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Mark 7: 31-37 "Will You Hear? Will You Speak?"

Mark 7: 31-37 "Will You Hear? Will You Speak?"

Mark 7:31-37

Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Last week we looked at Jesus healing the blind man and the question of do we really want to see and what will we do about what we see? This week is about hearing and speaking.

The event is a simple one, some people bring a deaf mute man to him and asked for healing. There is little interaction, Jesus touching his ears and tongue, then saying “be opened”. Jesus tries to shut them up but they just talk all the more.

Why does Jesus tell them to be quiet? If we look at what they are talking about we get the answer. They are talking about his miracles and not his message. They are all about the sings and wonders and not the transformation of lives and hearts.

Jesus explains it this way in Matthew 13:14-17

The people just did not get it. They didn’t understand.

So this man’s ears and mouth now function but are they hearing and speaking the message of God?

The Drill Sargent “If you hear me why are you doing what your told?”

Two things that let us know if we are truly hearing Jesus.

If we truly hear Jesus it will show in our actions.

Luke 6:46-49

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

James 1:19-27

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

If we truly hear we will speak.

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We have been touched by Jesus, he has taken away our guilt shame and sin. Jesus has given us a new life. Will we see it? Will we hear His words, Will we speak?

Matthew 20:29-34 “What Can I Do for You?”

Matthew 20:29-34 “What Can I Do for You?”
Bartimaeus

Do you believe?
Bartimaeus believed Jesus could help them
we need to call out!

What do you really want
Do we really want to have our eyes open? To see things as they truly are?
What about those other things? Are we ready to live without our excuse?
Lord “I’m Blind, I’m an addict, I’m depressed, I’m frightened, I’m old, I’m alone, I’m Irish.
it is time to see yourself as a child of God!

Can you picture yourself sitting in the dust by the road?
You have spent your life sitting there begging for scraps, stopped from living by this thing that has taken over you even as you cling to it.
Call out to Jesus
God hears you (he has stopped and is looking at you)
Listen to His voice, gentle and deep “What can I do for You?”
Right now tell Him

Feel Jesus’ hand reaching out to you touching you.

You are healed, believe it, live it, follow Him.

“What Must I Do” Matthew 19:16-30

“What Must I Do” Matthew 19:16-30

We have seen how Jesus has ministered to the lame, blind, broken people of the world, here we see what Jesus does with a religious person.

“What Good deed must I do”
            His question tells us a lot about what he believes. This man is not secure that obedience to God is enough. Obeying the commandments must not be enough. He wants an inside line, a fast track to heaven.

Jesus answers the man with the strange question “why do you call me good there is only one who is good.” This is a two pronged question. The first is “Do you know who I really am?” Do you know you are talking to the Messiah? The second prong is the statement “There is only one who is good”. This not only brings up the who is God idea but it also confronts this man’s inaccurate idea of his own holiness.

When Jesus mentions the commandments, this man ask which ones?

When we look at the commandments listed by Jesus notice that Jesus leaves out all have to do with our relationship to God. As Jesus adds “love your neighbor as your self” from Lev 19:18 he leaves out “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength section. Again leaving out the part about God.

You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Jesus leaves out the most difficult commandments and just focus on the ones relating to people.

The man’s answer is amazing, Jesus just said “There is only one who is good” meaning only God is righteous, holy, good. Still this man say he has kept these commands all his life, and he really means this.

“What do I still lack” We would all shout out “A little humility would help!” or shout out Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Now Jesus brings up the missing four commandments. “Sell all you have and give it to the poor and then follow me.” This man has replaced God with His wealth.

Which part turns him away? Sell all you have or the follow me, part?

The disciples are astounded at this conversation, surly Jesus should have offered some reasonable way for this man to take to heaven.

So what is Jesus saying to us?

1.     You are not holy, you are a sinful, realize it, accept it, own it.

2.     You can do nothing to earn heaven, you need God to do it for you.

3.     You must leave it all to follow Jesus. To hold on to Jesus you must let go of everything else.

4.     With God all things are possible.

Crumbs from the Table Matthew 15:21-28

Crumbs from the Table Matthew 15:21-28

This passage has some interesting things in it. Some people get caught up in Jesus calling this woman a dog. They go to great lengths to excuse Jesus’ slur by saying the Greek word meant your pet puppy, just for laughs go out on the street and address the woman going by as your pet puppy and see what happens. Jesus did in fact call this woman a dog. He was expressing what the other people were thinking.

To understand this passage we need to remember Jesus knows the thoughts of the people around Him. He knows what the woman will say and do. He knows before the woman even shows up that He will heal her daughter. So why give her a hard time, call her a racial slur type name? Because he is expressing what the Jews are thinking, because he is going to use her faith to send a message.

