©2003 Pastor Tom Miles
With chapter five we find Christ beginning His sermon on the mount or the beatitudes. He calls the disciples the salt of the earth and light of the world saying also that He came not to destroy but to fulfill and make clear the concepts and precepts of the laws and commandments.
Matthew 5:1-12 And seeing the multitudes, which would be those spoken of in Matthew 4:25, Christ went up into a mountain. Once He was there He found a place to sit and His disciples came up to Him along with those that were following and Christ opened His mouth and began to teach saying at the start of each beatitude blessed are which means more than just happy, being happy is something earthly but being blessed is something heavenly coming from God and meaning much more than just happiness:
* Blessed are the poor in spirit - this
does not mean poor as in wealth and stature but instead means humble, those
willing to humble themselves before God and knowing that they are unworthy
to be found righteous in His eyes yet that is exactly what Christ is saying
is the poor in spirit will find the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that
Christ came to prepare.
* Blessed are those who mourn - this
is a mourning over sin, in other words blessed are those that truly are
sorry for their sins and desire to see them removed from their life for
them they will receive comfort.
* Blessed are the meek - these are
the humble and gentle ones those that are not opposed to others and always
seeking to be above and promoted but instead are drawn to caring and helping
and sharing for they will receive many great blessings while on this earth.
* Blessed are they that hunger and
thirst after righteousness -- This passage involves the like logic of verses
3 and 4. It is a Spiritual need that is being spoken of not an actual hunger
and thirst for food but it is the way we should hunger and thirst after
the things of God.
* Blessed are the merciful - The merciful,
this pertains to those who, instead of seeking after vengeance, seek instead
to forgive and forget. These are the ones that will see the divine
mercy of the Father. As we find in Matthew 6 the Lord says if we
do not forgive we cannot expect the Father to forgive us.
* Blessed are the pure in heart - the
pure in heart are those that have been freed from the snare of sin and
its dominion. These are the ones that are striving to walk daily
according to the Word of God. There are the ones that want to serve
God and only God and have no hidden agendas in mind for what they do.
And these are the ones that will receive from God and hear from God for
He will be with them in all they do.
* Blessed are the peacemakers - peacemakers
are generally thought of as warriors or soldiers, with one thing in mind
to make peace in a physical legalistic manner but the peacemakers spoken
of here are ones that go forth in the name of Jesus - the greatest peacemaker
of all - proclaiming the Word of God and telling of the wonderful things
of God and Christ. The peacemakers are those that strive to bind
together the body of Christ not destroy the body or defeat or tear apart
the body of Christ. The peacemaker does not go off on its own with
a handful of followers tearing down the body because of personal agenda.
The peacemakers will be called sons of God.
* Blessed are they that have been persecuted
for righteousness sake - all those that choose to follow Christ will at
some time suffer persecution because of their love for Christ and God deems
those people as righteous and blessed. They are pure in heart living
an upright and godly life before all people not ashamed of who they are
and what they stand for.
* Blessed are ye when men shall reproach
you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely,
for my sake - God will stand beside you and will bestow blessings upon
you when you stand for Him even in the face of wrong doing against you.
Rejoice we are told, rejoice because God is with us and goes before us
and will protect us.
Matthew 5:13-16 Ye are the salt of the earth, salt is used to preserve things from decay and corruption. Christ's disciples are called to preserve the world from corruption through their guidance, teaching, and ministry. Christ had already called his disciples telling them they should be fishers of men and now here we find Christ telling them they are to be the salt of the earth, and lights of the world. The prophets that went before the disciples were the salt of the land of Canaan, but now the disciples would be the salt of the whole earth going forth into the entire world preaching the gospel. Salt by its self does not have a savory taste to the human palate but it's preserving nature is the key element and Christ's Gospel the Word of God by its self does not have a pleasing taste to the human desire but its eternal value is key. So each of us as Disciples of Christ must go forth as the salt of the earth full of its preserving value eager to tell of the love of Christ. We must be sure that all things we do we do unto God and that we are holy and upright before God and before man. That which we do between God and ourselves is just that between God and ourselves but that which we do in the open is visible to all and if disciples must be holy and pure.
