A common back to school ritual is the wardrobe selection. For some it means the latest fashions and for others it means the school uniform. Ironically, the latest fashions are the uniform. There has been a unique development this year in the elimination for many schools of the tartan skirt. Meant to be a standard in modest attire, many parents and school boards have gotten tired with the ever rising hem line of the skirts. The tool first envisioned for modesty, had been abandoned for its use in over sexualizing attire.
Although sexual temptations have been strong since man’s fall, our day of permissiveness and perversion has brought an increase in those destructive influences that no society in history has had before (see 2 Tim. 3:13). Ours is a day of unbridled indulgence in sexual passion. People propagate, promote, and exploit it through the most powerful and pervasive media ever known to man. It seems to be the almost uninterrupted theme of our society’s entertainment. Mass media uses sex to sell its products and to glamorize its programs. Sex crimes are at all-time highs, while infidelity, divorce, and perversion are justified. Marriage, sexual fidelity, and moral purity are scorned, ridiculed, and laughed at. We are preoccupied with sex to a degree perhaps never before seen in a civilized culture.
Jesus continues to unmask the self-righteous externalism typified by the scribes and Pharisees by showing that the only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart. Without that purity, the outward life makes no difference. God’s divine evaluation takes place in the heart. He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation. “As [a person] thinks within himself, so he is” (Prov. 23:7), and so he is judged by God (1 Sam. 16:7).
Anger and sexual lust are two of the most powerful influences on humanity. The person who gives them reign will soon find that they are more controlled than in control. Every person has experienced temptation to anger and to sexual sin, and every person has at some time and to some degree given in to those temptations. Because of that fact, every person is guilty before God of murder and of adultery.
In its many forms, sexual license is destroying lives physically, morally, mentally, and spiritually. It is destroying marriages, families, and even whole communities.
Jesus’ second illustration of heart righteousness has to do with adultery and sexual sin in general. In verses 27–30 He focuses on 1)The deed of adultery, 2) The desire behind it, and 3)The deliverance from it.
1) The Deed. Matthew 5:27
Matthew 5:27 [27]"You have heard that it was said, ’You shall not commit adultery.’ (ESV)
Just as Jesus dealt with the sin of murder (vv. 21–26), this illustration begins with a quotation of one of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:14). In both of those cases, Jewish tradition was based on the law of Moses, at least superficially.
In its most technical sense, committing adultery (from moichaô) refers to sexual intercourse between a man and woman when one or both of them is married. In both the Old and New Testaments the word relates to any sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s marriage partner. That Jesus here implies that the principle of sexual purity can be seen in a wider sense than adultery (though adultery is His point here) seems clear from the fact that both everyone and a woman are comprehensive terms that could also apply to the unmarried.
The Mosaic law portrays adultery as one of the most despicable and heinous of sins, punishable by death (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). In strongly opposing adultery, Jewish tradition appeared to be entirely scriptural. When the scribes and Pharisees told Jesus that Moses commanded them to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery, they were correct (John 8:4–5). Had not Jesus forgiven her of her sin she would have deserved stoning.
The sixth commandment protects the sanctity of life and the seventh the sanctity of marriage. Those who rely on external righteousness break both of those commandments, because in their hearts they attack the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, whether they do so outwardly or not. When they are angry or hate, they commit murder. When they lust sexually, they commit adultery. And when they do either of those things, they choose to despise God’s law and God’s name (see Ex. 20:14; Lev. 20:10; Deut. 5:18).
Quote: Someone once said:
Sex is like fire. In a fireplace, it’s warm and delightful. Outside the fireplace, it’s destructive and uncontrollable (Green, Michael P.: Illustrations for Bilical Preaching : Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively. Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1989).
Throughout the New Testament, prohibitions against sexual immorality are every bit as clear as those of the Old. “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals” will inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9; cf. Gal. 5:19–21; Rev. 2:22). “Fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). Regardless of how much a couple may care for each other and be deeply in love, sexual relations outside of marriage are forbidden. In every case, without exception, it is a heinous sin against God.
