Never Stop Growing

We’ve walked through some difficult material on https://alexpoindexter.com/2021/01/13/the-teachings-of-jesus-part-9-violence/ (violence) and https://alexpoindexter.com/2021/01/22/the-teachings-of-jesus-part-10-rights/ (rights) in my last two posts. As Jesus continues through what is called the Sermon On the Mount, He seems to conclude that section with the real spirit of the previous verses. I would invite you to read His thoughts with this mindset:

Yes, God may ask a lot of us. But if we had to pick what kind of God rules things, wouldn’t we want a God who errs on the side of grace and mercy? Think about that while you read this from Jesus:

Matthew 5:43-48: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

You just read one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Something bad happens to a good person and a churchgoer will say, “Welp, God rains on the righteous and the unrighteous!” It is sometimes believed that Jesus was making room for bad things happening to good people here. While that situation is certainly a part of life, it is far from Jesus’ intentions for this passage!

Most of us have come to see rain as the wrecker of picnics and baseball games. In the ancient agricultural day of Jesus, people regularly prayed for rain! The rain was a blessing! The rain was a sign that God was pleased with people! Jesus is actually saying, “Love your enemies because God sends blessings to the righteous and the unrighteous.” This is in the context of a riff where Jesus is telling us that everyone naturally helps those who love them, but God is greater than that self-serving behavior. God is for everyone. God loves and blesses everyone. He says that we are “children of the Father” when we learn that approach to life. Love everyone; even those who don’t love you back.

This should help us understand the previous material about going the extra mile with a Roman soldier or allowing yourself to be taken advantage of by a “borrower”. This is why you shouldn’t seek revenge on someone who wrongs you. We must understand that this is about looking at all people with love like God does. This is about emulating God’s approach to life.

The Scriptures are clear that God is forgiving and kind. “His mercies are new every morning.” “His love endures forever.” If we hope to benefit from such goodness and mercy, surely we should be willing to extend that to others. In this way, we are living like God and living out God’s desires for His children.

I love how Paul says it in Ephesians 4, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Jesus also tells us in multiple places that God’s mercy is reciprocal. We receive mercy from God on the level that we give it. Perhaps Jesus, knowing this about God, is simply telling us this for our own good. Think about that! If God’s mercy really is reciprocal— you will be shown on Judgment Day the sort of mercy you gave to others— wouldn’t you naturally live out all the behavior Jesus advocated for? Maybe Jesus is just saying, “Go crazy with mercy because God will give it right back to you when you need it most!”

That guy punched me. I won’t retaliate because I don’t want God doing “this for that” on Judgement Day!

She wants some money and I know she won’t pay me back. On Judgement Day, I hope God forgives me for what I cannot payback!

The government has taken away might rights. I will submit, hoping that on Judgement Day God doesn’t...

In my https://alexpoindexter.com/2021/01/13/the-teachings-of-jesus-part-9-violence/ (last post), I stated that Jesus is moving into a series of very difficult teachings. Anyone can affirm His thoughts about honesty and kindness, but can you cope with His teachings about submissiveness in the face of being wronged or cheated?

I’ll warn you upfront, this section of Jesus’ Sermon On the Mount has many implications for the year we just lived through. Specifically, Jesus seems to be speaking to standing up for our personal rights and freedoms. As Americans, our personal rights are perhaps our number one shared value. You’ll likely hear Jesus’ words and immediately try to find ways around His radical lifestyle. We look for “Phew!-moments”. We hear His words, they bring conviction or anger, and we try to find other scriptures that produce a relieving, “Phew!”. “Ok… I have this other scripture which lets me off the hook!” I would encourage you, rather than look for an immediate out, to instead let the heart of Jesus’ teachings settle in. What might God want for you to hear and apply from the words of His Son? Here we go…

Matthew 5:

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.

To get the full force of those three verses, let me remind you about the previous verses from my last blogpost. Jesus says, “Do not resist and evil person.” So these are a few more examples of what evil people may do along with Jesus’ desired responses from His followers.

1. In verse 40, Jesus uses the corrupt judicial system of His day as an example. In the ancient world of Jesus, those with wealth and influence could very easily manipulate the court system to their advantage. It would have been an easy thing for someone with connections to gain from their enemy by taking them to court on a fabricated charge. It is no stretch to assume that Jesus’ audience would have immediately made the leap. Jesus was saying, “When you’re outflanked and taken advantage of by the system, don’t resist. Live for more than fairness.”

