Please take your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you. It's well read and treasured in your heart.
Turn with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5.
It's Matthew chapter 5.
Our text this morning will be Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 through 42.
We've been working on an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount,
which is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 since mid-February of this year.
And we are getting close to concluding chapter 5.
Those of you who were with us in the spring and then not with us in the summer, here we are,
still in chapter 5 of this most precious of Jesus' teachings.
Across our study so far, we have considered two prominent themes that I want to remind you of
before we look at our text today.
First is the theme of human flourishing, these declarations of blessedness.
We commonly call the Beatitudes, found at the beginning of chapter 5.
Jesus has this repetition of statements, blessed is.
And tells us what it is like, what it looks like to live as a citizen of God's kingdom.
This blessedness that Jesus teaches is not the same as the blessedness of the world.
Jesus says, blessed are those who are poor in spirit and mourn
and are meek and hungry and thirsty for righteousness and merciful, pure peacemakers.
He even says that those who are persecuted for righteousness call blessed.
The second theme is the theme of whole person righteousness.
Jesus has taught us that citizens of his kingdom are keepers of the law.
Not that they gain their citizenship by keeping the law, but that they have been granted citizenship
and their keeping of the law is the evidence of their citizenship.
And this law keeping, this righteousness is meant to permeate us.
It's meant to be every part of our being.
We are to be righteous in thought, feeling, intention, as well as action.
It's to have an inward expression as well as an outward expression.
And this is what Jesus means when he says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20,
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The scribes and the Pharisees were seen as the most righteous people of the day,
the most outwardly expressive followers of God.
They seemed to have everything right.
And they certainly told others that they did and placed burdens upon them.
And he goes on then to press this point by using a series of phrases beginning in Matthew chapter 5 verse 21 and 22.
You'll see it there.
You have heard that it was said.
And then in verse 22, but I say to you.
There's a repetition of this through the end of chapter 5.
Six different times.
And what Jesus is doing here is correcting the common misinterpretations of the law in his day.
He's saying, see the scribes and Pharisees?
They haven't even gotten this stuff right.
Those that you would declare as righteous are not at all righteous.
This morning's text is the fifth in this series.
And it concerns revenge.
Or as some of your subtitles in your Bibles might say, retaliation.
So join me as we look at Jesus' careful correction and application for our day.
Before I read the text, beloved, I want to remind you that this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and our good.
And as such, we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
I'll begin reading in verse 38.
Verse 38.
Now this morning we will consider this text by employing the following outline.
And I'll repeat these, of course, but I want you to see where we're headed before we even start.
Number one, the original intent of the law.
Number two, the scribes and Pharisees' perversion of the law.
Number three, the modern perversion of Jesus' teaching.
And number four, and most importantly, the correct understanding of Jesus' teaching.
I find so often, as Jesus finds here, that we have to correct, we have to say the what is not in order to say what is.
So let's look first at the original intent of the law.
Verse 38, Jesus says,
You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which is a direct quotation from the Old Testament.
So their saying an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was not wrong to say.
They just misapplied the law.
You can find this in Exodus chapter 21, verse 24.
Leviticus chapter 24, verse 20.
And Deuteronomy chapter 19 and verse 21.
And this law was given to place limitations on punishments for crimes.
It was meant to place boundaries on the severity of punishments and was given as a limiting law to the judges of Israel.
So God is saying, let's be fair as we enact punishments for crimes that are committed.
Let's not go above and beyond the crime itself, but rather an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
God, in His graciousness, in His mercy, was putting a line that the judges could not cross.
They couldn't create a severity.
If you steal a piece of fruit, we'll cut off your hand would be an example of what this type of thing was limiting.
And this is most clearly seen in Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 18, and then leading up to verse 21, where we see this phrase repeated.
So beginning of verse 18, it says,
The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,
then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother.
So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
And the rest shall hear in fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you.
Your eye shall not pity.
It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
So you see, in the case of a false witness, the judges are charged to enact punishment, but only so far.
So God gave a good law that would restrain unfair punishments from being administered by Israel's judges.
But this was not its use in Jesus' day.
Jesus says,
You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
The previous four times we have seen Jesus say,
You have heard that it was said, but I say to you,
He has been correcting a misinterpretation and practice.
And this is no different.
So let's look at what the scribes and Pharisees were doing with this law in their day.
So number two, the scribes and Pharisees' perversion of the law.
