Epistle for September 10, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 13:8-14
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul articulates the same royal law of love (James 2:8) taught by Jesus and later by his brother James.  Jesus declares that all the law and the prophets are fulfilled in the commandments to love God and love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40).

Here, Paul focuses exclusively on the horizontal expression of the law of love that deals with human relationships.  Interestingly, he argues that the Christian should be free of any sense of indebtedness except the debt of love:

 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

This is part of a larger discussion of Christian responsibility.  Paul insists that the grace-filled life of the Christian means true liberty from legalism — but in contrast, he does acknowledge that freedom must be exercised responsibly.  In relation to governing authorities, paying taxes, honor and respect to those in authority, Paul says this:

Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake (Romans 13:5).

Thus the Christian, though free, is still to live as a responsible and conscientious citizen of the city or nation in which he or she may find themselves.

Paul’s next discussion of the law of love in relation to the Mosaic law is interesting.  We are reminded that he has presented a very nuanced view of the Mosaic law throughout the theological portion of Romans, arguing that the law is holy and just and good but also arguing that the law itself has no power to save us, nor can anyone except Jesus perfectly fulfill the law.

But the Christian who has been saved by grace through faith, and filled with the Spirit of Christ, is also empowered to love.  And all of the Mosaic law, including the Ten Commandments are fulfilled in the law of love:

 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

It is important to note that this law regarding love of neighbor is an Old Testament law from Leviticus 19:18. Paul has never repudiated the law and the prophets, only their false interpretations.  Note also that the four commandments Paul specifically cites from the Decalogue relate to our horizontal relationships with other human beings.

And there is an urgency to his exhortations about how Christians are to live.  His view of time is eschatological.  One doesn’t know when time will end, so it is imperative to live well:

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.  The night is far gone, and the day is near.

Paul is not engaging in any apocalyptical speculation so rampant today.  He is simply stating the obvious — that every day one is closer to the end of the age. And that day is nearer today than it was yesterday. This is a call to wakefulness and awareness, because, as Jesus teaches:

Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes… Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come (Matthew 24:42,44).

In light of this awareness, that the day is near, Paul exhorts us:

Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

His imagery contrasts night and day, with darkness suggesting behavior that is associated with night-time revels (drunkenness and sexual debauchery) as well as interpersonal conflict (strife and jealousy).  And light becomes a palpable thing — the armor of light that we are to put on clothes us with protection.  Indeed, he extends the metaphor, that we are to put on Christ ­— like the light, Christ is to envelop us.

And Paul reminds us of a metaphor that prevails throughout Scripture — we are to walk properly, as in the day.  The imagery of walking with God, and walking in God’s ways, is scattered throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation.  And it is readily apparent that walking is far easier in the light than in darkness!  We are to:

 walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light (1 John 1:7).

We also see the contrast of flesh and spirit, and are reminded of Paul’s earlier declaration:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

Making provision for the flesh and its lusts leads to death; the Spirit leads to life and peace.

APPLY:  

The law of love is at the heart of Christian ethical teaching.  The New Testament appropriation of this principle insists that it sums up all the law and the prophets.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus or Paul or James are negating the Old Testament law, but that love is the foundation for obedience to the law.

Do we go to church out of duty, or because we love God? Do we tithe because it is a rule, or because it is a measured means of expressing our love? Do we visit the sick or feed the hungry because we were told to do so, or because we care?  The answer is pretty clear — we do these things, and obey the principles of the law not because they are legalisms, but because they offer guidance in loving God and neighbor.

Augustine of Hippo once said:

Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will… let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good (Augustine’s Homily 7 on 1 John 4:4-12).

There is an irrefutable logic here:

• If you love, you won’t commit adultery, which damages entire families, not just the two people involved.
• If you love, you won’t murder — the ultimate unloving act.
• If you love, you won’t steal — depriving someone else of the right to their own property is a selfish, unloving thing to do.
• If you love, you won’t covet — covetousness is the inner root of dissatisfaction that leads to envy and jealousy and lust and disharmony with others and ourselves.

It is impossible to think of an instance when love fails to fulfill the proper regard between God and ourselves, between ourselves and others, and within our own mind and soul.

The Apostle John sums it up this way:

We love him, because he (God) first loved us (1 John 4:19).

When we love, we become most like God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was in college I had a roommate who had been recently saved.  He was zealous in his church attendance and in his witnessing to others.  But I remember one time having a conversation with him about the love commandments of Jesus, and the commandments of love that permeate all the Scriptures.

