back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 9.27
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No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 00:07:13.380 |
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 00:07:25.140 |
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. 00:10:46.120 |
♪ When your love ran out and my sin washed white ♪ 00:18:54.800 |
Just a quick reminder that if needed, the lyrics will also be on the Brion app. 00:23:08.800 |
at home, just a reminder if you are planning to regularly and consistently 00:23:12.900 |
come, please do make sure to sign up on the registration and the form is at the 00:23:16.720 |
top of the announcement section on the app and also our Facebook. For any of you 00:23:21.360 |
who are switching services, we're trying to keep that roster as accurate as 00:23:27.160 |
possible, so again if you're making a consistent change, please make sure to 00:23:30.800 |
message Chris Kim, and her email is again on the app. One of the announcements I 00:23:35.720 |
like to highlight is the Intentional Sisters Fellowship, where the plan is to 00:23:39.640 |
come together in smaller groups, work through and read a book together and 00:23:44.240 |
have discussions. If you'd like to participate in that, the last day to sign 00:23:48.200 |
up is this Friday, so please make sure to take a moment to sign up for that if 00:23:52.160 |
you'd like to fellowship with the other sisters open to our young adults and our 00:23:55.280 |
family ministry. Another important announcement is for again for family, for 00:24:01.600 |
those of you with children, that we have, we're going to be hosting the trunk 00:24:05.760 |
formation night. That's going to be happening on October 31st. It's going to 00:24:10.200 |
be a fun time, but we do need people who want to volunteer to set up those trunks 00:24:15.840 |
to prepare activity or a treat for the children. Please volunteer now and the 00:24:21.720 |
sign up for that also is on the app, and if you have questions, we have Rachel and 00:24:27.520 |
Esther available there for any questions that you might have. So please again make 00:24:32.240 |
sure you mark that on the calendar. The last and important announcement I have 00:24:36.360 |
is for our education department. For those of you with children, we are 00:24:41.540 |
planning to reopen our education department in increments, and so 00:24:47.040 |
from the youth to the Sprouts, the plan is to open that up on October 18th to 00:24:51.880 |
have physical meetings here. They're going to give a plan, an overview of 00:24:55.320 |
layout and precautions that are being taken. More details will be given to you 00:24:59.240 |
at our members meeting, which is October 11th, but just as a heads up, the plan is 00:25:03.480 |
there and then it's going to kind of roll out in different increments, and if 00:25:08.040 |
you have certain questions and things like that, please look out 00:25:11.080 |
for more information to come. Let me take a moment to pray for us as we begin, and 00:25:15.240 |
we'll move into time of giving offering. Let's pray. Our God, we want to thank you 00:25:20.360 |
for your grace. Lord, we are so grateful to be able to come together to worship 00:25:25.760 |
you because we know, God, that this is truly our great privilege to know you, to 00:25:30.500 |
be known by you, and to give you praise. We're also so grateful that we are able 00:25:35.480 |
to unite in our faith, essentially, Lord God, as your children, to be bound 00:25:41.440 |
together by what we have in you, by what we have in our Lord, and so for all of 00:25:46.000 |
that, we thank you, and I pray, God, that it would be from our hearts of 00:25:50.800 |
gratitude, our hearts of thankfulness, where we will render to you everything, 00:25:55.720 |
our thoughts, our affections, our love for you, Father. And God, even in our offering, 00:26:01.000 |
Lord, we desire to give to you with not reluctance, but God, just a gratitude, an 00:26:06.600 |
overflow of appreciation for everything that you are doing in our lives. This day, 00:26:11.360 |
Father God, from the singing to the preaching of your Word to the fellowship 00:26:16.000 |
after, may all of that, God, be glorious to you and to exalt you, Lord. We want to 00:26:21.640 |
thank you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. 00:27:14.420 |
Come praise and glorify our God, the Father of our Lord. 00:27:22.420 |
In Christ He has an early rise, His blessings on us pour. 00:27:30.420 |
For cure and blameless in His sight, He destined us to be. 00:27:38.420 |
And now we've been adopted through His Son, eternal Lamb. 00:28:10.420 |
Come praise and glorify our God, who gives His grace in Christ. 00:28:18.420 |
In Him our sins are washed away, redeemed through sacrifice. 00:28:26.420 |
In Him God has been known to us, the mystery of His will. 00:28:34.420 |
That Christ should be the head of all, His purpose to fulfill. 00:29:06.420 |
Come praise and glorify our God, for we believe the Word. 00:29:14.420 |
And through our faith we have a seal, the Spirit of the Lord. 00:29:22.420 |
The Spirit guarantees our hope until redemption's time. 00:29:30.420 |
Until we join in endless praise to God the King in one. 00:31:36.420 |
Let the world, let the world despise and leave me. 00:33:43.420 |
So then know, so then know thy full salvation. 00:36:10.420 |
Please take your Bibles and open up to Matthew chapter 5. 00:36:13.420 |
And as we turn there, I just want to say just a word of thanks for all the volunteers, 00:36:25.420 |
people in different service teams, helping out and making things happen. 00:36:29.420 |
We've had a bunch of changes going outdoor, indoor, and then changing media things and stuff like that. 00:36:36.420 |
