HOW TO LIVE

TEXT MATTHEW 5 http://www.biblica.com/bible/verse/index.php?q=Matthew 5&niv=yes

PARAPHRASE

“Live This Way”

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up a mountainside and when those beleiving in him came to him he began teaching them using words of blessing;

Blessed are those who have lost their spirit because through their dependence (on the Messiah) they will gain God's kingdom where the last are first.

Blessed are those who are weeping for sins because they will be comforted (by the Messiah).

Blessed are the those who are gentle and self-controled because they will enter the Promised Land - the new heaven and the new earth.

Blessed are those who desire the righteousness and justice of God because they will be filled with it when the kingdom is consumated.

Blessed are those who are merciful to those who are guilty, suffering, and in need because they too will receive mercy from God.

Blessed are those whose hearts have been purified of sin because this makes them fully devoted to the Messiah and able to see God through the eyes of faith.

Blessed are those who make peace because in reflecting God through their acts of reconciliation they will be called His sons.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for their obedience to God because they, like those who have lost their spirit, will gain His kingdom.

Blessed are those who have false things said about them, those who are persecuted, and those who have many false things said about them because of Jesus. Such people can rejoice and be happy in spite of being treated in this way because their reward is ultimately in heaven – their treatment in this world will be like that of the prophets who came before them but who are now rejoicing in heaven.

“Preserve, Flavor, Reveal”

Jesus then told those who believed in him they are like the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And as salt, a preservative and flavoring for food, if they lose their saltiness, they lose their ability to preserve and flavor the world from moral decay as representatives of God’s Kingdom and therefore they are no longer good for anything. Being the light of the world by exposing sin's darkness and witnessing God's kingdom through their acts of comfort, mercy and peace will cause others to praise God in heaven - something that will not occur if they withdraw from the world and hide their light.

“Fulfill & Accomplish”

Jesus goes on to say he did not come to get rid of the Books of the Law or the Prophets but instead to fulfill what they say about him. Furthermore, he says that nothing of the Books of the Law and the Prophets will disappear until everything is accomplished prior to the end of times and that anyone who breaks the least of the commandments and teaches others to do so will be considered the least in the kingdom of God in contrast to those who obey and teach these commands who will be considered great in the kingdom of God. Jesus then warns those who believe in him that unless their righteousness is on a higher level than that of the religious leaders, i.e. their righteousness makes them the salt and light of the world, they too will be left out of the kingdom of God.

“Murderous Heart”

Jesus then begins fulfilling the Law starting with the commandment ‘Do not murder,’ by saying that since anger in the heart underlies murder if those following him are angry with someone in their heart they are subject to judgment in the same way a murderer is. He says that if in their anger they insult someone by calling them “empty headed” they must go before their religious leaders to give account of their sin and if out of anger they call someone a “fool” they are in danger of the fire of hell.

Jesus tells them there are two ways of reconciling their anger depending on whether they are angry with a fellow believer or with an adversary. With a believer, if they are in the process of offering a gift to God and remember a fellow believer has something against them, they are to leave their gift and go and reconcile with their fellow believer and then return to offer their gift to God. With an adversary, they are to settle matters quickly (during all the pretrial proceedings) if they are being taken to court because otherwise at the trial the Judge may rule against them and they will end up being handed over to an officer who will take them off to prison.

“Adulterous Eye”

In continuing to fulfill the Law, Jesus says something similar about adultery, that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And, using hyperbole to promote the need to radically deal with sin, he tells those who beleive in him that if their right eye (that feeds their imagination) or right hand causes them to sin, cut it out or off because it is better to lose a part of their body than to sin because of it and then for their entire body to end up in hell.

“Exceptional Divorce”

About the sanctity of marriage, Jesus tells his disciples that although Moses said anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce, as the Messiah who fulfills the Law, he says that anyone who divorces his wife, except if she has been unfaithful to him, causes her and anyone who marries her to commit adultery.

“I Say Yes ”

Referring to a statement on keeping the oaths you have made to the Lord from Leviticus, Jesus provides further fulfillment of the law by telling those who believe in him that it is better not to swear by or make any oaths at all - either in the name of heaven (God’s throne) or in the name of Jerusalem (God’s footstool) – or by their own head, because all oaths are really oaths in God’s name and it is better to just be truthful by letting their yes really mean yes and their no really mean no because if it doesn’t, their lack of truth reveals the work of the devil in their lives.

“Respond Paradoxically”

Jesus quotes to his disciples from the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy where it instructs on justice being provided by returning injury for injury. He then fulfills these Scriptures for those who believe in him by telling them not to resist an evil person, instructing them how to respond paradoxically to evil by turning their left check towards the one who strikes them on their right cheek, by giving their cloak to the one who sues them for their tunic, and by going two miles with the one who forces them to go one mile – confronting their evil in these "non-eye-for-an-eye-ways". Jesus also tells those who believe in him to give to those who ask them and to loan to the those who ask to borrow from them.

