Just like it did 2,000 years ago, the Sermon on the Mount challenges disciple's resolve to live the distinctness of the Christian counterculture.  Jesus calls us to us fidelity in marriage no matter what, truth telling at all cost, humiliation in the form of nonresistance, and above all to show our attitude of total love even to an enemy. His words here are both most admired and most resented. Yet, despite the difficulty of living our these teachings, our Lord's word is good - intrinsically good for individuals and society. If you haven't already, it’s always a good time to start The Life and Teachings of Jesus 2020 Reading Plan.

The Life and Teachings of Jesus - Week 9 – March 2-6:

Monday – Matt. 5:31-32: The third teaching of Jesus follows naturally from the second, inasmuch as sexual sin often leads to divorce. Again, Jesus requires a more exacting standard of His followers than was the norm of His day. The process for divorce under the Law of Moses is outlined in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. The bill of divorce, demanded by Moses and mentioned here by Jesus, was a protection for the woman that freed her to marry someone else. The religious teachers of Jesus’ day wrongfully assumed divorce was a part of God’s will and simply sending away one’s wife with a divorce certificate satisfied the Law’s demands (this is especially clear in Matthew 19:1-12). It’s against such a backdrop that our Savior calls on people to appreciate the true meaning and solemnity of marriage. For Him, marriage is intended to be a lifelong union of one man and one woman, and it is not to be dissolved lightly. Jesus’ teaching on divorce clearly contrasts with His and our culture.

Why do you think our Lord has such a high view of fidelity to one’s spouse? What would make your Top Ten List for how to avoid divorce?   

Tuesday – Matt. 5:33-37: The fourth, “You have heard…” statement doesn’t actually appear verbatim in the Old Testament, but is perhaps a conflation of Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2 and Deuteronomy 23:23. The situation described is one in which many Jews viewed swearing an oath by “heaven or earth, “or by “the temple,” or even by “one’s head” was not as binding as swearing “by God.” Jesus stresses that each one of these items belongs to God, so that the conventional distinctions were spurious. The point of our Lord’s teaching is not avoiding oaths all together (Paul makes oath statements on several occasions i.e. Romans 1:9; 9:1); rather the issue is telling the truth because God witnesses every word one speaks. Therefore, Jesus says, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one” (v. 37; cf. James 5:12).

According to Jesus, what’s the problem with making oaths? Why should oaths be unnecessary for the Lord’s followers? 

Wednesday – Matt. 5:38-42: Revenge comes easily to us, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” the saying goes. However, in this fifth saying, the Lord Jesus calls His disciples to a higher ethic that transcends tit-for-tat retribution. His teaching stresses the need to decisively break the natural chain of evil action and reaction that often characterizes human relationships. Jesus invites His hearers to grapple with the application of His points. Nonresistance means disdaining one’s honor (vv. 38-39), one’s most basic possessions (v. 40), one’s labor and time when others seek them by force (v. 41), and one must also disdain these things in view of the needs of the poor (v. 42); then, when the kingdom comes, one’s deeds, rather than one’s wealth and honor will matter (cf. Matthew 25:34-46). One’s vested interest must be in heaven, not on earth; if one cannot value the kingdom that much, one has no place in it.

Looking closely at vv. 39-42, how would you contrast our natural responses in such situations with the responses Jesus expects of us? What do you think is accomplished by turning the other cheek or going a second mile?

Thursday – Matt. 5:43-48 (Luke 6:27-36): With this, His sixth and last commentary on how the Law of Moses had been taught, our Lord teaches that one whose righteousness would surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees (ref. Matthew 5:20) must exemplify a higher standard of virtue than loving those friendly to one’s own interest. We all love our friends, but love for our enemies is quite another matter. As disciples of Jesus we are not to take our standards from our human nature but rather, from the God we serve. Our God is a loving God who indiscriminately gives good gifts to all, regardless of whether they are friend or foe. Therefore, we must be like Him loving even our enemies.

How is Jesus Himself an example of what it means to “Love your enemies” (v. 44)? How might you reflect the Lord’s character when you are mistreated? Focus on the one person who could be considered your chief enemy and, this week, reach out to him or her with some practical act of love.

