Pulling Against God Part 2
Scriptures: Matthew 5: 3-30; Hebrews 4:13
Introduction
In part 1 of this series, I asked the question of whether or not we were pulling against God. I told you last week that this could take on two different forms: the first was when God was trying to lead us one way and we were resisting because that is not the way we wanted to go and the second form was how we attempt to pull God in the direction that we want to go while asking Him to bless us as we go in our own direction. While we are in the process of pulling against God, we actually find Scriptures that we think support our efforts. I shared with you that the only way we will arrive at a state of mind where we stop pulling against God is to actually renew our minds. We must change how we think and come to realize that following God requires trust. My first example last week of renewing our minds focused on how we must walk by faith and not by sight. For this illustration I used Justin to imitate being blind and allowing me to lead him. Remember how he acted? Since he was not sure if I would run him into a wall or something he kept putting his hands out trying to feel his way through. That is how we act with God. We want to walk by faith, but to do so we must become blind to what we see with our eyes so that our spirits can take over. We no longer need to take peeks to see where God is taking us or to hold our hands out trying to feel our way through. When we begin to walk by faith, our minds starts down the road to be renewed.
In my message this week, we will examine one of Jesus sermons that focus on changes that we should make in how we think (renewing our minds). Turn with me to Matthew the 5th chapter.
I. Matthew Chapter Five Introduction
The fifth chapter of Matthew is the beginning of what is known as the “Sermon on the Mount”. In this one sermon, Jesus laid out several areas where we need to renew our minds. From this point I will refer to “renewing our minds” as “changing how we think” which may be easier for us to understand. In the beginning of His sermon, Jesus opens with an explanation around the blessings that awaits those who have certain attitudes. This section of His sermon is known as the Beatitudes. In this section Jesus discusses the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who were hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who were persecuted. In other words Jesus was talking about the current condition of everyone who was listening to Him. Most of the people hearing His message fell into one of the groups that He was referencing.
When Jesus finished encouraging everyone He transitioned to informing them of their purpose. The people of His time, just as we are today, are not always aware of our purpose. Also what is critical is the fact that when we are experiencing difficult times, it is hard to see how our purpose matters. Jesus began to share with them their purpose; to act as a preservative and a light for the earth. Jesus told them that they were salt. These people understood what He meant when he referenced them as being salt for salt was very important to their daily lives. Remember they did not have refrigerators or freezers at that time so the way to preserve food was to use salt. Jesus was saying that they were a source of preservation for the world. After He shared that He told them that if the salt has lost its saltiness, it was no good. In other words, if they were going to fulfill their purpose, they could not lose their ability to preserve.
The next example He gave them was that they were a light. What is the purpose of a light? Its purpose is to shine in darkness, to remove the darkness so that one may find their way. Jesus told them that a light cannot be hid, but when it is dark, those in the darkness will be able to see via the light. Again, Jesus was ministering to people who had been beat down and probably did not think they had much to offer the world; He was letting them know that this was not the case. He requested that everyone let their light shine so that those who did not know God could see Him through them. Again, He was talking purpose. In all of this Jesus was laying a foundation. In order for the people to receive what He was about to share with them, they had to understand that they had a purpose in this world.
Each of us has a purpose in this world and when we accept that fact, it makes it a little easier to follow God. You are not a lone wolf wandering through this earth; you are a person of purpose. Once the people understood that they had a purpose, they were willing to hear how they could fulfill it. It is the same with us. I can tell you everyday how I go about preparing a sermon but if your purpose is not to preach, it would mean little to you. But if your purpose (your calling) was to preach, then maybe something that I shared with you would stick because it was in your area of purpose. What Jesus shared and what I am going to share with you has nothing to do with your individual calling in your service to Christ, but your responsibility as a Christian. Again, as we work through these remember we are talking about changing the way we think.
The lessons that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount can be broken out into two categories: our relationship with others and our relationship with God. In the first section which deals with our relationship with others, Jesus discusses anger, adultery, divorce, swearing, revenge and love. When He transitions to our relationship with God, He focuses on our inner man. In this section He discusses prayer, fasting, worrying, judging others, and finally our commitment to God. This morning we will examine anger and adultery. Over the next few weeks we will continue until we complete His total teachings on our renewed minds.
