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The Law and the Prophets (Matt 7:12)

In this one verse Jesus is able to condense both the sayings in the Law and the sayings of the Prophets into one sentence. 

Matthew 7:12 (KJV)
12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

The order of Jesus words is very important if you want to understand the truth behind them.  It is not whatever others do to us, do back to them.  It is what we desire others to do to us, we are to do to others.  The major difference is that our moral and ethical behavior should not be a reaction to other people’s behavior, whether good or bad, but as followers of Christ our behavior ought to set the pattern for others to follow.  Therefore, we should not and cannot blame others for our behavior because we are supposed to be the example set before men like a light that shines upon all mankind.  If we are going to be a testimony before unbelievers, there’s a good chance that we may be their only contact with Christ. How will you represent him?  Paul teaches that we ought to be above the reproach of others. (Col 1:21-23, I Timothy 3)

Colossians 1:21-23 (NKJV)
21And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
22in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight–
23if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

In other words, there should be nothing that anyone can say about us that would cause them to think we are a hypocrite in our testimony.  We must remember that we are an example and model of Christian behavior to others.  Too many believe that this responsibility is only placed upon pastors and priests, but Jesus teaches that it is for all his followers.  This is the moral code for all Christians which has been called, “The Golden Rule.”  But this is not the proper term to use since it is not a rule to kept as though it is simply another law that we need to struggle with.  It is meant to teach us the moral code that God had always taught to his people. It is used as a test to see if we truly understand our obligation to God and to man and if we are placing God’s holiness above our own.  

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Seek and Find (Matt 7:7-11)

These verses are a continuation of the declaration that Jesus makes when he tells us to seek God’s kingdom above all things. For if we sincerely seek after God’s kingdom as our first priority, we will find it.  And if we knock, he will answer.  Knocking is a way of letting someone know that we are waiting outside for them to give us entry.  So, we need to let God know that we want to enter into his kingdom and he will answer us by making entry possible. Each of us may knock or ask in a different way, but we must all come to that point in our lives that we know that we want to enter his kingdom and acknowledge that he is the one who must open the door. 

But exactly what is God’s kingdom? It is everything that Jesus taught in this sermon.  If this doesn’t appeal to you, than there is little point in asking to enter, but if you are moved by what you hear, than there is no other place you will find such peace except in his kingdom.

For those in Jesus’ audience who might doubt that God would really listen to their needs he compared God to a human father.  He asked what kind of a father would give his son a stone when he asked for bread or a serpent if he asked for a fish?  Of course Jesus knew that there were fathers who did not take care of their children, but notice that he personalizes the question by specifically using them as an example?  He asks, “Is there anyone among you would not help his child?”  Obviously, only a cruel and hateful man would do such a thing, and none of them would admit to such a thing.  So his challenge becomes rhetorical.  

Jesus acknowledges that men, even though they are evil, would still take care of their families.  Then it makes perfect logic that God would be even more likely to take care of us, his own children.  Jesus’ argument is that if evil people take care of their children, how much more would a holy God  take care of his children?

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Judgment (Matt 7:1-6, 7:15-20)

I would be the first to say that we are not here to be judges against sinners, but rather to bring salvation to them and bring them into the freedom from sin that Jesus offers.  We are to be what he was, which is an example of holiness and righteousness rather than judges of their sin. .

When it comes to sin we would be much better off looking within ourselves in order to purge ourselves of all sin before we go out looking at the sin of others.  Jesus taught this directly by his parabolic example of those more concerned with taking out the splinter (mote) from their brother’s eye rather than removing the log (beam) from their own.  However, we must take this advice in the greater context which includes his attitude towards the hypocrite and false prophet.  Although he does warn us against judgmentalism he also warns us not to bring his holy word to those who are so depraved of truth that they will turn on us to destroy us as found in verse 6.  So in order to determine just who these people are who are depraved of truth we must make a judgement.  So Jesus is not only permitting us to judge such people, he is commanding us to do so for our own safety.

