Sermon OTM 10 – 01/19/2025

Welcome and Introduction: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord join us here today

Tomorrow the powers that run this world will be Rearranged
Reallotted
Taken away
Surrendered
Divvied up
Handed down
And there will be upsets
And disasters
And victories unexpected
And the world in its way will keep spinning
And changing
And staying just as we know it
All at the same time

Some among us tremble in expectation
While others may tremble with dread
Each of us looking forward
Whether in anticipation or apprehension
Recognizing this kingdom isn’t your kingdom
That we are visitors
Called to serve in love
Our lives living sacrifices
Show us what you will have us do

And let our lives be overflowing with your love
With patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness
And full of peace and faith and joy as we go along
Following the path you have made for us
Keeping focused on you through all the
Strife and celebrations
Dirty deals and back stabbings
And distractions, misdirection and disappointments
Comeuppances and hopes fulfilled and victories won

Staying true to you
In word and deed
In body and spirit
Come what may
No turning back
No turning back
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. 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” Matthew 5:27-30

Intro: There’s a fateful story in the Bible that begins like this:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (2 Sam. 11:2-4)

This afternoon fling would result in a series of tragedies for David–it’s a sad tale that follows
– the Old Testament Scriptures openly address sexual misconduct, and,
“You shall not commit adultery,”
• is the first of a number of laws related to sexual sins
◦ other references appear in Job and especially the Proverbs,
◦ where young men are warned to avoid loose women
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes (Pr. 6:25)
◦ in the prophets, the focus shifts to God and his adulterous wife Israel,
and some of the references there are explicit
• the New Testament, mostly, is more reserved in its depictions of sex,
◦ but equally clear regarding violating the lines God has drawn
– Jesus isn’t adding something new to the Law
• he is quoting and emphasizing what’s already there
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Ex. 20:17)
◦ The Greek translation of the Old Testament word for covet is the word Matthew uses here, “lust”
• imagining an affair isn’t the same as having an affair
◦ but the point is, if the desire is in my heart and my imagination,
◦ then it’s part of me and therefore has a role in defining who I am

So Jesus is making a course correction in how they interpret Law

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”
They’d heard that much of the command, but stopped there!
– people considered themselves righteous if didn’t commit adultery
• but to Jesus, that was an inferior righteousness
◦ and, as such, a righteousness his disciple-students were to “exceed”
• Jesus was centering in on the heart
(of the six examples Jesus gives, this is the only one where the word “heart” appears, so it is important especially for that reason. Also, in this sense, “heart” represents the total inner person, including mind and emotions)
◦ Jesus told the Pharisees,
“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts” (Lk. 16:15)
◦ it’s not enough to look like I’m a good person, I must be a good person
– this connects with the Beatitude, Blessed are the pure in heart
• purity is free from contamination
◦ it’s not one-half something and one-half another thing
◦ it’s not even 99% something and 1% something else
• purity is wholeness – for instance, pure love for God is
◦ loving the Lord your God with all your heart
◦ all through Bible, “the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7; cf. 1 Ki. 8:39; Ps. 44:21; Jer. 11:20; etc.)

Jesus is teaching his disciple-students about integrity
– the last verse of this chapter has often shocked and confused Bible readers
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”
• “perfect” translates teleios – a project that has been completed
◦ Jesus, from the cross used a cognate of teleios, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30)
• here in the Sermon, Jesus integrates the heart and body
◦ the complete person–internal and external
– the emphasis in all six examples of “true righteousness” is integrity
• the root of integrity is “integer” – one whole number – integrity is oneness
◦ think of Jesus’ statements regarding “one thing” (Mk. 10:21; Lk. 10:41-42)
• Jesus informs us that righteousness is the trait of one whole person
◦ the inside matches the outside
Jonathan Pennington, these examples “reveal the true depth of the matter. They are a strong push against the human tendency to focus on external actions and make godliness a matter of appropriate behavior regardless of the heart’s intent.”

