Latest / Reformed Thinking / Eye for Eye and the Cross: Kingdom Righteousness and the End of Personal Vengeance (Matthew 5:38-42)

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Eye for Eye and the Cross: Kingdom Righteousness and the End of Personal Vengeance (Matthew 5:38-42) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. We're glad you're joining us for
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another deep dive. And today, well, we're opening
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up a part of Scripture that I think really demands some
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immediate and pretty radical self examination.
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It really does. It's one of those passages
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that's famously difficult and often misunderstood.
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We're going to be in the Sermon on the Mount looking at Jesus's
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teaching on revenge, justice and mercy.
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Specifically, Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 through 42.
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Right. And it's these few verses that
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seem, you know, on the surface to just completely overturn one
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of the most famous legal ideas in history, an eye for an eye.
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The lex talionis. So our mission today is pretty
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ambitious. We want to understand how Jesus
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is working with the Old Testament law here.
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He's not destroying it, but he is doing something new.
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Something that restores it in a way.
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He puts proportional justice back in its proper public box,
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you could say. And at the same time he demands
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this, this really difficult, surprising ethic of non
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retaliation for the personal life of a disciple.
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And that's the tension, isn't it?
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A lot of people read this and they just see a contradiction.
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Yeah, you hear it and think, OK, is Jesus promoting a kind of
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lawlessness, or is he asking for this impossible, almost
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self-destructive passivity? Right.
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Justice on one hand, mercy on the other.
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And they seem to be at war. But what we want to get into
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today is how the rule of God is whole.
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It's unified. The Kingdom of Heaven calls us
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to live in these two distinct spheres at the same time.
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And that perceived tension, that idea of justice versus mercy, it
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almost all comes from how we've misunderstood that phrase eye
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for eye. How so?
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Well, when you hear it, your mind probably jumps straight to
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personal revenge. You think of, I don't know, a
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movie scene or some historical blood feud?
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Sure, getting even. Exactly.
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But as we dig into the original context, we're going to see that
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Lex Talionis was never, ever given to an individual as a
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permission slip for private revenge.
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OK, so let's start there. Let's talk about the true
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function of that old law. Where does it come from?
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All right, so the formula eye for eye and tooth for tooth, it
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shows up in a few places. Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and
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Deuteronomy 19. And the context is key I'm
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guessing. The context is everything.
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In every single case, it's found inside the legal judicial codes
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of Israel. This was a judicial principle,
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It was a specific guideline for judges, for the elders, for the
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appointed authorities, so. It's for the court system.
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For the court system only, it was not a motto for a private
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citizen. So if an ancient Israelite got
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his tooth knocked out, he wasn't supposed to go find a rock and
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knock out the other guy's tooth. No, he was supposed to go to the
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court and the law told the judge how to handle the case.
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And it actually served three really essential functions.
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And when you understand these, it totally changes how you see
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the law. OK, what's the first one?
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The 1st, and I think you could argue it's the most important,
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was restraint on vengeance. Restraint.
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Yes, the law was literally offense built distinct,
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escalating violence. Before codes like this, the
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common practice in that part of the world was the blood feud,
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the vendetta. Right, someone from my clan
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hurts your cousin, so your clan kills two of my brothers.
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Exactly and the violence just spirals and spirals and it
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destabilizes the whole community.
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Lex talionis, stop that cold. It set a legal limit.
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The punishment cannot exceed the harm done it.
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Puts a ceiling on it. A ceiling on retribution, Yes.
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If the damage was the loss of an eye, you were compensated for
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the value of an eye. You would not, under God's law,
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demand the man's life or the ruin of his entire family.
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That reframing is it's huge. It means the law wasn't
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barbaric, it was fundamentally merciful in its design.
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It was. It protected people from their
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own worst instincts, from that natural human desire to overpay
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a debt of harm. It shows order over chaos.
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OK, that's restraint. What's the second function?
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The second is proportional justice.
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This made sure that the penalty actually fit the harm that was
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done. It held the integrity of the
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whole judicial process. So the judge couldn't be too
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lenient or too harsh. Right.
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A judge couldn't let an aggressor off with a tiny fine
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if the injury was really severe. But just as important, the judge
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couldn't give in to a victims demand for excessive vengeful
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punishment. It was all about measured,
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righteous recompense. And did this mean they were
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literally, you know, gouging out eyes in the courtroom?
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That's a really critical point. The Jewish tradition, especially
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among the sages and rabbis, had long interpreted the law not as
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literal physical mutilation but as monetary damages.