The main trouble of the scribes and Pharisees' teaching was that they failed to connect the teaching to judges,
but rather made it a point of personal application.
They believed the commandment was given for the sake of retaliation and revenge,
and in their typically legalistic way, viewed exacting revenge as a duty and an honor.
They were taking a negative injunction,
do not punish beyond what is just,
into a positive one,
punish to the degree of what is just.
Did I say that word?
And they took and taught that the power to do so belonged to the individual.
What they were promoting was vigilantism, not justice.
It is into this background that Jesus is speaking and says,
But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil.
It's that context he's speaking into,
where they would, at every turn,
defend their own rights,
stand up for themselves.
And it's important to know that,
to rightly understand what the rest of Jesus says means.
There is much misinterpretation and misunderstanding in our day of what Jesus is saying here.
So let's look at what Jesus is not teaching in our contemporary setting in this text.
So number three,
the modern perversion of Jesus' teaching.
The modern perversion of Jesus' teaching.
Certainly there are those of us in our day
who want to defend our own rights in the same way that the Pharisees did.
This is typically not the text people run to,
though, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth to justify such a thing.
But there are many who run to this text to make an argument for national pacifism.
And I suggest to you that that is not at all what Jesus is teaching here.
We must be very careful in how we go about interpreting such a text.
And there are a number of interpretive principles
that must be applied to the Sermon on the Mount to understand it well.
Number one, if our interpretation contradicts the plain and obvious teaching of Scripture elsewhere,
then our interpretation is wrong.
James chapter 4 and verse 7.
James writes,
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil or the evil one,
and he will flee from you.
So how are we to reconcile these two things
if we're not supposed to resist the evil one?
And yet James commands us in the Holy Writ to resist the evil one.
Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 17.
Isaiah prophesies,
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Correct oppression.
Bring justice to the fatherless.
Plead the widow's cause.
So if our interpretation contradicts the plain and obvious teaching of Scripture elsewhere,
then our interpretation is wrong.
This text is not a cry for national pacifism.
Secondly, if our interpretation makes the teaching appear impossible,
then our interpretation is wrong.
Jesus nowhere requires something of us that cannot be done by His grace.
Tolstoy believed and wrote that our Lord's word should be taken at face value.
And therefore, because soldiers, police, and magistrates all resist evil,
to have any of these positions would be to be unchristian.
But Paul writes in Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 4,
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God,
and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed,
and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?
Then do what is good, and you will receive His approval.
For He is God's servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid.
For He does not bear the sword in vain.
For He is the servant of God,
an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Seems that Tolstoy also needed to read Romans chapter 13, verses 1 through 4 at face.
To see that those placed in authority,
the magistrates, the soldiers, the police,
are given to us as a good gift from God
to restrain the evil of men.
The world would descend into absolute chaos
without the restraining grace of God.
And authorities are part of that grace to us.
Not the totality of it, but they are part of that grace to us.
So, if our interpretation makes the teaching appear impossible,
then our interpretation is wrong.
Third interpretive principle.
If our interpretation ignores the context of the text,
ignores the context of the text,
then our interpretation will likely be wrong.
Will likely be wrong.
As they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time.
It is possible to ignore the context and still arrive at the proper meaning.
But it's not probable that this will happen.
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is not teaching a new law.
He is not explaining a new code of ethics.
The Sermon on the Mount is harmonious with the moral law of God.
Jesus rather is working to give his listeners an understanding of the spirit of the law.
The scribes and the Pharisees were all about the letter of it.
And they misunderstood it all together.
But Jesus is concerned about the spirit of it.
An understanding of the law leading to human flourishing
and to whole person righteousness.
Further, in the context,
Jesus is speaking about what citizens of his kingdom will look like.
Citizens of his kingdom.
This is teaching meant to be applied to individuals called apart for his praise.
Not nation states or local governments.
Now I won't labor any longer on the matter of pacifism.
Because it is not really the point.
I will say I'm not a pacifist.
And I believe in just war theory.
But that's a topic for another day.
All I mean to show you this morning
is that national pacifism is not what Jesus is teaching here.
That is not the point of this text.
And I believe it's unfaithful to the text
to think that's what it teaches.
So, what is he teaching?
The all-important question.
What is he teaching?
This brings us to our fourth and final but longest point.
The correct understanding of Jesus' teaching.