2. In verse 41, Jesus hits below the belt. The Jews were fiercely oppressed by an evil government. In Revelation, Rome and their military is referred to as “The Beast”. One of the oppressions dealt out by the empire was a rule that forced a Jew to carry a Roman soldiers gear for up to one mile. There is plenty written about Jewish hatred for this and also about how Roman soldiers abused this rule. By forcing Jews to carry their gear, it rubbed salt in the wounds as to who was boss. You were also assisting the oppressor in carrying out the oppression. You had to alter your day, submit to authority, and deal with the humiliation that resulted. Picture the Russians defeating the Americans. Now they have military presence in our land. We pay oppressive taxes to their leaders. Their troops are allowed to use you as an Uber whenever they want. Do you think that would cause issued in America? #MERICA… how do you think rural America would respond to a situation where a 45 year old veteran was told by an 18 year old Russian soldier to get off the tractor and drive him to base? Think of all those dynamics! They could ask a Jew to carry their pack up to one mile. How does Jesus say they should respond? Should they take a stand? Should they resist The Beast? Should they fight for their Christian rights? “Go with them two miles…”. Unthinkable.

3. “Give to the one who asks, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow?” This is in the context of resisting an evil person. I can only assume that Jesus is referring to the idea of getting taken advantage of. You know that guy is going to spend that money on alcohol. You know she ‘s never going to pay you back. You’re getting used! How does Jesus say you should respond?

WTHESE ARE VERY DIFFICULT...

This country is a different place since my last post. I took a break for the holidays. As I work through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the essence of the Jesus Movement, the life Jesus wanted His followers to actually live, we now come to the hard stuff. So far we've talked through things like honesty and kindness; things everyone agrees are a part of being human. Now we come to teachings that seem to stand in contrast to commonsense, the law of the schoolyard, and our American inclinations to stand up for our rights. Here we go...

Remember in my former posts I said that Jesus has a formula He repeats throughout these teachings. He will say, "You've heard that it was said...," then He'll quote ancient wisdom familiar to His crowd. Once the concept is in the front of their mind with all its implications, Jesus would say, "But I tell you...", shattering common practices with a new interpretation of an old law. You'll see Jesus return to that formula in our passage today- a reminder of the old way and an introduction of a new way.

Matthew 5

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.

Jesus appears to be dealing with revenge that slides into self-defense implications. Is Jesus saying that He doesn't expect His followers to ever raise hands, even in self-defense? If someone punches you in the face, does Jesus expect His followers to do nothing in response? What if someone breaks into your house? What if you are mugged?

Those are two verses with intense implications.

WHAT'S CLEAR

Let's start with what's clear. Jesus is referencing a passage from the Old Testament. There are several instances where we can find the phrase "eye for eye and tooth for tooth". One has to do with protecting the legal system from liars. If someone was caught lying about something they saw happen, whatever they lied about was to be done to them- "eye for eye and tooth for tooth." The other two occurrences have to do with due process and fair sentencing. The punishment is to fit the crime as closely as possible. This code kept a situation where someone got drunk and threw a punch from turning into a punishment of death by slow torture.

By Jesus' day, this was obviously being used as a mandate for revenge. "Eye for an eye" was seen as God's green light for getting even. Clearly, Jesus didn't view that as the spirit of the command. But what about self-defense?

It is also clear that Jesus uses hyperbole a lot in this sermon. He's already told His crowd to pluck their eye out if lust is a problem. His disciples didn't follow through with that, so it should be understood as an exaggeration. Maybe, when Jesus says we should turn the other cheek and get slapped twice, He's just overstating for effect.

Can we breathe a sigh of relief now? "Phew! We can shoot an intruder after all! Jesus was using hyperbole when He said to not resist an evil person!"

JESUS' EXAMPLE

One way to tell how we should apply the teachings of Jesus is to look to His example. In Rabbinic culture, disciples would obsess over the words AND the actions of their rabbis. These gospels come to us in this context. If strange words are spoken, we must look for actions. If the author gives us the words and the actions, this is significant and intentional. Matthew does just that.

