Murder

God’s Lesson Plans for Your L= ife:

What’= s On the Outside Counts Too!

Matthew 5:4= 3-48

Last Sunday, we focused on the internal nature of Jesus’ teachings—our thoughts, feelings, motivations. He makes it clear in His Sermon on= the Mount that “What’s On the Inside Counts.” That was our theme last week.

In our text for today, though, Jesus asks His follower= s a question: “What are you doing more than others?” It’s a reminder that “What’s On the Outside Counts Too”—which

is our theme for today.

Before we look at our text, we need to do a quick revi= ew. Jesus begins His sermon with the Beatitudes—eight keys to a happy, blessed, contented life. Most of what = Jesus says in the Beatitudes relates to our hearts, our inner beings.

But then comes Jesus’ challenge to us, “Yo= u are the salt of the earth” (V. 13), “You are the light of the world’” (V.14). He tells us that as His followers, we have to be good for something in this wo= rld; and whatever that something is will be visible—or at least tasteable! Our relationship w= ith Him will show. Otherwise, we’re good for nothing!

Next, Jesus affirms the Old Testament Scriptures, but = warns that our righteousness must exceed that of those who are the presumed exper= ts in the law if we are ever to see God’s Kingdom. The Scribes and Pharisees had taken God’s handful of great principles for living and produced 800 pages f= ull of rules and regulations.

People could spend all their time trying to learn and = abide by all the rules, and as a result, not be good for anything. Jesus said this had to change.

So, He gives six examples of what life is to be like i= n His Kingdom: no anger, no lust, no divorce, no false speech, no retaliation, an= d no limitations on our love. We a= re to love our enemies too. That’s= the kind of life it would take to fulfill the law, but none of us has achieved THAT…so we all desperately need to remember that we have been died fo= r, forgiven, and accepted by the grace of God in Christ.

And if we dare to point an accusing finger at someone = else, then we simply don’t get what Jesus is saying. Take divorce, as perhaps the most obvious example of this. The Pharisees had devised a plan where it was quite easy for a man to walk away from a marriage—just hand the little lady a slip of paper severing all ties, sending her packing, setting her free—which in that day and tim= e was disastrous for the woman. The= re were no women’s rights!

Jesus let them know that their heart was all wrong in = doing this. A wedding doesn’t= make a marriage—love and commitment do.&n= bsp; The wedding is simply the public acknowledgement of what two devoted people have already committed to each other.

In the same way, divorce is not what destroys a marriage. That’s just t= he public announcement that it’s over.&= nbsp; Something on the inside of that husband or wife or both was too wrong for this marriage to work. That’s where the sin is—and that problem is still there whether or not the two of them get lawyers, draw up papers, and call it quits. Do you follow that? It’s not the act itself—it’s the heart. And we all have heart problems!

Just in case any of us have doubts about this, I invit= e you to hear the words of Jesus in our text for today. Here we find the last of the six i= ssues Jesus addresses in His sermon in order to explain to us what righteousness means in His Kingdom. Look, p= lease, at Matthew 5:43-48:

⁴³"You have heard that it was sa= id, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you ma= y be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what rewa= rd will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And = if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not e= ven pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father= is perfect.”

You know what they must have been thinking—I mea= n, if they were really listening to Jesus. Sometimes He had to ask people if they had their ears on, remember?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> They didn’t always listen, b= ut if they were listening, they might well have been thinking the same thing we’re thinking: “nobody’s perfect.” Not if you buy into what Jesus is = saying here, we’re not.

And yet, Jesus tells us “imperfect people”= —feeble followers who can’t seem to get our hearts right even with His help&#= 8212;He tells US that we are to be salt and light in this world. He says we are to do more than tho= se who don’t know Him and aren’t at least attempting to follow Him. He tells us, in effect, that ̵= 6;what’s on the outside does count!’ It’s where our witness for Him happens.

A young man was walking along the beach when he notice= d a church youth group playing volleyball. He asked if he could join them. = They said, “Sure.”As he was getting ready, he removed his shirt, rev= ealing several religious tattoos: a cross, a Bible, a WWJD.

But as they played the game, the young man was rude to= the others. When he missed a shot= , he unleashed a long string of profanities. He spoke crudely to the young ladies in the group. The point is…it soon became obvious that his religion was literally only skin deep.

What was on the outside of this young man counted for nothing at all because it didn’t ring true with what was on the inside. As we observed last w= eek, Jesus is concerned with both—the inside AND the outside—they bo= th matter to Him. He looks for a consistency between the two—which is the only way to be His disciple.=

But who would Jesus be more concerned about in this case—the tattooed young man with the foul mouth, or the youth group w= ho welcomed him into their circle? Both, I believe.

Jesus hurts for the young man who has Christian symbol= s on his skin but does not have Christ in his heart. He is every bit as concerned, howe= ver, that those in the youth group who know Him in their hearts will make this r= elationship obvious through their actions and reactions toward this stranger. Right?

Now, it was common belief in Jesus’ day that we = should love those who love us, accept those who accept us, be kind toward those who return the favor, but that this was as wide as anyone’s circle of love and kindness needed to be.

