Scripture: Matthew 5:21-48; Psalm 119:1-8; Dt. 30:15-20
Title: Mountain Living or Here Comes the Kingdom!
A life in which we can 1. Have a high regard for Others 2. Possess a Respect for the Sanctity of Life and 3. Meet our Differences through the Practice of Agape Love
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world!
According to USA Today, the city of Naperville, Illinois is one of the greatest places to call home in the United States of America. Now, why would they say that? Well, their reasons are quite simple:
Naperville is:
a. One of the wealthiest cities in the United States with an Median Family Income of a little over 127, 500.00.
b. 98% of its citizens 25 years and old have a high school diploma
c. It has one of the lowest crime and poverty rates in the United States
d. It is the home of North Central College along with being a satellite location for seven more colleges
e. Over 63% of its citizens have at least a bachelor's degree
f. Naperville's library has consistently been one of top public libraries in the United States for over 20 years
So, let's all go home and pack and move to Naperville, Illinois or let us this morning look at Matthew 5:21-48 where Jesus tells us that wherever we can live can be a place even better than Naperville, Illinois.
History tells us that back in 1620 there was a collection of 102 passengers that set sail from Plymouth Rock, England who believed that with God's help they could build a society much like the one we read about in the book of Genesis. They believed that God would help them create a Garden of Eden like society. A society based on the Lord, His Word and the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. They not only believed that it was possible they believed they had been given a mandate to make it possible.
I believe this morning that they must have read and had passages like Matthew 5:21-48 memorized. For as we read this passage and see it in Jesus' overall plan for the Kingdom of Heaven we come to realize that Jesus was teaching and directing his disciples and others to create a place where the life of higher righteousness could be realized. Jesus was telling his disciples that such a world could exist through Him.
As you read Jesus' words here at first you may be tempted to think that such a society in which Jesus is describing is an impossibility. You may even believe that it is impossible to even conceive of such a world and certainly it is impossible for such a society to exist here on our earth. However, the more you allow Jesus' words and His Spirit to sink in and renew your heart, your mind and your soul then you come to the conclusion that it is such a society that Jesus died for and sent His Holy Spirit. It is such a society that we as His faithful followers are to co-partner with Him to build here on earth.
In this passage our Lord deals with some heavy issues. Issues that include anger, murder, lust, adultery, swearing, retaliation and the creation of an enemies list. These are things that dominate our news headlines each and every day. All we have to do is open a newspaper, begin to read some stories on line and we will be bombarded with news about each one of these things. In fact, about 80 - 90% of all of our modern day movies and TV shows have one of these as their plot line. If they were suddenly removed from society then modern day movies and TV would for the most part be non-existent.
We understand that those things (murder, lust, adultery etc...) are very wrong and I believe down deep we wish that they were not a part of our world but we also don't know how to get rid of them. As long as we have lived, murder, adultery, lust, swearing, retaliation and developing an enemies list along with other sins have been a part of our everyday life. It's been a part of our everyday diet of news and information. Sadly, they not only exist in the world but as we all know they exist in the Body of Christ.
We all have known good people, people who have attended worship for years and who have read their Bibles and believed that they were growing in Christ having to deal with many of these issues. Not so much in the area of murder but the divorce rate in the Church is not much different than the divorce rate in the world at large. And I don't think we really want to get into the adultery or lust issue because we all know that there are millions in the Church that deal with those issues. As far as people being able to trust the word of a Christian over that of an unbeliever I think we have enough lawyers and law suits that would testify against that truth. Finally, when it comes to having an enemies list I am afraid we are as guilty of that as well.
So, what was Jesus doing her by having his disciples look at all of these issues? Was Jesus merely making sure that they understood the full extent of humanities wickedness? Or was Jesus doing his best to help them understand that before any of these things happen the LORD has made a way to stop them? Was Jesus in effect saying that none of these things have to come to fruition if you will take care of them in their infancy? In other words, you won't have to worry about divorce if you will say no to lust, evil imaginations and adultery.