The problem I see here is that many people tend to stop reading after verse 4 where Jesus warns against judgmentalism and they never get to verse 15 where Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. When he tells us to beware and judge their fruits he is telling us that we must make a judgement as to their truthfulness, sincerity, and holiness. In verse 17 he even refers to them as corrupt.  Determining if someone is truthful, sincere, holy or corrupt is a judgment—is it not?

So to summarize Jesus’ teachings on judgement we have to say that, first of all, we are not here to be judgmental of others simply because they don’t agree with us. Neither are we here to judge the sins of the world—for that would be a never-ending job that would take us away from our true mission of bringing salvation—besides true conversion can only come when they feel the judgment of God not ours.

We are here to judge what is holy and righteous from what is evil and sinful mostly for our protection and the protection of our faith. Our judgment is to be made against those who say they believe, but continue to live in sin.  Their rejection of all judgment of sin challenges the existence of sin itself for by denying sin they justify their own practice of it while still claiming to be Christians. Such people fall in the category of being false prophets and hypocrites and must be called out for being such. 

We cannot become absorbed in the sins of others for then we become distracted from our true mission to the world of sinners which is to be models and examples of holiness for the purpose of bringing them to the Lord.

Our judgment must not be based upon our desire to make ourselves look righteous for this is self-righteousness, but must be to preserve the holiness and righteousness of Christ as he manifests these through the believers of the church.

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Treasures of the Heart (Matt 6:14-34)

Verse 21 ought to be memorized by every Christian, especially pastors and evangelists because it helps to identify our spiritual direction.  Jesus says that the things that we treasure reveal where our heart is.  This is how we can determine the sincerity of pastors, evangelists, and others claiming to represent God.  Are their lives entangled in mansions, luxury cars, and church buildings that cost millions?  If they are, than we can feel pretty certain that their message will not lead us to the same place that Jesus’ teaching takes us.  Too many evangelists have tried to convince us that God rewards them with wealth and prosperity because of their faithfulness.  But Jesus teaches us that this isn’t so.  His teachings make it very clear that true Christians will be persecuted and reviled not because they are wealthy, but because they preach God’s holiness.  Therefore, God does not validate our faith with wealth, but rather with persecution.

What Jesus is saying about the eye and the light of the body is that if we see spiritual things clearly when we have the correct spiritual attitude and because of that our soul will benefit; but if we are blinded by the material things of the world, we will see life from a distorted point of view that reaches deep into our hearts and blinds us from (His) truth.

In the next verse Jesus makes the distinction even more emphatic when he describes trying to mix wealth and spirit as trying to serve two masters. You cannot love both—they are incompatible no matter how hard some try to teach differently.  You cannot serve God and wealth!  One will most certainly turn you against the other.

What then should we do?  First of all, we should not worry about the material world. This includes what we eat or drink or what we wear.  Today it would include what we drive or how big our home is.  Even nature teaches that God takes care of even the birds of the air.  And how can we compare the latest clothing styles to that of the lilies of the field or any other beautiful flower?  They do nothing to add to the spiritual beauty seen in a true believer. 

Because many seek satisfaction in the material world they develop anxiety, which comes from not achieving their material goal.  Such anxiety or worry cannot change anything.  Material things are simply not important to Jesus.  Our true beauty is in our spiritual purity not in how we decorate our bodies.  These are the things that the world worries about.  God knows our needs and they are under his control.  We must not be concerned with such things but be satisfied with what God gives us.  Whatever we have is sufficient.  The bottom line is that this life is not the life that we ought to be concerned about—it is our eternal spiritual life that concerns the faithful believer.

Listen to the beautiful advice that Jesus gives us in verses 33-34:

Matthew 6:33-34 (KJV)
33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

The only way to grow as a Christian is to learn that we must seek after God’s kingdom and his righteousness above all things.  Don’t get caught up in the anxiety of what will happen to us tomorrow because there is enough evil to be concerned with today.   

