13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the law, not one iota or serif will pass away
17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
you have heard do not murder, but Jesus says anger and contempt also bring judgment
21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22 But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
come to terms with your accuser quickly on the way to court, until the last quadrans
25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26 Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
if your eye or hand causes you to sin, remove it, better to lose a part than go to hell
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality causes adultery
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
love your enemies and pray for persecutors, as God sends rain on righteous and unrighteous
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the continuation of a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Jeff walked through Matthew 5, covering salt and light, Jesus's statement on the law, and six illustrations where Jesus intensifies the commandments rather than removes them. The sermon closed on the word "perfect," and what it actually means for disciples who are still on the way.
What was said
Jesus addresses his disciples as "you" in the plural when he calls them salt and light, and that collective framing matters. The church together is supposed to have a preserving and illuminating effect on everything around it. When the church gets diluted, mixed with so much of the surrounding culture that it looks and acts like everything else, it loses that effect entirely. The crowd simply tramples over it. That is not an individual guilt trip; it is a corporate reality.
Jesus then makes clear he did not come to remove a single letter of the law. Not the smallest Hebrew letter, not a single serif on a stroke. The law stands until everything is accomplished. The implication that follows is serious: anyone whose righteousness does not go well beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Legalism, trusting your own careful rule-keeping, does not get anyone there. The righteousness Jesus is talking about has to be derived from him.
To show what he means, Jesus runs through six illustrations using the same format each time: you have heard it was said, but I say to you. He starts with murder and points to where murder actually begins, in anger, in calling someone worthless, in contempt. The legal rule against killing is not loosened; it is intensified all the way back to what is happening in the heart. Before you bring your offering to the altar, he says, if your brother has something against you, go and be reconciled first.
The same movement from outward act to inward origin happens with adultery. Looking at another person with lust is already adultery in the heart. Jesus speaks in hyperbole about cutting off the hand or tearing out the eye, not as a literal instruction, but to make the weight of it land. On divorce, Jesus says the Mosaic allowance existed because of hardness of heart, and makes plain that the standard for his disciples is much higher than what was legally permitted.
The last two illustrations cover oaths and retaliation. On oaths, Jesus says his disciples should not need to swear by anything at all. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. On retaliation, the law of an eye for an eye is acknowledged and then exceeded. Turn the other cheek, go the second mile, give your cloak as well. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Even tax collectors love the people who love them back. That is not the standard for the kingdom.
The sermon closes on the word "perfect." Pastor Jeff pointed to the Greek word teleios, related to the word Jesus used from the cross, "it is finished." It does not mean sinless in an absolute sense. It means mature, whole, developed through the necessary stages toward the end goal. He used the image of an oak tree: an acorn is already a perfect acorn, a sapling is already a perfect sapling, each stage complete in itself and heading toward what it is meant to become. The call is to be as far along as you can be right now, in humility, drawing on what God has provided.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Jeff described the church collectively as salt that can become tasteless or tainted when it blends in with the world around it. Where do you see that happening, and what does it look like when the church is genuinely distinct?
Jesus told his disciples that their good works should make people glorify the Father in heaven. Can you think of a time when you saw someone's actions point others toward God rather than toward themselves? What made that possible?
Speaker 3Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good. Good. Yay.
I like the enthusiasm. It's good to see you. And, what do you say we start by, we'll we'll stand. We'll we'll worship in song. Here's a a verse from first Timothy two five to kick us off in worship.
It says, for there's one God and there's one mediator who can reconcile God to humanity, and that's the man Jesus Christ. Let's start by singing mediator.
Speaker 2Alright. He takes our place. Takes our place and stands in front of God all night. He speaks on our behalf since we don't have the right. He pleads before the God who judges sides of man.
A mediate served a sentence for I said there's one. There is only one God. There is only one mediator standing between God and man, he's the only way to salvation. He found he found the captive, broke the bondage of our chains. We have redemption through the price that he has paid.
He gave his life to purchase freedom from the fall. A mediate was the ransom for us all. There is. There is only one God. There is only one mediator standing between God and man.
He is the only way to salvation again. There is only one God. There is only one mediator standing between God and man. He's the only way to salvation.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. How are you this morning? Good. Alright. Good.
