Day 15

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. We're here with Pastor Sam. ⁓ walking through the gospel of Matthew. ⁓ and we've walked through quite a bit so far, and we're in chapter five here. and we're gonna begin with verse thirty eight. And just as a reminder, we're in the Sermon on the Mount. Mm-hmm. This is this has been more like smaller chunks because there's so much here in chapter five. Like chapter five will probably be where we'll spend the most time per chapter. Yeah. So ⁓ yeah, ⁓ yeah. Yeah. And again, this is Jesus speaking ⁓ in verse thir beginning in verse thirty eight. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don't resist an evil doer doer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. Yeah. So ⁓ there's a story I told was telling you were that went along with this that there was a debate, I think it was at Cambridge, not too like maybe ten or twenty years ago, where there was an Christian apologist who had converted from Islam over to Christianity, was debating ⁓ Islamic ⁓ you know, professor and this particular verse got quoted and the Islamic professor was like, Well come over here and let me slap you. Yeah. And he turns his head. Like slaps him so hard and then he gets him on the other side and he's like, Now give me your shirt, give me your jacket and your pants. And this is like on stage. So he like takes his pants off, like his dress pants, and the Christian professor just completely humiliated. I mean, both sides of his face have just been shocked and he's been basically disrobed on stage. And it was meant to be this cordial debate, but the Islamic professor was trying to prove like no one actually does this. And The next day the Christian professor said he had about twenty Islamic students in his office apologizing on behalf of the cruelty of what was done to him and said, Tell us more about this Jesus who makes you so strong. Like it's it's an unbelievable story. And it's not one to like, ⁓ Islam or whatever. It just shows that like people think this is ridiculous until they see it done. Yeah. They're like, wow, that's strength. Faith and action. Yeah, because it's strength that's coming from again the Lord, not from yourself. Like you're not trying to clothe yourself. You're not trying to hold your dignity in. Yeah. Yeah, it is it's a crazy it's a beautiful story, but yeah, it's crazy. That's amazing. Picking up at verse forty. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, going into that story, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them too, give to the one who asks you, and don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. So maybe give a little context of this. So it was actually Roman law. So remember, Israel, like where Jesus is preaching, is under Roman occupation. They're part of the Roman Empire. And it was Roman law that a Roman soldier could ask anybody to carry their armor for exactly one mile. Like sword, helmet, you know, the all of it. For one mile you could carry it. And so this was being done as a act of again humiliation. Yeah. You remember your place. Remember I'm a soldier. You know what I mean? Like it's very humiliating. ⁓ and again the show The Chosen, they have a scene where they actually do this. Like they ask Jesus and the disciples to carry it. Yeah. And Jesus like, All right, we're going too. So he like does it and again he's like, Don't worry about the humiliation. Mm. Like serve them. And then you see it mile like one and a half in the show, the Roman soldiers like feel bad for what they've done. Yeah. It's like their kindness has softened their heart. So again, Jesus just over and over and over appealing to the heart, appealing to this is how you'll win people over to what the kingdom of God is. And also in that, I don't know where I heard it and it cannot be fact, but I think you know, the law was one mile. Right. So like Roman soldiers could get in trouble for two. Yes. Cause it could have been seen as like an abuse of power. Yeah. Yep. And so there's that factor in there as well. So almost like J Jesus is the ultimate jujitsu master. What jiu-jitsu is, is like you use the force and strength and velocity of your opponent against them. Yeah. So Jesus is like, ⁓ okay, give me all of your anger, all of your humiliation. He's somehow able to like rebound it. Yeah. And it causes that person to be like, ⁓ wow. Yeah. Like it wakes them up. Well, it goes back to that story that you just shared. Yep. About the debate in Cambridge. Like they're like, ⁓ wow. ⁓ wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's really good. Well, and then it leads in perfectly to the next passage. To the next one. Verse forty three. You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. So again, he's about to flip the script. Yep. Again, and then also flip the script and our Time and age, which we'll get to. ⁓ yeah. But he goes on to say, But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and ⁓ and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same. So Right there, I'm gonna stop because when y if again, if you're someone hearing this for the first time and you hear a tax collector, you're Yeah, I do it on turbo tax. What's Yeah, right, right. What's the big deal with the tax collector? Yeah, I give my stuff to document. So maybe give yeah, maybe give some info on that tax collector. Yeah, ⁓ yeah. Tax collectors were like the parasites of the society. They were just seen as low life, as thiefs, because ⁓ not always but often ⁓ Rome would employ locals to be the tax collectors to pay for their own occupation. They paid the soldiers. I mean, they did get