St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 27 - 30, The Sermon on the Mount: The look with Lust commits Adultery.

Today our paragraph topic is:  (Chastity of mind and body). 

Christ continues his instructions to us with additional information from the laws of the Ten Commandments.  He tells those who know and those who do not know, that they have more than likely heard of the law which says that they shall not commit adultery.  He goes one step further and tells us the root of adultery starts with our opening the door to lust and allowing our hearts to be filled with passion.  Yet, in the world that we live today, lust and passion are in our daily lives.  Everywhere you look, on TV, in the news, in magazines, especially in our music videos everywhere you go lust is there.  You can see the effects of it anywhere, just by the look on a man's face when a woman dressed seductively passes by.  All the heads turn and the hearts quicken with the thoughts of lust and passion.

I discovered that lust is a spiritual demon that captures both a man and a woman.  A woman gets up in the morning and puts on lust with the knowledge that she is going to be attractive, according to the world's social norms.  She knows the effect that lust has on the opposite sex, but she desires the attention, the attraction, and the acknowledgement more.  I watched once, as a woman, dressed seductively, walked down the street and caused every man to stop, turn their heads watching as she walked, and look with passion in their hearts, every one of them wanted to be with her.  And this is why they are called hookers.  For a woman, this is a tremendous feeling of power and vanity.  For you see, lust reaches out with many tentacles and grabs men's attention and causes them to commit adultery in their hearts, which is against God.  Our hearts belong to God and not to Satan.  And this is what lust does.  It is like an octopus with many tentacles that reaches out and causes men to sin.  It is a slave for Satan and it brings forth sin into the hearts of men and women.

Christ tells us in this message that the problem starts with how we look.  Looking opens the door.  If, when we see lust coming, we turn away, we do not allow the door to be opened to lust.  If, we take defensive action against lust, we prevent ourselves from allowing lust to take hold of our hearts.  If, we protect our eyes from being open to lust, we do not give ourselves the opportunity to have passion come into our hearts.  In our society today, this requires constant vigilance because lust has taken over every form of visual medium, especially in urban areas.  People are so accustom to its presence that they are not even aware of its consequences.  Yet it tells us how to dress, how to think, how to act, how to feel and how to own our hearts. 

Christ wants to come into our hearts, but he cannot.  Lust owns it.  Christ wants to live with us.  He cannot because passion has taken control of it.  He tells us:  "if thy right eye is an occasion of sin to thee pluck it out !"  "if thy right hand is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off !"  He says that, it is better for thee that one of thy members is lost than that thy whole body should go into hell. 

Granted these words indicate extreme measures, but Christ is giving us an example of the seriousness of our actions against sin.  If we are compelled to do the things that keep us in sin then we must take extreme measures to get out of sin.  I do not advocate cutting off of hands or plucking out of eyes, only Christ can do that.  Christ here tells us that if given a choice of going to hell or loosing an eye, which would you choose.  If given a choice of loosing a hand or having our entire body cast into the eternal fire of hell, which would you choose to do.  Christ gives us this example to tell us that pain is a motivator.  It would be painful to do these things, therefore we should avoid lust to avoid the pain that these actions require.   

St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 21 - 26, The Sermon on the Mount: Anger makes one liable to Judgment.

Today our paragraph topic is:  (Against anger).  

In this paragraph Christ gives us instructions on anger.  He starts out by giving those who heard him that day, a reference for his instructions.  He tells them that they, of course, have heard that they should not kill.  This is one of the Ten Commandments that was given to Moses and passed down through the Jewish traditions.  For those, however, who were not of Jewish descent, Christ tells them that if they do kill they will be subject ot judgement.  He then goes a step further and tells the crowd and us today, that whoever is angry with his brother is also liable to judgement.  So Christ equates the compulsion that leads one to kill with the anger one may have against our brothers and sisters.  

What is there about anger that makes us liable?  Anger is a sore that if allowed to fester and grow will lead to other more serious issues.  It does not heal itself and disappear.  It does not transform itself into something that is helpful to us.  It does not allow us to rest without compelling us to take action to appease its hunger.  We maight put it aside or out of our minds for a time but it comes right back.  Thoughts of injuries, hurt and pain, from years past, continue to haunt us, as though it just happened yesterday.  Our minds are like computers that are given a problem to solve, revenge.  If we allow it to think about the issue, it will eventually provide us with a solution.  And the solution will compel us to take action to satisfy the need for revenge and the need for our own sense of justice.  