He seemed completely puzzled.  This conversation was at least ten years prior to Tina Turner’s troubling song, “What’s love got to do with it?”  But that seemed to be his attitude — what’s love got to do with being a Christian?

I was every bit as puzzled by his attitude as he was by mine.  Christianity without love is like walking in the total darkness of night.  Christianity without love is like living in the world of Fight Club instead of a loving family.  Christianity without love makes religion into a set of rules instead of a Spirit-led walk with God guided by the principle of love.

When we forget to love as God has loved us, we forget that we too have been those unlovely and unlovable selfish broken creatures for whom Christ died:

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Our Lord, your command to love is inspiring, but impossible without your love living and working in and through us.  May we walk in your light and bring others into your light as well. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Romans 13:12" by ~Pawsitive~Candie_N is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for February 12, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 5:21-37
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus continues to lay down the new “law” of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount.  In a sense, this is a continuation of the tenth commandment of the Decalogue of Moses.  Here’s what I mean — covetousness covers the motivations behind many of the sins prohibited in the Ten Commandments.  It might be said that adultery and theft begin in the heart, with covetousness.

Jesus is expanding the logic of this concept — that all sin begins in the heart. As he says later, in chapter 15:

 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:18-19).

However, Jesus is also establishing his own unique authority as the giver of a New Covenant:

 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times… But I say to you…

Jesus repeats this phrase six times, addressing murder/anger, adultery/lust, marriage/divorce, oaths, retaliation/mercy, and how to treat enemies.

The most serious example of a human sin against other humans is murder. The ancient law is established by the Law of Moses in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13).  Jesus delves beneath the surface of murder, and addresses the roots of murder — anger and dehumanization.

He recognizes that an attitude of hostility and dehumanization precedes violence.  Anger, insults, or calling someone fool — which is to say that someone is useless, stupid and godless — is extremely serious.  Those guilty of such attitudes are liable to judgment, and even the hell of fire.  They have cut themselves off from their brothers and sisters, and they have cut themselves off from God.

Jesus offers the solution to such a breach in relationship — seek reconciliation:

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

An underlying message here has to do with worship.  Along with the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus understands that worship is not merely a matter of ritual. It is not enough for the worshiper to focus vertically, on his relationship with God; he must also be focused horizontally on his relationship with his brothers and sisters.

Jesus also addresses lawsuits as he stresses the importance of reconciliation.  He advocates settling with an accuser out of court, as it were, in order to avoid the risky uncertainty of an arbitrary judge.  Jesus is not only concerned with healing relationships — he is also very pragmatic and realistic about justice in an unjust world:

your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus then takes up another key relational law from the Ten Commandments — adultery.  Again, he looks beneath the surface at the motivation of adultery:

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

As with anger, the seeds of the sin of lust are sown in the heart long before they are manifested in action.  Like anger, lust is dehumanizing and objectifying.

His advice concerning the eradication of lust is radical.  The eye and the hand are potential agents of lust, and he advises that the eye and the hand must be ripped out or cut off if they endanger the soul.  Better that:

than for your whole body to go into hell.

Jesus then departs from consideration of laws from the Ten Commandments, and addresses the issue of divorce.  He cites the law given by Moses that permits a man to divorce a woman, from Deuteronomy 24:1-4.  The grounds for divorce given by Moses were fairly light — she could be divorced if the husband found something objectionable about her, or if he merely disliked her.

Jesus has a much higher bar for divorce.  For the disciple, divorce is only permissible in the event of a wife’s unchastity.  Remarriage to a divorced woman was also regarded as adultery.

What this suggests is his high estimation of marriage.  Later in the Gospel of Matthew, the tension is building between Jesus and the Pharisees.  The Pharisees push him concerning his teaching on marriage, and his strict view of divorce, and they ask him if divorce is lawful for any cause.  In that highly patriarchal, male dominated culture, a man could divorce his wife if she displeased him in any way.  All of the power lay with the husband.

Jesus first defends the sacred nature of marriage.  First he quotes Genesis 1:27, which establishes the fundamental equality of men and women, who are both created in the image of God:

Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ (Matthew 19:4).

Note that he is citing their own Scriptures to establish this principle of equality between male and female.

Second, he cites Genesis 2:24 to demonstrate the unique sexual and emotional union that exists in a marriage between a man and a woman:

 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate (Matthew 19:5-6).

When he is challenged by the Pharisees, who cite Moses’ law permitting divorce, Jesus tells them that this law was a concession to their sinful natures:

It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so (Matthew 19:8).

Jesus makes it clear that true, inward holiness must exceed mere external observation.