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So financial compensation. Yes, the sources talk about
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calculating the value of an injury based on five categories.
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The actual damage, the pain suffered, medical costs, loss of
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earning power and even the shame involved.
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Wait, really? So this idea we have of Old
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Testament courts being these brutal places might be, what, a
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bit of a caricature? It's definitely not the whole
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picture. For example, in Exodus 21, it
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says if two men fight and one is injured, the one who struck the
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blow has to pay for the man's lost time and make sure he's
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thoroughly healed. The payment is financial.
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So the goal is to make the person whole again, justly, but
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not necessarily by inflicting the exact same physical injury.
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Exactly. The point was full just
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recompense within the Community's legal framework, and
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that usually meant paying the equivalent value of what was
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lost. OK, so we have restraint and
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proportionality. What was the 3rd function?
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The third was equality. Before the law, the standard was
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the same for everybody. Rich or poor?
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Rich or poor, powerful or weak, the penalty was proportional to
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the deed, not to the social status of the people involved.
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And that reflects God's character.
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He's impartial in how he administers justice.
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When you look at it through those three lenses, restraint,
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proportionality and equality, it really does stand out as a
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pretty amazing piece of ancient law it.
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Really does. So how does this connect to our
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theological framework, specifically in the Reformed
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tradition? What do we do with these old
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civil laws from Israel? Well, we hold to that classic
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distinction between the judicial, the ceremonial and the
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moral law, the specific ceremonial laws and the judicial
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statutes that applied only to Israel as a unique theocracy.
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Those have expired. Right, We don't run modern
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courts based on the rules for ancient Jerusalem.
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We don't. But, and this is the key, the
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general equity of those judicial laws continues to be morally
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useful. General equity?
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What does that mean practically? It means the underlying
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principle is still binding, the principle that a government must
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execute justice that is impartial, that is measured, and
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that is proportional. That's a timeless truth.
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The idea that the punishment should fit the crime, not too
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soft and not too harsh, that reflects God's ordered world.
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OK, so the law itself was good. It was just.
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But Jesus starts his teaching here by pointing out that
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something has gone wrong. How did this good public
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principle get so twisted? The distortion happened when the
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law was basically ripped out of its judicial context.
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It was taken out of the courtroom.
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Exactly. And it was handed over to the
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individual. People took a guideline meant
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only for a judge and they turned it into a personal motto.
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The authority that belonged to the court was seized by the
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individual for themselves. So they started to think they
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had a divine right to pay back in kind.
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And that blurred the absolute line between legitimate public
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justice, which restrains chaos, and forbidden private revenge,
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which is chaos. So they were doing the very
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thing the law was designed to prevent, seeking their own
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satisfaction outside the system. But now they could claim they
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had a Bible verse to back it up. Precisely this popular way of
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thinking, which was often encouraged by the religious
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leaders, let people indulge their own private resentments,
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their demands for personal vindication, while dressing it
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all up in the language of justice.
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I'm not being spiteful, I'm just upholding the law of Moses.
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Exactly that. And Jesus saw right through it.
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He saw that the external demand for payback was just a symptom
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of a poison, unforgiving heart. And that's why he confronts this
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misuse of the law so directly. And that really sets the stage
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for Jesus's counter statement, which is still shocking to hear
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today, He says. But I say to you, do not resist
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the one who is evil. That phrase, but I say to you,
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is always a signal. Jesus is about to restore the
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law to its true, deep intention and cut through all the popular
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corruptions of it. So let's break down the
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language. What does do not resist actually
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mean here? The Greek verb is anti stoni.
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It means to stand against, to oppose.
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To set oneself against is a very combative word.
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So it's not a passive term. Not at all.
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When Jesus says do not resist the one who is evil, he is
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zeroing in on the specific impulse to retaliate.
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When you yourself are the one who has been wronged.
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He's forbidding that knee jerk reaction to stand up against
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your aggressor just to get your own back.
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So this is a command about the heart.
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It's about the vindictive heart, that internal engine of
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vengeance that demands immediate satisfaction when you're
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insulted, when you're hurt. The default setting of the human
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heart is to want the person who wronged you to feel the same
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pain they inflicted on you. The natural person demands self
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indication, but the Kingdom command says to crucify that
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deep desire to answer evil and kind.
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Yes, the call is to get out of the debt collection business for
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ourselves. We're commanded to crucify that
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specific desire to avenge ourselves.
