Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.22.23 Matthew 5:20-48 Pastor Sam Porges

Transcript

3.22.23 Matthew 5:20-48 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  got your Bibles, open them up to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 is where we're going to be. We're going to finish out the chapter tonight. Once again, it is good to be with you all, and I think what Carla said and the songs that she chose were the perfect preparation for our passage tonight, as I'm sure you'll see in the coming hour or so.
• 0:28
  I want to review quickly what we talked about last week, because last week in Matthew 5, verses 17 to 20, we covered the foundation of what we're going to be talking about tonight. And so if you were here with us last week, we said that Jesus was a certain type of teacher, and he was what I called a non-revolutionary, but a radical rabbi. Jesus said he didn't come to start a revolution in which the Old Testament would be overthrown in favor of the new.
• 0:54
  Rather, he came, he said, to fulfill the law. And fulfill doesn't mean finish or accomplish, but it means to make fully known. And so Jesus' teaching was consistent with the Old Testament law. And he demanded, in verse 20, exactly what God did in the law, which was righteousness.
• 1:16
  I said last week that the Sermon on the Mount is not a theological treatise like Romans is. Matthew 5 is not Romans 5. The stuff we're going to study tonight does not teach us how to be made right with God. It's not, if you're not angry and if you don't lust and if you do a good job at loving people, then God will accept you. Rather, Jesus is merely teaching us tonight how to live as kingdom citizens. And so keep that in mind.
• 1:41
  One other thing I mentioned last week when we met was that I've had many misguided ideas about the Sermon on the Mount in the past, and especially when it comes to this section that we're going to study tonight. And I wonder if maybe there are some of us who have shared those misguided ideas that I've had. The most often preached interpretation of what we're going to cover tonight in verses 21 to 48 sounds like this.
• 2:09
  You think you're obeying the law because you don't murder, but you're angry, and so you're actually a lawbreaker. You think you obey the law because you haven't cheated on your spouse, but you lust, and so you're actually a lawbreaker. You think that you're righteous because you haven't committed some of the big sins, but you have sin in your heart, and so you need Jesus.
• 2:36
  been taught this passage in the past is that Jesus is setting up for us an unattainable moral idea of perfection that he calls us to obey. And since we can't obey it, the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount is, well, we just need Jesus, right? I don't know if you've ever been told something or if you've ever been told to do something that you know you cannot do. Not like you might be able to do it. You know you can't.
• 3:06
  Do it. Anyone been told something like that in the past, right? Let me ask you this. How do you feel when you approach that thing? Do you feel optimistic or pessimistic? Pessimistic. Do you apply a lot of effort? Probably not, right? Little to no effort because you know you're not going to be able to do it. Many of you guys know Brian Bowen.
• 3:31
  who's a member of the church, who's on the board. He used to own a CrossFit gym. And six or seven years ago, I went to that gym. And at the gym, you know, you're doing, I know it doesn't look like it, but like I went. But you would do, you know, all these lifts and stuff like that. And you would consistently try to hit personal records, right? So the heaviest you can lift in a deadlift or a snatch or whatever. And I would always look at what Brian could lift and then what I'm lifting. And I thought, I will never,
• 4:00
  ever be able to do that. But sometimes just for fun, I would go up to the bar just to see, and I put everything in, you know, and you start to shake, and then you just put it down because you go, I just can't do it, right? But when we approach something as humans that we know we cannot do, we typically don't give a lot of effort. There's not a lot of hope in accomplishing that thing. If you interpret the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus calling you to perfection that you will never achieve,
• 4:29
  You leave feeling convicted, but you don't leave feeling hopeful, right? This is why I think most Christians, when they think about Christian living, if you ask them, what does it mean to live as a Christian? They don't point to the Sermon on the Mount. They point to the epistles. Let's look at what Paul has to say. Let's look at what James has to say. Not, let's look at what Jesus has to say in the Sermon on the Mount.
• 4:53
  Because of this bad interpretation that we've been taught in the past. Now, there are two other problems with this interpretation, right? The moral perfection ideal interpretation. The first is that Jesus doesn't end his teaching in this part with, if you're angry, you're liable to judgment. If you have lust in your heart, then you're a lawbreaker. Let's close in prayer. That's not where he ends his teaching.
