AM I A “SERMON ON THE MOUNT” CHRISTIAN?
REVIEW SOM 5-7, PART 2
SELF-EVALUATION OF MY BIBLICAL WISDOM
INTRODUCTION:
600-300 BCE has been called “the axial age” (when people in remote and apparently unrelated lands achieved major spiritual and intellectual breakthroughs) in human history, Mankind’s intense search for meaning during that period produced Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the philosophers in Greece.
The core question they all asked: “What does a righteous, right-living, person look like? How should we live?” Job states the question clearly, “How can a mortal be righteous before God?” (Job 9:2)
When the 70 Jewish translators of the Old Testament into Greek (The Septuagint) came to the word “righteousness” they used the Greek term that Plato’s Republic used for right living and translated righteousness as dikaiosune {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}. A good, modern day translation of righteousness: “true inner goodness” or “moral excellence.”
Dikaiosune is the very word used in the Sermon on the Mount for righteousness. It is as if Jesus was answering the question asked by Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the Greek philosophers.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness (dikaiosune) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, (and the Confucians, Buddhists, Zorastrians, Greek Philosophers) you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (5:20)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (dikaiosune), and all these things will be given to you as well (6:33).
For four years we have been studying our Lord’s description of a righteous person. He has been telling us what true inner goodness, moral excellence looks like.
TABLE ACTIVITY: Read through the 15 statements carefully. Write CL in front of the statement if you feel clarification of the statement would be helpful. Write CH in front of the statement that you feel is the most challenging.
Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. . . . Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I’m fit inside and out (Psalms 26:2, NLT, The Message)
Examine your motives, test your heart (thoroughly), come to this meal in holy awe. (I Cor. 11:28, The Message, Amplified)
(Examine, evaluate and) test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith (that your faith is genuine). Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. (II Cor. 13:5, The Message, Amplified, NLT)
Never (0) Rarely (1) Sometimes (3) Generally (5) Always (7)
16. I do not postpone dealing with conflict. I settle disagreements quickly. (5:25-26)
“. . . leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled …. Settle matters quickly . . . (Mt. 5:24, 25). … “As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled to him on the way ….” (Luke 12:58)
QUOTE: This is nothing but a picture. You and I are traveling through this world, and the law is there making its demands. It is the law of God. It says: ‘What about that relationship between you and your brother, what about those things that are in your heart? You have not attended to them.’ Settle it at once, says Christ. You may not be here tomorrow morning and you are going to eternity like that. ‘Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.’ (MLJ, 230)
If personal relationships goes bad, immediate action will almost always mend the problem. But if dealing with the offended party is postponed, the situation usually gets worse.
Making the offering over against reconciling with an offended individual is an example of putting the ceremonial over above the moral, something the Pharisees were prone to do
We must not postpone reconciling with an offended brother or sister. Any religious exercise performed while we have sin in our hearts that has not been dealt with is meaningless.
It is so easy to do the “religious” thing and yet be living in sin. This is the prime illustration of what being a hypocrite is.
17. I avoid all pornographic materials and keep my mind free from pornographic, lustful thoughts (5:27-28)
A Christianity Today survey said that 33 percent of the clergy and 36 percent of the laity admit to having purposely visited sexually explicit web sites. … these are the subscribers to Christianity Today. And this is not just about men. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of women hooked on pornography. If those statistics are correct, a third of us in this class have purposely visited a pornographic website.
Heart stands for man’s entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements. In other words, the heart is used figuratively for the hidden springs, the fountain of the personal life. The heart is, the inner man, the inner self, where we think, imagine, grieve, will, purpose, perceive, believe, love.
Imagination is one of the abilities of our heart, the inner self. It is one of our faculties which distinguish us from animals and is a precious gift from God. None of the world’s art (fairy tales, poetry, novels) and little of man’s noblest achievement would have been possible without imagination’ (Stott, 88).
