The Sermon on the Mount XX

Subtitle:  Conclusion-Build on the Rock

Matthew 7:24-27.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 5, 2024.

Today, we will finish the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the concluding warnings that Jesus gives.

He first warned us about the difficulty of following him into the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is difficult to follow Jesus, and they would be tempted (we are tempted) to quit the way of life and go down the easy road that leads to destruction.

He then warned about deceivers that we would have to avoid in order to remain with him in the Kingdom.  They may have a powerful appearance, but they can be known by the fruit of their life.  This is one of the difficulties that we will face on this path to eternal life.

This last warning has to do with how we live our life.  This will be tested and proven, one way or another.

Let’s look at our passage.

The person who does what Jesus says (v. 24-25)

We must be careful how we live our life because decisions and actions have consequences.  Jesus has put a way of life in front of us through this sermon, but we have a decision to make.  He calls us to join him in being salt, light, and a city on a hill that is visible to all in our communities.  Believers in Jesus are meant to be visible to all.

This sermon had three main points.  First, he tells us that we can join him in fulfilling the law.  He would teach us to see and live out the Father’s heart that is behind all that the law says.  Second, he tells us that we can live out true righteousness, instead of the false piety of the hypocrites.  They look good on the outward, but the do not care for the Father’s heart, nor do they seek to please Him.  Third, he showed us how we could avoid the pitfalls of becoming hypocrites ourselves.

Verse 24 gives us the final “therefore” of this sermon.  It ends with a tension that we find in the book of Proverbs.  Who is the wise man, and who is the foolish man?  Who is on the path of wisdom and who is on the path of folly?  You may remember wisdom and folly personified as a woman on a hill calling for people to enter their houses (Proverbs 8 and 9).  The emphasis is that wisdom leads to life and folly leads to death.   They same is presented here.

Every person had a decision before them that day.  The choice involved wisdom versus folly, but another way to view it is that is involved following the Spirit of God versus following your own fleshly desires.  The Bible tells us that our flesh is hostile to the Spirit of God and the Word of God because it too is spiritual (of the Spirit).  This is important because it means that our flesh is hostile to the things that lead to eternal life, but like the things that lead to destruction.  The choice in the moment is always this.  What will you do about Jesus now?

However, even when we choose to follow Jesus, we have an ongoing choice, day by day, that continues to ask.  Will you continue to live by the wisdom and commands of the LORD Jesus?  Thus, it is not enough to begin well, enter the narrow gate, but then fall away. 

Regardless of where you are today, you are able to turn towards Christ and believe.  We can’t change the past, but we can change the power that the past has upon our present.  In fact, if you know God, you will understand that you don’t need to change the past.  The bad things in your life that you have complained and grumbled about can all become blessings in disguise when you put your hand in the hand of Jesus.

The devil uses hurts, wounds, fear, anger, and anything else to keep us stuck in a decision to neglect the words of Jesus.  He wants to discourage you.  But always remember this.  If it was easy to become like God, then everyone would be doing it.  It is precisely because it is hard that most walk away.  Yet, God is committed to you.  Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48, “You shall be perfect , just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Yes, this is a challenge, but it is just as much a promise.  He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.  Do not lose faith because He will make sure that you are perfect before Him before it is all done.

Jesus first state the positive side, i.e., what we should do.  He emphasizes that it is not enough to only hear his words (or read them on a page).  One must also do them. Hearing must be followed up with exercising our faith in Christ by doing the things that he says.  Just think of all the bright, enlightened men and women who have read the words of Jesus.  Many of them felt that there was a little bit of good in his teachings, but that they were mired in first century Judaism.  They hear, but then walk on by.

Here are some scriptures to ponder.

Romans 10:17.  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  If people have never heard the Gospel of Jesus, then they don’t know what they should believe in.  Therefore, people need us to tell them the good news about Jesus.  Yet, that hearing in and of itself is not enough.  It must lead to actions of faith. 

James 1:22.  “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  He pictures a person looking in the mirror, recognizing that they need to make some improvements (comb your hair, wash your face) and yet, continuing on without doing anything.  This is not God’s intention for us.

I should mention dead works here.  Dead works are the actions of the religious who are hypocrites.  They are merely actions of the flesh trying to obtain fleshly things.  God is opposed to dead works, but not the works of faith, works that are born out of a desire to please God.  The works of true righteousness are those who put their faith completely in Jesus and learn to obey his commands by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Though we can use the term commands because Jesus did, the picture of a Father that we were made to image is not so much about commands and obedience.  These are the things for children.  But, as we grow in spiritual maturity, our hearts change and begin to desire the same things that God desires.  We begin to see the wisdom behind His instructions to us.

Always remember that two people can do the exact same thing (give money to the poor, pray, and fast), but for one it may be a dead work, and for the other, it may be an act of faith, true righteousness.  It all comes down to the motivation of our heart.

