You Have Heard That It Was Said...

I believe I've shared this story or shared my own account of running a mud race with some of you before. I don't know if I haven't. Well, you're gonna get this story now. Several years back, not too many. You can't tell by what COVID has done to me now, but I was able to get in shape and for a mud race that one of my nephews had talked me into. My nephew Joshua Creech, he's a pastor in Indianapolis now, which is, when you'll understand it as a story, though, is even more crazy. But my nephew could...he struggled in public speaking. And I think we all have struggled at times with public speaking. They claim it's the number one fear for most people is public speaking. And so we had a men's club in Cincinnati, a young adult's men's club, that thankfully Mr. Meyers allowed me to still be part of, even though I wasn't technically a young adult anymore. But I always encouraged my nephew Joshua to join the club. And his response was, I get so petrified of public speaking that it physically makes me sick. And he goes, why would I do something that physically makes me sick? And so he always tried to avoid men's club because he didn't want to have to give icebreaker or to give any speeches. And coming through the year, we were coming up to another season of joining our men's club. And I was on him again about, why won't he join the men's club? And so in talking with him previously to this, he had been wanting me and my brothers and his brothers to sign up for a 12-mile, 26 obstacle mud race. And in my mind, that was ridiculous. Why would anybody sign up for something like that? I think I was 34 at the time. No, I was probably 36 or 37 at the time. It was back in 2013. And so on a whim, I told him if he would join men's club and give his icebreaker speech, I'd run the race with him. Not thinking that something that would make him violently ill would be something that he would do. He looked at me and said, are you serious? And I said, yes, I said it. He goes, okay. He joined men's club. Didn't take much to talk him into that, and now I see why. I mean, obviously, God was calling him to be able to share messages and to be in the ministry. I didn't realize that. He didn't know it at the time. So he said yes, and then I said, oh no, what have I gotten myself into? So, December of that year, he gave a six-minute icebreaker for men's club. And for the next seven months, I killed myself trying to get in shape for a 12-mile, 26 obstacle mud race. I did it. I was able to survive it. But I'll tell you one thing. The thought that kept motivating me through that training and all the work that was taking to get in shape for that was something of this magnitude. If I don't take this seriously and if I'm not in shape, I may die. That was, in my mind, a very legitimate reason to keep training and keep doing this. Not only did I give my word, but I better do my part, because the last thing I want to do is to exit this world in a muddy, non-gracious fashion. So, it's amazing how fear can be such a motivating factor to why we do things sometimes in life. Not always a bad thing to have fear as a motivation. In last week's sermon, I asked the question, what is the motivation that you have for life? In that sermon, we spent the majority of the time looking at Matthew 5, and specifically as reference in the sermon, at the Beatitudes shared by Jesus in his sermon on the Mount.

One of the things we examined was how those with the character traits listed there will be part of God's kingdom. It's a conditional aspect to the Beatitudes, that blessed are they, and he shared the character trait, because they will inherit aspects of the kingdom of God. It's a beautiful teaching that we have there.

As we will do today, and we see throughout that sermon, there continues to be a focus on the kingdom of God throughout his sermon on the Mount. There are other aspects for us to look at and to consider. Through these descriptions, this is the life that you and I are called to live today. Throughout the sermon on the Mount, Christ's focus is not just on a to-do or a not-to-do list. Things that would make one righteous. If you do this, you're righteous. If you don't do this, you're not righteous. It wasn't about a list to Christ, but the focus is on a mindset that we have towards the things he was talking about in this sermon. It's a mindset that will be in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not just about a checklist of dos or don'ts. It's about a heart.

It's about a mindset of those that God will vow to be in it and that he wants to be there. Often in life, it's easy to get a list of dos and don'ts and to follow a list of dos or don'ts. We do this with our children on a regular basis. Don't eat the cookies until after dinner or until your siblings are home from school and you can all share them together. That's a don't. Don't speed in the car when you're driving. For anyone who has a teenager, I've got one now who's getting behind the wheels. Don't speed when you're driving. Or another, do. Brush your teeth before dinner. We do tend to check, check, and check these things off. Therefore, we have righteous children, right? Because they followed all of these rules. It's easy to get a list of dos and don'ts, but it's harder when we have to focus on the heart behind the things that we do.