Finally, Jesus addresses the issue of integrity in relationship to oaths and promises.  He cites the law from Numbers 30:2 concerning vows made before Yahweh.  He is criticizing a culture that has developed escalating levels of vows — by heaven, or earth, or Jerusalem.  These oaths are used in order to convince others of the oath-maker’s sincerity.  This would suggest a culture that has developed a lack of confidence in honesty.

Jesus insists that the disciple’s integrity shouldn’t be based on things that are beyond his or her control:

 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Instead, vows are based on the honesty of the individual:

 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Again, as with the other examples of righteousness, Jesus stresses the inward integrity of the disciple.

APPLY:  

In a culture like ours, these words of Jesus may be hard to hear.  We have become accustomed to excusing our weaknesses and failings.  Anger and name-calling have become political rallying cries.  Pornography and sensuality have become mainstream indulgences.  Divorce statistics suggest that Christian marriages are no more stable than non-Christian marriages — even among pastors and bishops. Promises are merely words — “alternative facts.”

The truth is, Jesus’ standards for righteousness are far higher than the Mosaic Law.  Christians have grown accustomed to “dumbing them down” or explaining them away.  But it is impossible to find any excuses in the teaching of Jesus, the Sinless One.

Except this. When Peter asks Jesus whether he should forgive his brother seven times, perhaps expecting to be praised for his mercy, Jesus says something very surprising:

I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).

Jesus doesn’t mean that our forgiveness is limited to 490 times.  Seven is a number denoting perfection in Scripture.  Seventy times seven likely means that we are to forgive perfectly, even infinitely.  We are to forgive as we are forgiven. (See The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12, 14-15.)

In other words, the only way that we can apply these teachings about anger, lust, divorce and marriage, and vows is through God’s grace revealed in Christ.  The standards of holiness and righteousness are not relaxed for the Christian — in fact, they are intense.  But they are also impossible …. unless …. we submit to Christ who has fulfilled the law and the prophets on our behalf, and then imputes and imparts his grace to us.  It is God’s Spirit, working in and through us, that empowers us to live the holy life that we are taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

I quote Paul, as I have so often before:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

What God commands us to do he will give us the grace and strength to obey.

RESPOND: 

The difficulty of living out the demands of the Gospel leads us so often to moral failure.

Are the expectations of Jesus impossible?  Yes, if we try to live them out in our own strength and according to our own standards.  But no, not if we surrender our lives and will to Christ and allow his Holy Spirit to work in and through us.  And if we remember that if and when we fall, we can turn to Christ for forgiveness.

Lord, your standards for righteousness are so high I cannot achieve them.  I get angry over silly things.  I find my eyes and my mind wandering in lust at times.  Although I’ve never been divorced, marriage has sometimes been tough.  Keeping my promises can be challenging.  Thank you for your mercy and forgiveness; and thank you that you call me to holiness, and that you are the one who makes that possible.  Amen. 

PHOTO:
“You have heard it said…” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for September 6, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 13:8-14
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul articulates the same royal law of love (James 2:8) taught by Jesus and later by his brother James.  Jesus declares that all the law and the prophets are fulfilled in the commandments to love God and love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40).

Here, Paul focuses exclusively on the horizontal expression of the law of love that deals with human relationships.  Interestingly, he argues that the Christian should be free of any sense of indebtedness except the debt of love:

 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

This is part of a larger discussion of Christian responsibility.  Paul insists that the grace-filled life of the Christian means true liberty from legalism — but in contrast, he does acknowledge that freedom must be exercised responsibly.  In relation to governing authorities, paying taxes, honor and respect to those in authority, Paul says this:

Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake (Romans 13:5).

Thus the Christian, though free, is still to live as a responsible and conscientious citizen of the city or nation in which he or she may find themselves.

Paul’s next discussion of the law of love in relation to the Mosaic law is interesting.  We are reminded that he has presented a very nuanced view of the Mosaic law throughout the theological portion of Romans, arguing that the law is holy and just and good but also arguing that the law itself has no power to save us, nor can anyone except Jesus perfectly fulfill the law.

But the Christian who has been saved by grace through faith, and filled with the Spirit of Christ, is also empowered to love.  And all of the  Mosaic law, including the Ten Commandments are fulfilled in the law of love:

 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

It is important to note that this law regarding love of neighbor is an Old Testament law from Leviticus 19:18.  Paul has never repudiated the law and the prophets, only their false interpretations.  Note also that the four commandments Paul specifically cites from the Decalogue relate to our horizontal relationships with other human beings.

