The Righteous Life: Matthew 5 (Ep. 50)

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
Good day, and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God. I'm Dave Whittingham. It's so easy to look and sound religious, to have the appearance of being on the right track with God, to impress people with your devotion and spirituality. You can do all that and still have nothing to do with Jesus. You can do and say so much that seems right, but still be outside the kingdom of God.

[00:00:31] - [Speaker 0]
Jesus isn't interested in religious appearances. He wants something much bigger and deeper. He wants something that's so much harder to give. And yet what he wants

[00:00:44] - [Speaker 1]
is so much better by far. It gives real joy, real hope, real transformation, which is what we're gonna see in today's passage. And so without further ado, I present to

[00:01:00] - [Speaker 0]
you our next episode of stories of a faithful god. At the end of our last episode, huge crowds had started following Jesus. They traveled from all over the region, walking for days and days to see him and hear him. He healed their sick, cast out demons, and proclaimed the same message that John had preached before him, repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near. In the Old Testament, God established the nation of Israel to be his people, to be a shining light to the world,

[00:02:00] - [Speaker 1]
and to draw the world back to him. Unfortunately,

[00:02:05] - [Speaker 0]
they hadn't lived as his people. They certainly had the outward form. They had the temple, the priests, the festivals. God himself said in Isaiah 29 verse 13, these people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip service, yet their hearts are far from me. And because their hearts weren't in it, they lived evil lives, lives that were just the same as the rest of the sinful world, lives that were the opposite to how god wanted them to live.

[00:02:39] - [Speaker 0]
Now God's about to establish a new kingdom through Jesus, a kingdom that doesn't work according to the world's way of doing things, a heavenly kingdom that shows the heart of God because its people have hearts turned away from sin and towards God, repentant hearts. As these huge crowds descend on Jesus, it might seem like the kingdom is growing well. When Jesus sees the crowds, though, he actually withdraws and heads up into a mountainous region. Somewhere up in the mountains, he sits down, and his disciples come to him. It isn't entirely clear who these disciples are yet.

[00:03:23] - [Speaker 0]
Certainly, Peter and Andrew and James and John, who we heard about in the last chapter. We haven't heard about an official 12 yet, though, but whoever they are, they seem to be different to the crowds. We'll see at the end of the sermon, Jesus is about to preach, that the crowds have tracked him down and are listening in. These disciples, though, seem to be a much smaller group. They're the ones who aren't just checking Jesus out.

[00:03:50] - [Speaker 0]
They've signed up. They want what Jesus is offering. They want to be in the kingdom that he's

[00:03:55] - [Speaker 1]
establishing. And so Jesus teaches them about life in that kingdom, and

[00:04:02] - [Speaker 0]
he starts in this really wonderful way. He starts by telling them how to be happy, how to be blessed. Modern translations often use the word blessed, but it's the same Greek word as happy. It kind of combines the idea of being given a good gift, being blessed, and an inner joy or happiness. Jesus wants his disciples to know how to be happy.

[00:04:29] - [Speaker 0]
What's startling, though, is that the people he says will be happy are people who the world thinks of as not happy. The people he says are blessed are the people the world says are cursed. It's topsy-turvy to everything his disciples have ever known in a really good way. In Christ's kingdom, people you thought were cursed turn out to be blessed. So in Matthew five verse three, Jesus begins, blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

[00:05:04] - [Speaker 0]
In Jesus' ministry, he's gonna meet so many people who think they're rich in spirit or in spirituality, but they are not the blessed ones. The blessed ones are the ones who come to Jesus knowing they're sinners, knowing they're poor in spirit, and they're the ones who get the kingdom of heaven. How unexpected is it that the evil people who repent and not the people who look like they're righteous are the blessed ones? It's the same in the next verse, verse four, where Jesus says, blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. What's that about?

[00:05:43] - [Speaker 0]
Blessed are those who mourn? Happy are those who mourn? If you're mourning, it usually means you're not happy by definition. It seems that in Jesus' kingdom, up is down, left is right. Mourners are happy.

