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you enjoy this week's message my name is
Cheryl Jeffersonville I serve as one of
the pastor's here and I am honored to
read scripture for us today our passage
is from the fifth chapter of the Gospel
of Matthew I say to you that unless your
righteousness is greater than the
righteousness of the legal experts and
the Pharisees you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven you have heard that it
was said to those who live long ago
don't commit murder and all who commit
murder will be in danger of judgment but
I say to you that everyone who is angry
with their brother or sister will be in
danger of judgment you have heard that
it was said don't commit adultery but I
say to you that every man who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed
adultery in his heart and if your right
eye causes you to fall into sin tear it
out and throw it away you have heard
that it was said you must love your
neighbor and hate your enemy but I say
to you love your enemies and pray for
those who harass you be perfect
therefore as your heavenly Father is
perfect may God add a blessing to the
reading hearing and understanding of
Scripture
I want to begin with a quick question if
somebody were to ask you what does it
mean to be a Christian what would you
say now Christians have different
answers that they give to this so some
would say well you need to be baptized
you need to be a member of a church and
that's what it means to be a Christian
but we know there's got to be more than
that and other people would say to
believe in God and to try to be a good
person and of course you know most of
the world believes in God and tries to
be good people and that doesn't
necessarily make them Christians some
would say it's to accept Jesus into your
heart and others would say to have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ
but what's interesting is Jesus doesn't
use that language anywhere in the
Gospels particularly in Matthew Mark and
Luke you don't find anything really
close to that so in Matthew Mark and
Luke scoffs well when he first starts
calling people to be his disciples and
by the way the word disciple really gets
at the answer I'm what we're looking for
here it to be a disciple is to learn
from someone else and then to try to
follow them when Jesus calls people to
be his disciples he says come and follow
me come and follow me in Matthew chapter
16 verse 24 he says whoever wants to be
my disciple which means to be a follower
must deny themselves and take up their
cross and follow me in the book of Acts
describing the early church the
Christians were called first followers
of the way and then later on we read in
acts 11:26 it was in Antioch where the
disciples were first labeled Christians
and the word Christian itself is one who
is imitating Christ right and so this
idea of following Christ now all those
other answers are really good answers
it's just that it doesn't get at this
single part of being a disciple that we
find in Matthew Mark and Luke scoffs
well I will tell you I've committed my
life to Jesus I love him I have a
personal relationship with Jesus that is
really deep and meaningful to me I have
accepted him as my Lord and Savior but
if I have done all of those things I've
been baptized I'm a member of a church I
try to be a good person believe in God I
pray a lot I try to do all these
religious things but here's the thing if
I do all of those things but I don't
follow Jesus then I've missed the mark
right we're called to follow Jesus a lot
of those things are important but also
following Jesus is central to being a
Christian now our aim as a church is to
help people become Christians tell
people become disciples of Jesus to
become followers of Jesus and and as
you're as you're watching and joining
for worship too
my hope and prayer is that you are
becoming a follower of Jesus now we're
all in the process of becoming followers
of Jesus we falter at it we blow it all
the time but we're aiming for I wake up
in the morning and I think my job today
is to follow Jesus it's to go where he
wants me to go do what he wants me to do
to be the person he wants me to be and
if I can follow what he taught if I can
walk in his footsteps if I can be the
person he wants me to be I will have
found life and I will be an instrument
of his in the world in giving life away
so I'm gonna give you this invitation
some of you have been worshiping with us
for months and usually you give an
invitation at the end of the sermon I'm
gonna give an invitation at the
beginning of the sermon and I'm just
gonna say I want to invite you
unashamedly unabashedly I'm gonna invite
you to be a follower of Jesus you're
gonna follow somebody in your life
I mean invite you to follow Jesus to
listen to what he had to say and to say
I want to follow your Jesus I want to be
the person I want to be I want I want to
go where you want me to go I have
decided to follow Jesus that really is
what I want to invite you to think and
say and commit to today now once we've
decided to follow Jesus we begin on a
path and this path is a really important
path it's the path to the good and
beautiful life it's not always easy
sometimes it's really hard but it's this
path of following him in Christian
discipleship and that's what we're going
to talk about today and today in the
next few weeks we're beginning our
sermon series we started last week we're
continuing our sermon series on the
