Riffing on Lust, Adultery, & Divorce: A Spoken-word Reflection on Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:27-32

As we have seen Jesus consistently challenging the stance of legalism as being deficient in righteousness, we have learned that the law extends to the level of our thoughts and emotions. Matthew 5:27-32 certainly is an expansion of his beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart..." and reveal the startling truth that we are not pure in heart. So, I approached this difficult section of the Sermon on the Mount using a more emotional, soul-level, spoken-word poetic/prophetic approach. While I am not Prince Ea and there is no sick beat or music video to back it, I hope it impacts you as strongly as I have felt its message this week. 

Lust…

A stolen look, a coveting glance, did anyone see me?

Boy, I’d kill for another.

I’m telling you straight up when you are enslaved to lust

                   it doesn’t matter what day it is,

                You just want to offer twisted worship before your mirrored idol.

If your mother heard what you were thinking, she would throw up...

But then you don’t speak the truth anyway,

              starting with lying to yourself behind the façade of privacy,

   so others merely suspect what you are all about....

                                            That you are taking God’s name,

                                                    his holy character, in vain.

    And in a thought indulged

                        and appetite embraced,

                                 all the commandments lie shattered at our feet.

Exchanging truth for a lie,

              freedom for bondage,

         relationship for a transaction

             a subject for an object

Even though God knows their name

      you treat them like products to consume

                                          and then assume to presume

       upon their rejected redeemer to give you a pass…

because you can’t help yourself

                  as you help yourself time and again

                to what is not yours.

Lust gives poor return on our investment for like a casino

the odds are not in our favor outside the kingdom of heaven…

the bitter aftertaste is deadly

                            and contagious.

Adultery…

Rooted in discontent and rebellion

                                       against God

                                       and our spouse

                                            or the spouse of another…

following the maxim that stolen fruit is sweet,

 but not realizing that sin,

                           like poison from an ant trap

                                      is carried home with us to kill our family.

A tearing of affection away from God and his gifts

                                                    to pursue that which,

                                                                      though it looks good for food

will only leave us naked

                     and ashamed,

                     and afraid to enter into real relationship.

Giving away pieces of our heart, soul, even body

                     and receiving nothing that lasts in return.

Or perhaps we distance ourselves,

                taking back our affection and intimacy

                        from the one to whom it belongs by holy covenant

        so that we can break out against all reason

                                                against all trust

                            to draw another into our dinner date with the dead.

Such soul infection cannot be hidden forever,

           for either sin finds us out in conviction

                                               or in getting caught.

                   We might think we are clever covering our tracks,

                                       yet God knows

                                              and feels the pain of our betrayal

         right from the first longing that we cast away

                    to another who knows not

                                  that they are merely a temporary stand-in for our own ego.

Will we stop and look up to meet God’s patient gaze

                                in time to hear the rooster of conviction crowing?

Will we like Simon weep bitterly at our repeated denial?

Divorce…

The death and burial of the two become one that God brought together.

A public killing of one of God’s creations.

Since Adam and Eve disturbed the peace

                                               of the cosmos in self-promotion,

                                                                  their selfish actualization cost us all.

               But we fall close to the proverbial tree,

                                                   judging for ourselves

that this daily walking together in the cool of the day is pointless.

                     We want to choose our own path.

                     We want to make our own way.

                     We want to play the field,

                                        explore our options,

                    stop having to share ourselves

                                              with the wife/husband of our youth;

                                                  Breaking faith all too willingly.

            Sure there are reasons,

                                        hurts,

                                             failures- a-plenty.

                   There always are.

             Sure we can make a case for it

                  if we try hard enough even lobbying support

                                                                          from family and friends,

      but that merely exposes our own hard-stony-heart

                                                                      that has not been changed

                    by the love of Christ into living beating flesh.

If it had…

           would we not rather accept the disappointments,

                             even the small niggling defraudings

                                          that come from living in community

                                                                   with an imperfect person

                                                                                          like ourselves?

        Why draw away instead of drawing near?

                                   Oh, let not man separate

                                           what God has brought together,                                                                        

                                     but instead learn to forgive

                            and trust the One who died,

                            and now lives, to bring wholeness

                                                                     into our lives!

