Life Project Blog

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:1

Thus far in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been showing the people how to have a better form of righteousness in their relationships and dealings with others, now He shifts the focus to show them a better relationship with God. The people of His day were used to a form of righteousness that was centered upon showing others how righteous you are, and maybe that is still the case; I’ll leave that to others to debate. It is Jesus’ clear purpose to teach something quite revolutionary and different.

The first sentence of this verse tells the story: “be careful” tells us right off that we are to be intentional in this, intentional not to practice acts of righteousness or “piety” in front of an audience. Why is that? Because it does not matter what other people think of your level of righteousness, for they have nothing to say on the subject; even when they talk quite a lot. It is only important that God knows where you are, and He knows what we do in private. That first sentence continues to the point: “…in front of others to be seen by them” tells us that if the whole reason we are doing something is to impress people, then we have a problem.

Years ago I worked in a place where everyone was made aware that on Christmas Day the boss served meals in a homeless shelter. It was common knowledge that one way to get ahead in the organization was to do the same; there was a fair amount of not so subtle pressure to be there on Christmas when the boss was there… To be sure, what the boss was doing at the shelter was a good thing, but then quite a few “movers and shakers” were there making a point on Christmas, but who was there the day after and the day after that? Christmas isn’t the only day of the year on which a person must eat. No, the gesture was merely a political one; I didn’t participate in it.

The second sentence of this verse tells the story about what Jesus is trying to impress upon His listeners: If we perform acts of righteousness simply to impress other people, then we will not receive a reward from our Father, for we have received our due from the people we have impressed with our “goodness”. Again, many people do good deeds for the wrong reasons, and let’s be honest, the guy in the homeless shelter is just happy to have a warm meal. Yes, that may be “good” but it isn’t righteousness in God’s sight. Rather, it is the same thing as trying to attain righteousness by our own ability to keep the Law instead of having faith in God.

God wants a people who do the right things when nobody else is looking, who do the right things not for worldly advantage, but because they love God and they love others: Radical indeed!

“You have 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, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48

This is one of the most often quoted passages of the New Testament, and for good reason. So much has been written, and no doubt many who read this have written on it at some point, so rather than commenting on it and trying to explain this or that, maybe defining a Greek word or trying to sound wise, I’ll just give you some reflections of my own. Maybe they will include something worthwhile, and if that is the case for you, then that’s great. If not, then by all means toss my wanderings out… or have a good laugh!

What kind of people does God love?

“Well certainly not the kind of people you’re hanging around with; you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd young man!”

Maybe I was hanging around the wrong crowd, and maybe that wasn’t a good idea for me, but don’t ever think, not even for one minute, that God doesn’t love them too. God loves… all of ‘em, even the naughty boys and girls. OK fine, you caught me, I never said anything like that to my mother; do you think I’m crazy?

That would be more like something my sister would have done.

Yet it doesn’t take away the fact that God really does love everybody, the good, the not so good, the sinner and the saint, the black and the white, the rich and the poor, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Muslim; even the Democrats and the Republicans.

It pains me to say so, but it also means that God loves my enemies, and expects me to do the same.

I’m not going to lie to you and say that this is always easy, because it isn’t. Yet, it is always the right thing to do anyway, and we can do it if we decide to.

This is what it means to live in the Kingdom, for the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed was a community of love, where all are equal in the eyes of God. Of course in this evil age, not all people have chosen to enter into His Kingdom just yet, and we have been appointed to seek them out, even if they don’t seem lovable at first, just as Jesus did. They may say yes and they may say no, they might even call us names and throw rocks at us, but it isn’t for us to condemn them for their response or shun them for their ways and manners; it is enough for us to invite and welcome, God has the rest.

Sometimes Christians like to talk together about how wonderfully blessed we are to have entered relationship with the Lord, we talk about how great His mercy is, and all that He did to save us, and then we wonder at those who don’t see it. What is the matter with them? Yet once upon a time, someone reached out to me with an invitation to join together with the followers of Jesus, and much to my amazement I said yes to that invitation.

Who would have ever expected that?

So now here I am, so many years later; the torch is now in my hand, as it is in yours; will we deny some poor naughty child of God the chance to say yes to our invitation?