Sermon on the Mount and this is the
single most important storm that was
ever delivered in the history of the
world there is no other sermon that is
better known that has been followed by
more people more people striving to live
in two then the Sermon on the Mount
doesn't matter what religion you are
where you are around the world this is
the single most important sermon most
loved sermon most paid attention to
sermon in the history of the world and
so we're gonna try to hear what did
Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount he
goes up on the mountain and he delivers
these words now Matthew is probably
collecting things that Jesus is said in
a variety of different places and brings
them together at this moment and as we
learned last week in the sermon Matthew
wants us to see Jesus is the second
Moses he's coming and now he's
reinterpreting the law that Moses
brought down from Mount Sinai and he's
going to reinterpret that for our lives
and here's the thing in the Sermon on
the Mount we find Jesus teaching about
ethics and we find Jesus teaching about
Christian spirituality and Jesus
teaching about prayer and if we're gonna
follow Jesus we'd better pay attention
to the Sermon on the Mount so we're
going to focus today on that part of the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5
beginning with verse 17 through verse 48
we're going to
focusing on the ethical teachings of
Jesus and I want to invite you there's a
lot more to to Jesus ethical teachings
than what we find in the Sermon on the
Mount but these are really important if
you have a Bible I'd like to invite you
to turn there to Matthew chapter 5
verses 17 and following and we're gonna
listen to what Jesus has to say and
we're gonna find as we start to do that
that what this seems like to us is that
Jesus ethic is impossible that's what it
feels like I'll just be honest with you
feels like that to me it'll feel that
way to you it just seems like an
impossible ethic then and Jesus kind of
starts this with verse 20 where he says
unless your righteousness exceeds that
of the scribes and the Pharisees you
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven now
that's a scary thought unless you're
unless your righteousness exceeds the
scribes of the Pharisees so are we gonna
know even though Jesus criticizes the
scribes in the Pharisees they were the
most religiously pious people in his day
like everybody looked at the scribes and
Pharisees the scribes were religious
lawyers but they were more than that
they were interpreters of the Bible
interpreters of the law of Moses and and
the Pharisees were known for their
purity they were people who sort of set
themselves apart from the rest of
society and trying and rigorously to
follow the law these were deeply
religious people and so when Jesus said
to the people at the Sermon on the Mount
is disciples and others unless your
righteousness exceeds the scribes the
Pharisees you can into the kingdom of
heaven they had to be already pretty
nervous like how is that possible how
could anybody be as religious as the
scribes and the Pharisees and Jesus is
gonna teach us that in just a moment now
he ends this section of the Sermon on
the Mount in verse 48 so if you have
your Bible look at chapter 5 verse 48
and actually I'm just gonna invite you
to read these words aloud with me we'll
put them up on the screen Jesus ends
this section by saying be perfect
therefore as your heavenly Father is
perfect like are you kidding me Jesus
this is what I have to do I have to be
perfect nobody's perfect I mean Jesus
was perfect but nobody else is perfect
so how in the world can I live up to
that so I want to start by recognizing
that some people look at this section of
the Sermon on the Mount and they say
this is the very point is that Jesus is
gonna show us just you know how high and
lofty righteous to some perfection and
what God is looking for in us is I mean
the the ideals are so high that we can't
possibly meet them and therefore it
drives us to grace it drives us to this
place where we have to say Lord I can't
I'm gonna try the best I can but I just
can't and then we recognize that Christ
suffered and died for us and for our
sins we
in this our own sinfulness and our own
brokenness and we fall at our you know
at Jesus feet and we say Jesus please
save me forgive me heal me because I
can't I can't do it
and Paul captures this idea in Romans
where he says all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God which is sort
of what you feel when you read the
section of the of the Sermon on the
Mount is I I've blown it in all of these
areas and then Paul goes on to say but
they are now justified by His grace as a
gift through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus
like Jesus came to save sinners he came
to redeem us and he suffered and died
for us and he and he's showing us his
mercy and grace and so so some would say
this this whole thing is just impossible
and and yet when I read it I think Jesus
really intends for us to strive to live
up to this I don't think the ideals are
just so impossibly hard that we can't
make a pretty good go at it with the
help of the Holy Spirit I think he
intends us to do that and I think he
also knows that we're never going to
perfectly live up to these things but
you know I would rather set high
expectations I think Jesus thought yeah
I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna help you