This woman does not blink. She will settle for nothing less than help for her daughter. She understand even a crumb of what Jesus is offering the Jews will be enough to heal her.

While this woman will settle for a crumb, Jesus has been offering whole loves of bread to Jews and very few are eating. It is no accident that the feeding of the five thousand comes right after this. It’s like God saying; “I can feed thousands with just seven loaves of bread, I am offering you so much spiritual food and not many are eating.”

The centurion

The strangers come while the children thumb their nose at the meal.

You are now the Children of God!

So many “Christians” are not eating, not even crumbs, thumbing their nose at the meal Jesus has provided.

If a crumb will drive out demon’s and a word can heal the paralyzed, what are we missing out on.

Do you want the food Jesus offers? Are you malnourished and settling for less than crumbs?

Matthew 8:5-13
When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,   6“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”   7And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”   8But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.   9For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, £ ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”   10When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel  have I found such faith.   11I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,   12while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   13And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

1.       Matthew 15:21-28

2.       Luke 18:1-8

3.       Luke 15:11-32

4.       Matt 7:7-11

5.       Luke 11:5-13

6.       Matthew 10:1-15

7.       Luke 15:1-10

Matthew 9:1-13 “Forgiven”

Matthew 9:1-13 “Forgiven”

Last week we saw that Jesus touched the untouchable. Today we look at a situation that is one of my favorites. In Luke and Mark we learn that four guys have brought their friend to Jesus, but they can not get their friend into the house. Not to be deterred they cut a hole in the roof and lower their friend into the room.

Can you picture this event? Jesus is sitting and giving a parable when a noise is heard above them. Then little pieces of dirt start falling, Jesus brushing them off His lap. As big chunks of the roof are being removed, Jesus and his guest are being covered with debris. I know what I would be thinking, “who is going to pay for that roof!” now this guy is dangling in front of Jesus. This would be a good time for a lesson on respect for other people’s property.

These four guys brought their friend because they think he has a leg problem, but Jesus knows he has a sin problem.

At this point Jesus could have kicked the sinner out of the house. He could have listed off the man’s sinful deeds, or reminded the man of the Ten Commandments. Jesus could have just ignored the man’s sinfulness and just focused on the fact the man was paralyzed. But Jesus does the one thing no one expects, He pronounces forgiveness.

This does not make sense. We have seen how Jesus preached a high moral standard yet here He is forgiving this man’s sins. Should you not hold them accountable? Make him pay or at least confess. Why would Jesus just forgive this guy? And Jesus does this a lot. Luke 7:36-50 the woman who washed His feet with her hair, John 8:1-11 the woman caught in adultery, John 5:1-17 the lame man by the pool, in every case Jesus pronounced forgiveness.

Jesus makes this understandable when He says He came to save the world not condemn the world. He came to seek and to save that which is lost.

In John Bunyan’s “pilgrims Progress” the hero named Christian, is loaded down with a burden of sin, guilt and rules which weigh him down to the point he can hardly walk, until at the foot of the cross he lays those burdens down.

Jesus forgives because He knows that the burden of past failures keeps people from having success today. Only through forgiving the past can a person find hope for today. Jesus is not as concerned with what you have done as He is with what you are doing and will do.

Now consider what Jesus says in John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

Jesus has given us the ability and the responsibility to proclaim forgiveness in His name, first to ourselves and then to others.

Do you proclaim God’s forgiveness to yourself? Can you say looking in the mirror, “You are forgiven”. Lay that load of guilt down at the foot of the cross and stand upright for the first time in a long time. You are forgiven.

Repeat after me, “I AM FORGIVEN!”

Backpacking

Do you know someone loaded with sin and guilt? Will you pronounce forgiveness upon them? Will you help them set the burden of guilt shame and sin down at the feet of Jesus. Are you willing to say, “my friend you are forgiven”? what a burden you could lift from someone. You are not approving of their actions, but you are freeing them to act differently.

Repeat after me. “Friend You Are Forgiven.” Turn to the person on next to you and say, “Friend You Are Forgiven.” Make sure no one is left out. Get up and move over to them if you have to.  

Hear those words “YOU ARE FORGIVEN”, let them wash over you like a wave carrying your guilt, shame, past failures, and all your burden away.

This is what Jesus has done for you and what He calls us to do for others.

This is what Jesus would do. This is who He is.

