St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 33 - 37, The Sermon on the Mount: Do not Swear.

Today our paragraph topic is:  (Concerning oaths). 

Again today Christ continues to modify what has been taught in the past by referring to the Ten Commandments.  He tells us that we undoubtedly have heard of the saying, "Thou shalt not swear falsely, but fulfill thy oaths to the Lord."  He gives us the root of the issue by telling us to retrace the saying to it's origin by not swearing at all.  He tells us that we should not swear by heaven because it is not ours but is the throne of God.  We should not swear by the earth because we do not own it either and it is the footstool of God.  We should neither swear by the Holy City of Jerusalem because it is the city of the Great King, and we should not swear by our heads because we do not control it nor can we make it change.

In whatever we do, we should not seek to seal ourselves with ultimate pledges.  We do not own or control anything.  We do not have the power to make ultimate decisions and therefore should not swear by anything.  Christ tells us to let our Yes be Yes and our No's be No's and this should be the extent of our pledges or decisions.  In these examples he tells us that in our mistaken identities we make pledges through our swearing as though we are the ultimate authority in the matter.  Where, in all sincerity, we do not have any authority.  All authority belongs to God.  But Satan would have us believe that we have authority.  He would have us think that we can make ultimate decisions that bind us to rules that change our lives.  And by doing so, we put ourselves in the position of God and bring destruction upon our heads.

Christ tells us to simply let our Yes be Yes and our No's be No's and to do nothing else.  This is sufficient to deal with whatever situation we encounter.  And if this is not enough then it is beyond ourselves to say otherwise.  The devil wants to have us make a commitment that is not ours to make.  I swear by Almighty God, for example, that I will avenge my wife's rape and murder, is a commitment that is not ours to make.  First, God is the judge of all evil committed on this earth and he alone will exact vengeance.  It is his position to commit to a pledge of revenge and not ours.  But the devil would have us believe that through our blind anger and rage, we have the right and the privilege to exact our sense of justice upon others. 

Our hearts belong to God and not to Satan, but this is what Satan wants from us.  He wants our hearts to be clouded with rage and revenge, and lust, and passion, and all kinds of abominations that offend God.  He would cloud our hearts and lock our minds, such that we are lost from God's love and mercy.  We were created in the image and likeness of God and we are his children.  Yet Satan would turn us away from God for his own pleasure and lead us in the way of darkness that ultimately condemns us to an eternity of pain and suffering in the lake of fire.  

Thank you Father for your infinite patience in not allowing me to die without coming to know you.  Thank you Father for your mercy in forgiving me of my sins so that I am no longer offensive to you but am now justified, having been washed in the blood of Christ and having been brought back to life through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Thank you Father for your justice in having sent your son, Christ Jesus, to die for me so that I might have eternal life.  Thank you Father for your love that I might know the love that you have for me and that I might know the true gift of who I am in your sight. 

Thank you Christ for your sacrifice in your death on the cross.  Thank you Christ for the suffering that you endured to save me and mankind from a life of damnation.  Thank you Christ for removing your crown of glory and taking on the humble being of man, to come to earth to teach me and guide me in the ways of the Father.  Thank you Christ for your love of mankind, to give us examples of how we should live and how we should love and how we should serve each other.  Thank you Christ for all the things that you do for me each day that guide me, that protect me, that provide for me, that shows your love for me.  May I learn to show that same love to others that they may know you and give you the praise and honor and the glory.  Amen.

St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 31 - 32, The Sermon on the Mount: No Divorce except for Immorality.

Today our paragraph topic is:  (Divorce). 

This topic is a touchy subject, considering that divorce is so prevalent in our society today.  How does one deal with divorce?  Why does one deal with divorce?  If the relationship does not work out, get a divorce, separate from the spouse.  There are a multitude of reasons and rationales for divorce but very little reasons for maintaining marriage. 

Christ tells us, in this sermon, that we have indeed heard of how to get a divorce.  Just simply give your spouse a written release and put her/him away.  This was the common practice then and is still the practice today, however, today it is more complex in that we have legal proceedings that relate to property and income of the spouse.  We live in a society where the judge decides who gets what, and the desire of the partners is to get as much from the other as possible.  The extreme of this rationale is to remove the partner through death to prevent the loss of income and property and in many cases the spouse takes his own life and the life of the children because of extreme jealousy and fear.  Satan has indeed taken control of our reasoning and hearts when it comes to marriage and divorce.  The entire pre-marriage process is flawed and has no foundation for survival today in much of our society.  This does not say that marriage does not work or that there are not successful marriages.  It only underscores the fact that 40 to 50% of the marriages today end up in divorce.  

The church makes an attempt to encourage proper marriage through pre-marriage counseling.  It also makes an effort to avoid divorce through divorce counseling.  But the success or failure of those measures depend on the belief system of the partners and on their hearts. What one has to realize in today's society, is that our foundation for marriage is based on a system of passion and lust.  We live in a society that encourages sexual relationships.  It is fed to us in the media, in our schools, through TV, in our music, in advertising, and in every other form of communication that is available to us.  We have a mindset and a heart for pleasure.  

Before the industrial revolution, our society was predominantly agricultural.  The majority of families lived on farms.  The assembly line came along, jobs were offered, people moved to the cities for better jobs and better pay.  Along with the revolution came a requirement for education to teach people how to advance in job skills and income.  So now, instead of a high school education, one has to have a college education to bring in a decent salary and afford the American way of life. 

Back in the agricultural environment, kids were leaving high school, getting married, and starting families.  They were starting life at an early age, as it was in Christ's time.  There was no real requirement for a college education.  One only had to be able to provide manual labor to survive on the farm.  A college education added an additional 4 more years to the process of starting life after reaching the age of manhood or womanhood.  Today one does not get married and go to college.  One waits, completes college education and then gets married.  During those 4 years of college, one has the opportunity to explore the freedom of relationships, lust, and sex.   This is the society that we live in today.

So we start our pre-marriage process within the walls of free relationships, lust and sex.  Within these walls, one then, attempts to find and establish a relationship with the opposite sex.  One attempts to establish a marital relationship that will last, when the environmental walls within which we live does not support a sound relationship, but supports a relationship based on physical attraction and lust.  Our young children go off to explore the world without any rules or guidelines as to how a mate is chosen.  In some parts of our society, a mate is chosen for us by wiser heads but because of the pre-programming that we have received, we believe that our relationships should be based on love, i.e., lust.

Christ gives us the results of our actions.  One who puts his wife away causes her to commit adultery.  And he who marries a woman who has been put away commits adultery.  Christ tells us there is one exception to this rule.  If one puts his spouse away on account of immorality, then one does not commit adultery.  What this tells us immediately is that those divorces that result from a cheating spouse are legitimate biblical grounds for divorce.  All other reasons must meet the test of immorality before breaking the marriage contract.  Would physical, or mental, or verbal abuse come under the immoral rule??  Would bodily injury and the threat of death meet the standard of immorality??  Would the statement that I just don't love him/her anymore come under the rule of immorality??  These are questions that we must ask ourselves when faced with a failed relationship.  Prayer and seeking God's understanding are key to the decision process. 

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.