back to index2020-09-27 Eye for Eye
00:00:07.800 |
Please take your Bibles and open up to Matthew chapter 5. 00:00:16.560 |
And as we turn there, I just want to say just a word of thanks for all the volunteers, people 00:00:22.720 |
in different service teams, helping out and making things happen. 00:00:26.840 |
We've had a bunch of changes going outdoor, indoor, and then changing media things and 00:00:33.440 |
And I realize there's so many people involved in making things go. 00:00:40.680 |
I'm also grateful because I realized I totally missed the session, a season of preaching 00:00:47.480 |
Pastor Peter had to take the bulk of preaching in the hot sun. 00:00:59.200 |
As we take a look at this passage, what I'd like to do first is read verse 38 down to 00:01:08.600 |
And I will be, for the sake of time, focusing on just that first paragraph from verse 38 00:01:15.800 |
through 42, and then highlight just an element of the next section. 00:01:26.640 |
But I say to you, do not resist an evil person. 00:01:29.920 |
But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 00:01:34.160 |
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 00:01:39.080 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. 00:01:43.080 |
Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 00:01:48.500 |
You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 00:01:52.360 |
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may 00:02:00.320 |
For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous 00:02:06.520 |
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:02:13.480 |
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? 00:02:20.080 |
For you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:02:25.840 |
Our God, we really do ask for your spirit to move through your word and convict our 00:02:34.200 |
We recognize, Lord, that your truth is so powerful. 00:02:38.360 |
And God, oftentimes your truth also is repetitive in your word. 00:02:47.160 |
And sometimes, Lord, our hearts resist your word. 00:02:50.000 |
But I pray that, God, you would soften us, you would teach us, Lord, and we would humbly 00:02:57.400 |
As we take a look at this passage, the context of Matthew chapter 5, if you take a look, 00:03:04.080 |
just kind of skim with me for a brief second to just get the context here. 00:03:08.800 |
You know, this is that famous Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5. 00:03:12.160 |
And then in chapter 5, verses 1 through 12, you have the section that is famously known 00:03:18.960 |
So if you look at your Bibles, you'll have this long list of blessed are those, blessed 00:03:24.060 |
And what we see is Jesus teaching an incredible sermon, defining for us and telling us who 00:03:41.760 |
It's contrary to what is societal expectations and standards. 00:03:46.800 |
Because society believes those are truly blessed who are educated. 00:03:54.320 |
Those are truly blessed who are rich and have resources in their lives. 00:03:58.600 |
Here Jesus is telling them, no, blessed are those who are able to mourn over sin. 00:04:02.600 |
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit and blessed are those who are able to make peace, 00:04:07.740 |
So what we have, as I'm emphasizing, is a massive contrast between what people are perceiving 00:04:18.520 |
If you take a look, verses 13 and down, he talks about how the disciples should be salt 00:04:26.320 |
He is giving an expectation that is breaking what is normative. 00:04:31.640 |
And I'm repeating that because he's going to continue to do that through the entire 00:04:36.280 |
The normative way we sometimes think about life, and sometimes, again, in good intention, 00:04:42.280 |
when non-Christians try to teach us, they tell you, "Don't be strange. 00:04:47.240 |
Don't be weird, because that ruins your chances of excelling in life. 00:04:52.400 |
As a matter of fact, if you had it your way, the best thing to do is work the system, be 00:04:57.120 |
a leader, and come out on top in this world." 00:05:00.960 |
God says, "No, you're to be radically different. 00:05:04.760 |
You're supposed to shine as so different from what is normative in this life." 00:05:10.680 |
And so likewise, continuing on that theme of compare and contrast, Christ highlights 00:05:19.920 |
You thought you had the Old Testament law, and you thought you had an understanding, 00:05:34.280 |
One example of that, the first one, he says in verse 21, Matthew 5, 21, he says, "You 00:05:40.960 |
have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder, and whoever commits 00:05:47.440 |
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the 00:05:53.240 |
And whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court. 00:05:59.360 |
And whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." 00:06:08.660 |
If you think about it in contrast, on an external superficial level, if you just say, "On this 00:06:15.080 |
boundary, do not murder," the vast majority of us will say, "Good, I'm done with that 00:06:19.440 |
one because I am not killing anybody these days." 00:06:23.120 |
But Christ says, "You think you knew what God was trying to get at. 00:06:26.720 |
You think you knew what it meant to be righteous. 00:06:29.120 |
And those Pharisees, the religious looters, they think they're setting the bar. 00:06:34.160 |
Let me radically challenge the normative that you think is acceptable." 00:06:38.240 |
And what he does is he points to the internal heart and says, "But you have anger in your 00:06:47.160 |
You have this viciousness in your heart where you're willing to call somebody good-for-nothing. 00:06:52.220 |
And I don't want to do a mini sermon in a sermon, but that alone is so convicting, right? 00:06:57.200 |
How many times have we in recent days watched articles, heard the news, saw what people 00:07:02.040 |
were doing, da-da-da-da-da, and you just felt this rage in your heart? 00:07:11.960 |
And so what I like to say is the passage that we're coming to is this compare and contrast 00:07:18.440 |
Yes, you have the Old Testament, but maybe in terms of the normative that you thought 00:07:24.520 |
was acceptable, let me teach you what God expects in terms of the internal heart. 00:07:30.280 |
The transformation of the insides, both your perspective, your attitude, your desires, 00:07:34.440 |
and all the stuff that's the working of your insides, God wants to radically transform 00:07:41.800 |
And so my proposition and the main thrust of the sermon is going to be to transform 00:07:47.960 |
a particular element, which is the heart of retaliation for the grace of God. 00:07:53.880 |
To transform the heart of retaliation through the grace of God. 00:08:00.400 |
Just from the overview reading of the passage, you saw that Christ was tackling a heavy element, 00:08:08.560 |
a specific area of sin in the life of the disciples. 00:08:13.960 |
And what he says, I'm going to present this as a command, the first point I want to highlight 00:08:20.120 |
is to correct what you thought you knew about the law. 00:08:24.040 |
Correct what you thought you knew about the law. 00:08:26.320 |
When you take a look at this passage, Matthew 5, verse 38, he says, "You have heard that 00:08:30.720 |
it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'" 00:08:35.840 |
And what he's doing is he is highlighting and pinpointing something that is commonly 00:08:39.480 |
rehearsed, reiterated, quoted within the community, and he tackles that as you think you understand, 00:08:50.400 |
Now this specific verse, you recognize it is a direct quotation from the Old Testament. 00:08:56.760 |
It comes from Exodus chapter 21, verse 23 through 25. 00:08:59.880 |
I'll read it for us and it says this, "But if there is any further injury, then you shall 00:09:04.000 |
appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and hand for hand. 00:09:08.960 |
Foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." 00:09:15.360 |
Now this law God gave to the people, essentially to govern the people. 00:09:20.200 |
He gave to Moses as a civil law, not as necessarily how you're supposed to treat each other one 00:09:25.160 |
to one, but as a civil law to govern the people. 00:09:28.600 |
And in other cultures, other historical nations and governments, this law exists to this day, 00:09:38.080 |
Essentially they quote eye for eye, and the thought there is when there is injury, the 00:09:43.040 |
consequence and penalty should be of equal value, right? 00:09:49.320 |
But we have to ask this question, why did God give this law to the people? 00:09:54.600 |
Well the first answer is very obvious and clear, it is because God himself is a fair 00:10:05.040 |
God himself is a God where the punishment is of appropriateness. 00:10:10.360 |
He is not a Greek God who is on a whim, who happens to react impulsively. 00:10:15.280 |
And should you just catch him on a bad day, he ends up just eradicating everybody. 00:10:19.960 |
Now someone might say, "But, but hasn't God in the Old Testament, hasn't he eradicated 00:10:29.360 |
Even immediately after Moses receives the law, didn't he split open the ground and cause 00:10:36.040 |
What I'm going to say is, every judgment in the Old Testament that you see, no matter 00:10:39.880 |
how severe you think it is, was always appropriate. 00:10:44.880 |
Because sin against the Holy God, sin against the Almighty, it is devastating. 00:10:52.040 |