Throughout history some Christians have reacted to sexual temptations and sins in ways that are unbiblical. Seeing the great power of the sex drive and the great damage its unbridled expression can cause, they have sometimes concluded that sex itself is evil and should be completely condemned and avoided.
• Origen (A.D. 185–254), one of the outstanding early church Fathers, was so convicted of his own sinfulness by reading Matthew 5:27–30 that he had himself castrated (The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. James D. Douglas [new edition; Grand Rapids, 1974, 1978], p. 733).
It is significant that not long afterward, the Council of Nicea outlawed the practice. Apart from the fact that such mutilation is contrary to Scripture, poor Origen still had his eyes, and if he had removed them, he would still have had his mind’s eye (Hughes, R. Kent: The Sermon on the Mount : The Message of the Kingdom. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 2001 (Preaching the Word), S. 108).
Peter Abelard, a twelfth-century French theologian, had lived a godly life for many years. He fell in love with a young woman (Heloise) and caused her to become pregnant. To protect her and to try to rectify the wrong, he married her. Damaging rumors had begun to circulate, however, and, rather than harm Abelard’s career still further, Heloise entered a convent. Her uncle, angry at all that had happened, hired men to break into Abelard’s quarters and castrate him; Abelard then joined the monastery of St.-Denis (New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 3).
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 6
Geographical escapism, physical mutilation, or any form of forced celibacy violate God’s purpose (see Heb. 13:4) and are just as unscriptural as sexual immorality.
The solution to sexual impurity cannot be external because the cause is not external.
1 Corinthians 6:9-19 [9]Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10]nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11]And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. [12]"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything.[13]"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"--and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. [14]And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. [15]Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! [16]Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." [17]But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. [18]Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. [19]Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (ESV)
The philosophy of sexual hedonism is not new to our day. It was common in New Testament times, and Paul faced it full force in Corinth. His comment “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food” (1 Cor. 6:13a) expressed the common Greek notion that biological functions are just biological functions and have no moral significance. It was a belief many of the Corinthian believers had reverted to, or had never given up, in order to justify their sexual misconduct.
Apparently they were arguing, as do many hedonists today, that sex is simply a biological act, no different morally from eating, drinking, or sleeping.
But Paul strongly refutes that idea by going on to say, “God will do away with both of them [that is, food and the stomach]. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body” (v. 13b). The body is more than biological, as divine judgment will reveal. For Christians it is a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit, and belongs to the Lord rather than to us (vv. 15, 19). It is therefore never to be used for any purpose that dishonors the God who made and indwells it. Christians should have but one response to sexual temptation-running away from it (v. 18).
Now over to 1 Corinthians 7
God created sex and gives it as a blessing to those who enjoy it within the bounds of marriage. Sexual expression not only is a thrilling privilege but an obligation of marriage.
1 Corinthians 7:3-5 [3]The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. [4]For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. [5]Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (ESV)
• Anyone who promotes abstinence from marriage on the basis that all sexual expression is evil is “paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (see 1 Tim. 4:1–3).
Illustration: Not everyone understands the nature of the deed of adultery.
Returning from Sunday school, where the Ten Commandments had been the topic of the day, a young boy asked his father, “Daddy, what does it mean when it says, ‘Thou shalt not commit agriculture’?” There was hardly a beat between the question and the father’s reply: “Son, that just means that you’re not supposed to plow the other man’s field,” an answer satisfactory to both of them (Green, Michael P.: Illustrations for Bilical Preaching : Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively. Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1989).
We have seen 1)The Deed of Adultery and now:
2) The Desire Matthew 5:28
Matthew 5:28 [28]But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (ESV)
The pronoun I (egô) is definite, indicating that Jesus puts His own word above the authority of revered rabbinic tradition. Looks (from blepô) is a present participle and refers to the continuous process of looking. In this usage, the idea is not that of an incidental or involuntary glance but of intentional and repeated gazing. Pros to (to) used with the infinitive (epithumçsai, lustful intent) indicates a goal or an action that follows in time the action of the looking.