• 5:23
  he continues into proactive commands for us to follow. And so when we don't take the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety, we cut his teaching short by ignoring what he's actually commanding us to do. The second problem with that interpretation is this. Do you guys remember what we studied the very first night we started this three weeks ago? We started with the end where Jesus says, if you build your life on my words, you're like a wise man. And if you don't, you're like a foolish man, right?
• 5:51
  Think about this. How are you supposed to build your lives on Jesus's words if he knows you cannot obey them? Like he's essentially dooming you and me to have our lives crumble when the rains come down and the floods come up. Because he's telling you to do things he knows you won't be able to do. And so essentially he's like, you're all foolish because you can't, I'm calling you to do something you cannot do. And so rather than unattainable perfection,
• 6:26
  What Jesus is teaching, as we'll see in a few moments, is the heart of the law as God always intended. Highland, the law always aimed to change the heart. It was always about making God's people a kingdom of priests who would show the nations what the true God was like. God didn't give the law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
• 6:51
  demanding external behavior modification. And then when it comes to the New Testament, he's like, Jesus, get down there and tell them that it's about the heart. It's about time we change some things. No, it was always about the heart, always about being the people that God has called us to be for the sake of the world. And so last week in verse 20, we read this statement from Jesus. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom. So last week he said, you need to live in exceeding.
• 7:21
  righteousness. And this week he's going to tell us how to do that. All right. I'm not going to read through the entire passage tonight at the beginning because of its length. We're going to read as we study, but what we're going to see is that each portion from verses 21 to 48 of Matthew chapter five is triadic. That means composed of three parts. And this is really how we're going to structure our study tonight. And so these are the three parts. Every one of his teachings
• 7:51
  consists of first a traditional righteousness. This is the, you have heard that it was said, blank, right? The traditional righteousness. Then he describes a vicious cycle of sin that we fall into when we misinterpret the law or when we miss the heart of the law altogether. We fall into these vicious cycles of sin. And then third, he's going to give us transforming initiatives, which is his grace-based way of deliverance from those cycles of sin.
• 8:20
  Are you following me? Well, we're going to see. Ultimately, yes, we have to have faith in Christ, right? Because if you don't have faith in Christ, you don't believe in him. Jesus would say, depart from me. I never knew you, right? But his practical advice is going to be his grace-based way of deliverance from sin. And so what I'm going to do is this. I'm going to show you guys this threefold pattern from his teaching on anger.
• 8:48
  And then after that, we're going to split up amongst one another. I'm going to have you guys find these three in various portions of the passage. And then we're going to come back together and study them kind of section by section. And so let's begin in verse 21. I'm going to read verses 21 to 26. And as I do so, look for the traditional righteousness, right? You have heard that it was said, the vicious cycle of sin, and then the transforming initiative. So verse 21.
• 9:18
  You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.
• 9:54
  Okay, in this section, what is the traditional righteousness? Okay, he says,
• 10:18
  Whoever murders will be liable to judgment. Now, I want to make a quick note about this repeated phrase. You have said that it was heard, but I say to you. Okay, this is really fascinating. We said last week that Jesus was a rabbi, right? Rabbi is a teacher in Israel. The custom of rabbis at this time was to teach the interpretations of the law that they had received from their rabbis. They're passing down the interpretation.
• 10:46
  And if I was a rabbi, it might sound like this, right? According to my rabbi, Rabbi Danny, this is what Torah means. This is what this passage means. Now, the reason they would do this was to protect from just anyone coming along and teaching their interpretation of the law, right? Because you guys can see problems with that. We see problems with that today. Like in a Bible study, what do you think about this? It's like, well, sometimes what you think is wrong. Like it's not about what you think.
• 11:16
  Right? But they would do this to protect from that. Rabbis had to pass along the interpretations they received. And the only way a rabbi could teach something that he did not receive from his rabbi was if he had rabbinical authority or what was called shmicha. Shmicha. Right? If you're a note taker, it's S apostrophe M-I-C-H-A. Shmicha.
• 11:43
  Now, a rabbi could only get smicha if two other rabbis who had smicha laid their hands on him publicly and pronounced that he had this rabbinical authority, this smicha. And this would allow this rabbi to say, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you this, right? And that is exactly what Jesus does in every section of what we're going to study tonight.
