"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.

 

 

“Anger Issues” Matthew 5:21-26

Anger

“Anger Issues” Matthew 5:21-26

Anger seems to fill the world around us. Angry people protesting, angry people hurting each other. Anger tears apart individual lives, families, communities, and nations. Anger is fueled by economic inequality, racial prejudice, bullying, jealousy and so many other things. People are angry at work, at home, on the road, and even at church.

We all suffer with anger to some degree, at least I do. So, this sermon is to myself as much as anyone else. I get angry at my poor health and those who are supposed to be helping me with it. I get angry when I think about past wrongs that have been done to me. I get angry because people don’t come to church like they should, and the church is not growing fast enough. I get angry with myself when I do or say something stupid.

Anger is such a primal thing that it can consume us. The second sin recorded in Genesis was fueled by anger.

We may even have a just reason to be angry. “Without cause”

Even God gets angry.

Genesis 4:3-7
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Numbers 14:18&19
 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

Mark 3:1-6
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

John 2:13-17
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.   14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.   15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.   16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”   17His disciples remembered that it was written, £“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Micah 7:18&19
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

So why is Jesus confronting anger? James put it this way.

James 1:19-21
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Your anger may be justified, even righteous, but it seldom accomplishes anything good.

Colossians 3:8-10
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

So what can we do about it?

Ephesians 4:25-32
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin;

do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

I challenge myself and I challenge you to stop focusing on the things that anger you and instead focus on the blessings that God has poured out upon us each day. There really is so much more to be thankful for than there is to be angry about. “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.”

 

Jesus and the Law Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus and the Law Matthew 5:17-20

Rules, laws and ethics are all the rage in the news. Russian involvement, which email server did you use, who had sex with who and who paid for it, who was in whose motel room and what drugs did you take? Who gave you money and what for. Accusations, denials, inappropriate behavior, careers over before there is ever a trial. One Christian leader has been investigated by 3 different and independent committees none of which found evidence of wrong doing, yet the people keep taking their discredited accusations to the news who keep reprinting it. How far under the microscope do you want to go?

If I never said anything or did anything inappropriate or wrong, I would not need Jesus. But I am a sinner, don’t expect to look at my life and anything but that. Don’t you dare ask me to look at your life and expect me to not find a sinner.

This is what Jesus is all about.

The woman in the elevator at the library.

To the Pharisees the law was the big thing not God.

They looked for clever work-arounds and loopholes. The wire between houses.

People wanted Jesus to get ride of the Law as they understood it.

Personal holiness is the goal, but grace is the end.

We think people should follow the rules, but when the rules get in the way.

Sexual harassment, Woman want to not be treated in ways that make them feel threatened or uncomfortable. Yet they want to dress in was that threaten and make men uncomfortable.

We want to load our cupboard with booze but not want our teenager to drink it.

We want to over eat but we want to not gin weight or have high Cholesterol.

The Pharisees looked for ways to soften the law. Many Christians want to soften the law. Particularly with regards to sex.

1 Cor 5:2 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

1 cor 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Romans 1:18-32

Jesus does not change what is right and what is wrong.

Jesus does not change the penalty for our wrong doing.

Jesus, changes who pays the bill.

Jesus changes why we try to live a holy life.

Don’t change the rules to fit how you want to live, change your life to please God.

Live to show honor and respect for the sacrifice and gifts of God.