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We can't let that internal need for personal satisfaction, that
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need to feel respected or paid back, be the thing that drives
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our actions. And that requires a supernatural
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change of mind, doesn't it? To see that it's just not my job
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anymore to maintain my own honor or settle my own scores.
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It is. It's a total shift.
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OK, I get that conceptually, but this is where it gets hard in
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practice. How can we be sure Jesus isn't
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just saying never fight back ever?
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If I'm commanded not to resist evil, where's the line between
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protecting my family and seeking vengeance?
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That line feels really blurry sometimes.
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He does, and that's the essential challenge.
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We have to be theologically rigorous here to hold the line.
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We have to immediately clarify what this command is not
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prohibiting, because misreading this verse has led to some
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pretty serious errors over the centuries.
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OK, So what is not forbidden here?
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First, this is not a blanket ban on all resistance, and it's not
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the abolition of all punitive justice.
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If we take a radical pacifist view that says all forces wrong
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always, we immediately crash into major contradictions with
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the rest of the New Testament. Especially when it comes to the
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government. Especially then, we have to
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affirm the continuing God ordained role of the magistrate.
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So Jesus is not getting rid of civil justice.
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He is not. The sources are crystal clear on
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this. You just have to turn to Romans
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13, where Paul says the governing authority is the
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servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the
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wrongdoer. An Avenger.
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That's a strong word. It is, and Paul says the
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magistrate bears the sword, the symbol of the state's legitimate
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use of measured force to maintain order and protect the
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weak. Peter says the same thing, that
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rulers are sent by God to punish those who do evil.
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So if the government is God's appointed agent for
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administering measured retribution, which is basically
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the principle of lex talionis, then Matthew 5 can't mean we
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should abolish courts or police. It can't.
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The spheres have to stay distinct.
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God commands the state to enforce justice in the public
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square, and He commands the disciple to practice non
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retaliation in their private life.
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The moment I try to do the state's job, I step into sin.
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That's the key distinction. When I seek personal revenge,
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I'm usurping God's authority. Yes, whether that's God's direct
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authority in the final judgement or the authority he's delegated
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to the civil magistrate right now.
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As Paul says elsewhere, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but
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leave it to the wrath of God. We trust God to settle the
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accounts. And that takes a huge weight off
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our shoulders, really, the burden of securing our own
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vindication. It's a massive burden and we're
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freed from it. But let's push on this a little
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more. What about lawful appeal?
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If I'm insulted and robbed and I know who did it, am I forbidden
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from calling the police or suing them in court to get my property
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back? No, the command doesn't forbid
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you from exposing injustice or from using lawful means to
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protect yourself or others from harm, especially the vulnerable.
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Do we have a scriptural example of this?
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We do look at the Apostle Paul. When he was illegally arrested
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in Jerusalem, what did he do? He invoked his Roman
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citizenship. He demanded justice from the
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Roman system. He cited his rights to avoid an
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unlawful beating and later appealed his case all the way to
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Caesar. He wasn't being passive at all.
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Not least. But his motive wasn't personal
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spite. He wasn't trilled to inflict
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financial rumen on the magistrates out of hatred.
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He was using the God ordained system of justice to secure his
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legal rights and to stop an unlawful harm that would have
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shut down his ministry. So that confirms that appealing
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to the state for justice or protection is OK.
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It is provide the heart is in the right place.
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The motivation has to be the restraint of evil and the
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protection of the innocent, not personal hatred or desire for
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the offenders ruin. The heart posture is everything.
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It's the critical distinction. Can you pursue a legal case
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which is designed to bring about justice and restoration, while
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at the same time genuinely praying for the repentance of
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the person who wronged you? That's a high bar.
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It is the believer must never, ever cloak personal hatred or
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pride with the language of justice.
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The goal, even when we appeal to the authorities, should be the
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restraint of evil, not the fulfillment of our own spite.
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And Jesus doesn't leave this as some abstract principle.
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He immediately grounds this massive command, crucified the
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vindictive heart in four very specific, very practical
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examples. And they're brilliant because
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they target the four things we tend to cling to the most our
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honor, our property, our freedom, and our resources.
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They show us what a surrendered life actually looks like in
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practice. Let's start with the one about
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honor the insulting slap. OK the scenario if anyone
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slapped you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
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To really feel the force of this, we have to understand the
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culture of insult back then. It wasn't just a physical act.
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Not primarily. In that 1st century context, to
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be slapped on the right cheek, the aggressor would almost have
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to use the back of his right hand.