see this is what it means to be human
and then you're gonna strive to live
into that you might not get all the way
there were you know make it some of the
way there if you make this your aim now
when Jesus says perfect beef perfect as
your heavenly Father is perfect the word
in Greek is telling us and tell us is an
interesting word you've heard of a
telescope and that comes from tell EOS
or Telos and an ask Opus which is to see
something far away tele us or tell us is
a goal it's it's an aim it's like it's
like I want to get there and so when
Jesus says be perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect he's saying this is
the goal this is the ideal this is what
you should be living up to and at least
he paints a picture of that for us so
that we can strive towards and lean into
it and pray that we might become that so
this is the goal we might say this is
what it looks like when you're mature or
your perfected is you've actually lived
into these things be perfect not without
making mistakes but that is to live up
to this picture of what it means to be a
human I just want to remind you the
scripture teaches us we were created in
the image of God and so we're meant to
reflect God's image to the world women
to live like God we are God's children
so we're supposed to do the things he
wants us to do and yet we struggle with
that as human beings if all seven
billion of us on this planet
we're actually living into God's will we
wouldn't find the pain that we see in
our world today we wouldn't find abuse
and poverty and starvation and all the
wrangling over politics and all the
kinds of things that bring hurt and pain
to people if we actually were living
into what Jesus is calling us to so
we've got a ways to go but at least
we're gonna figure out today part of
what it looks like to follow Jesus that
John Wesley the founder of Methodism
preached what he called Christian
perfection and people used to you know
give him a hard time about that he says
I don't mean that you're never gonna
make any mistakes I mean that we are
trying to live into this goal that God
has for us that we become the people God
intended for us to be all right we do
that not on our own power we do that by
the power of the Holy Spirit but the key
thing is to figure out in our own minds
to go oh that's the path that's where
I'm supposed to be going and then as we
figure out that's the path we begin to
say okay I want to walk that way and
then and then I begin to pray and ask
God to change my heart and then finally
I begin to actually turn around and walk
in the direction God wants me to walk so
that's we're gonna talk about today what
does it look like to be a follower of
Jesus and we're gonna look to the Sermon
on the Mount for this so a couple things
I want to teach you about this this is
kind of a teaching learning kind of
sermon is when you're reading Jesus it's
important to understand that he speaks
on what's called prophetic hyperbole
prophetic means that he is going to lay
out there this bold get a huge claim
this is really black and white big bold
claim and he's not gonna try to figure
out all the exceptions to the rule there
are exceptions to every one of these
rules but he's not gonna try and lay
those out he's saying okay this is this
is the rule most of the time and he
didn't seem to say most unlike here it
is this is what you're supposed to do
and we'll see that maybe there are times
that there are exceptions even Jesus
himself lives exceptions to these rules
then hyperbole means an exaggeration to
make a point so if I would tell you I'm
so hungry I could eat a horse you know
that I'm actually not hungry enough to
eat a horse and and I couldn't even if I
wanted to but it's saying you know it's
it's giving you a visual image so that
it really speaks to your heart it it
like helps you understand and convey a
really important point and that's what
Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the
Mount we're gonna hear him speak and
prophetic hyperbole alright so as we do
that let's go ahead and jump in to this
text and I'm gonna remind you that Jesus
takes the the law of Moses and in
particular three of the of the Ten
Commandments and he's going to say
you've heard that it was said of a
but I say to you now he's not setting
aside the law of Moses he is expanding
and he's expounding upon it he's giving
his interpretation of the scripture so
let's start with the sixth commandment
this is the first statement that Jesus
makes in the Sermon on the Mount on his
ethics he says you have heard that it
was said to those who lived long ago all
right and then he's going to give us the
sixth commandment at least as we order
them in most Protestant churches do not
commit murder and all who commit murder
will be in danger of judgment and the
judgment was the death penalty when
murders were committed but I say to you
that everyone who is angry with their
brother or sister will be in danger of
judgment if they say to their brother or
sister you idiot they will be in danger
of being condemned by the governing
council and if they say you fool they
will they will be in danger of fiery
hell you begin to get why people look at
this text and say this is just an
impossible ethic like let me just ask
you you ever get angry she get angry
this last week or this last month you
ever said somebody was an idiot or
called them a fool or maybe worse and of
course the answer is that we all have
done these things right so we've all