And there is an urgency to his exhortations about how Christians are to live.  His view of time is eschatological.  One doesn’t know when time will end, so it is imperative to live well:

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.  The night is far gone, and the day is near.

Paul is not engaging in any apocalyptical speculation so rampant today.  He is simply stating the obvious — that every day one is closer to the end of the age. And that day is nearer today than it was yesterday. This is a call to wakefulness and awareness, because, as Jesus teaches:

Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes…. Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come (Matthew 24:42,44).

In light of this awareness, that the day is near, Paul exhorts us:

Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

His imagery contrasts night and day, with darkness suggesting behavior that is associated with night-time revels (drunkeness and sexual debauchery) as well as interpersonal conflict (strife and jealousy).  And light becomes a palpable thing — the armor of light that we are to put on clothes us with protection.  Indeed, he extends the metaphor, that we are to put on Christ ­— like the light, Christ is to envelop us.

And Paul reminds us of a metaphor that prevails throughout Scripture  — we are to walk properly, as in the day.  The imagery of walking with God, and walking in God’s ways, is scattered throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation.  And it is readily apparent that walking is far easier in the light than in darkness!  We are to:

 walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light (1 John 1:7).

We also see the contrast of flesh and spirit, and are reminded of Paul’s earlier declaration:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

Making provision for the flesh and its lusts leads to death; the Spirit leads to life and peace.

APPLY:  

The law of love is at the heart of Christian ethical teaching.  The New Testament appropriation of this principle insists that it sums up all the law and the prophets.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus or Paul or James are negating the Old Testament law, but that love is the foundation for obedience to the law.

Do we go to church out of duty, or because we love God? Do we tithe because it is a rule, or because it is a measured means of expressing our love? Do we visit the sick or feed the hungry because we were told to do so, or because we care?  The answer is pretty clear — we do these things, and obey the principles of the law not because they are legalisms, but because they offer guidance in loving God and neighbor.

Augustine of Hippo once said:

Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will….let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good (Augustine’s Homily 7 on 1 John 4:4-12).

There is an irrefutable logic here:

• If you love, you won’t commit adultery, which damages entire families, not just the two people involved.
• If you love, you won’t murder — the ultimate unloving act.
• If you love, you won’t steal — depriving someone else of the right to their own property is a selfish, unloving thing to do.
• If you love, you won’t covet — covetousness is the inner root of dissatisfaction that leads to envy and jealousy and lust and disharmony with others and ourselves.

It is impossible to think of an instance when love fails to fulfill the proper regard between God and ourselves, between ourselves and others, and within our own mind and soul.

The Apostle John sums it up this way:

We love him, because he (God) first loved us (1 John 4:19).

When we love, we become most like God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was  in college I had a roommate who had been recently saved.  He was zealous in his church attendance and in his witnessing to others.  But I remember one time having a conversation with him about the love commandments of Jesus, and the commandments of love that permeate all the Scriptures.

He seemed completely puzzled.  This conversation was at least ten years prior to Tina Turner’s troubling song, “What’s love got to do with it?”  But that seemed to be his attitude — what’s love got to do with being a Christian?

I was every bit as puzzled by his attitude as he was by mine.  Christianity without love is like walking in the total darkness of night.  Christianity without love is like living in the world of Fight Club instead of a loving family.  Christianity without love makes religion into a set of rules instead of a Spirit-led walk with God guided by the principle of love.

When we forget to love as God has loved us, we forget that we too have been those unlovely and unlovable selfish broken creatures for whom Christ died:

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Our Lord, your command to love is inspiring, but impossible without your love living and working in and through us.  May we walk in your light and bring others into your light as well. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"'Put on the Armor of Light' ~ Romans 13:12" by Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for February 16, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 5:21-37
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus continues to lay down the new “law” of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount.  In a sense, this is a continuation of the tenth commandment of the Decalogue of Moses.  Here’s what I mean — covetousness covers the motivations behind many of the sins prohibited in the Ten Commandments.  It might be said that adultery and theft begin in the heart, with covetousness.

Jesus is expanding the logic of this concept — that all sin begins in the heart. As he says later, in chapter 15:

 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:18-19).

However, Jesus is also establishing his own unique authority as the giver of a New Covenant:

 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times …. But I say to you….

Jesus repeats this phrase six times, addressing murder/anger, adultery/lust, marriage/divorce, oaths, retaliation/mercy, and how to treat enemies.

The most serious example of a human sin against other humans is murder. The ancient law is established by the Law of Moses in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13).  Jesus delves beneath the surface of murder, and addresses the roots of murder — anger and dehumanization.

