MATTHEW 5:33-37

“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Filibuster
It is difficult being straightforward with people. Everything happens within a context and when you do not take the time to explain the context of your words, people who hear those words can misunderstand them. So to protect ourselves, we nuance every word, thought and promise with layered levels of clauses and escape hatches.

Eventually we end up confusing ourselves or forgetting what we were trying to say. Words are important, context is important. (See Mike’s blog on October 22) We should be clear, but we must also make sure we are sensitive to knowing how others hear our words.

When I decline an invitation to someone’s house, I need to understand that person may feel rejected. Without any explanation of why I cannot come I will have inflicted more harm than if I explain myself with lots of words. There is brevity but there is also sensitivity.

Jesus calls us to a “yes” and “no” pattern of communication it is clear, but yes and no need expressions of love alongside them. At times love is demonstrated with additional words.

Holy Word who became flesh, help me to be straightforward with every person in a way that demonstrates your love and compassion. May my words always be in line with your Word. – Dan Jones

Speaking truthfully
If Jesus literally forbids all vows then I disappointed him recently. Once again I officiated a wedding with vows, “according to God’s Holy Word.” And some time back I put my hand on the bible in a court room before I testified and swore to tell the truth. But is Jesus forbidding any act of vowing, or is addressing our tendency to hide truth by our clever words and carefully nuanced pronouncements.

President Clinton illustrated this kind of so-called “truth-telling” when he declared “I did not have sexual relations with that woman!” We all sit in Clinton’s chair when we make words appear to say one thing when the truth is just the opposite.

Nothing new appears under the sun. People in Jesus’ time excused themselves from commitments because they had sworn by something that carried less authority. Verbal technicalities and loopholes designed to deceive result in reams of paperwork filled with legal language covering every possible technicality. Because simple honesty is so hard to come by, the house I just sold required lots of paperwork and professional guidance to make sure both seller and buyer weren’t cheating.

Imagine the complexity, even impossibility of ordinary living, if every important interaction demanded a careful interpretation of every word! Life is stressful enough without wondering if my spouse or friend is trying to pull a fast one on me. Simple truth telling, while sometimes painful, makes rewarding and life-giving relationships possible.

Sometimes simple truth telling eludes us because we fear the consequence of that truth. So we beat around the proverbial bush and end up leaving the other person confused. Lying isn’t our intent, but we cover the truth in a mass of verbal mush just the same.

The absence of clear truth telling promotes the unhealthy habit of reading into the words others speak. Most the time our guess at the real meaning doesn’t come close to what that person meant to say. Our lack of simple truth telling and the pattern of reading behind others’ words both result in more damaging hurt than clarity would have.

But alas, we tend to do our verbal dances anyway, and wish our relationships could be healthier. I don’t know many dances, but this is one I perform all too well.

Word of God, help me to speak plainly, without subtle nuance, and to especially avoid verbal gymnastics to get around hard truth. May my attitude be loving, my tone kind, and my words revealing. - Mike Leamon

MATTHEW 5:31-32

“You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’ But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery.

Context and Commitment

Bigoted Words! How could Jesus lay the adultery charge at the feet of women? If a wife commits adultery her husband may legitimately divorce her but if he divorces her for all the wrong reasons she’s still the adulterer! Either way she’s damaged goods that no other man dare marry.

Ignoring the context of Jesus’ words leads to no other conclusion. Yank anyone’s words out of their cultural and conversational context and those words cease to have the meaning the speaker intended. This is one of those teachings that usually get yanked out of context and reworked into something totally foreign like “I commit adultery if I divorce my spouse for any reason other than his or her adultery.”

Really? Does the context support this conclusion?

Let’s assume a high view of Scripture; that God inspired the disciple Matthew to infallibly remember and record this Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus has just taught that, should I remember a broken relationship in the middle of a church service, I must mend it immediately and if I ogle a woman I should gouge out my eyes. He’s about to forbid all vows (including marriage vows) and insist that when someone slaps me I should give an opportunity for a second slap on the other cheek. Is it possible that Jesus is using hyperbole to teach very important truth? And if this is true for the teaching that surrounds what he says about divorce, is it possible that he uses hyperbole here too?

Stepping behind the text and into Jesus’ religious culture, we discover that two sets of ideas battle for predominance. One teaches that men (that’s men!) can divorce if a wife displeases them in any way, the other that men can divorce only if she is sexually unfaithful. In either case, in that cultural context, the woman is “damaged goods” and is effectively consigned to spend the rest of her life in poverty.

Seems to me that Jesus isn’t issuing a rule about marital dissolution but takes another step to lift women out of second class status. Not only are men not to objectify women as objects for their own imaginary enjoyment, but neither are they to leave a woman “out in the cold” because of their displeasure. Women are to be related to as persons just as much as men.

Sounds like a no-brainer. It wasn’t then. Is it really a no-brainer today?