I realize there's so many people involved in making things go. 00:36:43.420 |
I'm also grateful because I realized I totally missed the session, the season of preaching outside. 00:36:49.420 |
Pastor Peter had to take the bulk of preaching in the hot sun. 00:37:01.420 |
As we take a look at this passage, what I'd like to do first is read verse 38 down to verse 48. 00:37:11.420 |
And I will be, for the sake of time, focusing on just that first paragraph from verse 38 through 42, 00:37:20.420 |
and then highlight just an element of the next section. 00:37:23.420 |
It says, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 00:37:29.420 |
But I say to you, do not resist an evil person. 00:37:32.420 |
But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 00:37:36.420 |
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 00:37:41.420 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. 00:37:45.420 |
Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 00:37:51.420 |
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 00:37:54.420 |
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 00:37:59.420 |
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. 00:38:02.420 |
For he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:38:09.420 |
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 00:38:16.420 |
If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? 00:38:22.420 |
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." 00:38:28.420 |
Our God, we really do ask for your Spirit to move through your Word and convict our hearts. 00:38:36.420 |
We recognize, Lord, that your truth is so powerful. 00:38:40.420 |
And God, oftentimes your truth also is repetitive in your Word. 00:38:49.420 |
And sometimes, Lord, our hearts resist your Word. 00:38:52.420 |
But I pray that, God, you would soften us, you would teach us, Lord, and we would humbly receive. 00:39:00.420 |
As we take a look at this passage, the context of Matthew chapter 5, 00:39:04.420 |
if you take a look, just kind of skim with me for a brief second to just get the context here. 00:39:11.420 |
You know, this is that famous Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5. 00:39:14.420 |
And then in chapter 5, verses 1 through 12, you have the section that is famously known as the Beatitudes. 00:39:21.420 |
So if you look at your Bibles, you'll have this long list of "Blessed are those, blessed are those." 00:39:26.420 |
And what we see is Jesus teaching an incredible sermon, 00:39:29.420 |
defining for us and telling us who is actually truly blessed. 00:39:44.420 |
It is contrary to what is societal expectations and standards. 00:39:49.420 |
Because society believes those are truly blessed who are educated. 00:39:56.420 |
Those are truly blessed who are rich and have resources in their lives. 00:40:00.420 |
Here, Jesus is telling them, "No, blessed are those who are able to mourn over sin. 00:40:04.420 |
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, and blessed are those who are able to make peace." 00:40:10.420 |
So what we have, as I'm emphasizing, is a massive contrast between what people are perceiving versus what reality is. 00:40:21.420 |
If you take a look at verses 13 and down, he talks about how the disciples should be salt and light of the earth. 00:40:28.420 |
He is giving an expectation that is breaking what is normative. 00:40:34.420 |
And I'm repeating that because he's going to continue to do that through the entire chapter. 00:40:38.420 |
The normative way we sometimes think about life, and sometimes, again, in good intention, 00:40:44.420 |
when non-Christians try to teach us, they tell you, "Don't be strange. Don't be weird." 00:40:51.420 |
Because that ruins your chances of excelling in life. 00:40:54.420 |
As a matter of fact, if you had it your way, the best thing to do is work the system, be a leader, and come out on top in this world. 00:41:03.420 |
God says, "No. You're to be radically different. You're to be salty. 00:41:07.420 |
You're supposed to shine as so different from what is normative in this life." 00:41:12.420 |
And so, likewise, continuing on that theme of compare and contrast, Christ highlights these things. 00:41:21.420 |
You thought you had the Old Testament law, and you thought you had an understanding. 00:41:35.420 |
One example of that, the first one, he says in verse 21, Matthew 5, 21, he says, 00:41:42.420 |
"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 00:41:49.420 |
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. 00:41:55.420 |
And whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court. 00:42:01.420 |
And whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." 00:42:10.420 |
If you think about it in contrast, on an external superficial level, 00:42:15.420 |
if you just say, "On this boundary, do not murder," the vast majority of us will say, 00:42:20.420 |
"Good, I'm done with that one because I am not killing anybody these days." 00:42:25.420 |
But Christ says, "You think you knew what God was trying to get at. 00:42:28.420 |
You think you knew what it meant to be righteous. 00:42:31.420 |
And those Pharisees, the religious looters, they think they're setting the bar. 00:42:35.420 |
Let me radically challenge the normative that you think is acceptable." 00:42:40.420 |
And what he does is he points to the internal heart and says, "But you have anger in your heart. 00:42:49.420 |
You have this viciousness in your heart where you're willing to call somebody good-for-nothing. 00:42:55.420 |
I don't want to do a mini-sermon in a sermon, but that alone is so convicting, right? 00:42:59.420 |
How many times have we in recent days watched articles, heard the news, saw what people were doing, 00:43:14.420 |
And so what I like to say is the passage that we're coming to is this compare and contrast of, 00:43:24.420 |
