Sermon 4 in the series based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached: A Spiritual Overhaul by the Master.”
Today’s sermon text is loaded with difficulties that must be cleared up if we are to see the big point. We will treat the difficulties one by one. Let’s start by reading the text.
Matthew 5: 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.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.
Problem Passage Number 1: “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Define lust: Lust, as Jesus defines it, is stronger than merely noticing an attraction to another person. It is intentionally entertaining the thought or fantasy of an extramarital relationship to the point that, if it were not for factors that make it frightening or impossible, one would carry out the relationship. Lust need not be focused on sexual intercourse, but may be focused on romance. Looking at pornographic images can be lust. So can reading romance novels or watching soap operas in certain ways. Lust is developing an attitude of the heart, an intention, to use another person to make us feel attractive, powerful, desirable, and so forth. If this attitude becomes habitual, it sets us up for failure in a committed marital relationship. It is adultery in the heart.
Correcting a lie from Satan: I have heard people say seriously, “I have already committed adultery in the heart, and, since one sin is as bad as another, I might as well carry out the actual adultery.” That is nonsense. King David could have merely repented of lusting in his heart for Bathsheba, but, although he eventually repented quite seriously of his physical adultery with her, nothing could undo the great harm that he set off for his family, his kingship, and his country by that act. The rule is, “Stop sin at the earliest stage possible.” Jesus is not saying that a sin in the heart is as destructive as a sin carried out. Rather, he is warning us to deal with the sin when it is still in the heart and before it becomes a dangerous storm.
Problem Passage Number 2: “For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”
Difficulty: When Jesus is talking about getting rid of body parts that cause us to sin, some people take him literally, and that is a serious problem, but he is speaking figuratively. Jesus knows that body parts do not cause us to sin. He is not advising us to maim our bodies.
Solution: Jesus teaches that all sins are caused by thoughts and desires in the heart. His literal point is that we must get rid of the causes of our sin, the wrong thoughts and attitudes and desires. We must replace wrong thoughts with right thoughts. Right thoughts include focusing on seeking God’s best for all God’s children, and not deceiving ourselves that God’s best for another person includes his or her having a premature or an adulterous sexual or romantic relationship with us. That deception comes straight from Satan. Honestly thinking of others as children of God ends that deception.
Problem Passage Number 3: Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Difficulty A. When Mark reports Jesus’ teaching about divorce, he gives no exception clause. Mark’s report emphasizes that God did not create marriage to end in divorce and that divorce is never God’s will. When Matthew twice reports Jesus’ teaching about divorce, he gives an exception clause. The Greek word he uses for what would justify instituting divorce proceedings is porneia; it is the root of the English words fornication and pornography. It is generally translated by a term such as sexual immorality. Certain churches get legalistic with this, forcing divorced people who wish to remarry to prove that they had grounds if they wish to remain members in full communion. But legalism is not Jesus’ intent in the Sermon on the Mount.
Solution A. Many scholars say that point is that one should not institute legal divorce proceedings unless the spouse has already irretrievably broken covenant. This could include, as Paul suggests, abandonment. Many believe that it could also include abuse and that the abuse could be of the children as well as of the spouse. We do not know the precise legal boundaries of the term, but it was not Jesus’ purpose to give us a new legalism. It was his point to discourage us from causing a break in a marriage relationship. Most scholars agree that the exception clause does not require divorce every time there are grounds; nothing in the exception clause overrides the command for us to offer forgiveness without limit, to always pray the best even for a wayward and abusive spouse, and to seek any reconciliation that may be made on solid grounds of effective repentance and inner healing. The following are reasons that do not justify divorce: I no longer love my spouse. This marriage is just too difficult. I would be much happier with a different spouse. I am really angry with my spouse. My spouse is really angry with me. All these situations can and should be addressed with prayerful creativity and persistence, not with giving up. Divorce should be reserved for situations in which there is no remedy for a fractured marriage covenant. Divorce is not God’s will for marriage and should not be considered if there is any safe alternative. At its best, it is merely a divine concession to human hardness of heart. God has made that concession because it is sometimes necessary. It is not necessary even a small fraction of the times it is practiced. Jesus’ point is to strongly challenge us not to resort to divorce unless it really is the last resort.