May it never be so.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42

I have pointed out many times here in the past that to the ancient Hebrew mind, God’s most notable attribute was restraint. In order for a person to follow Jesus Christ, the attribute he or she must have is restraint; that this is the key ingredient to our relationship with Him is no coincidence. In this paragraph, Jesus is making the same point as He runs through four illustrations of a self-denying restraint that seems radical by worldly standards.

The old Law had provisions for retribution, and the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth principle was intended to ensure that a person’s rights were protected, and that punishment fit the crime. However, history shows that this principle was not always followed in an evenhanded way, and by the time of Jesus, punishments for damaging other people were usually found in the form of monetary fines. From Jesus’ point of view, in the Kingdom these things were not really necessary, for our reliance should be upon God alone for justice.

The first example deals with insults, as a slap to the face would have been considered, as opposed to being a violent attack. Jesus did not respond to the insults hurled at Him; neither should we respond. If an evil person uses a court to take your property; let him have it. If you are compelled into labor, give extra, and always be ready to help those who need it. Far from announcing a series of specific commands or new rules and regulations for us to be legalistic about, Jesus is simply seeking to shift our focus from the physical things of this world, to a deeper and more significant focus on that which is above, and letting God be the judge who will bring about true justice to those who cause harm to others.

Some might suggest that this is a recipe for Christians to be doormats, but I see this as something quite different. I see this as Christians being called to great strength, for through all of this, we are called to rely not on our own ability to strike back, but upon the inner strength of God to overcome evil with good.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Matthew 5:33-37

It was the Jewish custom to swear an oath to ensure that a person would keep his word in making a promise. This was not something that God was crazy about; rather it was more of a divine concession to the reality of our fallen state in this world when it came to the provisions for oaths in the Law. It was though a person was admitting that what he said may or may not true, unless he “swore”, much like it was among the boys I knew as a child; if I “swear” it’s true, then I must be really serious, but if I didn’t “swear it” it might be a lie.

Jesus wants no part of this kind of thinking in the Kingdom; everything we say is to be true; there is no place whatsoever for falsehood as a follower of Christ, so there will be no “swearing” necessary. More than anything else, these verses call all of us to be men and women of integrity and faithfulness, as God is integrity and faithfulness.

I wonder what things would look like in the here and now if we took this injunction to heart!

“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.

Matthew 5:3132

Jesus’ remarks in these two verses concerning divorce are at once so simple, and so complicated; there has been so much confusion within the Christian community over the centuries. Before we go too far, let’s keep in mind the context in which this falls: Jesus is teaching the people how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, both as it is in this life and how it will ultimately be when the Kingdom is consummated upon His return. He is linking this new kind of life with that of old Israel by going straight to the old Law and then showing the people what God’s intentions were about their obedience, in contrast to the way they have been taught by the Pharisees and teachers of the law who take the approach of legalism and legal minutia rather than the approach of faith in God.

In the old system, a man could easily divorce his wife by giving her a certificate of divorce: bam, there it is. This was never pleasing to God, and it was never His intention that this be used as a means of simply discarding one woman in favor of the next, for it goes directly to heart of covenant faithfulness, and marriage between a man and wife is a picture of the covenant relationship between Man and God. You will no doubt recall how Israel was portrayed by the prophets as an unfaithful bride.

Notice how Jesus takes exception to this by saying that a man who divorces his wife makes her an adulteress, along with any subsequent husband she may find, except in one case.

The one exception to this rule is what the NIV calls “sexual immorality” which is their translation of the Greek word porneía, meaning two things: Sexual immorality and/or idolatry. Most often, it is translated “fornication”, but it carries with it the implication of idolatry or placing something above or in place of God. What we need to recognize is that the pure and simple physical action here really isn’t the main problem; for the main issue is the fact that one covenant partner is acting in total disregard of their covenant vow to the other. The failure on the part of many teachers over the centuries to include this aspect of the word and context into their teachings has had serious implications in the lives of people, implications that have resulted in chaos, to say the least. I say this because the traditional teaching is that a divorce cannot take place without inappropriate sexual relations between one of the partners and an outsider. The result has been that many women have been forced back into homes where they and their children are subjected to serious violence because the violent person didn’t have an affair. No affair, he just beat his wife and children senseless wherever he felt like it.