But maybe in terms of the normative that you thought was acceptable, 00:43:28.420 |
let me teach you what God expects in terms of the internal heart. 00:43:32.420 |
The transformation of the insides, both your perspective, your attitude, your desires, 00:43:36.420 |
and all the stuff that's the working of your insides, God wants to radically transform to purify." 00:43:44.420 |
And so my proposition and the main thrust of the sermon is going to be to transform a particular element, 00:43:52.420 |
which is the heart of retaliation, through the grace of God. 00:43:56.420 |
To transform the heart of retaliation through the grace of God. 00:44:02.420 |
Just from the overview reading of the passage, you saw that Christ was tackling a heavy element, 00:44:11.420 |
a specific area of sin in the life of the disciples. 00:44:16.420 |
And what he says—I'm going to present this as a command— 00:44:20.420 |
the first point I want to highlight is to correct what you thought you knew about the law. 00:44:25.420 |
Correct what you thought you knew about the law. 00:44:29.420 |
When you take a look at this passage, Matthew 5:38, he says, 00:44:32.420 |
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'" 00:44:38.420 |
And what he's doing is he is highlighting and pinpointing something that is commonly rehearsed, 00:44:48.420 |
and he tackles that as, "You think you understand, but let me tell you what's up." 00:44:52.420 |
Now, this specific verse, you recognize it is a direct quotation from the Old Testament. 00:44:58.420 |
It comes from Exodus 21, verse 23-25. I'll read it for us, and it says this, 00:45:04.420 |
"But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty, 00:45:07.420 |
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and hand for hand. 00:45:10.420 |
Foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." 00:45:17.420 |
Now, this law God gave to the people, essentially to govern the people. 00:45:22.420 |
He gave to Moses as a civil law, not as necessarily how you're supposed to treat each other one-to-one, 00:45:30.420 |
And in other cultures, other historical nations and governments, this law exists to this day, right? 00:45:39.420 |
And essentially, they quote, "Eye for eye," and the thought there is, 00:45:43.420 |
when there is injury, the consequence and penalty should be of equal value, right? 00:45:51.420 |
But we have to ask this question, why did God give this law to the people? 00:45:56.420 |
Well, the first answer is very obvious and clear, 00:45:58.420 |
it is because God himself is a fair God who is a God of law and order. 00:46:06.420 |
God himself is a God where the punishment is of appropriateness. 00:46:12.420 |
He is not a Greek God who's on a whim, who happens to react impulsively. 00:46:17.420 |
And should you just catch him on a bad day, he ends up just eradicating everybody. 00:46:22.420 |
Now, someone might say, "But hasn't God in the Old Testament, 00:46:31.420 |
Even immediately after Moses receives the law, didn't he split open the ground and cause people to die? 00:46:38.420 |
What I'm going to say is, every judgment in the Old Testament that you see, 00:46:42.420 |
no matter how severe you think it is, was always appropriate. 00:46:47.420 |
Because sin against the holy God, sin against the almighty, it is devastating. 00:46:54.420 |
We even recognize degrees of punishment based on who we sin against. 00:46:59.420 |
It is different when you sin against somebody who happens to be your friend. 00:47:02.420 |
It is different if you transgress an American law against a president or a sitting official. 00:47:08.420 |
I'm just saying that to say, the reason why God gives this law that there should be equal 00:47:13.420 |
and appropriate kind of punishment, even amongst person to person, 00:47:17.420 |
is because God himself is always just and fair. 00:47:23.420 |
Now, I think what's more obvious is he gave this law because people needed it. 00:47:36.420 |
When you feel like you've been hurt, you've been dishonored, disrespected, 00:47:41.420 |
you've been attacked, to just come out with this retaliation, 00:47:45.420 |
"Oh, really? You're going to feel the full force of my wrath!" 00:47:50.420 |
Right? Like, retaliation is so like a knee-jerk reaction in the sinful heart. 00:47:56.420 |
And what I'm going to say then is the scriptures teach us that this law was given to restrain our sin. 00:48:04.420 |
Take a look at a passage in Deuteronomy chapter 19. 00:48:07.420 |
We recognize that this command was given in multiple contexts. 00:48:13.420 |
It was also given later on in the second Deuteronomy, right? 00:48:19.420 |
Before they went into the land of Cana, after 40 years, they have reiteration of this law. 00:48:24.420 |
And what he says is in verse 18, this is Deuteronomy 19, verse 18. 00:48:29.420 |
"The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness, and he accused his brother falsely, 00:48:37.420 |
then you shall do to him just as he has intended to do to his brother." 00:48:41.420 |
And then look what he says. "Thus you shall purge the evil from among you." 00:48:45.420 |
What God was desiring was to prevent more wickedness. 00:48:49.420 |
God designed to govern the people that there would be a cap on this stacking up of hitting each other, 00:48:55.420 |
hurting each other, and ultimately destroying each other. 00:48:58.420 |
But you notice what is the bent of the human heart. 00:49:01.420 |
And I'm highlighting this because when there is a law given, 00:49:04.420 |
it is not because God happened to be this exacting, mean God of the Old Testament. 00:49:10.420 |
There are people, Christians, who actually write that in commentaries. 00:49:16.420 |
God has this exacting nature even to this day. 00:49:18.420 |
