July 20, 2009

The Heart of Adultery



The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached Part XII

Reflections on the Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5-7

(Commentary by Guy Glass and Scott Hescht)

Matthew 5:27-30
27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Scott: If you are going to stop a weed from growing it must be uprooted. Jesus has explained how murder grows out of a heart of anger. He reveals here that adultery grows out of a heart of lustful intent.

Whenever someone fails to follow God's commandments and falls into sin, it is because that person has failed to love. All of the commandments are built on love. Sin is failing to love. It isn't just adultery that displeases our Father in Heaven, but the act of looking upon one of his creations, man or woman, as an object of sexual desire rather than in love.

Many have failed to grasp this concept and it has led to their downfall in areas such as sexual perversion, fornication, empty relationships and adultery. There is a reason that God has sanctified marraige. It is a holy matrimony. Sexual pleasure is far from an evil in and of itself, rather it was made to be shared between a man and a woman who are passionately committed to one another in marriage.


Guy: In verses 27 and 28, Jesus makes it clear that He is concerned with more than our actions. He is concerned with our hearts, from which our actions come. Matthew 15:19 reads,
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. In verse eight of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called the pure in heart blessed because they would see God. God, being aware of every secret and hidden thing in our minds and hearts, is not limited as we are and privy only to outward appearances. We can fool each other into thinking our hearts are clean but we can never fool God. It is the pure in heart that will see God, no one else.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 reads, "For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." Acts 17:31 says, "because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." Then Romans 2:16 states, "on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus." So, the man that God will judge the world through is His Only Son, Jesus Christ and Jesus is saying that He will be judging our secret deeds and what's in our hearts. There will come a day when each of us will stand before Jesus in Christ and be judged.

Therefore, when we read the text from His sermon, we see Him illustrate how important it is for us to pursue a pure heart. He compares throwing a valuable body part, such as your hand or your eyes, away to your entire body being thrown into hell. It's hard for most of us to imagine living a meaningful and enjoyable life without our hands or our eyes. But, Jesus says a life lived blind and maimed, but with a pure heart is far more valuable for you than one lived with perfect wholeness but having an impure heart. The reason is because we must stand before Jesus and give an account for our lives.

Jesus uses an extreme example to emphasize just how serious our situation is. There are other things in your life that you believe are valuable or desirable, things you don't want to live without. For many of us, these things, whether they be pleasures, lusts, secret sins, thoughts of anger, unforgiveness, pride, ambitions, need to be torn out and thrown away. Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." For many, and you need to look honestly at your life and see if this is you, you are not running the race with endurance because your encumbered with these things that you refuse to throw away. You are allowing these things to cause you to sin, whether outwardly or inwardly, and Christ is displeased.

Jesus states that our eternities are at stake. Of course, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus, not by our works. Our faith is proved to be true and our salvation is proved to be real, by our endurance in the faith, by our perseverance in following Jesus. What it comes down to is this question: Is Jesus continuing to be your treasure or are you treasuring other things? In Matthew 13:44 Jesus explains, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." What are you not willing to sell (figuratively and literally) in order to purchase that field wherein is the greatest treasure one can possess - Jesus Christ? If you are continuing to treasure and lust for things other than Christ, you may have fooled yourself into thinking you are eternally secure. The authenticity of your belief is proved over time by your perseverance. Are you being conformed to the image of Christ, toward holiness and purity, or are you hiding secret sin?

July 15, 2009

Waiting on the Promises of God



For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 2 Corinthians 1:20

By nature, God is a promiser. He's made a ton of them to His children. A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.

You don't realize how much you need God's promises until your smooth and easy life suddenly turns sideways. This is the time to dig into God's Word and get something to wrap your faith around.

Now the Christian life would be easy if the space in time is small between when you claim God's promises and when you receive what He promised. Read it one day and get it the next. Wow-wouldn't that be great!?

But life's not like that.

The hard part is in the waiting between the promise and the answer; and even harder, when the waiting comes with uncertainties.

Where's this going? Where am I going to end up? What's my future look like?

The reality is, we just don't know and it's this not-knowing that crushes us. We doubt because we don't know. We worry and despair because we don't know. We falter and sometimes fail-all because we don't know. If only we knew how this trial was going to play out, we would be OK. But we don't.

I can take a bad day. I can take a bad month. I can even take a bad year or bad decade, if I have to, as long as I know how it will end up. For some of you it's a health crisis. For another, it's a question about your marriage or an uncertainty with a child. For someone else, it's a restlessness in your soul. We all have areas of uncertainty where we need to hold on to what God has said. His promises are what we cling to while we wait for Him to work. Our faith is in God. He knows what He has promised, He can't lie, and He can't forget. He will deliver on time, all the time. Who else can make promises like that?

Now I wish I could tell you that it always figures out perfectly in our lifetimes, but I would be lying to you. You cannot make sense of the promises of God with this life only. You must factor the reality of eternity into the equation. Eternity brings it all together. The promises of eternal life and the assurance of hope in heaven are what make God's promises exceedingly great and precious.

God, forgive us for thinking that everything must make sense today in the economy of our human satisfaction. Give us faith to believe that we're here for a purpose that is greater than ourselves, greater than our personal enjoyment, even greater than our participation in building Your kingdom. Our lives are about a legacy-Your glory. Amen.

---By James MacDonald

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July 06, 2009

A Sinful Woman Forgiven


One of the Pharisees (religious officials) asked him (Jesus) to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher."

"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7:36-50 [ESV])