The Laws of the Kingdom Pt.2
It’s the Thought that Counts
Matthew 5:17-48
May 14th, 2006
Well, the King has returned and He is beginning to make His presence known to the people. We looked at the genealogy of this king, the royal and divine bloodline. We looked at the Herald of the King, the ministry of John the Baptist who came to prepare the people for the arrival of the King by preaching a message of repentance; Turning away from your sins and back to God. Last week, Jesus began to lay out the expectations and Laws for the Kingdom that He had come to establish. We’re going to pick up this morning where we left off last week with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He begins His sermon with a list of what the King expects from His people. This Kingdom of Heaven is going to be different and the people who are a part of it are to be different as well. We looked at the eight step process that needs to take place in the life of a Christian, the Beatitudes, the life that God will bless and reward and draw into a deeper relationship with Him.
I was thinking this week about what it must have been like to be there for this sermon that Jesus is giving. What it must have been like to sit there among the people and hear this man speak, this man that spoke with a passion and an authority that no one had ever heard before. To sit on the mountainside and listen as everything you had ever known, everything that you had ever been taught is finding fulfillment right before your eyes. The people are beginning to suspect that there is more to this man Jesus than meets the eye. He has His group of disciples picked out and more and more people are beginning to follow Him as they witness the power that He has. They watch Him heal and drive out demons and teach. They watch how He listens and interacts with the people on a personal and loving basis. The people are beginning to get an idea that this may be the king that they’ve been waiting for.
There is a buzz among the people that if this is the Messiah, then he has come to do away with the law. He has come to free His people from the restraints of the old and outdated laws and to usher them into a time of complete freedom. See, the Jewish system of law was brutal. The sacrificial system was demanding and hard to keep up with and the laws were all but impossible to practically live out on a daily basis.
I remember when I was young, my cousin had a book of dumb laws. These were laws that were still on the books in the US that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, they were written for a certain time and era but over the years they lost their significance and are no longer enforced. I looked online and found that in this state there are some very interesting laws on the books:
Citizens may not greet each other by "putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers".
A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting.
It is against the law to throw a ball at someone’s head for fun.
The penalty for jumping off a building is death.
A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket. Slippers are not to be worn after 10:00 AM
A man can’t go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match.
Probably the worst law I found was from the great state that we just moved from, Ohio. In Ohio, it’s illegal to fish for whales on Sunday. Now, I’m no expert but don’t whales live in the Ocean?
We’ve got some pretty silly laws in this state and in this country. These are laws that are no longer meant to be applied and are no longer enforced and we can just ignore them without worrying if there is going to be a penalty or if we’ll suffer the consequences for our disobedience. The Jews of that day didn’t have that luxury of ignoring a law that they felt was outdated. What the Pharisees had done was to take the perfect law that was handed down by God to Moses for His people, and they had expanded it to a complicated web of petty and burdensome rules that kept the people in line through the guilt of failing at an impossible task. So, you’ve got to think that the folks listening to Jesus were hoping for a replacement for the stringent Law that had become even more difficult to keep under the unbearable traditions of these Pharisees. I’m sure the people had some great expectations. Maybe Jesus was the answer, maybe He would declare the law to no longer be valid. But they were in for a disappointment if that was their thinking.
Jesus begins this section by very clearly stating in verse 17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Christ is responding here to the rumblings of the people that this kingdom that is being preached is at odds with the Jewish laws. He declares in very plain language that not only is His teaching not at odds with God’s law, but it is in perfect agreement with that Law, it affirms that Law and more than that, it is the complete fulfillment of them. Another way to say that would be that Christ came to fill the law with meaning. He had come not only to live out an example of this Law through His life, but he had come to explain what the Truth and the spirit of the law really was and to show people the correct application of it, to turn them from the legalistic, self-righteous, sinful teachings of the Pharisees. There was another way that He would bring fulfillment to this law.
All of us as parents have rules for our children. With many of the rules, they understand the rule, but they don’t understand our hearts. Teens would sit in my office and cry because mom and dad had told them that they could not date so and so. How could they be so cruel, how could their rules be so unfair? Anyone else could see that so and so was a loser and the relationship would have been a source of trouble and pain, but for the teen, the heard the rule but failed to see the heart behind it. We love our children and we want what’s best for them even if they can’t see that all the time.
This was the way the law was for the Jews. They understood it, they obeyed it, but they didn’t truly know the heart behind it. Part of what Jesus was referring to when He said that he had come to fulfill the law was that He had come to show people the heart of the God who gave them these laws. It was more than just, Don’t commit adultery, Jesus wanted to show the value that God places on purity. It was more than just “Don’t get divorced,” Jesus wanted to show the value that God placed on marriage. Gods heart beats for people and for relationships but it also beats for goodness and righteousness and holiness and in the words that follow Jesus begins to paint a picture of the heart of God, of love, not an empty law.
