lusting and losing out

Open: More Than Friends, Less Than Lovers: Managing Sexual Attraction in the Workplace, by David Eyler and Andrea Baridon was published in 1991. The authors “Suggest ways to have a relationship that includes intimacy, harnesses the excitement of male-female attraction to enhance work performance, and creates deeper fulfillment, yet does not result in an affair.” If this book would have been written in the early 1st century it would have had a prominent place in every Pharisee’s personal library.

Transition: While the authors of this book and the Pharisees have a shared understanding of male/female relationships, Jesus is diametrically opposed to such dangerous thinking. This focus of today’s message from the Sermon on the Mount is on lust. Sadly, many in our society think more like the Pharisees and the authors of that book.

Our culture makes light of sexual immorality and uses lustful imagery in most advertising campaigns. Social media is continuing to move the needle in a planned effort to normalize such scandalous material. Jesus, however, has sharp words for those who give in to lust and the wicked imaginations of the heart.

Read the TEXT: Matthew 5:27-30.

Jesus corrects the misapplied traditional interpretation of the religious leaders (Matthew 5:27-28)

Explanation: The scribes and Pharisees were once again guilty of taking the Word of God and twisting its true meaning. They focused solely on the external aspect of the law while ignoring the internal or true meaning of the law. They taught that if a person avoided the physical act of adultery, he was in good standing with the seventh commandment.

Jesus, with His authority as the 2nd Person of the Trinity, reveals the true meaning of the Scripture. Notice that Jesus is NOT changing the law; instead He is giving an accurate meaning of the law. Jesus teaches that if a person entertains lustful thoughts and indulges in a thought fantasy about the physical act, he is guilty of committing adultery. The word lust is the word that refers to anything we covet or desire, or long for that are forbidden. It is also important that the word Jesus uses for looking at a woman is not the word for a casual glance or noticing something. He uses the word that carries the meaning of a prolonged gaze that carries with it the intent to ac.t.

Illustrate: Jimmy Carter interview in Playboy during the 1976 presidential campaign: “Quoting Matthew 5:27-28, Carter explained that Jesus Christ considered an offending thought equivalent to consummated adultery and because he had “looked on many women with lust” he had therefore, “committed adultery many times in my heart.”

Argument: We must realize that Jesus is condemning all forms of lustful thinking instead or mistakenly thinking He is only dealing with men who are married. John Stott declares, “To argue that the reference is only to a man lusting after a woman and not vice versa, or only to a married man and not an unmarried, since the offender is said to commit ‘adultery’ not ‘fornication’, is to be guilty of the very casuistry which Jesus was condemning in the Pharisees.” John R. W. Stott The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 87–88.

We live in a highly sexualized society. Click bait is almost everywhere on the internet. Pornography is rampant and readily available, and sex is used to sell everything from cars to hamburgers. We have become jaded to the sin of lust. As the prophet Jeremiah declared to the Israelites of old, “they did not know how to blush” (Jeremiah 6:15). Jesus’ words are still very much in effect, regardless if many think the Bible is old-fashioned and out of date. Lust is a dangerous sin and it brings serious consequences.

Speaking of consequences, it is important to note that lust in the heart IS sinful, but that the consequences of heart lust and the physical act of sexual immorality are different. Persons who physically carry out their lust in physical consummation will receive greater condemnation.

The Remedy for Lust is Available, but it is Radical and requires a singular focus (Matt 5:29-30)

Explanation: Jesus reveals the sin and then gives the solution. Christianity does not simply focus on the negative. Jesus does not condemn and then walk away leaving the one in sin to wallow helplessly in the cesspool of despair. Jesus is indeed the answer and the remedy to the sin sick soul (there IS a balm in Gilead, cf Jeremiah 8:22)

Jesus tells His listeners to mortify, to put to death those areas in life that are leading to the sin of lust. It should be obvious that Jesus is using figurative language when He tells people to pluck out their eyes and to cut off their hand. He is not commanding the physical maiming of the body because Jesus is NOT focusing on the external acts of the flesh in this passage, but on the internal thoughts of the heart. Jesus is, however, making use of figurative language that highlights the radical dangers of the sin of lust. He is clearly stating that one cannot be subtle if one is going to escape the sin of lust.

Illustrate: how close to the edge of the cliff can I get without falling off?

Argument: We are asking the wrong question. The correct question is to ask: “How can I be Holy? How can I please God in this situation? We can do it by following the radical teaching Jesus presents in this passage. We must be willing to take action.

Application:

Avoid known situations that you know will cause temptation in the area of lustful thinking

Job 31:1 KJV 1900

I made a covenant with mine eyes; Why then should I think upon a maid?

Martin Luther once said, “I can’t prevent a bird from flying over my head, but I can stop it from building a nest there.”

For the married - honor your vows. When you said “YES” to your spouse, you also said NO to everyone else. This includes sharing of personal stuff to a member of the opposite sex.

Parents - Filter technology. Know what your children are reading, watching, and listening. Do not be concerned about their feelings when you set and enforce limits. You are accountable to God for this while they are under your watchcare.

Conclusion:

Contrary to the approach of the Pharisees, it is NOT possible for any of us to keep this law. The law reveals our need for Jesus. He IS the One who kept the Law perfectly and His perfect righteousness is applied to our account through our faith in His sacrificial death for us. If you are outside of Christ, you will never be able to please Him is this area or any other (cf Rom 8:8). As the Holy Spirit convicts of your need for Christ, surrender your life to HIm.

For those of us who are IN Christ, we must own up to the reality that we still fail in this area as well. As believers indwelt with the Holy Spirit we CAN put to death the members of our own bodies that bring defilement to the Bride of Christ. Sadly we often under estimate the sins of our thought life. Believers that entertain lustful thoughts can and do fall into sin that results in disaster - broken families, loss of personal integrity, loss of personal usefulness to the Kingdom, and dishonor to the Name of Christ

In most situations that we face as followers of the Risen Christ we are told to stand firm. In only two situations is the command given to flee or to run from. Believers are commanded to flee from idolatry ( 1 Cor 10:14) and we are told to flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:18).

God graciously gives us principles, that if obeyed, lead us to personal holiness. Let us heed the instruction given to the Church at Rome: “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14).