the basic message # E93
Matthew 5:27-29
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, 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.”
This passage has been discussed and argued for many years, and I have no reason to think that ritual will be ending anytime soon. Do you mind if I take a shot at it? Thanks. People love to justify their sinfulness in any way they can. “Well heck”, the man says after looking at a beautiful woman, “there’s nothing wrong with just looking.” Oh? Where does looking end and lust begin? Hey- I’m a man, I understand how men think, and believe me, it ain’t pretty. Jesus draws a hard line on the subject of lust, as evidenced by his advice to pluck out an eye that is prone to lusting. “Oh, John, Jesus isn’t telling us to pluck out our eye!” No? What is he saying then? Is he just kidding around? Is he only using a figure of speech? If so, is everything else he said also a figure of speech? Nope, Jesus spoke in clear terms without hesitation. “So John, are you going to pluck out your eye?” No, I rather enjoy having my sight, but I also enjoy the idea of entering Heaven also. What I intend to do, and am doing, is limiting my exposure to the opportunity to lusting after women. How? It’s a revolutionary concept that I call, “looking the other way”. It really works quite well- try it.
Matthew 18:8-9
“If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Gee, Jesus says the same thing 13 chapters later. It would appear that he was indeed serious the first time he said it. A pastor recently told me that, “If I had to pluck out my eye or cut off a foot or hand to be able to go to Heaven, I’d consider that a good deal.” Amen, my brother. Most of you are thinking I’m some sort of nut at this point, but if I’m a nut, Jesus is a nut too. Choose your words of condemnation carefully, my friends. Most Christians simply reject this proclamation from Christ because it's too hard to accept. While it is hard to accept, much of what Jesus said is hard to accept. Sadly, much of the Christian church picks and chooses what they want to believe. Make no mistake, folks, when we pick and choose what we want from a Savior, our Savior is likely to pick and choose who will be in paradise with him. Why wouldn’t he? “Because he loves us and he died for our sins.” Amen, but why does Jesus spend so much time telling us how to live? Is he just killing time waiting for his time to be killed? I’m one of these peculiar people who just believe in everything that Christ said. It’s strange how many people think they’ll go to Heaven simply because they believe in Christ, yet have no qualms about not believing what Christ said. “Oh, I believe what he said, I just don’t believe he really meant for us to do what he said.” We have become a people who love “cafeteria style” Christianity. We like to go through the line saying, “Give me plenty of that, but I don’t want any of that.” My friends, Christianity is not a democracy, it's a dictatorship. We aren’t given the option to pick and choose what we want to accept or reject. Jesus Christ went to the cross for my sins, and if he is telling me not to look at a woman with lust in my heart, I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit to help me do what the Master said. Simple enough?