Sunday, September 27, 2009: Greater Righteousness 2

Greater Righteousness 2
Matthew 5: 27 – 32.

I. Introduction.

Three years ago, I preached a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments. I taught you an easy way to use your fingers to remember the Ten Commandments in their proper order. The Seventh Commandment literally reads, “Do not commit adultery.” However, I usually edit this one when I am with children to say, “Do not break your marriage promise.” Ultimately, that is what adultery is. On one hand, it is a sexual sin. On the other hand, it is breaking the lifelong marriage promise between a man and a woman.

On Thursday night of last week, the ABC News program “Nightline” broadcast an episode from a church in Texas. Evidently they are doing a series on the Ten Commandments, and Thursday night was dedicated to the Seventh Commandment.

The program consisted of a panel discussion with the Nightline reporter sitting in the middle of the stage. On her right were two people who were arguing IN FAVOR of adultery. On her left were two people arguing against adultery. I didn’t get to watch the entire program, but the entire 90 minute panel interview is available online at www.abcnews.com under the “Ten Commandments” link.

The idea that two people would publicly argue IN FAVOR of adultery would have been a big surprise to Moses. I’m sure that when Moses presented the Ten Commandments to God’s people on Mount Sinai, he probably thought this was one of the more obvious commandments. Do not commit adultery, or do not break your marriage promise, is an obvious commandment. When marriages break down, the society is not far behind. Marriage is the backbone of the culture.

I realize that not everyone present today is married. But, when Jesus spoke these words, he wasn’t speaking only to married people either. I think you will notice that Jesus took an Old Testament principle for married people and expanded it to include married people, people who hope to get married some day and singles. In other words, Jesus took a marriage principle and applied it to everyone—at least it applies to all Christians.

In Matthew 5: 20 Jesus said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” This verse tells us that following Jesus as a Christian requires a “Greater Righteousness.” Then, Jesus took six Old Testament commandments and showed us how our righteousness is supposed to be greater than the Pharisees. Today, we are going to look at his second and third examples.

Read Matthew 5: 27 – 32.

The Old Testament understanding of “adultery” was a very specific understanding. It did not refer to sexual relations before marriage. It only referred to sexual relations outside of marriage—a husband or a wife cheating on their spouse.

Interestingly, the Old Testament afforded more sexual freedom to husbands than wives. For example, the Old Testament allowed a man to have more than one wife in cases where his first wife was not able to provide him with children. However, a woman was never permitted to have a second husband.

Jesus’ teaching on adultery is very similar to his teaching on murder—which we looked at last Sunday. The commandment “Do not commit murder” places the boundary between obedience and sin at the wrong place. In other words, it is possible to keep the commandment “Do not murder,” while still being guilty of anger, hatred and calling other people hurtful names. Jesus took the external commandment about murder and moved the boundary. It is not good enough to resist the temptation to murder while harboring anger and hatred in your heart. Anger and hatred are just as sinful as murder.


II. Lust = Adultery of the Heart.

There are several key words and phrases in verse 27, which demonstrate how Jesus has moved the boundary of this commandment.

Adultery…Again, this is a word that refers specifically to “breaking a marriage promise.” In the Old Testament, both men and women could be guilty of adultery, but there was a double standard. A woman was guilty of adultery if she was married and had sexual relations with any man other than her own husband. A man was guilty of adultery ONLY if he had sexual relations with a wife of another man. If a husband had relations with an unmarried woman, it was not considered adultery. This kind of activity was still considered a sin, but it was not adultery. Instead, it was more like stealing, because the ancient world viewed women as the property of the men in their lives. A wife was the property of her husband. An unmarried woman was the property of her father. A man who had relations with an unmarried woman had stolen something from her father

Anyone…This is why I say Jesus was not just speaking to married people. Adultery is “breaking a marriage promise,” and it only applies to married men and women. But Jesus did NOT restrict his words to married men. Jesus said, “anyone” can be guilty of adultery. It does not matter what your marital status might be—married, single, widowed, divorced. It does not matter how old you might be—teenager, young adult, middle aged, senior adult. Jesus has given this commandment to “anyone.”

A Woman…This word could present us with some unusual problems with interpretation. For example, we could take this literally and say that Jesus is only talking to men. Women are exempt from this teaching. But there are at least two reasons why we shouldn’t be so literal. First, lust is a sin which affects men significantly more than women. Second, Jesus is reinterpreting the adultery commandment and expanding it equally to apply to both men and women. The Old Testament—and the application of the Old Testament—created a double standard. Men had more loopholes to help them avoid the prohibition against adultery. Not anymore. Men, Jesus is holding you to a higher standard. This standard is not higher than Jesus’ standard for women. It is higher than anything required in the Old Testament.

Lustfully…The pastor in the Nightline program on adultery was Ed Young, Jr. of Dallas. He made a great statement on the program: “Lust is a God-given desire gone haywire.” In fact, the Greek word for lust is the same as the word for “desire.” It will help us to understand the concept of lust by thinking of it as “the desire to have” something. This is similar to the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20: 17).” Notice that the Tenth Commandment includes a man’s wife as one of his possessions: wife, ox and donkey are described as things. This is what it means to lust after a woman: to think of a woman as a piece of property—or a thing. There is a big difference between a person and a thing. A person is an equal—he or she has been created in the image of God, just as you have. Things have not been created in the image of God—they are simply objects to be used for our pleasure. To lust is to objectify women, to think of women as objects to serve my desires rather than a person created in the image of God.

