Matthew 6:16-18

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16 Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. ~ Matthew 6:16-18

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus contrasted His teaching with that of the religious leaders of Israel. Although God gave the people of Israel His culture through the Law of Moses while they were in the wilderness, due to their sinfulness they distorted it over time. In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus highlighted the importance of forgiving others. Next, He turned His hearers attention to another issue, fasting.

In v.16 of today’s passage we read, "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."

Several months before these events the Lord Jesus was led into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days. The word "fast" signifies abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. In particular, according to the Law of Moses, the people were to fast by denying themselves food on the Day of Atonement. The goal of the fast was to make the people more sensitive to God and their need for Him. Later, there were several national days set aside as fasts based on events that took place in Israel’s history. In time, the fasts became a part of their religious ritual system. The problem arose when the people went through the religious motions without having their hearts involved in the process.

The Lord Jesus continued with, "do not be like the hypocrites." Here, He combined two words, "sullen" and "face." The Lord Jesus equated sullen-faced with hypocrisy because when one fasts no one else was to know about it, at least no other human. The religious do religious things like fasting as a show thinking they garner favor with God and man. This may work with man but it never works with God because He knows us better than we know ourselves. Disingenuousness is never a good disposition to give safe haven in our souls for God knows when our hearts are sincere or not. Sincerity goes hand in hand with the truth, upon such is trust formed.

The religious mark themselves as such when they get what they want which is attention from men. With this as their motive there was no point in actually fasting at all. Not only do such people lose out on any rewards for their fasting before God, they also are not intelligent enough to know that they are also losing out on a day of nice meals for no reason other than presenting a show before others. Thus, their actions demonstrated that they didn’t believe that the Lord actually was capable of knowing the intent of their hearts. The Scripture tells us "without faith, it is impossible to please God." Because of their lack of faith, their only reward came from showy appearances before others. What a sad and inauthentic existence.

In v.17-18 of today’s passage we read, "17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

That day while the Lord Jesus spoke on the side of the mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, it must be emphasized that He spoke to Jews, to people who lived under the Law of Moses. These folks had come to base their rightness before God on their ability to measure up to the law. Through the Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus taught the Law of Moses. As He did, He showed how the religious leaders had veered from it. The Jewish religious leaders had re-interpreted the Law of Moses, thinking they could actually keep it. But here the Lord Jesus taught that the law was and is impossible to keeper our average human. In fact, the Apostle Paul revealed in Galatians 3 that the Law of Moses held us captive and it aided in ushering us into the saving arms of the Lord Jesus. That is if we turn to Him. Those who believe they are fulfilling the Law need no Savior. Whoever attempts to achieve righteousness by keeping the Law, they will be sadly disappointed because it is simply impossible to do for fallen man. And if we try, the result of failing will be beyond payment.

The word "anoint" used in v.17 of today's passage provides a picture that the Lord Jesus' audience understood immediately. The practice of anointing with oil illustrated comfort, the imparting of strength and healing. All of this was synonymous with blessedness from God and joy. That is to say that in God’s culture fasting should outwardly display a sense of blessedness and joy because God grants the sincere soul His joy and His blessing. The point of fasting was and is for denying oneself food in order to be more attentive to God. And, to have others know that we are fasting defeats the purpose of fasting. When we make it known to others that we are fasting, it becomes a self-centered "look at me" type of thing. When done God's way, the natural joy given by Him would then hide the fact that one is fasting, even though life may be brutal at the moment. This is important because God knows the intent of our heart. And so, when we fast, we should keep it between us and Him.

The goal of fasting therefore is intimacy with God. This intimacy enables us to be more sensitive to Him and His ways. This intimacy enables us to recognize the false from the real. In the context of real pain we can know the real joy of God. This is the life the authentic follower of God is being led into and once we have experienced it we keep going back for more. This is the eternal life the Lord Jesus came to deliver to us. And, this life isn't something we will know when we die. No, this life begins once we believe in the Son as our Savior. As a result of learning to tap into this life through our growing intimacy with God, we will begin to understand life as it is and how it should be live. Eternal life is a person and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Through our daily interactions with Him through His Word and prayer, we will enjoy a personal relationship with Him and out of that relationship life will increasingly make sense.

Matthew 6:14-15

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14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ~ Matthew 6:14-15

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 6 which is found in the heart of the Sermon on the Mount. Today's passage comes on the heels of the model prayer known as the Lord's Prayer which contrasts with the meaningless, repetitious, long-winded prayers of the religious. In context, the Lord Jesus was confronting religion which is man's best attempt to earn God's favor. And, of course, man could never be good enough to garner God's forgiveness. In this sermon that the Lord Jesus delivered on that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, He highlighted the fact that man cannot measure up to the teachings of the Law of Moses. This is why He came to die on the cross. God's forgiveness had to be based upon and passed onto sinful man through the message that came through the cross. Only through the Lord Jesus could God render our salvation because only He is perfect.

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."

The words "For if" points us to the previous words of the Lord Jesus. In the previous verse the He said, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The word translated "debts" is the word which is also translated "transgressions." We must remember the context the Lord Jesus was speaking into here which was that of an Israelite living under the Law of Moses. The Lord Jesus was preaching law to those who lived under law. As declared through Moses, debts were to be forgiven according to the law. When a debt was not forgiven, it was a violation of the law. As such, if someone were to not forgive a debt in the seventh year as required by Deuteronomy 15:1-6, they could expect that their sacrifice for sin would not be accepted by God. This was stated this way in order to impress on the Jews the utter importance of forgiving others. 