God whose image is in male and female, continue to build into me a high view of marriage and a high respect for my wife. Forgive me when I allow my petty wants and preferred ways to define how I relate to her. Grant that I would love her as I love myself and, more, as you love her. - Mike Leamon

Step-dad

There is no doubt Jesus set a high standard for marriage. But what are we to do about Jesus’ words against marrying a divorced woman? Did every divorced woman have to remain unmarried the rest of their life? Is that what God wants for divorced women today?

I am married to a divorced woman. I do not believe I have sinned in marrying my wife. I believe that a divorced person should remain unmarried as long as there is a chance of getting back together with their former spouse. In my wife’s case, her ex-husband remarried thus giving her the opportunity to marry again as well since the door to reconciliation was firmly closed.

For some people the door to reconciliation closes before their spouse would remarry. Perhaps the other person continues in a long-term relationship with no intent to marry or cut that relationship off. Perhaps the issues of substance abuse create a dangerous environment and the person has no desire to get help. I do not have a magic timeline for how long a person must wait, but I do feel like every conceivable chance for reconciliation must be exhausted before remarriage.

It appears to me Jesus is rebuking the trend in the day for men to “wife-swap” by divorcing and remarrying each other’s wives. Marrying a divorced person after all avenues of reconciliation have failed is OK. Paul instructed young widows to remarry in 1 Timothy 5. The difference between a widow and a divorcee is real, but the results are the same. To me, the instructions Paul gives can be applied to both.

Original relationship creator, I confess I am not always good at navigating relationships. I pray you would give me wisdom as I counsel others and help me to live out complete love for my wife today. Keep me from lust, selfishness and neglect in my marriage. - Dan Jones

MATTHEW 5:27-30

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, 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. And if your hand—even your stronger 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 be thrown into hell.

It’s her responsibility!
Islam makes the woman responsible to keep men from lusting. So did my Christian upbringing. The only difference, Muslims were, and are, more thorough. Most Muslim scholars teach that women must wear Burqas (head to toe coverings) in public while male modesty requires covering from navel to the knees (Wikipedia, “Women in Islam”). My Christian upbringing agreed with the logic that because men tend to get excited visually, women must adhere to more stringent dress codes.

Jesus turns the table. Rather than shifting blame for sinful sexual behavior onto the “other” person, he makes sexual purity the responsibility of oneself, in particular, the condition of ones own heart. We cannot leap to the issue and definition of sexually provocative dress until we have grasped this core issue. To do so leads straight to legalistic, ineffective, and ultimately oppressive standards of dress. And worse.

If it is the woman’s responsibility to keep me sexually pure by not tempting me with her “provocative” dress, then logically, it’s her fault when I spin out of control. So we accuse “that woman of stealing my man.” Worse, we even suspect that women are in some way accessories to rape. Under all of this logic rests the assumption that men are sexual beasts incapable of self control. Jesus differs.

Men, get your hearts right and you will win the battle with sexual unfaithfulness – whatever “that woman” wears! But who wants to do the spiritual work of developing a pure heart!? It’s much easier to blame someone else.

Lord of my body, mind, and heart, continue to transform my mind with your truth and to purify my heart daily by your Spirit. Grant another day of thorough-going sexual faithfulness, the Spirit’s fruit of self-control, and the complete refusal to objectify any woman, including my wife. - Mike Leamon

Masochistic or Devoted?
During the Olympics I was shocked to hear of the extreme measures some athletes take in preparing for the games. Strict diets and exercise schedules are only the beginning for most athletes. I was horrified to hear that, in China, the children are given by the parents to instructors to be raised in Olympic training camps. The parents would only see their children once or twice a year.

Such treatment seems totally extreme and over the top to me. What is more important, a relationship with your family or a gold medal? For me a relationship with my family wins out every time. But then how important is my relationship God? I like to think it is worth everything to me, but I find myself diving into projects and work with an abandonment that would encourage a Chinese Olympic coach to the detriment of my relationship with God.

Jesus had some pretty hard words for dealing with the temptations of lust and theft, but is it not the principal we apply to our lives here. I don’t see anyone in my church walking around with one hand or one eye because they took Jesus’ words here literally. I do see people who struggle with lust and coveting.

So if the principle applies to my life, then why am masochistic when it comes to projects and my workaholic attitude but not my relationship with Christ? Jesus calls me to forfeit pleasure and work in order to experience fullness in my relationship with God.

Jesus, forgive me for being giving up so much for my job and pleasure and not you. Help me today to take time to rest in the fullness of your grace and care. I want my relationship with you to be more important than my career and desires. - Dan Jones

MATTHEW 5:21-26

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.

“When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.

Two dimensional Faith

I heard again yesterday of a person who has no interest in Christ because of the actions of someone who is in Christ. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of evangelism. Our witness is killed by friendly fire. None of us are perfect, but some people have not made any connection between what happens on Sunday morning and what they do and say, and how they act the rest of the week.

Jesus made a clear connection. Our horizontal relationships, relationships with our neighbors, friends, family, strangers, affect our vertical relationship with God. You cannot ignore the anger in your heart towards your brother or sister and think you are fine before God.

Honesty before God requires honesty with our peers. Faith is not just a spiritual experience, it is practical. If we fail to express our faith in our everyday relationships we are missing out on an important part of what faith really is.

