St Matthew, Chapter 6, verse: 1, Sermon on the Mount: Do no good deed before men in order to be seen.

We start a new chapter today and the paragraph topic is:  (Purity of intention). 

Today's topic  simple and straight forward.  Christ tells us to not put on a show before man.  He gives us clear warning by telling us to take heed.  He clearly states that we should not do our good deeds before men in order to be seen by them.  Do not go to church on Sunday so that your neighbors can see that you are a religious person.  Do not give to the poor when you are with your friends so that they may see how big of a man you are.  Do not prey perfusely so that other church members can see that you are a pious man.  Do not volunteer for church service so that you can be a member of the crowd.  Do not sing in the choir if you do not sing at home.  Do not be one way in the public and another way in private for you will loose your reward in heaven.

Christ warns us to seek to be pure in our intentions.  Open our hearts to what we do and commit our hearts to our actions.  If you love God and love your fellow man then you will give to the poor at all times and at any opportunity.  If you love your fellow man then you will look forward to getting together with him in the church gathering on Sunday and on other days whether your neighbors approve or not.  You will love to hear the word despite your missing the football game on Sunday. 

If you know in your heart that God listens to your prayers then you will love to pray in the church, at home, in the office, in the park, wherever you are, giving glory to God your creator.  If you love to give praise you will love singing those songs that bring joy to your heart, at home, in the office, in the shower, when you awake in the morning, at all times because love is in your heart.  Your heart belongs to God and you can celebrate that joy at all times, for he is the father of all joy and happiness.  He is the giver of all good gifts.  He is the source of all love.  He is the creator and there is none before him.

Take heed who your heart belongs to or you will loose your reward.  And your reward is great in heaven.     

St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 43 - 48, Sermon on the Mount: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and calumniate you.

Today our paragraph topic is:  (The love of enemies). 

We bring chapter 5 to a close with this final instruction that relates to our enemies.  In the previous lesson we talked about the law of retaliation.  In this sermon Christ gives us instructions on how we are to deal with our enemies.  He begins by referring to what has been taught in the past.  He tells us that we have heard of the saying that we should love our neighbors and hate our enemies.   He then gives us the additional instruction saying:  "I say to you, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you."   He tells us by doing these things we will be children of God our father in heaven.  Just as he told us in the Beatitudes that blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God, he is telling us here that we will be children of God when we perform these acts.  

What does this mean??  Well, we start by loving our enemies, those who would do us harm.  How do we do this??  Our normal reaction to our enemies is to hate them.  Our normal feelings is to want to destroy our enemies because they want to destroy us.  So our hearts are filled with feelings of hatred and fear and doubt and anger and destruction.  This is not what God wants in our hearts.  He wants us to have love and peace and power in our hearts.  He wants us to not be afraid, to not fear, to not be angry, to not be in doubt, to not hate.  We are all made in his image and likeness, so even our enemies still have that which was given by God within them.  Even our enemies have the capacity to become the true being that God has designed us to become. 

When we were on the other side, not born of the spirit and living in the world, we had the same spirit of hatred, the same spirit of fear, the same spirit of anger, the same spirit of destruction.  We wanted to kill others, and harm others, and hated others because of the harm that they had done to us.  Yet God continued to love us, despite of where we were.  And he continued to give us the opportunity to change before the final judgement comes, so that we have the opportunity to know him.  If God has done this for us, why then should we not do this for our brothers and our sisters, and our enemies, and for those we hate, and for those who persecute us, and for those who say false things against us?  Why then should we not offer the hand of love to those who would do us harm and by doing so allow our hearts to be open to who we truly are?  

The recognition of our true self comes through the love of others.  For God is love.  He loves each one of us individually and he loves all of us totally.  He created us in his image and his likeness so we are his children.  There are about 6 to 7 billion people on this planet today.  Throughout all of history, since the beginning of time, there may have been twice this number that lived before us.  If we try to wrap our minds around God's immeasurable love that loves all mankind, those living today and those that have lived before us, we may begin to try to understand the immense love of God. 

Sometimes I think about the millions of billions of stars and galaxies that are in the heavens.  I compare the stars and galaxies to the billions of people on this planet, and mankind is but a small grain of sand compared to the sand beaches on this planet, and yet God's love is large enough and immense enough, and strong enough, and immeasurable enough to love all of mankind and all of the stars and galaxies that he created.  How great is his love??