In order for a debt to be forgiven, the one owing has to ask the one owed for forgiveness. It cannot be that the debtor is forgiven without the request for forgiveness. When a transgression against another exists, there must be a process that must be followed when someone asks to be forgiven for what he has done. This was one point the Lord Jesus was making here. Withholding forgiveness and holding onto bitterness would render bad things in the soul of the one who was choosing not to forgive. This is why if someone refused to forgive a debt, it would be handled like not forgiving a debt. Someone who would presume to come before God with a sacrificial offering for forgiveness would be treated in the same manner. No forgiveness would result. That was God's teaching to Israel under the Law of Moses.

In v.15 of today's passage we read, "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sin, it changed this teaching. In the moment that we believe the gospel, we are forgiven, at that time, for all of our sins, past, present, and future. We must remember that forgiveness is never required unless asked for. There is no biblical example where forgiveness is required without repentance. Repentance means "to change one’s mind." In essence, once we have offended another, when we ask for forgiveness we show that we have changed our mind.

In Ephesians 4:32 we read, "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." 

After we received Christ as our Savior we were instructed to make it a habit to forgive. It is very difficult to be defined by God's forgiveness when we are holding onto pasts hurts and subsequent grudges. Our forgiveness in Christ was given to us only after we ask for it. The heart must be engaged and this is why God requires of us our request for forgiveness. While God's forgiveness is solely based on our faith in the finished work on the cross, the result should be that we forgive others as God has freely forgiven us. It only makes logical sense that forgiven people forgive people. 

Choosing not to forgive another is a form of bondage. It is a denier of grace. If we are unable to release forgiveness to others, we will have trouble experiencing the forgiveness that God has given to us. In fact, it may be a sign that we truly do not understand what He has done for us through His Son's sacrifice on the cross. When we hold onto bitterness, we will be miserable. The flow of grace will be constricted by the bitter root of unbelief. We do well to let go of sin and take hold of God's grace. This is when the grace of God takes hold of us. We must choose to be better, not to be bitter. When we choose grace, we will know freedom from our bondage to the enemy.

Matthew 6:12-13

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12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. ~ Matthew 6:12-13

Today, we complete our study of the Lord’s Prayer. In this prayer, we are invited to admit that we are unable to save ourselves. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, "He that is never on his knees on earth, shall never stand upon his feet in heaven." Just as we are unable to provide bread for ourselves, so too we are unable provide salvation for ourselves. In the

face of our sin, we are helpless. This prayer is a model for all of our prayers including the yearning for God and His glory to the coming of His will to our lives. 

Learning how to pray must first begin with learning to pray. Oswald Chambers once said, "We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." In this pattern for prayer, the Lord Jesus underscored the fact that left on our own, fallen man is helpless. This is why He came to this earth to teach us that we can enter into a personal relationship with God even though our sin had separated us from Him. The crying out of our hearts to God is a must if we are to realize His kingdom come, His will be done.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

The Lord's Prayer is a prayer comprised of six requests. The first three are vertical, expressing our desire for the kingdom and will of God to come. The second set of three requests in this prayer are horizontal addressing the basic human needs that we all have on a given day. After requesting that our daily need for food be provided, the Lord Jesus taught us to pray for those things that bring peace to our souls including forgiveness and the wisdom to resist temptation.

The word translated "debts" is found only here and in Romans 4:4, where the Apostle Paul notes that the wages of those who work are like a debt that is owed. Here, the idea is that a sin against God brings about a debt that must be satisfied. Truth demands such a satisfaction to render wrongdoing dead. This is so because nothing impure or defiled can enter into God's presence. Our understanding of this is essential if we are to see our need for the Savior. The Old Testament had as its center piece the sacrificial system. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was a means of God's grace extended to sinful man by which a relationship between God and man could be restored. Ultimately, the sacrificial system was inadequate, and no mere human could repay the debt that sin had created between God and man. Thus the sacrificial system found in the Old Testament points us to none other than the Lord Jesus.

The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for believers. Only followers of the Lord Jesus can truly pray, “Our Father.” It is those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus who are called children of God. So this is a prayer for believers. We are the ones who are told to pray, "forgive us our trespasses." If we have already been forgiven, why must we ask for forgiveness again? It is not because we sinned again since the last time we prayed. It is not that we have created for ourselves another debt that must be paid back. The Lord Jesus has paid our debt in full. When we placed our faith in Him, He forgives all of our sins—past, present, and future. 

Rather, when we come to God in prayer, confessing our sins to Him and asking for forgiveness over and over again, we adopt a practice, the practice of confession that places us in a situation where we are reminded anew of our need for God. We are forced to depend on Him. By regularly confessing our sins to God, we are reminding ourselves that we cannot save ourselves so that we might constantly live in the grace of the One who died for us.

The prayer for forgiveness, however, does not stop with God’s forgiveness toward us. It also extends to our forgiveness towards others. Look again at Matthew 6:12 which reads, "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." God’s forgiveness of our sins is linked to our forgiveness of those who have sinned against us. 

According to this verse, it appears that God’s forgiveness is conditional on our forgiveness. If we forgive others, God will forgive us. But if we don’t forgive others, then God won’t forgive us either? That’s what it appears to say. But when we read the rest of Scripture, it becomes abundantly clear that God’s forgiveness is conditional only upon our faith in Him. If we place our faith in Him as our Lord and Savior, then we will be forgiven. God will not withhold his forgiveness because he knows we haven’t forgiven someone else. Rather, the Lord Jesus was saying that a heart that forgives is evidence of a heart that has been forgiven. If we have truly been forgiven by God, then that forgiveness should naturally flow out of us to those around us. When we pray, "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us," we should ask ourselves, "Do I forgive others the way that I want God to forgive me?"