He says in the New Testament, "Not even a single careless word will go unpunished." 00:49:24.420 |
What it is, is actually God restraining more sin. 00:49:28.420 |
And the problem is, God gives good laws, and the people are so sinful, 00:49:37.420 |
You know when a brother gives false testimony? 00:49:42.420 |
Someone hurts you, and you're like, "That guy, he has it out for me. 00:49:45.420 |
He wants to kill me. He wants to get rid of me. 00:49:52.420 |
Exaggeration is a false testimony, and we do it all the time. 00:50:01.420 |
When we feel offended, we have this knee-jerk reaction to want to hurt back. 00:50:06.420 |
To make sure, like, "Don't you dare ever do this to me!" 00:50:12.420 |
But what I like to highlight is, in summary, like, 00:50:15.420 |
God's law, even here in the Old Testament, both Exodus, Deuteronomy, 00:50:24.420 |
I want to highlight that, because sometimes people have this weird false dichotomy. 00:50:28.420 |
Anything that reeks of, like, harsh judgment, consequences for sin, 00:50:35.420 |
No, no, no, no. This is God's mercy on the people to cap and restrain them. 00:50:42.420 |
And the law regularly shows us, "It's you!" Right? 00:50:48.420 |
But historically, then, when God gives good laws, 00:50:52.420 |
how did people understand it? How did people take it? 00:50:55.420 |
And this is where I want to find conviction, is because I realize, 00:51:01.420 |
As I read this passage and asked the question, "Why does God give these laws?" 00:51:10.420 |
He is not only highlighting the fact that it was written in the Old Testament, 00:51:20.420 |
This is what you thought was the command of God. 00:51:26.420 |
I think what's clear is people take it as though the law of God gave them a right. 00:51:37.420 |
And He says, basically, "You shall not inflict excessive penalty." 00:51:41.420 |
It's in the American law, Eighth Amendment, right? 00:51:44.420 |
There will not be a cruel and unusual punishment, 00:51:47.420 |
and you shall not induce a cruel, overreaching penalty, 00:51:57.420 |
But rather than thinking of it as a cap to restrain them, 00:52:00.420 |
they thought of it as, "I have a right to make sure you know 00:52:07.420 |
"I have a right. If you're going to treat me like that, 00:52:10.420 |
then I get to treat you like that. Eye for an eye." 00:52:20.420 |
And so in that way, I would like to move to my second point. 00:52:23.420 |
In order to have this transforming of the inner heart of retaliation, 00:52:32.420 |
And the way I'd like to make sense of it to you, 00:52:36.420 |
is repent of the little gangster in your heart. 00:52:40.420 |
We all have the little gangster in our heart. 00:52:44.420 |
When I was in high school, I thought it was so cool to be in a gang, 00:52:48.420 |
And we thought we were so tough, and we thought we were so hard. 00:52:53.420 |
It's like, "If you even look at me, you're going to get it." 00:52:56.420 |
Come on, we all have that little gangster voice. 00:52:58.420 |
It even has a little accent. It's like, "No, dog." 00:53:03.420 |
You have the thing you do with your head when you bob and you're mad inside. 00:53:08.420 |
And some of you guys, laughing hard, that's not really an internal thing. 00:53:13.420 |
You kind of change your voice when you get into this mode where you say, 00:53:17.420 |
"No! If you hurt me, I'm going to hurt you back." 00:53:23.420 |
Where your heart says, "You hurt me? It's my turn." 00:53:30.420 |
There is a perversion of the logic of the law. 00:53:33.420 |
There is a perversion where the law of "I for an I" 00:53:39.420 |
and it is appropriate for us to uphold the consistent standard of God 00:53:48.420 |
You want to make sure that you are the judge, jury, and executioner. 00:53:55.420 |
"You better respect me. You better recognize." 00:53:58.420 |
The gangster comes out of you, and it speaks like that. 00:54:13.420 |
It shows to us the rationale behind this law. 00:54:17.420 |
And he says, "If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, 00:54:23.420 |
Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 00:54:26.420 |
just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. 00:54:31.420 |
Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, 00:54:34.420 |
and the one who kills a man shall be put to death. 00:54:40.420 |
It shall be for the stranger as well as the native, 00:54:45.420 |
He wanted that standard because of his objective righteousness. 00:54:53.420 |
He doesn't have this, you know, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, 00:54:58.420 |
He wants an objective standard, and we as Christians have to uphold it. 00:55:01.420 |
What's false and erroneous is we twist that as a justification for my vengeance. 00:55:10.420 |
But who's going to make sure he knows how much he hurt me? 00:55:14.420 |
Who's going to make sure that he actually respects me, right? 00:55:18.420 |
And that is two entirely different things, but sometimes so, so muddied. 00:55:27.420 |
there's a clear example of retaliation in Scripture. 00:55:32.420 |
So early on in the history of man, there was a sinfulness already ingrained into his heart. 00:55:41.420 |
"Lamech said to his wives, 'Ada and Zillah, listen to my voice. 00:55:50.420 |
for I have killed a man for wounding me, a boy for striking me. 00:55:54.420 |
If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.'" 00:56:00.420 |
I presume if the secular world read this, they would think, 00:56:04.420 |
"Oh man, that guy's a gangster. You don't mess with him." 00:56:09.420 |
But the weird thing is, that heart, he's bragging about how in his arrogance, 00:56:21.420 |
"You don't mess with me, because I'm a gangster." 00:56:24.420 |
I don't want to overdo it, but that part's in there. 00:56:27.420 |
And let me give you an example of case scenarios. 00:56:31.420 |