There is no fear in God.  There is no hatred in God.  There is no doubt in God.  God is only love. And if we can transcend ourselves to get a glimpse of that love, we will truly understand our destiny and who we are.  As Christ said in this sermon:  "You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect."

St Matthew, Chapter 5, verses: 38 - 42, The Sermon on the Mount: Do not resist the Evildoer.

Today's paragraph topic is:  (The new law of talion). 

This topic that Christ gives us today is very controversial.  It tells us that instead of extracting a just punishment for a wrong committed, we should allow for further punishment from the wrongdoer.  The word talion comes from the word Lex talionis, which is the principle or law of retaliation that a punishment inflicted should correspond in degree and kind to the offense of the wrongdoer, thus an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Christ, with this sermon, tells us not to resist the evildoer, but on the contrary if a person strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the left also.  This principle is practically none existent today, for we believe in heroes and villains that get their due justice in the end.  And this is what our belief system is based upon, what we are fed through the media.  Nice guys finish last.  They do not win, and winning is the ultimate goal.  The heroes get the pretty girls and live life, happier ever after.  We are fed this belief from the crib and our environment is filled with examples of this belief system.  How can we believe anything else?  How can we do anything other than what we have been given??

This is why Christ has given us this sermon, so that we may learn other than what we are being fed in our lives.  He says do not resist the evildoer, and our world tells us to fight back to exact justice, to get revenge.  What does this mean, and why would Christ tell us to not resist??  What happens when we resist??  First our hearts are filled with the feeling of being wronged.  Then our minds are filled with the thoughts of exacting justice.  And finally our entire being is directed along the path of believing that we must have revenge and we must right the wrong.  God is the ultimate judge of right and wrong and he will exact vengeance.  It is not our place to do so ourselves.  When we take the position of exacting vengeance and righting wrong, our hearts have turned away from God.  We have gone astray. 

Christ is providing us with a principle that protects our most precious gift, our hearts.  It is not about right or wrong, it is about our hearts.  God is love and through our hearts we experience and know love for ourselves and our fellow man.  And it is through our hearts that we are able to experience the ultimate love of God through the love for each other.   If our hearts are covered with rage and resentment, and doubt and vengeance, and thoughts of right and wrong, how can we love.  How is it possible for us to love each other if we turn away from the source of that love, God? 

Our peace comes through our hearts also.  God's peace coexists with God's love.  If we do not know God's love, how can we experience God's peace?  And through God's peace comes God's power. 

Satan does not want us to experience God's power.  He wants us to be blind to the gift of God and to block that gift from entering our hearts.  So he tells us that we should take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.  Satan tells us that we should take revenge, that we should seek justice within ourselves.  He knows that by doing so we block God's love from entering and staying within us. He know that by blocking that love, we block God's peace and God's power.  Satan wants us to be spiritual weaklings.  By being spiritual weaklings we are unable to break his hold over us and he then has control over us.  Then finally with that control, he completely blocks God's love from entering our hearts and turns us into spiritual stones.  The salt of the earth becomes worthless and is only good to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 

This message is a powerful message despite the appearance of being controversial.  One who takes hold of this message, takes control of the power that God offers us in this world.  One who takes control of this sermon, takes control of his heart and allows God's peace and God's love to come in, contrary to what the devil wants.  One who takes hold of this message builds a spiritual foundation upon which his/her entire life can be built and the seal of the Holy Spirit comes upon us.  One who takes hold of this message and lives it in his heart, becomes a peacemaker and is a child of God.  Christ has told us in the Beatitudes that we are blessed if we suffer for his name sake.  He has told us that if we hunger and thirst for justice that we shall be satisfied.  He has told us that when we are persecuted for his name sake, when men say all manner of evil against us, when men reproach us and speak falsely against us that we should rejoice and exult, for great is our reward in heaven.  So what appears to be weakness, is a cause for celebration.  What appears to us as a opening for anger to come in becomes a cause for joy.  What can be lock that chains us to the devil, is a great reward if we choose to accept it.  Let us protect our hearts and rejoice and exult in the rewards of our great God and father and in this living word that comes from Christ.