Divorce breaks the vessel that Jesus is shaping…on the potter’s wheel of life

              I don’t want to be that guy…you know…

       The one who breaks God’s stuff.

                     Who rebukes the Lord’s stated purpose,

           “Far be it from you, Lord! 

                 This shall never happen to you.”

Yet just because I didn’t pay a lawyer

                                   or sign the paper

                              doesn’t mean I am free and clear.

Where is my heart?

           Am I laying down my life, like Jesus did,

                                 to walk in love towards my spouse?

      Or am I continuing to deny them delivery

                                       of the love Jesus has sent them in care of me?

God hates divorce, because it kills a relationship

                                         and wreaks more havoc than any terrorist plot.

Fact is, we all have failed.

 But do we really know it,

                               feel it,

                       cringe at it?

       Do we sense our utter lostness,

                            our disembodied desperation,

                                                               apart from Christ?

Or has the soul-numbing influence of our sin habit

                                   self-medicated us to the point of insensibility?

Our destiny hangs in the balance…so what will we do next?

Jesus calls to us,

                 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. “

                     Run to the One who loves you too much

                                                  to leave you unchanged…

                          and He will run to meet you! 

Murder, Madness & Muttering

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), Jesus made it clear that he had not come to destroy the law of God but to make sure that it is fulfilled in any and every way that it needs to be fulfilled (5:17-20). He concluded this section affirming the permanence of the Old Testament (lit. “the Law & the Prophets”) with the charge to his disciples that “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” that they would never, no not ever, enter the kingdom of heaven. Those were shocking words then and still are today! The thought that their righteousness would have to exceed that of the most legalistically righteous people in their world must have driven home their spiritual bankruptcy to them to their benefit (“blessed are the poor in spirit” v.3).

However, the righteousness of the Pharisees was legalistic and legalistic righteousness is flawed in that it goes to great lengths to precisely define the dos and don’ts in order to actually relax the real demands of God’s law on their lives. As R. Kent Hughes once wonderfully preached,

“The Pharisees’ righteousness was not so great. It was merely external. It focused on the ceremonial. Its man-made rules actually were unconscious attempts to reduce the demands of the Law and make it manageable. Those rules insulated them from the Law’s piercing heart demands. These men were self-satisfied….[but Jesus] was explaining in the most dramatic terms the impossibility of salvation apart from grace.”[1]

It was this Pharisaic tendency to attempt to make the Law “manageable” that prompted Jesus to address six examples (Matthew 5:21-48) or antitheses where there had come a relaxing or corruption of the original heart of God communicated in the law. He uses the formula, “You have heard that it was said…But I say to you…” to delineate each of the six examples.

This week, we will look briefly at the first law Jesus addressed the 6^th Commandment, the prohibition against murder. The Pharisaical view, legalistic righteousness, concludes that if we haven’t actually criminally killed someone then we have kept the 6^th commandment. Jesus takes a very different view.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. (v. 21-22)

Jesus was saying that murder starts in the heart when we act out our anger towards others because they get in the way of our having what we want when we want it. Such outbursts fail to recognize the image of God present in each and every person we meet. Our bullying words assault, abuse, and assassinate character long before blood is shed. Jesus says that waiting for blood to be shed is too easy and not worthy of the kingdom of heaven.

In addition to acting out our anger towards another, Jesus drove the 6^th Commandment even deeper into hearts and souls with the warning against speaking or thinking contempt for another person’s intellect or position (‘raca’ v.22). Likewise, there is no place for speaking or muttering contempt for the character of others even if we disagree with what they stand for. We are not to label others as clueless, worthless, or hopeless for that is not what God says about them. Such murderous labels kill our ability to see what God is doing in the life of another. Such pride deceives us into thinking that we are righteous in our own strength, ideas, and worth…killing our ability to enter the kingdom by grace through faith.

The only way we can enter and exist in the kingdom of heaven it to repent of our selfish pride, and its offspring—angry outbursts, verbal abuse, and inward contempt. Remember that this repentance is relational; it is not just a change of behavior but a returning to the Lord Himself! Jesus gives two examples of how we should apply this commandment and they both center on the urgent need for reconciliation—with our brothers and sisters that we have offended, and with our God to whom we owe more than we could ever pay. Jesus desires relationships to be healed not severed. In fact, 1 John 4:19-21 makes it clear that we cannot love God if we hate people.