Jesus gives us a metaphor of a man who is building a house.  Those who hear the words of Jesus and do them are like a wise man who builds on a rock.  You will notice that this picture has nothing to do with people thinking you are wise.  Let me tell you a secret.  The truly wise are not generally recognized by those who are not wise.  Without the Holy Spirit, it would be impossible to find wisdom, and then become wise by learning from it.  Who are the wise of this age?  It is those who are bringing their gifts and laying them at the feet of Jesus in worship.  Many people sound wise, but they will not stand with the wise at the side of Jesus in eternity.  That is what this is about.

The rock is using foundation terminology.  It represents a sturdy, trustworthy surface that will not allow the building to sink.  The rock represents Jesus himself, and the teaching that he has given to us.  If you live your life by the wisdom of Jesus and by the help of the Holy Spirit, then your life will be upheld by the Truth, by reality itself.  Those who follow a different “wisdom” are actually building on a false truth.  It has no true substance.  Though it may have an outward form of truth, it is incapable of really, truly, holding up the weight a person’s choices place on it.

Jesus is the rock; He is the very Word of God.  He is the First Light that dawned in the void and brought forth all that has been created.  Yet, he has laid himself down as a sacrifice, as a foundation for us.  He is the absolute unifying Truth that lays at the foundation of all that you see.  Nothing has any being or substance, but through him.  Thus, even millions of people in the wilderness could not overcome the Truth that God wanted Israel to live and not die.  The waters that came out of the Rock to keep them alive are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His being struck at the cross produces for life for all who will drink.

Thus, building here represents the way that you live: the principles you use to determine the actions you will take.  This leads to consequences.  Jesus is saying that the consequences of living your life by his words is eternal life, not just quantity, but even more, quality.

This should teach us to be humble.  Have you ever heard of unintended consequences?  Almost nobody says that they want to fall and fall greatly.  Instead, they believe they are wise.  Jesus warns us to live our lives by following him, if we want to have life.

All buildings are tested by the world around them.  It would be nice if our building, our life, was never tested.  Jesus points to the threat to natural buildings, storms.  Storms bring wind and excessive rains, which bring floods.  Of course, Jesus is making a spiritual point.  The storms are all the ways in which our faith in Jesus (or whatever else we put our faith in) is tested.  The floods represent the sea of people around us who are tossed to and fro by the winds and by the lusts of their own flesh.  These same lusts can seep into our house and life if we are not careful.  The winds represent the ideas, false religions, false teachings and philosophies of this world.  Ephesians 4:15 puts it this way.  “We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine [teaching], by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

False teaching is not the only storm.  The disciples were tested in the garden when they let sleepiness get in the way of prayer (lust of the flesh versus spiritual preparation).  They were all tested when they were threatened with imprisonment, beatings and death.  We are tested when people say all manner of evil things about us.  We can cave in under the pressure and seek an easier way.

We should also recognize that there are teachings of demons that promote false teachings through other willing humans.  Without Jesus, you will be tossed about like little children by the winds of life.

Jesus then tells us that the wise man’s house will not fall during the test.  It was tough and difficult, but the house was on a strong foundation, so it did not fall.  Those who put their faith in Jesus will not be taken out by these storms of life that test us along the way.  Yet, the greatest test will be the test of death.

The approach of death proves the foundation of many a person.  When we stand before God and give account for our life, it won’t matter how good things looked.  Christ will know exactly the motivations of your heart and what you were building upon.  We do not want to fall in that judgment, but instead, we want Jesus to welcome us and enable us to stand.  And, he will!  We don’t have to live in fear because He can be trusted.  Yet, we must not fool ourselves that He knows the truth.

The person who does not do what Jesus says (v. 26-27)

Of course, many who hear his words will not build on them.  They do not do what he says.  This can be in an irreligious way.  They can completely walk away from God and live for themselves and a different “wisdom.”  Or, we can reject Jesus in a religious way.  Many would follow the religious leaders of Jesus day and use the fact that he was executed as proof that they were right.  We can also live a religious looking life, but internally be as atheistic as the irreligious man.

The man who hears and doesn’t do what Jesus says is being foolish and walking down a path of folly.  Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.”  Whose wise counsel do we need to heed?  The counsel of Jesus! 

Jesus pictures this as building upon the sand.  Sand is simply disintegrated rock.  We can use our human wisdom to cherry pick the words of Jesus, those we like versus those we don’t.  Yet, the wisdom of Christ is not disintegrated.  It is an absolute whole.  If you reject his wisdom in one place, then you are also rejecting the parts that you think you accept.  An eclectic picking and choosing may feel like you are gaining wisdom.  However, think about who is doing the choosing.  How can I be obtaining wisdom by being the one to pick and choose?  Have I not made my foolish self a wisdom unto myself?  Like crossing a creek on stepping stones, we can do quite well for a while.  We can develop principles like never using wet rocks.  Yet, you will eventually reach that large rock that is dry and looks substantial, but when you jump to it, it wobbles and you fall into the water.  Not all such falls lead to the end of our life.  In such a case, we have the grace of recognizing that our wisdom can’t always determine the best course forward.  We need One who has gone there before us, and that is Jesus.