Good to see you. We've got a few announcements. Blake, would you just kind of scroll through em for me? Not that you're not doing 12 other things up there, but Monday night's the first to What's happening this week, Carl?
Speaker 3So we're on tomorrow meal music message. We're finishing the rest of John, chapter 15 where Jesus tells his disciples, I've called you out of the world into the kingdom to make an impact on the world.
Speaker 1Dovetails so nicely with today's message. Yeah. Good. So, meal music and a message tomorrow night, 06:00 down the hall. Same time, Awana is going in this room all over the church.
Actually, the rest of the church but Awana it's happening to kids club. We have an email that we send out each week to let you know what's going on. Sometimes I forget announcements. I know that's hard for y'all to believe, but sometimes I forget what's going on, and that email should cover most of what's going on. First b jackson dot org, you can sign up yourself for those emails, and they'll just come automatically.
Next week is our congregational meeting. It's the normal annual budget approval financial review election of new church officers. Jim Reed is up for election as a member of the board of trustees and financial secretary. And Steve Landis' election, that should have been fixed, is for a three year term on the elder board, not the BOT, but the elder board. Board of trustees is BOT.
But that's coming next week between services. So 10:00 in the morning is the time for that. And after this service before the next one starts. The twenty twenty two men's snowmobile retreat is up at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. Now, I've been advertising, broadcasting, telling you how you can be a part and what you could do to sign up.
There's a time where the money has to come in. So, it's if the time is now, that's that's the thing. If you would like to go and you're signed up to go, it'd be helpful for us to be able to pay for this trip. So, Nick, would you wave your hand back there? Nick works in the office, and he is here most of the week this week.
He's got a day off. Which one are you taking this week? Friday. Taking off Friday this week. So Monday through Thursday, anytime you can come in, bring in a check or cash, or you could talk to him and he could probably give you a way to pay for it on Venmo or PayPal or whatever.
I'm sure there's a way but if you would talk to him about that, that would be good. Sisters saved by grace. This is a Wednesday evening Bible study. Sisters Saved by Grace. Nancy has been leading this in the fellowship hall.
There's a light meal that will be provided. So, it's kind of a meal and a message. Women's Bible study, six to eight. That is so much fun. I'm usually around here because we have elders meetings and board of trustees meetings on Thursday.
So I'm usually around, and they're having a ball in there. They're studying the Bible together, having a lot of fun, getting into one another's life. Sisters Saved by Grace, ladies Bible study, Thursday at six. And there is a covenant ceremony today, but I know that Brad is not gonna be here, but do I see the Gibsons?
Speaker 2He is in nursery. They're here.
Speaker 1They're here. Okay. They're
Speaker 2not here.
Speaker 1Alright. Maybe we'll move this slide towards the end of the service. How about that? We move that slide towards the end the service. We may do this today or we may just wait because one of the families is not able to be here this morning.
Anything else that I've forgotten, deleted, omitted, or or just said wrong? Anything? Anybody? No suggestions? No deletions?
It looks like Nick has an announcement. Okay. Okay. Blake? Children's Church.
So Children's Church, miss Crystal is here. So if you're in miss Crystal's class or she will be here, she's supposed to be here. If you're in miss Crystal's class, you can should be able to go to class today. None of the other teachers are here and available this morning. So the second through fifth grade is not gonna have a teacher this morning.
But if you wanna go to miss Crystal's class like you did last week, that's fine too. Would y'all stand with us and we're gonna go straight into Only King Forever. Amen.
Speaker 2A kingdom's one strong now shaking. We trust forever in your name. The name of Jesus. We trust. We trust the name of Jesus.
You're the only king. You are the only king forever. A mighty God will lift you higher. You are victorious. Let's sing.
Lift our banner high. We lift our banner high. We lift our name of Jesus. From midst to which you reign, your kingdom has no We lift our banner ride. We lift the name of Jesus from edge to edge you reign.
Your kingdom has no end. Are victorious. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, lift higher. You are the only king forever.
Rivermore, you are victorious.
Speaker 3Would you pray with me? God, it is a privilege. It really is to be able to be here together to worship you. And, God, we we we say, we declare, we we sing, you truly are king forever. Your kingdom has no end.