The sermon given by Jesus beginning in Matthew 5 is about the heart of a Christian believer. It's also about the heart of the person who will be in the kingdom of God. So, with the time that I have with you today, I would like us to go back to Jesus' sermon on the Mount and again ask the question, What is the motivation for our lives? What is the motivation for our lives? What is our motivation? Is it just to have a checklist for what we consider as righteous behavior, or is there motivation to have a discerning spirit which will examine the true intent of our heart? Let's look at Matthew again at the very beginning. We will just, for maybe those who were not with us last week or were unable to join us online, let's start at the beginning again of this sermon in Matthew 5 and verse 2. If you have done it, if your ribbon is still here from last week, I'd encourage you to leave it here. Again, I'll leave mine as well because we'll be coming back to Matthew 5 quite a few times. But here in verse 2, we'll just briefly read through, again, the Beatitudes to kind of catch up where we're at. Verse 2, Blessed are those who mourn, and this is those who have an inward crying, a mourning for the sins of the world and for the suffering going on, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, those who have strength under complete control, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, as we heard in the sermonette today, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evils against you and falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Again, these are all the attitudes or character traits which will be in the kingdom of God, as we looked at last week. But in verse 21, Christ begins prying a bit into the lives of the listeners, and in turn to you and me, begins prying into our lives, asking us to consider what is your motivation? What is our motivation? Matthew 5 and verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment. Well, that's an easy one for us to check off, right? I haven't murdered anybody this week. I haven't murdered anybody in my entire life. Great. One righteous requirement done. Check. We can move on. Except for not so fast, right? Verse 22. But I say to you that whoever is angry, wow, that's kind of hitting a little close to home, with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raka, and that's not a word we use a lot in our English language, is it? I never called my brother Raka, and I encourage you teens listening in. Don't add this as a word, because it means senseless or empty-headed man.

You've got no sense about you. You're an empty-headed man. To the one who calls his brother Raka, shall be in danger of the counsel. But then we get into an even more serious name-calling. But whoever says, you fool, which means a casting of judgment, that someone has no value in God's eyes.

This would be somebody who's godless, or someone who has no sense of morality or of God's way. You fool, as he says, shall be in danger of hellfire. Now, that is a word that we see you sometimes fool. We see other words used to note someone is ignorant, someone's a moron, someone has no knowledge or no value to their life because of what they're living.

And Jesus is going to the degree of it's not just that you don't murder someone, but if you get angry and you think of someone, and you would physically, even if those words didn't come out of your mouth, but you thought them, God knows the intent of the heart. I've never quoted Yoda before from the Star Wars series, but I couldn't help but think of this quote that was from the movie. We share movie quotes from time to time here behind the lectern. Yoda said in Star Wars, Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Those of you who've seen the movie, I spared you from the Yoda voice today. Fear leads to anger, but it's interesting. Sometimes things come out of life or from things that are not a biblical perspective, but fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I think it's easy to allow anger for you and me to transition to hate, and often this happens without us even knowing, especially if it's not somebody that we know personally. So if you have a family member that you care deeply about and they anger you, it probably isn't going to go to a hate level because you have that relationship and you want to see that relationship continue to go forward.

But what about when you don't really know someone very well? Maybe you don't know them at all. You've just heard about their life. Maybe, for example, in the spirit of the week we just went through, an example could be a politician serving our country. Someone that you don't know, someone that you've never personally met.

The question I'd like to pose is, what is it that Satan would want you to think about this person that has made you angry? What would Satan want you to think? Would he want you to think that they were made in the image of God? That God loves them enough that he sent his only son to die for them?

