WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.959 The last few weeks we've been in a group of teachings called the Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.560 It's taken from the book of Matthew, chapter 5 through 7. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.480 Matthew, who was an eyewitness of Jesus, spent a lot of time with Jesus. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:18.640 He had heard these teachings, probably not just one time on a mountainside, but village to village, city to city. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:28.640 In fact, you'll see uh throughout all the gospels, um, Matthew's the only one that pulls them together in one place, but um these different teachings show up from all the gospel writers. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:37.759 One of the things that we know about the gospel writers is that they did have an agenda in writing their story, writing their account of the good news of Jesus. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:54.640 And each one of them, you know, their the one thing they have in common is that their agenda was they wanted to reveal Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of of the Messiah and what that even means. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.159 And and uh, but then each one of them had their own sort of angle. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:08.640 In fact, we we look at we looked last week how Matthew, we looked at the word mumser, which was uh essentially an illegitimate child or someone who would be considered an outcast. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.599 And Matthew himself considered himself an outcast. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:31.040 He was a tax collector, he was somebody who did not uh fit in and was not accepted by by his tribe, so to speak, did not see himself in the Yahweh narrative, in the story of what God was doing in the world, and yet through the person of Jesus, um, he found love, he found grace, he found God. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:37.519 And so Matthew is very intent on weaving together that with with God there are no outsiders. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:50.000 There's nobody who's in or out, he's you know, just in, and then others are excluded, that he continues to pull in people that others would call unclean, people that other people thought God wouldn't accept. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.280 Jesus accepted, and he was one of those people. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:02:05.680 We also know that Matthew targeted his audience at first century Jewish Christians, and he has a lot of insider Jewish language, which again is the difference between him and the other gospel writers. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:18.560 I highlighted that week one uh showed you some of the areas where, like Mark, for example, would explain a ritual or a tradition because he knew essentially people like us were going to read it and we might get lost, and why are they doing that? 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.680 And so clearly he's trying to cast a wider net. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.080 But Matthew does not really do that. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.879 All of his stuff is um, he never explains himself. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:39.280 He assumes that the the Jewish audience knows what he's talking about, and because of that, if you're not aware of that, there are certain things that you would read in English, not knowing the full context, and it might be quite confusing. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:47.039 And today's one of those that um I think you're gonna really see it come alive as we look at the way that Matthew intended it. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:51.439 All right, um, okay, so we're gonna pick up in Matthew 5, verse 21. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:03:04.800 We're moving into a portion of the Sermon on the Mount where it's right after Matthew has just said, I did not come to, uh sorry, Jesus said, I did not come to abolish the law, but I've come to fulfill it. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.439 Ultimately to fulfill its purpose. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:17.840 And so he's saying, hey, what I'm about to say could feel like I'm coming up with something new or I'm throwing out the Torah. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:19.520 He's like, that's not what I'm doing. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.360 I'm not, I didn't come to abolish it. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:26.319 I came to show you what God intended from the beginning. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.719 I'm here to show you how God looks at all of these rules and why he even came up with them. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:33.199 Okay? 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.960 All right, so then he goes into this you've heard it said this, but I say this. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:38.800 You've heard it said this, but I say this. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:44.960 And some of this teaching to them is going to be new to them, but as Jesus is saying, it's not new, it's just new to you. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:46.560 I'm wiping the dust off of it. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.360 I'm showing you how God thinks. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:50.159 All right. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.479 Matthew 5, 21, 22. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:56.879 He says, You've heard that our ancestors were told you must not murder. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.759 If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:00.960 Let's pause right there. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.759 He's referencing the Ten Commandments, right? 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:06.240 In Exodus 20, thou shalt not kill. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:06.719 Okay? 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.120 So he's saying, you know, you we we've all heard that. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:14.159 And if you take someone's life, if you murder someone, you're subject to judgment. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:15.919 Now look at this, verse 22. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:22.319 But I say, if you're even angry with someone, you're subject to judgment. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:28.720 If you call someone an idiot, I'm reading out of the NLT. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.439 How many of you have a different word there than idiot in your translation? 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:34.319 Anyone? 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:35.920 Anybody have the word raka? 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:37.839 Somebody has rakah? 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:38.319 Okay. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:44.000 Raka is uh an Aramaic term of contempt. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:50.959 It means empty-headed or worthless. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:51.600 Okay. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.560 So we'll keep reading. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.759 If you call someone empty-headed, say you're worthless, essentially, again, you're you're you're speaking to them with contempt. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.040 He says you're in danger of being brought before the court. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.120 If you curse someone, all right, different translations. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.439 Some of you have what says, you fool, right? 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:12.639 Is that what it says? 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.720 Okay, so that again is that that's the Greek translation. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.120 Basically, you're speaking down to someone. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.720 He says, if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:40.879 Okay, we read that, especially when you read fires of hell, and you read don't call someone an idiot, or um, you know, say you fool, or you even if you back it up, he says you get angry with them. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:43.839 You get ticked off, you're upset. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:46.480 He says you're in danger of the fire of hell. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:59.199 Well, it almost feels like, again, if we just read it in English, if we just start reading this, this feels like a tremendously disturbing portion of scripture because it seems like he's talking about the afterlife. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:11.279 It seems like he's saying that if you get upset and angry and you happen to say some stuff come out of your mouth, then when you die, you're gonna go to hell. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.839 It feels like that's what he's saying. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:20.560 In order for us to fully understand this, and that's why we would tend to just go, well, I hope you didn't mean that and keep reading, right? 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:25.279 Because you're like, if that's the case, we're all in big trouble, right? 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:34.000 Every one of us, come on, every one of us has gotten angry, every one of us has said something that came out of our mouth we wish we could have taken back. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:38.319 Uh, every one of us has done this, and and so what is Jesus doing here? 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.560 Is he making a statement about the afterlife? 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:48.319 Is Jesus trying to make us hopelessly paranoid that our when our humanity spills out, okay, it's the end of the world? 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:50.000 Okay, that's not what he's doing. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:51.199 Let me explain. 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:59.759 Um of the techniques of German uh Jewish hermeneutics or basically interpretation is a concept called a remes. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:02.800 Remez, R-E-M-E-Z. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:21.680 A remes is basically uh it's a teaching technique where you would use a word or a partial statement or a partial verse, but you assume that the listener knows what you're talking about, so that one word ends up by just saying that short phrase, you open up a whole story. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:25.920 Some of you were here when we taught through Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:31.519 And remember, he would say, it is written, man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:32.879 Boom, that's a remes. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:39.439 It's one little sentence that goes all the way back to a story of the children of Israel being lost in the wilderness. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.720 So the listener would have totally picked all that up. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:47.199 Let me give you an example of like what a remes would be between us. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:57.920 Let's say that I was in a leadership meeting and I'm trying to lead us in a direction, and I say, guys, the only thing we have to fear. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:02.079 Okay? 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.519 The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:06.959 Who said that? 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:11.600 Franklin Delanore Roosevelt. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.120 Why did he say it? 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:13.920 When did he say it? 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:14.959 What was he talking about? 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:16.160 What was the context? 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.639 Anybody know the bombing of Pearl Harbor? 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.920 Coming out of the Great Depression. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:26.879 Hey, by the way, I say Pearl Harbor, that's a remes. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:28.079 You know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:30.560 It's not just a location, it's a situation. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:53.039 So we talk about in his first inaugural address coming out of some really big events in our nation's history, and he's leading the nation out of the Great Depression, he's dealing with fear, and he's trying to provoke courage, and he says, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and it became one of the great one-liners in American history. 00:08:53.279 --> 00:09:07.440 So if we were coming out of something, and I'm like, guys, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, you would know I'm talking about FDR, I'm talking about a critical moment in our nation's history, and I'm trying to rally us in the way that happened in our past. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:08.320 Does that make sense? 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.519 We we have all kinds of these. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:15.919 If I talk about 9-11, you know, I'm not just talking about a date on the calendar, I'm talking about a situation, I'm talking about an event. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:30.240 If I talk about the pandemic, right, 100 years from now, they're reading some writing you had of the pandemic, okay, they better know it was a remes because that that that was uh uh uh that dealt with uh Wuhan, uh, you know, a bat that came out of there. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:36.240 It dealt with masks, social distancing, supply chain, okay, COVID-19 virus. 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:42.399 I mean, it's economic shutdown, the birth and the death of all of us with Zoom. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:48.639 All that with just the word the pandemic, right? 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:49.919 Okay, you get the idea. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:51.600 So he's doing this here. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:56.399 And so he says, the fires of Gehenna. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.159 It shows up in your Bible in English as hell, but it's the fires of Gehenna. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:08.000 When he talks about Gehenna, okay, that's the Greek word, but if you play it back, it's it is the Valley of Hanoam. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:25.279 The Valley of Hanoam is referenced 13 times in the Old Testament, and the Valley of Hanoam was the location for some of the worst atrocities, some of the ugliest memories in the history of the Jewish people. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:35.360 And so I'm gonna I'm not gonna read you all 13, but I want to give you a feel for what happened, so what they would have heard when he says the fires of Gehenna. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:45.440 Um in 2 Chronicles 28, 1 through 3, and I'm gonna go fast here, I'm gonna skip around, but this is this is the first thing they would have thought of. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:51.440 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 16 years. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.240 Look at this. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:55.759 He cast metal images for the worship of Baal. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:06.639 So instead of worshiping Yahweh, instead of worshiping God, he worshiped Baal, and he offered sacrifices in the valley of Ben Hanom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:22.240 So this young king gets caught up in some bad theology, worshiping Baal, and in the process of his worship, okay, he burns his own sons, sacrifices his own sons. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.120 What in the world? 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:24.240 Why would someone do that? 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.720 Well, if you study a lot of these old theologies, this was fairly common. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:38.879 This actually happened quite often, even in the ugly part of the Jewish history, because you've got Baal, and I've got to prove to Baal that I'm loyal. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.600 I've got to prove to Baal that I'm devoted. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:43.039 How would you prove that? 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.399 I would prove that by being willing to sacrifice anything. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:49.120 There's nothing more important than you, Baal. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:50.480 And how would I prove that? 00:11:50.720 --> 00:12:03.679 But to kill my own son, to burn my own son alive, and burn him to death as a sign of loyalty and commitment and to curry the favor of Baal. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:08.000 So this young foolish king commits this terrible act. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.799 You'd think that would be the only time it happened, but it didn't. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.399 Jeremiah 7, 31. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:19.200 It says they built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben Hanoam. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:20.799 This is the valley of Gehenna. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:25.840 And they burnt their, and they burned their sons and daughters in the fire. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:27.360 These are the words of God. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:30.000 I have never commanded such a horrible deed. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.440 It never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:35.840 Jeremiah 19, 2 through 6. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:41.919 Go out through the gate of broken pots to the garbage dump of the valley of Ben Hanoom and give them this message. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:46.159 They have filled this place with the blood of innocent children. 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:52.000 They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:53.919 I've never commanded such a horrible deed. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:57.200 It never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:07.360 And then in 2 Kings 23:10, it says, the king, okay, so a good king, King Josiah, tore down the shrines of Molech. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:12.799 Okay, so he went and defiled the altar of Tophith in the valley of Ben Hanoam. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:19.919 So no one could ever again use it to sacrifice a daughter or a son in the valley as an offering to Moloch. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:20.480 Okay. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.159 This is a remes. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:35.759 When he says, if you don't, if you allow your anger to burn hot and you just say whatever you feel like saying, and stuff comes out of your mouth, friend, the power of life and death, it says in James 3. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:37.840 The power of life and death is where? 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:39.360 In the tongue. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:40.240 In your mouth. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:41.759 He's like, you don't understand. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:44.960 You think just because you didn't put a bullet in somebody. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:49.840 You think just because you didn't burn your kid in the valley, okay? 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.840 Because when you think about it, it would be like this for us to feel it, let's feel the weight of it. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:59.840 It would be like you and I having a conversation and I really tore somebody down. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.039 I just tore them down. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:12.639 I tore him down with my words, I tore them down, and you said to me, Greg, Greg, it's like you flew into them in an airplane like a terrorist. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.639 And I watched them crumble to the ground. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.559 Because I remember where I was when that whole thing was going down. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:30.000 I remember being glued to the TV, and this plane just flew in, and I'm watching all of a sudden and the two towers collapsed. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:35.120 For you to take an image like that and go, Greg, you're no better than the terrorist. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.679 You're no better than the terrorist. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:44.159 You didn't take out a building and you didn't burn a kid, but with your mouth, I watched a human being shrink. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.960 I watched you tear somebody down with your mouth. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:48.559 Dude, you hit them in the heart. 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:50.080 You broke their heart. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.559 You cast a shadow on their life. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.799 That's a dead man walking over there. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:56.960 That's a dead woman walking over there. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.559 You you with your words, you didn't break the law. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.440 Notice Jesus says, you know, you're subject to judgment. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.919 He's like, you know, you ought to go stand before the court. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:07.759 So what's he doing? 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:13.279 He's not trying to get you to live and wallow and shame the rest of your life and do this. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:20.000 He's not essentially creating this impossible situation where it's like, well, how am I never going to get angry? 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:21.679 I'm going to get angry. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:23.840 He's deepening the conversation. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:26.879 And for you, I want you to see this the way that God sees it. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.159 This is a big deal. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:34.799 Because you could say things with your mouth that could bring life to someone or could bring death to someone. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:45.679 And you think that Ahaz and all these guys in 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah and all these terrible things that happened 600 years ago is so terrible, it's embarrassing, it's ugly. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.679 It's some of the ugliest parts of our history. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:58.320 But if you're not careful and I'm not careful, and I let my anger burn, things could come out of my mouth that would be my own version of burning people up in the valley of Hano. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:00.559 That's what he's saying. 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:07.440 I was talking to a lady one time, grown woman, telling me a story about when she was a little girl. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.919 She, I think 10, 11 years old, something like that. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:17.039 And she had done something really good at her school, and the newspaper showed up to cover the story. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:22.399 And so they interviewed her, and so she got her name in the paper, and they quoted her in the newspaper. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:23.679 And uh it was a big deal. 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:30.720 Obviously, as a little girl, like you know, especially at that time, it was, you know, getting your name in the paper or quote, like that's super memorable. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:35.519 So they asked her the question, they said, Hey, what do you want to be when you grow up? 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:40.320 And she said, I I want to I want to be a brain surgeon. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:44.320 And so they quoted her in the newspaper as wanting to be a brain surgeon. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:51.279 And she said, You know, I'd I'd always thought like um how important the brain is and how important thinking and thoughts are and in people's heads. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:59.759 And she goes, I just thought like if there's a problem, I'd like to help someone solve the problem in their head, whether it's a tumor or something's happening in the brain, like to be able to do that. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:06.480 She's like, I've always been fascinated by science, I've always been fascinated by the brain, and so I'd wanted to do it, but I'd never said it out loud before. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.119 She goes, So I said, you know, I'd like to be a brain surgeon. 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:20.240 They published it in the newspaper, and she said, Next time our family got together with their extended family and uncles and cousins and everything, everybody made a huge joke out of her being a brain surgeon. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.279 Ah, you know, little so-and-so, you're gonna be a brain surgeon. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:24.400 Oh, you're gonna be a brain surgeon? 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.079 I come over here and operate on my brain. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:27.279 Ah, look in my ear. 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:27.839 Can you see anything? 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.200 Ha ha ha ha ha brain surgeon. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.440 And she's like, I was so embarrassed. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.200 She's like, they were relentless. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:35.039 I was the butt of the joke. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:38.960 And she goes, and honestly, I sat there and it it broke my heart. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:44.480 She goes, I I thought, well, up to that point, I thought I I maybe could do it. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:46.880 Like I knew it'd be hard, but I thought maybe I could do it. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:57.599 She's like, but I thought everyone who knows me is unified in the fact that the idea that I would even try is a joke. 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:07.279 And she's like, at 10 years old, I had no support, and I didn't have anybody to walk me through that, and I didn't have enough internal fortitude to go, you know, I'm gonna prove it to you all. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:12.799 She goes, So what happened was that day, that dream died. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.039 It burned. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:23.759 Now, they probably didn't do it out of anger, they probably were careless in what they did, but the power of life and death is in the tongue. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:31.839 One adult, one adult to pull that child aside and say, tell me about this brain surgery thing you're thinking about. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.119 That's pretty cool. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:34.799 Why do you want to do that? 