Lord over all my relationships, help me to show love to others in the same way I express my love to you. Fill me with love for others even when they disappoint me. - Dan Jones

Unnatural Activity

As a child immersed in a church sub-culture determined to live out the holiness of the Bible, at least as we understood it, Jesus’ words today became a suppressive and unhealthy expectation. Spirit filled Christians never got angry. We might get peeved or upset or, if we were truly spiritual, deeply concerned, but never would Spirit-filled people get angry.

This is the kind of unnatural interpretation that resulted from truncated literalism. We were right to take Jesus’ words as literally from God. We slipped into grave error, error that produced psychological and relational sickness, by missing the bigger biblical picture and the deeper issue Jesus aimed at – reconciled relationships! Anger, rightly motivated and expressed, is a natural, healthy, and helpful emotion. In fact, it is a necessary element in a world that experiences a jumble of good and evil. But “anger issues” are another matter.

Anger that grows from a self-centered life and triggered simply by not getting what I wanted or expected from others turns me into a persistently angry person who leaves a trail of wounded and broken relationships. Further, unresolved anger left seething inside (often the result of my childhood religious experience!), even the right kind of anger, turns the soul rotten and the person bitter and jaded.

Making reconciliation part and parcel of my spiritual life attacks both of these aspects that twist anger into life destroying sin. Working to make peace in my horizontal relationships while celebrating peace in my vertical relationship pushes me beyond myself, forcing me to address my own wants and expectations, the root of much anger. Living at peace with God and working toward peace with others also keeps the proverbial carpet free of debris swept under it and ignored until the pile of unresolved issues becomes insurmountable.

A life of peace-making and reconciliation feels even more unnatural than suppressing and denying anger! My battle with self-centeredness assures it. This is where Spirit-filled living truly enters my picture. Rather than eliminating all anger from my life, God’s spirit turns me outward to pursue peace with others as an integral part of my spiritual life. I cannot help but think that as I walk this “unnatural road” my life will become “naturally” less angry!

Father of Life, reconciling with people is so time consuming, threatening, nerve-racking, and fraught with risks to my own wants and expectations, that I find it hard to live such a life. I’d prefer simply run and leave another broken relationship in my wake. I am sorry. Grant me the grace to become a peace-maker, no matter the cost, and so find your blessing. - Mike Leamon

MATTHEW 5:17-20

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Mission Accomplished
The world will remember President Bush standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier proclaiming “Mission Accomplished” as one of the biggest mistakes in his political career. The premature victory sign about the war in Iraq became a symbol of the lack of foresight that has plagued the Bush administration.

Thinking something is over when in fact it is still very much ongoing is a mistake many of us make. We think we are over our girlfriends in high school when in fact we still inwardly ache with loss. We claim we are over an addiction while pining for the “pleasure” our addiction brought. We want to go on to the next thing and forget about the old way of thinking.

Our desire to move on to something new is not new at all. Jesus confronted it in his ministry. People were just as anxious to leave behind the days of law then as they are now. We all prefer grace to law, unless the law is on our side. But Jesus says, “Hold on. The law is not going to disappear until it has finished its work.”

As far as making us righteous before God, the work of the law was completed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christ the law was fulfilled. The penalty for sin was fully paid in Christ. Yet the law still exists. It exists to bring an awareness of sin and to guide the believer. The law points us to our daily need of grace. Before we throw out the law, remember, Jesus said it would only disappear when all its work was done. That day will be when Christ returns and evil is vanquished.

Righteous judge and ruler, your law reminds me of how short I fall in my life and makes me feel uncomfortable. I bristle under its reminder, yet rejoice in the fact your grace is available to me. Thank you for giving me the law as a guide and standard which call me back to your grace each day. Help me to live in obedience to your law through the power of your love and grace today. - Dan Jones

Making the Complex Simple
Focus on rules, even the ones God gave, and life become unnecessarily complex. Not only are the rules many, they demand interpretation and application to changing cultural situations. Focus on rules with deep sincerity and hard work and you end up rigid and critical, shaking your spiritual finger at those who don’t measure up.

Most sad, focus on rules and the vast majority of us will end up keeping the easy, straightforward ones really well, while ignoring those that threaten our assumptions, world views, and cultural biases and point to the deeper spirit underlying the rules. Such is the story of the nation Israel. Despite periodic revival of spiritual fervor and renewed allegiance to the Law, the nation trended further away from the God’s heart for justice, mercy and walking humbling with himself.

Jesus simplified everything. He didn’t make it easy. If anything Jesus makes things harder. But he simplified it. Rather than learning all the rules, he insisted all the rules fulfilled their purpose, reached their zenith, were fully expressed in his one life. Every bit and piece of the God’s holy standard finds perfect expression in Jesus. That simplifies everything.

Follow Jesus with a single devotion and don’t worry about all the rules. Sure read the rules, study them, but not to expand the list of do’s and don’ts. Old Testament Law and New Testament commands are there to help me understand Jesus more fully.

Jesus, Fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets, let the one question on my lips again today be, “How do you want me to live today?” - Mike Leamon