I believe this morning that is exactly the direction Jesus was leading his disciples. I believe that Jesus wants us to stop for a moment and ponder on a few things:
1. Things like - Does our live here on earth have to look like this - filled with murder, litigation, adultery, divorce, retaliation, profanity and possessing an enemies list? Are we as humans condemned generation after generation to live in a world full of sin?
2. Is there something or someone who can make such a difference in our world that we can stop many of these things from happening by getting to the very root of the problem?
3. Is it possible for members of the Kingdom of Heaven to begin to create a world in which these things no longer exist or if they do they do so minimally? Or is that idea and concept only pie in the sky thinking?
Well, I do believe it is pie in the sky thinking if your thinking is along the lines of Colossians 3:1-3
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
You see, when Matthew was writing his gospel he was writing to people who were coming to faith in Jesus. He was writing to people who were having to live in a very sinful and violent world. A world that was full of murder, hatred, lust, adultery, divorce, lies, retaliation and revenge.
But Matthew believed that in Christ a person could be made into a new creation. HE believed that in Christ a person could be born again spiritually, mentally, emotionally, socially and physically. He believed that in Christ the old sinful person could die and a new spiritual person could be reborn. That new person would be one who would be infilled with the Holy Spirit. That new person would be a person who would walk and be guided by the Holy Spirit. That person would be a person who was determined to share the message of Jesus and live out that message. That new person would see as their mandate to create a whole new world here on earth. A world that is being restored into the image of Jesus. A world that is free from both the penalty and power of sin.
Not only did Matthew believe this was possible, he also believed that this was Jesus' whole mission for coming. He believed that Jesus came to restore mankind and by restoring mankind then our world would be restored. Jesus came to bring about total salvation and total transformation. The total transformation of our world through Jesus is the premise of the whole Great Commission.
One of our questions this morning is do we believe that it can really happen? Can we really be changed? Can our homes be changed? Can our neighborhoods be changed? Can our towns be changed. Can our nation and our world be changed in Christ Jesus?
In Matthew 18:1-4 we read where Jesus uses the example of a child to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells us that unless we turn and become like children we will never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
I believe part of what Jesus is saying in this passage is for us to look at children and watch how they can create a whole new world around them. A world in which things like murder, lust, divorce, hatred, revenge and retaliation do not exist. They use their imagination to create such a world. Any parent who has watched their child has watched them do this very thing. Even children living in the worst of conditions can in their mind create a safe haven.
Now, we immediately say well that's okay they are children. They are merely using their imagination. Such a world only exists in their minds. It does not exist in reality.
But think about it for a moment. Isn't the mind the very place where almost all of our new ideas and new inventions originate? Was it not in the minds and hearts of people like Jonas Salk, Henry Ford or Thomas Edison where their great inventions started? Back in the mid 1800's a man by the name of Charles Babbage began to conceive of a whole new way to approach mathematics and general knowledge. Others following his lead continued his work and today we have the finished work. We call them computers. The idea of the modern computer started all the way back in the mid 1800's in the mind and heart of Charles Babbage.
I believe this morning, we are to understand when we read our passage this morning is that in the heart and mind of God was the conception that His people could be transformed so radically that they would be able to build a whole new society. A society built on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
You and I this morning have been invited to be a part of that society. We have come here today to worship the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. We have come to be in His presence as His followers and to go out into the world and build a new world for our Lord and King Jesus Christ. We are to go forth in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has taught us.
We are to be change agents. And in order to be change agents we have to be changed ourselves. We have to look at the Sermon on the Mount for what it is. It is God's idea, God's plan of restoring His people and His world. In Christ we are freed from both the penalty of sin and the power of sin. In Christ we are given the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. In Christ, we have been given the keys of the Kingdom and now it is time for us to live out that Kingdom here among our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and among others to lead them to saving knowledge and experience that we enjoy in Christ Jesus.