He recognizes that an attitude of hostility and dehumanization precedes violence.  Anger, insults,  or calling someone  fool — which is to say that someone is useless, stupid and godless — is extremely serious.  Those guilty of such attitudes are liable to judgment, and even the hell of fire.  They have cut themselves off from their brothers and sisters, and they have cut themselves off from God.

Jesus offers the solution to such a breach in relationship — seek reconciliation:

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

An underlying message here has to do with worship.  Along with the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus understands that worship is not merely a matter of ritual. It is not enough for the worshiper to focus vertically, on his relationship with God; he must also be focused horizontally on his relationship with his brothers and sisters.

Jesus also addresses lawsuits as he stresses the importance of reconciliation.  He advocates settling with an accuser out of court, as it were, in order to avoid the risky uncertainty of  an arbitrary judge.  Jesus is not only concerned with healing relationships — he is also very pragmatic and realistic about justice in an unjust world:

your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus then takes up another key relational law from the Ten Commandments — adultery.  Again, he looks beneath the surface at the motivation of adultery:

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

As with anger, the seeds of the sin of lust are sown in the heart long before they are manifested in action.  Like anger, lust is dehumanizing and objectifying.

His advice concerning the eradication of lust is radical.  The eye and the hand are potential agents of lust, and he advises that the eye and the hand must be ripped out or cut off if they endanger the soul.  Better that:

than for your whole body to go into hell.

Jesus then departs from consideration of laws from the Ten Commandments, and addresses the issue of divorce.  He cites the law given by Moses that permits a man to divorce a woman, from Deuteronomy 24:1-4.  The grounds for divorce given by Moses were fairly light — she could be divorced if the husband found something objectionable about her, or if he merely disliked her.

Jesus has a much higher bar for divorce.  For the disciple, divorce is only permissible in the event of a wife’s unchastity.  Remarriage to a divorced woman was also regarded as adultery.

What this suggests is his high estimation of marriage.  Later in the Gospel of Matthew, the tension is building between Jesus and the Pharisees.  The Pharisees push him concerning his teaching on marriage, and his strict view of divorce, and they ask him if divorce is lawful for any cause.  In that highly patriarchal, male dominated culture, a man could divorce his wife if she displeased him in any way.  All of the power lay with the husband.

Jesus  first defends the sacred nature of marriage.  First he quotes Genesis 1:27, which establishes the fundamental equality of men and women, who are both created in the image of God:

Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ (Matthew 19:4).

Note that he is citing their own Scriptures to establish this principle of equality between male and female.

Second, he cites Genesis 2:24 to demonstrate the unique sexual and emotional union that exists in a marriage between a man and a woman:

 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate (Matthew 19:5-6).

When he is challenged by the Pharisees, who cite Moses’ law permitting divorce, Jesus tells them that this law was a concession to their sinful natures:

It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so (Matthew 19:8).

Jesus makes it clear that true, inward holiness must exceed mere external observation.

Finally, Jesus addresses the issue of integrity in relationship to oaths and promises.  He cites the law from Numbers 30:2 concerning vows made before Yahweh.  He is criticizing a culture that has developed escalating levels of vows — by heaven, or earth, or Jerusalem.  These oaths are used in order to convince others of the oath-makers’ sincerity.  This would suggest a culture that has developed a lack of confidence in honesty.

Jesus insists that the disciple’s integrity shouldn’t be based on things that are beyond his or her control:

 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Instead, vows are based on the honesty of the individual:

 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Again, as with the other examples of righteousness,  Jesus stresses the inward integrity of the disciple.

APPLY:  

In a culture like ours, these words of Jesus may be hard to hear.  We have become accustomed to excusing our weaknesses and failings.  Anger and name-calling have become political rallying cries.  Pornography and sensuality have become mainstream indulgences.  Divorce statistics suggest that Christian marriages are no more stable than non-Christian marriages — even among pastors and bishops. Promises are merely words — “alternative facts.”

The truth is, Jesus’ standards for righteousness are far higher than the Mosaic Law.  Christians have grown accustomed to “dumbing them down” or explaining them away.  But it is impossible to find any excuses in the teaching of Jesus, the Sinless One.

Except this. When Peter asks Jesus whether he should forgive his brother seven times, perhaps expecting to be praised for his mercy, Jesus says something very surprising:

I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).

Jesus doesn’t mean that our forgiveness is limited to 490 times.  Seven is a number denoting perfection in Scripture.  Seventy times seven likely means that we are to forgive perfectly, even infinitely.  We are to forgive as we are forgiven. (See The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12, 14-15.)

