Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome back
to the Love and Context podcast. Podcast. Podcast.
Podcast. This is the segment of the show where
we see how many times Ben can say podcast before
you guys hang up on us. Hang up? Are they on
their phones? Yeah, I'm old school. I'm old school.
We are in the middle of the life of Jesus, and
we're in the Sermon on the Mount part two. two
two hold on i'm gonna get myself a video two
and you know what that means today we're gonna
talk about murder yeah um we should preface this
though because when uh This is not about murder.
We'll get there, okay? We'll get there. As Ben
and I were prepping for this, we were like, wait
a second. We are not moving as fast as we thought
we were going to move through this. So what we're
going to do today is we're going to walk through
it. We're going to go for about 45 minutes, and
we're going to get as far as we get. We may pick
up in part three. That might be coming. And hopefully
we don't make it to part 17 of the Sermon on
the Mount. If you guys are wondering about my
t -shirts, this is one my wife got me. It says,
bookworm? Please, I'm a book dragon. So that
is quite accurate for myself. All right, so reminder,
if this is your first episode, it's super weird
that you jumped in on a part two for the first
episode, but just in case that's the case, we
started in the Beatitudes, and we talked about
Jesus says, hey, the kingdom of God is coming
for these types of people. And when you are these
types of people and people are coming after you
because you follow me, you're going to be blessed.
But that doesn't mean you get to go run and hide.
You have to go and be in the middle of everything.
You're the salt of the earth. You're the light
that's going to be put on a hill. I'm not coming
to get rid of Torah. Don't mistake that. Torah
is not going away. But in fact, I'm coming to
fulfill it or put it on display. And then, let's
see, what was the last thing that they talked
about? Oh, go and do good deeds. Go do Torah.
So that when people see the things you do, they
glorify your God in heaven. Yep. Right? Your
Father who is in heaven. And then, so then he's
going to pick up and start going through, and
he's going to start talking about some ideas
behind Torah that have been wildly misunderstood
in their day. And Jesus goes back and says, he's
going to use a tool called, I forget what the
name of it is, but it's a rabbinic tool. You
have heard it said, but I say unto you. This
is not... Upping the ante. No. Jesus is actually,
we talked about this a little last week for those
who are joining us. He's actually correcting
two lines of thought. Yeah. We have misunderstand
Torah Jewish line of thought that he's correcting.
And then we also have the bleeding in of the
Roman culture. Correct. Greek and Roman thought.
And so he's correcting some of that as well.
So when a rabbi says, you have heard it said,
but I say unto you, whenever you see in the scriptures
where they say he taught as one with authority,
shmika is the Greek or Hebrew. is what they mean
with authority in other words you're interpreting
the original meaning and so jesus is going to
go and do that so we're just going to jump in
we are in matthew 5 going to start in verse 21
read the first section here okay so right off
the bat so right before this as far i tell you
this is verse 24 i tell you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the pharisees
and the teachers of the law you will certainly
not enter the kingdom of heaven now You have
heard it said to the people long ago, you shall
not murder. And anyone who murders will be subject
to judgment. 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, raka, is answerable to the court.
And anyone who says, you fool, will be in the
danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you're
offering your gift at the altar, and then remember
that your brother or sister has something against
you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.
First, go and be reconciled to them. Then come
and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with
your adversary who is taking you to court. Do
it while you're... 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 in prison. Truly I tell
you, you will not get out until you pay the last
penny. Okay. According to Jesus, when the law
says in the Ten Commandments, you shall not commit
murder, it means all of these things. This is
the intention behind the law. Well, and what
Jesus is correcting here is he's correcting the
interpretation of relationship. Right. Because
we often will interpret murder as an action,
which it is, but why did that action take place?
Right. Right. If you go back to our Exodus series,
which I'll probably stitch in here, we did talk
about the Ten Commandments. We talked about these
vertical relationships, these horizontal relationships,
and how loving God and loving others are actually
connected inside of the Ten Commandments. And
so murder isn't just about murder. It's also
respecting and honoring the person that's in
front of you. Yes. And so what Jesus is doing
is he's saying, hey, it's not just about whether
that person lives or dies. Yeah. Right? It's
about your relationship with that person. Yeah.