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

The word "temptation" here has two main meanings. The first is the negative connotation of being tempted. The other refers to being tested, as in a trial. At times the two thoughts can overlap. A temptation arises that tests the caliber of the one being tested. The prayer is to be kept from being led into such a situation. The Lord Jesus was instructing the people to pray to avoid the process that may lead to temptation. There is a difference between being led along life’s path while having to face temptation and actively being tempted. 

"The evil one" is none other than the slithery serpent from the Garden of Eden. This is a prayer to not face such temptations, something that we can pray to not face. God has the authority over such things and is fully capable of responding to such a prayer favorably. This doesn’t mean the response will be favorable. The Lord may allow a specific ordeal into our lives for His own good purposes. The ultimate goal of all such things is the glory of God. When such a prayer is favorably responded to, the Lord should be magnified for having delivered the response. In all things, the glory of God should be the paramount consideration in the lives of His people.

Matthew 6:9-11

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9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. ~ Matthew 6:9-11

Today, we continue our study of the sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Today, we will begin our study of the Lord's Prayer which is really the Disciples Prayer, but suffice it to say, the Lord Jesus was instructing His disciples on how we should pray. This is a prayer the Lord Jesus taught us to pray. It is not a prayer that He himself recited. It is a prayer comprised of an address to God (Our Father in heaven), followed by a series of petitions or requests. The first three requests are vertical; the second three requests are horizontal.

In v.9 of today's passage we read, "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name."

Earlier, the Lord Jesus said that the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. In saying this, the Lord Jesus led us to focus first on Our Father, not upon our needs. The idea of God as the Father is one that takes on several connotations in Scripture. He is the Father of creation and, thus, humanity, all of humanity. The Lord Jesus taught this prayer again on a different occasion. In fact, once they noticed Him praying, one of the disciples approached Him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray." The disciple didn't say, "Lord, teach us a prayer." He said "Lord, teach us to pray." In response, the Lord Jesus gave us a prayer not to memorize or recite. This prayer is a template not meant for us to repeat it word for word, otherwise our hearts are likely tore removed from the process. 

This prayer begins with "Our Father in heaven." He is "our" Father with whom a filial bond exists because of our faith placed in the work of His Son on the cross. The pronoun "our" is a word that indicates possession. It informs us to whom or what something or someone belongs. Due to this bond, which rightly calls out for a son to humble himself before his Father, the Lord Jesus instructs us, "hallowed be Your name." The word "hallow" means to sanctify or to make holy. It involves the act of setting something or someone apart for a sacred purpose. In the New Testament, it is used to describe the process by which believers are made complete through the work of the Holy Spirit, aligning us with God’s will and character. It also refers to the consecration of objects or places for divine use. In this case, it is a hallowing of the name of the Father, treating it with absolute holiness as well as expecting it to be treated in this manner by others. 

In v.10 of today's passage we read, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

This verse includes two separate requests: "Your kingdom come," and "Your will be done." While these requests may have slightly different nuances, they are actually getting at the same thing. The kingdom of God points us to the One in
charge. The kingdom of God is the area in which God is King. You're probably thinking, that sounds like heaven and you would be right. In heaven everything is exactly the way that God wants it to be. Heaven is full of love, joy, peace, righteousness, justice, and truth. Our problem is that we skip the first part and immediately go to the second part. But, that is out of balance. The best way to pray is to begin with God and His rule and then work our way toward our needs. When we begin with worship of God, we gain His perspective.

I've discovered when I approach God with the right perspective, I realize He sees what I don't see. He knows what I don't know.  I find that when I pray with that perspective, I am granted more faith and a broader perspective. As a result, I tend to pray with more faith. Faith is the heart's ability to see God. When I preoccupy myself with Him, I begin to see my problems and my needs from a different vantage point. I find from this transcendent perspective that my problems are not obstacles but opportunities, opportunities for my Father to reveal Himself to me more fully as He deals with my issues.

When we pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven," we are asking that
heaven would come to earth. We are asking that earth
would begin to look like heaven. We are asking that just
as everything in heaven is exactly the way God wants it
to be, so too everything on earth would be just the way
God wants it to be. 

In Matthew 4:17, the Lord Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In that statement, the Lord Jesus announced that He came to earth to bring heaven. When He came, He only brought the kingdom in part. He only brought the rule of God to earth in part. When the Lord Jesus came to earth, he brought with Him love, joy, peace, righteousness, justice, and truth. He did this by granting to the repentant ones His Spirit so that His blessings might be known by them.

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "Give us this day our daily bread."

The change from "yours" to "us" clearly reveals that since we are children of God through believing in the Lord Jesus, God promises to take care of our needs. Whatever we need in life, God promises to care it for us. He doesn't promise to take care of our greeds, He promises to meet our daily needs like our need for food.  

In James 1:17 we read, "Every good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." 

Knowing such verses hasn't yet graduated any of us to total trust of God. We all struggle to varying degrees at trusting Him, but, when we have experienced enough of His faithfulness we will know a certain measure of trust in Him. A necessary evil in the whole process is the fact that we must go through trials. There is no growth of our faith in Him without the unwanted moments that force us to turn to and to depend upon Him. As He shows Himself faithful to us, we will grow in our trust of Him. 

The root of all sin is the suspicion that God is not good. The enemy has riveted this lie so very deeply into our souls that we find it most difficult to trust God. This is why we yet struggle trusting Him, even though we have developed somewhat of a pattern of trusting Him in the past. This is why prayer or the habit of conversing with God is so very important. In time, we recognize that prayer focuses us upon God as the only One who provides for our needs. 