• 12:09
  These six sections. Now, the question becomes, did Jesus have smicha? And if so, where did he get it? Can you guys think of maybe a story in Matthew before chapter 5 where Jesus might have received his rabbinical authority, his smicha? Okay, at his baptism. Right? At his baptism. What two people with authority would have been there?
• 12:38
  John the Baptist. Now, there's a whole question on whether he had smicha, right? And we don't have time to get into that tonight. But there was John the Baptist and then the voice, right? From heaven, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. And as a side note, like if God gives you smicha, you have smicha, right? Like there's no need for like the second one. But the voice and John the Baptist seemed to give him smicha. Now, regardless of whether that's the case or not, right? Jesus certainly acted like he had smicha.
• 13:07
  He certainly acted like he had authority. In fact, flip to the end of the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 7, verses 28 and 29. This is the very end. It says this, And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had smicha and not as their scribes. Right? And so as the one who fulfills Torah, Jesus was teaching the correct.
• 13:35
  interpretation of the law, which the scribes and the Pharisees at the time were not in the habit of teaching. And so when it comes to anger, Jesus says this repeated phrase, you have heard that it was said, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. So that's the traditional righteousness. Now let's move on. What is the vicious cycle of sin in this little section? What was that? Okay. Continual anger.
• 14:07
  Continual anger and continual insults. The vicious cycle, he says, is living a life that is characterized by anger and insults. Now, is Jesus commanding in verse 22, is he commanding us not to be angry and not to call anyone a fool? No. Did Jesus get angry? Yes. Did Jesus call people a fool?
• 14:36
  Yes, in the Sermon on the Mount, at the end, he says anyone who builds his life on the sand is foolish. And so it's not commanding us to never be angry and to never call anyone a fool. In fact, the verbs in this verse are not imperatives. They're not commands. They're participles, meaning ongoing action, right?
• 14:57
  And we'll see that pattern of the commands being in the transforming initiative over and over again. That's where the climax of the teaching comes. Not, don't be angry or you're going to go to hell. That's not the end goal that Jesus is getting at, right? And so what Jesus is describing here is the vicious cycle of living a life dominated by anger. Living a life dominated by insults. He's saying essentially here that the seed of murder is anger.
• 15:25
  It's not just about taking someone's life. He's saying that can be traced back to anger, that thing within us that says, man, I just wish we could just do away with this person. I wish we could just do away with this people. I wish they just weren't here anymore, right? And walking in unrepentant anger. Now, let me ask you, is that a vicious cycle that humanity falls into? Yes, absolutely, right? So he's getting at the heart of the law.
• 15:52
  By pointing out the vicious cycle. Now, what is the transforming initiative of this passage? Okay, reconciliation and forgiveness. This in verses 23 through 26 is where we find the imperative verbs, the commands, right? This is where he says, leave your gift there before the altar and go. He says, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift and come to terms with your brother.
• 16:20
  And so again, what we're going to see consistently is that the positive commands Jesus gives are in the transforming initiative, not in the vicious cycle, which means Jesus's emphasis is not on negative prohibitions that are hard teachings. His emphasis is not on don't be angry. His emphasis is not on don't lust, but rather his emphasis is on the positive transforming initiatives.
• 16:45
  that are the way of deliverance based in grace. And again, Jesus doesn't want us to abort the interpretation process by ending with verse 22 and saying, well, I get mad at people sometimes. I insult people sometimes, so I guess that I'm a lawbreaker. No, he moves on to verses 23 through 26. He's saying, don't miss this. This is how you can transform your life and be free from the cycle of anger and...
• 17:12
  And so, like Sheila just said, the transforming initiative here in this section is reconciliation, right? The part about the altar bringing your gift to God shows how serious we are to pursue reconciliation with other people. Like, if you are coming to worship God, leave your gift there and go make peace. That's how serious we are to take this. And then the part about the courts and the law and all that.
• 17:36
  It shows us the extent to which we are to pursue reconciliation. He says, pursue until the last minute. And Hyland, we can be like God in our reconciliatory efforts because this is exactly what God did to the world in Christ, is it not? God initiated reconciliation with the world. He changed the relationship that people have with him from one of hostility to one of peace. And then he takes us.
• 18:05
  from being enemies to being friends. He models for us, right, what reconciliation is. And so Jesus says the heart of the law was always to be about how you treat people. It's not just about the act of murder, but we get stuck in this cycle of sin with anger and insults. And ultimately, if that goes unchecked, that leads to murder. So it's all about the heart, but there's a way that you can get out of that.