[00:05:58] - [Speaker 0]
The reason, though, is because they'll be comforted. They don't mourn as people without hope, whether they're mourning because of sin or because of the evil in the world or because of death. In the kingdom of heaven, all those problems are solved by Jesus. He goes on to say, blessed are the humble. You know who humble people are in the world's eyes.

[00:06:26] - [Speaker 0]
They're the weak. They don't get anywhere. They don't have the power of self importance that makes someone reach the top

[00:06:32] - [Speaker 1]
of the ladder, which means they end up poor, crushed, run over by the stronger self important ones. But in Jesus' kingdom, it's the opposite. He says, blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. And you're like, what? The whole earth?

[00:06:52] - [Speaker 1]
Earth is pretty big.

[00:06:54] - [Speaker 0]
But that's what he's saying. They're the

[00:06:56] - [Speaker 1]
ones on top. Jesus says in verse six,

[00:07:00] - [Speaker 0]
blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

[00:07:05] - [Speaker 1]
for they will be filled. Righteousness,

[00:07:09] - [Speaker 0]
the desire to live rightly according to God, is not what most people hunger and thirst for. They hunger for wealth and security and power and happiness. It's not so much what god wants for my life, but what I want. They're not the ones who end up happy, though. The ones who'll end up

[00:07:32] - [Speaker 1]
happy are the ones who make God and his way of life their greatest desire. They're the ones who actually get what they most desire.

[00:07:44] - [Speaker 0]
Verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Mercy is another trait the world says is weak. When you look with Bible eyes, though, we all need mercy from the merciful god, and you can't say that god's weak. He did make the whole world just by speaking.

[00:08:05] - [Speaker 0]
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you'll want to be like the powerful god. You'll be merciful. In verse eight, Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see god. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of god. The world doesn't care about your heart.

[00:08:26] - [Speaker 0]
It values fighters, people who'll scrabble over others to get further in life. But God values the pure in heart and the peacemakers. It might feel a bit weird to be called sons of god here, particularly if you're a woman. The NIV translates it as children of god to try and make it more palatable to a modern audience. The sonship is really important, though.

[00:08:52] - [Speaker 0]
God's not denying your gender. But the significant thing about sons in the ancient world is that sons inherit. They carry on the family line. And so for anyone to be given sonship is massive. That's why Jesus spoke about the humble inheriting the whole earth.

[00:09:11] - [Speaker 0]
Both men and women in Christ's kingdom receive this amazing blessing. A much bigger issue we'll have to grapple with as we go along is, does this mean that no one's blessed? I mean, no one's pure in heart. Right? We're all sinful.

[00:09:27] - [Speaker 0]
We all need to repent. Some people might say, well, you just have to become good enough, pure enough, then you get into the kingdom. That's a picture that Jesus does not agree with. He's already said it's the poor in spirit who are blessed. If you think you're good enough, rich enough in your spirit to enter

[00:09:47] - [Speaker 1]
the kingdom, your self perception is all wrong. Other

[00:09:53] - [Speaker 0]
people might say, well, we're not good, but in Jesus, God treats us as though we're good. So we can never do what Jesus is saying here, but that's okay. Jesus does it for us. And while there's a truth in that, it is central to the gospel, It's also not what Jesus is talking about in this sermon. He fully expects his people to live like this.

[00:10:19] - [Speaker 0]
As we'll see as the sermon goes on, Jesus is talking about the new life he saved people to live. In his new people, he's creating a people who actually love living for God, unlike the people of the Old Testament. The last of his quick sayings that Jesus gives to kick off his sermon is another topsy-turvy idea. He tells us that anyone who gets treated really badly because of Jesus is blessed, is happy. Listen to his reasoning.

[00:10:54] - [Speaker 0]
In verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice because your reward is great in heaven, for that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Jesus is calling people to a radically different way of life to the rest of the world. It's even radically different to so many religious people, and lots of people are gonna hate Jesus' followers for that.