God, would we consider that, ponder that today, that we're living not just for this kingdom right right here on Earth, but there's this is not our permanent home. It's not our permanent residence. It's with you, your kingdom. And, God, would you remind us of that this morning? In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Speaker 2Shaken. My fear doesn't stand the chance when I stand in of my Doesn't stand the chance when I stand in your love. Shame along has a place to hide. I am not a captive mind. I'm not afraid to leave my past behind.
I won't be shaken. I won't be shaken. My fear doesn't stand the chance when I stand
Speaker 3Here's a a verse to be encouraged by here. It's from Psalm twenty seven one. It says, the Lord's my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life.
Whom shall I be afraid?
Speaker 2How firm my foundation. How firm my foundation, you saint someone below, slayed for your faith in his acts of Jesus, firm foundation. So let's trust. So that is trusting in Jesus
Speaker 3You can have a a seat here for a moment. This is a worship through giving part of the the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and here's a good word from James one seventeen this morning. It says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Would you pray?
Speaker 1Sure. God almighty, thank you for the gifts that you have given, Lord, to have light light, to have just the ability to be able to see things, Lord, physically. And, Lord, I I pray that we'd be able to see things spiritually this morning. I pray that you would illumine your word like you do your world. God almighty, I thank you for all of the gifts that you've given to us, all the resources, Lord, in every way.
And I pray, Lord, that we'd be placing those back in the plate, that we wouldn't have some arbitrary standard or some something that is not led of your spirit, but we would be literally, Lord, led by your spirit to do what you would have us to do. Show us, Lord, the ways that you want us to offer. Show us the ways and give us the strength and the resources to do so. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on everything that'll go into these plates this morning or into whatever method people choose to give. And we pray that that would cause your word to go forth to the very uttermost parts.
Lord, but I pray that you would show us internally. You'd show us what what we need to give, what we need to surrender to you. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask your blessing on all that we will offer. We know that you, Lord, will do with it. What you only can do.
In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 2Your glory. Speak, oh Lord, and renew our minds. Help us grasp walk as you walk with us. Speak, oh Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory
Speaker 1Amen. And it is time for if it's Crystal's class downstairs for Children's Church. And there they go. How are y'all this morning? Good.
You look a little somber if I had to be honest about it. I wasn't really paying attention to you during the song service, but now that you're sitting down. This one this this service, this sermon if you want to call it that. It's Jesus's sermon on the mount. We already went through the introduction of that sermon last week, the beatitudes.
Those beatitudes or those blessings at the beginning of this. It sets up a very, very different sort of kingdom. It's different from every other worldly kingdom. It's different from every other nation or even subset within that nation. What Carl's gonna be talking about tomorrow night is how Jesus is calling the church out of the world, out of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
He's calling them out, but he's calling them into the ecclesia, the called out ones. They're called out to be salt and light. He is gonna fulfill the law, and then he's gonna give us the command today, actually. He's gonna give us some of the heightened commandments to live a completely different life as a subject of the kingdom of heaven, a subject of the kingdom of God. Your citizenship will be radically transformed by Jesus and by the gospel.
He he's gonna give six illustrations too, and we're gonna cover. It's a lot of ground to cover, especially since we've been covering a little bit at a time here lately, but I think it all goes together as a unit, and we'll go as far as we can today. Alright? Y'all listen fast. Salt and light first.
This is the way that it goes. 13 through 16, it says, you, collectively, this is a plural, you are the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth. Now who is the you right there?
We've already said that this is a sermon on the mount. He went up there and his disciples came to me. He called his disciples to him. He named the 12 in Luke. I think this is the same sermon.
He's presenting mainly to disciples and there are others also present. But that's kind of the way it always is, isn't it? When you're presenting, you're gonna be presenting to some people who are absolutely sold out completely and totally, and then there are gonna be stragglers. There are gonna be people that are just kinda coming in for whatever other reason. When he says, you are the salt of the earth, the disciples, those who are the real learners that are looking to their real teacher Jesus, they're the salt.
Disciples are the salt. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt collectively has become tasteless or lost its saltiness in some of your translations, how can it be made salty again? So if you're looking at this as a chemist and you say, well, salt is salt. And if salt has been made, it can't be made other than it is.