Jesus is therefore speaking of intentional looking with the purpose of lusting. This is the intentional continual dwelling on lustful thoughts, or the intentional selection of a particular location, like a beach, book, magazine, TV program, movie or internet site, or who does any such thing with the expectation and desire of being sexually and sinfully aroused.
• Someone will surely respond, “That’s only normal and natural. I can’t help it if desires are aroused in my heart at the sight of a person of the opposite sex.” That may be true, but that does not make it right (Albrecht, G. Jerome ; Albrecht, Michael J.: Matthew. Milwaukee, Wis. : Northwestern Pub. House, 1996 (The People’s Bible), S. 76).
The process specified here is important. Looking at a woman lustfully does not cause a man to commit adultery in his thoughts. He already has committed adultery with her in his heart. It is not lustful looking that causes the sin in the heart, but the sin in the heart that causes lustful looking. The lustful looking is but the expression of a heart that is already immoral and adulterous. The heart is the soil where the seeds of sin are imbedded and begin to grow.
Quote: E. Stanley Jones caught the import of this verse when he wrote: “If you think … adultery, you do not satisfy the sex urge; you pour oil on a fire to quench it.” Sin begins in the mind, and if we nourish it, we eventually commit the act (MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Mt 5:27).
Jesus is not speaking of unexpected and unavoidable exposure to sexual temptation. There is no sin if the temptation is resisted and the gaze is turned elsewhere. It is continuing to look in order to satisfy lustful desires that Jesus condemns, because it evidences a vile, immoral heart.
Look beyond the immediate context to the broader one of covenant. Marriage is a covenant between two people for life, and adultery violates that covenant. When two persons covenant to be husband and wife, for one to entertain thoughts of relating sexually to someone other than the spouse makes that one guilty of breaking covenant. Jesus expects His disciples to keep covenant in both deed and attitude (Augsburger, Myron S. ; Ogilvie, Lloyd J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24 : Matthew. Nashville, Tennessee : Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982 (The Preacher’s Commentary Series 24), S. 18).
• God is a God who keeps His covenants and He expects His followers to do the same. When we fail to do so yet claim to be His followers, we misrepresent His character. To continue to do so is of the greatest insult.
Although Jesus here uses a man as the example, His condemnation of lustful thoughts as well as actions applies equally to women. Women are equally susceptible to lustful looking, and even to inciting men to lust.
• Parents have a responsibility in guiding the dress of their children. Godly modesty requires that we consider the implication of our dress on others.
• Lest we require what we don’t observe ourselves, we must take care that our own dress is unnecessarily distracting, provoking sin.
Just as the adulterous heart plans to expose itself to lust-satisfying situations, the godly heart plans to avoid them whenever possible and to flee from them when unavoidable. Just as the adulterous heart panders to itself in advance, so the godly heart protects itself in advance, praying with the psalmist:
Psalm 119:37-38 [37]Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. [38]Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
Please turn to Job 31
Paul exhorted Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:22 [22]So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (ESV)
How do we flee? At times it means physically removing ourselves from situations, like Joseph & Potiphar`s wife (Gen. 39). The second part of this, pursuing righteousness, takes work in advance of the situations.
Job said:
Job 31:1-11 [31:1]"I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? [2]What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? [3]Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? [4]Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? [5]"If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; [6](Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) [7]if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, [8] then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. [9]"If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, [10]then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. [11]For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
Like Job, therefore, we must make a covenant with our eyes-and with every other part of our bodies, minds, and spirits-to shun lust and pursue purity.
Illustration: Many people misunderstand how to deal with desire.
A wealthy couple desired to employ a chauffeur. The lady of the house advertised, the applicants were screened, and four suitable candidates were brought before her for the final selection. She called the prospective chauffeurs to her balcony and pointed out a brick wall alongside the driveway. Then she asked the prospective chauffeurs, “How close do you think you could come to that wall without scratching my car.”