benefits like the roads and aqueducts and things like that. But you're like, I'm paying for someone else to like rule over me. And then you have a local in the book of Matthew is named after Matthew, who was a tax collector, and you go and collect the total from The people, but they weren't often honest. Yeah. They would take more than they needed so tax collectors would get rich. Yep. Therefore, they were just hated. People hated tax collectors. So you're a traitor. You're profiting off us. And Jesus is saying you're just like them if you only love those who love you. Yeah. Like you're just like the who you consider to be the worst. Yeah. He's calling them out. Yeah, yeah. He's like, again, you're living by the same morality. You're comparing yourself to a tax collector. Well, at least I'm not a tax collector. I'm better than that. It's like the standard is God. He's pointing out the hypocrisy of it. Yes. Yeah. Cause then he does it again, right? In verse forty seven. Man, if you own if you greet only your brother and sister, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don't even the Gentiles do the same. So he's pointing it out again. Yep. And then that Gentiles, again, if you're reading it for the first time, which we're gonna hear Gentiles so much more. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. But maybe give us a definition vaguely of what a Gentile is at that time. Simp simplest explanation is a Gentile is anyone who's not Jewish. Yes. ⁓ is there anyone who's not a native born Israelite, so a descendant like through flesh and blood of Abraham. Mm-hmm. And again, this was something that was used to prop up. The people saying, well, okay. Like again, I'm not I'm not a Gentile. Yeah. Like my morality might need some work. I might need to memorize Taurus and more, but at least I'm not a Gentile. Yeah. And Jesus is like, stop all of that. Stop all of that comparison. Like, what really makes you different than them? You think because you didn't choose to be born into what you were born into, but he's like, My kingdom is not going to be defined by birth status or by race or by you know, nationality, my kingdom is gonna be established based on this, based on morality and those who submit to doing the work of God. Yeah, because then he goes on in verse 48, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. That's a high standard. It's an impossible standard. Exactly. It's an impossible standard. And the only way to be again, Jesus is asking a question without really asking a question. Well how do I be perfect? My heavenly father's perfect and Jesus like, Well, you'd have to be more righteous than the Pharisees. Yeah. Or John the Baptist. But what it's basically if those ESPN like thirty for thirty documents are like, what if I told you? Yeah. Like Jesus almost coming in with the silent what if I told you there was another way Yeah that you could take on my righteousness. Yeah. You could take on my identity, that when the Father looks at you, he sees me in you. Yeah, perfect and righteous and holy. That's how you become righteous. And again, because you take on the righteousness of Jesus. Mm-hmm. And that's what transforms your eyes to not look at lust, for your heart, you know, to not be hardened, to not hate your brothers and sister, for your yes to be yes, your no to be no, is when you take on Christ, he then transforms you from the inside out. Yeah, because I think, you know, there's two things that we all have to get in our heads is The only man to ever live that was sinless was Jesus. Correct. And also, just because, you know, there's this impossible standard and we're all gonna fall short of the kingdom, you know, you I sometimes hear of people just being like, Well, I could just kinda do whatever then. Mm mm. And it's you know, we go back to that that submission like we talked about last episode and all of that, or two Yeah, last episode. Yeah. Diedrich Bonhoeffer calls that cheap grace. Cheap grace. And we go back to that and again You know, 'cause you're hearing all this and maybe for the first time. And what we're not trying to get across is cheap grace. What we're trying to get across is submission fully to Jesus. Yeah. Paul says where ⁓ sin abounds, grace abounds, like all the more. Therefore, should we go on sinning so that grace can abound? He says by no means. Yeah. It you could think of it like, Okay, my l i let's say I told a lie to my wife and she forgave me. Okay, there's probably a great moment in there where like we hug and I'm so sorry. Would that give me permission to say, now I'm gonna tell a bigger lie? She forgives me more and we have a greater moment. Yeah. And be You're crazy. What are you doing? Yeah, you're insane. Like, yeah, you're a you're a crazy person. So it's like, no, like the grace that you receive from God should change you. It should be evident in your life, in your heart that you're like. Because it shows that what you needed to repent of, you took seriously. Yeah. You asked for forgiveness. Yeah. Repented, changed your mind. That's what true repentance is. It's going a different way. And there you're like, I don't want to do that again. But you recognize you need more grace than you realize because you're like I'm gonna mess up again. But guess what? Grace abounds. Grace abounds. While I pursue holiness with Jesus, therefore I can't do it on my own. I need him in every every day. Every day. Yeah. Amen. Well, with that, we're gonna close out today's episode and we thank you for tuning in and we'll be back tomorrow to jump into chapter six, finishing up on the Sermon on the Mound. So thanks for tuning in, everyone.