Right?
So, if he's correcting what the scribes and Pharisees thought and practiced in the day,
certainly he's not supporting the national pacifism cries of our day.
What is it that he's teaching in this text?
And let me begin by rereading verses 39 through 42.
Let's get it fresh back in our minds again.
Jesus says in verse 39 and following,
But I say to you,
Do not resist the one who is evil.
But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,
let him have your cloak as well.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile,
go with him two miles.
Give to the one who begs from you,
and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
So, after Jesus says,
Do not resist the one who is evil.
I say to you,
Do not resist the one who is evil.
He graciously gives us five examples.
He wants us to understand what he means when he says,
But I say to you,
Do not resist the one who is evil.
And of these five examples,
the first three seem pretty straightforward.
Fairly basic.
If anyone slaps you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
So if someone hits you,
don't hit him back.
There's the summary of it.
And,
if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,
let him have your cloak as well.
So if someone sues you to take your jacket,
give them your coat also.
Grip tightly what is yours,
but be willing to give,
and to give freely.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile,
go with him two miles.
Roman soldiers in this day
could force citizens of Israel,
or any other foreigner for that matter,
to carry their backpacks.
They could demand that of them,
as the conquering nation.
But,
as the Romans were somewhat fair at times,
they could only demand that they would go a mile.
So along the Roman road,
they would go from one mile marker
to another mile marker,
and then that conquered citizen
could give the backpack back to the soldier.
Jesus here is saying,
if you're forced to walk one,
volunteer to walk a second mile.
So,
certainly we have to work on applications of that in our day,
and I'm going to leave you to that,
mostly,
yourself.
How is it that I'm supposed to be
gracious in this way?
But,
when we come to verse 42,
this pattern seems to break up a bit,
and I think that verse 42 is key
in helping us interpret this teaching of Jesus.
Jesus.
He gives us the final two examples
of what he means by,
do not resist the one who is evil.
They seem a little out of place.
We've tracked through.
If someone hits you,
don't hit them back.
If someone sues you,
give a little extra.
That's okay.
And if someone makes you serve them,
serve them a little more.
But then he says in verse 42,
give to the one who begs from you,
and do not refuse the one who would borrow for you.
Doesn't it seem inconsistent
to equate the beggar and the borrower
against, right,
alongside a slapper, a sewer, and a sluggard?
I like to alliterate.
Doesn't it seem inconsistent
to equate the two together?
How is it that the beggar and the borrower
are the one who is evil?
Have you ever borrowed money from somebody?
I don't think you did so from evil intent.
I believe that what Jesus is doing here
is speaking to our perspective of ourselves
and our perspective of others.
That's how these examples fit together.
We are so apt to think
that we are always in the right
and that others are always in the wrong.
This would have been the great error
of the scribes and Pharisees' day.
They were so self-righteous.
Everything they did was right and good.
And therefore, anything anybody else did,
anybody who didn't look just like them,
demanded or asked something of them,
must be evil.
Must be in that category.
Since they were so righteous,
everyone else must be evil.
So, how would Jesus have us live
in light of this text?
What are we meant to do with the text?
Number one,
we should live in light of this text
with a proper view of self.
A proper view of self.
We must have the right attitudes
toward ourselves.
In our sinfulness,
we are so quick to jump to our own defense
when any wrong is done to us.
I like to classically use traffic as an example
because I think we all readily experience this.
Have you ever pulled out
in front of somebody accidentally?
I have.
I do it out here on this road all the time.
People come over that hill so fast.
And I drive a Prius,
which is not a spry vehicle.
And I think,
Oh, no.
That guy clearly was going faster
than I can get up to speed.
How often have you shook your fist
at somebody when they pull out
in front of you?
Probably accidentally.
Probably didn't recognize
how fast you were barreling down the road
when they pulled out in front of you.
We're so quick
to even call things wrong that aren't wrong,
but to defend our own rights.
We want to be so autonomous,
so independent.
I deserve.
My, mine.
We would be so likely
to slap back.
Just imagine if somebody,
when you headed to the restaurant
after you're here
and somebody just walked up to you
and slapped you.
What is your knee-jerk reaction
going to be?
Would it be humility?
Or would you rear back
and let it fly?
We would be so likely
to grip tightly
our tunic
and our cloak.
Right?
How dare anyone take from me
what is mine?