“Perfect Love”

Jesus tells those who beleive in him that although they have read in Leviticus they are to love their neighbor, they know their culture preaches they are to hate their enemies. However, he tells them in fulfillment of this that they are to love their enemies, especially those who persecute them, because even their persecutors are their neighbors. Jesus reminds those who believe in him that God provides sunshine and rain for both the righteous and unrighteous, the good and the evil. Jesus also reminds them that loving and greeting only those who love and greet them comes so natural that even the tax collectors and pagans do these things. He tells them that their love for people needs to be on a higher level, they need to be the salt and light in the world based on the righteousness of God, their purification from sin, and the compassion, mercy, and peace they have for others – perfected in their heavenly Father.


PRINCIPLES

1. Matthew told his first century readers that while sitting on a mountainside, Jesus taught those who believed in him how they should live.

2. What did Jesus tell those who believed in him 2000 years ago how they should live?

3. What does Jesus tell those who beleive in him today how they should live?

-Jesus says we are to live the blessed way not the cursed way.

-Jesus says we are to live as salt and light in the world not as good for nothing flames hidden under bowls.

-Jesus says we are to live resolving the anger in our heart not with perpetual murderous rage in our hearts.

-Jesus says we are to live cleansing lust from our mind not with adulterous eyes.

-Jesus says we are to live commited to the sanctity of marriage rather than to frivolous divorce.

-Jesus says we are to live speaking the truth not trying to hide behind the oaths we swear.

-Jesus says we are to live responding paradoxically to evil rather than by fighting it.

-Jesus says we are to live loving our enemies who persecute us not by hating them.

PRAYER

Our Father, We give You praise for Your Son’s teaching on the Blessed way to live. We ask Your forgiveness for how short we fall in living this way and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would renew us each day by cleansing us from our sin and would continue to help us grow in Your righteousness so that as Your sons and daughters we can be agents of compassion, mercy and peace in this world.

Our Father, We give You praise that as Your Son’s disciples we are the salt and light of this world. We pray that Your Holy Spirit would strengthen our faith so that our lives will both preserve and shine Your righteousness in this world so that others will come to know You, praise Your Holy Name and enter into Your kingdom.
Our Father, We ask as Your Son’s disciples that when angered, we will not sin, but instead will resolve the anger in our hearts as He instructed – through reconciliation and settlement rather than through insult and damnation.

Our Father, We ask as Your Son’s disciples that we will fight the temptation to feed our imagination with lust as Your Son fought His temptations by the devil in the desert through Your powerful Word. You have told us that when we are tempted you will provide a way out so that we can stand up under it and we ask You help us to prepare our minds with Your Word so that we have an answer for any temptation that seizes us.

Our Father, We praise You for the sanctity of marriage, for two becoming one flesh, and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would protect our marriages and the marriages of others. We ask that past life issues be recognized for what they are and identified when they are infiltrating, being acted out and contaminating the marital relationship and bond. We ask that the deep pains associated with past life issues - the scars they have left behind and the impact these pains and scars can then have on one’s marriage – be healed through Your Power and Love at the deepest levels possible in our lives so that we can be set free of these chains that bind us and which make it seem as if life would be better with someone else.

Our Father, We praise You for being Truth and Your Son for being the Way the Truth and the Life. And, we ask that we would speak the truth instead of trying to cover it up by throwing people off by swearing oaths in an attempt to unnecessarily try to protect ourselves from something we think will make us look bad, will impact our self-worth and diminish our dignity as a human being. You know that we end up thinking these ways because of our distorted view of ourselves based on our concluding certain events in our life mean something (usually bad) about who we are and based on our not fully embracing your creation of us in Your image and Your Son’s dying for us on the Cross as the foundation of our value and worth as a person. We ask that You free us of the distorted conclusions we have made about ourselves and that you transform our thinking so that we fully embrace Your Love for us as the foundation of our value and worth as a person – a Love that never changes and never ends.

Our Father, We ask that Your Holy Spirit give us the courage to respond to evil in a paradoxical way – by giving someone who is evil more than they are demanding and thus making them confront what they are really doing by turning the tables on them so they are no longer in the position of power and control. Keep us from returning evil with evil and from trying to resist and fight evil in our own way.

Our Father, We ask Your Holy Spirit to supernaturally strengthen us so that we can go beyond our natural ability to love and greet those who love and greet us, so that we are able to love and greet our enemies who persecute us. We ask that we are able to grow in Your righteousness as disciples of Your Son so that we become compassionate, merciful and peacemakers to all in this world regardless whether they love and greet us or not because we know You have perfect love, perfect compassion, perfect mercy, and perfect peace as our perfect Father in Heaven.

Our Father, We pray all of this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, AMEN.