We even recognize degrees of punishment based on who we sin against. 00:10:56.800 |
It is different when you sin against somebody who happens to be your friend, it is different 00:11:00.840 |
if you transgress an American law against a president or a sitting official. 00:11:06.480 |
I'm just saying that to say, the reason why God gives this law that there should be equal 00:11:11.360 |
and appropriate kind of punishment, even amongst person to person, is because God himself is 00:11:21.200 |
Now I think what's more obvious is he gave this law because people needed it. 00:11:29.320 |
There is such a propensity, there is such a habit in the heart of man. 00:11:34.640 |
When you feel like you've been hurt, you've been dishonored, disrespected, you've been 00:11:39.920 |
attacked, to just come out with this retaliation, "Oh really? 00:11:45.360 |
You're going to feel the full force of my wrath!" 00:11:50.280 |
Retaliation is so like a knee-jerk reaction in the sinful heart. 00:11:55.000 |
What I'm going to say then is the scriptures teach us that this law was given to restrain 00:12:02.720 |
Take a look at a passage in Deuteronomy chapter 19. 00:12:05.480 |
We recognize that this command was given in multiple contexts. 00:12:11.280 |
It was also given later on in the second Deuteronomy, with the people in the wilderness. 00:12:17.760 |
Before they went into the land of Cana, after 40 years, they have reiteration of this law. 00:12:22.720 |
And what he says is in verse 18, this is Deuteronomy 19 verse 18, "The judges shall investigate 00:12:29.680 |
thoroughly and if the witness is a false witness and he accused his brother falsely, then you 00:12:36.160 |
shall do to him just as he has intended to do to his brother." 00:12:39.920 |
And then look what he says, "Thus you shall purge the evil from among you." 00:12:43.600 |
What God was desiring was to prevent more wickedness. 00:12:47.880 |
God designed to govern the people that there would be a cap on this stacking up of hitting 00:12:53.000 |
each other, hurting each other, and ultimately destroying each other. 00:12:56.360 |
But you notice what is the bent of the human heart. 00:12:59.160 |
And I'm highlighting this because when there is a law given, it is not because God happened 00:13:04.280 |
to be this exacting mean God of the Old Testament. 00:13:08.200 |
There are people, Christians, who actually write that in commentaries, that God had this 00:13:14.340 |
God has this exacting nature even to this day. 00:13:16.800 |
He says in the New Testament, "Not even a single careless word will go unpunished." 00:13:22.560 |
What it is is actually God restraining more sin. 00:13:26.520 |
And the problem is, God gives good laws and the people are so sinful that when they're 00:13:35.660 |
You know when a brother gives false testimony? 00:13:40.360 |
Someone hurts you and you're like, "That guy, he has it out for me. 00:13:50.520 |
Exaggeration is a false testimony, and we do it all the time. 00:13:59.760 |
When we feel offended, we have this knee-jerk reaction to want to hurt back, to make sure, 00:14:10.960 |
But what I like to highlight is, in summary, God's law, even here in the Old Testament, 00:14:16.640 |
both Exodus, Deuteronomy, it comes from his governing grace. 00:14:22.720 |
I want to highlight that because sometimes people have this weird false dichotomy. 00:14:27.440 |
Anything that reeks of harsh judgment, consequences for sin, is like, "God is so OT," like Old 00:14:35.400 |
This is God's mercy on the people to cap and restrain them. 00:14:47.120 |
But historically, then, when God gives good laws, how did people understand it? 00:14:54.360 |
And this is where I want to find conviction, is because I realize this is in us. 00:14:59.840 |
As I read this passage and asked the question, "Why does God give these laws, and how do 00:15:06.320 |
And when Jesus says, "You have heard," he is not only highlighting the fact that it 00:15:10.200 |
was written in the Old Testament, but he's highlighting your perception of it. 00:15:19.040 |
This is what you thought was the command of God. 00:15:24.520 |
I think what's clear is people take it as though the law of God gave them a right. 00:15:35.400 |
And he says, basically, "You shall not inflict excessive penalty." 00:15:40.000 |
It's in the American law, Eighth Amendment, right? 00:15:42.440 |
"There will not be a cruel and unusual punishment, and you shall not induce a cruel, overreaching 00:15:49.600 |
penalty, whether for parole or whatever it may be. 00:15:54.520 |
But rather than thinking of it as a cap to restrain them, they thought of it as, "I 00:15:59.240 |
have a right to make sure you know you never, ever treat me like that. 00:16:07.080 |