Difficulty B. Jesus said that whoever divorces a woman without proper grounds makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Solution B. Most scholars agree that a divorce based on proper grounds gives permission to marry again. Few divorced women in Jesus’ time could afford not to remarry. Jesus was saying that, if a man divorces his wife without proper grounds, he leaves her little alternative but to marry again even though she should not have been divorced in the first place, and her second marriage should not have been possible. Most scholars also agree that the second man who commits adultery by marrying a divorced woman is marrying an improperly divorced woman. The primary fault for the adultery of the woman and the second man is laid back on the first man who improperly divorced his wife.
Difficulty C. What do we do with the fact that so many Christians have been through improper divorces and remarriages?
Solution C. If there has been proper confession of sin, repentance, and commitment to God’s will, the past is past. Jesus made the woman at the Samaritan well his first evangelist to the Samaritans even though she had been married five times and had been living with a man to whom she was not married. We must assume that, when she came to believe in Jesus, she found the motivation and power to straighten out her life from that point forward. But we can never go back and amend all the costs of past sin. If we have divorced and remarried improperly, we cannot make a first divorce less sinful by going through a second divorce. We can only start from where we are, covered by the grace and righteousness of God, and seek to live out God’s will as fully as possible today and tomorrow.
Main point: What Jesus wants from us is whole-hearted devotion to representing the character and reign of God. God is a covenant-keeper. Those who represent him must be covenant keepers.
Sub-point: When we are face-to-face with God’s righteousness, we all fall short. There is no room for self-righteousness or judgmentalism. Probably none of us scores 100% on the purity test, and our attempts to justify ourselves look pretty feeble and hypocritical to anyone who has much understanding of human nature.
Finding the help we need in overcoming compulsive tendencies toward sexual misbehavior. All sin, including sexual sin, is rooted in a faith problem. When we do not trust that God will carry us by means of his will and his ways to the very best outcome, we try to take moral shortcuts to what appear to us to be immediate satisfactions. The most basic thing we need to believe is that God is good and trustworthy, holy and loving, righteous and powerful, gracious and merciful…that God wants the best for us and can deliver it if we will only trust and obey.
We sang about it at the beginning of our service, in the second verse of “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”: “Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been granted in what he ordaineth?” What that is saying is, “It may take a while to see, but what God wills turns out to be best for our long-term satisfaction.”
If we trust God, we need to listen to his guidance through scripture and the Holy Spirit. We sang about that too. The hymn, “Speak, O Lord” is about our being transformed into the image and glory of God as we receive the guidance he speaks to us. The second verse has these words: “Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of Your purity. Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see Your majestic love and authority.” That should be happening not only in our weekly worship, but in our daily prayer and study—and in small groups aimed at spiritual growth.
In a bit we will be singing, “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners.” Each verse shows us something about how Jesus helps us break free from sin. The hymn affirms that Jesus makes us whole, that Jesus helps us win the victory over temptation, that Jesus comforts our souls in sorrow, that Jesus pilots us through the storms of life, and that we can find more than All in Jesus. There is nothing like a living relationship with Jesus to keep us from wrong relationships with our fellow human beings.
Studies have shown that people are most vulnerable to temptation when they feel tired, stressed, overworked, lonely, misunderstood, frustrated, and so forth. They begin to focus on carving out a little hidden corner for some sort of forbidden satisfaction that actually ends up pushing them farther into dissatisfaction and shame, the set-up for what might become a destructive, addictive pattern. For example, the vast majority of clergy moral failure fits this pattern.
The best medicine is personal, restful time spent with God. Yes, we need sleep, exercise, recreation, and play, but people who spend lots of time in front of the tube, on the Internet, napping, out on the lake, etc., are still subject to temptation. There is no substitute for spending quality time with God becoming acquainted with his good and perfect plans for our lives and committing ourselves to trust his provision.
Finally, a word for young people who can start fresh: you were created to be a child of God and a servant of God. You were created to represent God’s nature and purposes to the world. Find your primary satisfaction in that calling. Make sure that any marriage covenant you form strengthens you as a child and servant of God. I know that romantic relationships can be very exciting, but let them form naturally and slowly around who you are as a child of God. Be patient and discerning, watchful and cautious. If you are destined for marriage and family, trust that God will provide the right relationship at the right time. Pushing ahead too fast, and fixating too soon on that guy or girl who makes you feel so attractive and important, can lead to a life of pain and disappointment. God has better for you than that if you will trust him.
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