EXHIBIT A - THE ARREST (Matthew 26)

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must...

The Teachings of Jesus, Part 8 | HONESTYThrough these podcasts, I’ve tried to present the teachings of Jesus in a simple form through which someone on any level could familiarize themself with what Jesus came to start.

In former episodes, we’ve noticed that Jesus uses a formula to unveil His new way of living. He will refer to a well-known command or practice by saying, “You have heard it said…”. Then, after reciting the common rule, Jesus would say, “…but I tell you…”, and give His new take on the old ideas.

We’re now to the fourth occurrence of this formula. Jesus is going to talk about choosing honesty over deceptive scheming. This is Matthew 5, still in the first chapter of the three-chapter sermon that most concisely lays out Jesus’ teachings, the Sermon On the Mount.

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.

In Jesus’ day, it was common practice to amp up your “promises” with oaths. However, these oaths were not meant to add factors of honesty to the assertion. Rather, in swearing by certain elements of Jewish culture, one was actually tricking the listener. A modern example might be swearing “by the hair on my grandpa’s head” that I’ll pay you back. Sounds like I’m amping up the promise, but I alone know that my grandpa wears a toupee. His hair is fake! Maybe I was being technically or legally honest with you; after all, his hair is fake and so was my promise. The whole thing was a trick. I deceived you, but with “honest” language. This was apparently a regular part of the culture of the religious elite in Jesus’ time. They came up with schemes to pull off deception for a dishonest gain of some kind.

Jesus calls for an end to this practice. He calls for an end to deceitful scheming. For Jesus, our baseline commitment to completely honest speech renders any need to amp up with oaths or promises totally useless. If you are always honest, never intending to deceive, or distort, there would never be any need to “swear to God” in order to validate your words.

Obviously, we can apply this to our words and conversations. I think we can also apply this to passive-aggressive behavior. Sometimes we try, often without knowing it, to suggest things while maintaining deniability. A certain look or a well placed, “that’s fine…” (arms crossed), can go a long way toward trying to get our way while maintaining the ability to respond with, “I didn’t say anything.” Jesus teaches his followers to let their “yes” mean yes, and their “no” means no. Followers of Jesus say what they mean, and mean what they say.

I think we should also apply this teaching to manipulation. Similar to swearing by something as to deceitfully amp up language to lead another in a false direction, manipulative conversation seeks to lead a person places without being forthright. Manipulation is a form of deceit; it works in secret, just beneath the surface. If you manipulate others, your yes isn’t yes. You are communicating in a way that guides someone deceptively toward your end goal. It’s the same as lying, really.

I would encourage you to apply this teaching to every corner of your conversations and interactions. Are you honest? Also, are you forthright? I’m certainly not suggesting you always have to share the whole truth! If dinner tastes terrible, you don’t need to say something about it to honor Jesus’ call for honesty. Sometimes people don’t need to know all of your opinions. I am saying that we should avoid communicating, verbally or otherwise, in ways that deceive or manipulate in...

In this Teachings of Jesus series of posts, I want to help people more easily understand and conceptualize the Jesus lifestyle. Matthew 5 thru 7 gives us the essence of the Jesus movement in three chapters, often called "The Sermon On the Mount".

This post is the second covering a section where Jesus deals with the topics of lust and divorce. Jesus calls His listeners to move past common cultural rules and boundaries and into deeper personal policies of caring deeply for human beings.

You can read about the lust portion of The Sermon On the Mount here. In a nutshell, when it comes to adultery, Jesus tells us to think beyond just controlling our bodies. We should not even allow our minds to move past healthy relational boundaries.

Jesus is ultimately concerned about the vulnerability of women in His day. Using the letter of the laws, with no regard for the spirit of said laws, people of Jesus' time were using and abusing women through lust and divorce. There would be no room for this in the Movement He was starting.

Now we'll look at a few verses that I believe have been the source of great pain and frustration for followers of Jesus. If we understand the context of the teaching, we can better apply His Divine Wisdom.

I wish Jesus gave us an entire book on marriage and a lot of clarity on divorce. Rather, we only have a few verses. Here are the verses in the Sermon On the Mount. Then, we'll talk about what they say and what they don't say.

