← ArchiveDucks in a RowSunday, August 13, 2017DateAugust 13, 2017Speaker—TextMatthew 5Passages in this sermonMatthew 53:32Matthew 5:383:431 Corinthians 618:22John 1323:18Colossians 132:01TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Music playing. We are continuing our series on ducks in a row, setting Christ-centered priorities in our life.0:30And this series and this passage of Scripture was selected many, many weeks ago, if not months ago, prayerfully through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And I have no doubt that from the foundations of the world, the Lord knew that we needed to hear this message0:58on Christ-centered relationships today. He said, well, Pastor, what are you getting at? I'm going to be very clear with what I say here, because this needs to be said in this church and every church across the world. My family was napping yesterday. Everyone, even the dog, was napping yesterday afternoon. And so I sat riveted in front of the TV and watched as three people were killed and 35 injured in Charlottesville, Virginia,1:21in a white supremacist rally that had a counter rally that someone drove a car into and killed three people as of this morning. And let me just say this, racism, hatred, bigotry, and favoritism has no place in the kingdom of God. None. None.1:51None. Let me just say, personally, my grandfather fought against that Nazi salute in World War II. In my house, that will never be done. My grandmother was still today whooped me, and she deserves to. My grandparents fought against that, not because of the salute, but they knew the hatred for where it came from. And I want you to know, if you don't know this, in 1832, this church at the first church service was a multiracial church in rural Alabama.2:17The roots of this church is to say to the world, there is no favoritism. Christ breaks race. He breaks gender. He breaks social stereotypes. In Christ, there is no Jew, nor Gentile, nor slave, nor free. We are all one in Jesus Christ.2:49So with that, I want you to know that Jesus, our vertical relationship with God, has profound impact on our horizontal relationships. Said another way, look, if your relationships are a mess here, maybe your relationship with Jesus is a mess. Right? Said the way I treat others is a direct reflection of how I have put my faith in Jesus Christ. And said another way, the way other people see me here is the way that they see my faith in Jesus Christ.3:14This is going to be a very difficult, difficult sermon. I want you to know that, because there are things that Jesus says that I don't like. Let me just admit that as a pastor. There are things that Jesus says that I still struggle with, and right in front of us in Matthew 5. Jesus just slaps our sensibilities. Matthew 5.38, join me.3:43We have some work to do this morning. This is the Sermon on the Mount, and if you would like to go there, we are going to Israel in February as a church. We will go to the Mount of Beatitudes. You will see this mountainside where Christ spoke these very difficult words. In Matthew 5, very first book in the New Testament, in verse 38, Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.4:13But I tell you, let these words sink in. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, do not resist. On the contrary, if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And as the one who wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat as well.4:40And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to the one who asks, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Gosh, these are the words of Jesus. Look at verse 43. You have heard it said. And at this point, Jesus can just stop. This is a lifetime to live out. But he says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.5:09I can get on that bandwagon. But Jesus says, I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and us, the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have?5:37Don't even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don't even the Gentiles, those who don't believe, do the same. Be perfect, be whole, be righteous. Therefore, as your heavenly Father in heaven is perfect. Let's pray. Father, Lord, this is very difficult for us. We are hard-hearted and hard-headed.6:06Lord, we have heard a lot of things said. But today, we want to know what you say. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to look at three things. What you have heard, and then the way we react in our relationships, and the way we, I know it's not a word, but the way we proact. The way we are proactive. And first, Jesus attacks our traditions. He attacks what we have heard. Look at what he says in verse 38. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.6:36You know, Jesus has an incredible way of attacking what we think is right, but what is not. But we all have that, don't we? So we have mixed some scripture with some tradition, with some just standard and work ethic that we have, and it is devastating to our faith. Jesus says, you have heard it said, love your neighbor. Where does that come from?7:05It comes from scripture. And you have heard it said, hate your enemies. Where does that come from? Your heart. And so a little truth with a little untruth is devastating, church. It's devastating. And so Jesus is impacting who we are. And we need to stop right now and ask this question. Lord, what have I heard said? Because there's a lot of things that I do in my life. There's a lot of things I think about my faith that are not true, but they've been given to me.7:33Right? I have heard it said, love those who love you. But Jesus says, I have heard it said, look, when you have a right to sue, man, get the best lawyer you can. There's a ton of billboards down the interstate. One call, that's all. But Jesus says, you know what? Even if you have a right to sue, and they take everything, you know what, Josh?8:00You just give them your coat. I said, Jesus, that's not right. That's not what I've heard. Jesus says, I don't care what you hear. I want you to know what is godly. I want you to know what is righteous. And how important is this? Look at verse 21. Jesus says, you have heard it said. But I say to you, look at verse 27. You have heard it said, do not commit adultery.8:29But I say to you, do not lust. Verse 31, again. Verse 33, again. You have heard it said. Do not break an oath. But I say to you. Verse 38, again. Verse 43, again. Jesus, over and over again, ask us, what have you heard? Why is that important? Because if we're not careful, we live a life that is built on our doctrine and our truth and not the truth of Jesus Christ.8:54You know, what you've heard it said, it's okay to make racial jokes and it's okay to make crude comments. But Jesus says that has no place in those who are full of grace and mercy. You have heard it say, you know, spend time with those that you love. And Jesus says, no, you get it all wrong.9:22I say, go to your enemies. And so we ask, Lord, what do we know? Or do we think we know that's not true? So I'm going to call this segment the world versus the word. Here's our problem. We live in the world. Right? So we're not even saying it's bad. This is just who we are. We have a worldview that is not necessarily godly. And I know some of you are thinking, well, we live in the south. Everyone knows Jesus. That is a lie from hell.9:52And if you think that and you live by a neighbor, you haven't asked, let me share your story. Tell me about your faith. Tell me about Jesus. They could be walking the wide path to destruction. And we have assumed they know Jesus and we're letting them go to the gates of a place that will lead an eternity away from Christ. So what do you believe? What does the world say? So the world says this. This is us, by the way.10:22We say, give people what they deserve. Right? Some of you, I've said that before. I'm going to give them what they deserve. Or we say, the world says, I will give respect when it is earned. When it is earned. But Jesus says, don't resist those who do evil to you. Jesus, the word says, give people what they don't deserve.10:46If you don't like that, then why don't you begin to pray those prayers? Lord, you know what? Just give me what I deserve. That's not what I want. I want God to give me exactly what I don't deserve. Because I deserve separation because of my sin and death. And I pray, God, give me mercy. Lord, I'm thankful you don't live by the world. But you have created the world that is now broken and you have redeemed it.11:15God, we need to give those what they don't deserve. Jesus says in his word, give respect that is not earned. That is not, he said, I don't like that. That's the point. The world says that love brings love. The world says, if you love me, I will love you. The word says that the hatred of others should bring out the love in us.11:42That's difficult, isn't it? So when we see someone drive a car, and where did that premeditated act come from? And where did that Dodge Challenger or Charger, whatever it is, a Mopar car, I remember seeing the taillights, when they drove through that crowd of people, where did that come from? It was birth in the heart. And if we're honest, all of our hearts has that kernel somewhere.12:11And so before we point fingers and say, I can't believe they did that, that could be us. And you might not drive someone over like that, but you're doing it on Facebook. We're going behind the scenes and we're slandering people. And Christ calls us to live by other standards. So how would you characterize your relationships today? As worldly or as wordy? And this is what we need to start with this morning.12:40Are we living a life that is, I have heard it said? Are we living a life that is, but Lord, you say this? Are we living lives that say, Lord, I, to my detriment, to my harm, I will give them grace? Are we living a life by our standards? That says if you work hard, keep everything that you get because it's yours. And if you do these things, you will be good and God will accept you.13:09That is not what God's word says. And that Christian ease, Christianity somewhat worldview has sent millions and millions of people blind walking away from Jesus. Because we are living by, we have heard it said. And Jesus says, but I say to you this morning. So how do we now live a life that is on fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ?13:35How do we live, Lord, what do you say lives? Well, first, look at the way you react. Look at the way you react. And God asked us to react differently. Verse 38. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This was an ancient maxim throughout the ancient world. And actually, this was a legal recourse. Can you imagine going in court and you knocking someone's tooth out?14:04And they right there say, okay, time for your tooth to come out. Or you know what? God, right? Josh took your eye and said, today is your chance in court. Go get it. I just plucked his eye out. How gruesome that must be. But that was the right. And what does Jesus say? He says, but I tell you, don't resist. So what happens in our life when someone causes us pain?14:31What happens to you when someone causes you pain? Are we people who say, you know what? Put up your dukes. Let's fight. Can't believe you would do that. Are we people that say, I'm not going to resist? Because my Savior, when they stripped him and beat him, he, as a lamb that was led to the slaughter, did not open his mouth because of me. Lord, when people cause me physical pain, may I react differently.15:01Look what he says. He furthers that in case we missed it. On the contrary, if someone slaps you on your right cheek, do what? Slap them back. No. Turn the other cheek. Some of you are about to amen that. I almost caught you. Right? You're about to work on your wrestling moves from the 80s. But that was the epitome of the insult. A backhanded slap from a right-handed person would be on the right cheek of someone else.15:30That was the most great insult anyone could give you. And Jesus says, you know what? Let them insult you again. And so how does this apply in our life? Let me ask you this. Is there someone here today or someone in your life that has harmed you and you have the right to carry a grudge? But God is asking you today, lay that down. I know they slapped you. I know you didn't deserve it.15:59But come to the altar today and give them grace and offer them forgiveness. Maybe you're not the one who's been slapped. Maybe you're the one that slapped someone and maybe you've been the bully. Maybe today you need to go to someone before you leave here. Or maybe during the time of invitation. And there's someone here you need to go to and just say, I'm sorry. I was a fool. But I'm thankful that the cross is a stumbling block to the foolish. And I now see rightly. I have heard with my ears. I have heard it said.16:29But Jesus says otherwise. And I want to extend mercy to you. And offer and extend forgiveness. You say, well, that's difficult. I can't believe you'd ask me to do that. That's what Jesus asked you to do. And maybe to your physical harm, you are to extend grace. But it goes even further in our relationships. It's not just physical. But look at the financial. Verse 40. As the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat.16:56Now, this is not possible. In the ancient world, you are not allowed. Because sometimes the poorest of the poor, the peasants, all they would have was a coat and an undershirt. This is almost like underwear. And so Jesus is bringing up a hypothetical. You could not legally have your coat sued off of you. And so if you were sued in this way, you had financial recourse. This was a slam dunk court case.17:26And Jesus is saying, even at your financial detriment, give. It's okay. Because one, if they harm you, God will give you grace in its place. And two, if you financially suffer, don't you trust the Lord enough to protect you? And even if I die naked and ashamed, you know, I came into this world and I will go out the same way. You know what?17:56If I were a billionaire, I'm going to go out with nothing in my pocket. I'm going to go naked. From dust we all came, and dust we shall return, Ecclesiastes says. And are we people willing to say today, Lord, even if it is at our detriment, Lord, I care more about people and their souls than I care about pennies. And you can go read 1 Corinthians 6 about lawsuits later if you want to see how that practically works out.18:22But if you're thinking about suing another Christian today, go read 1 Corinthians 6. And Jesus says, you better offer them the chance to live a God-filled life before you go to the court. And he said, well, that's not what the world tells me. That's correct. But we are to live differently that the world might see us differently and see our Savior. Are we willing at our financial and our physical harm to live differently?18:51And if that was not enough, we could say amen and go now and try to live that out. But Jesus even furthers that. Can you imagine the squirming going on the sermon on this hill, by the way? As Jesus is just berating, like God is speaking to us right now. I mean, we're squirming right now. Verse 41, if anyone forces you to go one mile. So what would happen in the ancient days?19:20They didn't have Facebook, and they didn't have Twitter, and they didn't have text messages. So they would have outposts throughout the kingdom. And sometimes it would be five or ten miles, and they would run signals or messages from outpost to outpost. So if one of the youth were going to school, a Roman soldier could grab one of them and say, look, you are carrying this letter. Go a mile. And our youth would say, but I really want to go to school today. I can't miss it.19:49And Jesus says, you know what? Offer to that person. Go. I'll go too. I know it's an inconvenience. I know it's difficult. But, Lord, I'll do more. Businessmen. Maybe this person was on business, or they were going to see a family member that had died or was sick. And Jesus says, take time out