Sermon Tone Analysis

Read vv33-48.

The sum of the ten commandments is love—love to God, supreme love, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind (; ; ); and

love to man, our neighbor, as ourselves (; ; ; ).

Supreme love to God gives birth to and includes love to man (; ).

Love is the sum of the commandments.

(1) It is the highest form of, and therefore the only acceptable, obedience (; ).

"But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete.

This is how we know we are in him:” ()

(2) The law requires likeness to God: God is love ().

(3) There is no true obedience without love (; ; .

"The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

()

(4) Love must manifest itself in action and in the prescribed manner (; ; ; , , ). "The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

()

From vv21–48 Six different times Jesus contrasts traditional interpretations of OT texts or themes with His understanding of their meaning and application.

In five of the six antitheses, he also prescribes proactive, positive action (commands) as an antidote to what is prohibited.

Let’s unpack the rest of chapter 5 together, letting God’s Word speak to our hearts.

"“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.”

()

Part of obeying the Third commandment, which reads: "Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.”

()

"Do not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord.”

()

asks this question: "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy place?” ()

That is…God’s presence with His people, ultimately heaven itself.

Listen closely to this answer: "The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not appealed to what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully.”

()

So far there is no problem with v33, but then He

not only takes issue with the methods that the Pharisees and others used to get round this clear demand for truth,

but also rejects all swearing of oaths: ‘I tell you, don’t take an oath at all’ (5:34).

We must deal with the two matters separately.

The Pharisees’ intention was to enable people to avoid keeping their promises or, indeed, being held to the truth of what they had said.

They did this by subtly keeping God out of the picture.

They substituted other words for the name of God.

Jesus exposes the folly of this casuistry from two angles.

First, he demonstrates that it is impossible to avoid the living God.

Jesus says that heaven is God’s throne (end of v34).

The earth (v35) is His footstool and that Jerusalem is the city of the great King.

The other option was to swear by their ‘head’ (5:36)—a totally inadequate guarantee of truth.

They, unlike God, ‘cannot make even one hair white or black’, so how can they assess, let alone punish, untruth or broken vows?

So what does Jesus instruct us to do? "But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’

Anything more than this is from the evil one.”

()

This seems to indicate that in ordinary conversation we should be, and be known to be, so truthful that no oath is necessary.

The devil, no doubt, delights in our lies, pretence, ambiguities, broken promises, exaggerations and deceptions.

The Christian is commanded to ‘put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body’ ().

Indeed, the unity and maturity of that body is said by Paul to come from ‘speaking the truth in love’ ().

(in v11) To ‘falsely say all kinds of evil against’ someone is the mark of the persecutor, not of the Christian.

If we are persecuted for telling the truth, about and because of Christ, so be it.

The Lord pronounces us ‘blessed’ ().

Jesus moves on to speak about revenge.

Christ’s exhortation to turn the other cheek is, perhaps, the most misunderstood aspect of his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

The words to which the greatest exception is taken today, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth’ (5:38), are certainly to be found in the Old Testament (; ; ).

What Jesus is denying is the misuse of these words to justify personal retaliation and revenge.

Far from permitting personal revenge, the Old Testament instructions about eyes and teeth are given to the judges.

However, Jesus is not content merely to oppose personal revenge, in order to ‘leave room for God’s wrath’,

any more than the apostle Paul was when he urged his readers, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (, ).

As in the rest of these sections, Jesus is very concerned that we should live a positively righteous and godly life.

However, Jesus is not content merely to oppose personal revenge, in order to ‘leave room for God’s wrath’, any more than the apostle Paul was when he urged his readers, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (, ).

As in the rest of these sections, Jesus is very concerned that we should live a positively righteous and godly life.

A summary of verses 38–42 might be: ‘Do not be content with merely foregoing revenge.

Be positively loving and unselfish in spite of the cost.’

A summary of verses 38–42 might be:

Do not be content with merely foregoing revenge.

Be positively loving and unselfish in spite of the cost.

(v39) "But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer.”

These words don’t mean that we condone felonies.

It’s wrong to take these words to mean that “good men” should allow evil to prosper by doing nothing.

“On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

()

A slap on the right cheek, (in Jesus’ day) with the back of the hand,

is an insult,

a show of personal contempt, or

even religious persecution,

not a mugger trying to steal your wallet.

Jesus further illustrates his point (in v40) of not demanding our rights by the case of someone being sued.

We must go further than not resisting; we must voluntarily give what we are not obliged to give:

not only, “your shirt, let him have your coat as well.”

In v41, not only must we not react angrily when forced into service, as a Jew could be compelled by a Roman soldier to carry his luggage for ‘one mile’.

We must carry it ‘two miles’.

Where to you think the phrase “going the extra mile” came from (when secular writers use that phrase of someone going beyond the call of duty?

The next requirement: "Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” ()

Jesus isn’t saying for us to all give to the professional beggars that work I-65 but to have a disposition of the heart of a readiness to give generously.

A readiness to give to the genuinely needy, even when it is risky.

Jesus’ blade is dangerously sharp.

His teaching is radical.

He calls for real self-denial, for a willingness to put others’ interests before our own.

Then we move into (perhaps) the most striking set of remarkable exhortations.

Many of the Jews of Christ’s day would have found His command to “Love your enemies” (in v43) totally unacceptable, as would many people of our day.

Legg, J. (2004).

The King and His Kingdom: The Gospel of Matthew Simply Explained (p.

94).

Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.

The question is, ‘Do we?’ ‘Love’, of course, is not the same as ‘like’.

Christ’s disciples may find their enemies highly objectionable and be unable to do anything about it.

They must nevertheless and in every way, seek their good and do them good, not harm.

One kind, though not the only kind, of enemy is the persecutor, who is very much in Christ’s mind in this chapter.

‘Pray for those who persecute you’, he tells them and us (5:44).

We mustn’t be content with the worlds standards.

"For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?

Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

"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?” ()

On the contrary, we must be like our ‘Father in heaven’ (5:45).

Christians are to be different, truly revolutionary!

To love our enemies is to be like God:"...

For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

()

There is a grace and love of God which is common to all men (as we note here concerning God’s love.