Matt 5

Date: 10 January 2009

Bible (NT/OT):Matt 5, Psalms 6 (exert)

The Sermon on the Mount

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Salt and Light
13 "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.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 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. 16 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.

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Anger

21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 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. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Lust

27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But 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.

Divorce

31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.

Retaliation

38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Ps 6:1-3

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord— how long?

Sun Tzu:

Building on our last thought: Therefore measure in terms of five things, use these assessments to make comparison, and thus find out what the conditions are. The five things:
1. The way (from yesterday): “inducing the people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger”
2. The weather (today): “the weather means the season…the rules of the ancient military state that operations should not be carried out in winter or summer, out of concern for the people. Don’t go into another’s territory at an unfavorable time.”
3. The Terrain (tomorrow)
4. The Leadership (1/12/09)
5. The discipline (1/13/09)

The Intellectual Devotion (Kidder, D. & Oppenheim N. The Intellectual Devotion, Rodale. NY, NY 2006):

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was among the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Born in Oak Park Illinois, Hemmingway began writing at the age of 18 as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. Soon thereafter, however, he was shipped off to WWI as an ambulance driver where he was wounded. Hemingway’s works subsequently focused War time stories (The Sun also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, Whom the Bell Tolls) Hemingway joined a group of writers, later called “the lost generation” who were disillusioned by war’s brutality. The “Hemingway code hero” is a stoic, disillusioned male who exhibits grace and nobility in the face of violence and adversity. Hemingway’s last years were mired in depression and he ultimately committed suicide with a shotgun in 1961 despite being a world renowned writer and a winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Events: Yesterday, I woke up , wrote for a couple hours then took Sadie to the Park for a long run through the woods. I love running with her through the woods and thanks to her GPS collar, I no longer worry when she takes off after deer. During my runs, I have begun to practice looking past the first layer of brush. This is a trick that I learned about in “The Tigers Way” by Joe Poole. Poole describes this as a must acquire skill for deployment as our eye (as a camera) will automatically focus on the closest object, the enemy however is likely hiding just beyond our eyes focus. It is harder than it seems, my eye inevitably watches the ground in front of me for rocks that may turn my ankle. It is hard enough to train myself to look up, watching the ground with my peripheral vision, much more difficulty to purposefully take my eye off the first layer of brush and look through it at ever increasing distances. But it as a trick well worth practicing, It is amazing how much I have been missing all of these years of watching the ground. Focusing on these skills seems to take some of the pain away from running. Last night we went out to dinner with great friends and I brought up my recent inner conflict with meaning of 1st Corinthians 9:10, Paul’s “all things to all people” commentary. I was subsequently able to further solidify my views on the passage and write a couple pages on it.

Thoughts:

Bible:

1. An overall note on the Sermon on the Mount, (ch 5-7). When nonbelievers, atheists, Muslims, agnostics, Hindu’s etc… refer to Christ as, “a great teacher” they most often refer to this famed sermon on the mount. As we read through keep this in mind. Ask yourself how this sermon can even make since apart from the gospel. The sermon makes promises to an isolated few, implements laws that no man can keep and is presented in a very abrupt manner.

2. The beatitudes v5:1-12: There is a difference between indicative and imperative. The Beatitudes are written in the indicative form, meaning they are not something to strive for, they are something that if granted as the “kingdom of god is at hand.” An example of the imperative form is, you should be meek so that you can inherit the kingdom of god. This is of course not Christ promise. The promise is that the kingdom has come and all of the true citizens are blessed from the meek to the persecuted. The difference between the promise (indicative) and the imperative is fundamental to our understanding of the gospel.

3. Vs 16: 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. What is the purpose of our good works? Not for our salvation but that the world may give glory to God when they see our salt, light and hearts. The world is under what we call “common grace” because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Indirectly even unbelievers benefit from the grace that God has given us. This grace should overflow from the believer, that we may be salt and light to the world not a stink!

4. Vs 17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. A saying that I have heard and love is, “If you are not occasionally charged with antinomianism then you are not preaching the gospel enough.” Antinomianism is the heresy that the law is no longer relevant to our lives since we are now under grace. While it is true that we are no longer under the condemnation of the law, the law still must be upheld. Christ did not abolish the law (antinomianism), but actually fulfilled the law not only in keeping it but also serving as the sacrifice that the law required.

