The Good Life: A series through the Sermon on the Mount Adultery, Lust, and the Kingdom of God. Matthew 5:27-30 (ESV) < Bethany Stetson reads You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Intro: This passage is here, because God cares about the person you are becoming. And being a disciple of Jesus means everything is open for him to conform into his image. Even especially our sexuality. Why we are where we are in the text: I. Beatitudes (grace) II. Caveat: Law is not abolished III. Examples: murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, etc. Letter of the Law You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. (27) Exodus 20:14 (7th commandment) Men of that day: well, it s the women s fault. Cover yourself up! Burkhas. Spirit of the Law But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (28) What is Jesus here diagnosing? Lustful intent: looking in order to desire 1 This does not mean finding someone attractive. Dallas Willard describes it as looking upon someone for the purpose of lusting for them 2 Looking with the intent to satisfy sexual cravings. This is now much larger than adultery. All sex sin. This is not just for men. Women deal the same sexual appetites, albeit with differing motives. Lust is everyone s problem, and it is the basis for outward sins such as adultery. Adultery is first a matter of the heart. The body carries out commands of the heart, but the desire that powers the body originates in heart. 3 1 Robert A. Guelich. The Sermon on the Mount: Foundations for Understanding. (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1982) 193 2 Dallas Willard. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. (New York, NY: HarperOne, 1997) 160 3 Comments Willard, In other words, all the elements of a genuine act of adultery other than the overt movements of the body are present in such a case. The heart elements are there. Usually the only thing lacking for overt action is the occasion. When the heart is ready, the action will occur as occasion offers. Conspiracy. 161 By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 1 of 7
Matthew 15:18-20 (ESV) But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. That s why laws cannot enable you to live righteously, they can only prescribe. And because they do not have the power to enable you, free you, or even motivate you, many of you look at commands such as these an grimace, asking yourself, Why is God is such a killjoy? The nightmare of youth camp: Stay out of the bedroom! Illustr: Abby and the cross walk/stove God loves people. And when he says not to do something, it s for your benefit. Real relationships involve trust. Trusting that God is good in all he does and says. God s design for sex = good Male & female in the covenant of marriage. Timothy Keller The Genesis story implies that we have been given such an intense relational capacity by God, that we are not fulfilled completely by our vertical relationships with him. God designed us to need horizontal relationships with other human beings. 4 Sex is designed by God to display his glory in creation and relationships, and for our good pleasure. So when we entertain sexual immorality in any form, we are falling into the same sin as Adam and Eve, who trusted their own wisdom over God s. Sexual immorality = worshipping sex over the Creator Romans 1 = distorted view of sex reveals a distorted view of God. Sexuality is a worship issue. Romans 1:22-24 (ESV) Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. It may involve - Sense of unfulfilment - Deep loneliness It is about the larger issue of the soul - covenant-breaking 5 4 Timothy Keller. The Meaning of Marriage. 111 By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 2 of 7
Thessalonians 4:3-8 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Sexual immorality then, is not primarily about whether we hurt others (i.e. keep your theology out of my bedroom), it is primary an affront to the God in whose image we were made. The relational, societal, and soul decay that accompanies sexual immorally is merely a chain reaction to following the lusts of their hearts to impurity (Rom 1:24). Is it any wonder that Jesus says, it s better to lose a body part that s causing you to lust, than your whole body be throw into hell because of sexual immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. The person who willingly cultivates lust in their lives are not living in the rhythms of the kingdom, and shall not be found there. 6 Objection: I don t think I could worship a God who would not let me in heaven because I live a sexually immoral lifestyle. Better question: would you be happy living in a place like heaven? And not because the Kingdom of God is a boring place or void of pleasure. But because the soul can become so disintegrated over time by distorted sinful desires that it cannot enjoy much of anything, much less the boundless excesses of God s righteousness and glory. What s so bad about a lustful gaze? It reveals distance from the life-giving God who knows how to order our lives for good and not for bad. We see all of this described by Jesus younger brother James 1:14-15 (ESV) But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 5 Glen H. Stassen & David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2003) 298 6 Willard: The person who cultivates lusting in this manner is not the kind of person who is at home in God s kingdom. Conspiracy, 160. By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 3 of 7