Notice that the foolish man’s house is tested by the same tests of life as the wise man’s house.  The blessing of the storms of life along the way is that we have rebukes that warn us that we are not building on the rock.  We can then choose wisdom.  Of course, it will not be a download of all wisdom in an instant.  The situation may have been bad, but it will bring forth good, if I will place my failure on the altar of God and ask for His help.

We can move from the storm imagery to the imagery of melting down ore.  When the heat is turned up on our lives, we may pray for God to take it away.  Then, we see ourselves melting and falling apart.  We then desperate cry for God to save us from melting.  Yet, God uses it to bring impurities to the surface.  If we will listen to Him, He will help us to scrape them off and be cast into a new mold.

Regardless, all lives are tested, both in the now, and later at the throne of God.  This is what makes the foolish man foolish.  Somehow, he believes that he can cut corners and that his building will be good enough.  He believes that he can disregard God’s Word and still build something substantial.  That is the folly of it.  You were warned and have countless examples around you everyday.  Yet, you persist in following the lusts of your flesh, the lusts of your eyes and the pride of life.

Sometimes the tests of life come in the form of a loved one who dies early.  God why did you let that happen?  It can come through persecution, deception, even a loved one who walks away from Christ.  Regardless, we will all be tested.  Have you built your life on the words of Jesus, or followed the hypocrites and only made it look like you were following him?

A fool’s life may even look like it has held together quite nicely all the way to death.  Yet, God is not mocked, and He is never fooled.  Do you remember the story of the Rich Man and Poor Lazarus?  The rich man looked righteous, but he ended up in torments in the grave.  Lazarus looked abandoned by God in this life, but when he died, he ended up in the paradise of Abraham’s Bosom.  The greatest test of death is faced by all.  A foolish man goes into eternity betting that he will not be held accountable to these words of Jesus, but he will.

We cannot imagine the magnitude of stepping into eternity and being found as wise or foolish.  The best thing that can happen to a person building on sand is that their house can collapse before death.  At least then, they have a wake up call and can choose to build properly.  The thief on the cross was in such a moment.  He didn’t have much time to build, but he took his stand upon the Rock, the Lord Jesus, and it was enough. 

Jesus says that the foolish man’s house will fall, and great will be its fall.  The fall of national Israel in the first century was a great fall because the leadership refused to build upon Messiah, Jesus, the Rock.  Down through history, individuals, empires and nations have continued to walk this same path of choices.

America also faces this today.  We have been building on sand for a very long time, and we are seeing our building fall apart all around us.  This is the grace of God.  Even now, God is pleading with us.  Why will you die?  Choose life!  May God help us to be a witness, a light, salt and a city on the hill to our own people.  Forget about America being a city on a hill for the world.  We need Christians who will stand up and be a city on the hill to our own republic!  This is the only truly wise thing that we can do.  May the Lord Jesus help us to build on the Rock!

Build on the Rock audio

The Sermon on the Mount VIII

Subtitle:  Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God VI

Matthew 5:38-42.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 28, 2024.

Today, we continue our look at how Jesus expects his followers to approach the law.  Those blessed people who are following him will act and respond to life quite differently than others. 

These examples that Jesus gives are more snapshots of the kinds of things that the followers of Jesus will do.  They will do these strange things because they love Messiah and have followed him into the Kingdom.

They will be a people who are not internally surrendered to vice, but rather, they will be people from whom the difficulties of life seem to bring forth goodness.  How can it be that a sinful world could bring out of the righteous something good?  Yes, it seems impossible, but this is what Jesus is talking about.

Let’s look at the fifth area of the Law that Jesus deals with in our passage.  It is often called the Law of Retribution.  It deals with matters of personal injury, and how courts should rectify certain offenses, or how they are to make the offense right.  The general rule is to equate the harm done to another, unless there are circumstances that mitigate that.

In each of these 6 case studies in the Law, Jesus points us to the internal as more important than the external.  He points us to battle against the vice that seeks to overwhelm us and to choose the virtue, or righteousness of Christ, that we need to embrace.

This area will very naturally lead into the last case study on how we should treat our enemies.  This case study goes back one step and deals with how we become enemies with people in the first place.  There is always some infraction at the heart of it.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Law of Retribution (v. 38-42)

Again, Jesus does not spend a lot of time on what they are being taught by their teachers.  He simply gives a quote from the law, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  We will deal with this more in a second, but I will say up front that this phrase is used three times in the Law of Moses.

Before we go there, I want to remind us of Genesis 4 and the murders that happened there.  Cain kills his brother purposefully and out of spite.  Cain receives a gracious punishment from God. Later in that chapter, Lamech, from the line of Cain, kills a young man just for injuring him.  His speech basically presumes that the grace given to Cain should be even greater to himself.  He had killed a young man for injuring him.  Of course, we don’t know all the details.  Did the young man injure him purposefully?  Did Lamech purposefully kill the young man in rage, or was it a spur of the moment response in which he flew off the handle?

