The Sermon OTM – 01/12/2025

Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord join us here this morning
In the back of our minds we know that all of our work can go down the drain
or up in smoke.
It can happen in the blink of an eye
or with a moment’s notice
or with no notice at all.
We know this can happen,
but live,
most of the time denying it is so.
We hold our lives,
our work and our dreams as given,
immutable, rock solid until they aren’t.
And just now they aren’t.

So many chased out of their homes
By winds and flames
And so many,
With only ashes and smoke
Where there was once a home
And so many now numb
Dumbstruck
Beat down
Overwhelmed
Angry
Resentful
Broken
Afraid of drowning in it all
Afraid to let it out
Or to hold it in
Afraid it is a very bad dream
A bad joke
And devastated, that it is all too real

We know in time
the winds will die down
Every cinder will stop glowing
And the long hard work of putting lives back together will begin
We pray for our family and friends
We pray for our neighbors who just by happenstance live in a different neighborhood
On different streets than we do
Who have lost it all.
We pray they have safe housing, food, and clothing
We pray they remained employed through all of this
We pray they receive kindness, patience, and understanding
from family, friends and strangers
We pray that they get the mental health help they need in the wake of this trauma
We pray they find guides to help them navigate the systems meant to help them
The governmental, the bureaucratic and the maze of insurance
We pray each community, each church, each family, each person will be able to rebuild their lives and thrive

We are thankful for the fortitude and determination
and training of those fighting the fires
And thankful for those attending to the needs of those out of their homes
We ask every blessing be granted to them

For those of us who are safe
out of destruction’s path
we ask that our gratitude be deepened
That our generosity be expanded to a fault
that we treat each moment of life as a gift
An opportunity for loving

And we know
Somewhere in the back of our minds that
All shall be well
And even in life’s catastrophes
Even in our overwhelm
Even in our deepest sorrows
You are with us
Bringing us along
Our rock
Our fortress
Our hope
Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the [fiery Gehenna]” Matthew 5:21-22

Intro: You know the directory in the mall, with the little star that reads, “You are here”?

Well, let’s figure out where we are in Jesus’ Sermon
– we’ve been through the Beatitudes
• we’ve made the transition from Jesus’ closing remarks to his declaration that he had not come
“to abolish the Law or the Prophets,”
• but to empower them so they do in our lives what they’re meant to do;
◦ and that is to turn human hearts toward God

Then he made that terrifying demand:
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”
– rigid obedience to minute details of the Law was the trademark of the scribes and Pharisees
• but Jesus didn’t mean we must be more rigid or rule-based than they were
– Jesus is teaching us a new way to read the Law – his correct way
• following Jesus, Paul made a radical statement regarding circumcision
(a badge of God’s covenant with Abraham that confirmed the identity of his offspring)
“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter [of the Law]” (Ro. 2:28-29)
(this idea was appeared first in Deuteronomy [the Law] and Jeremiah [the Prophets]; De. 30:6 and Jer. 4:4)
◦ a little later Paul writes:
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Ro. 3:21-22)
• Jesus was not teaching a greater religiosity,
◦ but what Jonathan Pennington refers to as “a greater righteousness”
◦ and Amy-Jill Levine, “a higher righteousness”

I see three important characteristics of Jesus’ “true righteousness”
First of all, it is relational – every command is rooted in love
Second, it doesn’t focuses on the surface of the Law, but the spirit of the Law
Third, the work it does is not on surface of our lives, but in our hearts
• what the Law and Prophets produce is a whole person–undivided–,
• where our external behavior matches our hearts’ commitments

As we move into the passage we’re covering this morning, we could begin, “For example”

Six times, Jesus shows us how he interprets the spirit of the Law
– he arranged all of these according to the same design
• Jesus begins, “You have heard that it was said” or “that it was written”
• next, he says, “But I say to you”
• then he provides at least one practical application
◦ the only example that lacks an application is the one on divorce
◦ there the application is obvious

Jesus’ first example, “You shall not murder”

What usually happens when we read these verses,
– is we immediately react to specific words and miss the point
• so let’s look closely at the big picture
◦ if all we have to do is obey the letter of the law,
◦ then it doesn’t matter what is in our hearts
• that’s the mistake Jesus wants to correct
◦ my heart matters, because it determines the kind of person I am
– having never murdered anyone does not make me a good person
• Jesus gives a good deal of space to clear up this issue
◦ it was a concern and goal of the Law and the Prophets
• the Law isn’t about setting boundaries and punishing bad behavior
◦ it’s about making us good people, inside and out
◦ righteous people, who love God and love others