It has to be mixed with something else. Okay. Here we go. If the disciples collectively are the salt of the earth and that salt has become tasteless, bland just like everything else, you can look at it as tasteless. I I wouldn't translate it that way because I can't think of anywhere else where this word would be translated that way.
How can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people. Woah. That sounds awful too. It sounds really, really bad.
The crowd will just be trampling over it if it loses its character as salt. So let's go to the word. So morante. Aoris passive, subjunctive, third person, singular from Moreno. That was for Ben Walter right there.
It's to be foolish. If the salt has been made foolish. Actually, and b definitions here. If one has been made foolish or if one has turned to foolishness or has been turned to foolishness since it's passive. I think it's better the b definition here is if one has been tainted, and the one here is a collective.
It's the disciples or the church, maybe we'll call it the church. If the church has been tainted or if the church has become tasteless or if the church has been made useless, it has been rendered useless. How does that happen? I think that it happens and let's go back to the first world example that he's using. Salt is precious.
Salt is expensive. Salt is used for preserving. It's used for keeping meat for a long time before refrigeration. We all know that. I've heard that in a thousand sermons.
But if you think about that, when you're buying salt, you want for it to be salt, not something that looks like salt because there are other things that look like salt. You mix in a little bit of something that's cheaper than salt and you put it with the salt, and it only has a partial preserving, if any. And if it gets diluted to the point where it's mostly filler, mostly tainted, I mean, honestly, in these days, whenever we see something that's precious that's tainted with something else, it's usually drugs. It's on a cop show. Oh, they took the cocaine and they cut it down and they put baby powder and talcum and everything else in it to the point where it didn't get you as high.
It wasn't what it was supposed to do. Well, salt is supposed to do what salt is supposed to do, and it supposed to be very different from everything else. And if you start mixing in a whole lot of other fluff and it's not salt, it doesn't do the job. And so rather than take it as an individualistic individualistic American and just feel condemnation like, I didn't act very salty today. Well, okay, brush up.
That's fine. But if we collectively are not acting like Christ, we're not being salty. He definitely had a preserving influence. The church should have a preserving influence on everything around. We should not be foolish, turned towards foolishness.
Okay. Boy, we're just getting started. You are the light of the world. You're the light of the world. I actually really like that.
That that doesn't let me off the hook, but it makes me feel better that we all know that the church is supposed and sometimes, it looks just like the world around them. It looks just like everybody else. When it looks like everybody else, the crowd just tramples over it. There's nothing else that can happen. Not making any difference whatsoever.
If you live like Jesus, you'll make a difference. Just you will. He's already set us up last week to say, if you live this life, it'll make a difference, and you'll mourn, and you'll be poor in spirit, and you will hunger and thirst after righteousness, and you will be filled, but you can be a part of the kingdom of heaven now. You are the light of the world. And we already know Jesus says in another place, he's the light of the world.
He is the light of the world. But when he was preparing us to go out into the world, he says, you you are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. Now he's saying the disciples are equal to light. So salt and light, you are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill can't be hidden. Right. Because there's always gonna be something burning in every vantage point. We get a chance to see that here better than most. Right?
Whenever you see a light on a in a house up on the hill, you can see it for miles and miles and miles. You don't hide that. City set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp, put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. You want to get the light, I think of the houses the little house in Shiloh, Georgia we used to live in. It's a dog trot style, you know, two rooms on this side, two rooms on this side, the the hall down the middle.
And each room had one light bulb, and it was hanging straight from the center of the room just above my head, about this high above the head, so that every place in there could be hit by that light. If you move it any direction, it changes it, right? So you want to put it in an optimal place. I would say this is an optimal place to be light. We've got people coming from all over the world all the time.
We're outnumbered almost all the time, except shoulder season when we all leave. We're outnumbered. We get a chance to shine brightly. We get a chance to be salty. Your light, disciples, your light must shine before people in such a way that they, those people, may see your good works, and they're yours, and glorify your father who's in heaven.
You're incapable of good works outside of God Almighty. You're incapable of. Now there are nice things that we can do for other people. Yes. But your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and they go, wait a second.
That guy's not looking out for number one. Wait a second. There's something different about the way that that little group of people operates, and I like it. It's refreshing. It's preserving.
It's illuminating. It's inspiring. They're a church. There might be something to this. All of the arguing that we're all doing all the time, there might be something to a group of people that doesn't do what they do for themselves.
