other person made in the image of God; how to recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence of all beings; and how to build communities rooted compassion, generosity, and mutual care.
  • Love God, love your Self, and love your Neighbor broadly defined is the Christian message, and we are called to do so without hierarchy or conditions. This is no easy task. It is the challenge of a lifetime; a journey with an unreachable destination.
  • As we seek to more fully embody Love, all we can do is continue trying to take the next right step and the next one after that; to continually work toward broadening our circles of care and concern.
  • I find it helpful to remember that we can't pour from an empty cup, that it (often) feels good to do good, and that all God asks of us to try to move in the right direction.