Day 9: February 5

MATTHEW 5: 21-32

SCRIPTURE HIGHLIGHTS:
“But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!... And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
 
“But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 
 
“...leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”

OBSERVATIONS:
The Law of Moses instructs us not to murder, but Jesus instructs us not to be angry so as to express hatred or contempt for others.

Jesus tells me that if I realize that someone has something against me, I should not wait for that person to come to me. I should immediately go and seek to reconcile with that person.

The law tells me not to commit adultery. Jesus tells me that I should not even have the desire to commit adultery.

The law permits a husband to divorce his wife but he must give her a legal certificate of divorce. The purpose of this law was to allow the divorced woman to remarry. Without a certificate to prove she was divorced she would have no prospects for remarriage and in Jesus’ day, it was very difficult for a woman to provide for herself without a husband.

Jesus said that if a man divorces his wife for reasons other than unfaithfulness on her part, he causes her to commit adultery and Jesus said that marrying someone who is divorced is like committing adultery.

QUESTION:
I don’t understand Jesus’ statements equating divorce and remarriage to adultery. I am going to have to research this or ask my Pastor! Hopefully he will comment with an explanation!

APPLICATION:
Jesus is beginning to give examples of what he meant in vs 20 when he told his disciples that their righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. Their righteousness was superficial. They held to the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. Their righteousness was limited to their actions, while their minds and heart were filled with unrighteousness.

To be righteous as God intends for me to be requires my heart and minds to be pure, not only my hands.

I should not praise myself for the fact I have not committed murder, or even assaulted someone physically. If I have the desire for harm to come to them, or if I assault them with hateful or contemptuous words, I have the heart of a murderer, even if I don’t have the hands of a murderer.

The same applies to adultery. I should take no pride in the fact that I have never cheated on my wife. That is not sufficient evidence of righteous love for her. If I desire to be sexually intimate with other women, I have the heart of an adulterer.

Jesus considers unity and harmony among his people to be so important that he instructs us to resolve our offenses before we can worship him appropriately.

All of Jesus' instructions are examples of what true love for others looks like in practice. Most importantly, these instructions reflect the kind of self-giving, covenantal love Jesus has demonstrated to me.

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, thank you that you are the source of faithful, self-giving love and you will empower me to walk in your love.

Therefore...  Cleanse my heart of hatred. Holy Spirit, convict me if in my heart I wish for harm to come to anyone or treat anyone as if their life is not valuable. Lord, when I offend someone give me the awareness and courage to go to them and apologize quickly rather than to wait for them to have to come and confront me.
 
Help me to guard my eyes from anything (TV, Internet, social media, etc.) that would entice me to lust after another woman. Help me to love my wife by reserving my physical passion for her and by remaining faithful to the covenant I made with her 35 years ago. Help me to never objectify other women but to view them and love them as if they were my sisters or my daughters.