Yeah, so let's take a look here. 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, Raka, is answerable
to the court, and anyone who says you fool will
be in danger of the fire of hell. Now, this is
a little bit difficult in, I'm just going to
say American culture, so I know we have some
people that listen internationally. Cool, I love
that. But in American culture, this is a little
bit difficult because we say things all the time
that we don't mean, right? That's very different
in honor -shame culture, turn -of -the -century
Jewish culture. What they say, their words, the
things that they say, you don't say something
if you don't mean it, right? If you're not willing
to put your whole person behind it, right? And
so when you're talking, you're calling your brother
Sister Raka, which is basically moron. right
or you're calling somebody a fool in other words
like you you have no brain like you it's not
it's not just a passing insult like i'm gonna
make fun of spencer for his whatever right so
you can't even think of it either no actually
the problem was i had too many things and so
i was like how do i narrow down to just one no
no you're making that up but the uh so but it's
it's it's a very different thing whereas if i
was to uh The more equivalent is, like, if I
was to actually try to impugn something about
your character, it's a much more significant
thing, right? Where I'm not only, it's not something
I'm saying to be funny, even in anger, it's something
I'm saying to literally hurt you. Yeah. Right?
So Jesus is saying, he's like, hey, when you
talk about people in this way, when you talk
about them in order to tear them down, to rip
them apart, to cause wounds, It's a problem,
and it's the same as murdering. Not the same
as obviously one person dies and one person is
still alive, but it's the same concept. Do not
murder was always supposed to turn you into the
kind of person who lived at peace with those
around you, who built people up. who cared about
each other. Not who never messed around, but
people who actually were invested in building
each other up, not tearing or cutting into each
other. That is a massive issue. We wouldn't think
necessarily in the church today that murder is
an issue, but according to Jesus, this law we
struggle with because we still tear people down
inside and outside the church all the time. I
mean, just go listen to religious commentary
on social media. You hear it all the time, right?
And oftentimes what we do, and don't get me wrong,
you've heard us say that we're not going to just
go out and badmouth people, right? There is a
time and place for correction, and there is a
time and place to call someone out, right? But
with that said, we often just jump to that to
justify our thinking. Yeah. Right? And Jesus
is—this passage will actually tie back into,
I think it's later in Matthew, when it's talking
about dealing with correction with a brother
or sister, where it's saying, no, don't just
immediately go to bad -mouthing them or taking
them to the court. Right. Go have a conversation.
Yeah. And if they're not going to listen to you,
maybe bring a third party in to help mediate
that conversation, right? Can you imagine if
the— first time you found out somebody had an
issue with you is when they brought it up in
front of the entire church? Actually, I want
to tell a story about this. I was a part of a
charitable organization in town, and this person
brought up a slight that they had with the other
person. So we do this thing where we talk about
things we're happy about that we've been engaged
in the last week, right? We're like, hey, this
was really cool, and we just tell them basically
about cool things that have happened. Person
gets up and they say, well, I was... talked down
to and blah blah it goes on this really really
long description of like everything that happened
to them and then says and it was this person
they're like sitting two chairs away from them
and I have never been in as quite awkward of
a situation or tense of a situation like because
everybody was like what is going on right like
it was it was weird for it to happen in that
in that situation because like the person didn't
had no idea they never talked nobody like uh
like the people who are in charge of organization
nobody talked to them there was just like we're
going to bring it up in front of like 45 people
all at once yeah and yeah And yeah, that's just
ridiculous, right? I mean, it was, you know those
situations where you're there and you're like,
man, if I had a knife, I could just cut this
and put it on a slice of bread because that's
how thick it is. Yeah, right. In all the ministries
that I've led, there's been one rule I've had
about conflict. It was like, if you have an issue
with me, come talk to me, right? And here's the
deal. If you can't find the nerve to come talk
to me about it. It must not be that big of a
deal. Right. Right? Like, I'm here. I want to
help resolve it. I want to be here for you. Yeah.
Like, we're brothers, sisters in Christ. But
it's like, if it's like, you know, I just can't
work up the nerve to go talk to Spencer about
it, I'll be like, all right, well then, can we
at least call that out and say what that is?
And at the very least, you couldn't grab one
other person and say, hey, they're here just
to sit with me while I talk with you. Yeah. Like,
not to interject. They're just there to be there
to be moral support while you go have a conversation.
I'm fine with that. I've had that happen where
somebody's like, because I have an intense personality.
I don't know if you know that. Really? Yeah,
I know. It's shocking to you. I know. And so
sometimes people, like I can set people at edge
with my personality, and they'll be like, oh,
yeah, such and such needs to come. And they sit
there, and I was like, yeah, let's talk. Right?
We're just trying to figure it out. I'm cool
with that. Though the downside to that is I feel
like right before this you were talking about
me. That hurts. Yeah, I've gotten to a point
where I just really don't care if people badmouth
me behind my back. I'm like, okay, if you're
not going to come talk to me about it, then it's
obviously not that big of a deal. That's good.