The first man felt that he could drive within a foot of the wall without damaging the car. The second felt sure that he could come within six inches. The third believed that he could get within three inches. The fourth candidate said, “I do not know how close I could come to the wall without damaging your car. Instead, I would try to stay as far away from that wall as I could.”
This candidate had a different focus. He understood that true skill in driving is not based so much on the ability to steer the car to a narrow miss as on the ability to keep a wide margin of safety.
Like the fourth candidate, there are many aspects of human nature, such as sexual temptation, that are best dealt with by keeping a wide margin of safety (Green, Michael P.: Illustrations for Bilical Preaching : Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively. Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. Grand Rapids : Baker Book House, 1989)
We have seen 1)The Deed of adultery, 2) The Desire behind it, and finally:
3) The Deliverance. Matthew 5:29-30
Matthew 5:29-30 [29]If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. [30]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. (ESV)
Here Jesus points the way to deliverance from heart sin. At first His advice seems contradictory with what He has just been saying. If the problem is in the heart, what good is plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand? If the right eye were lost, the left would continue to look lustfully, and if the right hand were cut off, the left would still remain to carry on sinful acts.
Verses 29 and 30 emphasize how seriously the disciple is to regard this problem. Anything that leads to lust should be given up. (We should regard) sin so seriously as to prefer to lose an eye or a hand rather than to lose (ourselves) in sin. We should understand these statements attitudinally, just as the previous injunction is addressed to our thoughts and attitudes. This means taking literally the basic intent of the passage, rather than physically removing the eye. The loss of one eye or one hand cannot in itself prevent a lustful look or thought. The word-picture is to emphasize deliberate, decisive action in dealing with our propensity to sin (Augsburger, Myron S. ; Ogilvie, Lloyd J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 24 : Matthew. Nashville, Tennessee : Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982 (The Preacher’s Commentary Series 24), S. 18).
Quote: As Tasker writes, “Jesus is expressing in metaphorical language the all-important truth that a limited but morally healthy life is better than a wider life which is morally depraved.”(Tasker, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, p. 69.)
Jesus is speaking figuratively of those things, physical or otherwise, that cause us to be tempted or make us more susceptible to temptation. In Jewish culture, the right eye and right hand represented a person’s best and most precious faculties. The eye is the medium through which one is tempted to lust and the hand represents the physical actions that result from lusting. Jesus is calling us to consider what mediums we use for lusting and consider the actions that will result
The right eye also represented one’s best vision, and the right hand one’s best skills.
Quote: Jesus is speaking of what we call “spiritual mortification.” John Stott explains it beautifully:
What does this involve in practice? Let me elaborate and so interpret Jesus’ teaching: “If your eye causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your eyes (objects you see), then pluck out your eyes. That is, don’t look! Behave as if you had actually plucked out your eyes and flung them away, and were now blind and so could not see the objects which previously caused you to sin. Again, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, because temptation comes to you through your hands (things you do) or your feet (places you visit), then cut them off. That is: don’t do it! Don’t go! Behave as if you had actually cut off your hands and feet, and had flung them away, and were now crippled and so could not do the things or visit the places which previously caused you to sin.” That is the meaning of “mortification.”( John R. W. Stott, Christian Counter-Culture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), p. 89.)
Nothing is so valuable as to be worth preserving at the expense of righteousness, and ultimately, eternal life. This strong message is obviously not to be interpreted in a wooden, literal way so that the Lord appears to be advocating mutilation. Mutilation will not cleanse the heart.
The intent of these words is simply to call for dramatic severing of the sinful impulses in us which push us to evil action. Maintaining an undefiled thought life demands strict self-discipline.
Mortification is not only ultimately positive—it is positive in practice because it involves cultivating good thoughts and actions. Paul tells us:
Philippians 4:8 [8]Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)
• A life filled with uplifting thoughts and overflowing with service will be less likely to be subject to the sins Jesus warns against.