One of our main difficulties today is many in the Church don't think such a life is possible either for themselves or for the world at large. Many don't believe that we can experience a world in which the Fruit of the Spirit is experienced on a grand scale. We may believe that such a world can exist for a time within the walls of a church or a monastery but not in the world at large.
I fear that so many inside the Body of Christ have bought into the pessimistic idea that people truly cannot be transformed for the better and that the world must get worse and worse and worse.
If that be the case then Jesus died for nothing and in the end His whole life and mission was a lie. Jesus told His Disciples that He came to bring us life and that life would be abundant life. He told His Disciples that they would be infilled with enough power to change their world. He told them that the Holy Spirit would lead them to live the Life of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
So, exactly what does this life of Christ look like, smell like, taste like and sound like? If we dare to believe that Jesus came to transform us, our society and our world then what does that exactly mean?
I. It means that we are able to have the highest regard for one another
It means that it is possible for us to see each other as we truly are - made in the image of our LORD.
In verses 21 - 26 our Lord deals with the issue of anger. Jesus knows that murder starts off with anger that leads to malice, hatred and finally rage. Murder doesn't happen out of thin air. It begins in the hearts and minds of people. And so, Jesus tells us that we have to stop murder at its conception. We have to deal with anger, hatred, malice and rage before they lead us to murder.
That is to say, that we have to consistently surrender our will over to the will of the LORD. We must allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds, our hearts and our souls. We must allow the beginning work of salvation to sanctify us wholly.
Why did Cain kill his brother Abel? The Bible tells us that it was out of pride and self-idolatry. Cain falsely believed that the LORD loved Abel more than he loved him even though there was no basis for his belief. The problem arose over the fact that Cain wanted God's blessing at a bargain basement price. His brother Abel was giving himself completely to the LORD and was receiving the Lord's favor and blessing. Cain wanted the same blessing but wasn't will to die out to the LORD.
In Genesis 4:7 the LORD comes and confronts Cain. If Cain desires the LORD's blessings then all Cain needs to do is to live a holy life and then things will go well. However, to do the opposite will bring disaster. The LORD warns Cain - "sin is crouching at the door. It's desire is for you, but you must rule over it."
Did you hear what the LORD said to Cain? The LORD was revealing to Cain how he was to live, how he was to avoid sin and how he could have dominance over sin. The LORD would give him the power to resist sin. All Cain had to do was to choose to live holy. All Cain had to do was to surrender his anger, his malice and his rage over to the LORD.
This morning, the Devil will make sure that that all of us have plenty of opportunity to get angry and then he will stoke the fires for that anger to mushroom into hatred, malice and rage. We may never take a hand gun or a stick and physically take someone's life but we will be tempted to assassinate their character and destroy their reputation. We can do that by merely bending some truth, spreading some malicious gossip or simply not stopping the gossip.
However, this is not to be the way of Christ followers. Instead, as the LORD preached and as His disciples taught the way of Christ followers is that of agape love. The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:4 - 5 (ESV)
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
The New Testament is full of passages that encourage us, challenge us and persuade us to hold each other in the highest esteem. That is the way of Christ. We are not called to rule over someone but to lift them up. We have not been commissioned to step over them but instead to pick up a towel and serve them.
We must over and over again remind ourselves on a regular basis that the LORD came to transform our world. That transformation is to take place through us as His redeemed, spirit-filled children. In many ways that means that we today as Christ followers will be counter cultural. We are called to lived and act differently than those around us. We are called to look upon one another with eyes of agape love and eyes of faith.
We cannot have high regard for one another if we are at the same time putting one another down. In Galatians 5:5 Paul warns against this very type of behavior:
"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another."
All of this is our choice this morning. We can choose the way of Christ or the way of the world. We can choose to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our lives and stay surrendered to his will. That is the way of agape love and agape action. Or we can choose to create a society that in the end will turn on itself and destroy itself. We can choose to build a nation that is constantly at each other's throats, spilling the raw sewage of hatred, malice and violence.