[00:11:34] - [Speaker 0]
They're gonna treat them really badly and slander them. But that's how God's true people have been treated forever. The prophet Jeremiah was thrown in a well because people didn't like him speaking the word of God. False prophets were saying what everyone wanted to hear. They were treated really well.

[00:11:56] - [Speaker 1]
But Jeremiah, he made people uncomfortable,

[00:12:01] - [Speaker 0]
and they hated him for it. Think of Daniel and David and Elijah and so many others faithful to God, persecuted by humans. One of the most evil things taught in some churches is that if you trust God, life will be easy for you. That is not what Jesus says. He says, if you follow him, it's gonna get harder.

[00:12:28] - [Speaker 1]
But but your reward will be great in heaven, and you'll be blessed, happy even in the suffering.

[00:12:42] - [Speaker 0]
In all these short statements, Jesus has turned the world's expectations on their head. Things that the world sees as weak and bad, Jesus says will make you happy and blessed. Jesus is giving us a radically new way to look at our life. As well as being blessed, Jesus also wants his disciples to know that there'll be a blessing to the world. It's like God's promises to Abraham, where he promised to bless him and bless the whole world through him.

[00:13:41] - [Speaker 0]
It's another sign that these are the new people of God. Jesus doesn't quite use that language, but he does suggest it by calling his disciples two different things, salt and light. He says to them in verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. Now's where I meant to tell you what salt was used for in the ancient world, which will tell you exactly what Jesus means here. The reality, though, is that salt was used for all sorts of things.

[00:14:11] - [Speaker 0]
What's important here is that it was really valuable and useful because Jesus goes on to say, but if the salt should lose its saltiness, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. Jesus is saying there's something distinctive and good about his disciples, something that brings value to the earth, but he's warning them not to lose that good distinctive characteristic. Without it, they're useless. So what is it that's so distinctive about them?

[00:14:49] - [Speaker 0]
We find out in what Jesus says next. He looks at his disciples and tells them in verse 14, You are the light of the world. Pause for a moment and think about the enormity of that statement. How many people is Jesus talking to here? 10 or 20?

[00:15:07] - [Speaker 0]
Maybe as many as 70 or 80? Sitting in a remote mountainous area in a backwater province of the Roman Empire, and Jesus is telling them they are the light of the world, the idea would be laughable if it wasn't coming from the lips of Jesus. It is coming from Jesus, though. These disciples are gonna shine light on the entire world. And just like Jesus doesn't want them to lose their saltiness, he doesn't want them to hide their light either.

[00:15:39] - [Speaker 0]
He says, a city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. So, again, what is it in them that gives light? What makes them salty? Well, Jesus goes on in verse 16.

[00:16:01] - [Speaker 0]
He says, in the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.

[00:16:14] - [Speaker 1]
Do you see what the light is? It's their good works, their righteousness,

[00:16:20] - [Speaker 0]
the very thing that people will slander and persecute them for. Not everyone will do that, though, because this light will also reveal something or rather someone amazing. It'll reveal their father in heaven, not a father in heaven or simply Jesus' father in heaven, but their father. Those in the kingdom of heaven have been adopted into the family of God. They inherit the earth as children of God, and their life is to display the family resemblance of the family of God.

[00:16:57] - [Speaker 0]
And as people see that, its purpose isn't to make them give glory to these children. It's also not to somehow make people emulate their behavior or change their laws to fit with them. Jesus is not talking about establishing Christian nations on Earth. Rather, the effect will be that people who see this will give glory to the father, honor and praise the father, both because of what he's like and because of the awesome power he's displayed in transforming the poor in spirit into people who live like him. That's why it's not good enough for Christians to say, oh, oh, we could never live like this.

[00:17:40] - [Speaker 0]
Jesus is just showing us that we really need to be forgiven. No. That wouldn't bring glory to the father. Rather, the father is saving us from slavery to sin into a life of joyful love living like him. If you wanna hear it in other words, here's how the apostle Paul says it in Titus two verse 14.