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A backhand slap. Exactly.
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And that wasn't a punch intended to cause serious injury.
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It was a calculated act of public shaming.
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It was a gesture of utter contempt.
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So it was about humiliation. It was the backhand slap was
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what a master did to a slave, or a nobleman to a peasant.
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It was designed to assert total dominance and strip the victim
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of their dignity, of their personal honor, right there in
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public. And the natural response would
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be to explode, to hit back twice as hard, to regain that honor.
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Of course, immediate violent retaliation to seize back your
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lost honor. Jesus demands the exact
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opposite. He says refuse the cycle of
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insult and counterinsult. You willingly absorb the blow.
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And then you offer the other cheek.
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And by offering the other cheek, you do something astonishing.
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You force the aggressor into a dilemma.
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Now to strike you again, he would have to use his open palm.
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Which would be a blow between equals.
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Precisely. You transform his attempt to
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shame you into a spiritual confrontation.
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You're entrusting your honor, your reputation, your standing
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to God. You're refusing to grab it back
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by human force. It's a statement that says my
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identity is not defined by your contempt for me.
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That requires an incredible amount of emotional and
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spiritual self-control. OK, so from honor, let's move to
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property and legal rights, the lawsuit over clothing.
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Jesus says if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him
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have your cloak as well. So now we're in a lawsuit.
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The conflict has moved into the legal arena.
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And what's the difference between the tunic and the cloak?
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The tunic was the inner garment, kind of like a long shirt.
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It was common, necessary, but the cloak was far more
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essential. The cloak or the outer garment
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was often the single most valuable thing a poor person
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owned, and crucially, the Law of Moses in Exodus actually
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protected it. How so?
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The law said that if a creditor takes a man's cloak as
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collateral for a loan, he had to return it by sunset because it
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was the man's only blanket to protect him from the cold at
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night. So the person suing you in Jesus
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example isn't just taking property, they're using the law
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to strip you of something that's necessary for life and is
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specifically protected by God's law.
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Yes, the aggressor is using legal loopholes, probably
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unjustly. And what does Jesus command?
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An action that seems completely foolish.
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Surrender the legally protected, more precious item as well.
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Why? What's the point of that?
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The point is a radical willingness to let go, to not
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fight tooth and nail for every single legal right and every
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last possession. It's a direct challenge to what
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we could call the idolatry of my rights and my stuff.
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It forces you to hold everything loosely.
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Exactly. It makes sure your identity and
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your security are not anchored in your possessions or in
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winning legal battles. If we fight to the bitter end
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for every penny and every piece of property, we're showing that
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we don't actually trust in God's provision.
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So Jesus is forcing a choice. Do I trust God enough to absorb
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this legally protected loss, or is my real security in my
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material rights? That is the spiritual test right
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there. Refusing to fight for the cloak
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is an active demonstration of faith in God's sovereignty.
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It shows the disciples willing to endure personal loss for the
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sake of their witness to the Kingdom.
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OK, the third discipline. This one feels very specific to
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its time dealing with freedom and, well, government
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oppression. The conscripted journey.
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Right, the instruction is if anyone forces you to go one
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mile, go with him 2 miles. This is a direct reference to a
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Roman practice called Angaria. Military Conscription.
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A form of it, yes. A Roman soldier had the legal
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right to compel any civilian to carry his equipment, and that
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was a heavy pack for a fixed distance, usually one Roman
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mile. Which, for the Jewish people
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living under occupation, must have been just a constant,
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bitter reminder of their situation.
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It was a humiliating reminder of their lack of personal freedom,
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their subjugation. The first mile was compulsory.
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You did it with sullen, resentful compliance.
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But Jesus says to transform that moment.
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Yes, he says, the disciple must turn this imposed humiliation
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into an opportunity for voluntary generosity and
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service. By willingly offering to go a
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second mile, which the soldier has no legal right to demand,
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the disciple takes control of the situation.
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The power dynamic just flips. It flips completely.
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In that first mile, the soldier is the master, but in the second
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mile the disciple becomes the generous server.
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He's no longer acting out of compulsion, but out of free
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choice. He's showing an inner freedom
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that the external authority can't touch.
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It's a profound spiritual move. You're saying you can compel my
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body, but you can't compel my spirit.
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My service is a free gift. It breaks the cycle of
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resentment. It turns a moment of public
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humiliation into a personal act of self giving love.