of your day and go the extra mile. Are you a person, am I a person, that is known to go the extra mile in my life that people would see grace?20:14And what is the extra mile? That's the one mile you don't want to go, and that's another mile that when you spend time complaining to the Lord, He will change your heart. And you know what? If you have to do that grumbling in your heart, don't do it with your mouth. Let the world see that you're committed to following Christ. And as we grumble, God is going to, one, chastise us, and He's going to change our hearts.20:39Do my vertical relationships, the way I react, does that honor and reflect Jesus? If we're honest, some of us have acted in a way and reacted in a way this week, that we have a lot of people we need to ask forgiveness. Some of you have posted on Facebook this week that they're going to be posted forgiveness. And look, youth, I know sometimes it's hard to understand, and adults, you too.21:08If you like something, if you share something, it's as if you wrote it. Right? So I can't share something and say, hey, my friend shared this, I don't really agree with it, but I sort of do, so I'm going to just share it. God calls us to live differently. Maybe you listened to a joke this week that you should not have listened to, and you need to go to that person and say, I'm sorry I listened. I'm not going to condemn you. It's not about you.21:37I don't care if you said it or not, but I want you to know I should not have listened. Because it perpetuated a lie of the devil that I don't want to participate in, and I'm sorry. And you know what? I know if you have to chastise me for that, if it's at my detriment, I understand, but I'm sorry. God changes the way we react. But not only that, it changes the way we act towards others. So now let's look at the way that God calls us to live towards other people.22:03Verse 43, Jesus said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies. So Jesus says we should do something more. We should do something towards our enemies. We should love them. Did you know love is proactive? Right? Love is not defensive. It's offensive. If you have an enemy, our response is, I'm going to love you.22:31And in so doing, I love you because God first loved me. And when we were enemies, God loved us. Love is proactive. And so are we loving? Are you loving your neighbors? That's a good place to start. Are you loving your enemies? We all have enemies. Wednesday night, we made a list of enemies. And we had a list. We couldn't even make, we didn't have time to make a list long enough. We all have enemies.22:59And God says, love them. Love them. Love them to Jesus Christ. And I ask you, are you known by your love? Jesus says that we will be known. Verse 13, verse 34 of John 13. He says, by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. So are you known by your love?23:29When people look at you and they say, hey, Josh, is the first thought in their mind is, you know what? He's really weird. He worships Jesus, and I don't understand the vertical relationship, but he loves people. I don't get everything else. I don't know why he worships. I don't know why he gives. I don't know why he serves. That's really strange. But he loves people. And you know what's even more strange? He loves his enemies. That is not even conceivable to the world.23:58I don't understand that. We're going to go full circle to that later. Do you love your enemies? Do you love people? He said, well, of course I love people. Do they know you love them? Are you loving them in a way that loves them to Christ? Secondly, we're not only supposed to love people, but we are supposed to do this in verse 44. I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those that do what?24:24Persecute you. This is, hey, church, this is real persecution. These aren't people that called you a name way back in the day, or they made a funny face at you. This is real persecution. They're people in the time of Christ that are being burned. They're being crucified. They're being thrown in oil. Now, what's our problem? What's our persecution? So if we can't pray like that, we'll never pray when true persecution comes.24:52But Jesus says, pray. I found this in my life. It's hard to hate those I pray for. Are you praying for those who are persecuting you? A lady named Puti Sok told her Christian college friends this. She said, I was raised as a Cambodian Buddhist. And she said, through high school, I began to just stray away from my Buddhist faith. And she said, I became a devout, outspoken atheist.25:21She said, I entered college to a point where she would tell her friends, do not pray for me. And just the way it happened, the friends that she made her freshman year of college, most of them were Christ followers. And they would always share and encourage her. And her sophomore year, she went through a very difficult time. And she said, I just hit a wall. And one day, she went into the ministry, the college ministry of her local college.25:50And she didn't know what to do. And so she went to this prayer closet they had. And in that prayer closet, they had a little bucket. And they had the names of people who the students had been praying for. And really, as a sense of boredom, she started looking through the names. And one by one, she started pulling the names out. And the first one