A Kingdom Citizen (Matthew 5:33-42)
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
“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.
“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.
Introduction
Introduction
We are walking our way through the Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5-7
In this passage, Jesus gives a detailed understanding of what it means to be His disciple.
He begins with elements of our hearts and total surrender by looking at the Beatitudes.
He then makes a transition that says, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world”
To be a disciple of Jesus and to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven means that through your surrender, you are growing in holiness and alignment with Jesus.
Jesus moves on to answer the question, “How ought a Kingdom citizen live in this world?”
He gives us a statement of how people of the world live.
Now this isn’t just normal people. These are the religious people of that time.
Series overview:
A Kingdom citizen is a peacemaker (Matthew 5:21-26)
A Kingdom citizen is pure (Matthew 5:27-30)
A Kingdom citizen is honorable (Matthew 5:31-32)
A Kingdom citizen has integrity (Matthew 5:33-37)
A Kingdom citizen shows mercy (Matthew 5:38-42)
Peacemaker (Murder and the heart of contention with the world around us)
Pure (Lust and committing adultery)
Honorable (Honoring our covenants with God and with our spouse)
These are all issues that are dealt with (and were dealt with) during that time.
Jesus recites the laws that they were given.
But the law is completely insufficient to maintain holiness
The law only shows where we are unholy.
Jesus didn’t come to help us follow the law better
He came to give us a new heart.
“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
The point Jesus is making here is that they were teaching the law and completely missing the fact that the law doesn’t justify us.
A sinful heart will continue to sin.
The Kingdom of Heaven is about a new heart, a new creation, a new identity in Christ.
We are not slaves to the law and to sin. We are slaves to Christ
Jesus said, Matthew 5:17
“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.
The law is still the law. The law is a description of holiness
But the law, and falling short of the law are no longer our pursuits. Jesus is our fulfillment of the law.
This is why we follow Jesus. Apart from Him I cannot fulfill the law.
He must do it for me. This means that:
I must be His disciple
I must surrender my heart
I must follow Him, be changed by Him, and obey Him
This is what these passages talk about.
These are following Jesus.
Preachy Time
Preachy Time
“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.’
Jesus again goes to some of the law that had been presented.
But as we know, Jesus isn’t just highlighting the law so that people were clear on following the rules and checking the boxes.
There is a heart condition behind this command that may seem simple, but I believe it is profound in application
At the face value, we would look at this and say, “Well, this has to do with our oaths and swearing.”
Here is the distraction that Jesus is addressing.
They were teaching the rules of how to follow all of these things and missing the heart.
Let’s look at what Jesus says here.
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.
Jesus says, “Rather than seeking to follow all of the rules about your swearing, promises and making oaths, It’s probably better not to do that at all.”
Here is the thing, taking an oath or swearing by something means you are connecting yourself to the credibility of something else.
Jesus says, “Don’t swear by heaven”
This is God’s throne. This is for God and it is a place of His holiness. Don’t connect your unholy oaths to what is not yours.
Similarly Jesus says, “Don’t swear by earth, or even by Jerusalem”
You might live here, but why do you need to swear by these things. Their existence, value and meaning are not yours to take advantage of. They are there for the glory and purpose of God, not your oath.
Lastly, don’t even swear by your own head. There isn’t even anything on your own head that you can control. God is in control of your hair.
So the next time you think about dying your hair, or the next time you have a bad hair day, trust God!
We swear by all sorts of stuff in our culture.
I hear, “I swear to God”
People actually swear upon the very nature and existence of God.
Jesus would have certainly included this in his dialog if he lived today.
I swear on my mothers grave
What is Jesus’ point in all of this?
Why would a person make an oath, or swear in the first place?
To ensure their trustworthiness and the truth of their statement.
I want to tell a story.
This is a fiction story, but it highlights the point that I believe Jesus is making here.
Story
Tim Rollins was the neighborhood “expert.” According to him, he once wrestled a bear in Alaska (with one hand tied behind his back), dated a Hollywood actress (“but kept it quiet for her sake”), and invented a part of the iPhone—though Apple had “conveniently forgotten” to credit him.
He wasn’t a bad guy—fun at cookouts, great with kids, and always had a story. But over time, people started tuning him out. Every tale seemed too tall, every detail just a little too much. Eventually, when Tim spoke, folks smiled politely… and moved on.
One summer evening, as the block was winding down from a barbecue, a few kids were playing tag in the street. Tim was chatting with some neighbors when he saw a car slowly creeping around the corner—no headlights, windows tinted. It paused near the kids, then pulled forward again, circling once more.
Tim’s eyes narrowed. Something felt off.
He walked briskly to the kids and moved them back toward the sidewalk. Then he flagged down a nearby parent.
“There’s a car acting suspicious,” Tim said. “No headlights. Circling slow. I think they’re watching the kids.”
The parent gave a weak smile. “Alright, Tim. Like the time you spotted the FBI agent in line at Safeway?”
“I’m serious. I swear something’s wrong.”
“Right. You swear. Like always.”
The car rolled past again, this time stopping briefly at the end of the street. Then it sped off.
That night, a neighbor’s security camera caught footage of the car. Local police confirmed it matched the description of a vehicle involved in an attempted abduction two towns over.
Suddenly, everyone was taking Tim seriously.
