OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 7

The Lord Jesus, continuing with the discourse on the mountainside, taught His followers that even though they had heard it said that they should love their neighbours and hate their enemies, He had a different standard for them to follow.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing The Community Rule begins by saying that members of the community should be taught to seek God and obey Moses and the Prophets so that "they may love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God's design, and hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his guilt in God's vengeance." than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father's is perfect.

There is a biblical injunction that instructs us to love our neighbours but there is no injunction to hate our enemies and in this case, Jesus was referencing a cultural truism that had been hidden and only came to light after the Dead Sea scrolls were published and specifically, a document named "The Community Rule"

Douglas Ward, Ph.D., writting at www.JCstudies.com, points out the standard for loving ones' neighbours and hating ones' enemies that was recorded by a Jewish sect at Qumran.

The Community Rule begins by saying that members of the community should be taught to seek God and obey Moses and the Prophets so that "they may love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God's design, and hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his guilt in God's vengeance."

The appearance of this document confirmed that there was an understanding in circulation during the time of Jesus that promoted hating ones' enemies.

The Lord, against this cultural backdrop, instructed His people to love their enemies instead of hating them as per such cultural prescriptions.

Being spiritual, praying for those who persecute us makes us children of our Father in heaven where we surrender our protection into His hands when we pray for our enemies and we endevour to love all people as our Father does..

To only love those who love us is easily done by even those who have no allegiance to God.

The standard that Jesus sets for us is that we are to be perfect even as our father is perfect pertaining to a universal and impartial love and goodwill to all people whether friend or foe. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 6

Mathew chapter 5 verses 38 - 42 continues with the Lord Jesus discussing the standard that was set for retribution for injuries done to His people;

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 

40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.u

The Lord, in this passage, references the book of Leviticus chapter 24 verses 19 - 20 which stipulates that for any violence that is done to another person that results in bodily harm, the same bodily harm would be done to them.

19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

However, those who would be part of the kingdom of God are held to a higher spiritual standard. The understanding being revealed in this passage is that the material or corporeal realm is temporal and the things of this world are not worth trading for anything in the spirit.

Whereas people living temporal lives may seek retribution for injuries done to their mortal bodies, Jesus counsels His people living in the spirit to forfeight any claims that they may have a right to under the law.

The realm of the spirit is eternal and its rewards are vast and as such, it is counter-productive to entangle ourselves in litigating matters pertaining to the temporal realm.

If there are situations in the physical realm that are injurious to us, even though we could potentially press for our rights, we should instead take steps to short-cirquit our involvement by absorbing any loss or enduring any humiliation or pain because the spiritual advantage gained by doing so will by great measure, outstrip any temporal satisfaction.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 5

The Lord Jesus, continuing with the clarification of the Law of Moses to His disciples, referencing the matter of taking oaths that is mentioned in the book of Numbers chapter 30, addresses the expectation of His kingdom pertaining to the swearing oaths.

In Mathew chapter 5 verses 33 - 37, the Lord takes the injunction to fulfill all oaths that are made and escalates the standard to a spiritual elevation.

33 “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.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

The practice of swearing oaths is a mechanism by which one person could assure another that a promise would be fulfilled.

The Lord Jesus establishes that His followers should avoid swearing oaths altogether.

Swearing oaths was usually done on a higher authority than the person and ostensibly, this higher authority could be invoked to enforce the oath if the terms were not fulfilled so that the name of the higher authority was not besmirched by the failure to fulfill the oath.

The Lord Jesus specified why these mechanisms of swearing on heaven or on the  earth or even on the city of Jerusalem were inappropriate. He explained that because they belonged to God and to the great king, obligating these places and engendering the risk of sullying their reputations by a failure to fulfill the oath was wrong.

To even swear on one's own head was wrong because one's own head was not under the authority of its owner to the degree that he could not even alter the color of a single hair. The person's head was still under the perview of God and thus wrong to swear upon.

The standard set by Jesus was that no oaths were to be sworn. In the life of the spirit that He was authoring for those who believed in Him, everything we say is under oath anyway. None of our utterances are exempt from obligation and everything we say we will do, we must fulfill. 

To fail to fulfill a promise is, as Jesus said, an artifact of the influence of the evil one.

Mathew chapter 12 verses 36 - 37 says;

36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 4

As the Lord Jesus continued to teach His followers, the subject of divorce and remarriage came to the forefront and Jesus, referencing the protocols written of in Deutronomy chapter 24 verses 1 - 4, tightens down what the allowances for divorce are.

