The Gospel According to Matthew
INTRODUCTION:
We are still working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. Adultery, lust, the big D, not subjects any of us love to talk about. I have been happily married for 25 years to the same man, but this isn't an easy subject for me. Can any of us say that none of this has touched us? Perhaps you are a product of divorce, or maybe you have been a victim of adultery or maybe you have committed adultery. Maybe you know that lust is a problem for you, not just other people but, even lusting after things you want that you can not have. I don't mean to be a pessimist but I think it is safe to say that it is perhaps impossible to live in this world and not have these things impact our life in someway or another.
I remember just months after Chris and I married we discovered that his boss was getting a divorce. He had been having an affair with his secretary. There were three of the most beautiful children hurt, two spouses, and an entire community rocked by the news. For Chris and I the pain was surprisingly acute. We admired them, worshiped at church with them, watched their children for them, double dated with them, looked up to them, admired their life, and one day hoped to be like them...oops. All of a sudden nothing was what it had seemed to be. It made us question us, it made us doubt the hope that our vows would be kept for a lifetime. This is an issue that cuts deep. An entire community can be rocked by the indiscretion of one. There is no part of this lesson that is meant to step on toes. In fact as we study this lesson I think we will all learn that is about so much more! This is just once again Jesus getting real and deep with the crowd and with us. We have all fallen short... we have all sinned... so whether you are an adulterer or a luster, or no matter your past we are all in the same boat. We are all sinners. So I pray that today as we navigate this passage that we will remember to proceed with kindness and truth.
READ:
Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall 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."Once again He starts this section with what?
Now at the time the Romans were sexually free. They would rape boys, sleep with whomever and what ever they wanted, whenever they wanted to. So the contrast between the Jews and the Romans was great. The Jews were proud of their law keeping, and never was it more prominent the contrast between them and the "sinners".
In "Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings", Ellen White says, "...often the sound of revelry broke upon the stillness of the lake as their pleasure boats glided over the quiet waters. The people expected to hear from Jesus a stern denunciation of this class, but what was their astonishment as they listened to words that laid bare the evil of their own hearts!"
How do we do this today?
How many times do we point out the sin that is in the media, or in TV shows, or in Hollywood?
When 50 shades of Gray was coming out in the theaters everyone was posting article after article about how evil a movie it is. We posted, about what it was saying, we posted about how it would change our society. Just this week the topic came up in my living room while talking with friends. We love the opportunity to post on Facebook, or Instagram all the evil that we see or that someone else has seen.
Do we believe that we are saving someone?
Do we believe that posting about the evil in this world will draw people away from it and to Christ?
We have talked about not worrying about being politically correct, but being able to speak the truth, and I agree, however is it really to warn people, or....
Or...
Are we trying to ignore the evil in our own hearts?
On that mountain listening to the words of Jesus this crowd was comfortable with their rules and enjoyed a contrast with the lifestyle of the Romans, that contributed to the affirmation of their rule keeping and gave them confidence in their own holiness. By focusing on the evil of the Romans it allowed them to ignore the evil in their own hearts!
Once again Jesus is saying to all who could hear... stop thinking you are so pure, stop pointing fingers at everyone else...what about your heart?
Mrs. White goes on to write, "When the thought of evil is loved and cherished, however secretly, said Jesus, it shows that sin still reigns in the heart. The soul is still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. He who finds pleasure in dwelling upon scenes of impurity, who indulges the evil thought, the lustful look, may behold in the open sin, with its burden of shame and heart breaking grief, the true nature of the evil which he has hidden in the chambers of the soul. The season of temptation, under which, it may be, one falls into grievous sin, does not create the evil that is revealed, but only develops or makes manifest that which was hidden and latent in the heart. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he;" for out of the heart "are the issues of life." Proverbs 23:7, 4:23
READ:
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, 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.
Believe it or not this is the good news part of this passage. Yes it is grotesque, it could be a scene from a horror film, but this is the good news.
At the time diseases such as leprosy made it necessary to cut off the diseased part of the body to save the whole. This was a scene they were familiar with and frankly everyone understood it and accepted it. So what is Jesus saying here?
If we are willing to cut off a part of our body to save our physical life, shouldn't we be all the more willing to do it for our spiritual/ eternal life?
This part is the how our hearts are purified. This part is the good news. The good news is simply this...
If we are willing to surrender to Him, He will transform us and save us.
Ellen White writes, "If you cling to self, refusing to yield your will to God, you are choosing death. To sin, wherever found, God is a consuming fire. If you choose sin, and refuse to separate from it, the presence of God, which consumes sin, must consume you.
It will require sacrifice to give yourself to God; but it is a sacrifice of the lower for the higher, the earthly for the spiritual, the perishable for the eternal."
Being willing to give up whatever he is calling us to give up, even if it is a hand or an eye is nothing compared to the end result.
What is He asking of you?
What do you need to let go of?
What difficult even uncomfortable thing is He asking you to go through so that He can exchange the perishable for the eternal?
Are you willing?
Divorce
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’[f] 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.At the time a husband could divorce his wife for almost anything and once she was divorced she could remarry. So now Jesus is also taking away what they saw as their right.
What He is calling us too is a level of perfection that is not possible.
Is it?
So sitting here at our table is a beautiful and delicious ring of danish from Panera Bread. If you are on a diet or trying to not eat wheat, or sugar, or are even vegan, you will have to refrain. So you don't partake, but you look at it longing to eat it. Wishing you could sink your teeth into the soft dough, feeling the cherries or the cheese filling tickle your tongue with delicious flavor. Your mouth is watering just thinking about it, but you refrain, you don't eat it. Congratulations, you just gained 10 pounds. What? You are thinking, I have miss typed... well probably, but not here. Congratulations it is the same as if you ate it. Can you imagine if that were the case. If just looking at food and wishing you could eat it you would suffer the consequences of eating it. I don't know about you but I would be in trouble. But that is what Jesus is saying here.
Now I want you to imagine looking at the danish and not desiring it, not longing for it. You don't long for the white flour and sugar combination, you yearn for the fresh fruit, the foods that nourish you. You know that the temporary pleasure of the danish is nothing compared to the life giving benefits of food that is packed with health producing qualities. Can you imagine how much sweeter life would be.
Jesus wants to take our hearts and transform them. He wants to replace our craving evil with a thirst for good. He wants to free us from a longing for that which will destroy us.
Are we willing to give up what He asks?
Are we willing to not just give him our behavior but our heart?
Who am I?
Who can I be because of who He is?
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