My Friend Your Sins are Forgiven, Rise Up and Walk”

 

Matthew 9:1-8
And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

Luke 7:36-50
One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

John 8:1-11
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

John 5:1-17
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Rom 3:21-26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1 John 1:8 – 2.2 we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 8:1-4 “Touching the Leper”

 

Matthew 8:1-4
When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

 

The sermons for the past few months have centered on what Jesus called His followers to be. We have found He set the bar quite high for our lives. This new sermon series will look at how Jesus dealt with actual people. We will look at how Jesus ministered to Lepers, Nicodemus, a woman at the well, paralytics, the blind, children, and many more. We will see how Jesus related to the religious leaders and governmental leaders of His day. These interactions between Jesus and people reveal some surprising things

 

Jesus is coming down from the mountain with crowds surrounding Him, when a man with leprosy. The leper runs up to Jesus and kneels before Him requesting to be healed. Lepers are supposed to keep their distance from other people. You can even close your eyes and picture the crowd backing away as the leper runs up to Jesus.

 

What would Jesus do?

2 Kings 5:1-14
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.”

But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.
What would Jesus do?

 

Most devout Jews would be backing away from this unclean and even contagious man. But Jesus does the strangest thing, He touches the man.

 

HE TOUCHES THE MAN

 

Jesus didn’t need to touch this diseased leper to heal him. Jesus could have done it from long distance if He wanted to. But Jesus touched him, a person who many would back away from, and even more would look away as they passed him. But Jesus reaches out and touches him.

Jesus is taking a big risk in touching this man. What will His followers think, what will they do? Will the crowds turn away from Him because of this radical thing He does?

 

So many people in our world long to be touched, a hand on their shoulder, a hug, even hold hands with another person. They feel alone, outcast, forgotten, isolated, even unclean. Today with all the concern over abuse and lawsuits people are afraid to touch anyone. As a result, people feel more and more isolated and alone.

 

Remember the kid in school who sat all alone eating their lunch. That kid longed to have someone come and sit with them. He needed someone to tell him he was not unwanted. Could you imagine what it would mean if he received a touch by someone other than the bully who is trying to knock their lunch out of his hand.

 

Touch is so powerful studies show that if your doctor places their hand on you in a caring way you have a 50% better chance of being healed even if they do nothing else.

 

 

Mark6:56
And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

 

Mark 8:22 – 25
And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.   And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”   And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.”   Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

 

Mark 10:13
And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them,

 

Luke 6:17-19
And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,   who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.   And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

 

And this healing power is passed on to the church

James 5:13-18
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

 

Perhaps you can identify with the kid in the lunch room, or the leper kneeling in front of Jesus. Jesus is not put off by you. Your sickness, disability, social status, addiction, sin, nor anything else causes Jesus to back away from you when you come and kneel before Him.

 

What is your sickness? What thing makes you a leper?  What makes people back away or would if they knew about it? If it could happen, what would you have Jesus heal?

A broken heart? Broken relationship? Your mind, your body, your family, your past? Your addiction, your compulsion to sin? Lock it in your mind, got it? See it?

Jesus is here today with us, Jesus is not only willing to heal and forgive you, Jesus will touch you. Feel His hand on your forehead, his fingers brush your hair as He moves His hand to the side of your face. Go ahead reach up and take His hand. Feel Jesus surround your hand with his.

Jesus has touched you and today you are healed.

 

“Live For The Show” Matthew 6:1-6

“Live For The Show”

As we come to the end of the sermon on the mountain and Jesus’ outline of what one of His Children should strive to do and be, we come to the topic of motive. Why do we do what we do is just as important as what we do.

To impress people

1.     You have gotten your reward

2.     God is not impressed

3.     Romans 12:1

4.     Luke 18:9-14

Because you are your fathers child

1.     How can you get past this, (forgive, let them off the hook)

2.     It’s what Jesus did for me

3.     It is what Jesus has done for you

4.     John 13:12-17

5.     Because it is your nature

What flows out of you

1.     Honestly evaluate your motives

2.     Pray for transformation

3.     Make steps for transformation

Why do you do what you do?
What flows out of you?

 

Matthew 6:1-6
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Rom 12:1&2
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if ser-vice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Matthew 6:16-18
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Luke 18:9-14
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:   “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

James 2:1-13
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

1 Peter 1:13-21
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 

Matthew 5:38-48 “those who hurt you"

Matthew 5:38-48 “those who hurt you"

Jesus challenges His followers in the extreme. If you have not been challenged by the sermon on the mount so far, then this passage will. Even before we finish reading our mind is filled with if’s and buts. Excuses and conditional clauses race through our mind, at least they run through mine.

In this passage Jesus is quoting Lev 24

Fiddler on The Roof, “the whole world will be blind and toothless”

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Yet this command of Jesus is so far above my natural self. Our natural self wants people to pay for their wrongs, we want justice. This whole forgiveness and loving your enemies just does not make sense does it? Yet here it is. This command is in repeated in Romans 12:17.

Jesus lived this teaching from the cross Luke 23:24 “Father forgive them for they no not what they do.”

Steven is quoted in Acts 7:60 as he was being stoned to death “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

How do we do this?

Admit our feelings.