The problem is that the imagination of the inner man can be wrongly used. It is not wrong to imagine and/or be attracted to a beautiful scene, a handsome man, a beautiful woman, a fine athlete, a skilled musician. All these are gifts from God which should cause our hearts to rejoice. Seeing a beautiful scene in nature causes us to praise God. Seeing a beautiful woman or a handsome man should do the same.
“Look” in our text means a leering, staring, locking on look. A look that is focused on wishing for an adulterous affair, a look that undresses. It is what the Apostle John referred to as the “lust of the eyes” and what the Apostle Peter was referring to when he said their “eyes are full of adultery.” It is a look that “imagines” adultery.
“Lust isn’t noticing that a woman or man is sexually attractive. Lust is born when we turn a simple awareness into a preoccupied fantasy. When we invite sexual thoughts into our minds and nurture them, we have passed from simple awareness into lust.” ( R.C. Sproul)
If you are desiring another person’s mate then you are having an “Affair of the Mind.”
Jesus is saying, “… those who look upon a woman for the purpose of lusting after her — using her visual presence as a means of savoring the fantasized act — has thereby committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:28 / Dallas Willard).
The Pharisees had a narrow definition of sexual sin (no physical adultery) and a wide definition of sexual purity (mental adultery – coveting another person’s spouse – was not a problem). Are we like them???
The Pharisees were focusing on external righteousness (form) while Jesus was focusing on internal righteousness (content).
Basically Jesus is making us look at our hearts, the fountain and spring of our being, our inner self – the inner man, the inner woman.
18. I have done everything possible to avoid divorce or even the thought of divorce (5:31-32)
If you or anyone in your family has ever been touched by divorce, please stand over here. If you have ever known anyone touched by divorce, please join them.
Jesus is saying that the Law was NOT the highest possible moral standard because it only sets up standards with outward actions, not the inner passions.
Some rabbis said divorce could occur for any reason (Mt. 19:3)
It was too easy for a man living under Law not to act out his sinfulness and to make the mistake of thinking himself righteous before God! This was one of the errors of the Pharisees. They struggled to, and in the main did, keep the letter of the Law. But they violated the spirit of the Law in their hearts. This is the reality Jesus forced his listeners to face. If Law, and the root of Law in the holy character of God, are truly understood, then no one can claim righteousness.
Jesus’ statements about murder and adultery then were never meant to be incorporated into the social and legal code of Israel. He never intended that a person who shouted out anger against his brother be brought to trial for murder. He never intended that a person who entertains lustful thoughts should be stoned for mental adultery or have his hands cut off or eyes gouged out. This was all hyperbole.
What are the implications when we find Jesus’ statement about divorce in this context, and in the same form as the statements about murder and adultery? For one thing, if the first two are not intended as a basis for social legislation, but instead as an expression of the reality revealed and hidden in Law, then it seems unreasonable to argue that the third statement is intended as a basis of new legislation. If we persist in seeing Jesus’ statement of a new law, then we will find no support for our view in sound hermeneutics.
There are actually six “You have heard” statements in the Matthew 5 sequence. None of them is meant to be a basis for social legislation. Each of them does tell us something vital about God.
1. The spirit, not the letter of the law, must take priority. – – What is the “spirit” of the law about divorce that Jesus is trying to expound here?
2. Conformity to the law is more than just actions. – – What thoughts and motives about divorce is Jesus confronting in contrast to outward legalistic actions?.
19. I am consistent in keeping promises (5:33-36)
The only reason oaths are necessary because earthlings are born liars. Oath- taking is a pathetic confession to mankind’s proneness to lying, to our basic dishonesty. An oath settled everything: “… the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument” (Heb. 6:16).
