Matthew 5:13-48
The Sermon on the Mount Continues
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
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 sister will 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.’ 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.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children 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. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 7:13-14
The Narrow and Wide Roads
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus covers many topics...He tells us to show our good deeds, so that it will reflect our Father's glory...He tells us that not one letter of the Bible will disappear from the Law until everything He is supposed to do is accomplished....He tells us that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment, and He says to work with and quickly with our adversaries over disputes...And to further this subject on our enemies, we are somehow supposed to love them...And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well...If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them instead two miles...Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you...And we are not to make shallow oaths...
If I read this quick enough, I might think can my jealousy, my shallow promises, my anger toward others, me not loving someone I don't really like in the first place, me not wanting to be sued and giving others my possessions, or someone getting a divorce be all that important over my entire life?...
And as we read these serious things that Jesus talks about, I wonder and think about their importance and their relevance to me...And they are serious matters, because nothing Jesus says or said is not sincere and inconsequential...He really did not joke around to much, as you read through the four gospels...Jesus is putting a lot of His teaching in this Sermon on the Mount about on our desires, our being angry and mad at others, and our feelings on other people we normally do not associate with (our adversaries, our enemies, and those wanting to sue us)...
We might view these as little sins, if we do not stop to think about them...We might think we can find an excuse for doing these little sins...My little sin, if I can rationalize a good excuse, I might only feel the least bit guilty...Most of these little sins are towards and against other people...We sometimes rationalize our ways out of our little sins, after we think about "oh, that little thing, or that little sin"...Maybe we do look for and find excuses for overlooking our little sins...An excuse, that we com up with, may satisfy ourselves but not the little sin and our Father...C. S. Lewis in His Essay on Forgiveness said this about our excuses...Lewis said, "Now it seems to me that we often make a mistake both about God's forgiveness of our sins and about the forgiveness we are told to offer to other people's sins...Take it first about God's forgiveness, I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different...I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me... But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing...Forgiveness says, "Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before."...If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive...In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites...Of course, in dozens of cases, either between God and man, or between one man and another, there may be a mixture of the two...Part of what at first seemed to be the sins turns out to be really nobody's fault and is excused; the bit that is left over is forgiven...If you had a perfect excuse, you would not need forgiveness; if the whole of your actions needs forgiveness, then there was no excuse for it...But the trouble is that what we call "asking God's forgiveness" very often really consists in asking God to accept our excuses...What leads us into this mistake is the fact that there usually is some amount of excuse, some "extenuating circumstances."...We are so very anxious to point these things out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to forget the very important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which excuses don't cover, the bit which is inexcusable but not, thank God, unforgivable...And if we forget this, we shall go away imagining that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses...They may be very bad excuses; we are all too easily satisfied about ourselves...
Sins need to be forgiven...Little sins need to be forgiven...Little sins are often like little lies, when they add up they can mean a lot...They may mean a lot in the very first place...When we regularly and gradually commit little sins, we lose some closeness to God...If we little sin daily, we are not walking with Him...And Lewis had another quote about hell...The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts...
Jesus knows all about the road and roads that men travel on throughout their lives...That road to hell He says is actually quite wide...That road to destruction is full of potholes...Some of the potholes are filled with those little sins...The road to heaven, is much narrower, and is truly forgiving, caring, and merciful...It is a road that is not lined with excuses...