They do it for other people. They do it because they love God and they love people. Okay. We're gonna go on. But your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven.
And it's such a great thing that your father who's in heaven could become their father who's in heaven. He is working on building that up. Statement on fulfilling the law. Statement on fulfilling the law right here. Jesus is saying that he is don't even presume that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.
Don't even presume that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. Everything that has ever been written, I did not come to abolish, but I came to fulfill. I came to fulfill it. Now, the fulfilling of the law. When God gave the law to Moses, when he gave the law to his people, he gave it to them so that they could get along.
Does that make sense? They're standards. These things will help you get along. Love me and love one another. The first four commandments about loving God.
Last six are about loving the people. Don't presume that any of that is gonna be abolished by Jesus. It's fulfilled by Jesus. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter, a yod in Hebrew, or an iota, iota, an iota in Greek, the smallest letter. Or the smallest stroke of a letter, a serif.
You know the serif on the top of the letters that has that little ledge? That's not one iota, not one serif will pass away from the law until everything is accomplished. Then I I don't have the seven to seventeen year thing. I don't have it. I didn't have it last time.
We talked about it. You're deeply convicted about it, and I praise God that you're living your life every day for Jesus Until all is accomplished, and that is a future that is coming, and it should change the way that we live in the now. Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, these commandments, and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps them and whoever teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was keeping the law, and I know the pharisees were pointing out, but you broke the law here.
You broke the law here. Your disciples break the law here too. Jesus was fulfilling the law. He knew that Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Right?
He knew that. He had it under control. He understood it and he interpreted it perfectly. He shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. If we keep going.
For I say to you, disciples, that unless your righteousness, disciples, far surpasses, goes way beyond that of the scribes and pharisees, you will not enter a kingdom of heaven. Your righteousness has to be a derived righteousness. This derived from Christ, derived from God. Unless your righteousness far surpasses that of scribes or pharisee. There's an implication here.
You will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So one of those implications, the scribes and pharisees will not enter the kingdom of heaven. People are trusting in their own righteousness, their own interpretation of the law, their own interpretation of their surroundings and circumstances. One implication is that the scribes and pharisees will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Legalists don't make it.
Okay? So true disciples were drawn. God's righteousness, everything else is self righteousness, and that will not cut the mustard. Okay? That's that's not gonna do.
I say to you, unless your righteousness far surprise. So last week, said, blessed are you when you are mistreated in all these different ways when people say all kinds of evil things about you for my sake. Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst after righteousness. Your righteousness is gonna have to be derived from me and mine from my father and his spirit. It it far surpasses the scribes and pharisees.
Now the human instinct is to say, just tell us what the rule is and we won't break it. But is that true? No. That's not true. Let's give some illustrations.
Jesus gives six in a row, and they're pretty power packed. You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you, he's he's saying, you've heard this, and this is this is the rule. This is what I'm acknowledging this is the rule, and it's not gonna go away. But I say to you, it's even more than that. Every time, this is the common format.
You've heard that it was said, but I say unto you. The first one starts off with murder. It's slightly different in wording, but it's the same thing. You have heard that the ancients were told or you have heard that it was said. You shall not murder, and whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.
Obviously, there's a law. Right? We have a law in our land too, and if you break the law, you've got to pay the consequences. That's the way that it is. And murder, pretty much everywhere, murder is against the law.
You've heard that it was told, that the ancients were told, you shall not murder. That's one of the 10 commandments. Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court. But I say, you think he's gonna change it? He's definitely not going to knock it down or forbid it or he's not going to nullify it.
He says, but I say to you, everyone who's angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court. Where does murder start? It starts in the heart. And whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, shall be answerable to the supreme court, Jesus said. Who do you think Jesus thinks the supreme court is?
Jesus kept on entrusting himself to the one who judges rightly from Peter. I love that. Whoever is angry with his brother or whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing shall be answerable to the Supreme Court. Boy, that's convicting. It goes further, and whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Wow. How long do you have to listen to the television to hear one person call another person an idiot these days? Two minutes, a minute and a half? How long does it take for you to think it when you start watching the news? Whoever says, you fool, raka, shall be guilty enough to go into a fiery hell.
