Charity is one of the things that people point to to try and show that even secular and atheist people can be "good people" too. There are many philanthropic people who appear to be completely altruistic in their motives, but only God can really see a person's heart and know why they are giving and if they are giving out of some sense of obligation or compulsion, or if they are truly giving out of a gracious and generous heart inspired by the grace and generosity that God has shown to them. Remember that ultimately it's about pointing people back to God's goodness, His love, and what He has done for us.
Here's the text: Giving to the Needy 1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. This may require some context. The Pharisees wanted people to know how much they gave and want to be recognized by men. They would have trumpets blow and they would drop a lot of coins into the offering so that it would make a lot of noise and everyone would notice them and their gift. Since this kind of giving brings glory to man and not to God, God says that their recognition is their only reward they will receive. We instead are told to give in secret. If no one knows our identity, then the only person to thank for the gift is God, who is the ultimate provider of everything we have anyways. The expression "do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing" is not abundantly clear, but I look at it this way....it takes two hands to count out the exact amount of money that you want to give, like if you are trying to give only what is required of you. You are going to give your 10% and not one penny more for instance. But it only takes one hand to blindly reach into your pocket and pull out whatever you have and drop it into the offering without looking at it. This is not to say that we should give thoughtlessly, but we shouldn't be stingy. We don't even own anything ourselves anyways. Also, I don't think this passage has a lot to do with giving at church and can be applied to our personal relationships too. When you see someone in need, be ready and willing to give as the Lord has blessed you. Give immediately without reservation, give cheerfully, and give in a way which brings glory to God and not to you. The gift will bless both the recipient and the giver.
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Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is probably one of the most characteristic parts of true believers--They'll Know We are Christians By Our Love.is a hymn based on this passage and many others like it (I've linked to a slightly modernized version of the hymn). Such love is not natural, and it obvious to others that something within us has changed from the way we used to be before Christ. It is so much so that sometimes this is enough to help us as Christians identify one another without even needing to say anything else. But "love" like so many other words has been perverted by the world to mean something that it's not. Here Jesus tells us love everyone, even if they don't love us, because this is the way the Father in heaven loved us. John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life." God did not wait for us to love Him before He loved us and gave the ultimate sacrifice. If we only love those who love us, we could easily be mistaken for the pagans (the ungodly) in this world who already live by that code, but we are called to a high standard--to have a perfect love like that of the Father that points people to Him and glorifies Him in all that we do. There are a couple of short passages here again that I'm going to try to talk about together. The first one is about vows and oaths. This is not telling people to never enter into a covenant with someone else (never promise to do anything(, but instead to never get to the point where you need to "swear to God" or "I swear on my mother's grave" or any of the other meaningless oaths that we know usually mean that the person is lying and has no value for the truth or the person or thing that they they are swearing to or by. The Pharisees at the time had come up a whole system of ways in which if they swore in a particular way, it was binding, but if they swore in another similar way it was not binding. Jesus said this entire system was ridiculous and that His people were to be people whose word was their bond and that they simply should need to say "Yes" or "No" and people would believe them. Anything else that they would need to say is sinful.
Next, Jesus talked about the idea of taking vengeance into your own hands, specifically in a case where someone is suing you in a way that is not proportionate to the crime that value of their loss (think of the millions of dollars that are awarded in damages in some of the "pain and suffering" lawsuits). Jesus said that it's not up to us to get even and to go along when even when we're being personally taken advantage of because we know God sees all and will eventually set everything right. It is not our place to avenge perceived injustices against us. This is not to say that we don't believe in the criminal justice system or the authority of government to punish evildoers (see Romans 13 for that), but that Christians should not have a "vigilante justice" mindset or one of holding grudges and needing to "get even" with people. This just shows a lack of trust in the justices and judgement of God and that we believe that we need to take things into our own hands because we don't believe He's powerful enough or good enough to handle it Himself, and that's not the kind of message we as believers need to portray. In this next section, Jesus addresses the sanctity of marriage by addressing issues of adultery and divorce. Much like today, Jesus' culture had gotten to the point where they essentially had "no-fault" divorces where the man could request a divorce from his wife for any reason by simply writing a letter stating his complaints and getting a certificate of divorce issued. Sometimes the issue was as silly as that she burnt the toast. Jesus makes it clear that this was never God's plan.