This is an important understanding of the “Old Testament.”  God actually starts with grace, not law.  The law came much later.  Without restraint, whether upon ourselves in a personal fashion or externally from laws of society, humans are capable of great evil in this area of getting justice.  A culture that is fixated on “social justice” does not realize just how much evil they themselves do.  I am not saying that justice is unimportant.  I am actually saying something about each of us when we are consumed with getting justice.  We tend to see every injury to ourselves by another in the worst light, and we tend to see every injury to another in the best light.  Our tendency towards selfishness and sin pits us against one another in a no-win game.  We will never see eye to eye following this path.

People can laugh about a society of one-eyed, toothless people, but this law actually served as a brake, or restraint, on overkill.  Lamech was injured, but he killed the man in return.  This is man in his natural sense of justice.  “If you harm me, then I will kill you.”  God wants justice, but He also knows that we need restraint when we are seeking it.  Yet, even this brake on our desire for justice falls short of what God desires from each of us.  The teachers are focused only on satisfying the requirement of equating punishment and infraction, rather than hearing the spirit of what God is saying.

Jesus gives us his teaching, and it starts with the main point, “Do not  resist an evil person (vs. 39).”  He then goes on to give four examples from the kinds of situations where this is an issue.  In short, the four examples flesh out what he means by not resisting an evil person.

So, what is meant by not resisting an evil person?  We should first recognize that the area of the law Jesus is talking about, i.e., eye for an eye, has to do with a context of personal injury from another.  The three places where this is quoted are Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and Deuteronomy 19.

In Exodus 21, it pictures two men who are fighting.  Of course, they will probably give each other black eyes, and knock out teeth.  But, the Law is actually speaking about their tussle injuring a pregnant woman, causing her to go into labor and either having the baby prematurely, or it dying.  The point is not so much killing a child of the man who causes a miscarriage.  The point is about upping the gravity of your actions.  If I know that I will be held accountable to the consequences of a fight, I will exercise more caution in fighting.  At the least, we will clear the room of any pregnant women.

Leviticus 24 speaks of a man disfiguring a neighbor.  It doesn’t explain how that would happen, but we could see two men working together, and an axe head flies off of the handle.  Let’s say that it hits the other guy and gashes his face, or breaks his jaw and now it is crooked.  This is where this maxim is quoted.

In Deuteronomy 19, the context is the case of a person lying in court, bearing false testimony.  If such a person is caught, they are to receive the punishment that they were expecting the person that they were lying against to receive.

Notice that none of these situations picture a self-defense situation where someone breaks into your house and is threatening to kill your family.  It doesn’t picture a situation where the Philistines are attacking and mean to subjugate you as their slaves.  Neither is it picturing a situation in which authorities are exercising punishment upon someone who has broken the law, i.e., law enforcement.  It is a personal injury that happens in the course of normal life.  Someone has harmed another.

Now, let’s look at what is meant by “resist.”  To resist here pictures a person taking their stand in hostility in order to go to war against the other person who has injured them.  You are taking your stand against them as an enemy.

The word “evil person” means everything from “the person who caused the bad thing to happen (though on acccident)” all the way to a person who is a bad person themselves and love to do bad things to others.  However, Jesus may actually intend to bring up the worst case scenario, i.e., even when a person intends to do it maliciously.

The point is that it is our natural tendency to rise up to fight when someone has injured us.  Don’t make those who intend you evil your target.  Don’t rise up in the anger, rage, and vengeance that are so natural at that moment.  There is a deeper issue going on here and it has to do with what injury does to us spiritually.

We are called to be imagers of God.  When someone injures us, especially when they are maliciously evil, we are too quit to take them out.  In so doing, we rarely image God well.  James 1:20, “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”  If I am not imaging God, then just who am I imaging?  Who was Cain imaging?  1 John 3:11-12a says, “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.  This is not talking about Adam, but about the Serpent, the Devil, who was the first murderer.  In trying to get justice, we easily fall into imaging Satan, rather than God.  You become a vessel that is breathing out death and statements of vindictive overkill, rather than a vessel that is filled with life.

Jesus is telling us that, if we want to follow him, we need to go to war against that inner impulse to hate others and to seek vengeance upon them.  We need to stop targeting others, and start targeting the vices that too quickly rise up within us.

Of course, that does go for those who are on both side of the injury.  Jesus wants the other person to go to war against the things in their heart too!  Yet, I have to focus upon me.  We will both stand before God one day and give an account for whether we lived a life of targeting others (producing death), or we lived a life of targeting our own heart (producing life).

If you think this sounds like God doesn’t care about justice, then I have not been clear enough.  Of course, God cares deeply about justice, far more than we do.  He also cares about making it right.  Jesus hung on a cross for you and for them precisely because He cares about it.  Jesus is not playing games with this area of justice.  He is going for true justice, and none of us can survive true justice without the grace of God being provided for us.

The Law of Moses was sent to shut the mouths of those who think they are doing a good job being righteous.  We all fall short of perfect righteousness, and therefore, we are disqualified to “fix it” or get justice.  Our flesh is hostile to a true justice that bring forth true righteousness.  We are all in the same boat, and we are in need of God’s grace and mercy.

