This week’s reading: Matthew 5:21-48
Hi Friends,
It continues to amaze me to learn the difference between human standards and God’s Standards. As we continue in this Sermon on the Mount, this week, let’s dive into seeing the depths of the holiness of Jesus as we talk about this idea. The reading is from Matthew chapter 5, verses 21 through 48, but hear just a small portion of the distinction between us and Jesus in these verses:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Mt 5:27-28 NIV
You have heard it said. In the verses I just read, Jesus is referring to the Ten Commandments of course, and throughout our reading of this week, He also points to some Old Testament regulations, which God had set forth for His people to follow in order to live a holy life. I call these “human standards.” Things like, don’t murder anyone, and don’t have sex with someone you are not married with, were all ways the Israelites could distinguish themselves from the nations around them. In addition, Jesus cautioned them about being quick to divorce for any and every reason, to not commit to a promise that would force them to live a certain way, to not desire revenge and to not hate anyone, even their enemies. Sadly, all these come naturally to us, don’t they? But we read how Jesus then takes those human standards and blows them through the roof! For example, what I just read above, here is the human standard: don’t have sex with someone you are not in committed marriage with. But God’s standards: don’t even think of someone else lustfully, because if you do, then you have already committed adultery in your heart! What?! Just thinking of someone in ways that is improper is sin!? Yeah, it is. You see, all sin starts as a seed in our heart. If we choose to focus on that seed, watering it with our thoughts and emotions and desires, it will eventually grow into actions. The Bible describes it this way, “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (Jas 1:15) Jesus is teaching us to nip sin in the bud, before it grows into something evil that will effect us, and those around us.
The purity of Christ. Jesus never sinned. This means He never even thought of anyone in lustful ways. Talk about holy! To have that amount of power over your thoughts is complete self-control to the max. As a matter of fact, this remains one of the most powerful lessons I have learned, and continue to learn, in my walk with the Lord: Capture each thought and bring it to the obedience of Christ. (see 2Co 2:5) I once heard it put this way: our mind is like a hotel lobby, we cannot help who enters into the lobby, but we certainly can control whether we give them a room to stay or not! It is the same with thoughts. An idea will pop into our minds, but we, in Christ, have the power to choose whether to think about it, allowing it to take root in us, or to just drop the thought and think about something else. (maybe things like Php 4:8 talk about?) Our mind is the door to our hearts, and by God’s Grace, we can now turn to Him to filter what we think so only good seeds get planted in our hearts. Those good seeds will then crowd out and uproot any bad seeds still in us and thereby purify us, more and more. To control what we think will translate into controlling what we say and do. If, like Jesus, we only allow wholesome thoughts in our mind, then we would be quicker to obey God and stay away from all types of sin. IF… Alas, we are children still learning to become like Jesus. But it is vital that we notice the depths of His holiness so that we can imitate Him. Of course, we need Christ, to be able to imitate Christ. We must spend time with Him so that His morality rubs off on us. We spend time with Jesus when we pray, read God’s Word, listen to Biblical teaching, gather with other believers and followers to fellowship, talk about Jesus to others, help people with their needs…oh, there are countless ways to spend time with Jesus that if we truly want to be like Him, we will never run out of ways to connect with Him and let His goodness fall upon us. As a matter of fact, Jesus is so pure that it is only His holiness that can make any of us holy. As we surrender to Him, the righteousness of God becomes ours. Then joined with Him, leaning on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and provisions, we CAN imitate Christ and become more and more pure ourselves.
The heart of Christ. Jesus never thought sinful thoughts so He also never spoke evil over anyone…. “Wait, Diane. Didn’t Jesus call the Pharisees and scribes things like vipers? Isn’t that the same as v22 from our reading is talking about?” That’s a good question, glad you thought of it! Again let me remind us: the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. It is the WHY Jesus called them vipers that makes all the difference. Besides speaking the truth about their character, Jesus is not seeking to hurt them. He is trying to shake them into reality. Trying to get them to leave their self-righteous attitudes behind, and humbly come to God. This is called righteous anger because Jesus desires what is best for them and what will glorify the Father. On the other hand, in this reading, He is talking about being selfishly angry and wanting to belittle others. The word “raca” means worthless, like the person we are talking about is worse than garbage, to indicate that they are not valuable enough to even care about them, that they are less than human. See the difference? These too are evil seeds that lead us further and further away from loving others. If the point to life is to love and be loved, this mentality takes us the opposite direction and this is why Jesus is cautioning us here.
The generosity of Christ. Jesus also talks about forgiveness and sacrificial love here. Did you see it? Read verses 38 to 41. Jesus is not telling us to be doormats here! He is trying to encourage us to leave vengeance to God. Only God knows the depths of our hearts, so only He knows the motives behind what we do. Again, the WHY is more important to God then the WHAT. Also because of this insight into our hearts, only God knows what will turn someone’s lost heart towards being found. Instead of being consumed with repaying others “an eye for an eye,” we should focus on loving them in ways that will reflect the generosity of God. Every time God forgives us, it is only because of His generous heart, do we know that? He never forgives us because we deserve it. He always forgives us because He has chosen to love us, in spite of our offenses. Can we reflect that kind of love to others, and others who have done us wrong? Let’s be honest, we have a hard time forgiving those we claim to love, but in this reading we even hear Jesus command us…let me pause a moment and I will get back to that thought. Everything in the Bible is a command, do we realize this? Jesus is not suggesting, if we feel like it, to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He is making this a command. “If you truly want to follow Me, then you must do what I do.” Sure it is a hard pill to swallow, but I think the reason our lives are not as fulfilling as they could be is because we continue to treat the Word of God as a nice concept, but not the orders it truly is. My Friends, we are soldiers of God. Soldiers don’t get to make up their own standards. They must follow their commanding officer. Commanding…see the word right in that title? Jesus is our Lord. He has more than earned the right to tell us what to do…and then He doesn’t stop there. He even desires to help us carry out those commands! Yeah, I am right there with you, my Friends. It is only as I mature in Christ that this truth seeps deeper into my heart and I repent more, so I can lean on Him in order to come closer to obeying Him more consistently. Ok, let me get back to what I was saying which was… let’s be honest, we have a hard time forgiving those we claim to love, but in this reading we hear Jesus command us, to love our enemies. Our enemies?! I emphasize this just so we can get a greater grasp at how generous our Jesus is. Forgiving someone who hurt your feelings is one thing, forgiving those who condemned You to hang on the Cross, is a whole other standard! Yet Jesus forgives each of us. It was my sin and yours that necessitated this Plan in the first place. Behold how great is the Love of God that He would give us His Son so that if we believe, we will not perish, but have everlasting life! Let’s marvel at the lavish generosity of God’s Love today…and every day!
The strength of Christ. One more thing before we go: let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no. We don’t need to promise God, or anyone else, this or that. We simply must learn to speak truth in love and grace. If we say we are going to change, then we must learn to lean on God so we CAN have the strength to change. If we say we are not going to sin anymore, then we have to lean on God so we CAN have the strength to stay away from that sin. It is a process, and we are works in progress. To swear to anything or on anything is to invite trouble into our lives because we are promising things that are beyond our ability. (v36) Beyond our ability alone, anyway. It is the strength of Christ that helps us simply do what we say we are going to do. So no more swearing…but a whole lot of praising, my Friends. This is the new way to live in Christ. When we praise Him, we connect with Him, then we will be able to do what we claim we want to do. This has been my experience, and when I seek Him instead of trying to live on my own, according to my own human standards, His holiness shines in, and then through me…and my life, well it gets more and more abundant. Want that? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