[00:18:03] - [Speaker 0]
Talking about Jesus, he says, he gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. Jesus is doing something amazing here. He's establishing a new people of God. In the Old Testament, the Jews were given salvation from Egypt. They were given God's perfect law.

[00:18:33] - [Speaker 0]
They were heirs of the promises of God, but they did not live lives of good works.

[00:18:41] - [Speaker 1]
They lived evil lives. The new people of God won't be defined by their genetic heritage in

[00:18:49] - [Speaker 0]
the family of Abraham. There'll be people who have become followers of Jesus, who've been saved and transformed by Jesus. They'll live out the Old Testament law far more than the people of the Old Testament. So Jesus says in verse 17, don't think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

[00:19:12] - [Speaker 0]
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Strangely, that doesn't mean we should do everything exactly to the letter of the Old Testament law. It can't mean that because later on, Jesus specifically overturns elements of that law.

[00:19:55] - [Speaker 0]
He makes all food clean to eat, whereas the law said some food was richly unclean. He put an end to regular temple sacrifices by becoming the one true sacrifice. So what does he mean here? He means that his new people are going to live out the heart of the law, the very thing that drives every word, every sentence of the law. The apostle Paul talks about how love is the driver of the law.

[00:20:27] - [Speaker 0]
And if you love, you are obeying the law. Jesus is gonna show his disciples how that plays out. But before he gets there, he tells them something else that's completely shocking. He says, in their behavior, they've gotta do better than the best guys on the planet. They've gotta be more righteous than the most righteous people who exist.

[00:20:55] - [Speaker 0]
If they don't, they're going to hell. Listen to his words. This is verse 20. He says, for I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. The scribes and the pharisees made it their life mission to obey God's law really, really carefully.

[00:21:19] - [Speaker 0]
This is how committed they are. The law says give 10% of your income to the work of the temple. The Pharisees would go out to their berry bush. They'd pluck off nine berries and put the tenth one in a separate basket to give away. And they'd do that again and again and again.

[00:21:37] - [Speaker 0]
It seemed like it would be impossible to be more righteous than these guys. But as we see over and over again in the gospels, their righteousness is hypocrisy. They do the letter of the law, but then they find out ways around the heart of it. They're unloving in their obedience, which of course means they're not being obedient at

[00:22:04] - [Speaker 1]
all. Jesus wants real righteousness,

[00:22:09] - [Speaker 0]
a real heart determined to live for God. Not perfectly, not without repentance. The true righteous person will recognize their sin, ask for forgiveness,

[00:22:20] - [Speaker 1]
and seek to do better. If you don't live like that,

[00:22:24] - [Speaker 0]
though, you're faking it just like the Pharisees, and those sorts of people will never get into the kingdom of heaven. So what does this righteous life look like? Jesus starts with the example of murder, a pretty simple one, something that most people think they understand. In verse 21, Jesus says, You've heard that it was said to our ancestors, do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgement. Before we look at what he says next, just remember where the disciples would have heard those words.

[00:23:27] - [Speaker 0]
It's the 10 Commandments. Do not murder is commandment number six. And there'd be plenty of people who say I live by the 10 Commandments, probably forgetting the first few about how you treat God, but this surely would be an easy one. Do not murder. I've never murdered anyone.

[00:23:45] - [Speaker 0]
Look at that. Obey the 10 commandments. Except listen to what Jesus says next. He says in verse 22, but I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be subject to the court.

[00:24:04] - [Speaker 0]
Whoever says, you fool, will be subject to hellfire. Suddenly, the stakes are much higher. Suddenly, takes on a whole new meaning. And it isn't a new legalistic meaning. It's not like we should say, as long as I don't say the words, you fool, I'm fine.

[00:24:25] - [Speaker 0]
No. Jesus is going into the heart of the matter. He's looking at the loving principle behind the commandment. Murder comes from a heart of anger and hatred towards another person. You can restrain yourself from physically killing a person, but still have exactly the same heart as someone who murders them.