Pray for them.

Find a way to bless them.

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Only in our efforts to carry out this impossible task do we start to understand Jesus’ mind and heart, that allowed Him to say from the cross “Father forgive them.”

 

Matthew 5:38-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Lev 24:20 
Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

Romans 12:17
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Prov 20:22
Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.

Luke 23:34
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Acts 7:60
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

 

Matthew 5:31-37 Divorce

Matthew 5:31-37 Divorce

What God has joined together…

Divorce is a thing that has caused much pain for the church, this subject is charged with emotions and pain for so many people. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. The separation for those who choose to simply live together is even higher, because the initial commitment is lower. People choose to live together because they want to avoid divorce, will manage to avoid the legal part of divorce, but not the pain the separation will cause.

When people talk about marriage they could be talking about a social contract. Some will talk of covenant or spiritual contract. But back when God brought up the idea it was one of completion.

Gen 2:18-24
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

 

The word “hold fast” or “cleave in KJV” means to joined or mixed. The concept is becoming one being with two bodies. It is a permanent psychological and spiritual connection. This is how Jesus is treating marriage which He makes clear in Matthew 19:1-12

Matthew 19:1-12
Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.

 

Yet in Deut 24:1-4 the law gave God has rules about divorce, and in our passage, Jesus gives the reason of adultery as a valid reason for divorce.

 

Matthew 5:31-37
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

  “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’

But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

 

While Jesus strengthens the meaning of marriage, He extended the concept of adultery to include lustful thoughts.

I will interject this about abuse. Physical or psychological abuse is a breaking of the marriage, the person who is being abused is divorced when the abuse starts.

 

This could just lead to mud slinging in a who did what contest, which only adds to the pain. The intimate nature of marriage is such that anyone outside of the two people can never figure out who is at fault and it is not their business to do so. In my years counseling couples, I have found that in every marriage there is enough sin to go around, everybody is guilty of something.

Is a person who ends up divorced somehow more defective or more sinful than the rest of us? No, their human, and as such we are all defective and sinful in some way.  To which Jesus says in John 8:1-11 “go and sin no more”

The church has added to the problem with a reading of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 “the husband of one wife” to eliminate divorced persons from church leadership. These passages are more likely talking about polygamy than they are divorce.

 

You will notice the in Matthew 5 Jesus connects His teaching on adultery, divorce, and oaths. They are connected. It is all wrapped up in “let your yes be yes and your no be no” be a person of your word. The commitment you make is to be a commitment you keep. But the solution is not forcing people to stay in bad marriages, it is in making good choices in who and why we marry in the first place. If we change what we think marriage is, we should choose more carefully.

Do you know this person’s character? Are there habits or ideas this person has that you feel need to be changed? If this person were old, fat and wrinkly, are they still the kind of person you would want to be with? Does this person really complete me? Am I less than whole without them?

Remember you are making a promise not only to the person you marry but also to God.
Choose carefully and let your yes be yes and your no be no.

"Lust" Matthew 5:27-30

Lust Matthew 5:27-30

David, the man after God’s own heart, finds himself broken and compromised, on a path that will lead him to murder. What no army could do, lust will. David defeated giants, armies feel before his leadership, yet on that day gazing from his balcony, David defeats himself.

 

The list of people defeated and broken by Lust fill the news, Bill Cosby, Garrison Keillor, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Charlie Rose. Pastors, teachers, politicians, business people and people from all walks of life, are falling before the foe of lust.

 

The world wants to catch people in their lust and sin and use it to destroy them. If your name shows up on the latest naughty list, it only proves your human. God’s desire is not your guilt it’s transformation! God already knows your guilty. He wants to lead you to a new path.

 

No one is immune to this defeater of the great and powerful. We all face this foe in some way or another.

 

In the Old Testament the word for lust is Covet

Ex 20:1-17

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

So, though Jesus is talking about sexual lust in particular, lust is not confined to this one thing.

 

Matthew 5:27&28

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

 

How does it work

 

James 1:12-18

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

 

Jesus brings this up not to make you feel guilty, Jesus’s desire is that we not fall victim to lust. Jesus gives this remedy for coveting or lust.

 

Matthew 5: 29&30

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

 

Jesus is not suggesting that we all go through life without blind and handless, He is saying that we must deal with temptation in radical ways. So how do we fight this temptation?

 

Change what you love.

 

1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 

Stop walking by the old self

Eph 4:17-24

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Avoid the path that leads there

Proverbs 5:1-8

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,

 

Don’t listen to her talk, ideas and philosophy

Proverbs 7:21-27

With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

 

Fill your mind and heart with God’s word and fix your eyes on living for Jesus

Psalm 119:9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

 

Romans 12:1&2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

Do not put your energy and time into guilt, put it into transformation.