Matthew 5:17 So often this verse is interpreted to mean that Christ came and destroyed, did away with the law through the fulfillment of the cross, but that is not at all what it means. If we read it closely we will see that Christ is actually saying, do not think that I have come to destroy the law like many before me have done or tried to do, but I do not come to destroy the law or the word of the prophets but instead I am come to fulfill the law and the word of the prophet. In other words Christ came to establish and example the law and the words of the prophets by His very life and teachings.
Matthew 5:18-26 Verily I say unto you introduces us to something profound and positive. Jot or one tittle - jot means the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet and tittle is the distinguishing factor of one letter from another. So this phrase "jot or tittle" refers to something very small, the smallest part of something. In other words not even the smallest particle of the law will be done away with till all things have come to pass. All things have not yet come to pass so the law and the Gospel of Christ and His example of how to live according to the law and the word of the prophets are still in affect. And the Word goes on to say even more about the commandments since the Pharisees believed and taught that some were more important than others, Jesus says that they are all the same, none is greater than the other. The scribes and Pharisees were considered to be great religious figures and upright but Christ is saying that unless our righteousness goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees we will not see the kingdom of heaven. One thing they lacked that we must have is humility. Jesus quotes one of the commandments saying it is heard that thou shalt not murder and than He adds to that commandment saying that if thou does commit murder you will be subject to the judgment. The judgment was the council of the Sanhedrin, which would be stoning, a terrible and painful death. And Christ continues to say that even the very thought of murder is as bad as actually committing the murder. Once you have thought it in your mind it is the same as having actually committed the sin. Christ also says that if when we go before the altar we realize there is aught against us we must go and reconcile that situation before we can present ourselves before the altar. In other words go set the record straight! And then we are told to agree with our adversary and to do so quickly. An adversary is one with something against another such as two people in a lawsuit. If at all possible try to resolve the issue before it reaches the judge. In other words don't let things get out of hand and your anger and stubbornness possibly causing you to be cast into prison. Agree with your adversary before you reach the judge and bring resolution quickly to the matter. Compare this to the final judgment, if we do not resolve the sin in our life before Jesus returns it is to late and hell will be our new home! Verse 26 says that by no means will you come out of prison once put there until every last penny of the judgment is paid and thus the same with our Spiritual walk, we will not keep ourselves from Hell until we have allowed Christ to take over and remove sin from us. Sin is like a prison and unless we pay the debt we remain there till we die or till some one else pays it for us and that my friends has happened, Christ paid the debt, a debt He did not owe and He paid it so we could have life. Now all we have to do is repent and walk free from the old way of living and not continually bounce back and forth into sin.
Matthew 5:27-30 Now Christ addresses another Old Testament commandment - adultery (See Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18). And this commandment He also takes a step further adding to it that even if a man looks at a woman in a manner to lust after her he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus is teaching us that even something as simple as just a thought of doing something is the same as doing it. Christ is taking the matter of sin very seriously and stating that it is totally wrong in any manner. Simply thinking about having an affair with a woman is the same as having done the act and the person thinking it is guilty before God. This of course goes for a woman also thinking of having an affair with a man as well.
Matthew 5:29-30 The words we find used here are very strong words, but they must be to convey the importance of the topic and consequences. Think about a gardener, who will cut off a dying branch to save the tree or a surgeon that will remove an infected finger, hand, foot, etc., to save a life, this is what Christ is referring to in this passage. Jesus is strongly showing concern for living a sinless life. Which would be greater to live a pleasure filled life offered by the world and go to eternal torment in hell or live a pleasure filled life given by God and go to heaven with eternal joy? Jesus uses the reference of the eye and the hand because they are important parts of the body (Exodus 29:20 and Zechariah 11:17). And Jesus says it is better to lose one of the important parts of the body than to lose the life of the body. It is better to miss out on some of the worldly pleasures than to be sentenced to hell for eternity. And of course this is not being said for us to literally remove a hand or eye but symbolically speaking the hand and eye represent sin and the sin should be removed so as to not destroy the whole (Colossians 3).