You have given me a book here to kiss and to swear on, and this book which ye have given me to kiss says, “Kiss the Son,” and the Son says in this book, “Swear not at all.” I say as the book says, and yet ye imprison me; how chance ye do not imprison the book for saying so?” (Hughes, 127)
Jesus did not come to destroy the law (Mt. 5:17) and oath taking was a part of the law; (2) Is “never swear” — an hyperbole?; (3) Universal affirmations and negations are not always to be universally understood, but are to be limited by their occasions, circumstances etc.; (4) When something is approved in one passage and prohibited in another it should not be considered as absolute in either case but instead there must be a specific reason intended.
God desires “truth in the innermost being” (Ps. 51:6). He hates “a lying tongue” (Prov. 6:16-17). “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). Jeremiah wept over Jerusalem because “lies and not truth prevailed in the land” (Jer. 9:3). The destiny of liar, according to Rev. 21:8, is the lake of fire. We live in the presence of God! We grieve the Holy Spirit of God when we lie. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God ….” (Eph. 4:30). “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who … [does not] swear by what is false [swear falsely] (Ps. 24:3-4).
How does this text translate into life? Simply this: Oath-taking is permitted, but it is not encouraged. In civil life oath-taking, as in the courtroom, is permitted, and when one does so, he does not sin against Christ’s teaching. Also, on rare occasions it may be necessary, as it was for Paul. However, oaths are not to be a normal part of our everyday conversation. In normal relations oaths should never fall from our lips. Kingdom men and women do not need such devices. Their commitment to truthfulness should be evident to all. (Hughes, 129)
20. I always tell the truth (5:37)
Lying is endemic in our culture. Are we slowly being transformed by our culture and also becoming dishonest individuals?
Do I have pet lies that I tend to overuse, e.g. “I will pray for you.”
God is always present, always observing, always listening to all our speech and longs for us to be transparent and honest in all things.
21. I consciously seek to develop relationships with those who have insulted me or appeared to slight me. (5:38-39)
“Probably no part of the Sermon on the Mount has been so misinterpreted and misapplied as 5:38-42. It has been interpreted to mean that Christians are to be sanctimonious doormats. It has been used to promote pacifism, conscientious objection to military service, lawlessness, anarchy, and a host of other positions that it does not support.” (MacArthur, 329).
Matthew 5:38-42 is about non-retaliation. John Stott summarizes it like this: The four mini-illustrations … all apply the principle of Christian non- retaliation, and indicate the lengths to which it must go. They are vivid little cameos drawn from different life-situations. Each introduces a person (in the context a person who in some sense is ‘evil’) who seeks to do us an injury, one by hitting us in the face, another by prosecuting us at law, a third by commandeering our service and a fourth by begging money from us.” (Stott, 106).
These four are not detailed regulations but illustrations of the principle of love …. The selfless love of a person, who, when injured, refuses to satisfy himself by taking revenge, but studies instead the highest welfare of the other person and of society, and determines his reactions accordingly (Stott, 107).
It is important to note that “eye for eye” was a “civil” and not a “moral” law. The Ten Commandments are “moral” laws. In the following chapters after Exodus 20 you have explanation about property laws, injuries, servants etc. Civil laws dealt with protecting property and social intercourse, e.g. traffic, taxes, building codes etc.
“Today we recognize Lex Talionis (eye for an eye) as foundational to all justice. The whole system of civil, penal, and international law is based on the idea of reparation and equity that has its roots in Lex Talionis.” (Hughes, 132).
Lex Talionis, an eye for an eye, was established to prevent revenge and keep people from taking justice into their own hands.
SO WHAT? Retribution and revenge for evil is Biblical. God has established governments as an authority to take revenge on the evil-doer. Revenge and retribution is taken out of the hands of the individual. Retribution on a country perpetrating evil on innocents is probably the only justification for any war.
Revenge is necessary and right but is the responsibility of the state and not the individual. Got has appointed the state to exact revenge through the judicial system.
War is some unique situations where one country is defending the massacre of innocent civilians in another could be supported as a just war. Truly defensive wars can be justified as just wars.