Last week I explained that these six examples make the same point

And they all share the same pattern, so once we see the pattern,
• we can move through the examples quickly
• however, there are some things that require explanation
◦ and explanation is especially necessary here
“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away”
First, the eye and hand refer not to the organ or limb, but represent sight and action, seeing and doing
– Jesus is stressing the necessity of working on the inner person
• the kingdom of God works from the inside out
◦ amputating a literal body part would not change the heart
• so that’s the first thing to recognize regarding removing the “right eye” – it’s a figure of speech
◦ Paul also makes metaphorical reference to our “members” (body parts) in Romans 6 and 7
◦ besides, there’s still the left eye!
Second, the average Christian gets confused and frustrated with the Bible
– and that’s because our tendency is to read it literally (like a text book)
• biblical Hebrew has a small vocabulary (much fewer words than modern Hebrew or the English language we speak)
◦ so biblical Hebrew makes up the deficit with word pictures and metaphors
◦ for instance, it exaggerates numbers (the polite expression is not exaggerate, but hyperbole)
Robert Alter, “. . . ancient literature (Greek as well as Hebrew) has little notion of numerical accuracy in the way it conjures with numbers.”
◦ their concern was not literalness, but making an impression (like when someone says, “gazillion”)
• so here, Jesus is using figurative language to make a strong impact
◦ he knows we’re going to struggle with taming our hearts
◦ so he uses a radical analogy to stress the importance of applying ourselves to the challenge

Another related issue comes next
“It is also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery Matthew 5:31-32

What I hear Jesus saying is, divorce is always wrong when:
– a person divorces their spouse in order to be with someone else
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mk. 10:11-12)
• this is not everything Jesus has to say on this topic
◦ he gives a fuller teaching in Matthew 19
◦ and we need to study that to appreciate his position on divorce
• but it’s worthwhile to note that even his disciples struggled with it
“If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry” (Mt. 19:10)
– this passage is not the entire New Testament teaching on divorce
• Paul releases the believing spouse from hanging onto an unbelieving spouse who wants divorce (1 Cor. 7:15)
◦ we would want to include instances of domestic abuse and so on
• in our time, we must be really sensitive to these issues
Amy-Jill Levine, “Far too many people have been trapped in loveless or abusive marriages because of a narrow reading of Gospel passages. The message of the text [in 1 Corinthians 7:15] is one of peace, not war; it speaks of the Christian home as the model of the love between Christ and the church.”

The next example is also relevant, having to do with keeping our commitments
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” Matthew 5:33-37

The Bible doesn’t say anything about wedding vows,
– but they’re appropriate to the commitment required to keep a marriage together
• the Lord’s concern is about swearing an oath
• regarding swearing, we tend to confuse three separate activities:
First, we mistake taking God’s name in vain with everyday cussing
– that’s not what the commandment means
• using God’s name when cussing or cursing is “blasphemy” which is obviously forbidden
Second, what the commandment forbids is using God’s name to support a lie
– it was common to call on God (or a god) as a witness in business, trade and treaties
• people still do this all the time, though with less weight
“I swear to God, it’s the truth”
• the commandment is against swearing by God, to bolster a lie
◦ that’s what it is here in verse 33, to “swear falsely”
Third, there was the swearing a vow (oath-taking)
– a promise to give God something or to do something for God
• rules for it are found in Leviticus chapter 27 and Numbers chapter 30
◦ people would sometimes do this as an act of special devotion to God (e.g., the Nazirite Vow)
• it was often used in a somewhat mercenary way:
“Lord, if you do this for me, I’ll repay you with a sacrifice and public praise”
“I must perform my vows to you, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you” (Ps. 56:12)
My meditation: Oaths and vows (like signed contracts and promissory notes) seem a necessity simply because we know human society is corrupt and we can’t trust each other. Jesus wants us to be different from our society. He wants us to be true; true to ourselves, true to God, true to others, true to what is; to live the truth so that no word we speak ever needs an oath to guarantee it. This doesn’t apply to judicial requirements, but to us volunteering an oath to convince another person we’re telling the truth. The scribes and Pharisees had made swearing a fine art of telling lies while swearing you are telling the truth (Mt. 23:16-22).
– that’s what Jesus meant by the scribes and Pharisees’ inferior righteousness
• the misuse of swearing vows was a way of working around the intent of the Law
Pennington, “The external matter of vow making is but an illustration of the real issue, being people of integrity, singleness, or wholeness in our speech, actions and intentions.”

Conclusion: Jesus did not intend to make us feel bad about ourselves

Perhaps he wanted to shake some people up so they would take him seriously
But his goal with us is to work a transformation
This is not something we can do on our own
But we can cooperate
Try to keep that in mind this week,
because that’s where God’s grace will meet you