All your desires matter. They are forming you, for the better or worse. And God cares. Our small (seemingly harmless) desires, when contrary to God s kingdom, lead to death. Yeah, right. Sensational much?? Sex is sex, nothing more, nothing less. New York Times: The Downside of Cohabiting Before Marriage. In a nationwide survey conducted in 2001 by the National Marriage Project, then at Rutgers and now at the University of Virginia, nearly half of 20-somethings agreed with the statement, You would only marry someone if he or she agreed to live together with you first, so that you could find out whether you really get along. About two-thirds said they believed that moving in together before marriage was a good way to avoid divorce. But that belief is contradicted by experience. Couples who cohabit before marriage (and especially before an engagement or an otherwise clear commitment) tend to be less satisfied with their marriages and more likely to divorce than couples who do not. These negative outcomes are called the cohabitation effect. 7 Cohabitation apparently leads to a breakdown in relational commitment. Because their standards for a live-in partner are lower than they are for a spouse. 8 Article implies that cohabiting lets you slide into a low-risk relationship, and not the kind that you would want to be in with a spouse. Living together locks you in by shared stuff: rent, bills, friends, furn Paul s reason is way more enlightening 1 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV) Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, The two will become one flesh. Sex is sex, nothing more, nothing less? You don t really believe that. Gal in the gutter at IV at 2am crying because she doesn t remember who she slept with Guy who s consumed so much pornography during his youth, that his marriage is a disaster Sex is powerful. Very powerful. God created it that way. The dark side of sexuality is that it has the capacity to destroy you and others. Lust makes it that way. Lust originates in the heart, not the body. Your heart must be changed. Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Then there s this curveball 7 Meg Jay. The Downside of Cohabiting Before Marriage. New York Times. April 4, 2012 http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/opinion/sunday/the-downside-of-cohabiting-beforemarriage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1 Accessed Jan 2, 2015 8 Ibid. By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 4 of 7
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. (29-30) This is not another law by Jesus. Think about it. He just told you that laws against the body are not enough. Why then would he tell you to chop parts of your body off? Exaggeration to prove a point: urging his followers metaphorically to remove the source of desire. 9 Redemptive habits must be formed To cultivate a sexuality that has been redeemed by God in Christ. Wait didn t you say it s the hearts power, not the body? Then why would I work on new habits? Yes, habits alone won t help. The heart must change. But once the heart is changed, habits must too. 10 Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God) Now, in fact, the patterns of wrongdoing that govern human life outside the kingdom are usually quite weak, even ridiculous. They are simply our habits our largely automatic responses of thought, feeling, and action. Typically, we have acted wrongly before reflecting. And it is this that gives bad habits their power [habits] do not, by and large, bother to run through our conscious mind or deliberative will, and often run exactly contrary to them. It is rare that what we do wrong is the result of careful deliberation. 11 No one just wakes up and commits adultery. They commit adultery after years of entertaining lust in the heart, and establishing habits that reinforce those lusts, and provide them a safe place to grow. You ever wonder why Paul describes Christian s as having a sinful nature? Old habits are what he s talking about. Automatic responses, behaviors, etc. Romans 8:13 (ESV) For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. A way forward AP! 1. A heart that is changed and entranced by God. 1. If it is not changed, it will be powerless to do anything God says 2. If it is not continually entranced, it will lack the motivation on a daily basis 9 Scot McKnight. Sermon on the Mount. (SGBC; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013) 86 10 Gushee and Stassen refer to Jesus extreme command to pluck out your eye or tear off your hand, as a preventative initiative. That is a habit that a Spirit-indwelt person can use to forestall the decent into sexual sin. Kingdom Ethics. 299 11 Willard. Conspiracy. 343 By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 5 of 7
2. Disciplines to form our habits 12 1. 1 Corinthians 6:17-20 (ESV) But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Here s your big view Physical love has a grander purpose in God s kingdom. It is often used to describe our capacity to know God. We turn from our God-given capacity when we sin. So deeply does our sin break us from relationship with God, that he uses a word that we understand to speak of relational pain, betrayal, and exclusion: adultery. Hosea 1:2 (NIV) When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord. Hosea is to marry a prostitute who will commit adultery. And this is how God feels, for when God s people turn away, He feels like he is being cheated on. Hosea 2:14 (NIV) Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. Hosea 2:16, 19-20 (NIV) In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me my husband ; you will no longer call me my master I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. Behold, the love of God towards His adulterous bride! You may have messed up bad or been sinned against bad Gospel: God sent his Son to die for cheaters. Bring them back into communion with him. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (ESV) 12 A discipline is any activity within our power that we engage in to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort. Ibid, 353 By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 6 of 7
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Want to know what can break the power of lust in your life? Getting a deep revelation of God s love, and believing that He really does. By Chris Lazo To be used at Reality SB on Dec, 14, 2014 7 of 7