[00:24:47] - [Speaker 0]
You're being unloving towards them, and Jesus cares about your heart. In Christ's kingdom, he doesn't just want your outward actions to appear loving. He wants you to be actually loving. And you see that in what he says next. For years, read this next bit the wrong way around.

[00:25:06] - [Speaker 0]
In verse 23, Jesus says, so if you're offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go

[00:25:20] - [Speaker 1]
and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Now who's in

[00:25:28] - [Speaker 0]
danger of being angry in that little illustration? It isn't you. That's how I used to read it. But the angry person is the other person who has something against you. And if they're angry, they're in danger of hell.

[00:25:45] - [Speaker 0]
It would be easy to say, well, that's not my problem. That's their issue. I'm standing at the altar about to make this offering to God. God's so much more important than that other person. I'm not gonna interrupt my worship of God just because they are angry.

[00:26:02] - [Speaker 0]
That is not how God's thinking, though. If you truly love God, which is the greatest commandment, then you'll truly love that other person, and you'll want to help them and protect them from sin. If you truly love God, which is the greatest commandment, then you'll truly love that other person, and you'll want to help them and protect them from sin. Jesus gives another little illustration about reconciling quickly with someone who's taking you to court. It sounds like a piece of nice legal advice, but there's a hint towards something more than that.

[00:26:45] - [Speaker 0]
He talks about you losing the case and being thrown into prison. And then he says in verse 26, truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you've paid the last penny. The never getting out is a way Jesus sometimes speaks about hell. So, again, Jesus is calling his disciples to be reconciled in relationships. Don't mess around with an angry or hard heart towards someone.

[00:27:12] - [Speaker 0]
Get it fixed before you come into God's courtroom. God cares about your heart. Jesus then goes on to give a similar explanation about adultery, this time riffing off the seventh commandment, do not commit adultery. It's the same issue. Easy for someone to say, oh, I've never had sex with someone who's not my spouse or who's married to someone else.

[00:27:38] - [Speaker 0]
I'm fine. But, again, Jesus goes to the heart of the issue. He says, but I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Just like with murder, Jesus is not interested in a simplistic, minimalistic way of reading his law. He wants his people to be maximalist in our love for him and our love for others, and he wants us to take sin and the consequences of sin very seriously.

[00:28:15] - [Speaker 0]
He says in verse 29, if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to 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 the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Elsewhere, Jesus talks about how sin comes from the heart, so please don't think that you can chop an eye or a hand off and your sin will just go away. Jesus is speaking like this to show how seriously we should take his words.

[00:28:57] - [Speaker 0]
Do you really want to be watching pornography and committing adultery in your heart? Short term pleasure, long term horrible pain. Or do you really want to tempt destruction by building an emotional bond to someone who's not your spouse? Jesus is saying to his disciples, flee. Run away.

[00:29:17] - [Speaker 0]
This is a disaster. Don't console your conscience with a simplistic evil reading of God's word. That's what people in Jesus' day have been doing when it comes to divorce, which is what Jesus talks about next. Now I realize as I cover this section on divorce, there's all sorts of feelings of pain and hurt and even shame. There are a thousand questions that can come out of what Jesus says here and how I'm going to explain it.

[00:29:47] - [Speaker 0]
Also, I'm very aware that lots of people have different opinions to me on these verses. So before we get into Jesus' words on divorce, I wanna offer two thoughts. Firstly, we have to check carefully what Jesus is saying. We can't just choose the explanation that fits with what we want. It's Jesus' kingdom.

[00:30:09] - [Speaker 0]
We need to listen to him, especially since we live in a world that promotes a very different perspective on divorce than the Bible does. Secondly, and this is true of all these sections, I'm not saying anything here in order to shame anyone for what they've done had done to them. Jesus' word is a word of life to the lost. Remember how Jesus started his sermon Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. If we listen to Jesus' words and we realise how poor we are in spirit, if we're humbled, if we're made to mourn and feel meek, that's awesome.