He's saying murder is the outward expression of something that we harbor in our hearts. He's asking for the law to be intensified, not nullified, for his disciples. And he's speaking straight to his disciples. This is something that you can go by the old rules if you want to. But if you're gonna be my disciple, you've gotta set the standards differently in your own mind and in your heart.
Therefore, if you're presenting your offering at the altar, that's the most holy thing you can do. Right? If you're presenting your offering at the altar and there you remember, in the midst of your worship, you remember, my brother has something against me. Not that I have something against my brother, that my brother has something against me, real or perceived. Leave your offering right there before the altar and go.
First, be reconciled to your brother. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. It we can be reconciled. It is possible. As much as it is possible with you, Paul said that.
Think that's the next slide. Is it yes, is. If it's possible. So far as it depends on you be at peace with all people. Think about this.
If you leave your offering there before the altar and go, first, you'd be reconciled to your brother, and then you come back and you present your offers. You present your offer knowing you've done everything you can to live at peace with other people. If possible, inasmuch as it depends on you, be at peace with all. Come to good terms with your accuser. Okay.
Somebody that has something against you is an accuser. Come to good terms with your accuser quickly while you're with him on the way to the court. As we're traveling through this life, we're all on our way to the court. Okay? Some of us have already been declared innocent and we know it.
I pray that that would inspire humility and not pride. If that inspires humility, we will do everything we can for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we'll go beyond that to the ones around so that they may see our good deeds. I don't want for anybody to have anything against me that's real. Come to good terms with your accuser quickly while you're with him on the way to the court so that your accuser won't hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer and you will not be thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you, you will not come out of there until you've paid up the last quadrans quadrans.
I'm going give you a break here. Quadrans is a little coin, a tiny little coin. It is virtually worthless. If I I tried to do the translation into today, if you count a denarius as a day's wage, a minimum wage, day's wage today, it's worth about $0.88 Okay? But that's not the way it was at the time.
This is stuff that you'd find around thrown in the streets because they were just about as worthless as pebbles. But this is one. That is also one. That's got Hercules on the front and a ship's Galilee on the back. That one's the first one was Augustus and the second one was earlier.
And that one's from the reign of Domitian, which was the book that was being written when John was writing Revelation. Next one, adultery. This one is an illustration. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. Well, that's one of the 10 commandments.
Yeah. We've heard that. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust and for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Watch. Out.
Jesus is making this more difficult. He's making it more intense. He's not nullifying the law. He's making it furthermore. Now he speaks hyperbolically, I believe.
Now, if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you, for it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you, for it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. He's saying that he's equating this with adultery, and he's right. It is. Starts in the heart.
Just like being angry and thinking someone is an idiot and thinking they're good for nothing leads to murder. If you start objectifying other people, you're heading towards adultery. Divorce. Now it was said whoever sends his wife away is to give her a certificate of divorce. That one is from the Mosaic law.
It is the way that it is to be it's the way that it was. That's the law of the land at the time of Jesus. That's the same law that said that Joseph could send Mary away quietly. He could, just in the presence of two or three witnesses, write her a certificate of divorce and be done with her. Whoever sends his wife away is to give her a certificate of divorce.
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery, he's saying the standard is much much much higher, much more different than it was. Now, when questioned later on about this, he said that divorce was allowed under the Mosaic Law because of the hardness of heart. And I know that there are hard hearts that still exist. Sometimes it's hard hearts on both sides.
Sometimes it's hard heart on one side. It's hard to say, and it is not the unforgivable sin, and I'll just say that flatly. He gives a good intensified reading of why it is that God hates divorce, which the Bible says in that. Okay. Next is oaths.
Oaths. Again, you've heard that the ancients were told, you shall make no false vows. Don't lie. But you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. If you say you're gonna do something, Lord, if you get me out of this situation, I promise I will never do it again.
Has anybody ever done that? That's the drinker's prayer or the mountain climber's prayer in my case. I'm not ever doing that again. You shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. You've heard that it was said.
He's going further. He says, I say to you, take no oath at all. Just don't be taking oaths. Don't do it by heaven or because it's the throne of God. That's his.
That's not yours. Nor by earth for it's the footstool of his feet. That too is his, not yours. Nor by Jerusalem, it's the city of the great king. That's mine, Jesus says.