fallen short of this ideal of what it
means to be human
now I want you to notice though that
Jesus has taken a commandment that seems
relatively irrelevant to us right like
I'm not in danger of murdering somebody
I just have never been tempted to
actually take somebody's life I mean
they're actually I can think of one time
where I might have thought about that
but we we have you know just in passing
like I just wish this person wasn't here
years ago I haven't explained away why I
asked you actually wrestled this
commandment but but for most of us we
don't really think about murdering
people so we think oh that's great I
don't have to worry about this
commandment and Jesus says now you got
to look at the spirit of the commandment
and not just the law so the spirit of
the commandment has to do with our
feelings internally towards other human
beings and that's anger and that's hate
and you may remember when Cain killed
his brother Abel it started with anger
in his heart resentment and bitterness
and anger in his heart Genesis tells us
before he finally did the terrible deed
and killed his brother we got a look at
what's going on in our hearts and we got
to be able to set aside that anger and
that hate that we feel sometimes and
then the the capacity we have to speak
ill of other people to their faces or
behind their backs or when we're in our
car or whatever
be now many have noted that we live in
angry times today so on Friday I
received a text while I was finishing
the sermon and the text was from my
wife's lavon's cousin's husband so he's
a friend of ours his name's Mike
he works at bun o matic in Springfield
Illinois and he was in the factory was
in the warehouse where he helps
determine where the shipments are going
and somebody walked in with a gun and
began shooting people two of his
co-workers were killed one is in
critical condition the last I heard and
then the gun man left and ended up
taking his own life we live in an angry
world right now an angry world and we
see it all the time we see it when
people are driving on the road the
triple-a did a study recently they found
that eighty percent of all drivers
experience anger when they're driving I
wonder have you I have got to tell you
some years ago I was sitting so you know
how the highways they merged together
sometimes when there's road construction
I was right there I'd been right for 20
minutes I had been in line I got over
really early and I was in line you know
where I was supposed to be the signs
were back there miles back and and and
then people would come up you know and
they would they would instead of doing
what I did they would come up and they
would turn on their turn signal and I'd
let him in and I don't know I probably
let 10 or 20 people in as I was waiting
you know slowly to get up there to the
front I finally got to the front like
the last you know right before the the
lane totally ended and I see in my
rearview mirror my side mirror a woman
who is just just she is just coming up
as fast as she can up there you know
right to my spot and then she comes
right up where I am and she tries to
knows her way in and you know what I did
this is terrible I'm just like you know
what you were one too many I'm not
letting you in and I didn't look at her
I just stared straight ahead
and I kept pushing on the accelerator
and I kept you know I wouldn't let her
come into the lane would let her get in
front of me so the guy behind me did so
we go through the you know the the
blockage in the highway and we get out
the other side and I'm driving along and
this woman speeds up and she comes right
next to me and she starts honking her
horn and she rolls down her window and
she flips me the bird right there you
know she's screaming at me and she's
literally the route and I turn over and
she immediately looks puts her hands
down and puts the windows up and drives
away and I couldn't help but wonder if
maybe she was a resurrection member
and and then I wondered which of us
might be more embarrassed by that
exchange whether it might be her for
honking her horn flipping me the bird
when she saw it was pastor Adam or
whether it was me thinking how childish
was it of me to sit there and say I'm
not gonna let this person in right but
we've all felt it we've all felt these
kind of feelings of anger and
embarrassment you know afterwards
because we should have never gotten that
angry and part of what Jesus is saying
here is listen nothing good comes from
your anger now I want to tell you
remember this is prophetic so he's
talking about generally this is the rule
is there ever a time where it's good to
get angry
of course when there's injustice we
should get angry so throughout Scripture
we find that God gets angry
over and over and over again we find
God's anger is kindled that's how the
scripture talks about it like a fire
it's kindled because of injustice that
happens in the world so there is a place
for righteous indignation a righteous
anger it's just that most of the time
the anger that we feel is not righteous
it's wholly unrighteous and and the
reason why we feel it is because our
egos were bruised when they were wounded
somebody somebody didn't do what we you
know when somebody told us no and and we
wanted them to say yes when somebody
insulted us or offended us or they they
didn't agree with us or we didn't like
their politics or the way they did
something and all of a sudden were angry
with them that's not righteous anger and