So Christ is telling us here, how to save ourselves from the trap of anger.  He provides us with a solution to the problem and bids us to take advantage of the opportunity to resolve the issue before it ripens into the stinch of revenge.  He says, by example, that if we have an issue with our brother as we are bringing our gifts of repentence to the altar, we should leave our gift at the altar and go reconcile ourselves to our brother.  He further states that we should quickly come to terms with our opponent while we are with them.  This is for our benefit that we do not fall into the trap of anger and revenge and subject ourselves to the judgement of the fire of Gehenna, hell.  

In this one sermon, we can find key lessons on how to live our lives today.  When confronted with the opportunity to allow anger to come into our lives, we have the opportunity to expell it.  We can choose not to get mad over some small situation or incident that will affect our lives.  Constant practice of this principle will begin to take hold of our attitudes and build up a tolerence for peace as opposed to anger and hatred and revenge.  Soon we find that we can quickly rebuke the instances of anger and build up a wall around ourselves that protects us against the daily barrage of opportunities that are thrown at us from the environment we live.  Neither work or play, nor friends or associates or family begin to bother us, pushing our buttons creating anger within us.  We can even begin to see how we are programed through the media to accept such values that are against the teachings of Christ and why so many people live by the teachings of the world.  

Anger management is an important lesson for us to learn today.  And we can reverse this and say peace management is even more necessary for us to have in our lives today.  As beleivers in the word, peace is the key to receiving God's gift that came down from heaven.  It is learning how to accept that gift and how to keep that gift that will lead us to a greater joy in this life and a true understanding of the everlasting joy that awaits us.  Do not be delivered to the judge and to the officer and into prison, where the labor is hard and the restitution is without mercy.  Turn from the ways of the world and live in peace.      

St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 17 - 20, The Sermon on the Mount: The fulfillment of the Old Law and the establishment of the New Law.

Christ continues his sermon this paragraph heading:  (The old law and the new).    

Under this heading Christ gives the reason for his coming.  He tells us that the rules are still the same as they were long ago and he has not come to change them.  He states:  "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets."  Rather the law and the prophets spoke of him and foretold what he would do.  He has come to fulfill the prophecy and until earth and heaven pass away, the law will remain.  Now the law applies to the Jews to whom it was given and passed down by their forefathers. 

 Christ gives his commandments to teachers who will instruct the people on the laws of God.  He tells them that whoever does not teach all of the commandments but does away with a small portion of the law will be the lease in the kingdom of heaven.  And he who lives by these laws and teaches the law as it is given, will be called great in heaven.  Beware teachers!!   

It is interesting that this lesson is placed here almost in the middle of the sermon.  Christ was saying to those who heard him that day, and to us today, to heed his instructions.  He told them and is telling us about our justice, what we consider right and wrong, what measure we us to make judgements, what moral rules we use as our compass.  As an example, he tells us that our basic rule of justice has to exceed that used by the Scribes and the Pharisees.  In that day the people may have known what rule of justice was used by the Scribes and the Pharisees.  Today, up to this part of the scriptures, we have no information that tells us what measure of justice was used by these two groups.  We desire to enter into the kingdom of heaven but we lack the proper tools to do so, not having that information provided to us at this time.  Maybe that moral compass will be given to us in later verses, to give us a perfect picture of what we must do to have a justice that exceeds the Scribes and the Pharisees.

 Christ often spoke in parables and riddles and mysteries, never revealing the complete meaning of his thoughts.  The meaning is left for us to ponder, to search for meaning in our hearts, to seek understanding through the Holy Spirit.  This is one of those times that we must ask for understanding.  We must earnestly seek and earnestly desire to know what he means by these words.  As we continue to read the scriptures, keeping this verse in mind and other verses in our thoughts, the meaning will be revealed to us. 

What is the justice of the Scribes and the Pharisees??  This is the question that we must ponder in our thoughts and in our hearts.  We must read with an inquisitive mind, seeking to add meaning to these words so that our eyes will be opened and our hearts enlightened to the understanding that Christ spoke and the meaning that God wants us to have. 

This is like a puzzle.  We have part of the pieces and seek to fit them all together so that we have a complete picture.  So, pick up every piece, looking for one shape that will fit into another shape.  We compare the colors of the face of the puzzle piece to see if it matches the color and shade of the piece that we are trying to fit it with.  Magically, after going through enough pieces we discover that one piece that fits with another.  Then, if we have kept similar pieces together we can begin to fit more and more pieces together so that now our puzzle begins to take shape and a pattern is forming that makes the puzzle come together.  And then, comes that final moment when all of the pieces come together and we are finished with the puzzle and we step back and see the complete picture.

Keep this in mind as we continue to read through the scriptures.  What is the justice of the Scribes and the Pharisees??  We want to assure ourselves the kingdom of heaven and exceed the justice of the Scribes and Pharisees.