God tells us to set our affections on things above which means that our hearts must be engaged with Him and directed by Him. Under His direction we will recognize His track record of faithfulness over time. Of course, the trials are a must in order for Him to develop a track record of faithfulness with us. We must be patient and endure the trials rather than running from the trials. When we run from the trials, we will find that we have been running from Him. This is why He implores us to seek His Kingdom first, and let Him take care of the rest.

Matthew 6:8

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Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ~ Matthew 6:8

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 6 which is the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. As we have noted many times before, the Sermon on the Mount is largely sanctification teaching. Sanctification is the process whereby God inculcates His culture into our soul, resulting in the changing of our soul. Our soul is made up of our mind, our will and our emotions. Sanctification happens in us when we chose to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. This is known as justification which is a one time event. Once we were welcomed into God's family through believing in the Lord Jesus, we began to learn the value of turning away from the self life which we were given by the slithery serpent in the Garden of Eden. Justification gets us into heaven and sanctification gets heaven into us.

In our last study the Lord Jesus began teaching on the essential nature of prayer. Prayer is to us as believers in Christ the most important activity for our spiritual growth. Without prayer, which is talking with God, the born again believer can appear to not even have been born again. This is why we read in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly (carnal). For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?" Carnal Christians are those who have yet come to see the intelligence behind obeying God, thus they obey themselves and their lustful desires that are yet within them.

In today's verse we read, "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." 

These words are a logical outflow of a personal relationship with God. The Lord Jesus provided for all a contrast between those who have no personal relationship with God and those who do. Those who do not have a personal relationship with God are religious. They are those who think that through their good behavior, they are earning God's favor. At the end of their lives, their hope for heaven will be dependent upon their performance whether it was good enough or not. This is why they were noted as having drawn attention to themselves while they prayed, repeating certain words over and over. All of this was an attempt on their behalf to impress men and God. Of course, for those who depend on their good behavior to be made right before God, they will be sorely disappointed because no fallen human can be good enough for God to pronounce them just or righteous in His eyes. This is exactly why the Lord Jesus had to die on our behalf.

The combination of the words "Father" and "knows" are key to this verse. Throughout the Gospels, the Lord Jesus made more than 150 references to God as "Father." The Lord Jesus invites everyone into this most intimate of relationships, teaching us to address God as "Our Father." God as our Father is not just a metaphor; it is who He is to us. It signifies that we are in relationship with Him. We belong to Him and He to us. It’s a privilege given to us in our adoption as His children by God. In John 1:12 we read, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." 

This means the goal of redemption was our sonship. We don’t see people in the Old Testament referring to God as Father because man’s sin made it impossible to be God’s children. But everything changed with the incarnation of Christ. It’s through the work of Christ on our behalf that we are welcomed into the family of God. The only way we ever have the right to call God "Father," is because He has adopted us through His Son. The biblical message of sonship is rooted and grounded in this concept of adoption, that only Christ is the natural son of God. And only if we are in Christ do we become sons of God.

The word "knows" in today's verse was written in the perfect tense meaning God knows everything before we even mention anything to Him. Since this is the case then why do we need to ask of Him anything? God knew that we needed to be saved, but He didn’t just save us because the need existed. Rather, He first requires us to believe and receive His salvation through faith in His Son. This faith, with its object as the God of the Bible, is essential for a personal relationship with God to begin. If God gave us everything that we needed simply because the need existed, we would take Him for granted and our hearts would not be engaged. It is through the exercising of our will through our faith in the Lord Jesus that we grow in intimacy with God. This is why the children of Israel turned away from God and they became presumptuous, arrogant, and dismissive of a personal relationship with God. Their hearts weren't engaged.

The last two words of today's verse "ask Him" are most instructive. God expects us to make our prayers known to Him without any religious notions or performance to then wait upon His response in His own good timing. We often struggle to understand prayer. We have been known to "claim healing in the name of Jesus." It is true that we are physical beings with physical needs, but God may have a purpose for our lack. To claim healing for something when it is not God’s will is then an implicit attempt to thwart God’s will. We, also, have been known to ask of God for wealth that is not spiritual but carnal. Granted, He meets our needs as He has promised, but He has never promised to make us wealthy. This is to say that if a believer in Christ is wealthy, God has made him wealthy for a reason, but we should not be bent on asking God to make us wealthy.

In the moment, we may not understand the reason for our financial trials, physical afflictions, loss through death, or other such things that profoundly and negatively impact our lives, but we should never question God’s goodness through these trials. The bent moments in our lives are designed to produce questions or prayers. We want conclusion more than process, but it is in the process that we get to know God in the most profound ways. The universe, after all, does not revolve around us. We must trust that His plan is perfect and that what He does is perfectly in accord with His perfect plan for our individual lives.

Martin Luther once said, "Prayer is much more God instructing us than ever is it God being instructed by us." Prayer is saying oh God, I come to you with the needs of my heart. Prayer is giving God the opportunity to manifest His power, His love and  His concern in and through our yielded lives. God will always do or allow things that we will not welcome, but it is through these most difficult of moments that we get to know Him best. Through our trials, if we learn their purpose which is to commune with Him, we will begin to see His hand and we will begin to see His wisdom in causing and/or allowing such things into our lives. It has been 56 years since my mother died when I was five years old, and I am still discovering His wisdom in and through it. And, the ultimate goal in it all is that I might be granted a greater intimacy with Him, an intimacy that I can describe for others in helping them along in their journey with God.