If you're going to treat me like that, then I get to treat you like that. 00:16:18.920 |
And so in that way, I would like to move to my second point. 00:16:22.240 |
In order to have this transforming of the inner heart of retaliation, we have to repent 00:16:31.360 |
And the way I'd like to make sense of it to you, I'm going to rephrase my second point, 00:16:34.640 |
is repent of the little gangster in your heart. 00:16:38.880 |
We all have the little gangster in our heart. 00:16:42.040 |
When I was in high school, I thought it was so cool to be in a gang, and so I joined the 00:16:46.400 |
And we thought we were so tough, and we thought we were so hard, and all the guys, they had 00:16:50.600 |
It's like, "If you even look at me, you're going to get it." 00:16:54.640 |
Come on, we all have that little gangster voice. 00:17:01.560 |
You have the thing you do with your head when you bob and you're mad inside. 00:17:05.400 |
And some of you guys, laughing hard, that's not really an internal thing. 00:17:12.120 |
You kind of change your voice when you get into this mode where you say, "No. 00:17:29.560 |
There is a perversion of the logic of the law. 00:17:32.880 |
There is a perversion where the law of "I for an I" was given as a consistent standard 00:17:37.680 |
of God, and it is appropriate for us to uphold the consistent standard of God, versus you 00:17:47.480 |
You want to make sure that you are the judge, jury, and executioner. 00:17:56.920 |
Like, the gangster comes out of you, and it speaks like that. 00:18:11.640 |
It shows to us the rationale behind this law. 00:18:15.040 |
And he says, "If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to 00:18:22.120 |
Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, just as he has injured a man, so 00:18:29.520 |
Not just the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man 00:18:38.440 |
It shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God." 00:18:43.580 |
He wanted that standard because of his objective righteousness. 00:18:51.800 |
He doesn't have this, "da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, this is on this day, that day." 00:18:56.000 |
He wants an objective standard and we as Christians have to uphold it. 00:18:59.960 |
What's false and erroneous is we twist that as a justification for my vengeance. 00:19:09.500 |
But who's gonna make sure he knows how much he hurt me? 00:19:13.680 |
Who's gonna make sure that he actually respects me? 00:19:17.500 |
And that is two entirely different things, but sometimes so, so muddy. 00:19:23.980 |
Now as I want to give examples of this, there's a clear example of retaliation in Scripture. 00:19:31.420 |
So early on in the history of man, there was a sinfulness already ingrained into his heart. 00:19:36.700 |
Genesis chapter 4 verse 23, it says this, "Lamech said to his wives, 'Ada and Zillah, 00:19:45.540 |
You wives of Lamech, give heed to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me, a 00:19:53.380 |
If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.'" 00:19:59.700 |
I presume if the secular world read this, they would think, "Oh man, that guy's gangster. 00:20:08.820 |
The weird thing is, that heart, he's bragging about how in his arrogance, no one's gonna 00:20:19.500 |
"You don't mess with me, because I'm a gangster." 00:20:23.420 |
I don't want to overdo it, but that part's in there. 00:20:26.140 |
And let me give you an example of case scenarios. 00:20:30.340 |
On the court, I confess to you, there have been times, you play basketball, some guy 00:20:35.500 |
does a dirty move, and all of a sudden, your gangster voice comes out, and you're like, 00:20:43.020 |
And you almost want to retaliate, like, "Now it's my turn." 00:20:49.300 |
I mean, road rage is like a classic example of retaliation. 00:20:53.540 |
You want to make sure, it's like, "Oh, you want to know how it feels? 00:20:55.580 |
You drive all fast, go in front of the person?" 00:21:09.460 |
It's like, "Oh, you can talk to me like that, with no restraint? 00:21:25.860 |
And that all to say, again, it's sometimes so deceptive, the heart is deceptive. 00:21:29.460 |
We think that doing that is the right thing to do. 00:21:34.420 |
We think doing that is actually the right way to make sure the sin is dealt out with. 00:21:42.780 |
This passage is so convicting because it tackles, again, your preconceived notion of what is 00:21:54.020 |
And what Jesus does is point very directly into the heart and says, "Your insides, that 00:22:00.660 |
So, I move now to point number three, where Jesus commands. 00:22:09.660 |
And as a summary of what He instructs us to do, He instructs us to give even more and 00:22:23.980 |