I am reminded that Psalm 133:1-2 says,

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
    when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
    running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
    running down on the collar of his robes!

The “precious oil” was the oil used only for anointing the High Priest, the Ark of the Covenant, and the furniture and utensils of the holy place—the sanctuary of the Lord. This olive oil contained large quantities of myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, and other fragrant ingredients (Ex. 30). Why do I mention this here? Because the word picture powerfully communicated to the ancient worshipper (on his way to offer his gifts at the altar of the Temple) the same message Jesus returns to in his examples. Simply put, when brothers dwell in reconciled unity it smells like heaven! O Lord Jesus, please bring the scent of heaven to our relationships today! Let heaven’s work be done in this community!

Jesus spoke with authority, not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Will we let him do that in our hearts, minds, words, and actions this week?

---

[1] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, 96-97.

Freedom's Fireworks

The earliest memories I have of the Fourth of July, Independence Day, are of sitting on a grassy hill with my grandparents, licking a See's caramel lollipop, and watching the fireworks display. To my four-year-old eyes it was all quite amazing.

Fireworks used to be a sign of great rejoicing at some great victory or deliverance from some despotic oppressor. If the Israelites had possessed fireworks certainly they would have been a part of Miriam's celebration of Israel's escape through the Red Sea and God's destruction of the Egyptian army, or to celebrate the long-awaited birth of Abraham's son Isaac, or perhaps the routing of the Philistine army after David's duel with Goliath. It's not a stretch for me to imagine that there are fireworks in heaven every time a sinner responds in faith to the gospel message (Luke 15:10), or to hear the angelic victory shout when a Christian overcomes some temptation to walk in obedience, the loving response of discipleship.

It is an oppressed man's burning desire for freedom that makes him willing to sacrifice everything to obtain it, if not for himself then for his family and countrymen. And when they are finally free they rejoice. However, those who never realize that they live in bondage, desire only their own pleasure, and unknowingly are selling their souls for a show. I wonder if we don't know too much about what makes for a good show and have too little firsthand experience of the joy that comes with true deliverance and freedom.

This year as we celebrate our country's freedom, let us remember that freedom requires sacrifice. Brave men and women established this country's independence at a great personal cost nearly 239 years ago. I don't think we can fully experience the joy of political liberty on Independence Day unless we have lived without it. Most of us have not experienced the oppressions (past and present) under fascist, communist, or Islamist governments. Perhaps if you are a minority group in the midst of an insensitive dominant culture you have known systemic racism and prejudice even here in America. However, we have all known the oppression of sin and death working in our lives and families. Yet, we can know a much deeper joy as we are reminded of the great victory and deliverance Jesus has worked on our behalf! The very colors of our flag, the red, white, and blue, so prominent during this season can serve to remind us of the freedom we have in Jesus Christ (John 8:36) and motivate us to stand with the oppressed and huddled masses wherever we may find them.
 

Red—Rose red, the color of love. God's love poured out on us in the person of his Son. Sin red, the color of our guilt (Isaiah 1:18). Blood red, the color of the covenant. Jesus shed his precious blood to purchase our freedom from sin and death if we confess our guilt and repent (1 John 1:9) not just as individuals but as a society. Red reminds us to take up our cross and follow him... "loving not our own lives even unto death" (Rev. 12:11).

White—Pure white, the color of innocence, peace, and healing. Through Jesus' death on the cross, we have been washed whiter than snow. We have been justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, not by our own works or ethnicity. We can now stand before God, white and clean, just as if we had never sinned. We surrender our rights for the sake of peace and leverage our privilege for justice and the healing of the sick and injured, in love binding up their wounds.

Blue—True blue, the color of undying loyalty reminds us of God's faithfulness and of our commitment to him. Heavenly blue, the color of our eternal hope in Christ. The reminder that when we follow Jesus, we have eternal life to look forward to—no matter what our current circumstances may be. It reminds me that we are not accepted by God because we are worthy, but because he is, and he has invited us all into his family. 

Here is a brief clip of the July 4th, 2015 fireworks from our local Minor League Baseball team, the Hillsboro Hops.

 

Salt & Light: Witnesses of the Kingdom

Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth,

            but if salt has lost its taste,

how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything

                                    except to be thrown out

                                                  and trampled

                                                            under people's feet.