When we pray with a sincere and humble heart, God, according to Matthew 6:6 will reward us. The reward is intimacy with Him through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The religious leaders of Israel prayed prayers that never got beyond their own minds because they didn’t go to the Father through the Son. Prayer is not about using the exactly right words or saying something

in precisely the right way or talking for long enough so
that God will hear us and do what we want. No, prayer is the sharing of our souls with God who is poised to address the gapping needs found therein. If we view prayer the way the religious leaders of Israel did, then we will have completely missed the heart of prayer. But, if we view it as a means to intimacy with God, then we will find ourselves arriving upon something that is substantive and that lasts forever.

Matthew 6:5-7

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5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. ~ Matthew 6:5-7

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. As we study this sermon we must distinguish between our justification and our sanctification. Justification is a one time event and our sanctification is a life-long process. You will remember that our justification before God was solely garnered on our behalf by the Lord Jesus when He paid the penalty for our sin on His cross. Our sanctification is that process that we entered into after becoming justified before God by believing the death of the Lord Jesus garnered our rightness before God. Sanctification is a process whereby God is removing from the believer the wrong thinking of this world and replacing it with His culture through His Word and His Spirit. The goal the Lord Jesus had in saying what He said in our passage for today was to strip his hearers naked of any self-righteousness so they would be solely defined and motivated by the mercy of God. 

In v.5 of today's passage we read, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."

Having previously taught about "charitable deeds," the Lord Jesus turned His hearers attention to the essential subject of prayer. He instructs us to avoid praying hypocritically which literally means to be "two-faced." The Lord Jesus admonishes us to pray to God in private without trying to impress others. The religious leaders of Israel were known to pray often while standing in the synagogues and standing out on the corner of the streets and praying loudly enough to be heard and seen by others. Essentially, they prayed not to God but to themselves and to others. Their goal was to impress others with their prayer life. The religious fail to remember that God knows our heart and our thoughts before we even make them known. 

In v.6 of today's passage we read, "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Here again, the Lord Jesus confronted religious hypocrisy which is the greatest enemy to having a personal relationship with God. The real issue is that of inauthenticity. The shutting of one's door here underscores that prayer is a tool given to us by God which enables us to growing in personal intimacy with Him. We are to talk with God without any fanfare or any accompanying ears or distractions. They pray in such a way so that others will see and note their supposed superior righteousness. Sadly, the religious pray not to God but to others. 

What sets Christianity apart from religion is that we are admonished to bring our honest and vulnerable hearts to God to be engaged with Him, especially when we pray. Religion teaches that we have to earn God's favor and maintain it. The Lord Jesus came to buy us completely back to God. With our complete purchase, we have been given a heart for Him. With the engagement of our heart, we will earnestly seek His heart thus experience authentic and personal and intimate relationship with Him. Essential to such intimacy is a heart that cries out to Him in search of His will for our lives.

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words."

The words "vain repetitions" are found only here in the Bible. It means to babble out many words without heart engagement. Religious prayers that are prayed are prayed pointlessly. Motive is the issue here once again. Shouting out repetitive words or phrases somehow makes people think they will be perceived as more holy than others or maybe more in tune with God. However, the Lord Jesus underscores just the opposite is true when we pray without our hearts engaged. Ultimately, the real issue is: Who is defining us? When we are being defined by God, when what He says determines our actions, it is then that we can be aligned to His will which is the ultimate purpose of prayer. Prayer is essentially giving our heart to God and receiving His in return.

Matthew 6:1-4

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"1 Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." ~ Matthew 6:1-4

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 wherein God granted us a peak into His culture. His culture operates with an entirely different value system than the kingdoms of this world. Foreign to this world is the Lord Jesus' way of thinking which includes "blessed are the poor in spirit or blessed are those who mourn or blessed are the meek, or blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness." This world which is under the control of the evil one doesn't think God's way. There is not one paragraph in this sermon that doesn't demonstrate the stark difference in the value system of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the evil one.

Through His words the Lord Jesus drove His hearers to the realization that they’re inadequate to garner God's approval. In these words He reminded them that they desperately needed a Savior, and of course, He will then offer Himself to them. That’s the same message He has for you and me. The world is full of religious people who are lost because they are a facade. They are a facade because their trust is in the facade of self.

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."

For the hearers of these words that day, charitable giving was considered a sacred duty. The word the Lord Jesus used translated "charitable deeds" describes the kindness someone shows to someone who really needs a helping hand. The key word here is the word "before" which reveals the audience before whom one is giving to another. The Lord Jesus warned, "Take heed" which means "Watch carefully." We must watch carefully whenever we do something good for someone in need, so that we do not do it to be noticed by others. Giving is dangerous because the flesh loves to be worshipped which can very easily become our motivation. 

The words "your charitable deeds" takes us back to Matthew 5:20 where the Lord Jesus said "your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees." No amount of "righteousness" that we can muster has never been good enough to garner God's favor. In fact, there is nothing from fallen man that can produce this type of a response from God. This is why the Lord Jesus said, "Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven." Understanding our total inadequacy to please God and the futility of attempting to earn His favor based on our own actions is foundational to a proper understanding of God's grace. It is only when we have been instructed by God's grace that we begin to lose the motivation of self which is what keeps us from being defined and blessed by God.

In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."

The danger behind giving in order to get a slap on the back leads to hypocrisy which undermines everything the Lord had taught in this sermon to this point. Hypocrisy is rooted in deception and the worst deception is self-deception. This type of thinking is so myopic that we fail to be defined by the eternal. Living for the praise of others makes us enslaved to them. In fact, we can very easily become addicted to their worship. This gets especially problematic when some praise us for doing something while others criticize us for doing the same thing. When we repeatedly do things based on what others think, we find ourselves inauthentically living in fear, not freedom.

In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."