Christians may not be involved in personal revenge. Instead they are to make every effort to love their enemy or the person that has hurt or wounded them.
An insult is evil – am I willing to go so far as to surrender my dignity?
What Turning the Other Cheek Doesn’t Mean – This cameo/illustration does not teach ‘doormatism.’ This does not make a virtue of low self-esteem or a lack of self-confidence. Jesus did go to the cross but no one should accuse him of ‘doormatism.’ He said, “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). Remember that Jesus did not “turn the other cheek” as his trial before the Sanhedrin. Instead he challenged them. So ‘turning the other cheek’ is not doormatism because of a psychological deficiency. It also does not mean that we cannot protect ourselves or others from physical abuse.
22. I seek to cultivate a caring relationship with people who have deceived me and/or feel strongly that I have wronged them. (5:40)
“The tunic, chiton, was the long, sack-line inner garment made of cotton or of linen. The poorest man would have a change of tunics. The cloak was the great, blanket-like outer garment which a man wore as a robe by day, and used as a blanket at night. Of such garments the Jew would have only one. Now it was actually the Jewish law that a man’s tunic might be taken as a pledge, but not his cloak. “If ever you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge (his cloak), you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, it is his mantle for his body; in what else shall he sleep?” (Exodus 22:26, 27; See also Deut. 24:10-14). (Barclay, 167)
Christ is not forbidding us to use the court system for redress. He is simply showing us a better way, a higher way that will enable us to cultivate a loving relationship with “the evil person” who is suing us.
This is not about the seizure of our property but about going to court over trifles, about sacrificing the possibility of a heart relationship with a greedy evil person for a minor victory over an inner garment, in a court battle. Conflicts in court almost never produce good and lasting personal relationships.
Jesus said, “Avoid resisting the evil person. Give him your cloak also.” Be willing to sacrifice your own well-being, your own security for the sake of hopefully cultivating a heart relationship with your adversary.”
23. I willingly sacrifice my personal well-being to win a person who is using and manipulating me. (5:41-42)
Roman law gave a soldier the right to force a civilian to carry his pack for a million, a Roman mile, which was slightly shorter than our modern mile. The law, designed to relieve the soldier, not only caused great inconvenience to civilians but was made even more despicable by the fact that the oppressed were made to carry the weapons of their oppressors. Outside of combat the Roman solider was probably never more hated than when he forced someone to carry his pack. (MacArthur, 335)
For the Jewish citizen, he was a slave the first mile but a master the second mile. The second mile is the character mile and it moves us from slaves to masters.
The first mile is the trial mile, the second mile is the smile mile. The first mile is the service mile, the second mile is the witnessing mile. (Bill Bright)
Bill Bright: “I have been working with people long enough to observe that all successful people live by the second mile principle. The first mile is crowded but the second mile is not busy at all.”
24. I am avoiding becoming a vengeful person, seeking or wishing ill will on any who have in any way mistreated me. (5:38-42)
Handling Insults, Attacks on Our Dignity. True internal righteousness begins with being poor in spirit and includes showing mercy and being a peacemaker. So the Beatitudes show us the foundation for our response to insults.
We do not repay ‘insult with insult, but with blessing’ (I Pt. 3:9). We follow in the steps of Christ who, “When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate …” (I Pt. 2:21, 23),” and who told us to “…forgive men when they sin against you” (Mt. 6:15).
When we turn the other cheek, accept insults, we focus on the other person and make his/her well being our priority.
Jesus is challenging us to make every effort to avoid resisting an evil person and instead showing this evil person kingdom love and kindness. To show “kingdom love”: We are willing to sacrifice the basic human right to dignity and take an insult; We are willing to forego our human right to security and give in to a person who is suing us; We are willing to forego our basic human right to liberty and give in to another’s demands for our service; We are willing to forego our basic human right to property and surrender it to meet another’s needs. Jesus is saying that we retaliate to protect our ego and our rights and Christians are not to retaliate. We are to go to all ends to avoid resisting a person who in some way acts with evil towards us.