In His Heart…Jesus has moved the boundary for this commandment. Adultery is a sin of the body. Lust is a sin of the heart. And Jesus equates the two. It is not enough to resist the temptation to commit adultery. If you objectify women by harboring lust in your heart, you are already guilty of sin.


III. Lust Requires Radical Avoidance.

We can summarize Jesus’ teaching on adultery by saying that lust is a sin of the heart that affects a man’s soul. There are eternal consequences at stake. This is not simply a matter of living up to a certain ethical standard. Jesus said this sin can affect your soul. That is what he means by referring to Hell.

On the negative side, lust is a matter of Heaven and Hell. On the positive side, Jesus teaches us that lust can be controlled. Jesus does not agree with the modern day theories that men cannot be faithful to their wives. Jesus does not provide men with excuses such as “It’s in the nature of men to look at pretty women.” No. Jesus says that lust is a radical sin of the heart, which requires radical action to avoid falling prey to sin.

He illustrates this with two radical and grotesque examples: If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. This is not the only place where Jesus makes this statement. In Matthew 18, Jesus repeated his words about plucking out your eye and cutting off your hand. Then, he added: “If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off…”

I do not believe this is to be taken literally. If we were to follow Jesus’ words literally, How many of us would be blind AND crippled? The church is not a place for perfect people to gather to keep ourselves separate from the sinners outside. The church is a place for sinners to find forgiveness and remedy—like a hospital for sinners.

I believe this is hyperbole. Jesus is stating a couple of extreme examples to show us how we should take extreme measures to avoid sin.

First, there is a message for men. There are no excuses for lust. It is not the result of your God-given desire. No. It is a perversion of your God-given desire. A husband’s desire is to be limited to his own wife. And there is no excuse for thinking of women as objects to serve your desires. These kinds of desires can be controlled ONLY if we take radical steps to avoid lust. You won’t have to pluck out your eyes if you discipline yourself to look away—as if you are blind to sin. You won’t have to cut off your hand if you put filters on your Internet (and let your wife be the only one who knows the password)—as if those websites do not even exist. You won’t have to cut off your foot if you have someone in your life to keep you from going places where you should not go—accountability among men is one of the best ways to avoid tempting situations.

Second, there is a message for women. Women, men notice the way you dress. (I truly believe you already knew this, but now that I have said it, you can’t say you didn’t know.) I am in no way trying to blame the victims, legislate how you dress or take away your freedom. But you need to know that men like to look at pretty things. Have you ever noticed the way men look at a new pickup? When a man gets a new truck, he drives it to his friends so they can look at it and grunt. The same thing is true about a fishing boat. We look at the truck and boat and dream about having one just like it. Women, you are not a truck or a boat. You are a person created in the image of God. But sometimes you dress like you want us to look at you like a boat.


IV. Jesus’ Teaching on Divorce.

Adultery and lust are both sins against God. When David confessed his sin in Psalm 51, he said, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…(Psalm 51: 4)” Yet, the consequences of these sins affect marriage.

Jesus’ teachings on divorce are probably the hardest teachings in the entire Bible. I think this is the first time I have ever addressed these verses in my 10+ years as a pastor. This is a hard teaching, because it comes from Jesus. I am not inclined to read Jesus’ words and interpret them by saying, “What he said is this, but what he meant was…” This is Jesus talking! He said what he meant. It is also hard, because this is not the only time Jesus said these words. Matthew, for example, records this teaching of Jesus twice: Matthew 5 and 19. (And Paul makes a similar statement in 1 Corinthians 7.) If Jesus said this more than once, then we have to take Jesus’ words seriously.

Certificate of Divorce…There is no Old Testament commandment that defines how a man can divorce his wife. Deuteronomy 24: 1 – 4, describes a divorce case and assumes a precedent for divorce. This precedence includes a reference to a “certificate of divorce.” Most scholars indicate that a man could divorce his wife by giving her a written pronouncement that included the words, “You are free to marry any man.” Divorce gave the ex-husband and ex-wife the freedom to remarry.

Marital Unfaithfulness…This is the only exception Jesus mentioned. The NIV translates this as “marital unfaithfulness,” but the literal Greek word is porneia, which is a reference to sexual sin in general.

Causes Her to Become an Adulteress…This is the phrase that gives us the most trouble. But this is not the best translation. Literally, this says, “makes her commit adultery.” As strange as these words sound to our modern ears, this is ultimately a statement about marriage as a divine institution.

If the state of Texas declares a man and woman husband and wife, then the state of Texas can dissolve that union. However, if God declares a man and woman husband and wife, then the state of Texas has no jurisdiction to dissolve what God has done. If God put a couple together, then regardless of what the state of Texas says, the couple is still married. Relations outside of that union are adultery.

Remember how I said that Jesus addressed his words about adultery and lust to married people and singles? Here Jesus is only speaking to married people. If you are married, these are Jesus’ words to you. This is a warning and prohibition against divorce. If you are already divorced, then I think there is another message.

Adultery is a sin. But it is not beyond the grace of God. You can be forgiven and restored. Divorce is never God’s plan for your life. If you are married, don’t get divorced. If you are divorced, you are not beyond the grace of God. You can be restored. God can redeem any circumstance of your life.


V. Conclusion.

Christian marriage is a reflection of God in the world. On one hand, Christian marriage is supposed to be free from sexual sins—adultery and lust. On the other hand, Christian marriage is to reflect Christian forgiveness and reconciliation. If we cannot forgive the people we live with, how can we forgive others? If we cannot reconcile the relationships closest to us, how can we be reconciled with the world?