Friday – Matt. 6:1-4: Today’s reading begins a new section in the Sermon on the Mount. In the next three readings, Jesus will teach on the proper practice of piety: Almsgiving (vv. 1-4); Praying (vv. 5-15), and Fasting (vv. 16-18). The overarching thesis of this section is: Do your righteousness for God to see you, not others (v. 1). In all three examples, Jesus warns us to not be like the “hypocrites” seeking public praise (vv. 2, 5, 16). Rather, our focus should be on God’s glory, which in turn will solicit His praise (vv. 4, 6, 18). Jesus begins this teaching with almsgiving. It’s an accepted fact that it is a religious duty to help the poor but, as in all ages, some are more interested in public reputation rather than relief of poverty. Our Lord teaches that it is indeed important to give, just not to be known to give.

According to Jesus, how are we to do acts of charity? Why is it important that we give this way? It what way(s) are you tempted to violate this principle?

Some brethren are allergic to slippery-slope arguments.  Whenever they see someone arguing that departing from the pattern in one area will lead to apostasy in everything, they link to the Wikipedia page about logical fallacies, which does describe a slippery-slope argument as an informal logical fallacy.

However, we need to understand the limits of this counter-argument.  All Wikipedia, etc., are saying is that a slippery-slope argument proves nothing by itself.  It does not necessarily follow that because things have gotten this bad, they will continue to get worse.  Sometimes, they stay the same.  Sometimes, they do get worse.

Sadly, experience has taught us that the latter tends to be true when it comes to matters of Scriptural authority.  Indifference to the silence of the Scriptures naturally leads to indifference to isolated commandments.  That in turn naturally leads to indifference to the most important commandments of the Bible. 

Over the past 75 years, we’ve seen congregations make this sad journey.  They began by embracing church support of colleges and fellowship halls, even though we read nothing of such things in the word.  Increasingly, such churches are now in the midst of rejecting Bible teaching on a-cappella worship and women in positions of authority.  The conclusion of this process seems to be denial of the necessity of baptism for salvation.

As evidence for this proposition, consider this pamphlet produced by the Oak Hills Church of San Antonio, formerly the Oak Hills Church of Christ.  I would describe this pamphlet as a model of obfuscation, designed to offer just enough to appease both those who believe that baptism is necessary for forgiveness of sins and those who do not.  Though offered the opportunity to stand either with the first-century church or with the denominational world, Oak Hills appears to be doing its best to choose C) None of the Above.

However, there are a couple of sections in this pamphlet that give the game away.  The first is its analysis of 1 Peter 3:21 on Page 6 (there are no page numbers; you’ll have to count).  According to Oak Hills, the passage teaches that baptism is important because it shows commitment to God.  Well, yes, I guess you can get that out of 1 Peter 3:21, but it is hardly the core teaching of the text! 

1 Peter 3:21 is important because it says, in so many words, that baptism saves.  If Oak Hills acknowledges that, they can’t say, as they do at the bottom of the page, “Please understand; it is not the act that saves us.”  Of course, if you repeat Bible teaching on the saving effect of baptism, you also put a stumbling block in the way of those who don’t believe it’s important.

I was also struck by Oak Hills’ message to those who were sprinkled as infants and see no need to be immersed.  They say, “If you choose not to be immersed at this time, we still welcome you as a member. We ask only that you respect our teaching position and not be divisive.”  They go on to say that members who teach have to accept the church’s position on immersion.  Presumably, others do not.

Hmm. 

As I understand this, you can be somebody who was sprinkled as an infant, go to Oak Hills, be received as a member, appear in the church directory, be in the church band, and lead prayers, all without ever being immersed, period, let alone for the forgiveness of your sins.  In other words, Oak Hills does not view Bible baptism as a necessary part of being made right with God and being added to His church.  They may talk a big game about the importance of Bible baptism, but when you get right down to it, they think baptism is an extra.

In Luke 16:10, Jesus notes that he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.  Concerns about fellowship halls and orphans’ homes may strike some as rampant legalism, but ultimately, it’s about respect for the authority of the King.  We can’t shrug our shoulders at that authority when it comes to matters that seem unimportant to us while still honoring it in things that we think are essential.  As Oak Hills’ example proves, such a spirit easily can lead to unconcern with the things that we used to think were essential too.

