Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount: Exceeding Righteousness (3)

Pray Psalm 37.4-6.
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,And He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.

Sing Psalm 37.4-6.
(Neumark: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)
Delight yourself in God’s salvation;
He’ll give you all your heart’s desire.
Commit to Him your every station,
and His good purpose will transpire.
Your righteousness a blazing light
He will bring forth against the night.

Read Matthew 5.1-30; meditate on verses 27-30

Prepare.
1. What does Jesus mean by the “heart”?

2. How would you describe Jesus’ attitude toward sin?

Meditate.
I want to summarize this passage by saying that Jesus doesn’t want us plucking out our eyes or cutting off our hands. He uses hyperbole here to show just how serious sin is. Sin will destroy us, and if there’s anything we can do to keep from falling into habitual, unrepentant sin, we should do it.

The passage begins by Jesus explaining how to deal with sin: Check it at the source. Sin begins in the heart. The heart is that spiritual component of the soul that nurtures and engages our affections, such as love or desire. If we fear the Lord, delight and desire Him and His Kingdom, and love Him with all our heart, the other affections of our life will fall into place. This will be true of the affection of hate, which is a valid affection, and ought to be at all times engaged toward sin (cf. Ps. 97.10). If we hate sin, at the same time loving God and His Word, we will be formed for true righteousness. The focus of our heart will be rightly aligned, and our eyes and hands will follow the dictates of our soul. This means we will have the mastery over sin – in the strength of the Lord – so that whatever sin our eye or hand may be tempted to commit, we will turn from it, repent as needed, and hate that sin, and not allow it to fester in our heart.

So when Jesus equates lust with committing adultery, He’s only making the point that sin begins in the heart. Check sin there, and you will be increase in true righteousness, which is inside-out and not outside-in. Righteousness begins in the heart as well as sin. Cultivate true righteousness, and you will watch over your heart with all diligence, knowing that from it flow all the issues of life (Prov. 4.23).

There is something more to be said about plucking out our eyes and cutting off our hands. While we don’t need to mutilate our bodies, we can put out of sight or out of reach any temptations that might lead to sin, whether in our heart or otherwise. We need to recognize temptation from afar, and pluck out or cut off from our lives anything which might become a trap or snare, leading to sin (Prov. 1.17). For one way to guard the heart is to refuse to expose it to what we know may cause us to fall through temptation into sin.

Reflect.
1. What do we mean by saying that sin begins in the heart?

2. What is involved in guarding our heart, so that sin cannot find harbor there (cf. Ps. 66.18)?

3. What should you do when you find that the delight and desires of your heart are fixing on other things more than on the Lord and His will?

He speaks about the numbers [sic] of the body but employs hyperbole. It is not that one should literally “cut off one’s members.” Rather, one is called to mortify them and render them useless for sin, as the apostle has said. One should not spare even things thought most necessary, if through them any bad activity threatens to occur. Apollinaris (310-392), Fragment 23

I want to love You supremely, Lord, and to serve You only. Help me today to…

Pray Psalm 37.7-9, 34-40.
Pray about the day ahead. Ask the Lord to give you strength to love Him at all times, to serve Him in everything you do, and to resist temptation as it appears.

Sing Psalm 37.7-9, 40.
Psalm 37.7-9, 34-40 (Neumark: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee)
Rest in the Lord and wait on Jesus;
fret not at those who practice sin.
Forsake all wrath till anger ceases;
let anxious fears not enter in.
The wicked perish from the Lord,
but they are blest who heed His Word!

Wait on the Lord, His way observing,
and He will lift you up on high.
Those prone to wicked ways preserving,
your eyes shall see cast down to die.
The blameless man shall stand upright,
for God preserves him by His might!

Salvation comes from Christ our Savior;
He is our strength in time of need.
On us does He bestow His favor,
who all His holy judgments heed.
He is our help in troubled times;
our refuge He, in Him we hide.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).