Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Matthew 5:21-37 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
As you may have noticed from the sermon title, my first illustration comes from the game of poker. I’m not much of a card player but, if you’ve ever watched the game in person or on television, players who think that they have a good chance of winning often raise the ante to the game, meaning that everyone around the table that wishes to keep playing, must add more of their money, or chips, to the pot if they want to stay in the game. Failure to meet the new ante is a resignation and that player is out of the game until the next hand is dealt. A similar thing happens, in a more regulated way, in track and field, in the event of the pole vault. A height is set and each player may make several attempts to clear that height and, once everyone has had a chance to do so, the bar is raised. Everyone who failed to clear the previous height is out, and everyone who cleared the previous height must now attempt to clear the bar at the next level.
At this point, I would not be at all surprised if you were asking yourself, “But what does any that have to do with Jesus?” And I will explain that in a few minutes, but first we need to remember some background from much earlier as God lays out his expectations for his people in the time of Moses. As we read from Deuteronomy 30:15-20, we hear this:
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
After God gave the law to the people of Israel, he made it clear that following him was a life and death choice. If the people chose to follow other gods and worship them, then the God of Israel would stop protecting them, would not walk with them, and they would certainly be destroyed by their enemies. But, if they chose life, listened to, and stayed faithful to God, then he would protect them, bless them, and both they, and their children, would live for may years in the land that God had promised to their ancestors.
This same choice is summarized in the Apocryphal book of Sirach or Sirach 15:15-20 (New Catholic Bible) as it says:
15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is within your power.
16 He has set before you fire and water;
stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.
17 Before each man are life and death,
and whichever one he chooses will be given.
18 For great is the wisdom of the Lord;
he is mighty in power and all-seeing.
19 His eyes are on those who fear him,
and he is aware of every human action.
20 He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,
and he has given no one permission to sin.
And so, to varying degrees, the people of Israel followed the laws of Moses, and everyone knew what they were doing and thought that they knew what God wanted. They studied the law, there were whole books written by the rabbis that interpreted the law, and obedience seemed to be… sort of… ordinary. Whether or not they were particularly orthodox or religious in the practice of their faith, everyone thought that they understood what God wanted.
But then Jesus upped the ante and raised the bar.
As we hear him speak in Matthew 5:21-37, Jesus repeatedly tells his listeners that God’s standards are much stricter, and much more difficult to follow than everyone thought. Jesus said:
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’[f] 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Repeatedly, Jesus essentially says, you thought that you knew what this scripture meant, but it’s really much more difficult than you imagined. And each common example from the law of Moses that Jesus uses, he follows by upping the ante, or raising the bar, beyond anything that his audience could have imagined. Each time Jesus begins by saying, “You have heard it said,” and then completely redefines the standard of how God wants us to behave. You shall not murder seems straightforward until Jesus says that being angry with someone counts as murder. Saying words that are common when someone cuts us off on traffic can put us in danger of going to hell. We commit adultery simply by looking at someone lustfully, and any kind of divorce, other than for infidelity, results in the sin of adultery. And on top of that, we sin any time that we swear an oath. With these definitions, Jesus makes it far more difficult to believe that righteousness is even possible.
But that was his point.
We all get angry. We say things when people annoy us or cut us off in traffic. We struggle to maintain good relationships with others. We look too long at well formed bodies on the beach. We think too little of the consequences of divorce, and we swear oaths about our honesty too easily. But beneath the impossibility of it all, Jesus’ words remind us that God values out integrity and our relationships with one another as more important than worship. And by saying these things, Jesus reminds us all of our desperate need for forgiveness. We simply cannot assume that we are right with God because we have kept the ten commandments. Knowing that God equates our anger with our siblings or co-workers with murder, and lustful looks with adultery reminds us that we are broken, sinful, and in need of a rescuer and savior.
Paul drew this out just one step further when he wrote to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, saying:
3:1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Paul says that God has assigned each of us a task. Some plant seeds and some water them, but it is God, and only God, who can make seeds grow. All of us work toward that same goal and each of us are called to do our part. The points that Paul and Jesus made are the same. We cannot live lives of righteousness without the forgiveness that Jesus offers, and we cannot move towards the goal without God. We cannot grow the church by ourselves, and we cannot achieve the goals of God’s kingdom on the intelligence, wisdom, and power of human beings. We are co-workers in God’s service.
We must work together, with Jesus, with God, and with one another…
…or we aren’t going to accomplish anything at all.
*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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