25. I actively love and pray for those who have personally hurt or wounded me. (5:43-44)
In 5:38-42 we are told how to treat an evil person. In 5:43-48 we are taught how to treat an enemy.
“The two final antitheses bring us to the highest point of the Sermon on the Mount, for which it is both most admired and most resented, namely the attitude of total love which Christ calls us to show towards one who is evil (39) and our enemies (44). Nowhere is the challenge of the Sermon greater. Nowhere is the distinctness of the Christian counter-culture more obvious. Nowhere is our need of the power of the Holy Spirit (whose first fruit is love) more compelling.” (John Stott)
They used Lev. 19:18, arguing from the context, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”
“If a Jew sees that a Gentile has fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out. Of course it is written, ‘Do not rise up against your neighbor’s life.’, but this man is not your neighbor.”
The Romans charged the Jews with the hatred of the human race. Tacitus, the Roman historian wrote of the Jews, “They readily show compassion to their own countrymen, but they bear to all other the hatred of an enemy.”
What is it to love our neighbor as ourselves? Our love to ourselves is unfeigned, fervent, active, habitual and permanent: so ought to be our love unto our neighbor. A regular self-love respects all our interests, but especially our spiritual and eternal interests: so ought our love unto our neighbor. A regular self-love prompts us to be concerned about our welfare tenderly, to seek it diligently and prudently, to rejoice in it heartily, and to be grieved for any calamities sincerely: so ought our love unto our neighbor prompt us to feel and conduct ourselves with regard to his welfare. Self-love makes us take unfeigned pleasure in promoting our welfare: we do not think it hard to do so much for ourselves: we ought to have just the same genuine love to our neighbor, and thereby prove “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Mt. 5:43-48, Web Notes, page 15)
26. I am patterning my life after God in being generous to those who wish me ill. (5:45, 48)
“Divine love is indiscriminate love, shown equally to good men and bad. The theologians (following Calvin) call this God’s ‘common grace’. It is not ‘saving grace’, enabling sinners to repent, believe and be saved; but grace shown to all mankind, the penitent and the impenitent, believers and unbelievers alike. This common grace of God is expressed, then, not in the gift of salvation but in the gifts of creation, and not least in the blessings of rain and sunshine, without which we could not eat and life on the planet could not continue.” (Stott, 120)
Four Specific Blessings of Common Grace: (1) Providential Restraint of Sin, (2) Man’s Conscience, (3) Providential Blessings to Mankind, (4) Providential Care in Creation
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (Acts 14:17)
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:15-16).
To the man that curses him every day, mocks His love, uses His name as an expletive, raises his fist in His face and denies he even exists, he faithfully blesses with the blessings of creation. The rain falls on the evil and the just.
On our death beds we should not be confessing sins or asking for God’s help or healing etc. We should be saying “thank you,” as a guest thanks his host at the door.
27. I approach and pray to God as my Father (6:1-13)
“Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as “Father” at all. This, to me, in the light of the earthly representation of the role seems a marketing mistake. Why would God want to call Himself Father when so many fathers abandon their children?” (Blue Like Jazz, Pgs. 2-4)
Jesus only addressed God as “Father” and in the four Gospels he uses “Father” 60 times in reference to God. Jesus’ use of Father is so striking that some scholars maintain that this is the main difference between the Old and New Testaments. (See Hughes, 155)
William Barclay writes, “It might well be said that the word Father used of God is a compact summary of the Christian faith.” (Barclay, 200).
Abba means something like “daddy” but has a more reverent touch to it. The best rendering is “Dearest Father.” (Hughes, 155)
“Jesus provides a remedy to both errors (treating God as a celestial teddy bear or as a distant, unapproachable monarch) with his opening words in the disciple’s prayer, “Our Father in heaven.” “Father” stresses his immanence – – that is, that he is involved in our lives and is to be intimately approached as Abba. “In heaven” stresses God’s transcendence. Sovereign and reigning, he surpasses all that is human. He is our Father and our King! We can affectionately call him “Abba,” “Dearest Father,” but we do it with a deep sense of wonder and reverence.” (Hughes, 158).
