Class Outline:

                        Wednesday November 30,2022

 

There is no video or audio recording for this class. 

ISA 43:21

“The people whom I formed for Myself,

Will declare My praise.”

 

God alone is Creator. How did He create? He created by His word, not some magical incantation, but spoke intelligently of what He wanted and it came into being out of nothing, out of no preexisting materials. His word always has meaning and purpose, purely so, and so, being His creation, and as believers, being a new creation in the image of Christ, we have a pure and eternal purpose, for which we should continually praise God.

 

Main idea: The Lord’s great sermon is a command to love and live in the image of Christ.

 

In the midst of it, the Lord shows us how to pray. His prayer is a framework by which we are to keep in consistent communication with God as we strive to learn to love God’s great law.

 

It is not the doing that we are under, but the love for whom we do those things that rules us.

 

Last time we saw how the believer in this age is made a new self in the very image of the One who created him, Jesus Christ.

 

We saw that the new self, made in the image of Christ, doesn’t experience an outward change to actually look like Him, but that it was a change of character and nature from within that was expressed overtly. As the Lord said in the Sermon, so Paul wrote in Colossians, that your life was Christ and the neshemah in you was to be full of light.

 

The two final chapters of his great work Mere Christianity, Lewis entitled “Nice People or New Men,” (chap. 10) and “The New Men.” (chap. 11) Leading up to these, at the close of chap. 9 Lewis writes, “The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.”

 

Jesus didn’t tell us to improve our life. He told us to lose our life. And if we do throw away all that we used to think was important and valuable and worthy of love in our old self and adopt, by faith and grabbing hold of all that Christ thinks is important and worthy of love, we will find our life. The phrase, “Lose your life that you may find it,” is a silly paradox if there is only one life involved. But when there are two, an old fallen one and a new living one, it becomes a phrase of tremendous excitement and hope. The fact that we’re told to do it, means that we can and we must.

 

What is in the way of you doing this? What is preventing you? What is it about our Father in heaven, Creator of all things on earth and in heaven, that we are failing to accept? Prayer is the place to continually explore all of these answers, and to pray that the others in your life do the same. This is why, I think, Jesus places His teaching on prayer in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. In the midst of His highest call to life and duty, He placed the instruction on prayer, coupled with the teaching that we’re going to need to be doing it day in and day out; asking, seeking, knocking; and knowing that the Father is going to give us what we as in Christ’s name (as His representative, under His will).

 

We attempted a feeble summary of the entire Sermon.

 

The type of people who are blessed /happy (5:1-12).

How they are lights to the world (5:13-20).

How they treat others (5:21-48).

 

How they praise and serve God (6:1-24).

How they are at ease (6:25-34).

How they are at ease with others (7:1-12).

 

They stick to the very narrow road (7:13-14).

They beware false teachers (7:15-23).

They either do it or don’t do it (7:24-27).

 

Main idea: the ethics of the law must come from the heart so that the whole person, spirit and body, fulfills them.

 

From the heart and not the body, meaning, not the material physical but the inner self.

 

This does not legitimize Gnosticism as the Gnostics claimed (let the body do what it likes, it doesn’t matter), for the heart is to control the body, including the eyes, tongue, hands, ears, feet, sexual organs.

 

What Christ does in this wonderful sermon is set us free from bondage of the Law. For instance, if one thought he was made righteous by not committing adultery, he would be wrong and deceived. Jesus tells us that the real depth of this law is complete dedication and fidelity to your spouse.

 

In order to show that the whole person, heart and body, are to fulfill the law of God, we’ll focus on one of its themes - how we treat others, and in particular, loyalty to promises.

 

MAT 5:21-22

“You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'  22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty.”

 

This command was to mean that any kind of animosity towards another person, to even calling them a fool was a sin demanding the sentence of hell / death (of which all sin is). Murder is overt, but hatred is from the heart.

*note: we are summarizing, so for a deeper understanding I encourage you to read through this section slowly and digest it.

 

MAT 5:27-28

“You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

 

This commandment was to mean complete commitment and loyalty to the one you promised marriage to. Adultery is over, but lust is from the heart.

 

MAT 5:31-32

“It was said, 'WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE'; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery.”

 

This allowance was only to be used for the one case that would been heart wrenching for us to forgive. Divorce is overt (especially no contest divorce), but forgiveness is of the heart.

 

MAT 5:33-34

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,”

 

This commandment was to mean that we should never lie. Yes was yes and no was no - no promise needed to verify it. This should have added deeper meaning to the vows of marriage. A vow is overt, but a lie is determined in the heart.

 

MAT 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' 39 But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

 

This commandment was for the function of society where a justice system that punishes criminality is vital to prevent chaos and anarchy. It is not pacifism. The courts will judge, but not us. Vengeance is overt, meekness is of the heart.

 

MAT 5:43-44

“You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

 

This command to love your neighbor knowing that you are to look at every neighbor as yourself, would fulfill everything taught in this section.

 

Now, let’s see how magnificently the Lord proves that the fulfillment of the law of God goes to the deepest parts of the heart, and doesn’t stop with the body.

 

MAT 5:27-30

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

 

Adultery is committed with the heart, not the physical eye.

 

The important truth here is easily missed, probably due to the shock His statement gives us. But if we listen carefully, where is adultery committed? It is done in the heart, not the eye. Where do we love - in our eyes or in our hearts?

 

The Pharisees were of the belief that the physical body was the root of sin (what you ate, what you put on, what you did on the Sabbath, etc.). Jesus challenges that. The conditional clause is something like, “If - and let us assume that this is true for the sake of argument -your eye is the cause of adultery, then tear it out and throw it from you.”

 

He is definitely serious, but the physical eye is not the cause, the heart is. If a man, lustful for physically attractive women, was suddenly struck blind, he would still go on lusting in his heart from memory.

 

So He tells us that if our body parts are the cause of sin then we better get to hacking them off rather than going to hell. He is causing His audience, and us, to sift through the inconsistency of our position. Where does sin come from? The heart, not the body (though the body tempts), and if so, where does the good things of eternal life come from? Where is the disciple made the good disciple? In other words, where does he love? It is in his heart.

 

This law, do not commit adultery, is therefore, not something to do (not do) in order to seek justification, but rather it is a statute of divine, unbendable holiness. Could any of us live up to it perfectly (the in the heart kind)? Not always, and therein lies our forgiveness, Christ became a curse for us so that we would not be under the curse of the law.

 

GAL 3:10-14

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE" —  14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

 

However, we are to seek just that perfection (Be perfect as your Father is perfect) as the standard of heaven. The commandments therefore, are not laws that we check off on a list as completed, but a way of heaven, the way of the kingdom of heaven, of which we are eternal members.

 

GAL 5:6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

 

GAL 5:14

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

 

Love (the one word) would fulfill all the divine mandates concerning your neighbor, and love for God would impart joy when you considered keeping His commandments.

 

And then Paul states:

 

GAL 5:16-18

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

 

That doesn’t mean that we are no longer obligated to the ethics of the law, but rather, through our understanding of Christ’s way, our faith in that way, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we joyfully walk in that way - the true way which are the commandments as Christ would keep them in mind, body, and spirit, through and through as to the purity of the kingdom of heaven.

 

Perhaps we could think of it this way. The Lord Jesus willfully obeyed the Law, but as the Creator of it, it was not His master. The ethics of the Law are the way of God. And the Lord did things that were outside of the Law, but were not a violation of it.

 

As Christ will tell us at the end of this sermon, the words are no good to you if you do not do them.