• 18:32
  There's a way that you can fix it in the grace of God, which is pursue reconciliation instead of anger. Pursue peace, right? Where he says in the Beatitudes, right? Blessed are the peacemakers. He says, be a peacemaker. And so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give you guys maybe five or six minutes, maybe five minutes to study some of these on your own.
• 19:00
  and to look for these three elements in the teaching. Okay, so here's what I'm going to do. This side over here, the part that you're going to take and discuss together, you're going to look for these three in the part on lust from verses 27 to 30. Okay, this section right here, you guys can just break up however you guys would want with the people around you, but you guys are going to take the part on oaths from verses 33 through 37.
• 19:26
  You're going to take oaths, okay? This side right here, this middle section, you guys are going to take the part on retaliation from verses 38 to 42. And then over here, you guys are going to take the part on loving your enemies from verses 43 through 47. So leave out that last one, okay? But I'll give you guys five minutes. Split up however you would like. Look for the traditional righteousness, the vicious cycle, and the transforming initiative. And we'll be back in just a minute. All right, let's bring it back in. All right, so first,
• 19:57
  I hope that that was enough time to look for these three elements in the teaching. But first, we're going to start with this side over here with these next few verses. I'm going to read them and then we'll look for these three elements. So follow with me in verse 27. Verse 27 of your Bibles. Jesus continues, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
• 20:26
  For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Okay. So with this first crew, what is the traditional righteousness in this passage? All right. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, right? Straightforward comes from the 10 commandments. Okay. What is the vicious cycle?
• 20:56
  Right, so the vicious cycle that we get caught in is, well, I'm not gonna commit adultery, but I have lust in my heart. And just like anger is the seed of murder, Jesus would say that lust is the seed of adultery, right? And remember what Jesus says later in the gospel when someone asks him what's the greatest commandment, what does he say? You gotta love God, you gotta love people, right? In this vicious cycle, you cannot love a person
• 21:25
  By reducing them to an object of sexual fantasy. That doesn't fulfill the Great Commission, right? Nor can you love your spouse if you are lusting after someone who's not your spouse, right? So it is not a fulfillment of the heart of the law. Even though we may not be committing the act of adultery, right? Jesus says, well, lust is a big deal, right? So that's the cycle that we get caught in, this lust. Now, what is the transforming initiative? Or where is the transforming initiative found?
• 21:58
  What verses? Yes, 29 and 30, right? If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, right? It's obvious that Jesus is speaking hyperbolically here because you could cut off your hand and still have lust in your heart, right? Because the vicious cycle we get caught in here is internal, okay? So he's speaking hyperbolically to make his point that you must do what is necessary to cut sin out of your life. Do what it takes.
• 22:29
  To live in the righteousness that Jesus is calling you to live in. Redirect your lustful thoughts towards something else. And here's what I would encourage you to do with this sin in particular. Make lust a trigger for you to do something else. Like when that temptation comes, you just, there's another path. You just, it triggers you to do something else. Whether that is pray.
• 22:51
  Those lustful thoughts come in, you immediately go to the throne or you recite Philippians 4.8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if there's anything excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. So when one of those thoughts comes into my head, it's a trigger. Oh man, Philippians 4.8. Or make it a trigger to redirect your thoughts to your spouse if you're married. I have this temptation. I'm just going to think about my wife.
• 23:21
  I have this temptation. I'm just going to think about my husband, right? Jesus's point here is to make radical sacrifices to live in righteousness. Radical. Get rid of social media. Get rid of your TV. Get rid of your computer. Stop watching that one show, right? Stop driving that way home from work. Whatever it is, make the sacrifice that your rabbi is calling you to make.
• 23:49
  And so that's the part on lust. Now I'm going to move to this next section on divorce and I'll just handle this one. Look at verse 31 with me. It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. What's the traditional righteousness here?
• 24:15
  It's verse 31, right? Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. Now, a note needs to be made here. The Old Testament allowed for divorce, but it never commanded it. The take that the Old Testament seems to have on divorce is that it assumes it's going to happen. It's realistic, okay? It assumes it's going to happen, and so the law constrains it to only be allowed under certain circumstances.