Clearly, you're not reading the comments of our
video. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
Just kidding. Nobody wrote anything. To be clear,
I don't read the comments. That's true. Ben reads
the comments and responds to some of them. I
don't really go down that road. It's not that
I don't want to talk to you. I just don't want
to talk. So Jesus, I think it's interesting that
the first thing he talks about is this law of
murder, right? Because one of the first things
that trip us up in following the faith, because
what has he really been talking about? The kingdom
of God is ready to interact with you, right?
You're supposed to go and do good deeds. We're
not abolishing the Torah. We're putting it on
display. Be salt and light, right? Yeah. You're
going to make each other mad. You know what you
don't do? Tear each other apart. By the way,
this section right here, this little section
we're covering right now, and I'm probably spending
too much time on it, and I don't care. This is
80 % of the churches in fighting. If we could
get a handle on this, we could figure a lot of
things out. Not we have disagreements. Of course,
we always have disagreements. Ben and I disagree
on stuff. And my wife and I disagree. right?
And then me and others, maybe I'm the problem.
No, but you know, like... You know what? We'll
go with that. We'll go with that. But if you
get two personalities, nobody's going to agree
about everything 100%. You have Jesus' followers
being Essenes and Pharisees and Sadducees and
Herodians and Zealots and tax collectors and
women, right? They're not all going to agree.
No. Right? And he says, so one of the first things
you've got to know... is when you disagree, you
know what you can't do? You can't just rip somebody
a new one. You can't just, like, stab them in
the back and be like, well, y 'all are Christians,
so you gotta forgive me. I mean, it's true, but
also, you're getting handed over to judgment.
Like, you know what you're doing. You know how
you're supposed to behave. Do not murder is supposed
to do something in you beyond just not killing
people. Right? Right? Like, 3 ,000 years ago,
okay, don't murder. Totally on track with that.
Yeah. It's been thousands of years. Yeah. It
does more than that. So the other side, the other
thing that this is correcting a little bit is
the creeping in of Greek and Roman culture. Yeah.
Right? Because the actually murder was entertainment.
Yeah. Via the fights in the Colosseum. Well,
and not just that. Let me read this section because
this will play into the Greek and Roman. Settle
matters quickly with your adversary who's taking
you to court. Do it while you're still together
on your way. Your adversary may hand you over
to the judge, and the judge may hand you over
to the officer, and you may be thrown in prison.
Truly, I tell you, you will not be out until
you've paid the last penny. Okay? Sounds a lot
like Greek and Roman ideas to me. Right. Yeah.
And so, you know, this idea of like, hey, don't
murder. Like because Greek and the Greek and
Roman culture were were very much like this person
wronged me. I'm going to stab them. Like there
was a lot of that that went on. And if you don't
believe me, just look at go do your research
on the number of Caesars who were assassinated
or attempted or there was attempted assassinations
on their life. It's actually really high. Yeah,
really high. Really high. I mean, that's not
even playing into how many senators were assassinated
in the Republic and all sorts of stuff. No, and
yeah, there's a whole thing to it. But Jesus
is saying, hey, we're not going to be like them.
It actually comes back to the idea of the Exodus
where it's like, hey, actually, the people are
going to leave Egypt and they're going to be
set apart. You need to leave Egypt, though. Stop
taking Egypt with you. In this case, don't take
Rome with you. Don't take your human ideals into
the kingdom of God. This is a massive thing,
so I don't want to go off of it too quick, but
I feel like we're going to beat it into the ground
if we go any further. We just have to understand
this thing about when we're engaging with each
other, the goal is always restoration, not to
be right. Yeah. Right? Like, it's okay to be
right, but you shouldn't be, like, being right
at the behest of someone else getting hurt is
not helpful. No. Now, I hear clicking, clacking,
and they're like, well, what if they're, like...
preaching a heresy, and I was like, listen, you
can't control whether or not people get hurt
when you interact with them, just in general.
I was like, but if it's as much as it's up to
you, live at peace. You were talking about there's
places for confrontation, right? If you are in
authority over somebody, it's okay for you to
go and have a conversation with them, though
you need to respect your authority because it
comes from God, right? And so you need to love
the person that you're going to have a conversation
with, or you need to have a connection with the
person you're going to correct. you don't correct
without connection. Nope. Because otherwise,
you're not speaking truth and love, you're speaking
something. And it's not in love. Nope. So if
tearing each other down, anger, backbiting, all
these different things are the number one thing
that we see dealing with in the church, what
would you say is the number two issue that we
deal with inside of the church? Complacency.
Complacency? Well, let me give you one up here.