that's not what it means to be a human
being like what are we supposed to do
instead of being angry well the very
thing we're asking God to do for us
right like you see all these
commandments oh we could never live up
to perfectly what are we asking God
please don't get angry with me I know I
blew it again would you please show me
grace like that is the response we're
meant to have right that doesn't seem
impossible for us to try to grow into
that it may be hard right now but but
maybe if I make that my goal
I love how Harry immerse Harry Emerson
Fosdick a great preacher of the last
century at the Riverside Church in New
York City he wrote a great book on
prayer and he said prayer really is
about not changing God's mind it's about
changing your own heart and you begin to
pray about things like Lord you know how
I fly off the handle you know how I get
impatient you know I get irritated when
people say something that I don't like
or the people or politics are different
than mine help me to be patient with
them how me to be gracious towards them
as you are gracious towards me
or Jesus taught it you know taught us
this way that that we were to ask God to
forgive us our trespasses what as we
forgive those who trespass against us
hey by the way an interesting side note
I was reading something this week about
parents and children and it was a study
that was done some years ago
interviewing 1,000 children from let's
see they were in they were from 8 to 18
and they asked the kids what's the one
thing you wish you could change about
your parents and the number one answer
they wish that their parents were less
tired and stressed out then they were
asked to give their parents excuse me
then they were asked to give their
parents grades in various areas of
parenting and moms had an overall GPA
I'll tell you of 3.14 that's pretty good
and dad's had an overall GPA of 2.9
eight not not quite a B but the lowest
grade on the on the kids report for
their parents or their parents was in
response to this question how would you
rate or how would you grade your parents
ability to control his or her temper
when you do something that makes them
angry and 40% of kids gave their parents
AC D or F on this so we've got work to
do and I find in my own life that I
don't get angry with resurrection
members very often I don't get angry
with strangers very often I'm pretty
good on the roads most the time I don't
feel like I get angry there but you know
sometimes Livan my wife can say
something to me and if I'm in a bad mood
or I'm tired
it'll just set me off and then I say
something I shouldn't say and then she
says something she shouldn't say and
then pretty soon we're at each other's
throats not literally but just we feel
this anger towards each other towards
the one person that has spent the most
part of her life with me
38 years we've been married 42 years
we've been together and the person I
love the most is the person I can find
most easy to get angry with I wonder if
that's true for you and when my kids
were home sometimes when they would blow
it they would do something that they
should have done and you know I would
find if you got me just at the wrong
moment you know and I find myself angry
then I have to go back to say hey I'm
really sorry I yelled or I'm sorry I got
upset I shouldn't have said that
and I tried never to say anything that
you know would really be hurtful to them
but it just just frustration right with
the people that we love the most
and so Jesus is calling us to live
differently from that all right I'm
gonna shift gears and and there's a
whole lot more we could say about this
today I'm just inviting you to to begin
to think okay maybe I've got some work
to do on this in order to be the human
being that God wants me to be I do and
I'm guessing you do so I want to shift
gears though I want to talk about the
second thing that Jesus talked about
here so he goes from the sixth
commandment to the seventh commandment
and and this is what he says he said you
have heard that it was said don't commit
adultery but I say to you that every man
who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery in his heart
and if your right eye causes you to fall
into sin tear it out and throw it away
and then he goes on to say if your hand
causes you to sin cut it off and throw
it away so I want you to catch several
things here first of all he's taken the
seventh commandment which was a hard
commandment in the ancient world
adultery and the possibility of
infidelity human beings have always
wrestled with this right what we find is
we have this this conflict or not
conflict we find that these two drives
that really drive us you know come
together in a way that's harmful to us
many times that is the sex drive this is
the procreation drive that also is tied
in to our emotions and really into our
gut in our heart and it comes together
with the sin drive and the sin drive is
that part of us that tends to want to do
the thing we're not supposed to do so if
I tell you to drive 55 miles an hour I
know you're gonna drive 60 or 65 right
we have this thing when we have a rule
then all the sudden we want to you know
violate the rule just a little bit not
too much and so we find this and and so
adultery has been a problem for human
beings throughout human history but
Jesus then takes it and makes it even
harder by the way the latest studies
that I found have said that a much
smaller percentage of the u.s.
