Say What? Hard Sayings of Jesus Pastor Drew Leaver Out With Your Eye -- Matthew 5:27-30; 18:7-9 [ Bumper: City Ambient Track ] Welcome to the city. My name is Drew and I am the Teaching Pastor here at Chase Oaks and it is great to have you with us this weekend especially if you are visiting, a very special welcome to you; and a special shout out to my friends down in Epoch! For the next four weeks you and I are going to camp out here, in the hard and gritty places that most people try to avoid. Over the next four weeks we are going to be facing some of the hardest sayings of Jesus. Jesus made some radical statements and that s what this journey for the next four weeks is going to be about and today we kick it off with a very disturbing saying. Twice, in the book of Matthew, Christ tells His disciples that if their eye causes them to sin they should gouge it out and if their hand causes them to sin they should gouge it out. So I m going to need a volunteer preferably someone who has sinned recently. No, I m kidding about volunteering, of course, we ll do that later if you want; but I m not kidding about that hard saying, Christ really did say it and so today we re going to take a stab at figuring out what on earth He meant by it. Sometimes it s the little things that can slip you up. You know, the things that seem innocent on the surface but end up becoming a big deal. The words that you spoke that didn t seem like a big deal at the time but now they ve come to haunt you at work or at school. The innocent glance at a website that seemed, well, innocent at the time but ended up becoming an issue. The credit card you keep using even though you can t pay it off. Sometimes it s the little things that can slip you up.
In 2002 I found myself in that place wondering how I had gotten where I was. At the time I was a full-time student in grad school and working for an insurance company in Dallas. At first the job seemed promising, it offered flexibility with my schedule and a decent wage. But friends had warned me to be careful because the job could end up being more than I bargained for. And I heeded the advice at first but then the company offered me a bigger role with better pay and more hours and because I was desperate to move up and make more money I took the job in spite of the fact that everyone in those positions seemed to be making compromises stretching the truth, misrepresenting things and talking one way but living another. But I was certain that I would be different after all, I was in seminary. But the daily grind of the job left me extremely cynical and by the end of my first year of studying to become a pastor I literally grew to hate people and people is kind of a big part of being a pastor, so things weren t looking too good for me. I hated people because everybody had an angle, all they wanted was money, and no one was honest. The job changed me. And one day I work up and realized I had gotten sucked into this machine; into playing games and being cut-throat; into compromising my values and even my character; and into becoming so cynical that it affected every relationship I had, including my marriage. In 9 months time I had gone from being a people person to a people hater, and it left me wondering how I had gotten to this point how had I become this person? You see, sometimes it s the little things that slip you up; the little decisions; the little compromises; the little, white lies. And most of the time it doesn t start with a big issue most of the time it starts with one little thing that at the time seemed innocent. But soon you wake up wondering how you got to this point; how your marriage or your career failed; and you realize that those seemingly innocent things led you to a very messy place.
SLIDE: So what does it take to avoid those little compromises or little decisions that keep us from being the kind of people we really want to be? And what does it take to follow Christ and live in such a way that we can wake up each morning without regrets? Turn with me to the book of Matthew. Matthew is the first book in the New Testament and if you use the Bible from the seat rack in front of you then the page number is in the outline. Matthew, chapter 5, starting at verse 27. Now, before we drill down into it lets start with the bigger picture. Matthew 5 is what we call the Sermon on the Mount basically because it was a sermon delivered on a mount thus the catchy title. Now, Christ has started to gain a lot of attention. He recently started His public ministry and He did so in dramatic fashion by healing a bunch of people and so all of a sudden Jesus had all these people who want to be his followers; they all want to be with the Rabbi. So Christ tells them what it takes to be a disciple because all these people are following Him, but nobody has a clue what it really means to follow Jesus; and so Jesus gathers them and says, This is what it means. This is what it looks like to be a disciple. And so in Matthew 5 He begins to talk about character and discipleship. Read with me starting at verse 27, 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He begins with a quote from Exodus 20 one of the Ten Commandments Do not commit adultery. In that day there were many Rabbi s teaching that adultery was theft because you were stealing another man s wife, so they viewed it as an outward issue an external thing. But Jesus takes this and flips it on its head by saying, in verse 28, But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In effect, Jesus says that the issue isn t external, it s internal. Attitudes drive behavior and so Jesus says,
