The Heart of the Matter

Text: Matthew 5:21-37

Focus: The heart of the Law.

Function: We need a savior.

Form: Exegetical

Intro:

Somehow, in just about every sermon I have preached here, I have been able to sneak in the phrase “the Spirit of the Law vs the Letter of the Law.” I'm talking about the heart of the matter. No one except Jesus has ever perfectly fulfilled the spirit, or intent, of the OT law.

We know it, it is summarized in the statements Love God and Lone one another.

But before we get to far this morning, let me tell you about the salvation of Larry.

One Church I pastored had a 2 bedroom parsonage and when I moved into it with 4 kids, they generously made major improvements to the facility.

Larry and Larry, were the contractors. Somehow they reminded me of Larry, Darryl and Darryl from the Bob Newhart Show.

They put a shower in the MB suite the Church had them build and Larry put the valve to the bathtub unit chest high. He was so excited when he told me about it. He said: “It will be great when you are taking a shower!”

I asked him how my wife was going to get to it when she was taking a bath.

He said: “who takes baths?”

Some people only see some things one way.

One Larry was related to one of the families in the church.

The other Larry was a brand new Christian.

They attended the little Baptist Church about 3 miles up the road. I knew the pastor pretty well. I don't know if I ever met someone with a greater gift of faith than what he had.

He was truly inspiring.

The new Christian Larry was really excited about his faith and we had several conversations about it, and the possible differences between us and them.

I asked him how he got saved. Was he brought up in Christianity? Was this all new to him?

He told me that people would stop by his house all the time telling him how bad a sinner he was. He would get gospel tracts stuffed in his door that decried the sinfulness of humanity and God's judgment against it.

And then, two men from his church, the one he later joined, stopped by and told him how much God loved him.

And the power of the gospel just doesn't quit.

The good news brings us to Jesus. It reminded me how we should boldly proclaim it.

For Larry, in order to get saved, he had to know that he wasn't saved.

But for him, the emphasis on how bad he was and how fearful God is didn't help.

God's love, the good news, is powerful to draw people back to God.

I think that it was sad that all he heard about before then was how bad he was.

So, hold Larry's conversion by the good news a while and let me get back to the passage.

I love what is going on here in this passage.

Jesus takes 4 Old Testament laws and gets to the heart of the matter in order to show us our need for a Savior.

The first one is murder, vs 21-26. And Jesus goes quickly from "You better not commit murder" to the heart of the issue. He exposes our lack of love. He is saying, watch out! Even when you are angry, you might be subject to judgment.

If we say “Raca” a term that literally means “empty-headed,” the penalty is worse and if we call someone a fool, we are in danger of judgment of hell-fire.

I have called people “foolish” before.

There are a lot of foolish things that people do.

Behind all this is the attitude of judgment and pride, especially in: “you fool.”

Let the rubber meet the road for me. Someone swindled a lot of money from my wife. A believer. I worried about what I am going to say when I see that person in heaven.

There is a temptation that my wife and I have not given into, but we have felt it, and that temptation is to desire that they never get there for what they did to us.

When something terrible happens to us at someone else's hands, we say, "I'd hate to be in their shoes judgment day."

Listen to that phrase. It really is worse than murder.

Loving our enemies is a real sacrifice.

And the last two verses tell us to settle matters with people here on earth before we get to heaven.

And Jesus lumps all these "idle phrases" in with murder.

Then there is adultery.

Jesus tells us that we may be faithful in our marriage vows, but if we have ever succumbed to temptation and lusted after another person, we have already committed adultery in our heart. We are just as guilty.

There is not an adult here who passes this test.

I have probably had 10 pastors come to me seeking help in their struggle with lustful eyes.

Listen, the harder we try to fight sin, the farther we fall into it. Don't live a sin based faith, live a grace based faith.

Christianity isn't about “not sinning,” it's about doing good by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Best advice from me. Don't focus on the problem with the temptation, and remember, temptation is not sin, giving into temptation is.

Don't focus on the problem but focus on the solution.