It actually shows up next. You have heard it
said, you shall not commit adultery. But I tell
you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully
has already committed adultery with her in her
heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble,
gadget out, and throw it away, it's better for
you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your
right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off
and throw it away, it's better for you to lose
one part of your body than for your whole body
to go into hell. Like, holy sexual ethics in
the church, right? That is a problematic thing.
It is, yeah. Pornography is rampant in the church.
Sexual infidelity. People, you know, all sorts
of stuff that goes in there. And like how many
ministries have fallen because some pastor is
not being held accountable, not being honest,
like hiding things, has an affair, has whatever
it is, right? It's a problem. It's like number
one thing that tends to divide churches is people
saying things, doing things they can't take back.
Shortly right behind that is sexual issues, right?
And it's a problem. And, you know, the hyperbole
that he goes out here, one of the things that's
interesting in some of the commentary, if you
get into linguistics here, what they're not saying
is to cut out your right eye. It's hyperbole
being like, if it was a choice between your eye
and going to hell, get rid of your eye. It's
really interesting because it's hyperbole, right?
They're giving an example of not what to do literally,
but how to choose your battles, right? If it's
like, hey, let's look at pornography or go to
heaven. Those are your two options. They're saying,
which one are you going to set down? Let's set
down the pornography. If it's like, hey, if this
thing is getting in the way of your relationship
with Jesus, Because you're not content in the
life that he's given you? Yeah. Right? then maybe
we need to set those things aside and focus on
Jesus, right? That's kind of what it's getting
at here, right? It's not saying, please, please
hear us loud and clear. We're not saying go gouge
your eyes out every time you're like, hey, that
woman's attractive or that guy's attractive,
right? Because let's be real, we would have a
very blind church very quickly. In fact, one
of the things Paul's going to say later is he
says that I take every thought captive, which
means that Paul has thoughts. Right? Yeah. Because
you can't take thoughts captive that you don't
have. So we live in a fallen world. You're going
to see things. The question is, what are you
doing with those once you have them? Yeah. Right?
Like, are you being intentional about, like,
and I also love this whole idea of your right
eye causes you to sin. Like, your eye is not
in control of where it looks. It's your brain.
And obviously, biblical authors are going to
have a different understanding of anatomy than
we do. But still, like, they would say your heart.
would be controlling it. Also, your hand isn't
causing you to sin. Something else is controlling
your hand. And so the hyperbole here is, sure,
you would cut those off, but it's kind of like
a person who says, well, I struggle with pornography,
so I just don't have a phone where I can access
the internet. Okay, but does that actually address
the issue of why you're looking at it? Do you
actually value somebody, like the opposite sex,
as images of God? Or do you see them as tools
of pleasure? There's a hard issue there. And
sure, you can get rid of your phone. What I'm
not saying is there are great safe guides to
try to break addiction. I'm not saying anything
against those. But you can't live a life where
it's like focusing on the punishment. You actually
have to live into something, not away from something.
If someone's listening and is struggling with
this and this is hitting home, because this is
kind of a heavy topic. It is a heavy topic. Right?
And you're like, yeah, my phone is a real issue.
There are actually accountability apps that you
can download. I think Covenant Eyes is one of
them. Yeah. Where you can download it and actually
what it does is you give somebody else who's
trusted in your life permission to see what you're
actually looking at. Preferably somebody who's
not going to call you Raka. Again, somebody who's
trusted, who confessed the issue to them, be
like, hey, this is an issue I've been dealing
with. I need some accountability. There are ways
that you can safeguard this. I don't want you
to feel like you're alone. No, there are many,
many people who struggle with this, and it is
an ongoing struggle. This is one of the reasons
why the problem is, because if you don't talk
about it, it manifests in the dark. Remember
a couple weeks ago, we were talking about Evil
people do evil things in the dark and they don't
like the light coming out. Yeah. The thing is
that when they went to Samaria, they're in the
light and they all bring their stuff out to Jesus,
right? Light exposes sin and you have the ability
to get rid of it. Yeah. Having conversations
about this, real conversations, actually help
you find freedom. Living by the Spirit, you are
powerful enough through the change work of Jesus
Christ and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit,
you can conquer sin through His power. Yeah.
Sometimes you need people around you who remind
you that. And so we've talked about this too,
but the other thing that Jesus is doing is he's
counteracting a Roman practice. Sexual ethics
are quite questionable in Rome. Yes. One of the
things that actually was pretty common in Roman
Greek culture was what they would call street
pornography or street prostitutes, where it actually
would literally just be a prostitute on the side
of a street with a mat or something, and you
could just... do your thing with them in public
right there yeah that was a pretty common thing
for a lot of roman cultures there's also like
worship of the gods that there's like shrine
prostitutes and all sorts of things like uh just
very different yes Yeah, very different. And
you get over to places like Ephesus, where you
have the Temple of Aphrodite, right? And some
of the practices that went on there. We're skimming
the surface on this. Go do your own research
on it. It is a very heavy topic to research.