28. I consciously avoid parading my acts of righteousness in front of others (6:1)
In Chapter 5 the focus was on moral righteousness, here it is on religious righteousness (piety). So Jesus moves from the moral actions of the member of God’s Kingdom to his religious acts. In Matthew 5:20 we were told that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law. Here we are told that our piety, our religious acts, must surpass those of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.
This was the ravenous sin of the Pharisees, a hunger for the praise of men. It was their besetting sin. “You … receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that come from the only God” (John 5:44). “They loved the praise of men more than the praise from God” (John 12:43).
The Pharisees were true ” “spiritual exhibitions.” They made sure everyone gazed at every religious act they did. For the Pharisees everyday was “Show and Tell.”
“To be seen by men” in our text comes from thaomai, the Greek word which is the source of our word “theater.” The idea is not to do your “spiritual disciplines” in such a way to be noticed, to attract attention, to get people to gaze at you. You are not actor in a play, you are not on stage.
“Os Guinness, the well-known Christian thinker and leader, has said of the Puritans in American history that they lived as if they stood before an audience of One. They carried on their lives as if the only one whose opinion mattered were God.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conquest, pg. 190)
Can you say that you “live for an audience of one?” We can always play to this audience of One, because He is always there, always watching!
29. The poor and the needy have an important place in my giving (6:2)
The Jews used the same word for almsgiving and for righteousness – tzedakah. This in fact is the same word used in Indonesian for almsgiving but is spelled sedekah, obviously an import from the Arabic and the Muslim Koran. So almsgiving and righteousness were in one since synonymous.
Job says it best, “If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless – but from my youth I reared him as would a father and from my birth I guided the widow – if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing or a needy man without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep, … (Job. 31:16-20).
So giving to the poor is not a work left to our own choosing, not a suggestion but is commanded in the Scriptures.
“By the end of the First Century AD, many Jewish communities had organized community chest to care for the poor. In each town two collectors were appointed to make their rounds of the townspeople each Friday to take up the weekly collection for the poor in money or in goods. Then three others were appointed to give out to the poor every Friday enough to provide for the coming week.” (Web)
30. The concepts in the Disciples Prayer are the core concepts in my prayer life (6:9-13)
And we can also call Him “Father.” Jesus said to Mary after the resurrection: “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. God instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17)
“The beginning of effective prayer is the recognition that God possesses a father’s heart, a father’s love, a father’s strength and a father’s concern for the best interest of his children.” (Pastor John Hamby)
Every time we pray, in every situation, our very first request should be that our Father’s person, identity, character, nature, attributes, reputation, his very being be recognized, honored, adored, praised and worshipped for who He really is through-out the world. In a sense this prayer is a missionary prayer!
The “Kingdom of God” can be better translated as the “Reign of God.” It does not refer to geographic location but to dominion and sovereignty. God’s “kingdom” or “rule” is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done.
The kingdom of God is his royal rule. Again, as he is already holy so he is already King, reigning in absolute sovereignty over both nature and history. Yet when Jesus came he announced a new and special break-in of the kingly rule of God, with all the blessings of salvation and the demands of submission which divine rule implies. To pray that his kingdom may ‘come’ is to pray both that it may grow, as through the church’s witness people submit to Jesus, and that soon it will be consummated when Jesus returns in glory to take his power and reign. (Stott, 147)
God’s determined will, will of decree, God’s desired will or fond wish. God’s greatness is seen in His flexibility. He is not the unmoved mover, he is the most moved mover.
We are to pray for our “daily bread”, for forgiveness, for protection from the enemy.