If there is anything that should stand out in all of Jesus’ teachings, it is that Christians are different from the rest of the world—not different looking, but different acting.
How we act toward one another—how we respond to different situations—how we drive our cars, treat our bosses, put in an honest day’s work, go the second mile, honor our government, and on and on—it should be obvious that we are different.
But we need to be careful about becoming legalistic about our goodness. We tend to isolate certain things and say, “This is holy and that’s worldly.” The problem is that our definition of holiness and worldliness are far removed from what the Bible says.
When I was growing up it was a sin to go to the movies. So if I don’t go to movies I’m holy. If I do I’m worldly. Others say the same thing about playing cards. Not to play is holy.
But what about pride—“I don’t play cards so I’m holier than you.” Or the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye; pride in ancestry. Does the Scripture say anything about gossip or covetousness?
In Romans 1:24-32, is a list of sins including idolatry, unnatural sexual relations, greed, envy, strife, deceit, murder, malice, gossiping, slandering, God hating, insolence, arrogance, boastful, disobedient to parents, heartless and ruthless, faithlessness.
To that list can be added things like worry, lying, and not trusting God. He calls this “every kind of wickedness. He said that we in fact invent ways to do evil.
We can become pretty full of ourselves, puffed up with what we don’t do and how good we are because we don’t do the things that we consider worldly—sinful.
What does Jesus say? Jesus is talking about these kinds of false applications to ourselves. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus begins six sections with “You have heard that it was said . . .” Then He says, “But I tell you . . .” (vv. 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43)
I call these point/counterpoint. Jesus is not refuting or changing Old Testament teachings, but rather current misinterpretations of some of them. Let’s look at three of those. We are different because…
It seems our whole society is largely built on lies and manufactured “truth.” We shade the truth. We cheat. We exaggerate. We misrepresent tax deductions. We make promises we have no intention of keeping. We make up excuses. We betray confidences. And it is all just a matter of normal, everyday living.
Leonard Sweet, in his Soul Cafe newsletter, included this list of "Top 10 Liars' Lies": 10. We'll stay only five minutes. 9. This will be a short meeting. 8. I'll respect you in the morning. 7. The check is in the mail. 6. I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you. 5. This hurts me more than it hurts you. 4. Your money will be cheerfully refunded. 3. We service what we sell. 2. Your table will be ready in just a minute. 1. I'll start exercising (dieting or so on...) tomorrow.
This is who we are. Without even realizing it we are liars. We exaggerate things. And it was pretty much the same in Jesus’ day.
The example Jesus uses is making a promise with an oath. Oaths were very important in His day. The Jews divided oaths into two classes—those that were absolutely binding and those that were not.
Those that were absolutely binding contained the name of God—“I swear by the Lord God above to pay the amount I owe you.” But if you promised something on Aunt Tilly’s grave or the hair on your head, you were quite free to break your promise.
Oaths were good and necessary, especially in business transactions. They were like a signature on a contract. But, as you can see, some were more binding than others. But the fact is Jesus wants you to understand that as a believer…
The idea was that if God’s name was used, God became a partner in the transaction; if God’s name was not used, then God didn’t have anything to do with the transaction.
But Jesus says that God is always a partner in every transaction. You can’t keep Him out of it. He is already there (vv. 34-35). You cannot divide your life into compartments—some of which God is involved and in others He is not.
There cannot be one kind of language in the church and another kind at the bank, the factory, the garage, or wherever. There cannot be one standard of conduct in the church and another kind in the business world.
God doesn’t have to be invited into certain aspects of your life and kept out of others. He is everywhere, and in every activity.
The key verse for us is Matthew 5:37, Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
To live in this world means you are going to have to sign contracts—credit cards, buy a house, a car—it’s good business sense. But much more than that, a Christian is going to be true to his word no matter what. Because you are a Christian is the real guarantee—and witness.
There probably is no other part of the Sermon on the Mount that has been so misinterpreted and misapplied. Christians Are Not sanctimonious doormats.
Yet these verses have been interpreted to mean that Christians are to be just that. It has been used to promote pacifism, conscientious objection to military service, lawlessness, anarchy and many other things that it simply doesn’t apply to.