On the court, I confess to you, there have been times, you play basketball, 00:56:36.420 |
some guy does a dirty move, and all of a sudden, 00:56:38.420 |
your gangster voice comes out, and like, "Oh, we're going to play like that, huh?" 00:56:44.420 |
And you almost want to retaliate, like, "Now it's my turn." 00:56:51.420 |
I mean, road rage is like a classic example of retaliation. 00:56:55.420 |
You want to make sure, it's like, "Oh, you want to know how it feels? 00:56:57.420 |
You drive all fast, go in front of the person?" 00:57:04.420 |
"You need to get off the road! You don't deserve to drive!" 00:57:12.420 |
It's like, "Oh, you can talk to me like that, with no restraint?" 00:57:16.420 |
"You want to know how angry I can be? You want to see me mad?" 00:57:27.420 |
And that all to say, again, it's sometimes so deceptive. 00:57:31.420 |
We think that doing that is the right thing to do. 00:57:35.420 |
We think doing that is actually the right way to make sure this sin is dealt with. 00:57:42.420 |
No. This passage is so convicting because it tackles, again, 00:57:48.420 |
your preconceived notion of what is normative for the righteous person. 00:57:55.420 |
And what Jesus does is point very directly into the heart and says, 00:57:58.420 |
"Your insides, that needs to be transformed." 00:58:02.420 |
So, I move now to point number three, where Jesus commands. 00:58:09.420 |
Jesus instructs, and as a summary of what He instructs us to do, 00:58:35.420 |
but whoever slaps you on your cheek, turn the other to him also. 00:58:39.420 |
If anyone wants to sue you, take and take your shirt. 00:58:44.420 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. 00:58:49.420 |
Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you." 00:58:56.420 |
If you take a moment to not read that as just like, 00:58:58.420 |
"Yeah, these are just lofty things," Jesus says, right? 00:59:03.420 |
It should cause you to be like, "Wait, wait, what? 00:59:11.420 |
You know what makes it so hard sometimes to hold your tongue is when you see wickedness. 00:59:17.420 |
And then part of you--I'm almost trying to share with you my personal reaction 00:59:22.420 |
when I was working through this passage in my devotions. 00:59:26.420 |
Initially, I was like, "Oh, yeah, you just got to read the context because there's got to be more than that." 00:59:35.420 |
And then you read him say like, "Even to the evil person." 00:59:38.420 |
And then you start thinking of the other passages like, "No, Scripture says expose them. 00:59:44.420 |
Well, clearly, yes, Jesus is not telling you to condone the evil man. 00:59:49.420 |
But what he's telling you is to not resist with retaliation, 01:00:00.420 |
And part of me just reacted with like a, "This can't be." 01:00:04.420 |
I'm not sure if ever you guys have had that moment. 01:00:07.420 |
You're reading the Scriptures and you're like, "Huh? It doesn't make sense." 01:00:12.420 |
Of course we're going to stand against the evil person. 01:00:17.420 |
Of course if he falsely accuses me, I'm going to give a defense. 01:00:27.420 |
"Are you going to do exactly what everybody else does? 01:00:40.420 |
And so I want to walk through this a little bit because he says, 01:00:43.420 |
"If you are slapped and someone slaps you on your..." 01:00:47.420 |
It's interesting, right, that he actually specifies on the right side of your cheek. 01:00:52.420 |
But I want you to think about that because you know, I mean, 01:00:56.420 |
even when me and my brother, when we were young and we were fighting, 01:01:01.420 |
We could punch each other all we want. We could wrestle. 01:01:03.420 |
We could do all kinds of crazy stuff, but you don't touch the face. 01:01:09.420 |
And what Jesus is doing is he's highlighting one of the elements that to us is so difficult 01:01:15.420 |
to just hold our tongue, to just not retaliate, is in the moment of disrespect. 01:01:21.420 |
And there's part of it that's going to be like, "Don't we have a right to that? 01:01:25.420 |
Don't we have a right to dignity? Don't we have a right? 01:01:30.420 |
If you're a father, I should be respected in this home. 01:01:33.420 |
If you're a boss, I should be respected in this job." Right? 01:01:39.420 |
There's more. He says, "If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt," 01:01:44.420 |
it's also very interesting that he describes the difference between taking your shirt 01:01:49.420 |
And you guys have heard probably that this idea of the cloak. 01:01:53.420 |
A lot of people at that time, they just had one. 01:01:58.420 |
So to a worker, Jesus says, "If you have one of his possessions as some kind of collateral, 01:02:03.420 |
make sure you give it back to him by the end of the day." 01:02:14.420 |
Our natural tendency, if you're sued and accused, 01:02:17.420 |
you're going to have this tendency to be like, "What? 01:02:19.420 |
I have a right to be defended against stuff like that. 01:02:22.420 |
I have a right to not be falsely accused of stuff." Yes? 01:02:26.420 |
And it would be to you this feeling of right to protection and security. 01:02:31.420 |
And then he goes on and says, "Whoever forces you to go one mile, 01:02:42.420 |
Legally, Roman soldiers could grab all the material, 01:02:45.420 |
give it to a civilian, say, "I'm going to take my stuff and walk." 01:02:53.420 |
And so you can imagine the civilians, they hated Roman soldiers. 01:03:03.420 |
He says to them, "Go with him the extra mile." 01:03:06.420 |
And that's where we get with proverbial statements, "Go the extra mile." 01:03:10.420 |
Question, how much do you have to give in you? 01:03:15.420 |
Because what Jesus is doing is he's highlighting for the kingdom citizen, 01:03:24.420 |
you should have through your relationship with God this wealth. 01:03:28.420 |
