Sermon on the Mount: Blessed Be 8

Announcements

Thank all those who attended Christmas Caroling - (share images)

Coming up - Zech & Kenna’s babyshower

December 15th - the BIG GIVE

December 25 - Christmas Day dinner and devotional

Intro

Things change when God speaks.

How does God speak into your life???

He wants to tell you His love for you.

He wants to tell you His love for this world.

He wants to tell you His destiny change for your life.

He wants to tell you what He wants you to do - for you to know your purpose in this world.

He wants to reveal Himself to you - for you to know Holy, Almighty God personally.

He wants to reveal His glory to you - and for you to know how He calls you friend.

GOD Wants to speak into your life - and change your life FOREVER.

And He’s NOT done speaking!

You’ve got to know He is speaking to you.

You’ve got to be in a position to hear His voice.

You’ve got to be intentionally listening to His voice.

Last time in this series we talked about the heart issue of lust - how that is a heart issue God wants to rectify and remove the adultery out of hearts and live a holy and devoted life.

We talked about how Jesus affirmed marriage between one man and one woman - and how there a singular pursuit between the two that is so beautiful, so deep, and so sacred

That God decided to establish the nature of His relationship between His Son and the Church as that of one, singular pursuit - beautiful, deep, so sacred -

Relationally nurtured,

Relationally inspired,

Relationally motivated,

and relationally gifted

For service and purpose in the Kingdom of Light.

Its in this mystery and wonder that God establishes the next bullet point of His Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:31-48

Matthew 5:31–48 CSB

31 “It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce. 32 But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. 34 But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one. 38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

CONSISTENT, FAITHFUL, UNWAVERING

“You have heard it said”…

There’s so many excuses given today because we once heard something!

And in today’s world with so little critical thinking, we are easily stirred up about something we once heard and we neglect what’s being said.

We live in a world of contradictions, where convenience constantly supersedes precedent.

Jesus preaches here against using a “legal covering” to mask moral failure.

Just because you’ve heard it said it was “legal”, just because you’ve heard you’ve had mankind’s “permission” does not mean we are exempt from failure in morality and sin.

ln your Bible you may see the pericope headings here in chapter 5 for these verses as:

“DIVORCE PRACTICES CENSURED”

“TELL THE TRUTH”

“GO THE SECOND MILE”

“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES”

I want to focus this morning on the common denominator of this whole excerpt of Matthew 5 - verses 31 through 43 - in how this reflects the heart and nature of our Holy God.

HE is CONSISTENT, HE is FAITHFUL, HE is UNWAVERING

When it comes down to the crux of the matter - we see here a parallel between what continues to happen between our Holy and Perfect God, and mankind’s inability.

Last time we talked about the adulterous heart, but here Jesus doubles down and does not give room for any excuse in not living up to His standard of living.

When it comes to marriage - and what He considered sacred and holy and the best aspect of human relationship - Jesus does not give an out through an option of divorce…except in a case of immorality.

He said what He said, when in Matthew 19:6, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.

And one who is guilty of divorce outside of sexual immorality, is guilty of adultery.

Jesus is calling out the commitment issue of consistency and faithfulness here.

Why? Because God is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

When Jesus talks about taking oaths under false pretenses - saying you’re going to do one thing, but really you mean under certain conditions and keeping a way out for yourself.

Some translations will use the words “swearing falsely”.

Really what we’re trying to do is give value to our word outside of our word in order to make it more palatable or convincing to who we’re talking to.

Jesus said, How about you don’t swear at all - and you let your yes, be yes. And no, your no.

If you say you’re going to do something do it. If you say you’re not going to do something, don’t do it.

No smoke and mirrors. No ulterior motives. No hidden agendas masked behind our words.

Why? Because God is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

Jesus said, you have heard it said, “An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.”

Today we say, “Hit ‘em back!” or “I’ma get mine - you get your’s.”

Jesus is saying here, don’t lose sight of your mission and purpose when the flashes of circumstance come to derail your progress.

I love football. Not only is football a game of skills, strength, and speed - its also a mental game.

And just like any contest really, you find the biggest struggle is not two 250 pound (120 kg) men trying to push each other out of the way, but if one can get inside the other’s head - create a defeatist mentality, create a victim mentality, create a space where doubt is invited into their mind. Victory is secured. And a 60 minute contest can seem to last all day.

The context of what Jesus is saying here is to not allow circumstance - even one caused by another human being - derail you of your own mission, purpose, and character. As a believer in Christ Jesus, as a disciple of the King of Glory, do not be unwavering in your kingdom purpose - be consistent in reflecting the character and nature of God, given to you as a new Creation.

Why? Because God is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

Then Jesus says:

Matthew 5:37–48 CSB

37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one. 38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

There is a reward for remaining consistent in faithful love and generosity and maintaining peace with those who persecute you. The Kingdom of Heaven is your reward. So love them, pray for them - believe in God’s blessing for them, and an awakening to His love for them. You have to be different than them, because you’ve already been given the revelation of God’s love, His sonship, His daughter-ship.

You and I are ambassador’s for God’s kingdom…therefore reflect the nature and character of Holy God -

Whom is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

We can see on two specific occasions where the nature of God’s consistency and faithfulness were tested.

Two weeks ago we saw in Genesis 6 that sexual immorality, and desecration of the sanctity of marriage had become a despicable aspect of humanity before God.

So much so that God made a judgment against humanity in Genesis 6:5-7

Genesis 6:5–7 CSB

5 When the Lord saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, 6 the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved. 7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I created, off the face of the earth, together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I made them.”

God was almost willing to hit the reset button on this entire world because of mankind’s depravity. But there was one who found favor with God. And God - because of His Will in that mankind should exist, and because of His Creative love in that we should exist - one man in the world still found favor with Noah.

We know the story of Noah - how God gave him favor, and divinely inspired and resourced Noah to build the ark - that would save God’s plan for humanity…but it wouldn’t heal the sin issue.

A second time God’s consistency and faithfulness was test was when the Son of God was in the garden of Gethsemane, where on the night He would be betrayed Jesus was found praying so intensely about what He knew was going to happen. And Jesus wrestled - He wrestled with His natural will competing with the Father’s will for His life.

The stress and intensity of His prayer made Him perspire profusely, and the stress burst the capillaries in forehead making blood and sweat fall from His face. It’s that kind of intensity that God’s consistency was tested - for you and for me.

Yet, the Son of God proved, He is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

And Jesus would go on in the parallel of Noah and the Ark, Jesus DID provide salvation from sin, AND He built a spiritual ark called the Church. And Christ has given His Church the power of the Holy Spirit of God to be consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

That level of authority and quality of being as a disciple of Christ is available today for you - as the Father’s Promise - whom we know is consistent, faithful, and unwavering.

If you need that aspect of God’s character activated in your life today - I want you to come on up and seek the Father’s Promise this morning.

If you need God to show up in a spectacular way in your life today - flex your faith, and come up to the altar and seek Him here.

If you know you have not been consistent in your faith in Christ, you’ve been wavering or you’ve never made a decision to follow Christ

1 Kings 18:21 CSB

21 Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.

Won’t you come? Put your hope in Jesus. He will never fail.