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 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.

In Deutronomy chapter 24, if a husband did not like somethimg about his wife, he could write out a certificate of divorce and she was free to remarry. The only restriction was that if she married another man and that man divorced her or left her widowed, her first husband was not permitted to re-marry her.

The Lord Jesus barred divorce for His followers except in the cases of sexual immorality and barred re-marriage if divorced.

This escalation of the standards takes into consideration that those who followed the Lord Jesus would be living spiritually and because marriage is a joining of two people into one flesh, unentanglement cannot occur on the basis of a certificate written by a person whose life is in the spirit as Mark 10 verses 7 - 9 says, 7 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 

In a believer's marriage, the two persons involved retain separate born-again spirits but their flesh (which is not a reference to their physical bodies but rather to their earth-bound human nature that was corrupted by the fall), is joined and that is why non-believers can be married in exactly the same way believers can be married.

However, whereas a non-regenerated person can (in the flesh) write a certificate of divorce and it would apply to the matters of the flesh, among believers, any proceedings, such as the writing of of a certificate of divorce, would be occuring by the hand of their spirits and so would not be applicable to the matters flesh and thus they would remain joined in the flesh and not free to remarry.

This implies that divorces that occur among non-believers do in fact result in the separation of the flesh while those that occur among believers do not.

As Jesus said in John chapter 3 verse 6; That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 3

Continuing with Mathew chapter 5, let's look at verses 27 - 30 which escalates the sin of adultery from a physical infraction to a spiritual infraction. The Lord Jesus instructs us that the precursors to adultery that begin with the lust of the eye and then forments in the heart, are themselves adultery.

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 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. 30 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.

The counsel of the Lord is to be ruthless in putting to death the works of the flesh that can dissuade us from taking the path of the spirit.

If the desires of the flesh cause us to reject the offer of salvation and the pathway to righteousness, we should discard the inclinations of the flesh so that our whole body does not get discarded for its corruptive influence.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH Part 2

In Mathew chapter 5 verses 25 - 26, the Lord Jesus introduces a new concept into the code of expected behaviour among His people.

When one has an outstanding debt, obligation or liability, the Lord tells us to expedite the resolution of the matter with a view to settling it out of court before it is turned over into the hands of the court. 

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

What the Lord is describing here applies to both the corporeal and spiritual realms.

In court systems of men and in the court systems of the spirit world, the legalistic mechanisms process cases through like machines and once we get fed into one end as a defendant, we are subject to the nature of the judge's view of our case and we may be found guilty or liable and we may then be handed over to the enforcers who may use imprisonment to extricate from use what is due.

The councel of the Lord is do everything in our power to bring swift resolution to any issue that is being held against us.

In spiritual matters, this means that we must offer resolutions for offences that we have caused as soon as we can and to transact in spiritual terms to atone for or restitute what is required.

If we let cases linger, they can be brought forward for litigation at the most importune times. An example of where the adversary pressed a case at a time that caused maximal damage is when a devastating drought descended on the land Israel while David was king.

Decades before, David's predecessor, king Saul, broke a vow that Israel had with the Gibeonites. 

Even though the vow was centuries old and the infraction the Saul commited against the terms of the vow was decades old, the adversary of Israel pressed the case against Israel by the imposition of a severe drought.

To bring a resolution to the matter during David's time, it cost the lives of seven people from the family of Saul because the Gibeonites demanded the killing of Saul's descedants in order to release Israel from their infraction.

The drought was the prison that Israel was put into and they were not released from the prison until they had paid the last penny.

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OUR FATHER SENT HIS SON TO DO AND TO TEACH part 1

In Mathew chapter verses 21 - 24, the Lord Jesus escalates the subject of righteouness to illustrate that sin and evil stems from inside us and the attitudes we foster.

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

Jesus, in this passage, speaking of the law against murder and the judgement of death that comes from it, tells us that harbouring anger against a brother or sister is subject to judgement. 

Whereas the traditional law held that actual murder was subject to penalty and did not hold anyone to account for their thoughts and words against those around them, the higher standards of Jesus's kingdom holds that cultivating angry thoughts and speaking derogatory words towards one's brothers and sisters can make one subject to judgement in the court of heaven and could, if left to fester indefinitely, potentially lead to  hell.

The life of the kingdom of heaven, which is a spiritual kingdom, enforces a high standard of righteous behaviour that includes the behaviour of the soul and spirit and not just the acts done physically in the body.

Amen.

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