II. Rethinking About Anger
The people that Jesus was talking to were very familiar with Old Testament Law and with the many traditions that generations of rabbis had added to it. When Jesus began to address His topic on how we deal with others, our morality, He went beyond the letter of the Law to the spirit of the Law. Whenever you are dealing with the letter of the law, it leaves room for “loop holes” because it may or may not have been written down correctly. But when you begin to deal with the spirit of the law, you examine more than what was captured on paper, but the actual thinking and understanding that went into the laws’ creation. Jesus was taking the people (and us) on a spiritual journey of understanding the spirit of the Law which was so what different from the letter of the law.
The first area that Jesus addressed concerns how we handle anger. Remember how I told you earlier that these people were being oppressed by several systems (political and religious) on a daily basis? Based on their oppression, it was not uncommon for a lot of hostility to be in the air concerning their oppressors. In verses 21-22 Jesus says “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, ’You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
Notice that Jesus starts out by saying “You have heard…” giving them insight that a change was coming. Then He explains that it had been taught that if you murdered someone you would be in danger of the judgment, possibly ending up in hell. In order to murder someone, it was assumed that you were angry and here is where Jesus was taking them for their first mind shift. He told them that if they were angry with a brother or sister, (even if they did not commit murder) they were putting themselves in jeopardy. Why? Because it is when we are angry that we lose our sense of balance between what is acceptable and what is not. It is when we are angry that we say and do things that we normally would not.
Jesus went on to give them two examples of someone speaking or lashing out with words. What Jesus was telling the people was that it was not necessarily the murder that could put someone in jeopardy, but the anger that was attached to the action – any action. So now the people had to rethink how they responded to their anger for even if they “cussed someone out” they could put themselves in jeopardy just as if they had murdered someone. To that end Jesus encouraged them to reconcile quickly with the one who angered them. Since there was no more room or allowances made for carrying a grudge, we must forgive quickly. Jesus said we should reconcile immediately without delay.
In verses 23-24, Jesus explains something that I think we often do not think about as it pertains to anger. Here is what He says: “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” Here is another mind shift that we must make. Normally when we are angry, especially if someone angered us, we’d wait for them to come to us. We would continue to come to Church, give our tithes and offerings, asks God to bless us and go on our way. Can you imagine how much money the church would lose if this statement was made to every person who brought their tithes and offerings down the aisle: “If anyone is angry with you, go reconcile before you give your money.”
There are some people who would be so upset that they would never bring their money back. Then there would be those who would see this as a loop hole and be so happy that they did not have to give money to the Church when they were angry with someone.
They would be so happy that they would make sure every week that someone was mad at them so they could keep their tithes and offering. Then you would have those who would actually seek out the person who they had had a falling out with and reconcile. The point that Jesus was making goes back to something taught earlier about forgiveness. How can we ask God to forgive and bless us when we have unforgiveness in our hearts?
We must release our anger, reconcile with the one who offends us (or the one we offend) and then we are placed in a position to make requests of God and be a blessing to His works through our giving. Remember, every time you come into the presence of God, whether here at Church or in your private time at home, you are totally exposed. God knows what is in our hearts so we cannot hide from Him. Why is it important that we release anger quickly and reconcile? As I shared with you in a previous message, anger will destroy you and what God is doing through you. Anger puts you on a road to bitterness and little good can come out of a spirit of bitterness. Also, rethinking how we respond to anger will help us meet our purpose of being salt (preserving the world) and being a light (erasing the darkness in the world). If we carry around anger and bitterness, our effectiveness in the world would be hindered. We must put anger aside so that we can be free. If we view anger as a possible doorway to sin, it will force us to rethink what we do and say while we are angry. Lets move on to the next subject Jesus addressed: adultery.
