The building blocks of sin

Title: The building blocks of sin pt2

Text: Matthew 5:27-30

D.T: Do everything you can to remove yourself from sin, even if it’s uncomfortable

Introduction: We’ve recently been in a series on the sermon on the mount, and we’ve recently moved into a portion of this series I’ve entitled “The building blocks of evil.” In this part of the sermon on the mount Jesus is addressing how deep the nature of sin goes. In last week’s message we studied Jesus as he preached on the 10 commandments. He preached on the commandment of thou shall not murder. Jesus made aware that the breaking of this commandment is not limited to the action, but includes our thoughts and the desires of our hearts as well. Jesus says that if you’ve held a contempt against another person, or if you wish to harm someone you’ve broken that commandment. Jesus is preaching something similar in this passage. Jesus is preaching on the commandment Thou shall not commit adultery.

(READ Matthew 5:27-30

Matthew 5:27–30 ESV

“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.

This passage of scripture has a lot of stuff I want to unpack, so I will be doing so in the movements. The first movement is what’s obvious. This will establish the clear teaching found in this passage. The second movement will focus on the misconceptions. This passage of scripture contains some rather dangerous misconceptions that need to be stated. The third movement is the moment of meeting. This will focus on where the obvious teachings and these misconceptions meet, and what is found where they meet.

The obvious: Much like he did with the previous command, “Thou Shall not Kill. Jesus takes this command a step further. Jesus says that if a person looks at a member of the opposite sex lustfully, then they have broken the commandment of “thou shall not commit adultery.” The people in the audience would have no doubt felt helpless, they would have looked at eachother and thought to themselves. “Well then each and every one of us have committed the sin of adultery. The response from us modern day readers is the same, overwhelming helplessness because we each know that we’ve committed the sin of adultery, and there is no getting around it. That’s the point, Jesus wants to make it so we cannot escape the reality of our sin, and we cannot deny its existence in our lives.

Once again this passage teaches us the action of murder and adultery begin long before the act is ever committed, the seed is in our thoughts. Continuing to allow the seed to grow could very well manifest in action. (Aviation analogy)

I don’t believe that Jesus talking about murder and adultery in such close proximity is a coincidence. (ILLUSTRATION 2020 True Crime documentary)This crime would begin in the minds and thoughts of all those involved. Thoughts which would lead to this horrific conclusion. This should remind us of the stark reality of the destructive nature of our sin. Those consequences never just affect us, if left unaddressed our sins will harm the lives of those we love. Which is why Jesus is adamant about uprooting it.

This Misconception When it comes to the process of uprooting sin Jesus had very challenging words. He says if your eye or hand or foot leads you to sin, then you need to cut it off because it’s better to lose it than risk hell. There have been misconceptions around this idea which have caused no end of heated debates. However there is really only one way to understand this text. Let me explain what I mean. When interpreting scripture OCC taught me the one of the most important exercises is to determine the “AIM” of scripture. (Author's intended meaning) a literal interpretation is not always correct, the author's intended meaning is not always literal. Sometimes these writers of scripture will use other literary devices to help in teaching. Here is why I believe this is the case with this passage of scripture.

It involves self harm. Jesus implies a literal intention to remove body parts that lead us to sin, it would eventually include the brain. This of course would be fatal and a example of suicide. If your interpretation of scripture includes Jesus advocating suicide. Then your interpretation is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Likewise suggesting that Jesus wants us to take this to a literal level would suggest that Jesus is advocating self harm. Do you honestly think Jesus would want us to harm ourselves? Can’t you see how a literal interpretation of this text could be dangerous in the wrong hands?

Do we want children to buy into this idea of Jesus? One that advocates for self harm?

Our bodies are considered temples. (1st Corinthians 6:19

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

This most often comes up with the tattoo/smoking/drinking debate

A far better usage is to use this text to prove Jesus words were never meant to be taken literally.

It limits Satan. If we remove our right foot because it leads us sin, what is Satan going to do? He will use our left foot to lead us to sin. Each time we physically removed a body part, Satan would use another one to lead us to sin, until we were dead because we had no body parts left.

We’d all be blind The last reason why this isn’t literal is because there wouldn’t be one person left on this planet with the ability to see.

Where the 2 meet So if Jesus isn’t to be taken literally here, how do we respond to what he said? He obviously said this for a reason, and it shouldn’t be ignored. How do we apply this to the obvious teachings Jesus establishes in this text? The best way to interpret this text is to understand that Jesus is using hyperbole and exaggeration or rhetorical method meant to emphasize a point. What’s Jesus emphasizing here? Jesus used removing our attached limbs as an illustration for removing ourselves from sin. In other words Jesus says “Detach yourself from whatever attaches you to sin.

I.E our possessions and habits

Remember if we surrender our sinful thoughts to Jesus, these building blocks of evil will lose their foundation and they will fall. In Psalm 51 David is pleading for forgiveness for the sin of adultery. A sin which started as he looked too long upon Bathsheba. David pleads to God that create within him a new heart, and renew a right spirit within him. If we desire the same as David, we must do everything in our power to remove ourselves from sin. Even if it’s not comfortable