THE “PLAIN” TEACHING OF JESUS

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.

This is often considered one of the most straightforward teachings from Jesus on divorce. It is also thought to be exhaustive. Put simply, “If no one cheated, divorce is a sin.” Divorce is usually understood to be a massive unforgivable wedge between a person and God. The Bible says God hates divorce, it’s true. I’ve been asked. “Pastor, am I going to hell because I got divorced.”

I want to take a look just under the surface. The details would have said more to an ancient crowd than they tell us today.

FACT #1

In past posts, I've written that there is a specific formula Jesus uses throughout His sermon. Whenever Jesus launches with the verbiage, “It has been said… but I tell you…”, He’s invoking an awareness of a common understanding, and then taking it to another level with His new interpretation.

By mentioning a certificate of divorce, Jesus is immediately drumming up the ancient Jewish understanding of divorce. Moses had told the Israelites they could divorce, so long as they gave a certificate that made it legal. SUPER IMPORTANT!: There was an ongoing debate about whether or not a man could divorce his wife for any reason, so long as he gave her a certificate. When Jesus uses His formula, "You've heard it said... certificate of divorce...", He is clearly calling His listeners to this debate. He is about to give His opinion on a well-known debate! This immediately removes the teaching from an exhaustive treatment of divorce and into a very specific question about divorce. Let me rephrase Jesus: "You guys talk about divorcing your wives for any reason by simply giving her a certificate and calling it legal. Here's my take on that!"

FACT #2

For the most part, only men could initiate a divorce in those days. Horrifying as it was for a woman, most women were their husband’s property. They had few rights. She could rarely choose to leave their husband. Did you notice that Jesus only addresses a man divorcing his wife? That’s why. That doesn’t mean it was the way it should be. It just means that was how it was back then. Had Jesus talked to women about a cause for divorce, it would have been cruel because they simply didn’t have that option....

In this Teachings of Jesus series, I want to walk through Jesus’ teachings in a way that anyone could easily understand the core of His lifestyle and the basics of the movement He came to start. I’m using three chapters in the gospel of Matthew called the Sermon On the Mount. This is the sixth session of the series.

We’ve seen Jesus use the formula, “You’ve heard it said _______, but I say to you _______”. He does this to guide the listener’s recollection toward a well-known Old Testament commandment with the typical cultural applications, but He then gives His unique set of applications; always taking it further into the spirit of the command.

His next area of focus will center around adultery and divorce. While the teachings of 5:27-32 all flow together as one, I will break them apart into two posts. Here’s the text.

Matthew 5

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.

Let’s start with the original command in its most undefined form: Do not commit adultery. This was the seventh of the Ten Commandments. Peeking into my next blog post a bit, Jesus’ application stretches into his teaching on divorce in addition to lust. There was a common belief that you could be faithful to the Seventh Commandment if you just avoided intercourse with anyone you weren’t married to. If you desired another woman, you would simply give your current wife a certificate of divorce to make it legal, then go and marry another. By doing this, God’s commandments were not broken. You were faithful to His rules and commands. You could move on with your life. This was the standard among many of the religious elite in Jesus’ day. Jesus speaks in terms of men as the initiators of both lust and divorce because, while women had some options, it was typically a male-dominated society where husbands generally had way more rights and options than their wives. Women were extremely vulnerable to the whims of their husbands. I’ll talk more about this in the next post. Jesus starts with lust.

As stated, it was thought that you could be faithful to the Seventh Commandment by merely avoiding intercourse with a woman who caught your eye. You could flirt. You could linger at the office after hours. You could exchange texts or Facebook messages. You could fantasize about possibilities. As long as you didn’t sleep with her, you weren’t breaking any rules. Jesus brought a different way of life. He was starting a different kind of movement. Jesus dives deeper into the spirit of the commandment. It’s not a hoop to jump through. The commandment was given for a reason and Jesus expounds on why it’s important.

Jesus says that anyone who “looks lustfully”, which could also be translated “looks with lustful intent”, has already broken the Seventh Commandment. Examining the original language, Jesus seems to be referring to something beyond merely noticing a person. This isn’t about a double-take on the beach. The word is sometimes used to talk about a hungry person desiring food. It’s about a real desire or craving. Jesus says that when you’ve reached the point of really wishing you could be with someone other than your spouse, you’ve broken God’s command.