Nor shall you take an oath by your head for you can't make a single hair white or black. You don't even control your own life like that. But make sure your statement is yes, yes or no, no. Let your yay be yay and your nay be nay. Anything else beyond this is of evil origin.
Anything beyond these is of evil origin. You shouldn't have to swear. You should just say what you mean and mean what you say. And that is going back to the earlier thing that you heard about fulfilling your vows, retaliation. Now we've got this in Luke.
In Luke's version of this story, he this stood out to me, the retaliation one. Matthew gives a pretty more a more ample version of, you've heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Speaker 2Can you
Speaker 1imagine that was the actual law? He knocked out your tooth, you get to knock out his tooth. Yes. Y'all can imagine it. Every single one of y'all is, yeah, that sounds reasonable.
That that is the human way. Well, he he killed my dog. I get to kill his dog. That that was the law. That was the law.
This is awful. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, don't show opposition against an evil person. Turn another cheek. That was what he said in Luke.
Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn other toward him also. You can take it. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, just let him have your cloak also. That is not the way the world lives, is it? Fight tooth and nail, never admit you're guilty.
Never. Let him have your cloak also, Whoever forces you to go within one mile. And that was the rule Roman soldiers could say to anybody under Roman occupation, anybody, you, you're carrying my pack for the next mile. And they handed off their big satchel and all their stuff, and you were carrying it for the next mile. Jesus says, if somebody forces you to go one mile, go ahead and go two.
That's confusing for the world. A mile is a long time. Why would you go the second mile? Can you imagine that being a question? Well, I serve a different master.
It's not because I'm afraid of Rome. I'm just trying to help you in your day. Whoever forced you to go one mile, go with them too. Give to him who asked of you, Luke said this too, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. Give it to him.
What you've got to give and they ask for, give it to them. Do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. Loving your enemies. Loving your enemies tops off the list. You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
That's the way of the world, isn't it? Does everybody do that? Pretty much. Naturally. I love my family.
My mama took care of me. But that guy on the other side of town, he's always nasty and mean. I can't stand that guy. What an idiot. Jesus said, you've heard it was said, it's good to love your neighbor, but you can hate your enemy.
He's your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Boy, would that change your life if you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Wow. So that, why?
So that you may prove yourself to be sons of your father who's in heaven. Because this is the way God is. God is gracious, Luke said, to evil and ungrateful people so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your father who's in heaven for he causes his son. It's his son, and he causes it to rise on the evil and the good. And he sends rain, which is a good thing, on the righteous and the unrighteous.
He is gracious to people who are in opposition to him. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? Jesus is using examples. Tax collectors absolutely hated.
Right? I've I've mentioned this multiple times, but if you are if your country has been taken over by an occupying force and then some of your countrymen set up to be tax collectors to pay their salary, that's pretty rough. But even tax collectors love who they love and hate the others. What reward do you have? Even tax collectors do the same.
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? I like it when churches are a tight knit family, but I don't like it when they're a tight knit family that circle the wagons and they're looking inward and they don't ever look outward and they're not ever bringing anybody else in. If you greet only your brothers and your sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? So he's listed tax collectors and Gentiles.
Gentiles is everybody else. And when he's speaking to the disciples, the disciples, grown up good little Jewish boys. Right? They knew that they were the chosen people of God. They understood that their their people were a different people.
They've been called out, and they had these standards that the world didn't have, and they were more intense than the world's standards. And Jesus is upping the ante again and he's saying, we have to live differently. We have to live differently. And we have to control those things that start in the heart. Now, therefore, you shall be perfect.
This is what he ends with. Or he doesn't end with. This is just the middle of the sermon. This is the end of my sermon. Therefore, because of all that, I've intensified the rules.
Now, because of all that, you shall be in perfect. Perfect is the word there. And for us, especially for those of us who struggle with perfectionism I don't, by the way. Maybe you can tell. In certain areas, I do.
When I'm painting, I want things to be sanded very well before and, you know, painted well, but I don't struggle with it most of the time. Therefore, you shall be perfect. Perfect, this is the word, teleoi. And you might recognize it as being like to telestai. It is finished or it is complete that Jesus said from the cross.