The Lord Jesus referred to His "Father" ten times in the first sixteen verses of this chapter. He did this to remind us that if we are not living by faith in the Father, we are living a life of futility. In context, the Lord Jesus placed His finger on the root of the problem which is the way of the evil one who isn't out to get us to follow him directly. No, he gets us to follow him indirectly by getting us to follow ourselves. The root problem of sin is self-worship and its remedy is worship of God who defines us by the truth if we let Him. 

This worship emerges out of a proper understanding of the cross of Christ. His cross symbolizes death to all of rebellious man's selfish desires. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is good news because it means that perfect love triumphed over sin and death. The cross reminds us that sin and death will not have the last word. The cross teaches us of the utter uselessness of all our works for righteousness which is what frees us to live out of the freedom God's grace has delivered into our souls. Being freed from the opinions of others positions us to be defined by the love which is perfect and complete. The blessing or God's reward here is that we grow increasingly in our intimacy with the Father, so much that He defines us. As much as we are being defined by God will be the degree that we will truly be free.

Matthew 5:43-48

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"43 You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." ~ Matthew 5:43-48

Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 5 where the Lord Jesus has shown us how we are justified in the eyes of God through His cross only. In addition, He has taught us about how we are sanctified in our relationship with Him. Whereas justification gets us into heaven, sanctification gets heaven into us.

In v.43-45 of today's text we read, "43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

This is the last of the six "You have heard it was said" statements the Lord Jesus utilized that day in order to show the difference between religion and having a personal relationship with God. This "You have heard it was said" statement reveals what the Law of Moses said regarding love and hate. Whereas the Bible doesn't say,"hate your enemy," the religious leaders of Israel taught this concept. This is why the Lord Jesus quoted them to show that God never said it. It is true that the LORD does say, "love your neighbor." The problem comes in with finding the correct definition of our neighbor. Then the Lord Jesus said, "love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."  That is hard. Of course when we do this, it reveals that we are sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. And, if we are to do this, we must be given to prayer often. Our connectedness to God will determine whether we do it and show that we are children of God or not.

I've discovered it's awfully hard to hate someone when I am praying for them. The best remedy in the context of someone who is a thorn in my flesh is prayer. There is a reason that John Bunyan once said, "Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan." Corrie Ten Boom said it like this, "When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy." 

Prayer is essential if we are to somehow be like God. When we get to heaven we will discover the most effective thing we ever did while on this earth was to pray. When we pray, it is not so that we can get what we want from God. Rather, prayer is a way of connecting with Him and realigning our hearts to Him and His will. The more we talk and spend time with someone the more we get to know them. The same thing happens when we spend time in prayer connecting with God. The more time we spend talking with Him, the closer we will become to Him! And, when this happens we will reflect Him to others.

In v.46-47 of today's passage we read, "46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?"

The religion of Judaism had flattened God’s commands to one external dimension in order to justify such sins as hate, lust, divorce, lies, vengeance, and anger. But God's culture is much deeper than that. That day the Lord Jesus gave a classic look at superficial religion. There were certain things the religious leaders did not do, but below the surface they were full of dead men’s bones. It is the heart issue that always concerns the Lord, and that’s the issue that He addressed on that mountain that day. Everybody can love people who love them but when we love those whom we do not mix well with, then we will know that we are getting somewhere. The Lord Jesus doesn’t conquer by killing. His kingdom is different than any other. His kingdom is only realized in the broken and yielded souls of those who have come to faith in Him. We cannot accomplish His kingdom in and through our lives, He must. He is the source of our ability to love even our enemies.

In v.48 of today's passage we read, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

At a very early time in my walk with the Lord, I realized I could not be perfect. That prompted me to ask God, "Why do you call me to do something that I cannot do?" First of all, we shouldn't be surprised when God calls us to perfection because that is all He knows. It would not make any sense if He called us to anything less. Second, we need Him even in our attempts to reach toward perfection because He is the strength of our lives. Even the breath we breathe came from Him.

The Lord Jesus won us by dying on the cross. It was He who said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends." As a door, the perfection the Lord Jesus demands drives us to our need for a righteousness that is not our own. It drives us to look to the Lord Jesus for our justification and sanctification. The role we play in both our justification and sanctification is placing our faith in Him. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Matthew 5:38-42

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"38 You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away." ~ Matthew 5:38-42

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 5 where the Lord Jesus taught a large group of people who had followed Him up on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. As mentioned before, the Lord Jesus used six "You have heard it said" statements in order show that the culture of God was greater and better than even the best of the cultures on this earth that man had developed. 

In v.38-39 of today's passage we read, "38 You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."

Here, the Lord Jesus again turns to that which was heard and understood by all who were present that day. He referred here to a precept out of the Law of Moses itself, but He will provide additional insights into what God values. The precept is an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." It is found first in Exodus 21:24. It is then repeated in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This law is largely known as the Lex Talionis or the law of retaliation. The punishment is given to resemble the offense in both kind and degree of severity. It is a right standard for deterring violence and providing safety to a community. If someone knows that he will have his eye plucked out for plucking out someone else’s eye, the chances are that he will restrain from doing that. This also goes for pretty much every action that will be repaid in kind. When one understands that his actions against someone will lead to like punishment, he will normally use wisdom and restrain himself.

Exodus 21:24 specifically addresses the murder of an unborn child. The obvious point is that there is a child in the womb considered to be a human being. Abortion is a great sin against human morality, and it is something that can never be condoned when placed in the light of Scripture. God advises that we use great wisdom in how we evaluate such moral matters. What is legal does not necessarily equate to what is right. We must use Scripture as our standard for understanding what is morally acceptable or not.

