INTRODUCTION
• One winter day a man went shopping at the local neighborhood mall. When he returned to his car he noticed a rather foul odor coming from under the hood and so he checked the engine. In the compartment he discovered a dead cat rather mutilated from being caught in the fan belt. The poor cat had sought shelter from the snow and cold and didn’t realize the dangers of resting on the engine block. Mr. Jones was lucky though, one of his shopping bags was made of plastic and so he emptied its contents and proceeded to scrape, pull and push the cat corpse into the bag. With a bang he slammed the hood down and walked off to wash his hands, but looking back he noticed something unusual. He had left the bag on the hood of the car. He was about to return and pick it up but just then a lady walks by, looks suspiciously in both directions, she grabs the bag, and with her cart she then speeds off for the mall. "Well this is too good to be true!" The man thought as he laughed at the lady. He decided to follow her and see what would happen next. She went to a restaurant and proceeded to survey her prize. "Yeek!" She screamed as she looked in the bag. And then over she fell. Of course, the management was equally alarmed that a customer had fainted in their establishment and so they called the paramedics. The woman in no time at all was strapped to a cart and ready to be hauled off to the ambulance. But the man couldn’t resist. "Hey lady!" He shouted, "Don’t forget your package!" And with that he gently laid the cat corpse filled bag on the lady’s chest, just as the ambulance doors were closing!
• This story is funny because it reflects the, “She got what she got what deserved” lessons.
• We all probably have some personal stories about a time in which we “got even” with someone who perpetrated evil of some kind against us.
• One of my good friends I used to work with in the factory used to say, “I do not get mad or even, I get ahead.” Oh, the stories I could tell you about some of the mean things that were done by all of us in the name of getting ahead.
• The desire to get “even” or to seek revenge against people is one of the toughest things for most of us resist.
• When people wrong us, insult us or take our property, our desire is to see them pay for what they did to us.
• The question we all need to ask ourselves today is, are we willing to go the extra mile for Jesus? Just how far will we allow our faith to penetrate our lives?
• Jesus said that if we want to see the kingdom of heaven that our righteousness needs to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.
• Today we are going to see what Jesus says about the subject of retaliation.
• The title of this morning’s message is “Going the Extra Mile.”
• How should one who has their citizenship in heaven respond when things happen to them? Should we respond like the world would, or does Jesus expect something more from us?
SERMOM
I. THE OLD WAY OF CONDUCT (VERSE 38)
• In the Old Testament, it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Jesus is quoting from Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20 and Deuteronomy 19:21
• This was not revenge, but it was justice. The eye for an eye was designed to set guidelines for the judges when trying to decide what was appropriate payment of justice for a wrong suffered. Intent was also taken under consideration.
• It appears that AN EYE FOR AN EYE was not always practiced literally in
ancient Israel, and by the time of Jesus, physical penalties were largely replaced
by monetary fines. Nevertheless, the precept presupposes a world where
violence and injustice are taken for granted.
• The eye for an eye was not a command; it was a guideline to make sure that judgments were fair. An eye for an eye was the worst punishment that could be given.
• Revenge happens when we feel that justice was not served, so God in His wisdom said that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth would ensure that people would not seek revenge.
• The problem started coming when people started using the eye for an eye standard to extract their own justice. The eye for an eye was not meant to be carried out except by the court.
• The farmer had been pestered by a carload of people who delighted in climbing an orchard fence and eating his apples without asking permission. One day, as he walked up to them, one of them smiled sheepishly and said, "We hope you don’t mind that we took a few of your apples." "No, not at all," said the farmer, "and I hope you don’t mind that I took some of the air out of your tires."
• According to William Barclay in his commentary on Matthew; So, then, ancient ethics were based on the law of tit for tat. It is true that the law was a law of mercy; it is true that it was a law for a judge and not for a private individual; it is true that it was never literally carried out; it is true that there were accents of mercy speaking at the same time. But Jesus obliterated the very principle of that law, because retaliation, however controlled and restricted, has no place in the Christian life.
• The eye for an eye caused people to be just what God did not want them to be, vengeful.
• HEB 10:30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, “The Lord will judge His people."
• Jesus is going to replace the eye for an eye with a higher standard of conduct. The question is how far are you willing to go with Jesus? Are you willing to trust that God will do what He says He will do?
• Jesus’ new standard is the “extra mile” standard.
II. GOING THE EXTRA MILE FOR JESUS MAY CAUSE US TO SUFFER INSULT (VERSE 39)
• Jesus reveals to us the fact that the Christian has a higher calling in life than seeking revenge. We can spend our time demanding our rights, or we can live by a higher law. We can be a testimony to God’s mercy.
• Jesus does not imply that we should not protect ourselves or our families from harm.
• When Jesus says do not resist him who is evil, he is not implying that we do not resist evil. He is saying that we are not to take matters into our own hands, as if justice depends on our reaction.
• READ 1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23
Jesus gives us the solution to a heart of retaliation. Turn the other cheek, give more than is required, to go the extra mile, to show mercy to the less fortunate.
• One summer evening in Broken Bow, Nebraska, a weary truck driver pulled his rig into an all-night truck stop. He was tired and hungry. The waitress had just served three tough looking, leather jacketed motorcyclist - of the Hell’s Angel’s type - decided to give him a hard time. Not only did they verbally abuse him, one grabbed the hamburger off his plate, another took a handful of his french fries and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it. How did this trucker respond? How would you respond? Well, this trucker did not respond as one might expect. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night. When she returned, one of the cyclists said to her, “Well, he’s not much of a man, is he?” She replied, “I don’t know about that, but he sure isn’t much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles on his way out of the parking lot.”