Would Satan want you to think that at some point God will give them an opportunity to be called by God and to understand his word? Would Satan want you to think those things about someone you become angry with, maybe a politician? Or would Satan rather you think about the political stances that they take? Oh boy, here we go. The things that they do that hurts this country. Yeah, that's getting kind of a little bit closer to home than what Satan would want us to think. Or Satan would want us to think about the negative things they say about other leaders in this country.

And why is it that Satan would want you to think on certain things and not others? We all know the answer. So we can begin to dislike them and become angry with them so that we can eventually hate them in our hearts. Ephesians 4 verse 26 and verse 27, the apostle Paul says, Be angry, and you guys know the rest, right? And do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. And the important aspect, verse 27, nor give place to the devil. It's not just that you don't get angry, Paul's saying, because anger opens a door to where it can give place to the devil to come in and start messing with our minds.

To start bombarding us with thoughts that are not of God, but thoughts that he would endorse. That's again Ephesians 4 verse 26 and 27. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Continuing on Matthew 5 verse 23 with the same thought that Christ started. He says, Therefore, and this is that same attitude of do not hate your enemy, do not allow your anger to grow. Verse 23, Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar in there, remember that your brother has something against you.

Leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you are on the way with him. Lest your adversary delivers you to the judge, the judge hands you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

Again, what is our motivation? Just to have an action item on a list that says, You shall not murder, and now we can check that one off. Or is it to dive deeper and to consider the motivations of our heart? The next section of Scripture, Christ continues to pry into the hearts of the listener. Verse 27, You have heard that it was said of those of old, You shall not commit adultery. There is another one that we can quickly check off because we have remained physically faithful to our spouse. But we know this one is like the previous passage did. It goes much deeper than just a checklist that we can check off.

Verse 28, But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her, where? In his heart. In his heart. This goes from that checklist item to, again, a matter of the heart and thought. This could be a number of different sexual sins that permeate society all around us, and that society calls normal today. Could be something like that. And Christ isn't talking about the accidental glance where you notice someone is wearing something that's not immodest, or flipping the channels on TV and something flashes up for a moment that you can't help but your eye went there for a moment.

He's not talking about those accidental temptations that come in. This is about the heart that searches after something or lusts after something, seeking to satisfy an inward desire that goes against the way that God intended it. Adultery does not begin with the physical act, but rather it begins in the mind with lust in the heart. Let's turn to James 1 and see what the Apostle James said about temptation as they occur in life. James 1, verse 12 through 15. This is a passage I share when I counsel someone for baptism because it's an important aspect to understand.

Some believe and get sometimes thinking that if I'm tempted that I've sinned before God. James provides some clarification for that here in James 1, verses 12 through 15. He says, That means, come over comes temptation.

Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown brings forth death. It's important that we understand this because Christ was tempted in all ways, right? But without sin. So the sin is not the temptation that sometimes bombards us. It comes in. It can be a crazy wavelength message from Satan trying to tempt us or trying to draw us away. It's how we respond. How do we allow our heart to be tuned by that temptation? Do we then give into that temptation, as James says, that as it's conceived, then it gives birth to sin? Again, it goes back to the heart, not the physical act, but rather it begins in the mind. And that's the important aspect that Christ is bringing out. Let's go back to Matthew 5 and continue reading what he says as he continues talking about this concept of adultery and starting in the heart. Matthew 5 and continuing on in verse 29. He says, Now, it's my understanding that some have taken what we just read quite literally. But the statement is an exaggeration for effect. The eye nor the hand can cause us to sin of itself. Again, sin begins in the mind, and then other aspects feed off of that with our body. Now, could we apply this passage to mean that we should separate ourselves from external things that cause us to sin? I believe so. That would be appropriate. If there are certain friends that you have that cause you to sin or encourage you to do things that are sin, then separation from these friends is something that should be heavily considered. Separation from that. Or if there's music, TV, movies, social media, or other apps that are creating a problem for you and coming between you and your relationship with God, this is another area where separation from that activity should be made. And so we have to go through life. Weighing out, is this influence? Is this item? Is this thing that is not part of my body coming between me and God? Is it endangering my relationship with God? Is it changing my mind and my focus to focus on the things that Satan would want me to focus on instead of the things that God wants me to focus on? And if those things are in our life, we have to fight that struggle daily. We have to figure out how do we separate ourselves from those influences, from those items, so that we, through God's Spirit, can overcome and we can win the battles that we sometimes fight. Again, what is our motivation? Just to have an action item, a checklist that says, you shall not commit adultery, that we can check off? Or is it to dive deeper to consider the motivation again of our hearts? Christ goes on with another area of critical importance for those of us who are married in verse 31 of Matthew 5. He says, Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Again, we could look at this as what's shared here and just check this one off, since we're not considering divorcing our spouse.