Matthew 5:31-32 Jesus is referencing the scripture from Deuteronomy 24:1-3 here and says that any one that leaves his wife or divorces his wife for any reason other than fornication (this word also is very symbolic of forsaking God and following after idols, as well as the common meaning of unlawful sexual relations) causes her to be an adulteress. The divorce didn't cause the action but the disgrace she would receive in marrying again would cause the action. Jesus explains that the given Law of Moses allowed for many reasons to put away a wife but here Jesus puts a limit on reasons for divorce. Jesus says only in the case of fornication and if either marries again and fornication was not the reason for divorce they have committed adultery (Matthew 19:9). It is commonly held by Theologians that the innocent spouse could remarry but the other could not because it would be as a reward to them for doing wrong. Romans 7 and 1 Corinthians 7 will give more insight on this topic.
Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus quotes from the Old Testament again saying that it was permitted to make oaths to the Lord but the Jews when they read this law abused it by saying it gave them excuse to not be bound by any other oaths. Jesus though was not intending for this law to be changed or done away with. The Jews has misconstrued so much of the law to their own benefit and now Jesus is saying that all oaths were valid and subject to God's rule and those making an oath would be sworn by that oath and so Jesus says Swear not at all, by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, or by thy head. Heaven is the throne of God, earth is God's footstool, Jerusalem is the city of the great King, and God can only change the head. So our speech should be yes for yes and no for no! Remember Jesus did not come to abolish the Law of Moses, the Commandments of God, but to put an order to what ones are valid and need be followed. God Himself swore by Himself in Hebrews 7:21 and Jesus answered to the Sanhedrin in Matthew 26:63 under oath and Paul made an oath to the church in 2nd Corinthians 1:23 so this shows us that some oaths made under certain situations such as religious conditions and judicial cases are okay but all others should be discarded. In other words do not swear on the name of God for anything other than religious nature or judicial nature as law deems it necessary.
Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus is still referencing from the Old Testament scriptures and He is trying to instill into each of us that whatever it is we do to another that is what will eventually be done back unto us. And as to things of evil natures we are to put up with them to a point but only in doing so to bring about a Spiritual victory not to bring about more evil. We are slaves yes but slaves only unto Christ. And if something is done unto you do not turn in anger and vengeance but instead attempt to make things right by dealing in a loving manner or in walking away from the issue at hand. If you are mocked or persecuted don't mock back or persecute, instead turn to them the unconditional love of Christ. When you see another in need or when one takes something from you give him more than he took or needs and if anyone should take you to court or take you against your will do not seek revenge from them but go with them and go even the extra mile showing them Christ’s love and in turn perhaps winning them for the kingdom of God. If some one is asking from you and you have it to give than give it. Do not be selfish and hoard things when you could be sharing them with those in need.
Matthew 5:43-48 Again Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18). Here Jesus makes it clear that not only are we to love our neighbors but we are to also love our enemies and pray for those that persecute you. How can we do that, it totally goes against human nature! Love our enemies yes this is exactly what the scripture tells us and if we don't love our enemies we won't be sons and daughters of God. Jesus says we should do this because it is the way God would be and so that we do not act like and represent ourselves like the sinners. Jesus goes on to say that it is easy to love some one that loves you but it takes effort to love some one that does not love you. And that is where the reward lies! And if you make welcome your friends is this not a normal response but to make welcome your enemy this is humility and pure love. And this brings us closer to Christ and leads us towards the perfect character of Christ that each of us should strive towards.
Father, thank You for defining for us the way of life, law, and love, keep me always in the palm of Your hand and keep me always pure and holy before You and man in Jesus name amen.
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Pastor Thomas Miles
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