SLIDE: Lets talk about the attitudes behind the behaviors. Jesus talks about what s going on inside the heart because the intent for adultery begins in the heart and in the imagination. All the other Rabbi s are telling you not to steal another person s spouse I m telling you don t let yourself desire them; don t even entertain the thought. Stop it before it starts. Now the obvious question is how do I stop it before it starts? What does it mean to avoid lust? And so Jesus continues by saying this, verse 29: 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Because sin is a heart issue, Jesus calls His followers to guard their hearts and the way you guard your heart is by guarding what goes into it. Jesus says if your eye causes you to sin, stop your eye! Cause to sin literally means a stumbling block. So in essence Christ is saying that if what your eye sees is causing you to stumble, fix it! In His words, cut it out. Now does Jesus mean that we should literally cut out our eyes or cut off our hand if it leads us to sin? I don t think so. I think Jesus engages in a little hyperbole to make a dramatic point because He wants us to get how serious we need to be about keeping ourselves from those little things that can slip us up. We use this kind of language all the time to make a dramatic point. When I have a really hard day I often say, That day really kicked my butt. Or when I m being whipped in a game of basketball I ll often say, You re killing me! It s a way of expressing how demanding the task is. And in the same way, Christ says that being a disciple is demanding. It s not easy. And if we want to live without regrets, or be the kind of people we really want to be, it requires sacrifice. Being a disciple requires sacrifice, and because sin is heavy stuff, you have to get radical. You don t literally have to cut your eyes out, but if you
really want to be free from lust, you have to be radical about protecting your eyes. If you really want to be free from lying or cheating you have to be radical about not putting yourself in situations that cause you to stumble. Christ says, cut yourself off from that temptation. But of course, the hardest part of the saying isn t figuring it out it s living it out. I have had several friends in ministry that have fallen or failed in their ministry one somewhat recently. He and I were close and he inspired me. He was the kind of guy that just exuded passion for God and for life and it was contagious. He was a deep thinker and a great communicator. But he had some baggage that he struggled to deal with and all his friends told him the same thing take action, cut yourself off from the influence but when the rubber met the road he didn t make the changes. He couldn t give up the internet. And slowly, bit by bit he drifted and then his marriage drifted and now he s divorced and alone and out of ministry. And I could tell you dozens of those stories. People who know they shouldn t look but they do anyway. People who know they shouldn t lie but they do anyway. And when you talk about what they need to cut out or avoid in order to be the kind of people Christ calls them to be they know they should, but they don t. They just can t bring themselves to make the sacrifice and ultimately they suffer the consequences. They end up with broken relationships, broken careers, broken reputations. Christ says that if we want to be free and if we want to be a true disciple then we have to cut sin off at its source. In April 2003, Aron Ralston went climbing, alone, in Blue John Canyon, Utah. He made the fateful decision of telling no one about his route. While climbing in the canyon he came upon a huge boulder. He sized it up and decided to climb over, but right after scrambling over it the huge rock came loose and sent him flying down the canyon. He came to rest at the bottom and the boulder came to rest on his arm. 800lbs of rock pinned his arm to the canyon wall. For 5
SLIDE: days he tried to free it, waiting for help, hoping that he could wiggle out or that someone would come to find him there. But after 5 days he realized that if he really wanted to be free, he had to do something radical. Aron did the only thing that would give him freedom. He bent his own arm to break it, and then he took his pocketknife and cut his arm loose. He knew that the only way he would ever be free was to make the sacrifice. Now, Christ isn t calling you to cut off your arm or even your hand but He does tell us that if we really want to avoid those things that slip us up, we have to cut sin off at the source. It s interesting to me that Christ uses these hard words twice in the book of Matthew and I think the two go hand in hand. The other instance is in Matthew 18, starting at verse 1: 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. This time the disciples come to Jesus with an interesting question, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They want to know what the power structure looks like because, by this time, a lot of the people that were following Jesus before have split so these guys were the true disciples and they were looking to find out what kind of reward they would get for staying committed. But look at how Christ answers, He calls a child over and says that unless they become like little children they will not inherit the kingdom.
What Jesus does here is pretty radical in that day and age. In that culture children were nothing. Children were meant to be seen and not heard, they weren t considered cute and cuddly, they were considered inferior and in the way. So very little attention was given to children. But Jesus, once again, throws the system on its head and tells these adults that they need to be more like children; meaning they need to have the humility and innocence of a small child. Little children don t go around seeking position; they don t care about who is the greatest. Little kids just want to be friends. They are innocent. Pure. And Jesus says we should be too. We shouldn t value power or position, we should value purity. But as if his image of the child wasn t shocking enough, Jesus kicks it up a notch. He goes on to say that anyone that acts as a stumbling block to those who believe in Him are in for trouble. In essence, it would be better to drown a terrible death than be the stumbling block for another. And then He reminds us about that whole stumbling block thing by saying, once again, 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. The conversation in chapter 18 is slightly different, but Christ s point is the same seek purity. Don t become a stumbling block for anyone else and, while your at it, make sure that nothing you do becomes a stumbling block for you. So His point is simple: SLIDE: Better to sacrifice a little now than to lose a lot later. If you really want to be the kind of person Christ calls us to be, and if you really want to live in freedom and without regrets, than it is better to sacrifice a little now than lose a lot later. If you want to be honorable. If you want free. If you want to be respected and admired because of your character and who you are at the core, better to sacrifice a little now than to lose a lot later than to lose character, reputation, relationships, or even your family.