• Most people were right handed so for a person to get slapped on the right cheek, a right handed person would have to do it with the back of their hand. Jesus may be speaking more of taking the insult than someone coming up to beat you to a pulp.
• Now according to Jewish Rabbinic law to hit a man with the back of the hand was twice as insulting as to hit him with the flat of the hand. So, then, what Jesus is saying is this: “Even if a man should direct at you the most deadly and calculated insult, you must on no account retaliate, and you must on no account resent it.”
• This passage as with all of the Sermon on the Mount is not a code for slaves, but principles by which to live.
• Jesus tells us that we may suffer some personal insult or injury for His sake. In Jewish culture, getting slapped with the back of the hand was the ultimate insult.
• We are not instructed to passively allow ourselves to be beaten to death, even when Jesus was struck by a Jewish officer in John 18:23, in inquired as to why that was done.
• We are not to take it upon ourselves to retaliate when insulted; we are to use that as an opportunity to witness to others.
• Are you willing to suffer insult for Christ, or do we have to get back at the person who insults us, an insult for an insult?
III. GOING THE EXTRA MILE FOR JESUS MAY CAUSE US TO SUFFER THE LOSS OF PROPERTY (VERSE 40)
• The Law did not allow the outer garment to be taken from a person since it protected them from the cold.
• The tunic, 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). The point is that by right a man’s cloak could not be taken permanently from him.
• We have a person who is trying to take every advantage of the law and Jesus is saying that it would be better to suffer a small lose than to have an attitude of revenge. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:7 tells us that we are better off being taken advantage of than bringing shame to Christ.
• READ PHILIPPIANS 3:4-12
• Does this mean that we allow someone to take everything we have? No, the principle is that we are not to allow material things get in the way of our witness for Christ. Sometimes that will cost us some material possessions.
• We are not to be selfish like the world we are to be different.
• There will be times when our faith in Christ will cause us a loss of property. If we are losing it for Christ’s sake, then we have to believe that God has something better in mind for us.
• How far are we willing to let our faith in Jesus take us? To the point of material loss? Or will material things be more important than spreading the gospel?
IV. GOING THE EXTRA MILE MAY CAUSE US TO SUFFER THE LOSS OF OUR RIGHTS (VERSE 41)
• READ 1 CORINTHIANS 10:23-33
• EXPLAIN THE VERSE AS IT PERTAINS TO THE ROMAN SOLDIERS.
• Jesus was telling the people to joyfully do what was repulsive to them, helping out the Romans who dominated them.
• The Roman practice of commandeering civilians to carry military equipment or a soldier’s personal items was especially infuriating to the Jewish population of Palestine. Jesus alludes to this practice, but rather than excite outrage or resentment he charges his followers to volunteer for extended service. Once again Jesus assumes a new starting point for human relationships based upon kingdom principles that even responds to humiliating situations by doing good.
• This was one of the worst things that could befall a Jewish citizen in their mind.
• When Paul was imprisoned, he was the model prisoner, he witnessed to the whole Praetorian Guard while in chains.
• In Philippians 1, Paul said his being in prison furthered the gospel.
• When a Christian does something, it should be done to the best of our ability.
• It can be a burden to sacrifice rights, but there are times that we must be willing to do that.
• Paul really did not belong in prison, but he went.
• Is Jesus telling us that we are to always give up our rights? No, Paul appealed to his Roman citizenship at times when it served his purpose in spreading the gospel.
• How far are we willing to go with Jesus? Will we be people who are always demanding our rights in every situation? Are we willing to sacrifice our rights if it will spread the gospel?
V. GOING THE EXTRA MILE SHOULD CAUSE US TO BE GENEROUS WHEN CALLED (VERSE 42)
• Jesus tells us that when we have the opportunity to help people, that we should take advantage of the opportunity.
• This verse does not mean that we give the drunkard money for more booze or the gambler more money to gamble with. It means that after we recognize a true need, that we should do what we can to help with the need.
• Several Old Testament texts encourage a sensitive regard for the plight of the poor and those in need (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 15:7-11). Almsgiving and interest-free loans were grounded in the “care for the community which God had liberated from slavery.”5-48 Jesus’ words call for a generous spirit that refuses to put one’s personal possessions or needs above the needs of others. While the specific response given to a request will vary according to genuine needs, the presence of God’s kingdom, not one’s personal interest, will be the primary factor shaping our response. (The College Press NIV Commentary on Matthew)
• Will we trust God enough to go the extra mile and help people when we have the opportunity or will you selfishly hoard what God has blessed us with?
• How far are you willing to go with Jesus?
CONCLUSION
• In each of Jesus’ illustrative statements he proposes a course of action that runs counter to conventional thinking and behavior. Such texts should not be read legalistically, as if Jesus had in mind a new law legislating behavior along literalistic lines. In reality, these illustrations are intended to radically challenge how we think and respond to all instances of abuse, insult, and injustice. In an unredeemed world the radical selflessness of genuine discipleship constitutes a powerful witness to the presence of the kingdom and a new way of righteousness. (The College Press NIV Commentary on Matthew)
• Jesus has called us to a different standard and a different life. Sometimes that will involve tough choices, but they are choices that we need to be willing to make for the sake of Jesus whom we love!
• If we love someone, we are willing to make sacrifices for them.