[00:30:52] - [Speaker 0]
It's very different to shame. It's the first step to real repentance and change. If you care about Jesus' words, no matter who you are, at some stage, he's gonna tell you something that you think, oh, I shouldn't have done that. And as you pray and repent, he loves welcoming you, forgiving you, and helping you. The people he rejects are not the sinners, but the people who don't think that they've ever sinned.

[00:31:23] - [Speaker 0]
In verse 31, Jesus refers back to the Old Testament and says, It was also said, whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. That's a quote from Deuteronomy 24 verse one. How people took those words were, great, we can get divorced whenever we want as long as we hand over a piece of paper saying that we're divorced. It's such an evil twisting of the words. Elsewhere, Jesus speaks about how Moses gave this command because the people's hearts were hard.

[00:31:57] - [Speaker 0]
The men were divorcing their wives before this, leaving the women in legal limbo in a world where men held almost all the power. The men dumped them and went off to find the next younger model. Moses wasn't giving these evil men the right to do whatever they wanted. He was providing some legal protection for the women after they'd been abandoned. At least with the certificate, they can show that legally they've been abandoned and divorced and can move on with their own lives.

[00:32:30] - [Speaker 0]
Jesus is not speaking against the desire to protect the women. Rather, he's speaking against the heart that says I can get divorced whenever I want. The actual words Jesus says haven't always been translated from the Greek to English very well, and I think that's caused significant pain and confusion. As you probably know, I normally use the CSV on this podcast, although I'm generally happy to use the ESV and NIV as well. They're all great translations.

[00:33:05] - [Speaker 0]
This passage is a tricky one, though. In the passage, Jesus uses a really strange form of the Greek word that means to commit adultery. I'm not sure if this particular form is used anywhere else. The ESV and the old NIV, the 1984 version that I grew up with, translate Jesus' words very similarly to how the CSB renders them. The CSB has Jesus saying in verse 32, but I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery.

[00:33:44] - [Speaker 0]
It raises all sorts of questions like, if the man is the one divorcing the wife, why on earth would she be the one who's caused to commit adultery? It sounds like guilt falls on her because of his actions. Thankfully, the more recent NIV has given a more accurate translation. I'm not saying we should pick and choose the translation that best fits our own thinking. No.

[00:34:10] - [Speaker 0]
On this verse, I believe the NIV has done the best work on the Greek word so we can know what Jesus actually said. Instead of the word saying to commit adultery, the very weird way it's formed makes it mean that she has adultery committed against her. So here's the twenty eleven NIV of this section. Jesus says, it has been said anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. 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.

[00:34:55] - [Speaker 0]
She's not an adulteress when the man divorces her. She's the victim of adultery.

[00:35:03] - [Speaker 1]
With that clearer understanding, we can then ask the question, why? Why is

[00:35:08] - [Speaker 0]
she a victim of adultery? Surely the whole point of divorce is to end one marriage so you can legally marry again. That's why people divorce instead of separate. If you separate without divorce, you acknowledge that you're still bound to the other person in some way. When you divorce, you're saying the relationship's completely over, and it's okay to join a new relationship.

[00:35:33] - [Speaker 0]
But Jesus is saying, not in God's eyes. Your human legal divorce doesn't change the fact that God bound you together. You're not actually divorced. So when a man legally divorces his wife and goes off to marry someone else, God says, that's adultery. Your first wife is the victim of adultery.

[00:35:58] - [Speaker 0]
You've betrayed her. The only reason Jesus gives for actual divorce divorce in God's eyes is sexual immorality. When one partner, the husband or wife, has committed sexual immorality, god says to the other partner, you're free to divorce. They've bound themselves to someone else, and so you're no longer bound to them. You don't have to get a divorce, but you are free to.

[00:36:29] - [Speaker 0]
I realize in saying all this, I'm washing over a whole bunch of issues. The most prominent one in my mind is what about when there's abuse in the home? And even though this passage doesn't actually address it directly, I think we can use the same principle of being as loving as possible to the other person. So if your husband or wife is violent or abusive towards you, you should get out of the home straight away. There's no excuse for abuse.