That challenge leaves us with a very simple question to consider: What are the stumbling blocks in our lives that need to be cut out? Maybe for you the stumbling block really is with your eyes and involves what you look at. Christ says its better to sacrifice a little now than suffer the consequences on your marriage later. I am amazed at the number of men and women that struggle with what they see on the Internet or in magazines or on cable. Maybe you need to take Christ s radical suggestion and cut [chop] that stumbling block out of your life. Oh, I know what you re thinking, But I need the Internet! Then get a filter. Get a firewall. One of the first things I did when I got DSL was set up a router with a firewall and I had a friend show me how to get that thing as tight as possible. I set that filter to keep me from stuff that would tempt me. And yeah, sometimes I get blocked from good websites but better to sacrifice a good website than live with the mess and the consequences of going to a bad one. So maybe you need to tighten up the filters. Or maybe you just need to get one. There is great software out there right now that can help you win this battle like SafeEyes or X3Watch at http://www.xxxchurch.com but you have to want it. Get someone to hold you accountable. Go to Celebrate Recovery and get in a small group with people who just want to grow and get past the things that keep them down. Call our anonymous # on the flyer. Do what it takes because its better to sacrifice now than deal with a broken life or a broken marriage or a broken family. And if you don t think that s where you re headed, that its no big deal and that you can handle it or stop anytime you want, think again! I promise you it will slowly eat you up. Sacrifice now. Maybe for you the stumbling block is spending. You buy what you cannot afford or you buy what you simply don t need. Maybe its time to get radical and cut the credit. [chop] Maybe for you the stumbling block is gossip or lying. (Lean over and stick my tongue on the cutting board ) Just kidding, I won t cut my tongue that s what these are for. Christ said
get radical and I think He used a radical image for a reason. If we don t cut it at its source [chop], we will reap the consequences later. Maybe you should think twice about the relationships that lead you to gossip. Or cut out certain conversations or the lunchroom. Maybe for you the stumbling block is an unhealthy relationship or even a co-worker, and maybe after trying time and time again to resist the temptation without success its time to consider whether or not you should allow yourself to hang out with that person. Better to sacrifice now than suffer a lot later. In fact, that is the decision I had to make. By the spring of 2002 I hated who I had become. More than that, my work environment and the relationships at this company had to go. And so even though that job was paying me way more than I could have gotten elsewhere, I gave it up. Financially, we didn t know how we were going to make it, but we also knew that even though it didn t make any financial sense I had to do it because the consequences of staying were just too high and I didn t want to be that person anymore. Better to sacrifice a little now than loose a lot later. You don t want to lose your character, your reputation, your marriage, your career or your name. And you don t have to. Christ is right there with you wanting to see you through this, but you may need to sacrifice. I m going to invite the band to come up because I want to give ourselves time to commit to making Jesus Christ the center of our lives. Maybe you re in a good place and you ve made the sacrifices already and if so, great! Take this time to worship God and recommit yourself to doing the right things and living for Him. But maybe you re not in a good place right now. And maybe you ve made some decisions you aren t proud of or maybe your trapped in some things you can t get free from. Maybe you ve found yourself at a point in your life where you don t like who you ve become. I want to encourage you to take this time to wrestle with Christ s words and to consider what it means to make Him the center of your life. And let me encourage
you to think about one thing you can do this week to start making that change and making Christ the center of your life and don t just think about it, take a minute to write at the bottom of your sheet that one thing. The one thing I will begin to do or stop doing so that I can make Christ the center of my life is and fill in the blank. [Pray] [ Song: Center ] Next Week: Have you ever prayed and prayed for something only to have nothing happen? I have. But Christ says that if we only had faith the size of a mustard seed we could move a mountain. What does that really mean to have faith that moves a mountain? It s harder than you think. Find out next week
Say What? Hard Sayings of Jesus Out With Your Eye -- Matthew 5:27-30; 18:7-9 Matthew 5:27-30 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Better to sacrifice a little now than to loose a lot later.