You might recognize it as telescope, like something that you see the end from far away. Teleoi is mature or whole. It is derived from telos, which is a consummated goal. It is mature from going through the necessary stages to reach the end goal. Going through the necessary stages to reach the end goal.
Developed into completion by fulfilling the necessary process. It's a spiritual journey. And if I were to say the mighty oak, if you think about an oak tree, you can look at it from a distance and it's in the field by itself and you go, Man, what a perfect specimen that is of oak tree. But the honest truth is that oak was perfect from the time it was an acorn. It was an acorn perfect.
And as it was growing into a little shoot out of the ground, perfect. Now was it the perfect example of the mighty oak? But it was headed that direction. And it was as far along as it could be at that point. That's what this word is saying.
Developed into completion by fulfilling the necessary process, a spiritual journey, reaching the end, the aim. Therefore, you shall be as much as you can be at this point. The kingdom of heaven is now, he said that last week. But there are some future steps and there are future things to be completed. If you go forward in humility, recognizing the gift that God has given you and recognizing the source of strength that he has provided for you, you can walk forward and your life will become more and more pure and you can become more and more perfect on your way to glorification, on your way to it.
Therefore, you shall be perfect. I like this. Jay Walvert said this in Matthew, Thy kingdom come. It's a book from the seventies. While sinless perfection is impossible, godliness in its biblical concept is attainable.
I agree with that. Victorious Christian living is possible if you humbly submit your will to the will of God. Sinless perfection is impossible. I agree with that too. Godliness in its biblical concept though is attainable.
So therefore, you shall be perfect as, and as is this, hos, hos. As, like, as, even as, when, since, as long as, as, like, as, about, as it were, according as, how, when, why, while, as, soon, so that it's an adverb. Being perfect in the same way or since. Because, how, while, because God is perfect and he's offered me his spirit. He's offered me his life on the cross.
Since he has done that and since he has given me his spirit, it is possible for me to live in victory. And I think I go back to this, as did I just leave it out? I did. Your heavenly father is perfect. That's the last slide.
As your heavenly father is perfect. If you would stand with me, I'd appreciate it. We're gonna sing Christ be all around me. That's our hope. That is our only hope.
Do you believe that Christ walked in sinlessness? I do believe that. And because he did, he offered his perfect life in exchange for our imperfect ones. Sometimes, our interpretations are imperfect and they lead us into sin. Sometimes, our understanding is imperfect all the time and it leads us into distraction.
But Christ is offering us the possibility of his perfect record and the spirit of God that led him into that is available to everyone who believes. In Jesus name, lord, I pray that you would be all around us, that we'd internalize this message, and that you'd begin to remove those things that are contrary to your law of grace. Amen. Alright. Y'all can have a seat for just a second.
Kevin Wedgeworth, would you come forward? Mike and Linda, would you all come forward too? Can I get the elders too to come forward right now? I just wanna say goodbye, actually. Kevin's moving this week to Washington State today.
Yeah. He's moving, like, in the next thirty minutes. And we just wanna ask a blessing on him and his family too because they're saying goodbye too. We love you. God almighty, we pray that you'd go above and below, ahead of, and behind, that you'd follow him, Lord, that you would continue to grow him up in your good grace.
I thank you for all that he has on the road before him. I thank you for the way he's walked this path with us for the past few years. And I just pray, Lord, that you would take this servant of yours and do amazing things in his life, through his life. I pray for him in future relationships, all of them, Lord. I pray that he'd have an impact as an EMT and paramedic and ambulance driver there in Washington.
I pray, Lord, that you would do all that you can through the sultan light of that community. May he be a part of the solution, Lord, and not a part of the problem. In Jesus' name, we thank you for our time spent with this brother. We pray that you'd take his road forward. He would remember well and go forward in the grace of God.
In Jesus name, we ask a blessing. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jeff. And for this morning, y'all can stand and I can say goodbye.
Seeking first. Josh, you're here, but can we wait on the covenant ceremony? Okay. We're gonna wait. We've got a couple of couples, and one of them was not able to be here this morning because of sickness.
We've got a lot of that going on, so we'll just catch it next time, but that's Josh back there. Would y'all do this with me this week? Seek fervently the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he'll give you everything you need. He'll do everything that he needs to do. Would you be submitting to him and seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
He'll add everything else. All that we need. In Jesus name, lord. Amen.