“You are the          light of the world.

            A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,

                                                          but on a stand,

    and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way,

          let your light shine before others,

                       so that they may see your good works

                              and give glory to your Father

                                                                     who is in heaven.

We began our study through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) by examining the “Blessed are the…” statements that are called beatitudes (5:1-12). These statements, the norms of “the kingdom of heaven”, reveal how God sees and values those whom the world so often rejects and even persecutes. These brief statements seem to be expanded and explained throughout the rest of Jesus’ famous sermon. This week’s passage (5:13-16) is no exception.

Salt and light are both necessary for life for more reasons than I have time to address in this blog. Perhaps you have heard many sermons about the meaning of these two great metaphors—salt and light. Let me just briefly mention some of the primary understandings if only to stir us up by way of reminder. 

You are the salt of the earth…

Those listening to Jesus’ words that day would have understood salt to be a necessary preservative for all meats, hindering decay in a culture with no refrigeration. Salt would have been rubbed into the meat to cure it much the way some today use a good salt and spice rub when they grill their meat.

Similarly salt is a flavor enhancer. In the Old Testament, Job said,

 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt,

 Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?”

The followers of Christ should enhance the “flavor” of life for those to whom they are sent. This salt metaphor is tied to the beatitude in v. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” since salt was not only a symbol of righteousness but of that righteousness that only God can bring. It was an ingredient in all the OT sacrifices (including the incense that was offered before the Lord). Having the  salt of the presence of the Lord in our lives gives us and appetite for what is right and just by our presence, even like salt that is not seen once applied, we make a difference.

One of the most interesting salt references I found in the Bible is in Ezekiel 16:3-6 where the Lord is reminding his people (pictured as “Jerusalem”) of his care for them at the beginning of Israel and lists birth practices including washing and “rubbing with salt” acts of compassion. When we first visited Israel in 2007 we took time to swim in the Dead Sea (called the Salt Sea in the Bible). It is so salty that you cannot sink. As a result it has an oily, slippery feel to it. If you ever get the chance to visit there do it, but don’t shave before you swim because the salt will make your skin burn like fire! No one told us about that. Sometimes salt stings, but the most compassionate thing we can do for others is to be who we are in Christ, in a way that makes others hungry and thirsty for the same righteousness we seek.

You are the light of the world…

Light reveals, guides, encourages, and enables. Its symbolism is nearly universal in the human experience. How is it that the followers of Jesus are “the light of the world”? They take the good news about Christ Jesus wherever they go. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the mostly gentile region of Galilee was prophetically described in Isaiah 9 and quoted in Matthew 4:15-16,

¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

Yet while light is a symbol of hope and is usually good news, not all are glad to see it. John uses the metaphor light quite often. In John 3:19-21 we find that some actively oppose the light.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Those in either the tropics or the tenements know that when you turn on the lights in the kitchen at night you often see the roaches scurrying for cover.

This passage reminds me of something that happened when I was a child.  One summer, I had a couple of friends over to spend the night.  We, and my little brother, were in the basement playing Risk, a world-conquest board game that takes a very long time. It was quite late, so my Dad told us several times to be quiet and go to sleep, but we did not obey.  We thought we were very "clever" as we continued to play "quietly" (we were neither clever nor quiet) with only a small table lamp lighting our game.  Suddenly, the door burst open and there stood my dad, and he looked mad! He started to say, "What are you..." but before he could finish, one of my friends reached over and turned out the light.  I don't know what he thought that would accomplish.  What good does hiding do if you have already been seen?   My dad, pausing a moment, calmly turned on the bright overhead light and finished his sentence, "What are you doing up?  Get to bed NOW!"  The question was rhetorical at best. We jumped into our sleeping bags as fast as possible. I still don't know how my dad kept from laughing.  However, all humor aside, our attempts to hide our sin from the God who sees everything are even more stupid than the futile actions of my childhood friend.

Salt is meant to be salty, hindering decay, improving flavor, but not calling attention to itself. Light is meant to give a revealing, enabling light to all who are in the house not to get people to stare at it. As we follow Jesus he manifests his character through us, lovingly using us as salt and light in the world, for the benefit of all...even if no one notices us or says thanks.