But what is our motivation when we consider our marriage covenant? Knowing that divorce is not an option for you or for your spouse, could you treat your spouse not as lovingly as we know we're supposed to do? Do we consider the words we use or the attitude we demonstrate when it comes to the most important human in our life? Because when we don't consider that person of the level that they're supposed to be at, even though we haven't crossed the divorce bridge, we're not going there, and our minds know we're not going there, but because we haven't loved them the way that God has instructed, can that love grow cold?

It can. Can the fire begin to dim? Absolutely. Is that because of our words, our actions, our attitudes? If you go down the list, you have to evaluate your own relationship and marriage considering this thing. I had a friend before we moved up here, before being hired by the church. I had a friend where I worked, a really good friend. He battled through some really big challenges in his life. We had a wonderful friendship. But he said in his marriage that he had, that him and his wife, they removed the D-word from their marriage, the D-word being divorce.

It wasn't a word that they even joked about. It was not one that ever came out of their mouth, because in their minds, it was off limits. It wasn't even something to joke about. He would share stories, and maybe you've seen this at times. You get together with friends, they're kind of on each other a little bit, and they say, if you keep that up, you know I'm going to file for divorce. But they're joking, right? But there's another side to it. It's in their mind.

He says, I don't even allow this word to be in our minds. It doesn't even come out of our mouths. We don't even say it. We refer to it only as the D-word in our marriage. I thought that was profound from someone, a friend, because he valued, him and his wife valued their marriage so highly that that was completely off the table. And I would say that the majority of us feel that same way.

But have we ever done things, and do we treat our spouses in ways that minimize the way that Christ is saying that we should lift one another up? Ephesians 5 and verse 22.

Paul speaks to the importance of marriage for a husband and a wife. Ephesians 5 and verse 22. Paul gives us important information here, not just how to love our spouses, how to love one another, but there's a connection that is parallel to our relationship with Christ as the body of Christ as a church. And it's important that when we recognize that significance, it should change our marriages in a similar way. But it's not just something we can check off on a list.

It takes a change of heart. Ephesians 5 and verse 22. He says, Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. An important aspect to draw out is, as a husband, I have to submit to Christ. It's not enough that I can just ask my wife to submit to me. I then have a responsibility to submit to Christ.

And if I don't do that part, as we see here in Scripture, I am failing in my role as a husband. Verse 24, he goes on to say, Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands love, and here's the instructions, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

So husbands opt to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, just as the Lord does the church.

And verse 33, Nevertheless, let each of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Imagine if Christ's approach towards the church was simply not to divorce the church. What if our Lord and Savior's goal and approach the way that he looked at you and me and the body of Christ the church and said, I'm simply not going to divorce the church.

Imagine if he did not care for us, did not cherish, did not encourage us, did not provide for us, did not help with the tasks that you and I need to accomplish on a daily basis. Imagine if he didn't do all those things, but he said, but I'm not going to go to the extreme of divorcing the church.