Let’s look at the first example that Jesus brings up in verse 39.  This is an insulting slap on the side of the face by another person.  In public or not, most people would be ready to go to war against another person for such a thing.  Jesus pictures his followers turning the other cheek.  Now, we know that his intention is not for us to literally present our other cheek, as if asking for another blow.  We know this because this very situation was done to Jesus during his kangaroo trial, the morning of his execution.

John 18:22-23 shows us Jesus being struck by an officer.  Does Jesus literally turn his face so that the guy can hit him on the other cheek?  What I mean is this.  Is that the thing that Jesus is really hoping to accomplish in us?  There is no mention of Jesus literally turning the other cheek.  In fact, his statement to the officer has a subtle rebuke to it.  “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”  Now, remember exactly who Jesus is.  He is the Word of God through whom all things that were made were made.  He could unmake this man with a single word.  Jesus may not physically turn his cheek, but Jesus doesn’t target this man as an enemy either.  Jesus remains in the vulnerable place, where potentially he could be struck again.  Jesus keeps focused on imaging God and helping the other person to image God better.

This brings up the greater subject of the incarnation.  In Jesus, God takes on a face that we can slap, and hands (feet) that we can nail to a tree.  He takes on a back that we can whip to the point of shredding the flesh.  He becomes a vulnerable human who can be killed.  How great is the love of God that we are called to image to the world?

The point is that the world is full of enemies because of such incidents.  It is no accident that the last case study in the law will talk about loving our enemies.  God does not want us to be enemies to one another.  We are all His creation, and He loves each of us.  We are to do everything we can to neutralize this tendency to be enemies with others.  If I respond in kind to every infraction against me, the enemy of humanity will win, and God’s Kingdom will be thwarted.  Of course, this cannot happen because God always makes sure that He has a remnant in every generation.  However, where will I be?

Jesus is calling us to follow him in this radical response to evil.  We are to fight that inner battle and resist being made into an enemy by those who act like enemies to us.  We are to love that person and stay open to God changing their heart so that they can be our brother.

We do not want to play into the devil’s hand, but instead, we want to do the work of Jesus.  If you think this makes you a weakling, then think again.  Jesus was no weakling.   You had better believe that Jesus is a warrior.  However, he has a different target than we do.  He is calling us to become a warrior in this battle against the sin in our own hearts.  We are to go to war against very different things than what humans normally do.

Love risks injury, and that injury not being “fixed” in this life.  When Jesus was on the cross, he knew that the injuries, which he suffered, were making it possible for these sinners who deserved death to be saved.  It didn’t guarantee it, but if he didn’t love, it would guarantee that they could not be saved. 

Can  you believe that the injuries that God allows in your life, may have a purpose, especially when they are never “rectified” in this life?  Trusting Jesus is never easy.  No weakling can do it.  However, when we choose the path of His love, we become part of a war for the soul of the other person.  Suddenly, you are fighting those spirits and powers of darkness that hold the person captive.  That’s what Jesus wants.  Don’t target the person, target the devil that has trapped them in anger, rage, bitterness, vindictiveness, et. al.

The second example has to do with lawsuits.  “If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.”

People do not typically sue unless there is something that has happened.  You may not see it the same way as they, but there is an event nonetheless.  Jesus shows a response to lawsuits that is not about getting justice, or making sure everything is equated.  Rather, it is more important for the follower of Christ to be reconciled to the other person.  “You think I have done you wrong?  Here, let me make it right, and even throw something else on top of it, so that you will know that you are more important to me than things!”  Yes, the other person may be making a mountain out of a molehill.  Or, they may be unreasonable in their claim against you.  However, we are called to be more concerned about the relationship than the things we stand to lose.  We should never lose sight that God loves this person, and He wants me to love them too.

Notice that none of this is passive.  It is a person aggressively restraining their inner tendency to anger and vengeance.  This is the bait that Satan uses to fracture us.  He doesn’t just divide and conquer us.  He divides, steps back, and let’s us conquer each other (perhaps with an extra whisper in the ear from time to time).

Paul brings this up in 1 Corinthians 6:6-8.  Notice that Paul does not expect believers to let another believer cheat them.  He challenges them to have other Christians decide such squabbles between to Christians.  Yet, some of them were taking each other to the secular (pagan) courts.  Paul challenges them in verse seven, “Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?”  By going to the secular courts, they were testifying to the world that the people of Christ can’t get along and need the world to settle their disputes.  Paul is challenging them to love the reputation of Christ above their own loss.  Contrary to that, they were actually leading each other into becoming bigger cheats and wronging each other.

This all needs to be approached out of love for one another and for God.  How much is Jesus worth to you? 