Marriage is to be a symbol here on earth of God's everlasting, unconditional covenant with His people (whether that be the nation of Israel or the Church). When we tell each other that we last each other with an everlasting love and then break that vow, it causes others to doubt that God could love us with an everlasting love. This is especially harmful to children whose only knowledge of a covenant relationship may be the relationship between their father and mother. Returning to the text, Jesus says that marital unfaithfulness doesn't necessarily have to be physical, but could just as easily be emotional and mental. "...I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully, has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Again, Jesus internalizes the commandment and makes the people aware that sin first starts with a lust in the heart and that each of us are drawn away by our own evil desires. Jesus then makes a bold statement. "29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." Wow! How are we to interpret that? Literally? Should we really be going around gouging out our eyes and cutting off our hands? I don't necessarily think so, but the message is clear that is something is causing you to sin or making you stumble and you have the choice to cut it out of your life, do so--this may be a relationship, a place of entertainment, maybe even a particular route that you drive home which makes you have to go past a particular place of temptation. It is better for you handicap yourself in life by cutting off those things that are causing you to sin than to not lose these things and have them pull you away from God and possibly even to an eternity in hell separated from God. I'm not saying that Jesus is saying you can lose your salvation, just that things like this might even keep you from wanting to be saved because you refuse to give up your sin and let Jesus be Lord of that area of your life. Jesus is Lord of all--even our sex lives. Returning to the issue of divorce, Jesus then says that the only permissible reason for divorce is sexual immorality, however, He does not say that someone must divorce for this reason. We see in the book of Hosea that God compares His people to a sexually promiscuous woman who keeps being unfaithful to her husband even though He is faithful to her and keeps buying her back out of the sex slave market that she keeps getting herself into. God had every right to say "I want a divorce" and makes this point known, but He also says that for the sake of His name and His reputation, He will not break his covenant with His people because then the nations would say that He never really loved them and was unable and unwilling to keep His covenant. We must really think about this before we are so quick to get a divorce, because, as I said before, this affects how others (especially children) view God's covenant relationship with us--especially since one of the ways it is described throughout the Bible is a spousal or marital relationship. Jesus also expressly forbids marrying a divorced person. I won't add to this or attempt to explain it, but I don't think the meaning can be mistaken for anything else. "31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." This is reiterated by Paul in I Corinthians 7, "10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife."--the passage continues to say that only in a situation where there is a marriage between an unbeliever and a believer (presumably one of them was saved after they were married) and the unbelieving spouse wants to leave, the believing spouse should let it happen. There is no teaching from Paul or Jesus that ever says that a believer should initiate a divorce. If you have committed sexual sin or been through a divorce, or even remarried, there is grace and forgiveness, but do not fall into the hyper-grace movement which says that you can continue to sin because God's grace will cover all your sins past, present and future. Hebrews 10:26 says, "26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left," and I John 3:6 says, "6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." and verse 9 continues saying, "9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." If we choose our sin over God, we have made our choice over which is master and Lord over us and we have never really made Jesus Savior and Lord. For those that are in a position to still make peace and be reconciled, do whatever you can to do so. If your unfaithful spouse does not want reconciliation (Paul assumes this would be because they are "unbelieving" when he talks about this in I Corinthians), then This is not a pleasant passage to cover and I know it sounds very legalistic, but it is part of the "identity" that Christ says His followers should have. We should live in a way that is different and counter-cultural and brings glory and honor to God, and we should choose to obey His commandments because we love Him, even when it is inconvenient or possibly oppressive for us, and we must trust God to take care of us when our spouse doesn't always love us the way that God does. We need to be careful to not add or take away anything from the Word of God, even if we are well-meaning. I know many pastors that won't preach this passage because there are divorced or remmaried people in their congregation--shame on them. I also know Christians that act like all divorced people and all adulterers are immediately irredeemable and on their way to hell because they misuse this passage...shame on them too. I'll finish by posting this final passage from I Corinthians 6. It speaks of the the old nature and the new nature as well as why sexual purity and integrity is of such importance. 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 New International Version (NIV) 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. The next major section of the Sermon on the Mount takes the form of "You have heard it said.....but I say." Jesus is addressing that fact that there were people who looked to be law-keepers who were actually law-breakers because they had committed the sin in their heart or mind or had obeyed with wrong intentions or motives. As Jesus holds up the mirror to us to show us what we really look like to God, what is our reaction going to be?