Would we feel loved and cared for? But Christ goes above and beyond not just divorcing the church, but loves, sanctifies, and cherishes the church. I think we could all use to take some time and to think back before our wedding day when we were still dating our spouses, those of us who are married. How did we treat them? How did we talk with them? How did we think of them on a positive or negative level? Because until that ring is on the finger, there's an option for the other party to say, you know what?

I'm going to go a different direction here. And so are we on our best behavior, wearing our kind of best outfits at times? Do we make mistakes? We do, but do we quickly ask for forgiveness from those? We do. Again, it's that mindset that we carry in our marriage to always make sure that we are lifting up our spouse and treating them as the most important human in our life. Again, what is our motivation?

Just to have an action item that says, you shall not divorce your spouse, that we can check off. Or is it to dive deeper and consider the motivation behind how we treat our spouse? Continuing on, or let's flip back to Matthew 5 and verse 33. And this is, before we move on, let me acknowledge that there are issues that come up in marriages that need counseling and support. God has outlined the approach to take with abuse and with other addictions and things. But the principle is what stands, and it's the attitude and it's the heart.

It's that motivation behind it that we have to consider. And that's why it's not something to be taken lightly, like so many marriages are today in the world. It's so sad when we consider how many lives have been disrupted and damaged, children separated because of people's unwillingness to strive for a way that they can overcome. But sometimes it takes two to tango as the phrase goes, and so we have to keep that in consideration too. So just let me preface that statement before we move on. But back in Matthew 5 and verse 33, again, Christ says we have another aspect to consider our motivation. Again, verse 33, That's another one we could look at here and check off since we don't go around making oaths.

But there's another deeper level here too, verse 34, So avoiding making oaths or promises today for most of us is not going to be a big problem. But it was during Jesus' time. For us today, though, the question is, getting back to the matter of the heart, do we always speak the truth? Do we always tell everything exactly how it is? Are we honest in all situations? Or is our inward motivation to tell the best story? To present something that's over the top or exciting.

That whole adage of how big was the fish you caught? Oh, it was this big. Do we stretch some of the things that we add into our stories? Add some extra color to it that really wasn't there. Is our motivation to simply tell the truth? To let our yes be yes and our no be no. Trust is critical to relationships and building stronger relationships.

So much damage can be done with the simple mistruth. Because if the person is lying about this, then what else are they lying to me about? And maybe it's not a straight-out lie, but again, only an exaggeration. But when that next story or account is shared, we may wonder if it is the complete truth, or exactly how the situation really turned out. It opens the door for doubt to enter in. You hear that story about how big the fish was? Next time it goes fishing, and he tells a similar story, there may be a little bit of doubt in your mind, because there's no way that that was true the last time. And if he's telling the same story or it's the same account going fishing, doubt can enter in. We see so often today how people take to sharing false information. In such a casual and careless way. Consider that. The time and society that we live in, the sharing of false information in such a casual and careless way, and some do it to such a large degree that at times people finish the statements with, with, with, I promise. They'll say something and then finish it with, I promise that that is true.

That should be something that we work to remove from our vocabulary if we feel we need to justify things or to finish things or start something with an I promise. One of the greatest things we can be known of by others in this life is to be an honest person. Because honesty or dishonesty, either one, permeates through the entirety of our lives. We all know that. We all know people that are honest, and they can say whatever comes out of their mouth, and we will go to the bank with it because they are known as an honest person.

It permeates their whole existence of who they are. It's that powerful of an attribute. Honesty is. And so it's one of the reasons I believe Christ drew out of it in this passage. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, because again, what is our motivation? Just to have an action item that says, I don't fair falsely, I don't add, I promise to my sentences, so that we can just check it off as a righteous requirement or to dive deeper and consider the motivations that lead us to let our yes be yes and our no be no.

Again, from Matthew 5, this time in verse 38, Christ shares another aspect to consider. Verse 38, he says, Again, we can look at this and check this one off because I don't go around getting even physically with people every time they hurt or bother me. Or actually, do we? This one may actually hit a little closer to home. We'll have to think about this as we continue on and consider the heart a little bit.