All of this begs the question.  How can Jesus expect us to do this?  As I said earlier, none of this is easy, and we have to work hard not to see these as superficial laws that we have to keep.  It does beg this question, and the sermon on the mount doesn’t answer that question.  However, Jesus does answer it in the end.  He would die on the cross and show us that the Father intends to use resurrection to “fix” all things, both spiritually and physically.  On top of this, Jesus would now send the Holy Spirit to take up residence within us in order to empower us to battle against sin in our hearts.  No, you can’t do this, but you cooperating with the Holy Spirit can!

The third example has to do with being pressed into service by an official (particularly a Roman soldier).  This would have  been something that the people of Israel had become used to, and that irked them greatly.  “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.”

This is a classic environment where our underlying resentment, that God has given us unto the power of another, can cause us to hate them.  Roman law allowed soldiers and officials to press the people under their dominion into service.  Such service had limitations.  In this case, a soldier could require someone to carry his stuff up to a mile.  Now, Jesus is not setting up a new law where we simply carry it 2, and no more.  Just like turning the other cheek does not mean I can knock you out after you have slapped me twice, so I don’t carry the load two miles, but then throw it down and walk away.  It is about being different and responding out of love rather than contempt, anger, and frustration about their authority over us.

Yeah, the law obligated them to help a soldier for a certain distance, but Jesus wants us to be the kind of person that is not resentful, and willing to do more.  Love always goes beyond mere legal obligations.  Could there be a situation where a Christian could resist a soldier pressing them into service?  Sure.  Perhaps you are a surgeon who is on the way to do a surgery that is critical.  You can explain the situation and beg them not to force you out of love for the other person.  It is not the superficial details that Jesus is after, but the heart of why we do what we do.  The emphasis is on me choosing to carry an offensive thing, rather than some one else being hurt. 

Are we required to tell the Nazis where all the Jews are hiding simply because Jesus told us to help the soldiers?  Of course, you aren’t.  It is love for others that is to motivate us, and some situations are far trickier than others. 

How much of your brother’s baggage are you willing to carry?  I know.  This stupid Roman soldier is no brother of yours.  Yet, God loves him, and wants him to become a spiritual brother to you.  Perhaps we can see a metaphor behind this maxim of carrying the baggage two miles instead of one.  There is a song from the seventies that says, “He ain’t heavy.  He’s my brother.”  Can I carry the baggage of others farther than anyone would expect because I’m praying that God will soften his heart and help him to see Jesus?  Yes, we can, but the real question is, will we.

The fourth example is in the area of people borrowing from us, or asking charity from us.  “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”  In Luke 6:35, Jesus even tells us to lend without expecting payment back.  The followers of Jesus, people of the Kingdom of Heaven, are not to be trapped in a world of possessions being more important to us than others.  Yes, it is not right for someone to borrow our stuff and not bring it back.  Kingdom people don’t do that.  But, targeting them as an enemy will not fix the situation and help them become more like Jesus.  It will only make it worse.

The phrase “do not turn away” reflects how we can be hardened towards those who need charity.  In each of these, Jesus is asking us to stay vulnerable in some way so that relationship can continue.  We are to choose a path of love towards the other person.

Let’s be clear.  Jesus does not intend us to never say ‘No.’  Can you imagine parents operating as if they can never say ‘No’ to their kids if they ask for something?  These are not laws.  They are examples to help us to see the kinds of things that those who are following Jesus will do.  We will not be trying to protect our stuff, and money, by hiding from those who might ask us for it.  Instead, we will let love for the person form our actions.  We will let the Holy Spirit inspire us.

Anyone who has worked with people who are financially in a tough spot knows that the answer isn’t always more money.  However, we can also pick up an attitude of despising people who need help.  We can become more interested in protecting our outflows, than the welfare of the person.  Yet, a person’s spiritual welfare is just as important as their physical. 

Love is not an easy path.  It will tear out your heart at times and leave you feeling like you aren’t doing any good.  I once knew a man whose son had just been released from prison.  He wanted to help his son, so he gave him a job working for him in his shop.  Long story short, he caught his son stealing from his till.  What a heart breaking situation.  The answer isn’t to “turn the other cheek,” and pretend it didn’t happen.  Yet, it doesn’t need to be, call the cops and send him back to prison.  Love wrestles with carrying offenses, not because that is the end goal.  No, we carry the offenses in order to win a brother, a son, back to the truth.  Only the Holy Spirit can help us to know what to do in such specific situations.

The goal is not to meticulously follow the letter of what Jesus is saying, but to hear the heart, the Spirit, of what he is saying.  I think that the best way to boil this down is Romans 12:17-21.

“17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[i] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 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.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Vengeance is God’s job, and it doesn’t matter if I see it happen or not.  It is between God and them.  If I try to step into God’s job, I will not survive it.  It is too big a job for me, and will destroy me.  Verse 21 is a perfect description of what Jesus is getting at.  Don’t let the evil done by another overwhelm your heart with a desire to be evil back.   Instead, overcome their evil action by good.  Peter says a similar thing in 1 Peter 3:9.  “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”  In a sense, we are called to love others too much to be their enemy, and we are called to love God too much to dishonor His Image by hating them.