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On Fasting (Matt 6:16-18)

Jesus had great insight into the depths of man’s motives.  For that reason he warns us not to be like the hypocrites who try to act out when they fast.  They do this for the attention that they get from their audience.  They do this so that their actions will be validated by others.  For this reason Jesus tells us that they already received their reward, which was human attention. 

But when we fast we must not put on a show for others.  We should not even let others know we are fasting; in other words, carry on business as usual.  By fasting in this manner we are fasting for the right reasons and will be rewarded from God. 

Why do we fast? Perhaps hunger reminds us of our human frailty and dependence upon God.  Or maybe there are times that we want God to know how serious we are about our devotion to him above physical comfort.  Whatever the reason we fast it should be kept between us and God and if we do this we will receive payment. The word used here is μισθός and gives us the idea of a payment for services rather than a reward for having done something courageous.

It would be good for many evangelists to note that Jesus warned against putting on a show for crowd.  He called such people hypocrites, meaning actors.  I guess that we can assume that they also have already received their payment in the physical wealth and popularity that they have accumulated. 

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On Prayer (Matt 6:5-15)

Now Jesus warns us not to pray like the hypocrites, but exactly what is a hypocrite?  The word has evolved in our language to mean someone who says one thing and does another, but that doesn’t seem to fit here.  It is interesting to note that the word hypocrite, ὑποκριτής in Greek, originally meant an actor who plays a role of another person.  It is not truly who he is, but merely an artificial person.  That definitely fits much better because Jesus goes on to say that these hypocrites would put on quite the performance by standing in synagogues and street-corners just so that they could be seen by others.  So again such people have already received their reward. 

Jesus tells us that the correct way to pray is to be quiet and alone where the focus can be on our heavenly Father.  When you pray in this manner you will be rewarded openly.  Here again, I take this to mean that such prayer transforms our character into a more humble person rather than into someone who has become proud and arrogant about their prayers where their focus is more on how impressive they sound to others.

He then tells us that our prayers are not heard because of their eloquence and length for if God is truly infinite he already knows our needs even before we ask.  So then one might ask, “Why then do we pray if God already knows what we need?”  The reason is not that God needs to hear our audible prayers before he answers them, but rather they are spoken so that we can be transformed by putting our needs into words.  Our words complete our ideas and thoughts and also complete the emotion behind them.  I think that we fail to understand just how important the spoken word is to our psyche.

So then when we pray incorrectly like the hypocrites we become the center of attention and importance.  But when we pray with correctly we become humbled in the presence of God as he becomes the true focus of our thoughts and needs.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Jesus gives us an example of how we ought to pray.  We address our prayers to God as our Heavenly Father.  We also proclaim the importance of his Name which is Yahweh (Jehovah).  The importance of this is to make the connection between the identity of Yahweh in the Old Testament with our Father in the New.  Many overlook this intimate connection that is extremely important in understanding the true nature of Christ.  

We must look forward to the coming of God’s kingdom rather than want to postpone it until we finish all our projects and the power of his kingdom will be just as wonderful on earth as it is in heaven.

We only need to ask for whatever is sufficient for this day.  In this way we are encouraged to live during this moment and not be so concerned for the future that we miss what’s happening right in front of us.

We ask for no more than what we are willing to do ourselves.  So when it comes to forgiveness we must be willing to forgive others because by doing that we pass God’s forgiveness on to others through the exercising of our forgiveness.

The next part of the prayer is very difficult for most people because sin is so attractive and its whole purpose is to lead us into evil.  But we are to ask God to take away temptation.  We are not to try to live on the edge of sin like many do.  We must remember that temptation is the beginning of sin.  If we could only repeat these words in this prayer with passionate sincerity we would be so much holier than we are.  Why should we want to be holy?  Because God is holy and so is his kingdom.