population have actually committed
adultery than what most people think in
the literal sense of this of the seventh
commandment and so I was surprised it
was somewhere between 10 and 20 percent
and and for many age groups the younger
you are the lower that is and for
younger adults that numbers actually
been declining over the last few years
so that's that's good news but Jesus
says you know it's really not just about
whether you sleep with somebody who's
not your mate he says it's actually also
about what happens here in the heart
it's it's not just that momentary Wow
that person is attractive I mean that's
just normal right it's not even
momentary like you no desire for a
second you feel that flash of desire
towards somebody
it's meditating upon it mulling over it
and then thinking about it thinking
about having that person taking that
person or having a relationship with
that person
that you shouldn't be having and here I
can only speak for men I can't speak for
women I don't know very many men who
haven't struggled with us somewhere
along the way now Jesus is giving this
blanket statement and it's a pretty good
statement and I'm guessing that he's
gonna have lots of grace we're gonna
talk about that in a moment towards
people who violated this but he's gonna
make clear that really God cares about
your heart and your mind as much as
anything else because your heart in your
mind you know where you're heading there
is gonna ultimately lead to what you do
with your body but it's not just that it
actually changes you it changes the way
you think and see an act and God cares
about your thoughts and what's your
thoughts to be righteous to once your
thoughts to be those of love and care
and compassion and mercy and
faithfulness and all these other things
so when Jesus says this is having a
lustful thought the same as sleeping
with somebody else no it's not I mean
literally I will just tell you as a
pastor there's a big difference between
when I see somebody in my office who
actually literally had an affair and
somebody who just thought about it but
they're just thinking about it is also
problematic Jesus is saying so he's
making this relevant for all of us and
when he does this he also then goes on
to give us the hyperbole and the
hyperbole is if you do this you know
pluck your eye out does Jesus really
want us to do that pluck our eye out cut
our hand off of course he doesn't
right this is hyperbole he's saying
listen this is so serious take me
seriously don't take me literally take
me seriously that this could harm you
and it could harm other people now when
it comes to adultery you know we live in
a time where I mean people have always
wrestled with this but but I think about
Ashley Madison right some of you
remember this is the website that
promises you can have an affair right
and then the and the the trademarked
marketing so this is actually a
registered trademark of Ashley Madison
life is short have an affair can I tell
you life is not short it's really not
you know I'm 55 I turned 56 in a couple
of weeks and I've been married 38 years
and that's really awesome that's a long
time and you know what I hope to be
married for at least another I don't
know maybe 30 years 35 years 40 years
perhaps that's a long period of time and
you know what I'd like to grow old with
LaVon
I'd like to share my life there can I
tell you this is surprising to me but
our marriage is is richer and deeper and
the love that we share for each other is
richer and deeper than it has ever been
in our entire life we have more
happiness and more joy now than we did
when we first got married and there were
moments along the journey in our married
life where it would have been really
easy to cheat even as somebody who was
studying to be a pastor in seminary or
when I was a pastor I mean it would've
been really easy to violate that I've
known too many pastors who have done
that and that's true for pastors I know
it's true for almost everybody and if
you take that step right and you take
another step and you take another step
it's not long before there's somebody
whose life is just wrecked I remember
you know the many stories at least a
dozen people have come to my office to
talk about what happened in the
aftermath of their affair and you know
men talking about wives in the fetal
position and pain or you know women
talking about their husbands when they
when they found this out and just the
brokenness that happens the lack of
trust in the pain all of that is
something that God wants us to avoid but
here we have Ashley Madison promising us
the life is short have an affair well
your life may be a lot shorter if you
have an affair and I'll tell you the
older you get and the more you wish you
had somebody who's gonna share your life
with but you just ruined that by you
know thinking that Ashley Madison had
some kind of truth that Jesus didn't
have you just missed it you missed out
on the good and beautiful life or
something that can't really satisfy long
term so Levon and I we have a place
where I write at the lake of the ozarks
and we were driving back and this is
like I don't know why but there's
Turtles everywhere at the lake of the
ozarks right now I mean I guess it's a
summertime thing but but we were driving
back on seven Highway and I see this