• 24:44
  And so that was the traditional righteousness, right? Deuteronomy 24. But then the vicious cycle, he says, is that the vicious cycle we get caught up in is divorce. That ends up in adultery. Not all divorces automatically lead to adultery because if someone is divorced, but then doesn't, if someone is divorced on wrong grounds or insufficient grounds, God still sees that marriage as
• 25:15
  And so if you never remarry, you're not committing adultery, right? So divorce doesn't automatically lead to adultery. But at the time of Jesus, there was this school of interpretation that was called the Hillel School of Interpretation, which interpreted the Bible very liberally. And this school said that a man could divorce his wife if she cooked a meal wrong. If she burnt the food, you can divorce her. One rabbi, Akiva, said that you can divorce a woman if you find someone who you think is more beautiful than her. Think about that.
• 25:44
  So think about the vicious cycle that Jesus is addressing in its context. This was very much present in his day. And this cycle involved a low view of marriage and divorcing on insufficient grounds. And Jesus says here that divorcing for reasons other than sexual immorality does not dissolve the marriage in God's eyes and thus involves the parties who remarry in adultery. This vicious cycle today could look like no-fault divorce.
• 26:14
  Right? Low view of marriage. Marriage vows are easily dissolved. Jesus would say to us, as he said to the people in Matthew 19, this ought not to be so. It was not this way from the beginning. Right? It was not this way. The transforming initiative Jesus gives in here is reconciliation and having a high view of marriage. Right? If the vicious cycle here involves a low view of marriage, then in order to be delivered from that, you must have a high view of marriage. Kingdom people.
• 26:44
  value marriage more than the world. And God's intention for marriage was always that it would be lifelong and that vows would be upheld. And so here in Matthew 5, Jesus is not mandating divorce in the face of sexual immorality, but permitting it in this specific circumstance. Now, practicing this transforming initiative is a little bit different from the others because those who have been involved, have gone through a divorce, whether it was handled biblically or not, experience permanent consequences.
• 27:12
  And so here's how we can practice this, okay? First, we cannot use this passage to clobber people who have gone through divorces. Like the whole point of this passage is Jesus saying, here's how you live as a kingdom of priests. Here's how you live as the people God intended you to live as. And if we start using that to clobber other people, we're missing the entire point, right?
• 27:39
  If you're married tonight and your marriage is not doing well, then I would encourage you to seek counseling immediately. Biblically speaking, divorce is always a final resort after every attempt at reconciliation has been made and the battle doesn't get easier when help is not sought. And our church will help you in every way that we can work through the issues in your marriage and help you get your marriage to a place that is healthy.
• 28:10
  We will do everything in our power to do that. If you are here and you have been divorced, regardless of whether you've remarried, know that God's desire for you is to walk in restoration, peace, and freedom, not in shame. Because shame can be a vicious cycle of its own, right? Divorce does not paint on you a scarlet letter that can never be washed off or redeemed. And so please know this, okay?
• 28:40
  limited time tonight. This can't be a 45-minute sermon on divorce. There is a more robust theology of divorce and remarriage that involves other passages like 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul does give other grounds for divorce besides sexual immorality. But because of the time constraint tonight and the nature of this passage, I can't answer every question we may have about divorce because it's just outside the scope of this.
• 29:06
  passage and so if you have questions or if you're still processing through your divorce please don't hesitate to reach out to one of us pastors jesus wants you to walk in transformation despite the hurt that divorce may have caused in your life there is peace there is restoration available to you right and we won't use this passage or any other to clobber you
• 29:33
  But again, I'm sorry I can't answer every question we have tonight or give a more robust theology on it. But there's his threefold teaching on divorce. We can walk in transforming initiatives, whether we've been hurt by divorce or not. Let's move on to this next section in verse 33. He says, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
• 29:58
  But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. All right, this whole section right here. What is the traditional righteousness? Okay, you shall not swear falsely, but yeah.
• 30:26
  Perform to the Lord what you have sworn. So fulfill your oaths, right? This is a summary of many teachings in the law about oaths. Now, what is the vicious cycle here? What was that? Well, not necessarily, right? We might, right? I think that's a good way of putting that. We might. But what's the vicious cycle that we fall into when it comes to our word? Promise breaking. Promise breaking.