III. Rethinking About Adultery
You have heard the news that there are more divorces today than ever. There are more single adults than married adults. The idea of marriage has changed and many are finding that it is not something they want to be bothered with. Those who do decide to marry have less than a 50% chance of making it through the first 5 years. One of the main precursors to divorces today is “other relationships”. One of the spouses decides that they want a relationship with someone other than their spouse thus committing adultery. In our minds we have the understanding that adultery only happens when there is an act, yet when Jesus taught on this He again looked at the spirit behind the law and this should scare all of us. It is okay to admire God’s creation as long as we do not take our minds off of the creator – meaning that we do cross over into lust. If you could admire the physical beauty of someone else without lusting after them, then you are doing well. But in our society that requirement of not lusting is considered asinine. Today when a man looks at a woman; admires her physical attractiveness; and begin to undress her with his eyes, the prevailing thought today is that as long as you do not touch it is okay to look. When Jesus taught on this His thinking was definitely different from what is believed in our world. Here is what He said in verses 27-28: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Now this goes directly against what our beliefs are today. Jesus said that the adultery happens when you look at the person and lusts after them, even though you did not touch them. Jesus’ teachings requires us to rethink about how we look at adultery, it extends beyond just the act. Before a person commits adultery physically, they have already committed it within their hearts. If you knew that you were committing adultery every time you lusted after someone, would you stop? If you wore a neon sign that blinked your thoughts and flashed the word “lusting” when you were looking at someone, would you stop? If every time you thought of sleeping with someone you found attractive and an alarm sounded calling out the word “adulterer”, would you stop? I ask you this because we believe that our thoughts are our own and are private, but we are wrong. The Scripture says plainly that “….there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:13)
Our thoughts are known by God and therefore they are not private. Rodney may not know your thoughts but neither can Rodney send you to hell. You may not know Rodney’s thoughts but neither can you send Rodney to hell. God knows our thoughts and God can send us to hell. Let me give you a reason to consider your possible answer. Jesus did not stop there; He shared with them in verses 29-30 the results of the lust. “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” For those of you who may be asking yourself if Jesus really meant it, ask yourself if you believe He is capable of lying. I believe He meant exactly what He said. According to what He has said, we can be sent to hell based on what we do with our eyes. Are you understanding what I am saying? I know there are people out there who believe that Jesus may have been just “giving an example” but I think He knew exactly what He was saying. Think about how much trouble people have gotten into because of something they saw with their eyes. People have stolen something because they wanted what their eyes saw. People have killed because of what their eyes saw. Our eyes can lead us into trouble.
We need to change our thinking as it pertains to adultery for according to Jesus the penalty is the same. So looking is just as bad as touching. Again, in this circumstance we must put into its proper perspective. Sure it would appear that just looking is harmless, but Jesus wants our hearts to be pure. Imagine putting a light bulb into a lamp while the shade is not on. If you turn that lamp on without the shade, the light reflects brightly throughout the room. Now considers what happens when you put the shade on. Depending on the type of shade, the light could be totally reflected in a certain director or at a minimum it will be dulled. This is what our actions do to our light shining. Our actions can make our lights shine brighter or it can make our lights dull or reflect it in a totally different direction from where it should be.
Let me give you a visual that hopefully will help you understand that “just looking” is still not acceptable by God’s standard. Imagine you were a member of a Church and you had a pastor that you respected. Imagine seeing your Pastor sitting on a bench in the park on a nice summer day. You know during the summer the clothes get tighter and skimpier, so your Pastor is just out sitting on a bench enjoying the sights.) While you are watching your Pastor, his/her head is constantly turning with the “sights” and keeps turning every time a new sight walks by. Not only does his/her head keep turning, but you also notice the smile on their face that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Now your Pastor did not touch any of the sights, he/she just watched and smiled. What you would thoughts be of your Pastor? Would they change? Could you listen to their sermon on lusts after watching what you saw? Would you trust them around your children or siblings? If you answered any of these questions in a manner that reflect a change in your attitude towards your Pastor then you have your answer as to whether it is okay to look as long as you do not touch. Now for those of you who are thinking “but a Pastor is not supposed to look” let me put this to rest.
God’s standards are the same for all of us. If you can show me one Scripture, just one, that says a pastor’s requirements as a Christians are different from yours, then I will stand before this congregation and recant what I just told you. A Pastor may have different requirements as it pertains to preaching God’s word, but not as it pertains to living like a Christian. The same things that are a sin for a Pastor are a sin for you also. If you think it is okay to look as long as you do not touch, let me leave you with this final thought. If you are married and your spouse does not look like they did when you first married and you are constantly looking at newer, younger models, how much time would pass by before you become dissatisfied with your spouse and you begin considering trading them in for a newer model, just like we do with our cars?
God is not playing with us. We may like to think that we can do whatever we want, think whatever we want and there will not be any consequences, but that is wrong. God has a standard and His standard is not man’s standard. That is why as Jesus taught this lesson He told them “You have heard…” meaning that He was going to tell them a better way. To walk with Christ will require that we reassess our beliefs pertaining to His word and His guidance. We will continue this message next week.
May God bless you.