As you read the Sermon on the Mount, you can’t help but notice that Jesus’ primary concern is with what we are, rather than what we do.
What we do is important because it is indicative of what we are. We respond differently to the little irritants of the world. We control our anger and direct it at the right things. We are conscious of the poor and try to help as we can. In other words we go beyond what the world expects.
But have you noticed how many go through life complaining about how unfair life is and insisting on our rights. The only rights Christians have are wrapped up in Jesus Christ.
Insisting on our rights may be a byproduct of life in the United States. After all, our Declaration of Independence states that we have certain inalienable rights.
We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But in our day the number of rights that people claim has been greatly expanded—civil rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, worker’s rights, prisoners’ rights, gay rights, Christian rights and so on.
That great British preacher, George Mueller, wrote, “There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Muller and his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.”
God is the only one we should seek to be approved by.
The oldest law in the world—an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth—is known as the Lex Talionis. It appears in the earliest know code of laws—the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi reigned in Babylon from 2285 to 2242 B.C. We could call it the law of tit-for-tat.
It was a good law in its time because it limited vengeance by limiting punishment only to the one committing the crime. And his punishment could not be more than the equivalent of the injury or damage he did.
This was the law Jesus was talking about. But Jesus says that Christians go far beyond the law of tit-for-tat. We don’t think of our rights, but of our duties. Jesus is not talking about allowing ourselves to get beat up by bullies.
He’s not talking about supporting professional beggars. We’re not to roll over and play dead in the face of evil—in fact Christians are to actively oppose evil just as Jesus did.
But our Christian attitude should be that we’re not easily offended. We sincerely desire to help others—and look for ways to help. This is who we are as Christians. In every way Christians should do what is good and right.
Matthew 5:46, If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? This is a powerful, powerful verse and passage.
We’re to love our enemies??? And pray for those who persecute us??? That’s exactly what Jesus says. He’s talking about Christians. It’s what makes us different. We live in His strength through the Holy Spirit. Non-Christians cannot live up to this teaching.
The only way anyone could live up to what Jesus is teaching here is with the power of the Holy Spirit.
The only thing that enables us not to hit back, to turn the other cheek, to go the second mile, to give our overcoat, and to help others in desperate need, is to lose our self to Christ. But Jesus isn’t done—He takes it another step.
He tells us we must even love those people who do those things to us. We are to even love our enemies—treat them like a neighbor. It is not simply that we are not to strike back at them—we are to be positive in our attitude toward them.
This is why He says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48). You may believe this is impossible teaching. But it all has to do with love—stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about others. Try to love them as God does.
When you and I in this world face problems and difficulties, and obnoxious people, and the many things that irritate us—we are to behave like God behaves.
As God sends the sunshine and the rain on the just and the unjust (v. 45b), so His love is poured out on the world. We are to be like Him and treat others as He treats them. This means that…
If you are really honest, you know that much of your life is governed by other people, and by what they do and think about us. In other words we let other people control us.
Jesus says don’t act like that. Act like God. Your love must become such that you are no longer governed by what people say. When you do this you are able to see all people in a different way—the way God sees them.
Matthew 5:44, But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” This is the most powerful teaching in Scripture on the meaning of love. We love family. We love friends. We may have some kind of love for those who are kind of like us. But Jesus is talking about another kind of love.
With this love we are to break down the walls of pride, prejudice, judgmental people, spite, hatefulness, vengefulness, and so on. Human standards say it is okay to hate your enemies. God says, “Love them.” This kind of love seeks the highest good.
I may not like a dirty, vicious beggar. I cannot like the criminal who may have robbed me and threatened my life. I cannot like a liar and a cheat—someone perhaps who has slandered me again and again.
But I can, by the grace and strength of Jesus Christ, love them all, try to see what’s wrong with them, work for their good and, most of all, because of this proactive kind of love, maybe free them from their wrongful ways.
When you reproduce in your life the sacrificial love of Jesus you become most like Him. It is then that you become “perfect” in the New Testament sense of the word (v. 48).
The one thing that makes us most like Jesus is a love that never stops caring for others, no matter what they do or who they are. We realize our Christ-likeness when we learn to forgive like God forgives and love as God loves.