In v.39 the Lord Jesus said, "And I, I say to you." The law of Moses found in the first five books of the Bible was given to keep society in check. It is proper, good, and holy. However, the words stated now by the Lord Jesus provide for how things should ideally be handled to avoid escalation of a matter. The context is that someone has committed evil against another. The answer of God to this situation was to be arrived upon out of Israel's relationship with the Lord. Israel had offended the Lord in ten thousand ways in the pages of the Bible. And yet, the Lord remained gracious to them, forgiving their sins and keeping His covenant with them. He expects man to do likewise.

The word translated as "slaps" is rare in the Bible, being found only here and in Matthew 26:27. In this verse, it means to strike someone with the palm of the hand. The Lord Jesus said that when being slapped on the right cheek, a person should then turn and offer the other cheek. The word signifies a dynamic change from one direction to another. In other words, the turn should be obvious in order to catch the attention of the one who slapped the right cheek. The obvious signification of such an act is to quell the temper of the person who slapped. It can even lead to shaming him for doing something that was obviously uncalled for. 

In v.40-42 of today's passage we read, "40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."

Again, the Lord Jesus provided for those who had gathered to hear Him that day better teaching than the teaching they had been given by the religious leaders of Israel. Here, the Lord Jesus addressed the disposition of the human heart. So often when we have people who are needy, our tendency is to withdraw, to get a little bit farther away, to see them on the other side of the room and go to the other side, not wanting to be caught in a situation. The Lord Jesus says, our hearts should always be shaped by His affection for others. Not unwisely, but to give to meet needs.  

The tunic was a garment that provided covering to the skin. Sort of like a t-shirt today. The cloak was an outer garment worn over the tunic. It would be the more expensive of the two garments. The law suit was for the tunic alone, and yet, the Lord Jesus directed His hearers to go the extra mile and hand over our more expensive outer garment as well. This would demonstrate the gracious nature that God had displayed toward them. Like the previous examples, it is a means of extending oneself to someone who has mistreated us. In such a case, the Lord Jesus directs us to extend ourselves beyond what is expected, and be known by grace.

God has gone the extra mile for rebellious man. He not only sent the Lord Jesus to this earth, He offers us forgiveness of sin through His Son's willful death on the cross. The word "asks" really means demands, providing for us a pathetic picture of arrogant man who thumbs his nose up to God. And yet, God remains faithful to His offer of salvation to all who would come to Him. At every turn in the Sermon on the Mount, the Jesus has led us to despair over our sin. In doing so, He wants us to see how impossible it is in our own sinful selfish hearts to do what He has demanded in the Law of Moses. He has promised forgiveness and righteousness to those who turn to Him. Once we realize that we can't fix ourselves, the hope is that we will turn to Him as our Savior. And in so doing, we will reflect His likeness as is instructed to even those who deliberately hurt us. This is the way of grace!

Matthew 5:33-37

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"33 Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." ~ Matthew 5:33-37

Today, we continue our study on the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon the Lord Jesus gave in order to instruct His hearers of their religious notions. At the beginning of this teaching the Lord Jesus spelled out how we enter into a personal relationship with Himself; through our recognition of our spiritual bankruptcy. It is out of our utter bankrupt state spiritually that we turn to Him for His free gift of forgiveness of sin. This is where our relationship begins and it is furthered as we grow in our relationship of trust in Him to accomplish His will in and through us. This process is called sanctification which is different than our justification. The only thing that justifies us is His work on the cross of Calvary.

Most believe their good behavior earns favor with God. This is not biblical. In today's passage, the Lord Jesus attempted to help His hearers to see the freeing nature of the truth. In order to reach this goal, the Lord Jesus directed His hearers to their practice of making oaths. Those who heard the Lord Jesus that day knew that when they swore on something, that meant they had to do it. In the first century people made oaths for all sorts of reasons. This is why God had made it clear in the Old Testament that man should not make any oath by the name of God. So the people swore on all sorts of things to make their claims believable. The real issue the Lord was addressing that day was man's inability to trust.

In v.33 of today's passage we read, "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'"

Truth and trust go hand in hand. It is essential to any relationship that truth reigns therein. Again, the Lord Jesus utilized another of the six "you have heard it said" statements used in context that day on that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. He used it in order to draw a contrast between the words of the Lord and the words of men. Even though man may be convinced that being a man about our words is one of the wisest things we do, we are not consistent in doing so. Through these six statements of contrast, ultimately, the Lord Jesus was trying to help the people see that their fallenness limited them in their understanding of the truth which led them to believe that they somehow earned God's favor through their good behavior. In addition, the Lord was addressing the self-righteous approach to others that we all have been known to employ. Humility is a must if we are to enjoy meaningful relationships with Him and with others.

With these words the Lord Jesus revealed His main point which is the condition of the human heart. Often when we make oaths because we have lost control and we want to regain it. We have all said to God, "If you will get me out of this, I will never do this again." There are times when we want others to act a certain way, and we employ these same kinds of tactics to get them to go along with our will, only to be found manipulative. The old law said that when we dress up our words by taking an oath, we had better be telling the truth. But, as is always the case, the Lord Jesus went deeper. He went to the heart of His hearers which had been dragged away from the truth by the evil one. A large part of our sanctification, which is a long and arduous process, is learning to be defined by truth.

In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black."