Just heads up on that. But so Jesus, again, he's
not just saying, okay, let's talk about it from
a Jewish perspective. He's like, we're also going
to counteract. Yeah, and I think the bigger idea
is, and when you come back where he's saying,
listen, It's great that you're not stepping out
on your wife, but when you're watching other
people, when you're engaging in these activities,
you are. You are stepping out on your spouse.
And I'll say spouse rather than wife because
it goes both ways. Don't commit adultery was
not supposed to be about just not committing
adultery. It was about having fidelity with the
person you're with. Right. Actually investing
into that relationship. So you actually value
that person. Why does God say don't commit adultery?
Because he's faithful. Right. That's who he is.
So if we're going to be in his image, what do
we got to be? Faithful. Faithful. Speaking of
the next one, it says it has been said anyone
who divorces his wife must give her a certificate
of divorce. 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 section
probably... You're just picking all the easy
ones to talk about. It's in the Sermon on the
Mount, man. I don't know what you want me to
do. Wait, you're not skipping over hard text?
No, I'm not skipping over hard text. I want to
caveat everything we're about to say with people
have used this section right here to beat people
over the head and really make them feel bad.
In situations where I don't know that there was
an alternative. They've been using this as opposed
to how to live into a kingdom principle. They've
used it to beat people, slice them up. They've
actually... done the first part where we're talking
about murder. That's what they do with this.
But can we put this part in its context, though?
Yes. Because this part follows the sexual immorality
piece, right? And then now it goes into divorce.
So really, when I've read this passage, I've
really actually taken these two spots and just
kind of read them as one. Let me read it as one
here. Yeah. Except for sexual. immorality makes
her the victim of adultery and anyone who marries
a divorced woman commits adultery. So do you
hear how that flows as one piece right there?
It's actually interesting to me because it's
cut out your eye, cut off your hand, now the
two become one flesh. And you're giving a certificate
of divorce so you almost look at you're cutting
off half of you. Right? Yeah. And so we have
to always put this little passage in its context
because we will use this to be like, okay, well,
the only reason for divorce in Christian culture
is sexual immorality. And I'm here to say, no,
if you're in a relationship where someone's abusive
or you're physically unsafe, right, there are
other reasons to step out. And we will have a
conversation in a future episode on some of the
texts that actually talk about this because this
is specifically Jesus is speaking to. You remember
at the beginning of Life of Jesus, I talked about
eight great rabbinic debates. This is one of
them. They have a disagreement about whether
or not you can divorce a wife for anything. She
burns your toast. She does anything that's incorrect.
Or there's specific things that she does that
you can divorce your wife. You can present her
with the writ of divorce because you're just
not wanting to be married anymore. And it's interesting
that Jesus actually, what he does here is he
gives women some certainty, right? He gives them
some, which by the way is happening in Torah
throughout. He's getting them some security.
You can't just divorce your wife because you're
unhappy with the way she cooked. Yeah. Or the
fact that, you know, X, Y, or Z. Like that's
problematic. And he says, hey, you know that
debate that's going on right now? You can't do
that. Yeah. Marriage is about growing together.
Yeah. Right. So I'm going to give you an example.
I'm going to throw my wife under the bus. I know
she doesn't listen and she'll acknowledge 100
% what I'm about to say here. When Lindsay and
I got married, Lindsay could not cook to save
her life. All right. Like it was like she would
like she smoked us out of the house one time
because she tried to like fry jalapenos and like
we were all like in the house like crying. Yeah.
Because it's. fricking fried jalapenos. And so
we're all like out on the deck and like, you
know, this was, this was the early stages of
marriage. Right. Right. Okay. Now fast forward
10 years. All right. And if Lindsay's like, Hey,
I'm going to make a meal. It's actually, it's
going to be really good. Right. She's, I mean
like, uh, example, she makes really good hot
dog buns. Like, like makes real, like likes to
make everything from scratch and it tastes delicious.
Right. Um, but the reality, the reality is, is,
um, we had to grow together in that, right? Like
she had to be like, okay, I'm going to do better
at this. Yeah. Right. She's like, I want to be
faithful with my husband and I want to give him
the best I can and I'm going to be better when
it comes to this type of stuff. And, and like
the point being, yeah, is that like a lot of
times we'll find the little things like, ah,
it's just not quite what I want. And it's like,
okay, we'll have a conversation. Well, and that,
that even shows up in the text. Because like,
what's the issue with adultery? It's not just
committing adultery, it's looking at somebody
lustfully. Yeah. And you're, as like, if you're
not invested in the fidelity of your marriage,
and you're looking around. to see what else is
out there, and you're like, I like that more
than I like this, and I'm just going to present
you with a writ of divorce, the whole attitude
is problematic. Yeah. In fidelity in marriage,
it's not just about intercourse, right? Right.