He then turns to the idea of Gehenna which is translated as “hell”. In a previous post, I talked about Gehenna being a real-time location in Jesus’ day. It was a land associated with destruction and misery. When Jesus talks about things we look at or touch bringing us toward hell or Gehenna, He was creating a visual for His listeners....

Jesus began by blessing everyone in the crowd, both the godly and those far from God. Next, He affirmed the divine potential of every soul present. Then, Jesus prepared their hearts to go further with their faith than the religious elite had taken their beliefs. Jesus now launches into the details of the radical new lifestyle He came to bring. He begins with their understanding of murder.

Matthew 5:

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

If you study the Sermon On the Mount (and I hope you will), you’ll notice the regular formula, “You have heard it said… But I say to you…”. Jesus is quoting common commands from their scriptures coupled with contemporary applications. Then, He gives His set of interpretations and applications to those commandments; always taking it further than the religious elite. Now, keep in mind that Jesus only does this for the commands that involve the good and fair treatment of other people. With rules that are for show, like handwashing and diet, Jesus has little interest. His applications challenge us to go all-in for loving people to the highest possible standard and disregarding the meaningless rituals. The murder command is our first example.

If the command was “do not murder”, the ancient application left it there. In theory, you could bad-mouth someone. After all, it wasn’t murder! You could oppress a group of peasants if your social status was higher than them. It wasn’t murder! God said, “Do not murder.” Most people follow that rule to the letter their entire lives. Good enough, right?

Jesus starts with murder but goes deeper into the spirit of the rule. He lumps harboring anger toward a person into the same category as murder. He also lumps insulting a fellow human into that category as well. He then gives a very ominous warning, saying such behavior is “liable to the hell of fire.” Yikes.

First, notice what Jesus is doing in general. We’ll see it throughout Matthew chapters 5 thru 7. Jesus is going for the spirit of the command. As God envisions His children interacting, His standard is not met by humans merely stopping short of bludgeoning each other to death. He’s not commenting to the heavens, “My children sure do hate each other, but look at the way they aren’t killing each other! I love how they’re following the sixth commandment!”

Jesus calls us well past the letter of the sixth commandment. Jesus is calling us toward love. Love includes mercy, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, blessing, and the highest forms of interacting with each other. Not murdering is not God’s standard. God is not pleased with simply the lack of murder. Jesus calls us to the highest form of humanity. See what He does there? It’s not about the rule, it’s about the spirit of the rule. It’s not just doing the bare minimum to be human. It’s about understanding God’s dreams for His creation and living out our potential.

As for the “hell of fire”. The word translated “hell” is “Gehenna”. It was an actual place in Jesus’ day. When He referred to Gehenna, people thought of a region outside of Jerusalem. Scholars long ago wrote that it was the regional dump during the time of Jesus. Locals in Jerusalem hold this view today. If it wasn’t the regional dump, it was still at best a land abandoned from all the war and horrible acts and memories that were associated with the place. It was a place of immense death and even child sacrifice. It was a region associated with everything God didn’t want for His Creation.

We don’t know whether Jesus was referring to the hell we associate with the afterlife or if He was reminding people of a place of great despair for this life. Since Gehenna was a real-life location...

Over the past few years of MLB action, a debate has emerged over the use of video replay when a runner slides into a base. While most anyone is fine with reviewing whether or not the runner reached the base before a tag, some take issue with also examining the effect physics had on the impact of the slide. Sometimes a player beats the tag, but the force of hitting the base raises him off the bag a fraction of an inch for a fraction of a second. The HD cameras can pick up on microscopic space between the runner and the bag that no human umpire’s eye ever could.

Commentators debate the “spirit of the rule” when a runner beats the tag but is called out by this millimeter of separation that only an HD review can detect. That’s not what the review is intended for; that’s not the spirit of the rule.

