Matthew 5:33-37. When Micah gets caught he says, “Just kidding.” He wasn’t “just kidding,” he was lying. I have seen many contracts with “just kidding” written eloquently in the fine print. It seems we never grow out of the “just kidding” phase. This is exactly what Jesus confronting in these verses. Read More…
(To see all the entries on the Sermon on the Mount click here) Matthew 5:31-32. It is clear that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:14-16). Young couples should know that God takes marriage very seriously. Marriage is a metaphor God gives for His relationship to us (Ephesians 5:22-23), and as two become one, a marriage contributes to the Imago Dei of humanity (Genesis 1:27). God’s view of marriage is wonderfully sacred and mystical (Malachi 2:14-16). God hates divorce for what it does to His glorious image in humanity and the pain it causes people as the mystical union of two becoming one is broken. Divorce is a sin like every other sin; it needs the forgiveness that Christ has died for (Matthew 26:28; 1 John 1:9). Forgiveness and healing awaits the believer who has suffered from the hurt caused by divorce. Read More…
Matthew 5:27-30. Does Jesus intend for us to be one-eyed lusters? Does He want a man to be an emasculated coveter of another man’s spouse? I don’t think so. To read this text in this way is to miss the point. Jesus is clearly speaking hyperbolically. However, there is a piece of you that must be cut out and replaced, but it is a surgery that you cannot perform. Read More…
Matthew 5:21-26. He stomps up the stairs when he is mad. I hate it. Stomping is something that I cannot tolerate. We make Micah, our 5 year old, start over every time. When he gets in trouble, he is not allowed to stomp off. It is a heart issue. If he has done wrong, he needs to accept his punishment and move on. Punishment is not about getting the right behavior out of Micah. It is about getting him to want the right thing, changing his heart. Micah, like me and you, has a sinful nature that doesn’t merely affect his behavior; it affects his heart. It affects his desires. It affects his longings. I want for him to long for noble and right things. That’s why we punish stomping. The heart is the center of what Jesus is communicating to us in His sermon. Read More…
Matthew 5:19-20. “Put me in coach!” I never had the courage to say it aloud. It was not a lack of confidence in my abilities. I believed I could perform. I was a “4” man. The small forward. I had crazy “ups” (that’s what we used to call jumping ability). I sat on the bench saying the words in my mind over and over again. “Put me in coach!” I was not afraid I would not do well; I was afraid that I would not be validated. I was afraid that the coach wouldn’t believe in me. I was afraid of his reaction if I said it aloud. That has always been my temptation. I am a fairly confident guy though I am desperate for others to think so. I know I am competent, but if someone doubts that, it has the potential to crush me. Read More…
Matthew 5:17-18. What do 24 and the Bible have in common? I am into 24. The TV show tells the same story every week. I like knowing the Jack Bauer will come through. Whenever the story pushes me to edge of my seat, I don’t fall off because I know the outcome. Every 24 TV series follows the same pattern: fall, redemption, restoration. Read More…
Matthew 5:14-16. Haiti has been a light to to me. Choupa was a young man who translated for me in Haiti. After a week of fun, bible teaching, and soccer with our American students Choupa asked me a question. The question displayed his innocence, an innocence from an evil present in the states, but remarkable absent in many communities in Haiti. He asked, “How do your American kids cope with their abundance?” Choupa continued, “I have food to eat, but I find it difficult to eat at night knowing that my neighbors go to bed and wake up hungry.” Read More…
Matthew 5:13. Recently Rick Warren tweeted, “Any effort to create heaven on earth will fail. God calls us to get people into the real heaven, not to build our own.” He is right. However, the mantra of New City is to “create Heaven on Earth for others.” There is a paradox here. Jesus told us to pray, “Your [God’s] will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We are to pray for Heaven on Earth to happen, while knowing it can only happen in part. Read More…
Matthew 5:11-12. Jesus gets personal. In these verses Jesus moves from the third person to the second person “you.” As a speaker I would make this the point in the sermon where direct eye contact with individuals becomes very important. I can feel the eyes of Jesus zeroing in on my soul when He says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely because of me.”
I think too much about what others think of me. I try not to be prideful and too self-conscious, but it creeps up on me. I sometimes hear people talking and laughing as I pass by. I know, intellectually, that they are not laughing at me or talking about me. I check my fly every time anyway. It is pretty egocentric, but I have these pings in my head. The pings ask questions like: “Does he think I am smart? Do I appear spiritually aware? I hope they find me likable? “ The gripping part of Matthew 5:11 is the four times Jesus says you. There is something here that is about YOU. YOU must be willing to be reviled, persecuted, and the target of evil slander because of ME. Read More…
Matthew 5:9. The phrase “sons of God” means more than being related to God. In the time that Jesus spoke these words, to be a son of something was to share a character with it. To be a “son of a dog” was to be like a dog in character. To be a “son of a devil” was to be like a devil in character. So to be called a “son of God” is to be like God in His character. Matthew 5:8 says that God is a peacemaker and that when people make peace, they are like God. Read More…
Matthew 5:8. The word purity here is typically used of ritual purity. Ritual purity qualified someone for worship in the Temple. It was an adherence to a set of external laws. Purity of the heart is the adherence to a set of internal laws. The heart is the center of human volition, conscience, and desire. The heart, in Hebrew scripture, is the control center of the human body. The heart animates the body. The body does the bidding of the heart. Purity of heart is the purity of desire, moral conviction, and will. A pure heart does not merely do the right thing; a pure heart wants the right thing. A pure heart longs for what is right and rejects evil. Read More…
Matthew 5:7. One of my favorite Greek words is splagchna. In Luke 1:78 the author Luke writes about the “splagchna mercy of God.” Splagchna is the word for bowels or gut. Most westerns consider the heart as the center of human emotion, but the Jews regarded the gut as the center of tender affections like pity and mercy. In other words God’s mercy is felt deeply inside of Him. When God shows mercy, it is an emotionally gripping response. Read More…
Matthew 5:6. First, let’s meditate on Isaiah 25:6. It’s one of my favorite verse. Vintage wine and great steak is the imagery that God chooses to describe Heaven. Jesus similarly describes Heaven as a royal wedding feast in Matthew 22:2. Feasting on great wine and meat sounds awesome (but, I can’t keep from wondering if some Christians will be uncomfortable there). It sounds satisfying. Read More…
Matthew 5:5. My view of meekness or gentleness was forever changed by Proverbs 25:15. The verse says that some speaking is bone breakingly clear. The ESV translates the word gentle as soft, but that is not the best translation for a word that connotes an empathetic kindness. In most communication courses the instructor tries to correct poor communication with a technique called active listening. When actively listening, you repeat back what you hear to be sure there is no misunderstanding. A gentle word can break a bone because when it is spoken it clearly communicates, “I understand you,” “I love you,” and “I deeply care for your well being.” Meekness is understanding where others are coming from and loving them where they are. Read More…
Matthew 5:4. Mark Moore in his commentary on the gospels says, “Evangelicals have made so much of grace that we have often made too little of sin.” I have noticed in my own life (and in observations as a pastor) that it is hard to force oneself into grief over a wrong doing. Many people have found themselves wanting to feel remorse for a wrong committed, but lacking something inwardly that causes grief for sin. Read More…
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