Let's take a look at the passage once more, right? 00:22:30.260 |
Verse 39, "Do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your cheek, turn 00:22:37.780 |
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 00:22:43.700 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. 00:22:47.940 |
Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you." 00:22:54.540 |
If you take a moment to not read that as just like, "Yeah, these are just lofty things 00:23:01.860 |
It should cause you to be like, "Wait, wait, what? 00:23:10.540 |
You know what makes it so hard sometimes to hold your tongue is when you see wickedness, 00:23:15.860 |
And then part of you, like, I'm almost like trying to share with you my personal reaction 00:23:20.900 |
when I was working through this passage in my devotions. 00:23:24.580 |
Initially, I was like, "Oh yeah, you just got to read the context because there's got 00:23:33.980 |
And then you read him say like, "Even to the evil person." 00:23:37.100 |
And then you start thinking of the other passages like, "No, Scripture says expose them. 00:23:42.900 |
Well, clearly, yes, Jesus is not telling you to condone the evil man. 00:23:47.940 |
But what he's telling you is to not resist with retaliation and what's more, to give 00:23:58.860 |
And part of me just reacted with like a, "This can't be." 00:24:03.460 |
I'm not sure if ever you guys have had that moment. 00:24:05.820 |
You're reading the Scriptures and you're like, "Huh, it doesn't make sense." 00:24:10.820 |
Of course, we're going to stand against the evil person. 00:24:16.180 |
Of course, if he falsely accuses me, I'm going to give a defense. 00:24:22.980 |
Jesus is going to regularly ask us, "Are you going to do exactly what everybody else does? 00:24:38.820 |
And so I want to walk through this a little bit because he says, "If you are slapped and 00:24:45.420 |
It's interesting, right, that he actually specifies on the right side of your cheek, 00:24:50.860 |
But I want you to think about that because you know, I mean, even when me and my brother, 00:24:55.900 |
when we were young and we were fighting, we just knew, "You don't touch the face." 00:25:01.860 |
We could do all kinds of crazy stuff, but you don't touch the face. 00:25:08.060 |
And what Jesus is doing is he's highlighting one of the elements that to us is so difficult 00:25:13.700 |
to just hold our tongue, to just not retaliate, is in the moment of disrespect. 00:25:20.220 |
And there's part of it that's going to be like, "Don't we have a right to that? 00:25:29.540 |
If you're a father, I should be respected in this home. 00:25:31.660 |
If you're a boss, I should be respected in this job." 00:25:38.940 |
He says, "If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt," it's also very interesting 00:25:43.980 |
that he describes the difference between taking your shirt and then taking your cloak. 00:25:48.300 |
And you guys have heard probably that this idea of the cloak, a lot of people at that 00:25:56.980 |
So to a worker, Jesus says, "If you have one of his possessions as some kind of collateral, 00:26:02.540 |
make sure you give it back to him by the end of the day." 00:26:11.540 |
Our natural tendency, if you're sued and accused, you're going to have this tendency to be like, 00:26:19.100 |
I have a right to be defended against stuff like that. 00:26:21.420 |
I have a right to not be falsely accused of stuff." 00:26:25.260 |
And it would be to you this feeling of right to protections and security. 00:26:30.740 |
And then he goes on and says, "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two." 00:26:41.460 |
Legally, Roman soldiers could grab all the material, give it to a civilian, say, "I'm 00:26:52.100 |
And so you can imagine the civilians, they hated Roman soldiers. 00:27:02.460 |
He says to them, "Go with him the extra mile." 00:27:05.420 |
That's what we get with proverbial statements. 00:27:09.300 |
Question, how much do you have to give in you? 00:27:14.540 |
Because what Jesus is doing is highlighting for the kingdom citizen, for the sons of God, 00:27:22.020 |
sons and daughters, you should have through your relationship with God this wealth. 00:27:27.140 |
That yes, even in the midst of persecution, even in the midst of suffering, we many times 00:27:39.980 |
Jesus is going to call out and say, "Even in those moments, through the gospel, through 00:27:46.060 |
Christ and the completeness that we have in him, how much do you have to give?" 00:27:50.740 |
And lastly, he says, "If someone asks you, do not turn him away." 00:27:57.740 |
You know, some of the most annoying things in life are people who are prideful and people 00:28:04.780 |
If you've ever had that guy in your life, the friend in your life who is just always 00:28:12.340 |