5. Vs 18: For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. notice that those who break the laws are called least in the kingdom of heaven but they are still in the kingdom of heaven because righteousness is not based on our ability to keep the entire law anymore. Breaking the law does not exclude us from heaven but we may not enter heaven as triumphantly as we would have entered had we done a better job obeying the law.

6. Vs 20: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. How can our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Well I guess we must rely on Christ’s alien righteousness and not our own. This I why later in the gospel Christ says of John the Baptist…
“Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (MT 11:11)
As much as the Pharisees knew, when they rely on their own inherent righteousness they cannot enter heaven but the least of us who relies on Christ imputed righteousness surpasses the Pharisees.

7. Vs 21-40: Amazing dialogue of the state of man’s heart. We calvinests have a doctrine called, “total depravity” this is not really the time to get into an extended discussion on total depravity but I promise it will come up soon. Here Christ makes clear that we sin not in our action but in our thoughts. Though to the outside world all that is apparent may be our “white washed walls,” Christ here is determined help us understand our need for his alien righteousness. The Law is not meant to save but to drive us to Christ. What is lacking in the liberal church in America is the need. Without preaching about the depths of our mind’s sin (even short of our bodies action) the laity of the church has absolutely no need for Christ. Subsequently without a need the church has no love for Christ. One of my favorite verses in all the bible is “he who is forgiven much loves much”. For my free reading I am currently reading Saint Augustine’s confessions and what has been enlightening to me is the depth of his sin before his conversion to Christ. Saint Augustine goes into great depths about his thievery and sexual exploits. But after his conversion to Christianity (in his 30’s) he looks back and while he laments over his sin, he seems all the more passionately in love with Christ for pulling him out of his unfulfilling life of crime and sex. Perhaps it takes the depths of sin and depravity to make us truly appreciate the amazing mercy of God in Christ. This was defiantly the case in my life. Can people who never hear or understand the wrath upon wrath that is justly due their sin love God the way Saint Augustine did? Vs 21-40 drive us to Christ enforcing that no matter how good we all appear externally, no matter how much better than our neighbor we may seem that we are all wrath deserving sinners at heart.

8. Vs 27-30: why does Christ connect the eye and Hand immediately after lust? Could he be speaking of Masturbation?

9. Vs 38-40: Relates directly to a discussion that we had with friends last night about not becoming a stench to society by forcing them to take us to court to remove the 10 commandments from a court, a nativity scene from a fire station, prayer time from school etc… If we are fighting these concepts for the historic importance than lets them as historians but this is not a battle I feel we should be fighting as Christians as these trinkets are meaningless to the Justification and sanctification of the believer and seem to actually be compromising our witness, erecting walls between Christians and the very agnostics that we need to be talking to. Again if we are to fight this let’s fight it from the historic perspective as historians not from the Christian perspective as crazy, extremist fundamentalists. Because in the end my faith is not strengthened by a nativity scene, 3 minutes of silence, Christmas trees in airports etc… I know this will spark great debate as it already has and I have written by views more coherently in a paper that I’ll attach.

10. Vs 48: 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now that’s an imperative! Talk about intimidating, lets reflect on his overall point as discussed above. The law is the standard, in order to merit salvation based on our own works we must, “be perfect, as our father is perfect” Thanks be to God that through faith we actually take on Christ’s perfection. Christ is the perfection of God in that he was born without the stain of original sin and lived his life perfectly without sin, now through faith in his finished work on the cross we actually gain the perfection the Father demands. Wow!
11. Psalms: The weight of God’s wrath weighs heavy on David, as it does on us all. But out of love, in mercy, the Father has provided us salvation.

Sun Tzu

1. We must not only choose our battles wisely but the timing of our battles wisely…Christmas time probably not the best time to fight the battle over infant salvation .

Intellectual Devotion:

1. Despite all his worldly success, even a Nobel Prize, in the end Hemingway put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. What a commentary on what is truly important in this life.