Verse 39, Jesus' purpose in sharing this is to better help us understand mercy. From the Clark's commentary, the Clark commentary shares this. It says, Our Lord refers here to the law of retaliation, which obliged the offender to suffer the same injury he had committed.

The Greeks and Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at Athens? And get this, I had no idea in this, and it just shows the depth that some would go to have vengeance and have it repaid. So strictly was it attended to at Athens, that if a man put out the eye of another who had but one, so this is somebody who already had an eye for whatever reason, they only had one eye left, the offender was condemned to lose both eyes.

As the loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. Or if something happened where somebody went blind in both eyes because of an accident or whatever, retaliation would, the other person has to lose them both as well. That was how far that someone would go to make sure that justice was served. And he goes on to say, It seems that the Jews had made this law, the execution of which belonged to the civil magistrate, that the Jews had made this law a ground for authorizing private resentments and all the excesses committed by vindictive spirit.

Revenge was often carried to the utmost extreme, and more evil returned than what had been received. This is often the case among those who are called Christians. That one hit a little close to home for me. Do I go to the degree of wanting vengeance, wanting repayment that would be over the top, that would not show an ounce of mercy as we, again, appreciated the sermonette today? The levels that we would go to be merciful with another person is that lacking in our lives.

Are there times that we are offended or hurt by another, and that person will be in the doghouse until I determine they can get out? Or maybe I just go around pouting and being cold to someone as a punishment for what they did to me. We each know the way that we normally respond to someone when we've been hurt at times, or more often than not, just inconvenienced, if we're true with what's occurred. Sometimes it's extremely hard to let go of a personal offense, but it's the calling we accepted at baptism.

Let's go back at James again, chapter 3, this time in verse 13. James 3, verse 13. Again, the apostle James shares this, James 3, verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom, but if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.

This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above, and remember, we read through the beatitudes at the beginning, those who are merciful, those who show meekness, all those aspects that we read at the beginning, the beatitudes, those characteristics. Notice how many of them are listed here in verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, that's one of them, peaceable, that's another, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, there's another, and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, that's another, by those who make peace. Remember, we're to be peacemakers. West are the peacemakers, not the peace-doers only. Those who will fight and try to find a way to achieve peace. The Apostle James here says, now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In another commentary, referring back to Matthew 5, verse 38, in the Matthew Henry commentary, he says, but some of the Jewish teachers who were not the most compassionate men in the world, instead, excuse me, let me start over, but some of the Jewish teachers who were not the most compassionate men in the world, insisted upon it as necessary that such revenge should be taken even by private persons themselves, and that there was no room left for remission or the acceptance of satisfaction. Even now, when they were under the government of the Roman magistrates, and you and I, we've read the accounts, we know how harsh the Roman rulers were over the Jews and over anyone who would disobey with their penalties and punishments.

He says, even then, when they were under the government of the Roman magistrates, they, and this is speaking of the Jewish teachers, were still zealous for anything that looked harsh and severe. Can you imagine someone within our midst looking for a harsh and severe punishment, that that was a goal, something that needed to be achieved? It's hard to imagine that that would be part of our existence here, part of our attitude within this room. But we have to be careful, because it has been part of the attitude of mankind over the many years that we have existed. Let's look at Ephesians 4 and verse 31.

Another passage, looking at the heart, the motivation behind why are we doing what we're doing? Where do these things come from? Ephesians 4 verse 31, the Apostle Paul says, On the flip side, Continuing on, chapter 5 verse 1, To God for a sweet-smelling aroma, Christ Himself gave of His own life, so that you and I can be reconciled to God. We didn't do anything to deserve that. We didn't do anything that He said He now forced His hand to do that. He gave of Himself willingly out of the abundance of His love and His mercy for each of us. Again, that was shared in the first message. What is our motivation? To get even or to make sure justice is served? Or should we dive deeper and consider the better motivations that we should be driven by? Lastly, let's consider another motivation that should be the most powerful motivation of all, back in Matthew 5 and verse 43.