Why are you asking me for stuff when you have it?" 00:28:15.860 |
Now, I am not saying that no matter what the circumstances are, just give. 00:28:24.860 |
But clearly, we understand Jesus' command here. 00:28:28.180 |
He is telling us that, yes, you may have your right, but if you are going to say, "I have 00:28:32.980 |
this right, and therefore I'm going to exercise my right, and never, ever will you take advantage 00:28:41.140 |
It sounds to me like then all you have is your life in this world. 00:28:48.740 |
As a kingdom citizen, don't you have more to give? 00:28:51.820 |
Take a look at Apostle Paul's attitude and mentality here. 00:29:12.960 |
If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you. 00:29:17.380 |
For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 00:29:26.500 |
Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and 00:29:34.160 |
Or do only Barnabas and I not have the right to refrain from working? 00:29:38.140 |
Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?" 00:29:44.700 |
Turn in your eyes to verse 12, and he says, "If others share the right over you, do we 00:29:49.940 |
Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause 00:30:13.220 |
And Jesus is going to say, "As a kingdom citizen, we regularly lay down our rights. 00:30:19.480 |
We regularly hold our tongue, even in the midst of persecution. 00:30:23.280 |
And we know Jesus Christ set this model for us to follow." 00:30:28.380 |
Turn in your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21 through 24. 00:30:36.580 |
He says this, "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for 00:30:43.780 |
you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. 00:30:47.300 |
Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. 00:30:50.860 |
And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. 00:30:53.260 |
While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges 00:30:59.340 |
And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and 00:31:10.780 |
The rationale and logic of the world, it makes sense to retaliate. 00:31:15.060 |
The rationale and logic of the gospel says, "You must have already died to this world, 00:31:19.740 |
died to yourself, and you must be rich in the spiritual blessings of Christ." 00:31:25.940 |
To be able to be reviled, to be stretched and whipped, and yet not revile in return. 00:31:36.820 |
Now I would like to say this, moving to point number four. 00:31:40.000 |
We recognize that Jesus is commanding us to give, give, and give, just like he has modeled, 00:31:46.580 |
But I want to make sure that we understand that we have to, in this way, uphold the righteousness 00:31:55.020 |
Because some people misinterpreted this passage. 00:31:59.340 |
To be eye for an eye, to be tooth for tooth, is all Old Testament exacting punishment stuff. 00:32:08.380 |
But to be a New Testament believer, gracious, you don't do this. 00:32:13.420 |
And some people actually use this ideology to say we should be pacifists. 00:32:17.740 |
Some people use this ideology and they get kind of scared. 00:32:20.260 |
Somebody commits a sin and you're like, "Well, what do we do? 00:32:29.460 |
You see, what we understood was that God gave the Old Testament to purge sin. 00:32:38.300 |
But what's happening is, in our sinfulness, we just stack sin for sin. 00:32:43.700 |
Regularly, you commit evil in the face of evil. 00:32:49.620 |
Their evil now inspires your evil and all you're doing is saying, "My turn for evil." 00:32:55.140 |
And what God is saying to us is, "Do not repay evil for evil." 00:33:00.140 |
But rather, accomplish the righteousness of God by giving good, by giving grace, by giving 00:33:08.860 |
You see, we're not trying to mimic this passage. 00:33:11.740 |
Some people are like, "Oh yeah, maybe this is kind of in line with the stuff of Gandhi. 00:33:15.100 |
This is in line with the stuff of the passive resistance stuff." 00:33:22.380 |
We absolutely uphold the justice and standard of God because every institution has been 00:33:29.340 |
Governments, churches, families, parents, all of these institutions have been given 00:33:34.980 |
a stewardship of authority and they must enact justice. 00:33:39.660 |
And consequences must be given for breaking of the law. 00:33:44.820 |
However, for us on a personal level, what we are doing is accomplishing the righteousness 00:33:54.620 |
So turn your Bibles over to Romans chapter 12, verse 16 through 21, and look at what 00:34:01.340 |
He says, "Be of the same mind toward one another. 00:34:05.540 |
Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. 00:34:15.020 |
And then he says this, "Respect what is right in the sight of all men." 00:34:19.260 |