In verse 14 Jesus addresses forgiveness as being directly related to our forgiving of others.  This is not as though we are earning forgiveness by the act of forgiving others; it is rather our accepting the principle of forgiveness as being part of God’s character.  This fits nicely into our belief that the source of our transformation is not in anything that we do but is in God himself and that only by our love for him can we be transformed into the image of Christ.  If we do not forgive others, we are not letting our love for God work within us and by not forgiving others our faith becomes mere religious ritual. 

To better understand what Jesus is saying we first need to understand more about what forgiveness is.  According to the usage in this prayer forgiveness is not the same thing as when we forgive someone when they say they are sorry.  The forgiveness Jesus is speaking about is a response to a moral debt owed to us by another.  This is the general theme throughout this sermon: we must be prepared to show mercy to others if we expect God to show mercy to us.  By so doing we give others a chance to actually practice repentance by changing their behavior.  How do we forgive them and to what extent?  In the same manner that we want God to forgive us.  

When we consider forgiveness under these terms it eliminates the possibility that man can accomplish this by means of his own will. The source of our forgiveness than is not the human will, but the love of God.

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Love Your Enemies (Matt 5:43-48)

This is one of the sayings of Jesus that many people have a problem not only doing, but even believing that he actually said it.  But listen to Proverbs 25.  Many of the things that Jesus taught in his sermon are already embedded in the books of the Old Testament.  You just have to know where to look.

Proverbs 25:21-22 (KJV)
21If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

The burning coals represents a burning conscience of wrongdoing not fire from Hell.

Keep in mind that Jesus is not saying that hating your enemy is part of the law or even in the Old Testament.  He simply says that “You have heard .”  So this isn’t something that Moses taught and for that matter it doesn’t appear anywhere in the O.T.  So Jesus is correcting a misconception that many had during his time.

We also have to clear up what he means by “enemy.”  The word in Greek is echthros (ἐχθρός), which refers to those who are hostile towards us and show hatred.  It does not appear to mean enemies of the state in this context. It refers to those who hate us and seek to do harm towards us. Verse 44 makes this clearer as the enemy is linked to those who persecute us. This also fits much better with the idea found in the Beatitudes about those who are blessed because they are being persecuted.

Matthew 5:44 (KJV)
44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Our faith must be expressed in love if it is to be believable. Jesus teaches us that we shouldn’t repay evil with evil, but do good, especially to those who persecute us. For if we hate our enemies we are not likely to want to bring the gospel to them.  The power of the Gospel should be stronger than anything–even hatred of our enemies.

Jesus goes on to teach us that if we only love those who love us, we are not at all special or unique.  He wants us to have the right attitude so that we can become perfect (fully mature in Christ).  Even the world loves their friends and those who are good to them.  Jesus asks more from us.  He asks us to love those who persecute us. 

So what is “love?”  The context here is not some romantic feeling that we must have towards our enemy.  It is a willingness to help them when they need help.  It is providing food, shelter, and comfort for them.  Once again we can see God’s intention from the Old Testament:

Proverbs 25:21-22 (KJV)
21 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.

This next verse bothers many believers because they simply don’t understand what it actually means.

Matthew 5:48 (KJV)
48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Surprisingly, these words are even echoed in the Old Testament where the Jews are commanded to become perfect and holy.

Deuteronomy 18:13 (KJV)
13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

Leviticus 19:2 (KJV)
2Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

It is not that we should try to imitate God’s holiness, but that we should love his holiness and want to be complete in perfect harmony with his holiness through our faith. The perfection Jesus is speaking about is not self-righteousness, but is having the perfect relationship with God through a faith that is without flaw so that we are complete in Him.  These sayings are not always easy to hear, but this is what makes them so beautiful and perfect: that they are so unique to our minds and hearts, and that they rise above man’s self-proclaimed religions as well as man’s claims of metaphysical truths.