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:56.079 And and to lead that young lady on a journey that whether or not you're doing brain surgery or not, God has a plan for your life, and God's put some gifts in you, and there's something beautiful in there about why you even want to do that, and I want to encourage, could have built her up, but in one laugh session, something died, and it was connected to more stuff. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:02.160 What Jesus is not trying to make us hopeless in our standard that I can never get angry. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:07.119 What he's doing is trying to open our eyes to our actions so we take them seriously. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.759 He's showing us how God sees it. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.079 Watch this. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:18.880 If you keep reading in Matthew 5, look at this. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:24.960 You've probably read this before, but we tend to read by this stuff so fast. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:42.000 It's right after he says this about the Valley of Hanoam, about Gehenna, he says, So, verse 23, if you're presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:53.440 In other words, you did something dirty to somebody, you mistreated somebody, you mishandled somebody, you manipulated somebody, you lied to somebody, you, you, you tore somebody down behind their back. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:54.799 There's something off. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:57.680 It says, and you it's suddenly it hits you. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:02.559 You're at the altar, you you're presenting a sacrifice, and it hits you. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:04.720 Something's not right with somebody back home. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:14.400 Verse 24, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:17.200 This we don't even get this fully. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:26.960 Because if you were sitting there praising, praise the Lord, oh my soul, and you realize, oh, you know what, man, I I did somebody dirty. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.720 You feel some sort of conviction, you shoot them a text. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:32.240 Hey, we need to talk. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:34.240 Hey, my bad, I'm sorry. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:37.440 Maybe you slide out the side door and you go there and you call them up. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:43.920 Hey, you know, I was actually in church and I really felt like God was saying something and I was wrong, and I need to apologize. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:21:16.000 So the people he's talking to here, if you're like from Galilee, you traveled 90 miles on foot or donkey to get to the temple, you loaded this donkey down with your sacrifices that you're gonna offer to God, these gifts, and it might have taken you a week to go 90 miles, you got your family with you, you got all these people with you, and we're taking this slow walk from Galilee all the way to Jerusalem. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:21.440 You finally get to Jerusalem, you unload all this stuff, it's been an expensive stay. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:22.799 You set it up, by the way. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:26.480 On the trek, you are risking bandits and wild animals. 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:28.160 No joke. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:36.960 You get to Jerusalem, you get the sacrifice lit, you're beginning to sacrifice to God, and it hits you. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:39.039 I did him dirty. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:48.720 And Jesus is saying, when it hits you, that's the Almighty who's saying, I'll wait. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:51.920 I'll wait. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.759 In their minds, they would have thought, well, God, you know, have no other gods before me, and God would be offended for me to go. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.039 Deal with Joe or whoever I did wrong. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:06.640 No, God's like, Jesus is like, no, you don't understand. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.440 God's like, I'll be patient. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.000 Go get back on the donkey. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.839 Take your 90 miles back to Galilee. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:17.680 Leave your sacrifice here. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.119 Go back to Galilee. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:23.680 Sit down, talk it out, work it out, reconcile. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:33.839 And once y'all have cried it out, worked it out, and you've made it right, get back on your donkey, and come on back and finish your sacrifice. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:36.880 This is like we can't even feel the weight of this. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:47.440 This would be like if you were sitting here today and you that you'd go buy a plane ticket, fly to Portland, talk it out, come back, and then finish. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.559 Praise the Lord, I'm gonna resume. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:53.200 This is huge. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:04.000 What he's not doing is creating another legalistic thing, because some of you now, if you're not careful, if you're like used to shame, you're sitting here going, Oh gosh, I think I do. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:06.000 How did he know about Portland? 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.759 So right now, some of y'all aren't travelosity. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:13.279 You're like, doggone it. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.960 He's not creating another legalistic requirement. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.559 That's what the Pharisees did. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:28.640 They took 613 laws, they built a fence around it called the Mishnah with another couple thousand rules, then they build a fence around that with another few thousand rules. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:34.720 By the time they got done with the Talmud and the Mishnah and all this, they had five or six thousand detailed rules. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:36.160 Jesus isn't doing that. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:39.279 He's not adding complexity, he's adding depth. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:52.400 And in depth, he's going, just so you know how God thinks, God would not be offended for you to step away from your worship song to go make up with a friend, to go admit what you did wrong. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.559 He's like, that's how big, that's how important God takes this. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:59.759 So that's that's what Matthew's putting down here. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:04.720 That's what the the idea of the fires of hell in this context of what he's talking about. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:14.720 He's talking about, he he's trying to get you to look deeper and to take more seriously what's going on in the heart, the inside job, right? 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:21.839 He says earlier, and I think it's verse 17, is where he says, Um, unless your righteousness is greater than that of the Pharisees. 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:25.200 Okay, unless it's greater than that of the Pharisees. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:26.559 And so what's he doing? 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:33.039 He's saying, What did the Pharisees try to create righteousness or holiness or appease God from the outside in? 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.599 I'm gonna do my behaviors, and he goes, No, this is a thing from the inside out. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:50.240 Um if you understand this thought progression, then the next three things, and I'm gonna go very quick because I only have a few minutes here, but but really quickly, I'm just gonna give a little bit of voiceover on these next few things. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:53.279 Um, but but they're not disconnected from what I just did. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:25:04.000 His teaching on anger is very much connected to his teaching on lust, is very much connected to his teaching on um divorce, is very much connected to his teaching on vows and oaths. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:04.480 Okay? 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.319 So so let's let's go quick. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:08.559 The the next is where he talks he talks about lust. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.559 He says, you know, you've heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:18.000 But I say if you look at a woman lustfully, you've already committed adultery in your in his heart, right? 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:21.279 If a man looks at a woman lustfully, he's committed adultery in his heart. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:27.359 And this is where he goes on with some hyperbole of like, look, if your eye is causing you to sin, just you know, pop that thing out. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.240 You know, it'd be better to be blind uh than for your whole body. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.240 He goes back to the Gehenna reference. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.680 He goes, then for your whole body to burn and catastrophic things that happen. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.240 If your hands causing you to sin, cut the thing off, walk around. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:43.599 Be better to, you know, be walking around like this, but but to not, okay, what's he doing? 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.599 He's talking about the heart. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:47.200 What is lust? 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:48.559 What is lust? 00:25:48.880 --> 00:26:01.119 Lust, okay, is to dehumanize someone sexually, to view them and their benefits and their values by the sum of their parts. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:02.880 That's what lust is. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:03.359 Okay. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.759 So he's saying, you've heard it said, don't commit adultery. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:11.440 Don't step out on your spouse and go all the way with somebody else. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:17.279 And so you go, well, if I haven't done that, I'm good within the law and God's good with it and whatever. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:26.559 And what he's doing, again, he's not trying to demoralize you just like it's like, well, I can't ever get angry, I can't ever have a lustful thought, or God's gonna think I'm dirty. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.319 That's not what he's saying. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:32.799 He's trying to get us to take lust really seriously and to think about what it does. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:38.000 When you take someone and you reduce them, you take their humanity away. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:41.599 This is this is a a daughter of God. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.000 This is someone made in the image of God. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:46.720 This is a son of God, someone made in the image of God. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:53.200 When you take away their humanity, and you're not thinking about the fact that they are gifted by God, they have a purpose. 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:54.960 God's created them for a purpose. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:56.640 They have emotions, they have a heart. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:04.640 You don't care about their aspirations, their hopes, their dreams, their gifts, what makes them tick, what what you know, you don't look at them like that. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:06.720 You're just going, what can I get from them? 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.160 What do they make me feel? 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:16.400 Ooh, they make me feel wanted, they make me feel powerful, they make me feel big, they make me feel, okay, something. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:20.079 And so now it's you're you're draining them, you're sucking the life out of them. 00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:28.000 But the worst part is that the the slight or or maybe huge dehumanization. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:36.559 And when you dehumanize someone, okay, all of the catastrophes in the world have come from humans dehumanizing. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.599 And this is a challenge because think about this now. 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:45.440 Even a more subtle version of this happens because our brains recognize patterns. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:50.880 So when you see patterns with people, this person reminds you of that person, we begin to categorize people. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:55.519 And that's part of just even how we survive in the world is we we have different categories. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:02.559 But the problem is categories themselves are not a sin, but a category can often be a slippery slope into reducing. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.839 It can be very reductive. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.240 I reduce this person, and in certain categories, I dehumanize. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.400 I take someone's humanity away. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:21.200 So anywhere you see catastrophic, horrible things people do to other people, it's a process of here, here, dehumanization of that person. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:25.359 That's racism, is a dehumanization of a person. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:31.279 When Hitler was trying to exterminate the Jews, he didn't call them humans, he called them rats. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:34.559 He referred to them as rats because who doesn't want to exterminate a rat? 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:38.000 You see a rat, you call the exterminator, that's what you do. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:42.240 So he's using that language to try to get people to see them in this way. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:43.680 Human trafficking. 00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:49.680 How would I traffic uh uh that's like um supply chain, like like logistics? 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.559 We're we're taking product from point A to point B. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.720 It's I'm dehumanizing a person, so I have no problem trafficking them. 00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:01.440 Okay, put them in the back of the truck and get because they're a product now, they're not a person. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:07.119 So what he's saying is, by the way, this is never a victimless deal. 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:19.359 Because even in the process of lust, if you never acted on it, it's doing something to your heart, you deserve better. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:26.319 Even if you didn't take a victim physically, and it all stayed in here. 00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:34.160 You have been captured, you have been imprisoned, you have been in bondage, and that breaks the heart of God. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:36.799 It's like I don't want, I don't want that for you. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.720 Certainly, it leads often to people sacrificing others in the valley of Hano. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:44.640 I'll keep going quick. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.799 The next one he talks about divorce. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:50.799 You gotta understand culturally, contextually, how they treated divorce. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:29:55.680 He says, you know, you know in the law of Moses that a man can divorce a woman by just giving her. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:03.839 Okay, in that time, a woman couldn't divorce a man, a man could only had all the power, all the cards to divorce a woman, and it got to where they were just divorcing on a whim. 00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:07.039 Look how the law is written in Deuteronomy 24. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:07.920 Go ahead and bring it up. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:10.079 Deuteronomy 24, 1. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:15.200 Suppose a man marries a woman, but she does not please him. 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:24.480 Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.000 Okay, this begs a lot of questions, right? 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:35.119 You're like, what do you mean didn't please him? 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:36.799 Like he's just not happy? 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:39.519 And he finds something wrong with her. 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:41.599 What, she's bow-legged? 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:44.319 Burnt apple crisp? 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:44.640 I don't know. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:45.759 Was she knockneed? 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:47.039 I mean, I don't know. 00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:48.160 What do you mean? 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:52.960 She got hair on her upper lip, like a hairy leg? 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:54.799 What are you talking about? 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:56.240 She she didn't please you. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:00.480 If you find something wrong with her, she's got a lazy eye. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:07.200 You find something wrong with her, and she doesn't please you, I'm not happy, and I found something wrong with you. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.880 Here's a certificate. 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:11.279 According to the law, I'm good. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:12.880 Send her on her way. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:18.079 So what had happened was by the time Jesus showed up, and you can keep reading your Bible, I know I gotta go fast. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:19.680 Matthew 19, go read. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:26.400 They come to Jesus, they're like, Jesus, is it is it okay if we just if can a man just divorce for any reason at all that he feels? 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:33.359 And Jesus is like, you guys are not thinking about this the right way. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:35.839 Do you understand how big a deal this is? 00:31:36.079 --> 00:31:37.839 There's people in this room right here, right? 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:41.359 There's a lot of the stuff in the Bible that's made you feel tremendous shame about divorce. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:49.279 In fact, sometimes people have weaponized some of the Bible verses about divorce to make divorced people feel even more pain than they already felt. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.319 Malachi 2, God hates divorce. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:54.799 Well, why does God hate divorce? 00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:58.000 For the same reason God hates car wrecks. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:08.160 People get their backs broken, people get their necks broken, people die in the process, people end up wounded. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:11.759 That's why God hates divorce, not because he thinks you're disgusting. 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:32.400 Some of you tried and tried and tried and tried, and we humbled ourselves and we asked for help and we cried and I begged and I pleaded and we went to a first counselor and went to a second counselor and went to a third counselor and I tried forgiving and we came to the altar together and we went to a marriage con and you kept trying and kept trying and kept trying and your heart is broken. 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:36.559 Jesus is talking to a group of people, by the way, his own disciples. 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.000 Go read Matthew 19. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:41.359