But what's more, it says, "If possible, so far it depends on you, be at peace with 00:34:24.420 |
Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is 00:34:35.780 |
If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will keep burning coals on his 00:34:41.660 |
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 00:34:47.860 |
The challenge for us is to actually garner greater righteousness. 00:34:53.100 |
Do not be so weak as to have your senses elicited that when evil is done for you, it becomes 00:35:05.220 |
For us, God is calling us to recognize in wisdom, every sin and transgression is going 00:35:13.860 |
Either already on the cross through the sacrifice of Christ, it will be judged thoroughly, or 00:35:18.580 |
in hell, where God's wrath will be enacted, it will be judged thoroughly. 00:35:26.220 |
And so knowing that, you can have this kind of paradoxical understanding. 00:35:30.660 |
"I uphold the righteousness of God, but I need not retaliate to vindicate myself. 00:35:37.780 |
But rather I have this opportunity to give grace. 00:35:44.240 |
Rather I have this opportunity to be like God." 00:35:50.340 |
What the Lord is doing in this passage, yes, He is giving you parameters and He is doing 00:35:58.340 |
"Oh, you think you have the right to protections? 00:36:07.780 |
But what He's also doing is He's giving these commands so that we would be. 00:36:13.840 |
Take a look at Matthew chapter 5 now verse 43, and until the rest of that paragraph, 00:36:20.580 |
And He says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your 00:36:25.620 |
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may 00:36:32.880 |
For He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous 00:36:39.360 |
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:36:45.840 |
If you greet only your brothers, then what more are you doing than others? 00:36:52.580 |
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." 00:36:57.860 |
Brothers and sisters, earlier I said when I was reading this passage and kind of meditating, 00:37:05.500 |
Initially it was like, "Whoa, these are extreme statements." 00:37:08.420 |
And then there was this, "Well, there's got to be exceptions, you know? 00:37:15.060 |
Because this doesn't mean that everything wrong just be like, "Oh well, what can you 00:37:28.380 |
But my other reaction was, "I don't know how to apply this." 00:37:34.260 |
Have you guys ever read the scriptures and just felt like that? 00:37:38.580 |
You almost have this like, "Malfunction in my brain." 00:37:43.240 |
And you want to ask God like, "Lord, I think you're going to need to give greater parameters, 00:37:48.740 |
And some of you guys are, your mind is geared like that. 00:37:56.660 |
And you're like, "I just need to follow the lines. 00:38:01.380 |
What if there's a guy who's just selfish and he's asking me stuff? 00:38:07.460 |
And some of the stuff, yeah, when he even brings it up, it's not like, "Is that sin? 00:38:14.460 |
If someone sues me because they think I did something wrong, do you see what I'm saying?" 00:38:20.180 |
I almost have this like, "Malfunction in my head." 00:38:25.460 |
God, why are you not as clear as can be here, right? 00:38:38.300 |
When God is giving us these commands, He is not trying to give you the minutia so that 00:38:44.260 |
all you have to do is do a logical mind flow, a logical standard operating procedure so 00:38:50.620 |
that you can go, "Oh, if A then B, then I can go here." 00:39:01.460 |
And for those of you guys who have had parents who are wise and godly, so when it was time 00:39:05.900 |
to be compassionate for those who are weak, they were so meek and compassionate and they 00:39:10.420 |
were humble in heart, but when it came down to make sure that they laid down the law and 00:39:14.380 |
they were strict and they made sure that people knew, "You can't do this stuff underneath 00:39:21.660 |
And you looked at them and you realized, "Oh my goodness, there's wisdom in that. 00:39:24.260 |
There's part of you that wishes there was a manual book for that." 00:39:27.140 |
But more so what you're doing is you're trying to emulate your wise father. 00:39:33.180 |
If you had that in your life, blessed, you're blessed. 00:39:36.900 |
If you didn't have that in your life, you have the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:39:54.740 |
So strong He took a court of whips and chased the marketeers, the money makers from the 00:40:09.140 |
Have you ever thought about being spit on in the face when you are the Lord of the universe 00:40:17.980 |
Think about being forced, being forced to carry a beam, being forced to be stretched 00:40:26.260 |
