The plain life is on another plane

                                            The Reading is from Luke 6:17-23

At that time, Jesus stood on a plain, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven."


The sermon on the plain (note not mount) is the the apex-  the summit of Christian living.  In fact it is so  high  only when Christ lives in us are we able to stay there.
I want to throw out two   thoughts though. 

1.  These are not commands, they are characteristics. These attitudes and actions flow out of God's divine grace,  His energy. When  we are in the kingdom of God- completely submitted to His rule-  then  these are present in us because the kingdom is already present in our hearts, for the kingdom of God is within us (Lk.17:20).  We don’t manufacture the grace it is born- graced to us. For the kingdom  of God is, "righteousness,  peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom.14:13)


2.  Grace is costly, complete surrender required. Deitrich  Bonhoeffer,  the WW2  Lutheran  pastor martyr,  had a term  that is actually pretty good;  cheap  grace.  There is no cheap grace. The Old Testament sacrifices attest to this.  A whole sacrifice had to be made.
We must lay all on the altar,  then  the fire- the grace of God- comes down  to consume it like  God consumed the sacrifices in His fire.

Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (I Kings 19:38)

With  whole burnt offerings God will not be pleased now (Ps.50:16)  rather a whole heart  does please Him. It will then be consumed upon His mystical altar,  and He will in return  send down  divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Truly the sermon on the plain is  not plain it is supernatural, on another plane.