In other words, the only way that we can apply these teachings about anger, lust, divorce and marriage, and vows is through God’s grace revealed in Christ.  The standards of holiness and righteousness are not relaxed for the Christian —  in fact, they are intense.  But they are also impossible …. unless …. we submit to Christ who has fulfilled the law and the prophets on our behalf, and then imputes and imparts his grace to us.  It is God’s Spirit, working in and through us, that empowers us to live the holy life that we are taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

I quote Paul, as I have so often before:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

What God commands us to do he will give us the grace and strength to obey.

RESPOND: 

The difficulty of living out the demands of the Gospel lead us so often to moral failure.

Are the expectations of Jesus impossible?  Yes, if we try to live them out in our own strength and according to our own standards.  But no, not if we surrender our lives and will to Christ and allow his Holy Spirit to work in and through us.  And if we remember that if and when we fall, we can turn to Christ for forgiveness.

Lord, your standards for righteousness are so high I cannot achieve them.  I get angry over silly things.  I find my eyes and my mind wandering in lust at times.  Although I’ve never been divorced, marriage has sometimes been tough.  Keeping my promises can be challenging.  Thank you for your mercy and forgiveness; and thank you that you call me to holiness, and that you are the one who makes that possible.  Amen. 

PHOTO:
“You have heard it said…” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for September 10, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Romans 13:8-14

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul articulates the same royal law of love (James 2:8) taught by Jesus and later by his brother James.  Jesus declares that all the law and the prophets are fulfilled in the commandments to love God and love one’s neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40).

Here, Paul focuses exclusively on the horizontal expression of the law of love that deals with human relationships.  Interestingly, he argues that the Christian should be free of any sense of indebtedness except the debt of love:

 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

This is part of a larger discussion of Christian responsibility.  Paul insists that the grace-filled life of the Christian means true liberty from legalism — but in contrast, he does acknowledge that freedom must be exercised responsibly.  In relation to governing authorities, paying taxes, honor and respect to those in authority, Paul says this:

Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake (Romans 13:5).

Thus the Christian, though free, is still to live as a responsible and conscientious citizen of the city or nation in which he or she may find themselves.

Paul’s next discussion of the law of love in relation to the Mosaic law is interesting.  We are reminded that he has presented a very nuanced view of the Mosaic law throughout the theological portion of Romans, arguing that the law is holy and just and good but also arguing that the law itself has no power to save us, nor can anyone except Jesus perfectly fulfill the law.

But the Christian who has been saved by grace through faith, and filled with the Spirit of Christ, is also empowered to love.  And all of the  Mosaic law, including the Ten Commandments are fulfilled in the law of love:

 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

It is important to note that this law regarding love of neighbor is an Old Testament law from Leviticus 19:18.  Paul has never repudiated the law and the prophets, only their false interpretations.  Note also that the four commandments Paul specifically cites from the Decalogue relate to our horizontal relationships with other human beings.

And there is an urgency to his exhortations about how Christians are to live.  His view of time is eschatological.  One doesn’t know when time will end, so it is imperative to live well:

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed.  The night is far gone, and the day is near.

Paul is not engaging in any apocalyptical speculation so rampant today.  He is simply stating the obvious — that every day one is closer to the end of the age. And that day is nearer today than it was yesterday. This is a call to wakefulness and awareness, because, as Jesus teaches:

Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes…. Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come (Matthew 24:42,44).

In light of this awareness, that the day is near, Paul exhorts us:

Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.

His imagery contrasts night and day, with darkness suggesting behavior that is associated with night-time revels (drunkeness and sexual debauchery) as well as interpersonal conflict (strife and jealousy).  And light becomes a palpable thing — the armor of light that we are to put on clothes us with protection.  Indeed, he extends the metaphor, that we are to put on Christ ­— like the light, Christ is to envelop us.

And Paul reminds us of a metaphor that prevails throughout Scripture  — we are to walk properly, as in the day.  The imagery of walking with God, and walking in God’s ways, is scattered throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation.  And it is readily apparent that walking is far easier in the light than in darkness!  We are to:

 walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light (1 John 1:7).

We also see the contrast of flesh and spirit, and are reminded of Paul’s earlier declaration:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

Making provision for the flesh and its lusts leads to death; the Spirit leads to life and peace.

APPLY:  

The law of love is at the heart of Christian ethical teaching.  The New Testament appropriation of this principle insists that it sums up all the law and the prophets.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus or Paul or James are negating the Old Testament law, but that love is the foundation for obedience to the law.