[00:36:59] - [Speaker 0]
There's no reason for it. You should get out, and your church should help you to do it. You should get out of the home in order to love your spouse. You see, it isn't loving to your spouse to keep being a punching bag. It doesn't help them confront their sin.

[00:37:19] - [Speaker 0]
It doesn't help them control their anger. In fact, it just confirms them in it. You should separate in order to help them shock them into realizing their problem so they can go and get counseling or take anger management courses. You should do it because you want to see them grow in godliness and love and with the hope and prayer for reconciliation. That's not the same as divorce.

[00:37:48] - [Speaker 0]
It's a separation in order to help them in the hope that you'll one day be able to

[00:37:53] - [Speaker 1]
come back together. Of course, they may not accept the help, and that separation may just continue. But that's the nature of love. It's the nature of God's love that he perseveres with us even when we're stubborn.

[00:38:42] - [Speaker 0]
Jesus continues to show his disciples how to live with a righteous heart. His next topic is oaths. Why do people take an oath? You know, I swear on my life that I or I swear on my mother's grave, or why do people do it? They do it to try and make their words more believable, to try

[00:39:05] - [Speaker 1]
and draw respectability from whatever they're swearing on. You see it in one of

[00:39:10] - [Speaker 0]
the greatest movies of all time, The Princess Bride. Inigo Montoya promises the man in black that he'll help him climb to the top of the cliff. First, Inigo promises not to kill him, but the man in black doesn't believe him. Then Inigo offers to give his word as a Spaniard, and the reply comes back, no good. I've known too many Spaniards.

[00:39:32] - [Speaker 0]
Sorry to any Spanish listeners out there. Finally, Inigo looks very serious and says, I swear on the soul of my father, Domingo Montoya, you will reach the top alive. And finally, the man in black relents and accepts help. The soul of Inigo's father carried more weight than his word as a Spaniard. Here's the thing, though.

[00:39:57] - [Speaker 0]
Why does that make any difference? What'll happen if he's lying? Nothing. Nothing at all. The words are neither more or less true just because he swore an oath.

[00:40:09] - [Speaker 0]
People sometimes try to co opt God and his power and authority into their oaths, and Jesus says, no. No way. That attacks God's dignity. In verse 34, he says, but I tell you, don't take an oath at all, either by heaven because it's God's throne or by the earth because it's his footstool or by Jerusalem because it's the city of the great king. Do not swear by your head because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

[00:40:40] - [Speaker 0]
So what's the solution?

[00:40:42] - [Speaker 1]
How do you convince someone you're telling the truth? Jesus offers a really radical solution. It's be honest. Always be honest. He says, but let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.

[00:41:00] - [Speaker 1]
Anything more than this is from the evil one. You see, if you

[00:41:05] - [Speaker 0]
have to swear an oath sometimes, what does that say about the rest of your words? Oh, he didn't swear on anything this time, or he didn't say the magic words, I promise. Does that mean he isn't telling the truth this time? No. You should simply tell the truth all the time, and

[00:41:24] - [Speaker 1]
don't try and manipulate people into believing you. You can't control how they respond. You just speak the truth. I think people kinda get what Jesus is saying there. It isn't too complicated.

[00:41:39] - [Speaker 0]
What he says next, though, has caused people problems for two thousand years. In verse 38, he starts by saying, you've heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Again, that's a part of the Old Testament law, and it's a great description of justice. Fair is fair. The punishment fits the crime.

[00:42:02] - [Speaker 0]
People like justice. God likes justice. He's really big on it. Perhaps that's a part of what makes Jesus' next words so surprising. He says in verse 39, but I tell you, don't resist an evildoer.

[00:42:17] - [Speaker 0]
On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You can almost hear a pin drop among the disciples on the mountain.