It's about life together, and how are you living
life that honors the other person? Yeah. Well,
it's an important part of marriage, but it is
not the most substantial part. No. Right? It
is a crucial part, but it's not substantial.
You're talking about intercourse. Intercourse,
yeah. I was like, your marriage is going to be
built on much more than just that. It's partnership.
It's faithfulness and love and compassion and
building your lives together. A lot of times
now, my wife Tara and I, we just know what the
other person is thinking without having to do
anything. Sometimes I don't know how to... engage
things without her because I'm like, well, I'm
so used to having her here, you know, and she
fills in like those, like, you know who I am.
Yeah. So like, like my wife's traveled some this
summer and I've stayed, I've stayed back here
to work and, um, and it puts things into perspective
of like, Oh, just how much she does around the
house because she loves us. Yeah. Right. Right.
And like, and, and it's like, Oh. OK, like because
sometimes you can take that for granted and sometimes
you can kind of you can kind of drift apart and
be like, OK, you know, like she just does this.
I just do this. These are roles type thing. Right.
You can kind of get in that rut. And it's like,
no, why are you doing that? And so so we had
recommended in the last episode, I recommended
a book called The Grand Conspiracy, The Divine
Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. And he does a thing
where he's going through here, but hopefully
you're starting to see this pattern. First thing
we're talking about, the don't murder is supposed
to be about not attacking other people and about
finding ways to actually build them up. And,
oh, by the way, be faithful. to people. Don't
go looking for the other thing that's out there.
And don't be looking for a reason to get rid
of people, especially your spouse, your closest
relationship. These are all connected. So then
we get here again, it says, coming into oaths.
Again, you have heard it said to people long
ago, do not break your oath, but fulfill to the
Lord the vows that you have made. But I tell
you, do not swear an oath at all, either by heaven,
for it is God's throne, or by the earth, for
it is the footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it
is the city of the great king. And do not swear...
Okay, so why does he say this? There's, I mean,
there's all throughout Scripture things that
he's talking about, right, through here. I can
think of many stories. Let's just take Judah
and Tamar. Yeah. He makes a vow that he's going
to do this thing. One, that he's going to make
sure that his third son marries Tamar, and then
he doesn't do that. And then Tamar goes and secures
a child by her own stuff. And he, in that situation,
vows a certain amount of money and prestige to
her as well. Okay? I don't know if you guys have
read that story. It's in Genesis, I think, 35,
somewhere in there. It's a weird story. Right?
Yeah. There are lots of stories like this in
the Bible where people make oaths by heaven.
And by the way, words aren't cheap here. No.
Right? The words aren't cheap. So when you make
this oath, God expects you to fulfill it. Yeah.
And they put themselves in these oaths. And think
about this context of adultery and looking out
and seeing these different people and divorcing.
And then you make oaths. If you make oaths to
people that you can't fulfill because you're
in commitment, oh, good golly. Yep. Right? Mm
-hmm. It's much better to just be yes or no.
Yep. And by the way, you did make oaths when
you got married. Yeah. And so all of this right
now is written in the context of relationships
with each other and there's a context of marriage,
right? And when we're talking about yes be yes,
no be no, okay? I think what happens is so often
we take offense to that, right? I've had a number
of conversations where people are just like,
well, I don't know what to do here, blah, blah,
blah. I was like, okay, what are some boundaries
you've set up in your life? And they're like,
oh, well, that's really hard to do because that
means I have to say no to some things or some
people. And I'm like, yes, correct. It is. But
I can guarantee you when you set up those boundaries
and you have your yes be yes and your no be no,
those relationships are going to be a lot healthier.
And it also just not beating around the bush
on it, just being like, hey, yeah, just be like,
hey, yeah, that sounds great. I can do that.
Hey, I can't do that. Or I'm unable to do that
or whatever. Right. What it does is it also provides
clarity for the other person. So the other person's
not left wondering. Now, often what we do in
relationships, though, is we get into this like,
oh, like, how do you like we'll get into this.