was Patti. She threw it to the side.26:21The second name was Patti. And over and over, and almost half of the names in that bucket were hers. And she said, in that moment, God broke me, knowing that those I hated were praying for me. She said, the prayer of those that were faithful led me to the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. Who are you praying for? Who are we praying for? If we do not pray for those that are far from God, we have failed our mission as Jesus followers.26:49Offensive weapons. Love, prayer. And then the last one is this. Jesus says, I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. And then in verse 47, he says, if you only greet your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? So I believe God calls us to greet in a way that is different than what the world says.27:17So who are you greeting? Let me just be very delicate and be very focused right now. Some of you, some of me too, we have a tendency to greet those that we are very familiar with. And often on Sunday mornings, I greet mostly those that I'm familiar with. God calls us to do the opposite. In our lives, God calls us to find the one that we don't know and say, I want to greet that person.27:45In the 1500s, the Benedictine monks had a manual of how the doorman would greet someone who came to the door. Listen to this story. This is a 15-year-old procedure manual. For those of you who are in HR or administration, you'll like this. He said, this is the way we answer the door. This is the way we deal with the world. The porter, when they hear the door, well, he is supposed to sleep at the entrance of the monastery28:12so he can hear the door and respond in a timely way. Now, just a personal note, if I'm sleeping by the door and you wake me up, I'm going to greet you by the world's standards. Okay? That's not going to be a pleasant greeting. But this is the way they are to welcome them. He says, Welcome them with all gentleness that comes from the reverence of God. And the porter is to reply,28:41Thanks be to God, your blessing, please. He is to say this before he even knows who is on the other side of the door. And then the porter is to make sure that the other monks know the presence of a visitor is in their midst so they can extend a welcome. We are called to greet differently. We are called to live differently. Does the world know that you love them? The people know that you are praying for them.29:11And are you greeting others? And just as God had worked it out, you have a chance. If you are free on Wednesday or Thursday, I invite you to be part of a group, a team that goes down to the elementary school and greets strangers. Open it up, car doors. You say, well, that doesn't make a difference. Yes. What if your act of kindness makes an eternal difference? And they're going to look at you and say, you don't have a single child in this county, but you're willing to serve me? Why would you do that?29:40And we can say, because Jesus loves me. I want to greet you differently. If you want to do that, I encourage you to let us know. Be a part of that. Greet someone today that you don't know when you came in here. You say, well, Pastor, why does this matter? Why do our horizontal relationships matter in the least? Well, let me just wrap up in this way. You have heard it said, but Jesus says to you. What are you doing or thinking in your life that you've heard it said?30:08You've heard it said. The baddest say this, but Jesus says. Your parents said this, but Jesus says. You think this, but Jesus says. What in your life today is a me first life or a Jesus, what do you say life? It's a very difficult question for us to ask. And maybe you need to spend time in reflection and prayer and say, Lord, change me.30:38Lord, I say I know you, but I don't really. Because I see the way I act. And the people see the way they act and they don't see you. Maybe today you need to extend forgiveness to someone that you have harmed. Maybe you need to pay financial reparation because you've cheated someone. And at your harm today, maybe you need to make it right in the eyes of God.31:03And if you do so, even at your harm, you glorify Christ and honor him. Maybe you need to love someone that you haven't been loving or pray for someone. But Jesus changes the way we relate to others in our life. Are you changed? And do others see your relationship with God? Maybe you're here and you just don't even understand what any of this means.31:32I want you to know this about the Heavenly Father. When you and I were enemies of Jesus Christ, he died for us. When the Bible says, love your enemies, we say, well, how could anyone do that? It doesn't even make sense. Jesus, why would you ask me to do something I can't do? Here's his response. Colossians 1. Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions.32:03But now, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death to present you holy, faultless, and blameless. Jesus says that you and you and you and you and you are enemies of God. And while I was an enemy, Jesus died for me because he loves his enemies. And he loves us enough to offer us forgiveness. If I will quit trying to earn righteousness and surrender to him today.32:33Let's pray. Father.← Previous in Ducks in a RowSunday, August 6, 2017Next in Ducks in a Row →Sunday, August 20, 2017More sermons on Matthew →