Listen: this is still what most people believe; and it= makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Do unto others as they do unto you—it’s how most of us live, and i= t certainly seems good enough. Unless, of course, we’re a follower of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says that the size of our circle of love is not = to be determined by our relationships with other people, whether they are good or= bad at any given moment. The size= of our circle is determined by our relationship with Christ, which means it has to= big enough to include everyone! “For God so loved the WORLD”…not just us and our kind. God loved the world and= sent His Son.

Loving those who love us and doing nice things for tho= se we know will return the favor doesn’t go far enough for Kingdom people.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That’s just not different en= ough from the world to qualify as salt and light.

As Jesus put it, “If you love those who love you= , what reward will you get? Are not = even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?” (vv. 46-47). How’s that= for setting a higher standard—what are you doing MORE than others?

Probably by now, Jesus’ disciples and any others= who were hearing His sermon were wondering just what they had gotten themselves into. Jesus had told them to = love their enemies, to bless those who cursed them; and if they were convinced t= here was somebody out there who really hated them, they were to respond by doing= something nice!

Well, they had never heard anything like this before.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It was revolutionary—which i= s what they were expecting from the Messiah—but not like this! They had only been followers of Je= sus for a short time, and now He is telling them that if they live for Him they= will likely be cursed, hated, and persecuted.

So you would think this would make it okay for them to= take up arms, right? That’s = what they thought too, but no! In = fact, Jesus tells them the opposite. He teaches them to respond to all this hurt by loving and blessing, doing good= and praying.

Now, friends, THAT’S DIFFERENT! And it just may be the only thing = that will ever make a difference—the only way WE can make a difference for Christ and His Kingdom! Maybe= we should try it—what do you think?

There were two brothers who lived on farms located rig= ht beside each other. That was unfortunate, because, well, they didn’t get along. They’d been feuding for year= s. It began as something small, as su= ch spats usually do, but neither of them was willing to let it go.

One day, a carpenter knocked on the older brother̵= 7;s door. “I’m lookin= g for work,” he said. “= Do you have anything I can do?”

“Yes,” he replied. “You see that farm over there? My brother lives there= . Last week, he took a bulldozer and= dug a deep gully between my house and his. He was sending me a message.’

“That gully makes me mad, and I don’t want= to look at it anymore; so get some lumber and build me a tall fence so I won’t have to see it every time I look that way.”

“I think I understand the situation, and I’= ;ll get right on it,” the carpenter said. He gathered the materials and went= straight to work.

The man could hear the sawing and hammering in the dis= tance, and he couldn’t wait to see what a difference this new fence would ma= ke. He really enjoyed thinking about j= ust how much his brother was going to hate it.

So you can imagine his shock when, about sunset, he st= epped outside, looked across the way…and saw—not a fence—but a bridge. It was a sturdy bridg= e, too, with handrails; and it stretched from one side of that gully to the ot= her.

Then he saw something that shocked him even more. It was his brother, the gully digg= er, walking toward him across that bridge with outstretched arms.

Before the first brother could say anything, the other= one said, “What a wonderful brother you are to build this bridge after all I’ve done to you.” Soon, the two of them were embracing as brothers once again.

The brother who had hired the carpenter turned to than= k him, only to see him leaving in the distance.&n= bsp; He called out to him, asking him to stay awhile; but carpenter decli= ned, saying,

“I have many more bridges to build.”

We’re here on this earth to build bridges, frien= ds, not fences.

Fence builders are a dime a dozen. They’re everywhere we turn; = and the temptation to join them can be overwhelming. Fences are so easy.

Bridges, on the other hand, are much harder; and, sadl= y, bridge builders are rare—but they are highly skilled if you can find one. Because, you see, bridge builders have learned their trade from the Master Carpenter Himself, the One from Nazareth.

Jesus doesn’t see fences like the rest of us see= them. We see fences and think only of the barriers they form—and we often assume the fences are here to stay.

Jesus sees a fence and thinks, “How convenient—there’s probably enough lumber there to build a brid= ge.” And that’s what He does! We need to see fences like Jesus s= ees them.

Sin had built a fence between us and God. The keepers of the fence removed j= ust a couple of boards to make a cross. They nailed the Nazarean Carpenter to that cross and crucified Him.<= /p>

But although this was never their intention, His death caused the whole fence to fall—that too-tall-to-ever-climb-over-on-our-own barrier between us and the Heavenly = Father collapsed.

The Crucified Carpenter then took those boards and bui= lt a bridge, and millions of sinners have moved in the direction of that bridge = only to find the Savior coming their way with outstretched arms—embracing = them with love, forgiveness and life.

Friends, once we experience this, we never again want = to be a fence builder. We’re br= idge builders now, helping people find their way over to God, AND their way over= to brothers and sisters who have been behind fences for way too long.

I know fence-building is the way of the world—ev= erybody does it! But Jesus wants to k= now: “What are you doing more than others?”&nbs= p; Love your enemies. Pra= y for them. Bless them.

Be like Jesus: BUILD BRIDGES!