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So the lesson is learning to serve even those who unjustly
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use their power over us, turning servitude into willing ministry.
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That's it. All right.
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The 4th and final scenario. This one deals with our
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resources, and it shifts the focus from a hostile aggressor
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to someone who is simply in need.
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Jesus says give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse
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the one who would borrow from you.
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Here the challenge isn't so much hostility, but our natural
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reflex for self protection. The fear of being taken
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advantage of, or just the inconvenience of it all.
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Right, and this is a call to adopt A genuinely open handed
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posture with our resources. Now this doesn't mean we
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abandoned all wisdom. We shouldn't enable destructive
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behavior, but the main thrust of the command challenges that
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calculating hard heartedness that closes our hand out of
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greed or fear of personal loss. It's a call to reflect God's own
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generosity. It is disciples are commanded to
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refuse to be dominated by fear of poverty or by a constant
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calculation of self advantage. We're called to be ready to
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share, ready to land if we hoard what we have.
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We're basically saying we don't trust the father who closed the
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lilies of the field. Our resources become tools for
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ministry and neighbor love, not just instruments for our own
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personal security. That's.
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The Kingdom perspective. When you lay out all four of
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those disciplines together, surrendering honor, property,
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freedom, and resources, a clear picture starts to emerge.
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It's a picture of a person who is entirely surrendered to God.
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And it shows. This Kingdom ethic isn't passive
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at all. It's an aggressive, active
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choice to love your enemy by willingly yielding the very
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things the world screams at you to fight for.
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Which brings us back to that central theological problem.
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How can the same God demand both retribution from the state and
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non retaliation from the disciple?
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It feels like we need to synthesize these two ideas.
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We do, and the answer is in recognizing the dual governance
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of God. He has distinct responsibilities
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that He gives to distinct agents.
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So we have the civil sphere, which is governed by the
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magistrate, and then the covenantal or personal sphere
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which is occupied by the disciple, and that distinction
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has to be kept clean or the whole thing falls apart.
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It has to be clean. The same God is ruling over
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both, but with different mandates in the public arena.
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God demands justice. That's where the principle of
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lex talionis is applied by the magistrate to execute God's
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wrath and restrain evil. That's what maintains civil
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order. OK.
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And in the private arena? In the private arena, the
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disciple is called to display mercy.
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The disciple crucifies the desire for vengeance, absorbs
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the injustice and entrust the final accounting to God.
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This demonstrates the sacrificial, self giving nature
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of Christ's Kingdom. And for our listeners who are
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familiar with the reformed confessions, this idea of dual
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governance is pretty standard, isn't it?
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Oh, absolutely, absolutely. The Westminster Confession of
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Faith is very clear that God has ordained civil magistrates for
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the execution of justice and judgement.
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It affirms that while the specific civil laws of Israel
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expired, their general equity, that principle of impartial,
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proportional justice for the state, is enduring.
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So we see this not as attention, but as two different tools God
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uses to govern the world. Exactly.
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God uses the state to keep the world from descending into total
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chaos, and he uses the Church, the body of his disciples, to
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demonstrate the radical, supernatural mercy that flows
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from the gospel of Christ. This distinction is so helpful
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because it helps us navigate that really hard question.
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Does non retaliation mean I have to be passive if someone is
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harming me or especially if they're harming someone else?
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And that's the ethical tightrope we have to walk.
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We have to be clear that the command to yield your own rights
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when you are wronged is different from the command to
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love your neighbor. So this passage does not mean a
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victim has to just quietly endorse serious ongoing criminal
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abuse. It absolutely does not.
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For instance, if you as a disciple see someone being
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attacked on the street, your duty to love your neighbor might
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require you to intervene. That could mean using necessary
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physical force to stop the evil, or at the very least, calling
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the authorities. Because love for your neighbor
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sometimes requires you to involve the authorities to set
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firm boundaries to protect the vulnerable.
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It does if a believer is facing domestic violence or is the
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victim of criminal fraud. Seeking help from the police or
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the courts is not a violation of Matthew 5.
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It's a righteous use of God's delegated authority to restrain
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evil. So seeking legal help to defend
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others or even to defend myself to stop an ongoing harm is
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righteous, but seeking legal help just to inflict maximum
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pain or satisfy my own pride is sinful.
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It all comes back to the heart. That's the critical axis.
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A believer can pursue legal action to stop an injustice
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while maintaining a heart that genuinely longs for the
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offender's repentance, not their ruin.