It seems like I’ve spent a fair amount of time these past couple weeks reading critiques of the churches of Christ from various sources.  These critiques, usually written by former members, tend to have a common theme.  The churches of Christ would be better off, they opine, if they stopped being so narrow and legalistic and focused instead on mercy and grace.

That’s a fascinating claim, and it even has a certain amount of Biblical resonance.  Did not Paul argue, for instance, that the grace of Christ set him free from the law of sin and death.  Poor members of churches of Christ!  They don’t see that they’ve been set free already!

However, as I've written before, it doesn’t make much sense.  Logically speaking, law and grace are positively correlated, not inversely correlated.  The greater my respect for God’s law, the more my consciousness of my own sin should grow, along with my awareness of my desperate need for grace.

Things move in the opposite direction when concern for lawkeeping diminishes.  If following God’s law isn’t very important, then breaking it isn’t very important either.  At that point, grace stops looking like grace and starts looking more like apathy.  I really don’t need God’s mercy anymore because my sin is no biggie.

There’s another problem too.  As my respect for divine law and my desire for mercy diminish, so too will my willingness to show mercy.  Good Bible students know that one of the most sobering passages in the entire volume is the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. 

Most Christians are aware that if you live a life of sin, you will not inherit the kingdom of God.  In this parable, Jesus points out that if you are unmerciful, you won’t inherit the kingdom of God either.  In fact, your failure to show mercy to others will drown out your pleas for mercy to God. 

Ulp.

Christians who honor the law of God, then, should be the most merciful people on earth, both because they have been taught by Christ to show mercy and because they know what will happen to them if they don’t.  I am constantly aware of the gulf between God’s perfect law and my own obedience.  Without His mercy to bear me up, I surely will plunge into the abyss.  For me to be merciless, then, is an act of spiritual suicide.

Without an emphasis on law, though, all this falls apart.  If I violate a law I think is unimportant and indifferently accept God’s apathetic grace, that gives me zero incentive to change my conduct toward those who have wronged me.  God’s law might not matter much, but the offenses of others against me sure do!  We don’t need the law to teach us vengefulness; it’s imbedded in every one of our selfish little hearts.

When I have been forgiven little (I think), I will love little, and I will be little inclined to show mercy.  Not surprisingly, people who accept the first part of this statement end up living out the second two.  As I wrote about a year ago, some of the most vicious, unforgiving people on earth are “tolerant” secular progressives.  Because they do not acknowledge God’s law, they do not admit their need for grace, so they see no reason to extend it to others.

I certainly hope that in the years and decades to come, brethren will be more grace-centric and more conscious of their need to receive and show mercy.  However, trying to get there by downplaying the importance of the law of God (all of it) is going in exactly the wrong direction.  Paul does not free us from the law.  He frees us from the illusion that we can justify ourselves, which is the very illusion that minimizing law creates.

We often don’t realize it, but one of the main themes of the gospels is the interaction between Jesus and people who ask Him questions.  If we considered Jesus’ replies to those questions in isolation, His replies would seem so divergent as to be irrational.  In Matthew 13:16, He calls one set of questioners blessed.  In Matthew 13:7, He condemns another set as a bunch of hypocrites. 

What gives?  It’s just a question, right?

In reality, of course, Jesus’ answers are so different because He is responding to different motivations and positions.  The disciples of Matthew 13 get a commendation and a straight answer because they are seeking truth.  So does the woman at the well in John 4 (who is so deferential that she only hints at her questions). 

Nicodemus, interested in the truth but full of himself, gets an answer but also gets taken down a peg in John 3.  The lawyer of Luke 10:25, who thought to set himself up as Jesus’ schoolteacher, ended up getting schooled instead.  Finally, of course, the parade of Pharisees with their trap questions uniformly found out that Jesus was smarter than they were.

Today, the motivations of questioners are every bit as diverse.  Some still want to know truth.  Others think they know it and hope to use their questions to lead you down the primrose path.  Still others ask questions not because they want an answer, but because they believe the question won’t have an answer.  They think this will embarrass you or perhaps justify their unbelief.