In both cases, Paul and Peter talk about the fact that God will deal with evildoers.  He will take vengeance at the right time.  Why does God wait?  He waits because He is not too quick to send people to the lake of fire.  He leaves room for repentance, just as He did for you.  Aren’t you glad that He did?  Still, if they never repent, they will get their comeuppance.  God will take care of it.  You won’t need to worry or help Him out by  taking justice into your own hands.

In fact, we often are blind to the fact that love is the ultimate weapon to tear down the strongholds of hurt and injury.  If we will focus on winning a brother rather than never being injured by them, then we will see the enemy of our souls thwarted far more often.  No, it isn’t a guarantee, but it if you don’t operate out of love, it is guaranteed that it will spoil your heart and your relationship with Christ.

If you want to target those who hurt you, then target them with the love of Jesus.  Take it as a personal challenge to win them to the Lord.  Love them by laying down your life for them, and leave retribution where it belongs, in the hands of the LORD!

The Law of Retribution Audio

My Personal End Times: The New Heavens & the New Earth II

Revelation 22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 11, 2018.

Today we will finish our series, particularly the New Creation that God will create.  Last week we looked at chapter 21 of The Revelation where it describes the New Jerusalem, that great city of Christ and the Righteous.  Chapter 22 continues that description, but moves to the center of the city where the Throne of God sits.

The whole point of Scripture is to persuade men to avoid a bad experience of judgment and to embrace a good experience of God’s love.  It is those who stop trusting themselves and the world around them, and start trusting Christ and the truth of God, who will experience the good that God has intended for us all.  These visions of what will be are intended to spark the hope of God in our heart, a strong faith in Him within our mind, and a powerful love for Christ throughout our whole life.

The throne of God is described

Though it is not specifically stated, this throne would be at the center of the New Jerusalem.  In Rev. 21:3 we see the city described as the tabernacle of God, which means that it is His dwelling place.  It emphasizes His presence with His people.  Also verse 22 states that Christ is the light of the city, again emphasizing presence and source.

We see that the river of the Water of Life flows from the throne.  In that creation the Waters of Life will have a physical existence, but throughout the Scripture this phrase was symbolically describing the Word of God.  To receive the Word of God and obey it was to drink from the Waters of Life.  Like the blessings of water flowing down to us from the mountains is the Truth of God coming down out of heaven.  This river is described as pure because it is not polluted with the ideas and thoughts of fallen angels or fallen humans.  Its source is God’s throne.  The phrase “clear as crystal” emphasizes the purity with imagery.

This image of a river from God has an Old Testament backdrop.  Psalm 65:9 states, “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.” (NKJV).  This is notable because Jerusalem had no river.  The river the Psalmist sees is spiritual.  Ezekiel 47 gives a vision of a restored Temple with a river that comes out from the south side of the Temple and flows from Jerusalem.  Also, Zechariah 14 speaks of living waters that flow from Jerusalem to the East and to the West.  It would seem that there are several layers to this concept.  Today, we spiritually drink from the Waters of Life that flow from the events 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, people all over the world drink from this never ceasing river from God.  In the Millennium water will literally flow from Jerusalem and bring healing to the Dead Sea.  Ultimately, in the New Creation, The New Jerusalem will have the Waters of Life flowing from the throne of God.  Thus there is no longer any separation between men and God (this is the imagery employed by the temple).  Just because we experience these things spiritually today does not imply that none of this has a literal meaning as well.  In that day the spiritual and the physical will be united in harmony, just as God intended it.

Verse 2 describes the presence of the Tree of life.  The description is quite interesting.  It speaks of the tree being on both sides of the river.  Thus many see this as describing at least two Trees of Life.  Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden lest they eat from the Tree of Life and become stuck eternally in a sinful condition.  Here we see that God has fully restored our access to the Tree of Life.  Now this tree is no tree of this earth.  It has twelve different kinds of fruit that fruit each month, twelve times a year.  We are also told that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  This does not mean that people can get sick and need healing in the New Creation.  Rather, the word that can be translated as healing can also be translated as health-giving, as in a preventative sense.  Thus the fruit is food and the leaves fortify the health of the body.  Obviously the mechanics and needs of that age are not described to our satisfaction and are left to the imagination and to our ability to trust God.  And so, that is where we will leave it. 

Verse 3 tells us that there will be no more curse.  For anyone who has ever cried out, “Why is the world this way,” God promises an end to that which makes life hard and difficult.  There will come a day when the curse will be completely lifted.  Of course, many reject God and follow the plan of Satan to overthrow the curse by overthrowing God Himself, but that plan is doomed to fail.  Trusting God is the only plan that is blessed with success.  The presence of God Himself and His throne is presented as the reason why the curse can no longer exist.  God does not dwell in a cursed place, though Christ did so for a season for our salvation.  Where God dwells there will always be life.