Do we go to church out of duty, or because we love God? Do we tithe because it is a rule, or because it is a measured means of expressing our love? Do we visit the sick or feed the hungry because we were told to do so, or because we care?  The answer is pretty clear — we do these things, and obey the principles of the law not because they are legalisms, but because they offer guidance in loving God and neighbor.

Augustine of Hippo once said:

Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will….let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good (Augustine’s Homily 7 on 1 John 4:4-12).

There is an irrefutable logic here:

• If you love, you won’t commit adultery, which damages entire families, not just the two people involved.
• If you love, you won’t murder — the ultimate unloving act.
• If you love, you won’t steal — depriving someone else of the right to their own property is a selfish, unloving thing to do.
• If you love, you won’t covet — covetousness is the inner root of dissatisfaction that leads to envy and jealousy and lust and disharmony with others and ourselves.

It is impossible to think of an instance when love fails to fulfill the proper regard between God and ourselves, between ourselves and others, and within our own mind and soul.

The Apostle John sums it up this way:

We love him, because he (God) first loved us (1 John 4:19).

When we love, we become most like God.

RESPOND: 

Many years ago when I was  in college I had a roommate who had been recently saved.  He was zealous in his church attendance and in his witnessing to others.  But I remember one time having a conversation with him about the love commandments of Jesus, and the commandments of love that permeate all the Scriptures.

He seemed completely puzzled.  This conversation was at least ten years prior to Tina Turner’s troubling song, “What’s love got to do with it?”  But that seemed to be his attitude — what’s love got to do with being a Christian?

I was every bit as puzzled by his attitude as he was by mine.  Christianity without love is like walking in the total darkness of night.  Christianity without love is like living in the world of Fight Club instead of a loving family.  Christianity without love makes religion into a set of rules instead of a Spirit-led walk with God guided by the principle of love.

When we forget to love as God has loved us, we forget that we too have been those unlovely and unlovable selfish broken creatures for whom Christ died:

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Our Lord, your command to love is inspiring, but impossible without your love living and working in and through us.  May we walk in your light and bring others into your light as well. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"'Put on the Armor of Light' ~ Romans 13:12" by Art4TheGlryOfGod by Sharon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for February 12, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 5:21-37

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus continues to lay down the new “law” of the Kingdom of God in the Sermon on the Mount.  In a sense, this is a continuation of the tenth commandment of the Decalogue of Moses.  Here’s what I mean — covetousness covers the motivations behind many of the sins prohibited in the Ten Commandments.  It might be said that adultery and theft begin in the heart, with covetousness.

Jesus is expanding the logic of this concept — that all sin begins in the heart. As he says later, in chapter 15:

 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies (Matthew 15:18-19).

However, Jesus is also establishing his own unique authority as the giver of a New Covenant:

 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times …. But I say to you….

Jesus repeats this phrase six times, addressing murder/anger, adultery/lust, marriage/divorce, oaths, retaliation/mercy, and how to treat enemies.

The most serious example of a human sin against other humans is murder. The ancient law is established by the Law of Moses in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13).  Jesus delves beneath the surface of murder, and addresses the roots of murder — anger and dehumanization.

He recognizes that an attitude of hostility and dehumanization precedes violence.  Anger, insults,  or calling someone  fool — which is to say that someone is useless, stupid and godless — is extremely serious.  Those guilty of such attitudes are liable to judgment, and even the hell of fire.  They have cut themselves off from their brothers and sisters, and they have cut themselves off from God.

Jesus offers the solution to such a breach in relationship — seek reconciliation:

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

An underlying message here has to do with worship.  Along with the prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus understands that worship is not merely a matter of ritual. It is not enough for the worshiper to focus vertically, on his relationship with God; he must also be focused horizontally on his relationship with his brothers and sisters.

Jesus also addresses lawsuits as he stresses the importance of reconciliation.  He advocates settling with an accuser out of court, as it were, in order to avoid the risky uncertainty of  an arbitrary judge.  Jesus is not only concerned with healing relationships — he is also very pragmatic and realistic about justice in an unjust world:

your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus then takes up another key relational law from the Ten Commandments — adultery.  Again, he looks beneath the surface at the motivation of adultery:

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

As with anger, the seeds of the sin of lust are sown in the heart long before they are manifested in action.  Like anger, lust is dehumanizing and objectifying.

His advice concerning the eradication of lust is radical.  The eye and the hand are potential agents of lust, and he advises that the eye and the hand must be ripped out or cut off if they endanger the soul.  Better that:

than for your whole body to go into hell.

