Jesus' View of Our Relationships

Recap

Til this point Jesus has talked about the defining characteristics of every believer and the foundation for that belief. All of that revolves around one central thing…our relationship with God.

Last week we talked about the Law and the Prophets - 3 categories of the Law: Ceremonial, judicial, and moral. And how Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial and judicial in His birth, life, death, and resurrection.

Now the focus shifts to the moral Law.

Jesus continues His process of taking all that the crowd believed and had been taught and flipping it on its head.

I think He’s going to do that to us today as He talks about 4 specific relationships.

We are going to jump right in today!

1st relationship

My relationship with those I’m close to.

Matthew 5:21–24 ““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 hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

My relationship with my enemies.

Matthew 5:25–26 “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.”

Not going to spend a lot of time here because Jesus spends quite a bit of time on this one later in His message.

But what I will say is Jesus is pointing back to the start of His message…those defining characteristics we saw in the Beattitudes - being a peacemaker, being meek, being merciful…comes from remembering where God had to bring you from and price He had to pay to do that for you. So reconcile…He is basically saying there is not that could be done to you that is more wrong that what we have done to Him and HE chose to reconcile with us.

So reconcile!

My secret relationships.

Matthew 5:27–30 ““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.”

Some of us have secret relationships

your work wife

your late night appointment on the computer screen

that person you fantisize about

Your what if person from your past.

For some of you…your lust is for other things…money and things…etc. And you are committing adultery in your relationship with Jesus because you’ve made those things the god in your life.

Jesus said it would be better that you rip out whatever part of you is causing you to sin in that secret relationship and keep your life holy and set apart than for you to keep that hidden thing hidden and find yourself in hell.

And I get it…I have battled some of this stuff.

Jesus is not into self mutilation…don’t go home and pluck out your eye ball…Jesus is using hyperbole to emphasize the seriousness of His point.

Young people…students. Don’t give in to lust. It’s tempting and easy for you…you are surrounded by it and bombarded with it, but don’t give in. Stand firm on your faith. Put on the armor of God each and every day…your helmet of salvation and breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shield of faith, and your shoes of peace…and fight it with the Word of God as your sword. Don’t allow it to get a foothold in your life.

There’s studies out there that show how porn will literally rewrite your brain chemistry in the same way heroin and cocaine will…don’t give in to it. It will destroy you.

My marriage relationship.

Matthew 5:31–32 ““It was 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.”

2 verses that have a lot of us shook…

some of you are like I’ve never been divorced…I’m good. Others are like, I’ve been divorced 3 times…what does this mean for me.

I was thinking about titling this message, The Spirit of the Law, because that’s what Jesus is really after with everything we’ve discussed today.

Remember who He was talking to…a crowd of religious rule keeper who looked down on people who struggled to keep all the rules, and a crowd of people who failed at keeping the rules and felt oppressed by the ones who kept the rules.

Jesus is flipping things on their head.

He’s really saying, I don’t care how well you follow some words on a page, its the condition of your heart that matters, and your heart can’t be in proper alignment with God by following rules…you have to understand what those rules represent.

God is super protective of marriage because of what marriage represents:

- The Trinity

- Jesus and the Church

It is a living picture of some really heavenly things and God doesn’t want His picture distorted.

So He puts strict guidelines on marriage to protect His picture!

He said He will never leave you nor forsake you…so He doesn’t want you to leave or forsake your spouse.

You may be thinking what about me? I am divorced and it wasn’t for the reason Jesus said…am I an adulturer? according to the Law yes…but Jesus paid for that sin on the cross.

HEAR ME CLEARLY - that does not give you license to divorce…this is where the spirit of the Law is important…because we understand as Christ followers that when we do we are breaking His heart and breaking a heavenly picture and He knows the pain and hurt and dysfunction it causes in your life and your children’s lives...

some marriage rules from the book of Miss Rashidah and PJ. Don’t use the D word…ever. I’m sleeping in my bed. Is it worth the relationship…you realize there a very few hills to die on (faith and faithfulness)

Why are relationships so important? Relationships = Influence

Your relationship give you influence and your relationships influence you!