turtle this box turtle and he's and he's
you know I'm going like 65 miles an hour
yes the speed almost 60 I was going five
ever but anyway I was watching him and
he's booking I've never seen a turtle
run so fast he's like running across the
road I didn't even know they could move
that fast and I swerved out of the way
it's 65 miles an hour you know and and
Livan you know what happened well
there's a turtle there I didn't want to
kill the poor turtle and so I swerved
out of the way and I'm keeping you know
he's going this way the lakes over here
and he's going this way across the road
and then a big semi comes from the
opposite direction like I went over the
hill and there's this giant semi like 18
wheels and he's cruising along and I
know a guy cannot swerve for that turtle
I have no idea what happened I was glad
I didn't see it was you know they were
over the hill by the time I got there
maybe the turtle made it I hope he did
but here's what struck me is that turtle
with his little peeper
didn't understand that on this side of
the road where it was coming from there
was the entire lake of the ozarks and
thousands of acres of land and somehow
he thought he had to get to the other
side of the road regardless of the risk
like that's what sin looks like in our
lives sometimes it just seizes us with
this desire to do something that will
lead us into pain and brokenness now
what Jesus is saying again is not just
about when we actually have an affair
it's about the stuff that we play with
in our mind pastor Walter Wanger in a
Lutheran pastor years ago wrote a book
called s for me in my house and he
talked about the moment of the maybe and
those of you Resurrection members who've
been here any length of time you've
heard me talk about this before because
I think it's such a powerful idea is for
all of us there comes this moment of the
maybe and we play with this for a little
long he was talking about as a pastor
how he struggled with this at one point
in his ministry when he was younger and
he and and he had this moment maybe he
was thinking well I wonder what it would
be like to be with this person and if I
wasn't with my wife and if what would it
how would it and he said I realized at
the moment that maybe is a stepping
stone towards a yes and even if you
never say yes it messes with every other
part of your life when you're playing
with the maybe but here's the thing
today we live in a time where it's not
just the moment of the maybe with maybe
somebody else but it's all the graphic
images we have online at our fingertips
on our iPad or our phone or our computer
24 hours a day many of them free of
charge and what happens when we begin to
feed that to our brain what happens when
you start feeding that to your brain
when you're 12 years old and here was a
study that was done in Manchester
England met in Manchester Metropolitan
University neuroscientist Nicola ray had
done research in this field she says
porn works on the brain like any
addictive substance the thing you're
addicted to takes hold of your neural
circuitry and hijacks the pathways
related to more natural reward rewards
so that they become unresponsive so porn
becomes the only thing the brain
understands in relation to stimulation
basically the real thing becomes
increasingly less exciting and it's a
drug right like any other drug and it
ultimately ends up bringing pain to your
body it takes away this beautiful thing
that God wanted to give you I'm not
condemning you listen there's no
judgment here I mean this is a this is a
real thing that we wrestle with this
human being sitting it used to be just
guys and now it's guys and girls who are
wrestling with the same things I'm just
go I'm just trying to say to you there's
a better path out
don't be the turtle running across the
road chasing after something that's when
you got all this great stuff over here
but also when it comes to your fantasy
life you know be careful what you're
putting into your brain into your mind
there's a lot of this stuff that just
hurts you in the end all right so I want
to quickly review the rest of what Jesus
says here because like I don't have time
to give it all to you today I'm gonna
ask you with the grow pray and study
guide this is our daily Scripture
readings which you can access at coorg
next slash next and and you can sign up
for this so every day we're gonna send
you one of these scriptures that Jesus
said from the Sermon on the Mount and
here's what I want you to read it and
pray it Jesus help me to be more like
this actually start with Lord I'm sorry
I've blown it here would you please help
me to be more like this he's got tons of
grace for you he just loves it when you
ask him to help you and and so here are
some of what you're gonna find action
I'm just gonna skip to the very end
you'll read a lot of really great stuff
about turning the other cheek and about
divorce and about keeping your promises
and all this but but in the end Jesus
says this matthew 5 43 and 44 you've
heard that it was said you must love
your neighbor and hate your enemy
actually the Bible doesn't say to hate
your enemy it says it says love your
neighbor but doesn't say hate your enemy
but this is sort of implied a lot of
times when it came to the people that
the Israelites were surrounded by you've