I have news for those who teach such things: A man who is beating his wife and/or children is just as much in total disregard of his marriage vows as anyone who is sleeping around, and he is placing the indulgence of his violent tendencies in place of God and His righteousness, making him an idolater. It always amazes me how otherwise rational people freak out when sex is an issue, often overlooking other issues that are really the root of the problem.

However you might read these verses, I’m sure that we can all agree that Jesus is telling us that God does not much like divorce, and that we must be willing to do everything that we can do to maintain our covenant relationships and help our covenant partners do keep their covenant responsibilities, just as God goes the extra mile to help us keep our covenant responsibilities to Him.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 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. 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.

Matthew 5:27-30

Jesus continues in these verses to go straight to the heart of Jewish Law; this time commenting on the seventh Commandment. The commission of adultery would seem to involve quite a bit more than a roll in the hay in Jesus’ view, since guilt took place when the man looked at another woman with desire. Others have commented on this extensively, and I’m happy to let you consult them for their wisdom, for this post, I will assume that the words speak plainly enough. The principle, in my view, extends beyond another man’s wife and goes to any possession of another person; house, car, furniture, TV… whatever. It isn’t yours, and “lusting” after it is a spiritual problem.

Jesus makes this point in verses 29-30 by the use of some hyperbole. Even most literalists will agree that Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation, the tearing out of eyes and chopping off of hands. However, the right eye and the right hand are illustrative of the principle I mentioned, for they represent the things we cast our gaze upon, and our deeds. Is our gaze always upon the possessions of others or things we cannot or should not have? If so, then our gaze is clearly not on the “things that are above”. What about the things that we do? Are we just about getting “things”? Maybe we are all about taking things…

With this in mind, we step back and look at the larger Kingdom concept: How does our gaze upon the spouse of another effect the community of believers? How does it affect the relationships involved? How would this affect our own marriages?

Unlike previous teachers, Jesus is going way beyond the mere commission of a physical act and into the inner thoughts and motivations of the heart, for in the Kingdom of Heaven, sin in whatever form brings about relational problems between believers and God.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20

Lest anyone should have the wrong idea about Jesus, He takes the opportunity at the this point to clarify His relationship with the Law of Moses, pointing out very clearly that He had no intention of abolishing it. As we read this, we might wonder why He stuck this paragraph at this point in His remarks; the answer is an interesting one. As He has gone out proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven, healing the sick and chasing out demons, Jesus created quite a stir to say the least. He has given us the character traits of the new follower of God, He has shown us a new mission for God’s people in the last section, but even though there are new elements He is introducing into Israel, He is not doing away with any part of the old Law; no, He has something quite different in mind.

He is going to fulfill both the Law and the Prophets!

Notice that in this passage, Jesus is still mentioning the Kingdom; in the Kingdom, people won’t be approaching the Law in the same way that they have been used to handling it, and it may well be that the people have never really handled it correctly, or as God intended. The reason for this is simply that the Israelites had the idea that they could become righteous by keeping the Law by their own force of will, and as we know, they were never successful for long and often fell into total rebelliousness when they failed. In this implication throughout the rest of this sermon, Matthew once again is linking the story of Jesus with the history of Israel.

Entry into the Kingdom will require a great deal more than the Law as presented by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, for they taught obedience to Law through legalistic minutia, a teaching that God did not bring to them. As the larger story unfolds, we will see time and again their legalistic approach colliding with Jesus’ kingdom approach, for they simply could not fathom His teaching, for Jesus’ approach was to rely in faith upon God for righteousness, rather than on earning it by their own efforts, and frankly, this conflict is still with us today.

Beginning with 5:21, Jesus will teach His listeners how the Law should be applied towards one’s neighbors, which as we will see, runs a great deal deeper than anything the Pharisees had in mind, for their legalism by minutia was only effective in making a person look impressive to other people, while Jesus’ approach was allowing God to work in the lives of the people, to His glory.