Matthew 5 and verse 43.

This may be one of the most challenging aspects to Christ's sermon on the Mount, because it goes against every aspect of our own human nature. Love your enemies? Now, show me a part of our own human nature that would say, Yep, I signed me up for that. Yep, I'm going to allow myself to go forward. Our own nature has, I don't believe, I'm open to discuss this, our own nature has no place in it that would allow us to think that that was okay to love our enemies, to bless those who curse you, to do good to those who hate you, to do good to those who hate you, and to pray for those who spitefully use you. This isn't an accidental you got used. This is somebody who says, I'm going to set them up and I'm going to use them for my benefit. Tell me a part of our human nature that would say, Yep, I'm going to forgive them. I'm going to take the high road. I can't think of one. I try to. I can't think of one. Because that goes against everything that is about self. But our calling, God's Spirit working within us, the truth that we know from Scripture is how we overcome ourself and overcome this mindset.

And the truth that we know from Scripture as we continue on with verse 45. Remember, do all of these things that go completely against your nature. Why? Verse 45, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes... He doesn't allow. He doesn't say, well, He just allows because He set up the system and the way that physics works, it just kind of goes and He turns a blind eye to it. Nope, it doesn't say that. It says, for He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good. And He sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you... what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. We each know that God extends His love to all humans made in His own image. Therefore, we must be willing to do the same. Therefore, you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. The word perfect here carries the spiritual meaning of being spiritually mature. Because we know perfection in a physical body and of a physical mind, we can't get there ourselves. But it means, it carries the meaning of being spiritually mature. We already become like God the Father and Jesus Christ in every way. This is that exact rabbi and disciple relationship that we are to have as followers of Christ. A disciple would want to follow their rabbi the best that they could. They would want to become a full imitator. They slept where the rabbi slept along the side of the road. They covered themselves. They wore clothing similar to what the rabbi would wear. They would eat similar foods to what the rabbi would wear. They would talk in similar form and fashion as their rabbi would. A true disciple would become an imitator, almost a copy of the person that they considered their rabbi.

Now the challenge ahead of us is great, especially as we consider right now, because of lawlessness, because of lawlessness, the love of many is growing colder.

We're going to have less and less love shown towards us as we continue going forward in life. And because of that, and because of that, love is growing colder. The challenge is going to get harder and harder to love our enemies. It will continue to become harder to love those whose love for us is becoming more distant.

From the Life Application Study Bible, they shared this on the passage we just read. How can we be perfect? One, in character. In this life, we cannot be flawless, but we can aspire to be as much like Christ as possible. Two, how can we be perfect in holiness? Like the Pharisees, we are to separate ourselves from the world's sinful values, but unlike the Pharisees, we are to be devoted to God's desire rather than our own and carry His love and mercy into the world. How can we be perfect? Three, in maturity. We can't achieve Christ-like character and holy living all at once, but we must grow towards maturity and wholeness. Just as we expect different behavior from a baby, a child, a teenager, and an adult, so God expects different behavior from us depending on our stage of spiritual development. How can we be perfect? Number four, in love. We can seek to love others as completely as God loves us. Christ calls all of His disciples to excel, to rise above mediocrity, and to mature in every area. Become like Him. Those who strive to become perfect will one day be perfect, even as Christ is perfect. That's a hard calling, though.

I heard a minister one time refer to this aspect of becoming perfect just like Christ is, as looking at yourself in a mirror, and the reflection that should be shining back at you is Jesus Christ. That's the level that God wants us to perfect ourselves in this life. That's the goal.