That yes, even in the midst of persecution, even in the midst of suffering, 01:03:32.420 |
we many times, we find ourselves, we're the ones in need. 01:03:42.420 |
Jesus is going to call out and say, "Even in those moments, 01:03:45.420 |
through the gospel, through Christ and the completeness that we have in him, 01:03:52.420 |
And lastly, he says, "If someone asks you, do not turn him away." 01:03:58.420 |
You know, some of the most annoying things in life 01:04:01.420 |
are people who are prideful and people who are free birds. 01:04:05.420 |
If you've ever had that guy in your life, the friend in your life, 01:04:08.420 |
who's just always like, "Can you spot me here? Can you spot me there?" 01:04:11.420 |
It's like, "Wait a minute. You have all this stuff. 01:04:14.420 |
Why are you asking me for stuff when you have it?" 01:04:17.420 |
Now, I am not saying that no matter what the circumstances are, 01:04:21.420 |
just give, just give, give, give, give, give, because that is not true. 01:04:25.420 |
But clearly, we understand Jesus' command here. 01:04:29.420 |
He is telling us that, yes, you may have your right, 01:04:32.420 |
but if you are going to say, "I have this right, and therefore, 01:04:35.420 |
I'm going to exercise my right, and never, ever will you take advantage of me." 01:04:42.420 |
It sounds to me like then all you have is your life in this world. 01:04:49.420 |
As a kingdom citizen, don't you have more to give? 01:04:52.420 |
Take a look at Apostle Paul's attitude and mentality here. 01:04:55.420 |
1 Corinthians 9. Please turn in your Bibles there. 01:05:13.420 |
If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, 01:05:18.420 |
for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. 01:05:27.420 |
Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, 01:05:30.420 |
even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 01:05:34.420 |
Or do only Barnabas and I not have the right to refrain from working? 01:05:38.420 |
Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?" 01:05:47.420 |
"If others share the right over you, do we not more? 01:05:54.420 |
but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ." 01:06:24.420 |
And we know Jesus Christ set this model for us to follow." 01:06:29.420 |
Turn in your Bible to 1 Peter 2, verse 21 through 24. 01:06:45.420 |
and He gave you an example for you to follow in His steps, 01:06:48.420 |
who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. 01:06:51.420 |
And while being reviled, He did not revile in return. 01:06:56.420 |
but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously. 01:07:00.420 |
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, 01:07:04.420 |
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. 01:07:11.420 |
The rationale and logic of the world, it makes sense to retell it. 01:07:18.420 |
"You must have already died to this world, died to yourself, 01:07:21.420 |
and you must be rich in the spiritual blessings of Christ 01:07:37.420 |
Now, I would like to say this, moving to point number four. 01:07:40.420 |
We recognize that Jesus is commanding us to give, give, and give, 01:07:44.420 |
just like He has modeled, just as He has shown us. 01:07:47.420 |
But I want to make sure that we understand that we have to, 01:07:50.420 |
in this way, uphold the righteousness of God. 01:07:55.420 |
Because some people misinterpreted this passage. 01:07:58.420 |
Some people have this misunderstanding to be eye for an eye, 01:08:09.420 |
But to be a New Testament believer, gracious, you don't do this. 01:08:14.420 |
And some people actually use this ideology to say we should be pacifists. 01:08:18.420 |
Some people use this ideology and they get kind of scared. 01:08:21.420 |
Somebody commits a sin and you're like, "Well, what do we do? We just got to forgive." 01:08:25.420 |
No, no, no. We uphold the righteousness of God. 01:08:30.420 |
You see, what we understood was that God gave the Old Testament to purge sin. 01:08:38.420 |
But what's happening is in our sinfulness, we just stack sin for sin. 01:08:43.420 |
Regularly, you commit evil in the face of evil. 01:08:50.420 |
Their evil now inspires your evil, and all you're doing is saying, "My turn for evil." 01:08:55.420 |
And what God is saying to us is, "Do not repay evil for evil." 01:09:01.420 |
But rather, accomplish the righteousness of God by giving good, 01:09:09.420 |
You see, we're not trying to mimic this passage. 01:09:12.420 |
Some people are like, "Oh yeah, maybe this is kind of in line with the stuff of Gandhi. 01:09:15.420 |
This is in line with the stuff of the passive resistance stuff." 01:09:22.420 |
We absolutely uphold the justice and standard of God 01:09:26.420 |
because every institution has been given by God to do so. 01:09:29.420 |
Governments, churches, families, parents, all of these institutions 01:09:35.420 |
have been given a stewardship of authority, and they must enact justice. 01:09:40.420 |
And consequences must be given for breaking of the law. 01:09:45.420 |
However, for us on a personal level, what we are doing 01:09:50.420 |
is accomplishing the righteousness of God by our character in this. 01:09:55.420 |
So turn your Bibles over to Romans chapter 12, verse 16 through 21, 01:10:03.420 |
He says, "Be of the same mind toward one another. 01:10:06.420 |
Do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. 01:10:15.420 |
And then he says this, "Respect what is right in the sight of all men." 01:10:19.420 |
See? But what's more, it says, "If possible, so far it depends on you. 01:10:23.420 |
Be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, 01:10:26.420 |
but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 01:10:29.420 |
'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' says the Lord. 01:10:36.420 |
