Matthew 5:27-30

The Right Side up Life  / Matthew 5:27–32

Jesus is getting specific here because while this may be one part of human life and flourishing it is an important part. It may not be all of human life but it is an important one. And it is necessary to get some areas correct in order for the entire system to work out.

Our relationships often ask for more than we want to give.  Christ offers us more than we can possibly take.

›     Lust can only take, it never gives.

Let’s begin by looking at the heart.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Definition of lust

Love is when we understand and desire something for what it is and for how good it is or can be. It has meaning regardless of what we think about it.

Lust is when we desire something for what it can do for us. It has meaning only based on what we can get out of it. It is purely transactional. And any relationship based on transaction automatically throws love out the window.

The church has to first return to the message that

We are more than whatever lust offers.

CS Lewis in the Four loves tells us that the voice of Eros (a love that is passion and selfish) yells and sounds like the voice of agape but it is not.

Eros, sexual desire takes the voice of a God in its confidence and commitment to its goal. But it doesn’t point to anywhere beyond satisfying that goal.

“It is in the grandeur of Eros that the seeds of danger are concealed. He has spoken like a god. His total commitment, his reckless disregard of happiness, his transcendence of self-regard, sound like a message from the eternal world.”

Let’s look at action.

Matthew 5:29 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Jesus is stating that the Gospel is more than sufficient for normal functioning.  That  God’s goodness has come into the world to fix our broken condition through the death and resurrection of Christ is so worthwhile that it is more essential to your right eye or hand.

It is also a statement on how powerful acting on lust can be. So much so that it would be better to be without essential means of navigating your world than to continue on with the ability to act on lust.

That is how detrimental it can be.

we have a chance to remove what is rotting.  Get off social media or off the internet.  Get out of that relationship.

Wherever there is rust there is rot. And once we arrive here, sin has taken hold.

We have a chance to deal with it at this level, if we don’t, repetitive action becomes habit. Lust becomes normative. This is precisely where we are as a culture.

Every lustful intent is inhuman.

In this case, since we are talking about sexuality, we have to talk about the lustful inhumanity of sexuality.

When we practice actions over and over we get habit. 

And I know Ive mentioned this before but practice doesn’t make perfect.

Practice makes permanent.

So whatever actions you have picked up as habits are not perfection they are becoming permanent, they are concreted into your life.

That’s why love and lust must be two different things.  Because Christ came with love to win us back. The love of Christ that gives and does not take restores.

But you have to go all the way back to the heart and give him those desires. surrender to Him.  He will support you.  He will use the church to do so. The goal is not shame it is support.  It is to return to love 

Matthew 5:27-32

John

The Right Side up Life  / Matthew 5:27–32

Jesus is getting specific here because while this may be one part of human life and flourishing it is an important part. It may not be all of human life but it is an important one. And it is necessary to get some areas correct in order for the entire system to work out.

Our relationships often ask for more than we want to give.  Christ offers us more than we can possibly take.

›     Lust can only take, it never gives.

Let’s begin by looking at the heart.

Matthew 5:27–28 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Definition of lust

Love is when we understand and desire something for what it is and for how good it is or can be. It has meaning regardless of what we think about it.

Lust is when we desire something for what it can do for us. It has meaning only based on what we can get out of it. It is purely transactional. And any relationship based on transaction automatically throws love out the window.

The church has to first return to the message that

We are more than whatever lust offers.

CS Lewis in the Four loves tells us that the voice of Eros (a love that is passion and selfish) yells and sounds like the voice of agape but it is not.

Eros, sexual desire takes the voice of a God in its confidence and commitment to its goal. But it doesn’t point to anywhere beyond satisfying that goal.

“It is in the grandeur of Eros that the seeds of danger are concealed. He has spoken like a god. His total commitment, his reckless disregard of happiness, his transcendence of self-regard, sound like a message from the eternal world.”

Let’s look at action.

Matthew 5:29 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

Jesus is stating that the Gospel is more than sufficient for normal functioning.  That  God’s goodness has come into the world to fix our broken condition through the death and resurrection of Christ is so worthwhile that it is more essential to your right eye or hand.

It is also a statement on how powerful acting on lust can be. So much so that it would be better to be without essential means of navigating your world than to continue on with the ability to act on lust.

That is how detrimental it can be.

we have a chance to remove what is rotting.  Get off social media or off the internet.  Get out of that relationship.

Wherever there is rust there is rot. And once we arrive here, sin has taken hold.

We have a chance to deal with it at this level, if we don’t, repetitive action becomes habit. Lust becomes normative. This is precisely where we are as a culture.

Every lustful intent is inhuman.

In this case, since we are talking about sexuality, we have to talk about the lustful inhumanity of sexuality.

When we practice actions over and over we get habit. 

And I know Ive mentioned this before but practice doesn’t make perfect.

Practice makes permanent.

So whatever actions you have picked up as habits are not perfection they are becoming permanent, they are concreted into your life.

That’s why love and lust must be two different things.  Because Christ came with love to win us back. The love of Christ that gives and does not take restores.

But you have to go all the way back to the heart and give him those desires. surrender to Him.  He will support you.  He will use the church to do so. The goal is not shame it is support.  It is to return to love