This is important for us to remember as we consider both others and ourselves.  Though we can’t see hearts as Jesus could, it’s still possible to discern someone’s intent by considering their words.  I’m perfectly willing to answer questions for hours if the questioner is hungry for the gospel.  On the other hand, I’m not interested in patiently answering objection after objection, only to be met with a haughty “That’s not good enough!”  One suspects that for some, an answer from the Lord Himself would not be good enough.

It’s important too, though, to be honest about our own motivations when we ask questions.  Wanting to learn more about spiritual things is wonderful!  I think the same is true of using questions to teach.  When somebody figures out the answer for themselves rather than the teacher figuring it out for them, the lesson tends to stick longer.

However, we should be wary of questions that are designed to trap others or to justify a conclusion we already have reached.  Jesus used the former tactic, but He only did it to embarrass hard-hearted religious elites who were trying to embarrass Him first.  Unless we are sure that someone is acting in bad faith and needs to be humiliated for the benefit of third parties, it’s not wise and probably not godly to make them the target of our Perry Mason impression.

Similarly, it is better to own our convictions directly, whatever they may be, rather than hedging them around with disingenuous questions designed to make our conclusion seem reasonable.  If there is no answer to a question that will satisfy us, we should save everyone time and not ask it.  There is no value to the smugness that comes from winning a debate when we are the self-appointed judge. 

Truth only can be found in God, and questions are the means by which we seek it.  However, as with everything else, the devil is capable of twisting questions to his ends.  May the questions we ask always serve truth and not him!

I’ve read the Beatitudes a time or two, but as I visited them again as part of our Bible-reading plan this year (it’s tough to write the bulletin article if you’re not a week ahead!), the one that jumped out at me was Matthew 5:9.  We don’t live in a very peacemaker-y time.  The political polarization in our country has become so obvious that mentioning it is nearly a cliché.  On both sides, increasing numbers of people believe that the other side is The Enemy, to be defeated by any means necessary, even at the cost of the dearly held principles of 20 years ago.

Of course, we are not the first to live in a time that is not very peacemaker-y.  Jesus did too.  Indeed, anger and conflict are the backdrop of the gospels.  The Jewish community of AD 30 was deeply divided by the presence of the occupying Romans.  Some, from the tax collectors to the chief priests, collaborated with them, generally as a way of acquiring wealth and power. 

Reacting to this corrupt bargain, the Pharisees demanded fidelity to a body of religious tradition that they claimed came from God but really came from them.  Still farther along the political spectrum, the Essenes withdrew from a society that they considered irredeemably wicked.  The Zealots plotted to overthrow it.

To them all, Jesus says that the peacemakers are blessed and are sons of God.  Not the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Pharisees, the Essenes, or the Zealots.  The peacemakers. 

In Jesus’ view, the peacemakers need first of all to seek peace with God, but secondarily, they need to seek peace with one another.  What matters is not somebody else’s privileged position or nit-picky moral code or contempt for the world or desire to burn it all down.  What matters is whether they have a soul.  Of Jesus’ twelve closest followers, one was a tax collector and another was a Zealot.  Hint, hint.

2000 years ago, the vast majority of Jewish society didn’t listen to Jesus.  The power brokers had Him killed because they thought He was a threat to their position, not realizing that their own actions were the greatest threat.  Over the next 35 years, tensions between Jews and Romans, and indeed between Jews and Jews, increased until they exploded in the catastrophe of the Great Jewish Revolt.

Nobody won the Great Revolt.  Not the Romans, who had an entire legion massacred by the rebels and only were able to put down the rebellion at an immense cost in treasure and blood.  Not the Jewish factions, who spilled blood in the courts of the Temple as they battled each other for dominance until the Romans arrived and killed them all.  Not the common folk of Galilee and Judea, countless thousands of whom were butchered by the contending forces.  Nobody emerged from the cataclysm better off.

Blessed are the peacemakers.  Blessed are those who love their enemies.  Blessed are those who are able to find value and worth in the most obnoxious proclaimers of an opposing viewpoint. 

Blessed are those in our time who are willing to hear the voice of Jesus.