We would be so likely
to grumble
the whole mile
and begrudgingly
throw down the backpack
at the mile marker.
Not a step further.
I have rights.
We would be so quick
to begrudge the person
asking for help
and think so much of ourselves
when someone needs
to borrow from us.
Of course,
I put myself in the position
to be the loner
and not the borrower.
I am so good with money
and clearly you
are not.
Beloved,
we think far too much
of ourselves.
Anything that we are,
we are by the grace
of God.
Don't forget
that this teaching
comes in succession
to the beginning
of Jesus' sermon.
We started that
back in February.
His original listeners
sit and listen
through the whole thing
at one time.
Remember,
he's declared blessed.
Those who are,
in verse 3,
poor in spirit,
recognize their spiritual poverty
before God,
recognize they have nothing
of any value
spiritually to offer
to God.
Verse 4,
those who mourn,
who are heartbroken
over this,
right?
Humbled,
see their great
spiritual poverty.
Who are meek,
although they have
the strength
to retaliate,
the strength
to find revenge,
rather lay aside
their own self-interest
for the sake of others.
Verse 6,
those are hungry
and thirsty
for righteousness,
right?
Recognizing that they have
no righteousness
of their own longing
to do good
and to walk uprightly
before God.
Those in verse 7
who are merciful.
Those in verse 9
who are peacemakers.
Those in verses 10-12
who are persecuted.
There has been wrong
delivered to these people
and they're persecuted
for righteousness' sake.
And Jesus here
is turning,
as you've heard me say,
an upside down world
right side up.
And He's saying,
these are the blessed
of the world.
And why?
Because the kingdom
of heaven
is theirs.
They'll rejoice
with me forevermore
because the kingdom
of heaven
is theirs.
Beloved,
we ought not
defend
ourselves.
We ought to join
with Paul
in thinking ourselves
the worst
of sinners.
we ought to think
less about
our rights
and more about
the grace of God
to us
in Jesus Christ.
We ought to think
more about
having received
that which we
do not deserve
and less
about what we
think we deserve.
So we're to live
in light of this text
with a proper view
of ourselves.
We're also to live
in light of this text
with a proper view
of others.
we found
ourselves
in need
and God
graciously
met
that need.
He now
intends
to use us
to meet
the great
need
of others.
We encounter
people every day
who act
wretchedly,
but should we
expect
anything else?
Beloved,
we need to view
people with the
eyes of Jesus
who wept
over unrepentant
Jerusalem.
We need to see
all people
as eternal
and consider
their eternality.
Where will this
person go?
Are they a citizen
of the kingdom
of heaven
as I am?
Are they a citizen
of the kingdom
of darkness?
And how might
I be about
the work
of rescuing
them
from that
darkness
by the grace
of God?
Paul wrote
in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5
verse 14
and following,
For the love
of Christ
controls us
because we
have concluded
this,
that one
has died
for all,
therefore all
have died.
And he died
for all
that those
who live
might no longer
live for themselves
but for him
who for their
sake died
and was raised.
From now on,
therefore,
we regard no one
according
to the flesh.
You see that?
The love
of Christ
controls us.
The one
who died
on our behalf
that we might
live in him.
And now,
living in him,
we live
in such a way
to bring others
to the life.
that is found
in Christ.
We regard
no one
according
to the flesh.
I want to read
to you two examples.
This is from
a commentary
by Martin Lloyd-Jones.
And he writes,
Let me give you
two illustrations
of men
who,
we must all agree,
put this teaching
into practice.
The first is about
the famous
Cornish evangelist,
Billy Bray,
who before his conversion
was a pugilist.
Anybody know
what a pugilist is?
A professional boxer.
A much cooler name.
Boxer.
Before his conversion,
he was a pugilist
and a very good one.
Billy Bray
was converted
but one day
down in the mines
before he became
an evangelist.
Another man
who used to live
in mortal dread
and terror
of Billy Bray
before Bray's conversion,
knowing he was converted,
thought he had at last
found his opportunity.
Without any provocation
at all,
he struck Billy Bray
who could very easily
have revenged himself
upon him
and laid him down
unconscious
on the ground.
But instead of doing that,
Billy Bray
looked at him
and said,
May God forgive you
even as I forgive you
and no more.
The result was that
the man endured
for several days
an agony of mind
and spirit
which led directly
to his conversion.