I want to look at four of the laws that Jesus points out in this passage. First, He tells us to:
I. Keep Our Accounts Short
MT 5:21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
Notice the wording that Jesus uses here. It follows with what he has just told the people about fulfilling the law; he is now giving practical examples of this. You have heard it said: This is what has been taught, this is what the teachers of the law focus on, But I tell you. He is drawing a distinct line between what was and what is. He is also claiming authority above and beyond the Pharisees to teach and interpret the law. This is what drove the Pharisees crazy and began to push them towards seeking a way to rid themselves of this rebel.
So, he says you’ve heard that murder is wrong. He could have stopped there and everyone sitting around would have agreed and nodded in affirmation in the same way that we would today. We would say, Amen, preach it, those who murder are evil and deserve what’s coming to them, they deserve judgment for their sin. That’s true. Jesus didn’t stop there. He says, not only is murder worthy of judgment, but the one who harbors anger at his brother is guilty as well. Whoa! Most of us will never murder anyone, but all of us have been angry at someone. Jesus is beginning to show that even if the letter of the law is kept, it’s what’s inside, it’s the hidden things, it’s the thought that counts and all of us are guilty according to those standards, all of us are in need of a Savior. Sin begins in the heart, the outward expression of that, in this case murder, is a reflection of the condition of the heart. Jesus says it’s not just the act that is sin, it’s the whole attitude of ill will towards another person. , that’s where the sin begins. The kingdom of God is concerned with the inside, God’s call to holiness and righteousness is not just fulfilled through what we do or don’t do, it’s the whole package, our hearts and minds as well as our actions..
MK 7:20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him `unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man `unclean.’ "
HEB 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Sin begins on the inside and the anger that Christ is talking about here is one that shows utter and complete contempt for a person. It may not result in action against someone, but even having the anger inside and thinking ill of another is sin and is worthy of judgment. Anger will happen, all of us will get angry and there are times when anger is justified. However, we are to value people and relationships in the way that God does and our anger is to be addressed and dealt with immediately before it grows and before it leads to more sin in our lives.
How important is it that we deal with it? Jesus says that we are to keep our accounts short. If we have something against another, even if you are worshipping, go and deal with it. The Jews would have been blown away by this because that outward act of worship, bringing your gifts to the altar was what the teachers taught was the most important thing. Jesus teaches that attitude of anger inside make the attitude of worship on the outside worthless, deal with it first and then come back to time with God, with a clean heart and a clean conscience. Keep your accounts short, forgive and answer the wrongs and sins of others towards you with love. The next issue that Christ addresses is the issue of adultery. He tells us to:
II. Keep Our Eyes Straight Ahead
He begins in the same way, you have heard it said, but I tell you… MT 5:27 "You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Again, he begins with a blatant, overt, outward action that everyone on that hillside would agree is a horrible sin. Adultery, the act of unfaithfulness to a spouse, to the marriage covenant. This has been ruining God’s idea of marriage since the beginning of time. People who are willing to throw away everything for a few moments of pleasure. Jesus again goes deeper than just the outward act and he addresses the hidden inward sin, the heart issue, he addresses where adultery begins, with lust. Adultery does not happen where lust is not present. He uses men as an example but the same principle is true for women as well. If you’ve lusted, if you’ve looked at a member of the opposite sex in such a way that is inappropriate outside of a marriage relationship, you’ve sinned. You’ve committed the act internally and are guilty. The desire for immorality, even if it’s not acted on, is sin. You can’t get around this teaching! There are many who justify addictions to pornography and unhealthy sexual views towards the opposite sex by saying that they are not hurting anyone because they are not acting out on their desires and thoughts. What they do is hidden. Jesus says, if it’s present on the inside then you’re as guilty as if you had committed the outward sin. The heart, the area that I call you to be clean in has been stained and soiled by this sin.
The word picture that Jesus uses here underscores how serious He is. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, 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. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus is not being literal here. We need to look at these verses attitudinally as with the rest of this passage, what He’s saying is that we should gouge out and throw away anything in our life that is causing us to fall by leading to lust. The word picture is to emphasize deliberate, decisive action in dealing with our propensity to sin.
“Jesus is expressing in metaphorical language the all-important truth that a limited but morally healthy life is better than a wider life that is morally depraved” R.B. Tasker
If it’s causing you to fall, get rid of it. For some that may be the TV. For some, that may be things you read or the internet. For some, that may mean not going to the beach because you can’t handle the sights around you. Whatever it is, Jesus says that it’s better to suffer the loss of something than to keep it and be enslaved by sin. Because of the stance that society takes towards sex and its place in our lives and entertainment, this is an area that requires tremendous self-control in our lives.
PR 25:28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
In those days, if your walls were broken down, you were vulnerable to attack, it was only a matter of time until your city would fall. In the same way, if we have no self-control, we are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan in the area of lust in our lives and it’s only a matter of time until we fall as well.
How much of an issue is this? Over 90% of my teen guys struggled with pornography and lust in their lives. Over half of Christian marriages end in divorce, the vast majority due to infidelity that began in the heart with lust. Adultery is not God’s plan, divorce is not God’s plan but the reality is that most of us will be touched by one or both on some level in our lifetime. This is an area that it is way past time for Christians to stop compromising and start striving for purity. Jesus tells us to clean the inside of the cup. Deal with the heart and the outside will be clean as well. Make the choice as King David did in PS 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. As with murder, Jesus teaches that it’s the thought that counts and calls us to keep our eyes straight ahead and not turn towards those temptations that would cause us to stumble.