As I continue the walkthrough Jesus’ Sermon On the Mount, the concise summary of His lifestyle, Jesus is going to take a moment to frame His approach to the ancient rules and traditions of His Jewish faith. He seems to be warning against our human inclinations to miss the point of any given rule while trying to figure out what we can and cannot get away with.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Jews called their scriptures “the Law and the Prophets”. The Law was the Jewish code of conduct revealed in the Bible; most notably the Ten Commandments. There was the rule, then the subjective interpretations of the rule. Each teacher would have his or her unique interpretation of the rules. They would assert that their interpretations “fulfilled” the Law. If they disagreed with another’s viewpoint, they would criticize by saying, “You abolish the Law and the Prophets!”

This is why Jesus begins His interpretations with the disclaimer, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

By claiming He was about to “fulfill the Law”, He’s telling His listeners in language they were very familiar with that He was going to give them His set of interpretations.

Then, in verse 20, Jesus gives a summary statement that opens up a general guideline for God’s way of life. He says essentially unless our righteousness surpasses the religious leaders of His day, we would miss the point of the Bible entirely. Much of the gospel stories of Jesus interacting with these leaders were meant to illustrate this tension.

Jesus was once asked what the most important rule was. He said we should love God with everything we have and love others as well. He said all the Bible is summed up with those two practices. In other words, the spirit of everything written in scripture has to do with loving God and loving people.

Many religious environments setup hoops for people to jump through just for the sake of proving something or earning something. The clergy in Jesus’ day were notorious for putting rules above people. They used and abused people in the name of their religion. They looked for technicalities and ways around God’s boundaries because they didn’t really care about people. Many of their rules had nothing to do with love, they just created misery. They missed the spirit of the scriptures.

Interestingly, Jesus’ interpretations were actually more strict than the leaders of His day. This is because the boundaries Jesus cared about were those that affected people. Jesus wanted us to make maximum effort in loving...

In part one, we talked about Jesus' pep talk before He launched into what would become His divine blueprint for life. The Sermon On the Mount, as it's come to be known, is a concise outline of Jesus' lifestyle. Matthew chapters five through seven show us what it means to follow Jesus.

Having given the spectrum of spirituality and declared us all to be blessed, Jesus then gave us a singular focus for navigating difficult and chaotic seasons of life. He said this:

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Jesus reminds us of our identity, then He gives us a practice to stay focused through life's craziness.

By comparing us to salt and light, Jesus tells everyone in His crowd that they have great value to the people around them. They are packed with potential! This was a revolutionary teaching for a crowd of commoners! In Jesus' time, your roles were well-defined by your skills and your social position. Jesus levels the playing field. "You all have such great value! You all have tremendous potential to do great things for God!" This was probably the first time many in the audience had ever had anyone look at them and say something that gave the great worth and potential.

Before He outlines His blueprint for living, Jesus first announces to the people that they have immeasurable value and potential! Perhaps that's the starting place for you right now. In seasons like 2020 where so much feels out of our control and there is lots of uncertainty, sometimes it helps to just center your brain around God's affirmations of your worth. You are salt; one of the most valuable substances of Jesus' day! It was used as a food preservative, for flavor, as a disinfectant, and more. You've heard the phrase, "worth his salt". Salt was valuable and useful. We cannot live without light! Jesus also compares you to that. You are salt and light. No matter who you are, no matter where you've been or what you've done, Jesus affirms your value. Don't lose sight of your worth just because things are chaotic.

Jesus first affirms our worth, then He gives us a practice to focus on: Let your light shine so that people will see your good works and glorify God. What does that mean? Jesus is about to lay out a lifestyle; He gets specific. He tells us what a life looks like that will honor God and bring out our best self. The Word of God is clear. You have great potential within you. You were designed to live a meaningful life, to be used by God, and to help others in significant ways. No matter who you are or have been up to now.

Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared in advance for us to do." This was not written for the stained-glass window saints. This was written to everybody. The Apostle Paul writes that for you today. Jesus calls you salt and light. Jesus says that you can let your light shine for others to see God in you. Paul says God has things for ONLY YOU to accomplish for Him. He thought of those things as you were being formed in the womb.

This is your identity. This is your worth. This is your potential.

As we face the uncertainties and chaos of the world around us. As people struggle to find their identity and meaning. You have your blueprint. You know your worth and your calling. Live from that starting point.

The Beatitudes are the pep talk for the divine blueprint! Jesus tells us we are blessed no matter where we find ourselves, because now we have a blueprint for God's best!

Matthew 5

Jesus said:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.