But more than that, we must recognize the absolute necessity of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We cannot mortify our flesh alone. Willpower will not do it! Paul is careful to tell us:
Romans 8:12-13 [12]So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. [13]For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (ESV) (cf. Phil. 2:12-13)
The phrase that Christ uses in Matthew 5:30 about something causes you to sin/makes … stumble (Skandalizô), was often used of the bait stick that springs the trap when an animal touches it. Anything that morally or spiritually traps us, that causes us to fall into sin or to stay in sin, should be eliminated quickly and totally.
• If we know that going to a particular place, or being alone with a particular person causes us to fall into temptation, then we should plan to avoid these things in advance, and should the situation arise unexpectedly, not remain in the situation.
• If we do not consciously and purposefully control what is around us, where we go, what we do, what we watch and read, the company we keep, and the conversations we have, then those things will control us. And what we cannot control we should discard without hesitation.
Obviously getting rid of harmful influences will not change a corrupt heart into a pure heart. Outward acts cannot produce inner benefits. That outward act is effective protection, because it comes from a heart that seeks to do God’s will instead of its own.
Illustration: Like Origen, Saint Anthony sought to escape immorality and lust by separating himself from the rest of society. He became a hermit in the Egyptian desert, where he lived in poverty and deprivation for thirty-five years. Yet by his own testimony he was never freed in all that time from the cares and temptations he sought to escape. Because his heart was still in the world he could not escape the world, and he quickly discovered that Satan, the god of this world, had no difficulty finding him in the desert (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1956], 1:146–47).
Quote: A popular proverb goes, “Sow a thought and reap an act. Sow an act and reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. Sow a character and reap a destiny.”
• That process perfectly illustrates Jesus’ main thrust in this passage: No matter where it ends, sin always begins when an evil thought is sown in the mind and heart.
James 1:15 [15]Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (ESV)
The consequence of not dealing with this problem is severe. In dramatic fashion, Christ has set forth how drastically we need to deal with lust and He gives us a perspective that no action is too radical given the consequences.
Not only will lust bring forth disruption in relationships, its outward action is a legitimate grounds for divorce. Frequently though scripture, the end result is pointed to as judgment in hell. Is Christ giving a figure of speech like the rest of His example? No. Someone who lives an unrepentant lifestyle of such lust is a person who does not have a true regard for God, resulting in eternal separation from Him. Those whose lifestyle is characterized by uncontrolled immorality are not heirs of the kingdom (Gal. 5:19ff; Eph. 4:17ff; 5:3–12; Col. 3:5; 1 Thes. 4:3–7; Heb. 13:4).
Jesus again sets forth the impossible standards of His kingdom righteousness. All people are murderers and adulterers. Many do not realize that they are because of the subtlety of sin and its blinding effect on the mind. Jesus does not suggest that the scribes and Pharisees, or anyone else, could deliver themselves from the propensity to sin. As always, the impossibility that He sets forth has a twofold purpose: to make men and women despair of their own righteousness and to seek His. The Lord’s remedy for a wicked heart is a new heart, and His answer for our helplessness is His sufficiency.
We must never let our piety and spiritual accomplishments dull us to our potential for sin. We must mortify the very members of our bodies. If our eyes, hands, and feet are causing us to stumble, we must take desperate measures to keep that from happening. Even if we are not in a pattern of habitual sin, we should make a covenant with our eyes in advance of temptation, to stop, to leave the scene if necessary.
If God is speaking to you about some things that need to be put out of your life, do what he says today. If God is telling you to change your visual habits, then do it for your soul’s sake and that of your family. If God is saying that a relationship must end, then do it today. Or perhaps there is some pleasure that is okay for others but is causing you to stumble, and you know it must go. If so, get rid of it right now. You cannot do it through your own willpower. Obey God with humility and prayer. Ask him for strength, and then do what He says (Hughes, R. Kent: The Sermon on the Mount : The Message of the Kingdom. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 2001 (Preaching the Word), S. 110).
(Format Note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, John: Matthew. Chicago : Moody Press, 1989, S. 299)