First Jesus establishes a very important point. Nothing that He is about to say abolishes any part of the Law or the Old Covenant. Instead, Jesus is the one--the only one--that would completely obey the Law and would fulfill every requirement and that not even the smallest part of the Law would disappear until "everything is accomplished." There is some question as to exactly when that is. Some think that happened at the cross while others think that this won't happen until this creation passes away and God makes a new heaven and a new earth (described in Revelation 21 and 22). I'd argue that it has not happened yet because of the following verses where Jesus identifies His true followers as those who love the Law and choose to obey it, and likewise anyone who shows contempt for the Law shows contempt for the Law Giver (God) and will be reckoned "the least in the kingdom of heaven." It does not directly say that they will not be part of the kingdom, but this seems to be implied later in Chapter 7 when Jesus says to the group that says to Him "Lord, Lord" and lists their works and replies, "Depart from Me you who who practice lawlessness (live as if there is no Law), I never knew you." Please note that I'm not saying that adherence to the Law saves you, but I am saying (and Jesus is saying) that if you love the Law Giver, then you will love and obey the Law. If you do not love and obey the Law, then it is impossible that you love the Law Giver. Jesus then breaks down some of the commandments that we are oh so quick to say, "Well, at least I'm not guilty of THAT one." For instance, "You shall not murder." Seems pretty easy. If you never kill anyone you can't be guilty of this right? Wrong! Jesus says that if you hate someone so much that you've wished they were dead or fantasized about killing them, you have already committed the sin of murder in your heart. If you hate someone so much that you believe you would be better off without them, then you are a murderer at heart. Whoa, hold on there Jesus. That's a pretty high bar. And just who is He to think He can go around and change the Law and tell us that we don't understand what it means and that God originally intended the Law to mean something higher than what our current understanding is? Jesus then tells the people that if they don't have their "horizontal" relationships right with each other, then they must make things right before bringing their sacrifice to the altar to worship in a "vertical" direction. We are also told to admit our mistakes and immediately try to make restitution and to avoid needing to be taken to court for restitution to be made. This especially should never happen among two followers of Christ. That's some pretty heavy stuff, but it's not over yet. The next two sections will discuss sexual sin, so I'll cover them together in the next edition of the blog. Matthew 5:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV) Salt and Light 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. I'm only going to take a small set of verses today because I believe these verses stand alone and are extremely important. They are about to set up everything else that Jesus is about to say. Since the passage is so short, I'll simply quote it here:
These verses are so familiar to use that we may simply quote them without really thinking about what Jesus is saying here. Do you mistake salt for anything other than salt or light for anything other than light? Their presence and identity can't be confused with anything else and they are fundamental components of every person's everyday life-even more so in the 1st century. Both items were precious, so much so that that the Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt as a currency--hence the expression that "someone is worth his salt." It is necessary to live, it adds flavor to our food and preserves it from decay. It can be used to clean our wounds (though this is painful when it happens), and to melt ice to make the road safe, and so many other things. Back at that time and even today, salt was stored in large piles, but unlike today, these piles may have been exposed to the elements. As it rained on the salt pile the water would cause the salt to break down and the salt would "lose its saltiness." At that point you have a tasteless crystal that really doesn't have any of the benefits that salt would normally have and is good for nothing. It looks the part, but when you examine it by trying to put it to work it does nothing because it no longer has the properties or characteristics that people expect and need salt to have. Translation--what good is it to look the part of a believer but be utterly useless to the work that God has called you to do because you aren't the genuine article? That type of person is no better than