M-G 12.31.16 // Going into Theological Absurdity as a Believer, Part 7 of 7

One of our presidents was once asked what was the hardest verse in the Bible to obey? He answered, “Matthew 5:28.” It is in this same verse that we find our principle on the expansion of our sinfulness before God that, hopefully, will help us to calibrate our thoughts, words, and actions in holiness before God and avoid going into theological absurdity as a believer.

“But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

If we flip the gender around, it is no less true, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a man to lust for him has already committed adultery with him in her heart.”

Matter of fact, we do not have to even limit this to “adultery” due to the underlying principle! We can include any sinful thought of the heart, and it will result in the same thing before God, an act! Let’s take the eighth commandment on stealing (Ex 20:15), for instance. We will have to rearrange the words a bit in Matthew, but you will see what I am talking about. Let’s reel it back to include v27 of chapter 5,

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not steal.’ But I say to you that whoever thinks of stealing anything has already committed theft within his heart” (Mt 5:27-28). 

Stealing begins within the heart, not with the act. Keep in mind that in Jesus’ day, He had condemned the Jewish spiritual leadership of continually rejecting the commandment of God for the purpose of keeping their traditional laws (cf. Mk 7:9). So, this comes as no surprise from Jesus, “but I say” in correcting the rabbinical teaching on the seventh commandment of emphasizing and condemning the outward act of adultery to the exclusion of inward purity. All the rabbis had to do was refer to the tenth commandment on the wrongful desire of coveting that which does not belong to you (Ex 20:17; cf. Mt 15:19).

Whenever there is an attempt to twist Scripture out of its context, it is intentional. It is almost like a “good old boy” kind of theology. “It is okay to look and lust all day long, boys; just don’t commit the act and get yourself in a bunch of trouble.” But the blatant hypocrisy was seen in the woman being caught in the very act of adultery and brought before Jesus (Jn 8:1-11). Maybe what Jesus wrote in the sand that day was, “Where is the man?” Oh, I forgot; men will be men…. Jesus’ response was so just and gracious, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).  

This “whoever” in Mt 5:28 is continually looking (“looks,” Gk, present tense), gazing, staring at a woman in order to lust after her. In his mind, he is having illicit sex with her. Adultery begins in the heart, not the act. The focus of the seventh command should be inward and outward. Thought precedes action, right? Even in this case of not going beyond the lusting in Mt 5:28, the seventh command was already violated. This was Jesus’ point; sin begins at the heart, not with the act.

Substituting adultery for other sins and rearranging the grammar in this verse does not violate the principle but only serves to illustrate it. All sin proceeds from the heart whether or not it comes to physical fruition. Thus, outwardly we may appear righteous to man, but that is only half of it. We better make sure that inwardly, we are pure in God’s sight. Holiness proceeds from the heart as well. 

Being holy as He is holy demands an inward and outward reality of holiness. Now you see why this verse is very profound and allows us to see our sinfulness before God is greater than we imagined; compare the experience of Isaiah (Isa 6:1-5). Seeing God as the Word portrays Him should reveal how sinful we are in light of His majesty and holiness! One day we are going to see Him face-to-face in all of His glory…!

The getting hit right-between-the-eyes truth is that Jesus back then and today doesn’t make a distinction between our thoughts, talk, and walk; they are all clumped together. This is very profound, and we should not take this truth lightly. When we dwell on sinful things, we are caught in the very act before God. It is very embarrassing when we reflect upon that spiritual reality. How God puts up with any of us is just another testimony of the grace of God who is worthy of our praise!

The misconception in Jesus’ day and our day is that there is no accountability for thinking about sin as long as we don’t physically act upon it. The world holds us responsible for our words and actions, but is unable to hold us accountable for our thoughts (thank God)! Sin is seen as something outwardly, not inwardly, a spiritual reality that leads to possible physicality. People play with sin in their minds all day long, thinking it is okay as long as they are not guilty of physically committing it.

We all have a tendency to define sin more as an outward act. The court of world opinion will try a man for theft but not the thinking of it. No matter how much he thinks about stealing something, as long as he doesn’t actually steal, there has been nothing deemed unlawful. We may reason that as long as we keep our sinful thoughts to ourselves, it is not a sin or in need of being addressed, but this passage in Mt 5:28 teaches the futility of that kind of thinking.   

How we think does matter even if we don’t act upon it physically. Spiritually speaking, it has already happened in the mind of God! Words reveal our thoughts just like inspiration does to revelation. Inspiration reveals the idea or thoughts of God (revelation) and speaks of His character. Unlike us, God’s thoughts, words, and actions are eternally unified and consistent for He is eternally holy and immutable or unchangeable or unalterable. He cannot contradict Himself by any of His attributes. Since His thoughts are holy, all of His acts are holy for He cannot sin.  