II. Secondly, we means we are able to have a high respect the sanctity of life
Any time we destroy human life it is a sin and it is a consequence of sin. That is what God's word teaches us. Our Lord Jesus wants us to understand that we are not to sacrifice human lives for power, position or for goals.
We are not to see people as much as we are to see persons. We are to value the one - the one person. We are to see them as God's beautiful creation and the life that He gives them as God's holy breath.
In Genesis chapter two we have this beautiful story of the creation of Adam. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY takes some soil from the earth and forms a human body. It has eyes, ears, toes and fingers. Then the LORD breaths into this human body His breath - the breath of life. Adam comes alive, possess consciousness and has been made into the image of God Himself.
Human life is therefore God breathed life. Human life is life that was made in the image of God. The more we are able to understand those two things the more we will understand the sanctity of life. And the more we understand the sanctity of life the more we will appreciate and hold in high esteem everyone's life.
The world desires for us to only see our physical bodies. Bodies that can be used for sensual pleasure, selfish gratification and exploitation. Bodies that can be used by the wealthy and powerful to use for their own gain and pleasure. Bodies that can be sacrificed at any moment regardless of race, gender or age.
However, as Christ followers we see things radically different. We believe that we are more than our bodies. We believe that our bodies can be the temple of the LORD. We believe that all life is sacred and holy. We believe that human life is of inestimable worth and significance. We believe that the preborn, the aged, the widowed, the mentally and physically challenged and every other condition in which humanness is expressed is God breathed and sacred.
That means this morning that we are to understand that our own lives are sacred. We must understand that we are God breathed individuals. That we have value and worth. And then we are to take that and expand that to others. We must understand that every person on this planet has been created into the image of our LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
In each of the sections that Jesus preaches about in this part of His sermon - anger, lust, marriage, truth telling, retaliation and loving your enemies they all have to deal with the sanctity of life. If today, we could see one another as God breathed creations how much different would we look at one another? Would we exploit one another for self-gratification? Would we retaliate against one another over the slightest of differences? Would we continually make an enemies list? Would we treat one another with contempt and disregard?
One time I overheard a conversation going on between two people in management talking about a group of their employees. They were discussing these employees value and worth. They were attempting to put down on paper their worth. They were discussing whether or not these individuals were essential to the health and success of corporation and how much it was going to cost to retain them. Their total focus was centered on the bottom line. They were doing their best to reduce their costs and so they were trying to put it to pencil these individual's truth worth.
The more I listened the more I began to understand that these certain employees were being treated like chess pieces on a chess board. They were no longer being seen as individuals or as people make in the image of God. They were no longer being seen as individual people who breathed, ate, slept and experienced life. They were not longer seen as people having individual worth, who had dreams and aspirations. They were merely cogs in a great big company machine. They were no longer been seen as assets but liabilities. They were no longer being seen as people who were bringing life to the company but only as people who were costing the company time, energy and resources.
Now, we must be careful here for we do not want to demonize every corporation or HR department for trying to do the best for their companies. However, at the same time as Christ followers we are to never see one another as chess pieces or merely cogs in some giant machine. We are to see people as Christ sees people - made in the image of Him, His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.
In each of these cases and a million others Jesus wants us to respect the God breathed life each and every one us as been given. We do that by seeing each other as God's image. We do that by lifting up life and by promoting life over power, position or financial gain. We do that by connecting one life to another. We do that by respecting life from the moment of conception to the moment of death.
Pope Francis gives us some great advice in this regard. Listen to his words:
“All life has inestimable value even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.”
This morning, we are to do all we can to respect the sanctity of life.
III. Finally, we are to see that all major differences are ruled by the practice of love
One of the shocking statements that Jesus makes in this passage concerns the importance of reconciliation. Jesus believes that reconciliation triumphs religious rituals, legal matters and personal desires. Jesus teaches us that in all cases in which people finds themselves at opposite extremes that they can discover common ground through His love.
Jesus was so serious about this that in verses 23 - 24 he advises those who have brought a sacrifice to the LORD leave it before the altar if they remember an unresolved issue with a fellow brother and sister in the LORD. Leave it before giving it to the priest and go and seek reconciliation.