The Lord Jesus then told His hearers not to even make oaths at all. He tackled the little tricks we use by directing us to our real problem within our hearts, our desire for control. When things don’t go our way and we wish it were different, when we desperately feel out of control and we want to force things to turn out according to our will, we use certain words or tactics to manipulate those with whom we are in relation. We sometimes even bend the truth to get our way. Of course, these tactics are dysfunctional and they never produce the desired end we long for. And, all of this does not happen without consequences. When we use our words to bend the truth, people get hurt, relationships get fractured, and trust is undermined. This is what the Lord Jesus was addressing that day. But, when we are being defined by the kingdom of heaven, we will relate with others differently. To be defined by the kingdom of heaven is to obey the King of heaven. The solution the Lord Jesus provides us is for us to be truth tellers! Once we come face to face with our tendency to bend the truth in an effort to control our world, the cure is simple, behave in the way God desires to define us with the truth.

In v.37 of today's passage we read, "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.'"

When we speak just the truth, we protect our relationships. When we are honest we avoid giving the enemy a foothold in those relationships. When we tell the truth, we will have nothing to hide. This is why the Lord Jesus said, "For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." The truth itself is the enemy of the evil one. When we only speak the truth, we will live in and out of the truth. The Lord Jesus desires to transform hearts with His truth so that we can accept the truth even when it is about us. He wants to embrace us with His truth so that we can embrace Him and others sincerely through the truth. The incredible thing about embracing the truth is that it is nowhere near as scary as we fear. All those things that we want to hide, those areas that we would love to change, they melt away when we embrace and are defined by the truth. And, the greatest truth of all is that God loves us no matter what. I can say this because it was the Lord Jesus who earned our acceptance in the first place. This is the truth, the truth that our justification in Him makes us right before the holy God. And, it is this truth which forms the foundation of everything else in our lives.

Matthew 5:31-32

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"31 Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 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." ~ Matthew 5:31-32

Today, we return to our study of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. In this sermon the Lord Jesus laid out His culture by providing definition to the questions about that which is truly real. After giving us a description of the process involved in the changing of our hearts in the context of a relationship with Him, the Lord Jesus utilized six "You have heard it said" statements. He did this in order to reveal to His hearers the difference between the words of God and the words of men. Ultimately, the Lord Jesus was trying to help the people see their lack of their ability to earn God's favor through their good behavior. He also was destroying the self-righteous system of the religious leaders of Israel. 

In v.31 of today's passage we read, "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'"

Again, the Lord Jesus was providing His hearers an outline to His culture which is the truth. And the truth is, the health of any society is determined by the health of the families found therein. And, the health of the family is determined by the health of the marriages involved. God says to the most important relationship in a society, "Do not commit adultery." This seventh of the Ten Commandments protects the sanctity of each marital relationship. As we have mentioned, marriage between a man and a woman was the first relationship God established. Since the marriage is the most important building block to a great society, God gave the seventh commandment in order to protect it.

The greatest threat to any marriage is adultery. In Deuteronomy 24:1-2 we read, "If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something indecent in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 2 When she has left him she may go and become someone else’s wife."

The Lord Jesus used this Old Testament passage to show that even though He had given His culture to man in the Old Testament, sinful man was incapable to substantiate the truth. This is why Moses allowed a man to divorce his wife, especially if "he found something indecent in her." This indecency was something that brought shame to her husband resulting in producing a desire within him to no longer desire her. This was what was allowed by the Lord through Moses but, as we see in Mark 10, this was allowed by God due to the hardness of the people's hearts. In fact, from the very beginning of the creation, God's intentional design was that a woman and a man remain married til death did them part. To do otherwise and remarry was to be guilty of adultery.

In v.32 of today's passage we read, "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."

In this verse we see that the words of the Lord Jesus were set against the Law of Moses. But this was not His intent at all. And, it was not that the Lord contradicted that which He had previously given. Rather, the Lord Jesus told the people that Moses allowed for divorce because of the hardness of their hearts, meaning that God knew that the people would rebel against Him. So here, in today's passage, the Lord Jesus explained what the standard of God actually was by explaining His standard from the very beginning. 

With this in mind, the Lord Jesus next said, "whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery."

The word "except" here means there is one exception to the rule of marriage and that is adultery. The woman, having been dismissed by her husband for a reason that is insufficient in the eyes of God, is now to be considered an adulteress. By the way, this is true for the man, as well. As such, the person who marries the one who is guilty of adultery. This clearly reveals that God still saw the original union in the light of His original intent.

In Genesis 2:23 we read, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." 

We cannot understand divorce unless we understand marriage. We will never understand how God views a separation until we understand how He defines the union itself. Herein do we find that God had brought together a man and a woman with permanency in mind for their sake. From the very beginning God ordained monogamy between a married man and woman. God said, "A man shall leave his father and his mother, cleave unto his wife; they shall be one flesh." There is no ending to that, they were meant to continue to be one flesh til their deaths. 

When two people are glued together they become one single individual, and so it says, "they shall be one flesh." So marriage, as God designed it, was to be the perfect melding of two people together into one. Intimacy is the goal. This is true in every dimension, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, sexually. Every marriage is meant to be undergirded by the commitment made before witnesses til death do them part. God's goal for marriage was and has always been that of perfect intimate oneness. This is the foundation of a God-defined marriage. As God's culture is inculcated therein society flourishes in that context.

God created mankind to worship Him, but man rebelled, falling victim to Satan, sin, and death. God then called Israel as His prototypical nation, but they, like the first humans, hardened their hearts against God and His truth. This was man's problem that the Lord Jesus came to remedy. The subject of divorce was used of the Lord Jesus as a microcosm in the Sermon on the Mount in order to address the root problem within the heart of rebellious man. Just as a marriage relationship transcends the two people who are involved in it, it also reflects God’s redemption to this fallen world. In the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven has drawn near to sinful man. The loving God has pursued fallen mankind as a husband pursues his wife. God has made His salvation available to everyone willing and honest of heart. The only question is: Are we honest, humble and willing enough to receive His free gift?