The experience of the servants of God is described

Though the scene is still centered upon the throne of God, it expands to include the saints of God.  Verse 3 states that they serve Him.  The picture seems to be one of direct service to God as opposed to the current state where our service is by faith and without being in His direct presence.  On one hand serving God involves our worship and honor of Him.  However, it will no doubt also involve any directives that He gives.  In fact the word used for “serve” is a word that speaks of service of one who is hired or paid for their services.  There will no longer be toil and suffering in the work that God gives us to do, but rather joyful and rewarding discovery.  Thus the “service” of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden should be the backdrop to this concept of our service to God in the New Creation.

We are told that the saints see His face.  Adam and Eve also began in the Garden of Eden and walked with God and talked with Him in the cool of the day.  This is the same kind of setting.  There is no more disapproval of God.  We have complete fellowship with Him and complete acceptance from Him.  It is interesting that the Old Testament underlines the point that sinful man cannot survive seeing the face of God.  However, God is able to purify us and make us into His Sons, who can look into His face and not die.

We are told that His name will be upon our forehead.  Of course that might seem strange to us and predispose us to reject this as literal.  However, customs always seem strange to those who are not from that culture.  When we stand in that place, we will be a new people with new customs entering into a new world for all eternity.  What strange things will we encounter and participate in then?  There is little detail given about it.  The emphasis is that we are marked by God as a sign that we belong to Him and no other.  On one hand it gives outward assurance to something that we must take by faith in the present world.  Our position in Christ will not be a matter of faith then.  It will be an objective reality.  On the other hand, Satan and his angels have lost their bid to steal the bride of Christ, and thus it represents an eternal declaration of our inseparability.  We are identified with Him forever!

Verse 5 says that there will be no more night.  This is explained as a result of the presence of Christ.  His glory is a source of light that never wanes or is blocked by the rotation of the earth.  In fact, we are not told how far His glory shines.  Perhaps, just as this universe is marked by a great and black darkness with only small points of light here and there, we will find that the new universe will be marked by a great and white light that fills the whole of the cosmos.  Keep in mind that even the present universe is filled with the whole spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.  The darkness we see is actually the limitation of our eyes to see the whole spectrum.  It is possible then that nothing changes but our ability to perceive all the light of God in every spectrum.  Symbolically this means that we will never be separated from God or return to a state of ignorance and deception again.  We will forever bask in the truth and knowledge of God. 

It also says that we will reign with Christ forever.  Literally it says, “into the ages of the ages.”  Like a book left unfinished, so eternity opens up new chapters for humanity to write with God.  God will have kept His promise to the many generations of believers that have put their faith in Him throughout all the ages of this earth.  Every time a dictator rises up and crushes the people beneath them, we grow fearful that it will never come to an end.  However, God promises us that He will bring the reign of evil everywhere in the universe to an end.  We will then reign with Him.

The promises made to Christ’s followers

Before we close, I want to point out some important promises that are stated in the last part of this chapter.   In verse 7 it says, “Behold, I am coming quickly!  Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”  The word translated “keep” has the idea of paying careful attention to something.  It was used of a shepherd keeping his sheep.  It involved careful observation and wise response to what we see, including protection.  We will be blessed if we take the time to carefully observe what God’s Word says, and respond wisely in our lives to what it says.  We also need to protect God’s Word from being twisted in our minds and changed by those who speak like Satan did in the garden.  “Did God really say …”  There is a blessing and a happiness that can only come from taking God’s Word seriously and recognizing that the enemy of God has a vested interest in getting us to fail in our duty to “keep” God’s Word.

Verses 12 and 14 state, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work…  Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”  Here we see the emphasis that what has been described is a reward for those who work for Christ.  Yes, we have a foretaste of our reward in this life.  We have the fellowship of other believers and the Holy Spirit within our heart encouraging us.  We also have the good life-experience that often comes with living righteously, although not always (persecution is always not far away and yet, even then, God shows His goodness to us still).  Yet, at His Second Coming, Christ is coming to give us our reward.  Of course there is a flip side to this.  He also comes to give the wicked their “reward,” which in reality is a punishment.  Do not lose heart in following Christ.  You will be rewarded.  I would point out that the emphasis on His coming quickly means that we won’t have time to be lazy and get ready when we see Him coming.  You will either be ready or not.  Thus believers are called to be ready always, always prepared for His coming.

Lastly, verse 17 says, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’  And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’  And let him who thirsts come.  Whoever desires, let him take the waters of life freely.”  What a beautiful promise.  God has not created obstacles to having the living waters.  It is our rebellion and sin that has created barriers.  However, through Jesus, God has removed the barriers and these things are now freely available to those who will come to Christ and simply drink.  It does not cost so much that only the rich man can have it.  Rather, any who will can come and drink the waters of life.  Of course that does not mean it is completely without cost.  It will cost us our pride and identification with this world.  It will cost us the desires and lusts of our flesh.  When we believe God’s Word and live it out in this world, we are spiritually drinking from the Waters of Life.  In the New Creation we shall both spiritually and physically drink the life giving waters of God.  Why would you hesitate or pull back?  Let today be the day that you say, “Yes, Lord, I want to drink life!  I want to hear your word, do it, and live!”

The New Heavens part 2 audio