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We appeal to the magistrate as God's servant for justice, not
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as our personal hitman. The danger Jesus is targeting is
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when we cloak our own deep seated resentment or pride in
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the beautiful language of justice.
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That's the sin we have to constantly ask our own hearts,
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Am I doing this because I want the harm to stop or because I
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want that person to suffer? The cross shaped life allows us
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to pursue legitimate justice while still praying for the soul
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of our aggressor. We've established just how
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difficult this command is. It demands a supernatural change
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in us. But the gospel never just gives
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us commands we can't follow. It gives us the power to obey
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them. So we have to anchor this ethic
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in the cross. Why is non retaliation only
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possible for someone who is united to Christ?
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This is the theological bedrock that sets the disciple free.
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The principle of lex talionis, that demand for measured
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righteous payment for wrongdoing.
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It isn't abolished by Jesus. It is satisfied by Jesus at the
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cross completely. Justice demands a price for sin,
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life for life. The ultimate price demanded by
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divine justice for all of human rebellion was paid by the life
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of the sinless Son for guilty sinners.
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He became the substitute. He did.
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Christ received the full measured retribution of God's
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wrath that should have justly fallen on us.
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And this is so central to Reform theology.
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The cross is where God shows how He can be perfectly just.
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He punished sin to the full measure of the law and at the
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same time be the justifier of anyone who has faith in Jesus.
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All of God's righteous demands were met, fulfilled, and
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exhausted in Christ's suffering. So if the ultimate debt that I
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owe God, the highest demand of justice against me has already
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been paid in full. Then you are free.
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I'm free from the burden of debt collecting.
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That's the daily practical spiritual benefit.
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The believer is freed from the burden of securing their own
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vindication because their ultimate vindicator, Christ, has
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already taken the ultimate penalty.
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We are liberated to live this radical ethic because the
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accounts are already settled. Paul has that powerful image in
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Colossians of Christ canceling the record of debt that stood
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against us. It's a perfect illustration when
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a debt is paid and the record is canceled, the creditor has no
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claim left. If we who have received such a
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massive cancellation, infinite mercy, then turn around and
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demand the full pound of flesh from someone who owes us a tiny
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debt by comparison, like an insult or a small loss.
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It shows we haven't really grasped the gospel.
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We haven't. It's like the person whose
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$1,000,000 debt was paid off, but he's still chasing down his
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neighbor for 10 bucks, screaming about his rights and demanding
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payment in full. The ultimate pattern for this is
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Christ himself. He is the perfect pattern.
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The Son of God had the absolute right to resist.
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He could have called down legions of angels, but he chose
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not to. He perfectly obeyed the command.
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Do not resist the one who was evil.
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He suffered unjustly. And as Peter says, when he was
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reviled, he didn't revile in return.
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When he suffered, he didn't make threats.
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Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
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So when a disciple turns the other cheek or goes the second
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mile, they're actually reflecting Christ's own
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character. They're reflecting his cross
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shaped character. This isn't just self help
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morality. This is the Holy Spirit
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reproducing the character of the obedient Son inside those who
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are united to Him by faith. We don't turn the other cheek to
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earn salvation, but those who are saved by grace find that the
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Spirit begins to enable them to overcome evil with good.
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The power to live this radical life flows entirely from the
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settled account of the cross. Non retaliation isn't a sign of
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weakness. It's a visible, costly
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declaration that divine justice has already been satisfied and I
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no longer need to seek my own revenge to feel safe or
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vindicated. That's the freedom of the gospel
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lived. Out So today we've seen how
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Jesus restored Lex Eliones to its proper place, the public
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courts, where it serves as a vital principle of measure
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justice. And at the same time, he
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commanded the crucifixion of the vindictive heart and his
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followers, showing us what that looks like by the radical
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surrender of our personal rights, our honor, our property,
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our freedom, and our resources. And it's all made possible
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because the demands of God's justice have been fully met in
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the substitutionary death of Christ.
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The world around us measures strength by how fiercely you
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defend your rights and how effectively you punish those who
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cross you. But Jesus demands a totally
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different kind of strength, one that's rooted in humility and a
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deep confidence in God's ultimate justice.
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So here's a thought to take with you.
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When you face an insult, an inconvenience, a financial loss,
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or some act of malice this week, how will your response reflect
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the magnificent fact that the ultimate debt against you has
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already been canceled and your vindication rests securely in
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the hands of a just and merciful God?
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That right there is the measure of the Kingdom ethic.