We are bombarded daily with the message that sexuality brings worth to a person.

So, husbands, respect your wife. Wives, respect your husbands. Both sexes: honor the purity of every one else.

And understand this, until we get to heaven, temptation will always be there.

Divorce. Before I say anything hear this: “God hates divorce but loves the divorcée.”

I have seen this passage of scripture abused way to many times.

The NT solution is to live in peace with spouses. 1 Corinthians 7:15,27,28, turn to it please.

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
²⁷Are you bound to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

Vs 27, "if you are free," the Greek literally is “loosed...” and then the whole idea is continued in verse 28 “...if you (a loosed person) marries, you have not sinned.”

Remember the passage before this from last week: “not one jot or tittle...”

I am staking my soul on this because it is faithful with the original Biblical intent.

Does that mean we divorce lightly?

Not at all. Divorce was not an option in my home and the way I was raised. (Of course, neither was violence, abuse, alcoholism and etc)

I thought about throwing in the towel my first year of marriage. It wasn't that my marriage was bad, I was just too young. But all I could think about was standing before God and breaking vow.

Because of a commitment to making it work, many marriages are saved.

Forgive him. Forgive her. Be understanding and patient. Men, learn the value of the words “yes dear.”

Women, because advertising dollars are mainly geared toward women who make the majority of purchases, the TV culture normalizes women who disrespect husbands. Don't let that distract you from why you married him.

And men, learn the value of “yes, dear.” God calls us to live sacrificially for our wives. (Ephesians 5:21, 25)

And finally, Oaths.

While living and pastoring in Lancaster Co, PA, where all the Amish, Brethren, and Mennonites live together, I hired a Mennonite contractor to repave my driveway.

We agreed on the method, grade and price for the work. And he got ready to leave. I stopped him and said “don't you have a contract for me to sign?”

He replied: “you're a Brethren preacher aren't you?” And then he stuck out his hand for us to shake on it.

The words and character of the people of the God's Word are so closely lined up that oaths are not necessary because they can be trusted to honor their word.

The phrase: Anything else is of the devil, is a reference to those who cannot be trusted.

As Christians, let our words be honest.

Okay, so how did we do?

In some of those areas, I do well. In others, I shrink back in fear.

There have been times with the best intentions of my heart I have made promises that I have not kept.

When it comes to calling someone “empty-head,” you should hear what is in my mind almost every time I am in traffic.

The fact is. We fail.

We see the heart of the matter is to always be patient, forgiving, loving and etc.

But more than that, we see how Jesus melts hearts of stone and makes them soft. This is what mercy does to us.

We see how He does that.

But we fail.

And, that is part of the point.

Unless our righteousness exceeds the most reverent religious leaders that history has every known, we are lost.

Brother Saul, before he became Paul was able to say that according to the OT laws, he had never ever committed a transgression.

But he compares the righteousness that he achieved on his own as a bunch of filthy rags compared to Jesus.

Let us say that out of 10 good commandments, we score 1, or 2, or maybe some of us are as good as 5, and others better than that.

Jesus was a 10. Only Jesus can save us.

I remember theology class, studying the book of Matthew, when the professor put us all in this quandary that it was impossible to be saved because of how far we fall short of Jesus' ideal.

And then, praise God, he said: In order to be found, we have to be lost.

In order to be saved, we have to admit we are sinners.

Our biggest struggle is with pride. We believe that our intentions are good, and most of the time they are, they really are.

I am not saying that people are evil. Nope.

I am an humanist. God is an humanist.

People are beautiful; we are full of wonder; the sky isn't even the limit to what we can do.

God created us wonderfully and in His image.

But we are not perfect.

And if it is up to us to save ourselves, we fail. Jesus never fails.

I don't buy into a shame based salvation, Jesus died to save us, not shame us.

But we see the propensity inside all of us to fail.

Remember Larry?

Faith was born in him not when he understood how bad he was. He was reminded of that all the time.

Saving faith came at the good news when he finally understood that Jesus saved Him.

How about you?