Can you imagine this actually happening? Right before someone places their offering to the LORD they remember that they have said something or done something against someone and they get up and go out of the church or over to other side of the church and ask for forgiveness and grace? They realize that in order for their offering to be received by the LORD they have to make amends with their fellow brother and sister in the LORD?
Can you imagine two people who had set out to sue one another to realize that in Christ they can find common ground? That rather than embarrass the LORD JESUS CHRIST they set aside their differences and find common ground so that they can avoid a public fight in the law courts?
Can you imagine a spouse taking their vows "till death do us part" seriously? To not allow lust or adultery to have a place in their hearts or minds? To see themselves as one flesh and therefore never wish or desire that they be divided? To work just as hard as they would keeping a marriage together as they do in having a secret affair?
Can you imagine a return to a time when a person's word was their bond? That when a person said "yes" that it really meant yes or "no" meant no.
Can you imagine a time when instead of retaliation people sought forbearance, mercy and reconciliation? Can you imagine a time when people would have more respect for people than they do things, position and power?
Can you imagine a time when people actually did their best to not have or create an enemies list? When people did not look around to see who was on this side or that side but decided that everyone could in some way or the other be on the same side?
Pie in the sky? Or is this the Jesus Plan?
On the Cross Jesus showed us how much God respected man, how much God valued human life and the how much the LORD sought reconciliation. As the old song, Ten Thousand Angels goes -
He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone, (alone), for you and me.
That little chorus tells us the philosophy that Jesus had concerning meeting differences by the practice of love. Jesus did everything He could to bring peace and harmony. He expects us to pick up our cross and do the same this morning.
There are two ways that we can look at this section of the Sermon on the Mount. We can see it as some impossible dream. A dream that says that we can avoid murder, legal divisions, lust, adultery, divorce, retaliation and creating a enemies list and more.
Or we can see it as what it is - Jesus' blueprint for His Followers. Jesus' blueprint for His followers to build a world in which anger does not lead to malice or to murder. A world in which people settle their differences outside a court of law. A world in which people do not use other people for self-gratification and exploitation. A world in which the nuclear family is the model for homes. A world in which a person's word is their bond. A world in which retaliation is seen as a non-option. A world in which instead of having an enemies list one would create instead a friend's list.
Now, before you say - That kind of world is impossible - let's remember a couple of sayings from our LORD:
+"For nothing will be impossible with God" - Luke 1:37
+"That they may all be one, just as you Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." - John 17:21
+"Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common." - Acts 4:32
+"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21
+" ... be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:23-24
+"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16
This morning, we must once again capture the heart, the mind and the vision of Christ. We have been redeemed to live a redeemed life. We have been called to live a life that lifts up Christ to our world so that they will be drawn to Christ. We have been called to live a life that is lived in the Spirit and by the Spirit of the Living God. A life that believes that the picture that Jesus shares with us here in Matthew 5-7 is not a pie in the sky but is a goal and a vision.
The question this morning is not if that life is possible. Jesus tells us that "all power is given to me in heaven and in earth." The Apostles Peter, James, John and others share with us over and over again in their Gospels and letters that such a life is not only possible but is to be our life.
The question is will we do all we can in our own lives and in our own homes and communities to make it a reality. Will we pay the price through prayer and fasting. Will we become people of the Word. Will we put worshipping God the #1 priority in our lives? Will we do our best through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to be a Sermon on the Mount Disciple?
This morning, if you will do that - then let's join together as the early church did and join with them in this prayer:
.... Give your servants fearless confidence in sharing your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your Holy Son Jesus Christ.”
31 While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence. (Acts 4:29b-31 translation mine).
"May the LORD bless all that can use these words to help them share God's message with His people. May the LORD anoint you with blessings, favor and wisdom. May the LORD infill you with His Holy Spirit as your share and lead your congregations, fellowships and small groups. May the Lord deepen your spiritual walk with Him". Love - Bro. Ernie