People asking you, "Why don't you do this, Jesus? 00:40:36.100 |
When Jesus is saying those things and the death to which, you recognize He's done all 00:40:47.300 |
But what's more, you have a wise example in your Father, our God in heaven, who is showing 00:40:52.660 |
to us His incredible character where it's both, right? 00:40:57.340 |
It's both absolute righteousness, absolute sinlessness. 00:41:01.740 |
It is a fearful thing because God says, "I will judge everything, even the thoughts and 00:41:09.220 |
And what He cares for is the insides, your internals, the actual content of your mind 00:41:24.040 |
And then as I thought about that, there was a part of me as I was doing my devotion and 00:41:37.580 |
I make mistakes, but I sorely underestimate how sinful I am. 00:41:43.220 |
And when you see this and you walk down Matthew and he's talking about "blessed are the meek, 00:41:48.180 |
poor, gentle," all this kind of stuff and he's like, "You should be salty," and he starts 00:41:51.420 |
talking about, "You shouldn't be angry, you shouldn't lust," and like, "Fail, fail, fail, 00:41:58.120 |
You could have this weird sentiment, like this half rebellious, half discouraged sentiment 00:42:02.800 |
in your heart like, "I don't know if I can do that." 00:42:07.240 |
Have you guys ever read scripture and felt like that? 00:42:12.840 |
You almost don't want to look up and then you kind of want to say to God, "I'll try. 00:42:21.880 |
And I want to encourage you because you have heard it said, "Eye for an eye," and people 00:42:30.960 |
Historically, mankind has been so riddled with sin, even though you have heard it said, 00:42:37.840 |
even the traditions of the old, they were not actually able to keep. 00:42:42.440 |
And so again, if you're looking at the law of Christ now given to his disciples, please 00:42:47.720 |
don't be discouraged because I want to give to you something as an encouragement. 00:42:52.180 |
Even the law of the Old Testament, "Eye for an eye," I believe came from a fatherly heart 00:42:57.620 |
that desired to restrain the sinful children. 00:43:03.180 |
He sees these two kids just at each other's throat like, "That's mine. 00:43:17.460 |
He's actually preventing them destroying each other. 00:43:20.740 |
But remember also, when you hear God saying, "Be like me," that is fatherly love and instruction 00:43:29.220 |
Because God said in his love for you, "I want to share my glory with you," which I realize 00:43:35.420 |
he is also saying, "I'm sharing my character trait with you. 00:43:38.940 |
I want you to be like me in my righteousness, in my love, the depth to which, yes, you don't 00:43:48.060 |
I have enemies of which you were one, and I came for you. 00:43:52.740 |
And I fed you, loved you, even when you were rejecting me and spitting. 00:44:00.340 |
That is not something for us to be like, "I just can't do that stuff." 00:44:11.420 |
That's for us to be like, "Thank you, Lord, for being my heavenly Father and desiring 00:44:18.780 |
and saying in your word, 'You shall be perfect.'" 00:44:29.620 |
So we don't be discouraged when we find these things, but rather we recognize we need this 00:44:36.700 |
A lot of us have been saying we feel persecution knocking at the door for those living here 00:44:44.340 |
We are going to have people perhaps accuse us falsely. 00:44:48.700 |
We're going to have people try to force us to do things we don't like. 00:44:52.860 |
And if you're going to be like, "I'm an American, and I have rights!" 00:45:01.020 |
But God desires us to be even more, to have such a wealth where this country is not everything 00:45:10.060 |
And we have this fist, this tight-gripped fist, where we're like, "Don't you dare 00:45:17.420 |
But rather this heart overflowing with the love of Christ says, "I've got more to give." 00:45:37.100 |
We recognize, God, that by your word you're leading us, you're teaching us. 00:45:42.540 |
And it is our prayer, God, that we would be humbled to recognize that there are many elements 00:45:47.420 |
of this, Lord, in different facets of our lives. 00:45:55.140 |
Are we trying to uphold the law of God, or are we just getting even? 00:46:00.740 |
And I pray, God, that you give us discernment. 00:46:03.940 |
Discernment, Lord, God, in our homes, in our workplaces, so that, Lord, we will shine your 00:46:09.300 |
glory, so that, Father, God, people can see the power of our Father working in us. 00:46:17.020 |
And so I pray, Father, God, we humbly acknowledge none of the things you challenge us to do, 00:46:21.860 |
none of the things that you have commanded us to be, is capable in our power. 00:46:26.860 |
So we ask of you, Lord, that you would aid us through your truth, and that you would