It is true that loving our enemy can sometimes put us in fearful situations, but John tells us that perfect love casts out all fear.

1 John 4:18 (KJV)
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

So the key word throughout all of Jesus’ teachings as well as Paul’s and John’s is that love is behind our faith.  In order to teach this to others it is imperative that we not just teach it to them by words, but show it to them by our deeds as well.

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Retribution (Matt 5:38-42)

Retaliation or retribution can come in many forms.  Jesus tells us something here that many think is absurd.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek you should turn to him the other cheek.  Now under the law we are certainly entitled to take an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth and this is what we tend to do from childhood to adulthood.  But Jesus is making a distinction here; yet, he is not contradicting the law.  Lex Telionis (law of retribution) stands as a law, but it is not necessary that man takes this action on his own accord.  If we choose not to retaliate we are choosing to show mercy instead.  Even God showed that he was a merciful God, especially when Jesus forgave those who put him to death on a cross.  Those who repented for their sins always received mercy.  So we can see here that there is a distinction between Moses’ retaliation and Jesus’ mercy.  By turning the cheek or giving the cloak in addition to the coat to the man who sues us we are showing him true charity. 

According to the law we are almost dutifully required to retaliate at least legally, but Jesus is telling us that we must go beyond the law that was imposed upon the flesh and live by the new law imposed upon the spirit.

We have to understand that this is not just an isolated commandment by Jesus, but an entire different way of living life. It is a new attitude towards others, ourselves and even God.  We have to remember that Jesus was not destroying the law that was imposed upon the flesh, but that he was fulfilling the law within himself. This new kingdom is not of the flesh, but of the spirit. Those who want to live in such a kingdom must abide by these new commands aimed at perfecting the spirit.

The lesson here is that we must always be prepared to show love to everyone including those who would take advantage of us.  We will see in the next verses that Jesus even extends this to our enemies.  We will discuss that next.

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Taking Oaths (Matt 5:33-37)

How valid is our promise that we make to others and even to God?  Jesus warns us that we might be thinking to highly of ourselves when we take oaths.  There is nothing that man has that God does not already own.  There is nothing that anyone can offer to God that he would have to forfeit if he broke his oath, except perhaps his own soul.  And this is the very thing that man refuses to offer to God.  So the point that Jesus is teaching us here about oaths is that all we have is our word and we ought to be very careful when making an oath or even a promise especially to God since we really don’t have the power to keep it.  Circumstances can change of which we have no power to control.  For this reason James rephrases Jesus words in his epistle as follows:

James 4:14-16 (KJV)
14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Therefore we should not think too highly of ourselves to think that we are independent of God and that we possess anything including the hair on our heads that can make our word any more credible or reliable.

We have no right to use anything for collateral to support the truth of our word than our word itself.  So we should make it a practice to consider answering only “yes” or “no” and adding the phrase “If the Lord wills . . .”  

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Divorce (Matt 5:31,32)

According to Matthew 19:4-6 marriage is a sacred relationship that one has between a man and a woman. Yet, Jesus teaches us that according to the Mosaic Law all a man had to do was write down on a piece of paper that he wanted a divorce and it was official.  He tells us that this was done because of their hard hearts meaning that men wanted what they wanted not what God wanted.

In 2 Co 11:2 and Ephesians 5:22-33 Paul tells us that marriage is symbolic of the relationship that man has with God.  Paul teaches us that the church is the bride of Christ. Only in the case of adultery where the member of the church falls away from God and goes after other gods such as lust and selfishness does he commit spiritual adultery against Christ and will therefore be liable to separation (divorce) from Him. 

So when we enter into marriage we need to see our marriage in the light of such advice and do all that we can to make it work. I believe that when Paul tells us in Romans 12:18 that as much as lies within us we must live peaceably with all men, we must also submit to the same devotion to do all we can to make a marriage work for a good marriage to our spouse symbolizes our good marriage to Christ.