Jesus moves on to talk briefly about divorce and honesty, but I want to skip ahead to verse 38, where Jesus addresses the idea of retribution, our natural desire for fairness and to get even when we’re wronged. He teaches us in this part that we are to:
III. Keep Our Priorities Straight
MT 5:38 "You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.
The letter of the law provided for revenge. It allowed for those who had been wronged to seek compensation of equal value from the guilty party. In the earliest forms of this law, it literally meant, an eye for an eye. If someone took the life of your brother you would turn and take a life as compensation for your loss. By Jesus’ time, the term would have been referring to monetary compensation or some other sort of material compensation. It’s like our society today, when we are wronged, we sue and we are compensated financially through our justice system. We have the right to compensation, we have the right to seek revenge, we have the right to allow our actions to be dictated by the circumstances around us.
But the priorities of God’s kingdom are different. Our behaviors are not to be dictated by the way that we are treated! We live by a different standard. Our behaviors rise from the attitude of our heart, our hearts are to be in tune with God, so our behavior is dictated by God, not men. We are to react the way that God calls us to. Our own rights and seeking justice for ourselves are not to be the first priority of the Christian, people and relationships matter more. The priorities of the Kingdom are simple: God, others, and then ourselves. God has one treasure that is dear to his heart in all that he has created and that is people and the priorities of those who love Him need to reflect that truth. Jesus gives three examples of situations in which we need to keep our priorities straight.
A. When we are insulted.
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Slapping someone across the face is the highest form of insult. We talk today about being hurt by someone and we say it was like a slap across the face. In the old days, a duel would begin with one man slapping another across the face, the insult was so great that action had to be taken and a duel followed. Our natural reaction is “eye for an eye.” If we are insulted, we want revenge, we want to slap back.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
If someone slaps you across the face, don’t give them the response they want, instead turn and let them have at the other side too. In doing this, you will speak volumes about the God that you serve and He promises to bless you far beyond anything that you could have gained through revenge.
B. When there is a dispute.
40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
Jesus tells us that we are to value people over possessions and if we can give something up and it results in the restoration of a relationship, that is always a worthwhile investment.
C. When asked to help.
41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
In that time, Israel was under Roman occupation. A Roman solider could legally force any non-Roman to carry his supplies for one mile. This was humiliating and a source of intense anger and bitterness for the Jews. When Christ speaks of going two miles, He is talking about voluntarily going beyond the requirement of the Roman law or what is expected of us, even at great personal sacrifice whether that be sacrificing our pride, or our time, or our resources.
If someone needs our help, Christ calls us to go above and beyond what we are asked to do. In doing this, people are going to see God’s laws and his love at work in our lives. In each of these situations, God calls us to value people. He calls us to give up what may be our right I order to build, strengthen, and restore relationships. He gave up His son on the Cross for people, the sacrifices that we are called to make seem trivial in light of that but what a great example it will be, when these priorities are lives out, to those who are watching to see what a relationship with God is really about.
Finally, Christ moves very naturally from this into what our relationship to our enemies ought to be.
III. Keep Our Enemies Close
MT 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Again, Christ is telling the Jews that there is so much about the law that they have been mistaken about. They are to love the ones who are toughest to love, those who are our enemies. We have an expression; keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It means that you should keep them close to keep an eye on them and make sure that they can’t hurt you. Christ tells us that we are to keep them close for one purpose only, to show them love in hopes that they will come around and we might win over and enemy and enjoy a new relationship with them.
LUKE 6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To bless in this context means to speak well of them. We’re not just to be nice to their face, we are to speak well of them to others, we’re to lift them up before God and to keep from complaining about them.
PR 25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. PR 25:22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
When we are kind to our enemies, they don’t know how to react. It’s hard to be hateful and mean to someone who takes everything that you give them and reacts in love.
Grandpa Bailey had a business in Wilmington, Delaware. He trained a young man in the business and taught him all the "tricks of the trade." Then the man turned around and opened the same type of business right across the street from my grandfather with the intention of putting my grandfather out of business. His children remember Grandpa Bailey at night during family worship praying for that man and praying that God would bless his business. Certainly this was a man that most would consider an enemy, he had stabbed his mentor in the back and was seeking to harm his livelihood. But Grandpa Bailey understood the spirit of God’s law and the teachings of Jesus. We are to keep our enemies close, we are to love them regardless of what they do and one day we may get to call them a friend.
So, we’ve heard what the law says, and we’ve listened as Jesus has told us what He says. He is beginning to give us an understanding of the spirit of the law and of the heart of God that is behind the law. In God’s kingdom, it’s not the act, it’s the heart. We’re called to esteem people and relationships, to strive for purity, to remember the priorities of God’s kingdom by holding lightly to things that don’t matter in light of eternity, and to be examples of God’s love even to those who deserve it the least. Our motivation, and we should need nothing more than this, is that He is asking us to do the very things that He, in His great love, has done for us.