• 31:01
  At this time, a complex system of oaths had been developed over the centuries where depending on the thing that you swore by, that determined how binding your promise was, right? And so I could come to you and say, man, there's something I got to do. I promise by the temple that I'm going to do this.
• 31:25
  You go, OK. But then later in the week, something else happens where I'm going, OK, man, I really got to do this thing for this guy, though. OK, I promise by the gold of the temple. And then at the end of the week, when you come to me and you're like, you promised, I would say, well, yeah, I promised by the temple. But to this other guy, I promised by the gold of the temple. So I don't have to keep my oath to you. Right. There were all sorts of ways to get out of keeping a promise in this day. And again, Jesus saying that's not the heart of the law.
• 31:54
  You're missing it. The transforming initiative, what is it in this passage? Truthfulness. Jesus says, if you're going to take oaths this lightly, stop making oaths. Because in the end, everything you could possibly swear by is related to God somehow, right? If we can't be believed without having to make a promise, then we've already proven that our word doesn't hold much value. Are you tracking with me?
• 32:23
  If you don't believe me unless I, man, I swear, I swear. No, I promise, I promise. I'm showing you that my words don't have value. And if our words hold no weight, you guys, what else do we have? Nothing. If your word means nothing, you have nothing. God takes your words seriously. He takes your promises seriously. And so Jesus would say, if you tell someone yes, let it be a yes. Actually do it. If you tell someone no, let it be.
• 32:52
  A no, right? Kingdom citizens, he says, are promise keepers. Now let's move on to the next section. Verse 38. He says, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. All right, what is the traditional righteousness?
• 33:23
  Here. All right. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now we naturally read that law as a justification for taking revenge on someone, right? If you harm me, I get to harm you. However, this was not the law's original intention. In fact, in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18, God forbids vindictiveness or holding a grudge, right? So that's not the heart of the law. This law was originally given as a judicial law designed to prevent escalation in revenge.
• 33:54
  You cannot exact any more justice than the harm that has been done to you. And one podcaster that I've been listening to, he gives the example of Samson, right? Where Samson marries this Philistine woman, but then goes away, comes back, and her dad says, I thought you hated her, so I gave her to your friend. And so what does Samson do? He burns their fields. And then what do they do? They raise up an army and come against Samson. And at the end of the story, thousands of people are dead.
• 34:25
  It escalates, right? And so this is why that law was originally given. Now, what is the vicious cycle that Jesus points out in this passage? This one's a little bit more interesting. Okay, do not resist evil, he says. And you guys, are we not supposed to resist evil based on this passage? Like any evil, we don't resist it. No, I think that this could more accurately be translated, do not resist evil with evil.
• 34:58
  Don't resist evil by evil means, right? Jesus himself resisted evil, but never by evil means. The vicious cycle here that we often get caught in is living a lifestyle of revenge. I wanna fight fire with fire, right? And you guys, does living that kind of lifestyle produce anything righteous? Does it produce anything that is good? No, not at all. And so he moves then to the transforming initiative. What is the transforming initiative?
• 35:30
  Okay, if the vicious cycle is don't resist evil with evil, then the transforming initiative is resist evil with good. Yeah, right? Resist evil with good. He gives four examples. He says, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Now, I remember as a kid telling myself, okay, if someone beats me up at school, I can't fight back, right? Because of this verse, if they slap me on the right cheek, that's not what Jesus is teaching, okay? In this time,
• 36:00
  Your right hand was reserved for people interactions. Your left hand was reserved for bathroom responsibilities, okay? So you didn't necessarily use your left hand when you were dealing with people. And so think about this, okay? If someone is going to slap me on my right cheek, how would they have to do it? But how? No, but this is my left cheek. Well, no, but you don't use your left hand for... Okay, backhand.
• 36:35
  You would backhand them on the right cheek. And this slap was a slap reserved for slaves. It was dishonor, right? Used it for servants. So when Jesus says, if they slap you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek, what are you saying? If you're going to hit me, treat me like an equal. Treat me like one of your own. You're confronting the injustice, but you're doing it non-violently. Does that make sense?