heard that it was said you must love
your neighbor and hate your enemy but I
say to you love your enemies and pray
for those who harass you now that is an
impossible ethic without God's help but
this is what Jesus lays out for us he's
laying out for us a way of living our
lives that is different we live in a
time where we are so stinking divided as
a race as a people right in our own
country and in the United States we were
divided against other nations but we're
divided with each other Republicans and
Democrats and independence were divided
when it comes to how we look at almost
any issue we are so divided and then
anger is building underneath the surface
and and yet Jesus gives us something
here that's an antidote to the world
that we live in today right here it is
again he says love your enemy and pray
for those who harass you now that love
isn't a warm fuzzy feeling it's a dogged
determination to seek the best of the
other person it doesn't matter whether I
agree with your politics I'm gonna love
you doesn't matter whether you see
things the same way I see them I'm still
gonna
you and love has the power to change
things this kind of love is doing good
for the other person has the power to
take an enemy and make them your friend
right would to God that all of us in
this country during this election years
we're going into the heat of the
elections would to God that we would we
would say you know Jesus who 80 percent
of us in America say we believe in he
called us to follow him and if I'm gonna
follow him it means that I have to love
you I have to work on loving you and I
got to pray for you and I got to seek
your best even when we disagree and what
I find is a lot of times people who have
vehemently differing opposing views a
politics of almost anything else when
they actually reach out to one another
with love and care when they show
kindness to somebody who's on the other
side enemies become friends I want to
invite you to take Jesus really
seriously here and I want you to think
about the people in your life right now
who you're struggling with because their
views are very different you're having
facebook arguments with them your your
your neighbors you just decide you can't
talk to any more family members you just
feel like you can't have conversations
with now I want to remind you that your
politics you know who's running for
office for years now will be different
than now and for years after that and
you know none of this stuff really
matters in the end I mean politics
matters but your view of politics of
someone else's but what really does
matter it's faith working it up working
itself out through love so Paul says
this do not repay evil for evil don't
try to get revenge for yourselves my
dear friends but leave room for God's
wrath it is written revenge belongs to
me I will repay says the Lord instead if
your enemy is hungry feed him if he is
thirsty give him a drink
don't be defeated by evil I love this
line don't be defeated by evil but
defeat evil with good this is what it
means to have a righteousness that
exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees
this is what it means to be perfect as
your heavenly Father is perfect and
you're not gonna make it there maybe in
this entire life you might not make it
there but it's the direction that you're
walking in if you're a follower of Jesus
I want to invite you to be a follower of
Jesus I want to invite you today to
repent the word repent means to see
things differently I didn't understand
that before but now I see it what Jesus
wants me to be and then in your heart to
say lord please forgive me I really
don't want to be the person I've been
but
want to walk in your path and then to
begin to walk taking steps in that
direction I want to advise you to repent
and to follow Jesus would you pray with
me
Oh God you know our hearts you know our
minds you know the many ways that we
fail and fall short of your glory and
will you created us in your image and
yet we have marred that image
we've given into sin so many times
strayed from the path you have for us
you know oh god how angry we get with
each other over stupid things and
sometimes over really serious things you
know Oh Lord the the anger and animosity
across our country right now heal us
heal me would you simply just quietly
under your breath we just simply whisper
lord please forgive me ask him to wash
you clean and make you new
and then would you commit Lord just
maybe ask him just pray right now and
say lord please help me to follow you
homie to live in tell me to be more like
the person you want me to be tomorrow
than I was yesterday would you pray that
right now Oh God we thank you for your
mercy and grace thank you that you
forgive us thank you that you came and
suffered and died for the forgiveness
and grace and mercy that you would give
to the entire world
you know what failures we have been at
times you know how we have blown it
again and again but please pick us back
up wash us and make us new and give us
the power and strength by your Holy
Spirit to follow you in your holy name
Amen
thank you for watching this week's
sermon we'd love for you to join us
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more about Church of the Resurrection
please visit Korg have a great week