Like, how do you feel about that when it comes
to stuff that doesn't matter? Like, how do you
feel about your coffee being too hot? I was like,
I don't care, right? Like, that's a silly example,
right? It's a silly example for us, but there's
probably people who fight over that. Yeah, or
this is a controversial one. How do you feel
about pineapple on pizza? right there's some
people that you just like they they quit listening
their hackles right we just lost 10 subscribers
right uh right uh and they'll be like oh how
do you feel about that when when reality is if
you asked beforehand being like hey do you like
pineapple on pizza and someone was like yes and
the other person was like no okay yeah you have
clarity yeah you have clarity you have understanding
in your relationship that's what this brings
So this idea of yes, no boundaries, holding fast
to your word. If you're going to make an oath,
just make it simple. Yes, no. Don't swear by
heaven. Don't swear by the city. Show up and
do what you're supposed to do and also be okay
saying no. This next section is starting then
because we've moved from individuals like overall,
there's like fighting, marriage, divorce. Now
we're talking about O's like in general, right?
But it's kind of like this hinge piece. The next
section is one that we're very familiar with.
You've heard it said, you have heard it that
is said. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. 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. And if anyone wants to sue
you and take your shirt, hand over your coat
as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile,
go with them for two miles. Give to the one who
asks you and do not turn away from the one who
wants to borrow from you. Okay, this is right
again, personal interpersonal relationship. What
is eye for eye, tooth for tooth? What is the
law always supposed to do? It was supposed to
make it so that you didn't seek an eye for a
tooth or a life for an eye, right? It's about
non -escalation, about not growing this growing
divide. It's about learning to live at peace
with the people around you. Now, what Jesus is
not saying here is that you need to be a doormat
for people. So we've talked about this before,
so I'm going to go through it kind of quick.
If I am, it says don't resist an evil person,
but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, you
turn to them your other cheek also. If I slap
you on the right cheek, I either slapped you
with my left hand, which in Palestinian culture
is the doo -doo hand. That's the hand you wipe
with. Or I struck you with my right hand, back
hand, which is the way that you hit a slave or
somebody who's lesser than you. So if somebody
hits you and shows you disrespect, turn to them
your other cheek and force them to see you as
human. Right? This is not about just getting
hit a second time. This is about acknowledging
the injustice in front of you. If somebody sues
you for, anyone wants to sue you and take your
shirt, hand them over your coat as well. So if
they want to literally take the clothes off your
back, you literally toss them everything and
sit down there naked in front of them and point
out the injustice of who they are. This is not
about not doing anything. It's about standing
in the midst of chaos with nonviolence, but confronting.
If somebody wants to have you go one mile, okay,
this is a Roman practice, right, where they can
force anybody to take their stuff one mile. Then
you go two miles. Now, the problem is that second
mile, even though you voluntarily do it, could
very well get those Roman soldiers into trouble.
And once again, you are putting their injustice
on display. The other thing that's happening
is you're living, you're the other, the person
who's receiving the injustice. One thing that's
interesting here is they're actually silent.
They're just living. They're like, okay, I'm
just going to be someone who is gracious and
faithful and the world will see who you really
are. Yeah. Right. You're literally putting it
on display. You're allowing their deeds. Interesting,
because you do your good deeds, and it's going
to remind people of your Father in Heaven. Here,
you're silent, but you put their bad deeds on
display. It's interesting. Yeah. Well, what it's
doing is, what you're actually doing is, you're
still putting your good deeds on display, and
it's highlighting their bad deeds as part of
it. So connecting this to the next idea, and
that's probably where we're going to end this
episode for today. So you're confronting them,
and so typically the people who are going to
be hitting you, they're going to be suing you,
they're going to be forcing you, are going to
be your enemies. So you've heard it said, love
your neighbor and hate your enemies. 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 Son to rise in
the evil and the good, and he sends his reign
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?
Now, by the way, Jesus loves tax collectors,
right? 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. So the point of standing
in justice is not to make the other person evil.
It's actually because you love them. You're confronting
who they are, not through violence, but through
silence, to your opinion, to your point, for
the purpose of them changing. For the purpose
of them seeing who they are right there and giving
them the ability to change. The opposite of love
is not hate, it's apathy. When we don't care
about people around us, it's problematic. When
we don't care about people who are broken or
hurting or even the evil people in our world,
that's a problem. I don't love that Jesus tells
me I have to love my enemies. No, me neither.
But I do understand that it is what puts the
world back together. And this is just, you're
saying this, but we're just going to reiterate
it. This part right here is really an invitation
to view people how God views people. Correct.
Right? It's not, like, we'll often be like, okay,
love your enemy, but then we'll still secretly
be like, they're my enemy. And it's like, well,
no, because if you actually are being loving
towards your enemy, they're actually going to
turn to being your friend. Yep. Yeah. And so
it's an invitation to be like, we're God saying,
hey, you know how much I love you? It's like
that person over there that you've been bad mouthing.