Jesus takes us into what the Law says on the surface to its deeper message
– it’s clear the Law prohibits murder – it’s a “punishable offense”
• but Jesus says that anger is also a punishable offense
• then it seems like he is stepping up degrees of anger,
◦ and also stepping up the punishment:
◦ from being cited, to taken to court (Sanhedrin), to fires of Gehenna

(Gehenna was a valley outside the walls of Jerusalem where rubbish was burned and always smoldering – obviously an “unclean” place that became a symbol of extreme punishment)

– what I think Jesus is saying us that unresolved anger intensifies
• if you hold onto anger it mutates and increases
• murder is just one expression of it
◦ but you can do a lot of damage to another person before it comes to murder
Amy-Jill Levine, “Jesus sees connections between murder and insult, death and name-calling. He’s right. We’ve heard that ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me,” but the saying is wrong. Names hurt. Names kill. In our call-out culture, children are cyberbullied to death; people take their lives because of the barrage of insults. Names kill. Jesus was right: if we would only listen to him.”

Anger is a normal, natural, and automatic emotion (everyone gets angry)
– at times, and in specific instances, anger is appropriate
And [Jesus] looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart . . . (Mk. 3:5)
• of course, not all anger is appropriate
◦ in fact, it is almost always the wrong response to frustration, noisy neighbors (or children), and traffic
• like other negative reactions and emotions,
◦ anger has to be managed or controlled
◦ it’s energy can be useful, but we can’t hold onto it
– anger is always wrong if it settles into a permanent state
• if it becomes habitual or a personality trait
◦ if anger settles in our hearts as resentment, it festers
• some people choose to live with compromised health,
◦ physically and mentally, rather than let go of resentment
◦ remember, Jesus is trying to clean out our hearts

We cannot always forgive – or let go of our anger by ourselves
– but we can always turn to God for assistance
• what Jesus wants to emphasize, is what we carry inside
– in Matthew chapter 15, Jesus is asked a question regarding hand washing
• in answering, he moves from the hands to the heart,
◦ from the external to the internal,
• then he dives deep into the heart, exploring what’s there
◦ Jesus’ diagnosis of the human condition is that,
◦ all of us have heart problems

Jesus presents a case that shows how to diffuse anger
“So if you are offering you gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” Matthew 5:23-24

The assumption is that you have wronged someone
– if that’s the case, Jesus says you can fix it (or at least take a first step)
• you can go to that person and offer to repair the relationship
• it may be up to you to begin the process of reconciliation
◦ it may be within your power to make things right
◦ however, you’re not responsible for other person’s response
– there may be other times when you have been wronged
• if another person comes to us seeking reconciliation,
◦ we have the opportunity and obligation to forgive
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:21-22)
• there Jesus emphasizes forgiving others “from your heart” (Mt. 18:35)
◦ which is the whole point
◦ this is the path to spiritual wholeness and healthiness

Jesus presents a second case where this applies
“Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny” Matthew 5:25-26

This instance is very different from the first one and more difficult!
– this time the problem is not with a brother, but your “accuser”
• this could be with anyone, even a stranger
• Jesus isn’t giving us legal advice,
◦ but he’s telling us to quickly resolve interpersonal conflicts
◦ he’s saying, “Don’t escalate the disagreement. Don’t let it go all the way to court”

Conclusion: Going through these verses, it occurred to me,

If the Sermon On the Mount were all we had of Jesus’ teaching;
– if there were no Gospel of Matthew, or the other gospels, or the New Testament,
• the Sermon would be enough
◦ enough to know God, his kingdom, and his will for us
Amy-Jill Levine, “It is impossible to sustain the sense of the kingdom’s presence. Stuff gets in the way. Life gets in the way. Failing bodies get in the way. We can’t be perfect all the time. These moments of doubt, frustration, jealousy, greed, or despair are not failures or disappointments; they are opportunities.”

Taking Jesus’ sermon into our hearts,
brings us closer to what’s in God’s heart
If more people,
if more Christians,
actually lived the Sermon,
it would change the world