• 37:08
  There is no redemptive violence, right? The second thing he says is, if you get sued for your tunic, give them your cloak also, right? And so Jesus paints this picture. If someone is taking you to court and they're suing the pants off you, literally, right? They're suing you for everything that you own. You have your cloak and then you have your tunic, which is the garment that rests next to your body, right? The order here with cloak and tunic is reversed in Luke. But regardless, it's like if they sue you for this,
• 37:35
  Give them this also. So imagine you're standing in the court in your underwear saying, I have nothing left. What else do you want from me? And the court then is forced to think about the injustice that's being done to you. Does that make sense?
• 37:53
  You're confronting injustice without doing it in an evil way, without playing their game. The third example he gives is getting forced by a Roman soldier to carry their stuff. This was the practice of Angaria. This is the passage, in fact, where we get the phrase, go the extra mile, right? I'm sure you guys have heard that at some point. But Roman soldiers at this time had the legal right to come alongside to you, take their sword and tap it on your shoulder. If they did that,
• 38:20
  you were required to carry their pack for one mile. But Jesus says, if you go one mile, what are you supposed to do? Go a second mile. Imagine you're carrying their stuff. You reach the one mile mark and the Roman soldier goes, okay, that's far enough. And you just keep going. What is he going to think? Well, no, that's right. If you're like, ah, you make a run for it, then maybe. But what is he going to think when you start passing that one mile mark? No, this, this is illegal.
• 38:51
  I can't have you carry my stuff. I'm going to get in trouble, right? The Christian is confronting the injustice, but doing it in a peaceful, nonviolent way by continuing to walk, right? And then the last example he gives is giving with generosity. Simply put, this could say, give without expectation of return. I gave you an eye, you give me an eye, right?
• 39:16
  Give generously. Blessed are the merciful, Jesus says in verse 7 of this chapter. And so Jesus' point in all this retaliation stuff is that we should use creative, nonviolent, and non-retaliatory ways to resist evil and confront injustice. And this is not the American way, right?
• 39:33
  It is built into us. Like, if they hit us, we're going to hit them harder than they've ever been hit before. We're going to drop nukes on them. Like, that's the spirit of America. And it's not just at a government level. It's built into us as individuals. Like, you hurt my eye, I'm going to hurt way more than that. Right? And Jesus says, no. If you're a citizen of the kingdom, you don't get to do that. Right? The really good example we have of this is Martin Luther King Jr.
• 40:02
  In the civil rights movement, right? Where they practice civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance, right? And like Martin Luther King said, darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that, right? The second straight from Romans 12.
• 40:18
  Right? So that's what Jesus is really getting at the heart of the law. Confront injustice, but not with evil. Right? Now let's move to this last passage and then we'll wrap it up. Loving enemies. Verse 43. He says, 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 sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
• 40:47
  Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? What is the traditional righteousness in this passage? What is it from this side over here? What's the traditional righteousness? Okay, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now, for a long time, people thought, oh man, see, Jesus is quoting things that aren't even in the Old Testament law. The Bible is completely made up. But when we dug up the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 40s,
• 41:18
  We found the writings of the Essenes, a small community down by the Dead Sea, and this was written in there. You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, right? So that's the traditional righteousness that the people were accustomed to. What is the vicious cycle here in these verses? All right, worldly.
• 41:43
  He says, now notice that the vicious cycle here is found in verses 46 and 47. The transforming initiative is found in verses 44 and 45. The order is mixed to mark the end of this section of Jesus' teaching, right? But the vicious cycle that we often fall into is having this claustrophobic, exclusive, tribal love. And Jesus says this is worldly love. It's not godly love. What is the transforming initiative? If we're not to have worldly love, what does he tell us to do here?
• 42:17
  Okay, godly love, selfless love. How can we show the world, Jesus is saying, that we know the one true God if all you do is love people who are like you and that are easy to love? You're no different than the tax collectors. The tax collectors were Jewish, but they were like Jewish traders. They worked for Rome. They got rich off of your back, right? They were traders. And he's like, even they love people that are easy to love.
• 42:44
  The Gentiles, he says, people who don't know God, they love people who are in their own camp. They love people who love them. So what if you love your friends? So what if you love those who are easy to love? Rather, you're to show a godly love. How does God love? He says, the sun comes up and shines on the just and the unjust. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. God shows an inclusive love.
• 43:13
  For all the people on the earth, his grace is so evident in his love for other people. And Jesus demonstrated this selfless love while dying on the cross. He's praying for the people who just nailed him to the cross, right? They hated him and he prays for them. And so Jesus says, rather than showing a worldly love, show who your God is by loving the people who persecute you, by loving the people who hate you.