Jesus then departs from consideration of laws from the Ten Commandments, and addresses the issue of divorce.  He cites the law given by Moses that permits a man to divorce a woman, from Deuteronomy 24:1-4.  The grounds for divorce given by Moses were fairly light — she could be divorced if the husband found something objectionable about her, or if he merely disliked her.

Jesus has a much higher bar for divorce.  For the disciple, divorce is only permissible in the event of a wife’s unchastity.  Remarriage to a divorced woman was also regarded as adultery.

What this suggests is his high estimation of marriage.  Later in the Gospel of Matthew, the tension is building between Jesus and the Pharisees.  The Pharisees push him concerning his teaching on marriage, and his strict view of divorce, and they ask him if divorce is lawful for any cause.  In that highly patriarchal, male dominated culture, a man could divorce his wife if she displeased him in any way.  All of the power lay with the husband.

Jesus  first defends the sacred nature of marriage.  First he quotes Genesis 1:27, which establishes the fundamental equality of men and women, who are both created in the image of God:

Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ (Matthew 19:4).

Note that he is citing their own Scriptures to establish this principle of equality between male and female.

Second, he cites Genesis 2:24 to demonstrate the unique sexual and emotional union that exists in a marriage between a man and a woman:

 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate (Matthew 19:5-6).

When he is challenged by the Pharisees, who cite Moses’ law permitting divorce, Jesus tells them that this law was a concession to their sinful natures:

It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so (Matthew 19:8).

Jesus makes it clear that true, inward holiness must exceed mere external observation.

Finally, Jesus addresses the issue of integrity in relationship to oaths and promises.  He cites the law from Numbers 30:2 concerning vows made before Yahweh.  He is criticizing a culture that has developed escalating levels of vows — by heaven, or earth, or Jerusalem.  These oaths are used in order to convince others of the oath-makers’ sincerity.  This would suggest a culture that has developed a lack of confidence in honesty.

Jesus insists that the disciple’s integrity shouldn’t be based on things that are beyond his or her control:

 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Instead, vows are based on the honesty of the individual:

 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Again, as with the other examples of righteousness,  Jesus stresses the inward integrity of the disciple.

APPLY:  

In a culture like ours, these words of Jesus may be hard to hear.  We have become accustomed to excusing our weaknesses and failings.  Anger and name-calling have become political rallying cries.  Pornography and sensuality have become mainstream indulgences.  Divorce statistics suggest that Christian marriages are no more stable than non-Christian marriages — even among pastors and bishops. Promises are merely words — “alternative facts.”

The truth is, Jesus’ standards for righteousness are far higher than the Mosaic Law.  Christians have grown accustomed to “dumbing them down” or explaining them away.  But it is impossible to find any excuses in the teaching of Jesus, the Sinless One.

Except this. When Peter asks Jesus whether he should forgive his brother seven times, perhaps expecting to be praised for his mercy, Jesus says something very surprising:

I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).

Jesus doesn’t mean that our forgiveness is limited to 490 times.  Seven is a number denoting perfection in Scripture.  Seventy times seven likely means that we are to forgive perfectly, even infinitely.  We are to forgive as we are forgiven. (See The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12, 14-15.)

In other words, the only way that we can apply these teachings about anger, lust, divorce and marriage, and vows is through God’s grace revealed in Christ.  The standards of holiness and righteousness are not relaxed for the Christian —  in fact, they are intense.  But they are also impossible …. unless …. we submit to Christ who has fulfilled the law and the prophets on our behalf, and then imputes and imparts his grace to us.  It is God’s Spirit, working in and through us, that empowers us to live the holy life that we are taught in the Sermon on the Mount.

I quote Paul, as I have so often before:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).

What God commands us to do he will give us the grace and strength to obey.

RESPOND: 

The difficulty of living out the demands of the Gospel lead us so often to moral failure.

Are the expectations of Jesus impossible?  Yes, if we try to live them out in our own strength and according to our own standards.  But no, not if we surrender our lives and will to Christ and allow his Holy Spirit to work in and through us.  And if we remember that if and when we fall, we can turn to Christ for forgiveness.

Lord, your standards for righteousness are so high I cannot achieve them.  I get angry over silly things.  I find my eyes and my mind wandering in lust at times.  Although I’ve never been divorced, marriage has sometimes been tough.  Keeping my promises can be challenging.  Thank you for your mercy and forgiveness; and thank you that you call me to holiness, and that you are the one who makes that possible.  Amen. 

PHOTO:
“You have heard it said…” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.