He's like, I love them just as much. Yeah. Right.
It's that invitation to be like, okay, we are.
And when, and, and oftentimes reality is sometimes
we view this in the context of like, okay, well,
I, I'm a Christian. I go to church. That person's
not, which is like, okay, well then that person
still needs Jesus and Jesus still loves them.
And then if you get it, get into it in the context
of two believers, right? Then you have to jump
over to first John where first John's like, okay,
Where John's like, all right, here's the deal.
If you say you love God, but you hate your brother
and sister, you're just a liar. Yeah. Right?
He just calls it out. Yeah. And so you have to
wrestle with that, right? Because Paul's making
the statement, he says, the way that you love
other people tells whether or not you love God.
Yeah. The way that you treat people, especially
people you don't like. Yeah. says how you feel
about God. Yes. You want a barometer of how much
you actually love God? Think about the way you
treat people you don't like. It's going to tell
you. And you know what? I hope that you're better
at it today than you were a week ago or a year
ago. God's not expecting perfection, but it's
a process, right? Yep. So I want to reiterate
real quick here as we're coming into a close.
Last week we said Sermon on the Mount. The kingdom
of God is here. It's ready to interact with you.
Now, I want to talk to you about what this kingdom
looks like. There's a certain kind of people
that are supposed to live a certain kind of way,
and when you live this way, you're going to get
chastised. Yep. That's okay. You're going to
be blessed in the middle of it. You're going
to be salt. You're going to be light. Go do your
good deeds so they glorify your Father in heaven.
Now, I'm going to remind you about things from
Torah and what they were supposed to do in you,
and we're not doing away with them. We're trying
to understand what they were always supposed
to be. Yep. Live into caring about the people
around you. Don't just avoid killing them. Right?
Practice fidelity. Don't just not cheat on your
spouse. Value commitment. Don't just throw away
relationships. What you say matters. Yes. Don't
escalate fights. Correct injustice, but also
love those people that you're standing against.
Which, by the way, in their case, is the Romans.
The people who came in and conquered them and
have put them into slavery and taxation. Literally
taking all their money. Yep. He says, those guys.
In fact, going the mile, that's just a Roman
practice. So definitely talking about Rome. Love
those people. Because if you just love the people
who look just like you and treat you well, you're
a part of a kingdom. It's just not the kingdom
of God. Yep. And I think that's really challenging
for us because it's really easy to love people
who are lovable. It's really hard to love people
who are, as I like to say, stupid. Yes. Yeah.
Right. And yeah, I mean, and we all have unique
personalities, right? Like we're all created
uniquely. We are going to naturally be drawn
to different people. Yep. Right. But what do
you do when you have to love that person who
annoys the crap out of you? Love that person
that you just want to grab them by the shoulders
and be like, get it together. That's what we're
talking about. It's how do you see people through
Jesus' eyes to where you can love them like Jesus
loves them. All right, that's going to be it
for us today. We're going to kick up part three
next week. I think it's going to be part three,
and that's going to be it. but depending on where
our conversation goes next week, I know that
we are going to come back on a portion of the
Sermon on the Mount that talks about prayer in
a separate episode because we want to talk about
the practice of prayer. If you have been listening
to us for a while and you are wanting to revisit
season one, I got good news. We wrote a book.
We took the conversations from the first season,
and you're in the middle of recording the audio
book. That's probably going to be available in
the next month or so. And all the proceeds from
that book, audio, everything, is going to go
to local ministries with Young Life. I have a
book that's out, Beautiful Chaos is currently
on Amazon. If you want to read about what it
means to be part of the family of God, we use
the analogy of becoming a parent. That's a good
conversation to have. I think it's a good thing
for us to correct. I was having this conversation
with somebody and they were just talking about
how they're like, man, I always thought that
God was mad with me and he just wants me to come
home. And I said, I'm glad that I wrote my book
then, because if you understand that now. I'm
so happy. Yeah. So happy about that. So there's
more stuff coming. Spencer and I do lots of stuff
and get into all sorts of shenanigans. So we're
going to keep you posted. Yeah. And if you guys
are like, man, it takes them a long time to get
some of the books and stuff like that. We're
waiting for that. Thank you for your patience.
Ben and I work full -time jobs. Yep. Sometimes
more than one. Sometimes more than one. And so
this is something we're doing on the side. So
it just takes us a little bit longer. All right.
Well, until next time. Podcast. And that's a
wrap for today's episode of Love and Context.
We hope this conversation encouraged you and
gave you fresh insights into how we can better
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