Beloved, it is crucial that we understand the connection between our thoughts-words-actions; to God they are inseparable. I will confess to you; this truth is not only humbling but painfully uncomfortable. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I don’t understand that bothers me; it’s the part I do understand that bothers me.” We should be bothered by Mt 5:28. Holiness is involved with the whole man, including every thought, every word, and every act.

Given our propensity to stray from His standards of righteousness, personal holiness takes on a whole new sense of urgency (1 Pet 1:15-16)! It is vital that we confess, repent, and move forward toward Christlikeness (1 Jn 1:9; 2 Pet 3:18) rather than throwing in the towel (cf. Php 4:13; Gal 6:9). Since all sinful or non-sinful behavior launches from the platform of the heart, doesn’t it make sense for us to nip any sinful thoughts in the bud with Holy Spirit enablement (cf. Psa 66:18; Prov 4:23; Rom 12:2; Gal 5:16)?

Can you see the vital importance of the renewing of the mind that brings about transformation and diminishes conformity to the world (Rom 12:2)? We are not what God created us to be; we have sinned against God and made a muck of things, and in so doing, we have generated a lot of garbage in our minds due to the wrong kind of thinking and behavior, creating an array of negative ripples.

Passages like Jer 17:9, 10 and Heb 4:12, 13 are great verses reminding us that on any given moment of any given day, God knows the spiritual status of our heart whether it is after God’s own heart or not, pure or impure. Truly, sin has no hidden refuge from God; no thinking, speaking (word or tongue), or acting goes unnoticed by God (Prov 15:3). The moment we stray in the mind; we are caught in the very act!

Finishing up this series, let’s get back to the “judge not” thing that we kicked around a bit in Part 6 to clearly illustrate going theologically absurd as a believer. The truth is you and I are making judgments all the time; some are righteous; some are not. From Mt 5:28 we can make the case that even silent judging is judging while we passionately cling to the “judge not” doctrine of the world. It is almost humorous when you think of the absurdity of it all, but sin is nothing to take lightly, for God looks upon sin I believe far differently than we do! What we think ain’t a big deal, is a big deal. Sin is a big deal to God; make no mistake about that. He sent His Son to the cold cruelty of the cross in order to propitiate the penalty of our sin! On the third day, that empty tomb revealed to us that Jesus was successful in satisfying the just demands for sin to God the Father. Hallelujah.

Why do people default to the idea that if someone has an illness or is in the hospital or has some kind of calamity, there is sin in the camp? We judge by appearance all the time though we are commanded not to do so (Jn 7:24a)! So often we fail to judge with righteous judgment (Jn 7:24b)! Because we have a sinful nature does not mean we are to refuse the command to judge with righteous judgment. Violating God’s imperatives is sin which includes the dereliction of duty. Since we actually judge all the time, we just need to learn how to judge righteous judgment. We need to start by quit lending an ear to the world on spiritual matters, filling our heart tank up with the Word, and walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16)! That alone would infuse Christ-like thinking and behavior in any local assembly of true believers! It is the stuff that revivals are made of in our own hearts and others….

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the polling results from Bible-believing churches across America on whether Christians should judge or not! It would reveal the extent of the damage by the infiltration and adoption of the psuchikos man’s (the natural or sensual man) interpretation of Mt 7:1. This worldly view on judging is injected into the bloodstream as soon as believers start embracing the world’s take on judging – “judge not.” This is nothing more than another example of listening to the psuchikos man. Historically, it normally takes persecution to put an end to such nonsense until another generation downstream comes along that repeats the sins of generations past. History does indeed teach us that man does not learn from history, eh?

The hypocrisy is and has always been that the world can judge Christians, but should Christians say something about the world, why, that’s altogether a different story. “We need to get ‘hate’ speech off our streets,” they say! If the psuchikos man (not having the Spirit) gets wind of something they do not like, out comes the “judge not” card, along with many believers today who say, “Mind your own business.” The LORD will make it His business sooner or later. Theological absurdity has become a way of life; the psuchikos man apparently has someone’s ear in the present body of Christ. I can hear the hammers and saws of Bonkers Baptist Church being built in the distance, that is until Jesus comes to drain the swamp…. <>< 

“Do not judge according to the appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (Jn 7:24).

THOT: Imagine a world where the unseen sins of the heart outnumber the innumerable physical manifestations of sin, welcome to planet earth!

Tender Moment: God desires for you to hear and obey His Word and to stop listening to those who do not have the Holy Spirit of God. Pay attention to the Holy Spirit through the Word. God loves you with an everlasting love; the psuchikos (natural, without the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 1:19) man does not have your back or spiritual interests in mind; he or she is a divider, desiring to separate you from the truth. Read the Word, and listen to the still small voice and the defenders of the faith, the pneumatikos (supernatural, having the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor 2:15) man, to avoid going into the sin of theological absurdity.    

End of Series