But I'll be the first to raise my hand and says that reflection has never been 100% Jesus Christ. Maybe part of one ear kind of resembles Jesus Christ. Maybe my nose is starting to look a little bit like Jesus Christ. Maybe the spacing of my eyes resembles Jesus Christ. But hopefully, as we continue on in this Christian walk, that reflection that comes back is more and more resembling Christ, because we should be becoming a changed person from the inside out. The way that we look in the past, the way we look today, should be changing as we continue forward in life. So that as we continue through this journey called life at the end, that reflection continues to look more and more like Christ looking back at us. It's an analogy, but it's one that can maybe be helpful to just keep in our minds. Again, what is our motivation? To only love those who love us and treat us well? Or should we dive deeper and consider that 100% of the time we are called to be motivated by love?

To conclude today, I want to go back to a section of the Sermon on the Mount that we skipped over earlier. This is in Matthew 5 and verse 13.

Matthew 5 and verse 13. Consider this passage that Christ shared after all that we've looked at now in the verses that followed.

He says, There's many aspects we can draw from the salt. You could do a whole sermon on nothing but just this one verse that Christ shared here. But one of the aspects of salt is this pure form of salt that we have today wasn't always common.

There were sometimes admixtures mixed in because, as you know, if you were to go get salt out of a natural source today, there's other rocks part of it. There's some dirt. There's other things that might be mixed in with that salt layer. And so as you start together, that salt, you would get some impurities that would come along with it. And depending on the quality of that salt, sometimes there'd be more impurities than not. They would work through it. What does the fruit say?

God made dirt, dirt don't hurt. That was not in my notes.

But it's that mindset that there was a level of wanting salt in their lives for food or for payment that the quality sometimes varied. But if the quality varied enough and it no longer was salty enough for their use because it was impure and had other things in it, they would just throw it out the door. As he describes here, it's nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot because it's lost its saltiness. And you might as well just throw whatever impurities are left over on the ground and trampled underfoot. That's one of the many ways that we could draw from this Scripture, but that's an important one for you and me to consider today. God has called us to be separate. He's shown us a way to live life, and we are transformed. But we still have those impurities at time, those parts of our nature that come back up. The times that Satan tries to grab our pant leg and pull us back, and we respond to it. We still have those aspects. And if any time ever comes to where that saltiness, that flavor that God instills into us through His Spirit, becomes so weak in our life, there's that example we hear that's good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. We have to continue to recognize that we are the salt on the earth. And it's God's saltiness within us that helps us to retain that flavor, but we've got to let Him continue to work and to change. That's why it's not just a checklist of righteousness. We don't have ten things to do. If you check them all off, you're righteous before God. It gets back to the heart.

Going on in verse 14, He says, A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

It's a beautiful passage we have and the responsibility we have to be a light, to be an example, to go above and beyond.

He continues in verse 17, Again, referencing a straight reference right back to the kingdom.

Here in this sermon by Christ, From Scripture, we see they were the ones who were checking off the list. All these items that if they did a certain way, check, check, check, righteous before God. He says, We know how many times that Christ pointed out the hypocritical aspects of the religious rulers of that time.

They would never do anything that could possibly be considered break in the Sabbath.

Especially if it was laws or restrictions that they themselves placed over people.

Imagine if I made a rule and then I placed it on the door as we all walk in. I would make sure I'd never mess up that one because I'm the one who created that rule. They were very careful, especially if they made up the rule, that they would never break in. They would never be seen in fellowship with others who were leading sinful lives or ones who were not of their own Jewish heritage.

This was that attitude that Christ addressed with the beginning of each of these passages when he would say, You have heard it was said, and then fill in the blank that we just went through this afternoon. Christ did not come to destroy the law but to magnify it. He brought in the way that the law was looked at and the death that the followers of Jesus needed to go with their lives.

He pressed those listening to his sermon to consider if they were just ticking off a checklist of items or if they were examining the motivations of their heart. For our final passage, let's turn to Ephesians 5 and verse 3. Ephesians 5 and verse 3. Again, considering that motivation. What is your motivation? What is my motivation? Verse 3, For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. No inheritance, he's saying. Verse 8.

For it is shameful to even speak of those things which are done by them in secret, but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, he says, Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.