[00:42:45] - [Speaker 1]
It's so incredibly different to what you'd hear anyone else say. Jesus is not saying, be a punching bag. What he is saying is respond to evil with love.

[00:43:01] - [Speaker 0]
Don't use another person's evil to get your own back, to justify treating them badly. That's not how God treats people. Jesus goes on to say in verse 43, you've heard that it was said love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your father in heaven. For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

[00:43:33] - [Speaker 0]
Have you ever seen the old film footage of Adolf Hitler playing with his dog as they stand on

[00:43:38] - [Speaker 1]
the balcony of his getaway home in the Alps? The beautiful valley stretching out before them, the sun shining down on a glorious day. It's a picture of pure happiness, and that happiness is a gift from God. Does

[00:43:57] - [Speaker 0]
that mean God's really happy with Hitler? Of course not. When Christ returns, justice will be served fairly and evenly.

[00:44:05] - [Speaker 1]
But that didn't mean God couldn't give that moment of joy to Hitler. And if God can do that for Hitler, you can do

[00:44:13] - [Speaker 0]
it for anyone who treats you badly.

[00:44:18] - [Speaker 1]
The world's way of loving is to get a reward. You give love in order to get. That's why when people talk about divorce or leaving their partner, they

[00:44:28] - [Speaker 0]
say they're doing it because they don't love that person anymore. What they're really saying is, I'm not getting what I want out of this relationship anymore, so I'm not willing to give in this relationship anymore. Throughout the sermon on the mount, though, Jesus says the only reward we should be aiming for is the pleasure of our father in heaven, and he will be happy when we love like he loves. In verse 46, Jesus says, for if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same?

[00:45:07] - [Speaker 0]
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you

[00:45:10] - [Speaker 1]
doing out of the ordinary? Don't even the Gentiles do the same?

[00:45:15] - [Speaker 0]
And then Jesus says something that pretty much sums up everything he's said up to this point. In verse 48, he says, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. In other words, if you want to work out how to love, how

[00:45:32] - [Speaker 1]
to live, how to speak and act and think, look

[00:45:37] - [Speaker 0]
to your heavenly father. This is what the legalists, the pharisees, scribes never do. They put their own interpretation and spin on the law in order to reward themselves and remove the obligation to love. They fail as salt and light. And that's the nature of legalism even when you see it today, in people who claim the name of Jesus but who fail to love their enemies, who are so quick to see sin in others but who can't see it in themselves, who use Christ's good instruction as a weapon rather than a call to love.

[00:46:22] - [Speaker 1]
But then there are others, true members of

[00:46:25] - [Speaker 0]
the kingdom of heaven, who've shown such astounding love to their enemies, to their husbands and wives, to the people they're angry with or who are angry towards them, people who many in the world will mock and ridicule and slander.

[00:46:42] - [Speaker 1]
Others, though, will see in them what's really there, a love that's out of this world, a love that reflects the love of their father in heaven, and they'll stand in awe and give glory to god. May we love like that.

[00:47:15] - [Speaker 0]
Thanks, everyone, for listening. I hope you've really enjoyed it and found it helpful. That, of course, is the first part of the sermon on the mount. There are two more chapters to go, which hopefully we'll cover in the next episode. If you have questions or comments, please send them in to me.

[00:47:29] - [Speaker 0]
You can email me, dave@faithfulgod.net, or you can simply go to the contact page of faithful god dot net, where you can either write a message or record an audio message. If you have enjoyed the show, would you consider becoming a supporter? You could give a dollar an episode or a dollar a month or five or 10 or 20. My ministry currently covers five different podcasts, and I can only do it with the help of supporters. So please consider helping not just me, but thousands of listeners all around the world.

[00:48:03] - [Speaker 0]
Currently, roughly point 48% of listeners give some sort of financial gift. It would be so great to get that up to 10%, but I'd even be happy with 1%. If you'd like to give, head to faithfulgod.net/donate. That's faithfulgod.net/donate. Keep trusting Jesus.

[00:48:25] - [Speaker 0]
Bye for now.