If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing, 01:10:42.420 |
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 01:10:48.420 |
The challenge for us is to actually garner greater righteousness. 01:10:53.420 |
Do not be so weak as to have your senses elicited 01:10:58.420 |
that when evil is done for you, it becomes a temptation. 01:11:05.420 |
For us, God is calling us to recognize in wisdom 01:11:08.420 |
every sin and transgression is going to be judged. 01:11:13.420 |
Either already on the cross through the sacrifice of Christ, 01:11:20.420 |
where God's wrath will be enacted, it will be judged thoroughly. 01:11:26.420 |
And so knowing that, you can have this kind of paradoxical understanding. 01:11:31.420 |
I uphold the righteousness of God, but I need not retaliate to vindicate myself. 01:11:38.420 |
But rather, I have this opportunity to give grace. 01:11:41.420 |
Rather, I have this opportunity to show love. 01:11:44.420 |
Rather, I have this opportunity to be like God. 01:11:53.420 |
yes, He is giving you parameters, and He is doing this surgical number. 01:11:58.420 |
"Oh, you think you have the right to protection? 01:12:07.420 |
But what He's also doing is He's giving these commands so that we would be. 01:12:17.420 |
and until the rest of that paragraph, verse 48. 01:12:20.420 |
And He says, "You have heard that it was said, 01:12:23.420 |
'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 01:12:26.420 |
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 01:12:30.420 |
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. 01:12:33.420 |
For He causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good, 01:12:36.420 |
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 01:12:39.420 |
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? 01:12:46.420 |
If you greet only your brothers, then what more are you doing than others? 01:12:53.420 |
Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." 01:13:01.420 |
when I was reading this passage and kind of meditating, 01:13:06.420 |
Initially it was like, "Whoa, these are extreme statements." 01:13:09.420 |
And then there was this, "Well, there's got to be exceptions, you know? 01:13:12.420 |
These aren't absolute statements." And that's true. 01:13:15.420 |
Because this doesn't mean that everything wrong, just be like, 01:13:21.420 |
That is not what God is saying, at all, right? 01:13:24.420 |
People should obey laws. There should be justice, okay? 01:13:28.420 |
But my other reaction was, "I don't know how to apply this." 01:13:34.420 |
Have you guys ever read the Scriptures and just felt like that? 01:13:38.420 |
You almost have this malfunction in my brain. 01:13:45.420 |
"Lord, I think you're going to need to give greater parameters, more instructions." 01:13:49.420 |
And some of you guys, your mind is geared like that. 01:13:51.420 |
It's like, "Wait a minute. Maybe you guys are like the engineers. 01:13:57.420 |
And you're like, "I just need to follow the lines. 01:14:01.420 |
What if there's a guy who's just selfish and he's asking me stuff? 01:14:04.420 |
Do I give now? Do I not give? What do you do?" 01:14:07.420 |
And some of the stuff, yeah, when he even brings it up, 01:14:14.420 |
If someone sues me because they think I did something wrong, 01:14:20.420 |
And I almost have this malfunction in my head. 01:14:23.420 |
I'm like, "Wait a minute. You've got to give me more. 01:14:26.420 |
God, why are you not as clear as can be here, right? 01:14:34.420 |
And this is something I realize. This is just my immaturity. 01:14:44.420 |
so that all you have to do is do a logical mind flow, 01:14:51.420 |
so that you can go, "Oh, if A then B, then I can go here." 01:15:01.420 |
And for those of you guys who have had parents who are wise and godly, 01:15:05.420 |
so when it was time to be compassionate for those who are weak, 01:15:08.420 |
they were so meek and compassionate, and they were humble in heart. 01:15:12.420 |
But when it came down to make sure that they laid down the law, 01:15:15.420 |
and they were strict, and they made sure that people knew, 01:15:17.420 |
"You can't do this stuff underneath our house because that's sin." 01:15:21.420 |
And you looked at them, and you realized, "Oh my goodness, there's wisdom in that. 01:15:24.420 |
There's part of you that wishes there was a manual book for that." 01:15:27.420 |
But more so what you're doing is you're trying to emulate your wise Father. 01:15:33.420 |
If you had that in your life, blessed, you're blessed. 01:15:37.420 |
If you didn't have that in your life, you have the Lord Jesus Christ. 01:15:55.420 |
So strong He took a court of whips and chased the marketeers, right, 01:16:10.420 |
Have you ever thought about being spit on in the face 01:16:13.420 |
when you are the Lord of the universe and not saying anything back? 01:16:20.420 |
Think about being forced, being forced to carry a beam, 01:16:23.420 |
being forced to be stretched out then whipped. 01:16:26.420 |
People asking you, "Why don't you do this, Jesus? 01:16:36.420 |
When Jesus is saying those things and the death to which, 01:16:47.420 |
But what's more, you have a wise example in your Father, 01:16:52.420 |
who is showing to us His incredible character, where it's both, right? 01:16:57.420 |
It's both absolute righteousness, absolute sinlessness. 01:17:01.420 |
It is a fearful thing because God says, "I will judge everything, 01:17:05.420 |
even the thoughts and intentions that you think nobody sees." 01:17:09.420 |
And what He cares for is the insides, your internals, 01:17:12.420 |
the actual content of your mind and your heart as it relates to godliness. 01:17:18.420 |
And what He's saying is, "Be like Me. Be like Me." 01:17:25.420 |
there was a part of me as I was doing my devotion, and I thought, 01:17:43.420 |
