sermon on the mount --any fool can do it

Everyone who looks on a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The pain that comes from adultery is unbearable.

I’ve had several friends whose spouses cheated on them. The most vengeful enemy of in the world could not have caused them more pain than the one who had once loved them.

Adultery starts so easy. Just a quick glance; a meeting of the eyes; and the excitement of wondering.

How can it be possibly be wrong when it feels so right?

Guaranteed, I am no one special at all. But I can turn my eyes when I choose to turn my eyes. If I can do it, any fool can do it. 

LR

sermon on the mount --justice we can live with

You will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

I think it’s a God given quality that each human wants to be treated with justice.  

We really don’t want others to excuse us. We want to be given what is due to us. It is our desire to man-up; to take it on the chin.

One day, that may be what will happen. We’ll get exactly, precisely what we deserve, for God is an exact and precise Judge.

But unfortunately, our debts are much bigger than we, as people, can begin to imagine.

David, after finally understanding the awfulness of his sin, cried out to the Lord, “Against you, and you only have I sinned.”

Scripture tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

That’s a justice that may be hard to understand. But it is the only justice we could ever live with.

LR

sermon on the mount --settle out of court

In Matthew 5:25-26 Jesus offers some interesting legal counsel. He suggests that it is best to settle legal matters out of court. Going to court leaves one subject to the potentially undesirable outcomes that might stem from a flawed, human judge.

Although this advice has some practical merit, it is not likely to always result in an optimum payout. While staying out of court reduces your risk, it may also greatly reduce your reward.

In terms of a spiritual “payout” however, this is great advice. For your legal opponent to be willing to settle out of court you must either become their friend or they must believe that court is not in their best interest. Either way, reconciliation on the road to the court constitutes a turn of grace, humility and deference.

Daniel

sermon on the mount --sorry

So if you are offering your gift at the alter and there remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

“Love means you never have to say you’re sorry,” says the girlfriend in the movie, “Love Story.

That is a very nice thought.  As Believers, we should be so in love with our Lord Jesus that we would never do anything untoward to His Saints.

I say I am sorry much too often.

But, as the hymn writer asks, “Who is a pardoning God like Thee?”

As His Saints, we also need to be great pardoners.

We also are obligated give close and honest attention to the offenses we commit. Then we must be quick, even immediate, to say we are sorry.

LR

sermon on the mount --priorities

Which is more important: to worship God, or to get along with your brother?

In Matthew 5: 23-24, Jesus seems to suggest that it is more pressing to resolve an ongoing disagreement with a brother than to offer a sacrifice to God.

This same thought is echoed in I Corinthians 11 where the segregated assembly is commanded to examine themselves prior to participating in the Lord's Supper together.

In my thirty plus years of life I have witnessed, and probably even contributed to, a lot of church conflicts. Yet I have never once seen worship services canceled or even postponed because two brothers needed to work things out first.

Daniel 

sermon on the mount --change for the good

But I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

Of course this is all convicting. Which of us do not get angry at our brother?

We can understand that what the Lord Jesus says about the guiltiness of hate is true; that He speaks of real righteousness, and not just the superficial righteousness of merely not actually doing what is in our hearts.

As we see our total incapability of being or becoming righteous, we turn, with relief, to the truly Righteous One, the One who became sin for us that we might become His righteousness!

But, though this is an apologetic showing us our absolute need for a Savior; as is always is the case when Jesus speaks, there is a practical, daily living aspect to what He says.

Our natural attitude needs to change, and it can change.

I still feel so humiliated after being fired from my job of 32 years that I am now less prone to become angry or contemptuous.

And as I read the Scriptures and daily understand how His mercies are new every morning, I am quicker to appreciate my brother. 

LR

sermon on the mount --hallelujah

According to Matthew 5:21-22, there are a lot of similarities between murderers and haters. Both seem to have comparable motives and receive comparable judgments. The difference being that a murderer may have the virtue of knowing that he is guilty, while the hater may not.

The law “do not kill,” like all law, was to show man's inadequacy to obtain righteousness before God. The righteous response to this law is not to point out all the times that we have not killed anyone, but rather to recognize all the times that we might have.

In “Pharisee righteousness,” a hater might look at a murder and boast “at least I didn't do what he did.” In “New Covenant righteousness” both the murder and hater must look at Christ's sacrifice and rejoice “Hallelujah, He did what He did!”