the useless salt crystals that had to be thrown out on the road for people to trample upon and be ground to dust. While that's a pretty strong message, Jesus isn't finished yet. Next, Jesus compares us to light. There is no mistaking darkness for light or light for darkness. The light that Jesus is talking about here is probably a small oil lamp like the ones he talks about in the Parable of the The Ten Virgins in Matthew 25. Oil (which usually symbolized the Holy Spirit) would be used along with a small wick to provide light. As long as there was oil in the lamp the light could be kept burning--this is the significance of the Jewish holiday called Hanukkah. The lamp cannot burn without the fuel there...much the same way, we cannot be a light source to the world without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit within us. But how silly would it be for someone to go through the trouble of pressing the olives into oil and trimming the wick and lighting the lamp only to put it under a bowl or basket of some kind where its light was hidden? Again, this would defy the purpose of the lamp to let its light shine and drive away the darkness. Such a lamp should never have been lit in the first place and is simply a waste. No, the purpose of a lamp is to be placed up high where it can give light to everyone in the house because you want line of sight from everywhere without obstruction or interference. In the same way, Christ's light needs to be able to shine in and through us without hindrance or obstruction with the ultimate goal of bringing glory to Him and to the Father. The light exposes what is broken but does not necessarily fix it. It shows what it is dirty, but it does not clean it, but it does drive away the darkness and the creatures of the night that cannot stand its presence. The light shows people the path but it does not make them take it. It shows them the way home, but does not make them follow it. In the next portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will build on this idea of being counter-cultural as the speaks to a society steeped in the Law of Moses and the tradition of the Pharisees. These rulers looked the part at first but were no more effective than salt that had been left out in the rain or a lamp that had been put under the bowl. They intentionally refused to share the truth that God had given them with the nations around them because they believed "those people" didn't deserve God's love and revelation. Does this sound like any of us? The promise was made, He of the right pedigree, the harbinger has announced His coming, God Himself has given His approval, and He's defeated His enemy under the toughest of circumstances. The people are gathering around Him in expectation for healing, comfort and to hear what new teaching He's going give. Jesus starts in a place that might make us scowl and wrinkle our foreheads a bit, even if we weren't there expecting Him to establish His kingdom. It is a strange place to start, but it seems to reach back to Psalm 1
In both cases we find a description of a man who is in a right state of being and is therefore able to be blessed by God. It can be argued that Psalm 1 actually is a Messianic Psalm as no human other than Jesus Himself can fit the description of the first three verses. When we let Jesus live in and through us we too resemble Him and that is what the Beatitudes are all about. We cannot do these things on our own, and it is not a list of commandments for us to try to do to earn favor and blessing from God. It is a list of things that are antithetical to our human nature that show us that we need a new nature that only Christ can give us. As we learn to let Christ live in and through us, we experience the blessings of God that are promised here in both Psalm 1 and Matthew 5:1-11. "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3 NIV).
As we read through more of the Sermon on the Mount, realize like the people of the time that no one can possibly live up to these standards. The bar was already too high with the Law, and Jesus raised it even higher so that it became obvious to everyone that they were a Law-breaker, even those who prided themselves on being more righteous than most. Those who already honest about their state of being weren't really shocked to hear this...they already knew they had an insurmountable debt. These people had been rejected by the pious and elitist civil and religious leaders of the time, but Jesus was ready to give grace, hope and compassion to them because they knew the only way forward was to ask God to forgive their sins. There was no way that their balance sheet could ever balance by them doing enough good works. |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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