And when you see this, and you walk down Matthew, 01:17:46.420 |
and he's talking about "blessed are the meek, poor, gentle," 01:17:48.420 |
all this kind of stuff, and he's like, "You should be salty," 01:17:51.420 |
and he starts talking about, "You shouldn't be angry. 01:17:53.420 |
You shouldn't lust." And you're like, "Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail," right? 01:18:00.420 |
like this half-rebellious, half-discouraged sentiment in your heart, 01:18:07.420 |
Have you guys ever read scripture and felt like that? 01:18:10.420 |
Or felt so discouraged, like, you almost don't want to look up, 01:18:14.420 |
and then you kind of want to say to God, like, "I'll try. 01:18:21.420 |
And I want to encourage you because you have heard it said, 01:18:25.420 |
"Eye for an eye," and people could not keep that even, right? 01:18:30.420 |
Historically, mankind has been so riddled with sin, 01:18:37.420 |
even the traditions of the old, they were not actually able to keep. 01:18:41.420 |
And so, again, if you're looking at the law of Christ now, 01:18:45.420 |
given to His disciples, please don't be discouraged, 01:18:48.420 |
because I want to give to you something as an encouragement. 01:18:51.420 |
Even the law of the Old Testament, "eye for an eye," 01:18:57.420 |
that desired to restrain the sinful children. 01:19:03.420 |
He sees his two kids just at each other's throat, like, "That's mine! 01:19:09.420 |
The dad jumps in and says, "Stop! You only get two minutes! 01:19:12.420 |
You only get--that's the law! It's going to be fair!" Right? 01:19:17.420 |
He's actually preventing them destroying each other. 01:19:20.420 |
But remember also, when you hear God saying, "Be like me," 01:19:25.420 |
that is fatherly love and instruction for you. 01:19:39.420 |
I want you to be like me in my righteousness, in my love, 01:19:43.420 |
the depth to which, yes, you don't fully understand now, 01:19:48.420 |
I have enemies of which you were one, and I came for you. 01:19:52.420 |
And I fed you, loved you, even when you were rejecting me and spitting. 01:20:01.420 |
That is not something for us to be like, "I just can't do that stuff." Right? 01:20:11.420 |
That's for us to be like, "Thank you, Lord, for being my heavenly Father 01:20:17.420 |
and desiring and saying in your word, 'You shall be perfect.'" 01:20:29.420 |
So we don't be discouraged when we find these things, 01:20:32.420 |
but rather we recognize we need this in this life. 01:20:36.420 |
A lot of us have been saying we feel persecution knocking at the door 01:20:40.420 |
for those living here comfortably in Orange County. 01:20:44.420 |
We are going to have people perhaps accuse us falsely. 01:20:48.420 |
We're going to have people try to force us to do things we don't like. 01:20:52.420 |
And if you're going to be like, "I'm an American, and I have rights!" 01:21:03.420 |
to have such a wealth where this country is not everything to us, 01:21:09.420 |
and we have this fist, this tight-gripped fist, 01:21:13.420 |
where we're like, "Don't you dare threaten the rights that I have!" 01:21:17.420 |
But rather this heart overflowing with the love that Christ says, 01:21:37.420 |
We recognize, God, that by your word you're leading us, you're teaching us. 01:21:42.420 |
And it is our prayer, God, that we would be humbled to recognize 01:21:46.420 |
that there are many elements of this, Lord, in different facets of our lives. 01:21:51.420 |
We do retaliate, and sometimes for us it's even confusing. 01:21:55.420 |
Are we trying to uphold the law of God, or are we just getting even? 01:22:00.420 |
And I pray, God, that you give us discernment. 01:22:03.420 |
Discernment, Lord, God, in our homes, in our workplaces, 01:22:10.420 |
so that, Father God, people can see the power of our Father working in us. 01:22:16.420 |
And so I pray, Father God, we humbly acknowledge 01:22:21.420 |
none of the things that you have commanded us to be, 01:22:26.420 |
So we ask of you, Lord, that you would aid us through your truth, 01:22:31.420 |
We thank you, it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. 01:22:35.420 |
Let us all rise as we sing our closing praise. 01:24:13.420 |
Though the dreadful night overwhelms my soul, 01:27:19.420 |
All right, God, we want to exalt you and lift you on high, 01:27:23.420 |
and to proclaim, Father God, that you are perfect. 01:27:27.420 |
And God, in your perfection, Lord, we trust you. 01:27:30.420 |
We trust that as things go wrong, as things unravel, 01:27:35.420 |
we know, Lord God, that you are going to enact your perfect justice in your own time. 01:27:40.420 |
And we also know that when that just in comes, it's going to be perfect just like you. 01:27:45.420 |
And Lord God, as a fearsome thing, Lord God, that is something wonderful. 01:27:50.420 |
And I pray, Father, that we will exercise our trust in you. 01:27:53.420 |
As we try to navigate what to do, what's the right thing? 01:27:57.420 |
As we even try to control our heart's inclination, 01:28:01.420 |
to take justice into our own hands, to have vengeance for ourselves. 01:28:06.420 |
But I pray, Father God, that we will learn from you, 01:28:11.420 |
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 01:28:14.420 |
and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, 01:28:17.420 |
blameless with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, 01:28:22.420 |
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. 01:29:56.420 |
For those of you guys who are in the sanctuary, 01:30:04.420 |
For those of you guys who are outside in the courtyard, 01:30:07.420 |
we do again request that although you guys are fellowshipping, 01:30:13.420 |
because we're going to be cleaning up and wrapping those things up. 01:30:17.420 |
There is extra space at the front of the church,