The next day, a reporter came by asking for a comment. Tim opened his mouth, ready to launch into one of his usual tales—but paused. He thought about the moment. About how no one had listened… until it was almost too late.
He looked into the camera and said simply:
“I saw a car that didn’t belong. It was acting strange. I reported it. I’m glad someone checked the footage.”
No flair. No extra color. Just the truth.
And that’s what people finally believed. Just the truth.
Here is Jesus’ point:
All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
I want you to think about this: you can’t simply say, “My yes IS yes and my no IS no.”
You have to live in a way that people believe your ‘yes’ and your ‘no’.
If we live in a way that erodes trust, then when we say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ then no one will trust the words we say.
If we are in a position to have to “swear” that something is true, or swear by something that what we say is true, then our “yes” and “no” have lost credibility.
The baseline heart issue that Jesus is bringing up in this passage is less about not making an oath.
It is more about living with enough integrity that you don’t need to make an oath.
A Kingdom Citizen Lives with Integrity
If we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, then our lives and our identity are found in Jesus.
When people see us, they see what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
We must be people of integrity
Integrated-
What I believe is integrated with what I say
What I say is integrated with what I do
All is based in the truth.
Integrity shows that our foundation is truth
That truth is seen in our lives, in our words and in our thoughts
Integrity shows where our hearts are
This is a massively important truth as we look to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time.
If the church is seen as unreliable, exaggerating, majoring on minors, and minoring in majors.
If we say one thing as an organization or if we say one thing as an individual, it is as if it were the voice of Jesus.
We were baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
This is the identity we carry with us.
We must embrace being people of simplicity.
People of truth
People of simply ‘yes’ and ‘no’.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
The next teaching from Jesus is one of the most commonly known concepts from the Bible
It was a teaching from the OT and it was known as the Lex Talionis (the Law of Retaliation)
However, this law is interpreted differently than we might think.
It is a law that puts appropriate limits on retaliation.
If someone does something that makes me lose an eye, my retaliation cannot be something greater than one eye.
If someone rips me off $100, then my retaliation can only extend to $100.
This is why the passage says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
And not, two eyes for one eye and 5 teeth for one tooth.
Appropriate retaliation was taught to the people in their day to day lives.
In fact, this was their right.
This is usually how we see this. Eye for an eye is a biblical concept. I have a right to a certain level of retaliation when someone wrongs me.
Jesus then gives a very challenging teaching. Hopefully we can make some application of this idea.
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.
Rights Diagram
Mercy Diagram
We need to ask the question, “Is Jesus adding to the commands we must follow?”
No.
Jesus is describing the heart of mercy that a Citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven should have.
A KINGDOM CITIZEN IS MERCIFUL
If it seems that we have covered this topic already, we have.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Rather than trying to break down all of the rules about what we should follow, we need to remember that this is an issue of the heart, not an issue of the law.
When we talked about mercy, we talked about Jesus’ story of a man who owed a king Billions of dollars.
There was no way he would be able to pay back that money. The king was ready to throw him and his family into prison.
He begged for mercy and the king relented on his decision and forgave his entire debt.
The man must have felt amazing. He was now free.
This is what mercy buys us. Freedom.
The mercy of God removes the righteous judgment that our sin earned.
We are free because of Jesus’ sacrifice and the mercy of God.
However, this man went to another man who owed the man a mere $150k.
The guy begged for mercy, but this man choked him out and threw him in prison for his $150k debt.
When the king heard about this he was angry, and rightfully so.
The man was thrown into prison to pay off the debt that he initially owed the king.
Here is the moral of that story.
Before we start looking at our rights when other people do us wrong and demanding payment for their actions.
We should first look at what mercy we have received from God.
Just like the point I made in the last verse.
The mercy we show others does not only reflect on our nature.
It shows the nature of the Kingdom of God.
Am I willing to lay down my rights so the mercy of God can be seen through me?
Mercy is what brought me salvation and freedom.
We have been given a ministry of reconciliation.
We ought to have a heart of mercy when we deal with the world around us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So far, this is what we have learned about citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven:
A Kingdom citizen is a peacemaker (Matthew 5:21-26)
A Kingdom citizen is pure (Matthew 5:27-30)
A Kingdom citizen is honorable (Matthew 5:31-32)
A Kingdom citizen has integrity (Matthew 5:33-37)
A Kingdom citizen shows mercy (Matthew 5:38-42)
Jesus is the perfect example for all of this
Gospel
Kingdom is here
Jesus is King
Jesus came, perfect life, died for sin, resurrected from the dead, will return for his church
We respond to this hope through
Faith
Relationally knowing God
Surrender to Him as Lord
Obey Him as we follow as His disciple
Broken hearted
We have been given mercy
People may have let you down. You may have been damaged by a person who didn’t have integrity.
Jesus is the perfect example of these all of these characteristics and He calls His church to follow Him.
Mercy, healing, identity are found in Him.
Celista
Jesus loves you. This is the only decision that matters today.
Real Life in Action:
Head- Do I demonstrate the integrity of Jesus in my life?
Heart- Ask God to reveal how I need to change so the world will see Him.
Hands- Dig into the Bible and allow God to guide your path of growth.
Be who you need to be when it doesn’t matter, then people will trust you when it does matter.
(inverse)
