The Sermon on the Mount: A 21-Day Guide to the Greatest Sermon Ever PreachedSample

The Heart of the Law, Part 2

Yesterday, we looked at the first “You’ve heard it said” statement from Jesus and learned that the purpose of the Law is so much more than simply not causing harm or following a list of rules. The Law was given to move us toward loving action and make us more like Jesus. Today, we’re going to continue to explore this truth by examining three more of Jesus’ “You’ve heard it said” statements.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:27-30 NIV

Jesus quotes again from the Ten Commandments. This time, He quotes Exodus 20:14, the command that condemns adultery—the act of one married person having sex with someone they’re not married to. But, just like before, Jesus isn’t “abolishing” that command or teaching us to throw it out. Instead, He’s showing us what it looks like to “fulfill” that command, because Jesus’ goal is to move us beyond simply following a list of rules. He’s leading us to become people who love like He does.

So, He raises the bar by telling us, “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Just as “don’t kill people” is so much less than what God intends, so too is “don’t cheat on your spouse.” What God really wants is for us to become people who see and treat others with dignity and love—because all of us are made in God’s image. When we look at another human being with lust, we lose the ability to see them for who they really are.

To make sure we don’t miss what Jesus is saying, it’s important to define what lust is and what it is not. Lust is not the same thing as attraction or desire. You can see another human being and think they are beautiful without committing the sin of lust. Lust is something far more sinister. It describes the moment we make the choice to objectify another person. Lust is choosing to see another human being as an object for our pleasure rather than a person to be loved. The wrongness of lust comes from the way it always leads to the objectification and dehumanization of those who have been made in the image of God.

Jesus is setting a new standard where all of His followers choose to see their fellow human beings through the lens of love, dignity, value, and promise.

Then, after raising the bar, Jesus gets to the heart.

“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30 NIV

Now, if you’re wondering if you should poke out your eye or cut off your hand—stop worrying. There’s a reason that throughout the last 2000 years of church history you haven’t seen a lot of one-eyed and one-handed followers of Jesus, and it’s not because they didn’t have the guts to take Him seriously. It’s because they had the wisdom to recognize what Jesus is doing here. He is intentionally using extreme language to show us that lust doesn’t come from our eyes or our hands; it comes from our hearts.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person …” Matthew 15:19-20 NIV

With all of these statements, Jesus simultaneously raises the bar for what it looks like to faithfully follow Him and gets to the heart of the issue—our hearts. Why? So He can show us how to become the kind of people who, like Him, fulfill the Law and the Prophets by the way we love.

Next, He moves on to the topic of divorce:

“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32 NIV

Like before, Jesus’ goal is to raise the bar and get to the heart. During Jesus’ day, there was debate among the Jewish people about a difficult-to-interpret passage from Deuteronomy 24 that led some to think it was okay for a man to divorce his wife for any reason, while others thought it was only okay if sexual immorality (adultery, more specifically) had taken place. So here, Jesus makes it clear that divorce for any reason was not what God intended. In fact, later on in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6 NIV

Jesus raises the bar to what God originally intended: for marriage to be a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman before God. And, He gets to the heart by exposing the sin-filled desires of men who would misuse those verses from Deuteronomy to justify casting aside women whenever they got tired of them. Jesus makes it clear this is not acceptable in the eyes of God and draws out the reality that attempting to rationalize our wrongdoing always produces more sin.

Within His two statements on lust and divorce, Jesus illustrates how God sees and stands up for those who have been pushed down and taken for granted. Because in the ancient world, the rights and dignity of women were rarely honored—but Jesus came to show us what life is like when God is in charge.

In the last statement we’re going to tackle today, Jesus speaks to our human tendency to manipulate others to get what we want.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:33-37 NIV

In the Jewish world, people made promises just like we do today, but instead of sealing it with a pinkie promise, they would swear on God or His Temple. Over time, people started using these different “levels of promises” to get out of their commitments, kind of like when someone crosses their fingers behind their back.

What made these practices even worse was how they would use God to convince people they were telling the truth. In many ways, this is a prime example of what the commandment to “not use the Lord’s name in vain” is talking about.

When we use God’s name or spiritual language to take advantage of people, we’re totally missing the mark of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus is grace and truth in human form. God is the source of all truth. There is no darkness or deception within Him. So when we, as His people, use our words to manipulate others, we have turned our backs on God and adopted the practices of the prince of darkness, who is called the “father of lies.”

What did Jesus say?

Refuse to look at anyone as an object for your pleasure; instead, choose to see them as a person to be loved.

Honor what God has called holy and resist the temptation to justify sin by twisting Scripture.

Let every word that comes from your mouth be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Even if it costs you, it’s better to be honest than to adopt the tactics of the evil one.

What did Jesus do?

Jesus saw everyone as they really are: made in God’s image and invited into God’s family. He kept sacred the things that matter to God. Even though He was tempted in every way, He never sinned. He is truth in human form. And every time He spoke, His life, light, and love came pouring out.

How can I apply that to my life today?

Go back and look at the section where we summarized what Jesus said and pick one of those ideas to dwell on. Examine yourself to see how you are or are not living out this command of God. Confess where you've fallen short. Talk with a Christian friend about ways you can do better. Now go do it.