He knew what
Billy Bray could do
and he knew
that the natural man
in Billy Bray
wanted to do it
but Billy Bray
did not do it
and that is how
God used him.
The other is a story
of a very different man,
Hudson Taylor,
standing on a river bank
in China one evening,
hailed a boat
to take him
across a river.
Just as the boat
was drawing near,
a wealthy Chinese
came along
who did not recognize
Hudson Taylor
as a foreigner
because he had
affected native dress.
Hudson Taylor
wore the clothes
of China
to relate to the Chinese
more closely.
So this Chinese man
did not recognize him
as a foreigner
which would have been
a thing of honor.
So when the boat came,
he struck and thrust
Hudson Taylor aside
with such force
that the latter fell
into the mud.
Hudson Taylor,
however,
said nothing
but the boatman
refused to take
his fellow countrymen
saying,
no,
that foreigner
called me
and the boat
is his
and he must
go first.
The Chinese traveler
was amazed
and astounded
when he realized
he had blundered.
Hudson Taylor
did not complain
but invited the man
into the boat
with him
and began to tell him
what it was in him
that made him behave
in such a manner.
As a foreigner,
he could have resented
such treatment
but he did not do so
because of the grace
of God in him.
A conversation followed
which Hudson Taylor
had every reason to believe
made a deep impression
upon that man
and upon his soul.
So how would we respond,
right,
if we have a proper view
of others
to these types
of offenses,
would you respond
in the same way
that Billy Bray
and Hudson Taylor
responded
in these cases?
So we must live
in light of this text
with the proper view
of ourselves,
with the proper view
of others,
and finally,
and in closing,
with the proper view
of God.
Beloved,
God is ours
and we are God's.
What else
could a rationally
enlightened person
possibly want?
Read to you Romans chapter 8
verse 31 and following.
After Paul has talked about
the trouble of the world,
living in the tension
of our bodies,
the flesh,
and our spirit of life.
He says,
What then shall we say
to these things?
If God is for us,
who can be against us?
He who did not spare
his own son
but gave him up
for us all,
how will he not
also with him
graciously give us
all things?
Who shall bring
any charge
against God's elect?
It is God
who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus
is the one who died
more than that
who was raised,
who is at the right hand
of God,
who indeed
is interceding
for us.
Who shall separate us
from the love
of Christ?
Shall tribulation
or distress
or persecution
or famine
or nakedness
or danger
or sword?
As it is written,
For your sake
we are being killed
all the day long.
We are regarded
as sheep
to be slaughtered.
No,
in all these things
we are more than
conquerors
through him
who loved us.
For I am sure
that neither death
nor life
nor angels
nor rulers
nor things present
nor things to come
nor powers
nor height
nor depth
nor anything else
in all creation
including
offenses
against our
perceived rights
will be able
to separate us
from the love
of God
in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Beloved,
we have Christ
and he is better
than anything
we could possibly
imagine
that we deserve.
And
he is for us
and he will finally
make all things
right.
We have the God
of the universe
on our side.
Why do we think
we have to go around
stamping our feet
and pounding our fists
and trying to get
what's ours?
Paul writes
in Romans 12
verse 17
and following
Repay no one
evil
for evil
but give thought
to do what is
honorable
in the sight
of all.
If possible
so far as it
depends on you
live peaceably
with all.
Beloved,
never avenge
yourselves
but leave it
to the wrath
of God
for it is written
vengeance
is mine
I will
repay
says the Lord.
To the contrary
if your enemy
is hungry
feed him
if he is thirsty
give him
something to drink
for by so doing
you will heap
burning coals
on his head.
Do not
be overcome
by evil
but overcome
evil
with good.
You see Paul
picking up
the teaching here.
How is it that we
are in fact
to resist
the evil one
with good?
We're to turn
the other cheek
and give also
the cloak
and walk
the extra mile
and lend
and give
generously
that people
would come
to saving
faith
in Christ.
Beloved,
may we be a
people
with a proper
perspective
of ourselves
others
and God.
May we be
individuals
that do not
seek our own
self-interest
but look
to the interests
of others.
May we be
citizens
of the kingdom
of heaven
who are not
retaliators
but trust
in the mighty
hand
of our sovereign
and gracious
God.
May we be
a church
that glorifies
God
by experiencing
proclaiming
and displaying
the supremacy
of Jesus Christ
in all things
to all peoples.
Let's pray together.