• 43:41
  If you've ever practiced praying for someone that doesn't like you or for someone that you don't like, you know how transforming this practice can be, right? And so imagine this. Would we welcome a government official who wants to take away 501c3 status from the church into our homes for dinner? Would you welcome the president or the vice president into your home for dinner? Or is it like, no, you've done way too much bad, right? And we chuckle at it, but seriously.
• 44:14
  Would we welcome them in? If Christ prayed for those who drove nails into his hands, why would we think our love should be any less? One man said, to return evil for good is devilish. To return good for good is human. To return good for evil is divine. Jesus concludes with verse 48.
• 44:37
  He says, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And again, when we read this, our natural inclination is to go back to that original interpretation, right? See, I knew it. Jesus says, you got to be perfect. I can't be perfect. This will never happen. But that's not what he's teaching. It's not what he's aiming at. Jesus is not teaching that his disciples must achieve unqualified perfection. In fact, that wasn't even a Hebrew idea. That was a Greek philosophical idea. Perfect here means complete, fully developed, all inclusive.
• 45:06
  mature and it was likely an allusion to Leviticus 19 verse 2 where God says to Moses go tell the people you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy in all of our ethics Highland and especially in our love we are to live like mature kingdom citizens who include people in our love and who also show the holiness of God you and I are to strive to be like God in all of
• 45:35
  our ways. And so when Jesus finishes this section of the Sermon on the Mount, the people were forced to ask themselves, will we obey what this rabbi is saying? Will we do what he's saying? Will we be teachable and trusting or will we be skeptical and stubborn? And tonight you are faced with the same question. I am faced with the same question. Will we do what rabbi Jesus has said?
• 46:05
  Again, Jesus has shmicha, which means that we don't get to disagree with him even when his teachings are hard. We don't get to say, you have heard Rabbi Jesus say this, but I say to you this. We don't get to teach something different from our rabbi because we don't have shmicha. Our responsibility is simply to understand what our rabbi says and then to do it. And so my encouragement to you guys tonight is this.
• 46:34
  If tonight, as we've covered this passage, you recognize that maybe there are cycles of sin in your life. Some of them may be mentioned here. Some of them may not be. But if you're saying, man, I'm stuck in certain cycles of sin, then repent of your sin and walk in transformation.
• 46:53
  God is constantly breaking into our brokenness, breaking into our darkness and offering us light, offering us transformation. We can break our cycles of sin by entering into Jesus's grace-based way of deliverance.
• 47:12
  God has given you everything you need to overcome your sin like we talked about on Sunday, right? Don't present yourselves to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Present yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness. And so once we repent of our sin, we can begin building our lives on the rock that is God's word. Now just think about this for a minute. Imagine the life that is dominated by anger and insults, by lust, by divorce.
• 47:41
  by revenge, by promise-breaking, and by hate. That life is a mess. Would you agree? The evidence is there, right? They're building their house on sand. But imagine instead the life that is built on reconciliation and love and truthfulness and redemption and non-violent, non-evil confrontation of evil. That life is stable, is it not?
• 48:13
  This is exactly what Jesus said. Build your life on my words. And so to conclude, if we are to be a kingdom of priests, which do you guys want to be a kingdom of priests? Yes. If we are to be a kingdom of priests, a people who show the world what God is like, we must follow Rabbi Jesus as he teaches us how to live an exceedingly righteous life. It's all laid out for us right here in the word. Let me pray.
• 48:44
  Father, we are grateful tonight for an interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, which is life-giving, which is hopeful, not impossible. We thank you that we're made right with you, not by our actions, but only by trusting in the blood that was spilled on the cross by the Lamb of God.
• 49:03
  But as his followers, Lord, we want to walk in righteousness. We want to walk in redemption. And I pray tonight that as certainly questions have been stirred up in our hearts as it relates to this passage, I pray that we would dive deep into them, that we would press into what it means to live an exceedingly righteous life as a people who follow the righteous one, Jesus. Go with us as we seek to be a kingdom of priests.
• 49:29
  Here in Westminster, Thornton, Broomfield, Arvada, wherever it is, a kingdom of priests who shows the world what God is truly like. How much more time we could give to your word, God, but we're grateful for the time we had tonight. We pray all this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.