I know that some people get a little bit nervous when they hear me say, ‘never do something just because it’s written in the Bible’ – and I understand where they’re coming from. The most obvious concern is over the danger that we can then make the Bible say whatever we want it to say. How do we make sure that what we think the Bible is saying, is actually what the Bible is saying.
But on the flip side – our life is very different to life in the first century – or even earlier. And there is so much of our modern life that the Bible simply does not mention. And so if you restrict yourself to only doing what you read in the Bible you are going to struggle with all sorts of questions and issues that face us today.
But on the flip side – our life is very different to life in the first century – or even earlier. And there is so much of our modern life that the Bible simply does not mention. And so if you restrict yourself to only doing what you read in the Bible you are going to struggle with all sorts of questions and issues that face us today.
One of the things that comes through Matthew 5-7 is that Jesus is calling his disciples to live a life that is radically different. It was a life that was different to their fellow Jews and inconceivable to their Roman and Greek neighbours.
And so whatever this life that Jesus calls us to looks like – the chances are, it’s going to be very different to the lives of those around us – both in terms of what we do and what we think.
And so whatever this life that Jesus calls us to looks like – the chances are, it’s going to be very different to the lives of those around us – both in terms of what we do and what we think.
And what we think is really important to Jesus. That is clear from these verses. What we think is at least as important, if not more important, than our outward actions. In the section about adultery (verses 27-30) Jesus uses hyperbole and exaggeration to show the sort of lengths we should go to in order to protect what we allow into our minds. (Just to be clear – Jesus is not speaking literally in verses 29 and 30). It’s not just a case of shutting the wrong thoughts down once they are there – it’s also about putting things in place to make sure that those thoughts don’t get there in the first place.
On Sunday I mentioned that for me, one of the choices that I make, is generally speaking, not watching films that are rated above a 12. There is a huge range of content on the internet now. It used to be that if you wanted to watch a film it required a trip to Block Buster and you had to walk out with an actual video cassette. Now, within the privacy of your own bedroom, you can watch almost anything within a couple of mouse clicks. And so setting the filter at 12 helps reduce the temptation of watching something that will be unhelpful in my walk with Jesus.
And each of us will need to make our own decisions – in terms of what helps and what hinders our relationship with Jesus. We need to recognise that some of these decisions may be inconvenient, costly and painful. But are they as inconvenient, costly or painful as the (non-literal) measures mentioned by Jesus? And that’s part of the point. We don’t just need to make choices that are convenient and which fit in with our current lives – but sometimes we need to be prepared to make decisions that will be life-changing and costly.
On Sunday I mentioned that for me, one of the choices that I make, is generally speaking, not watching films that are rated above a 12. There is a huge range of content on the internet now. It used to be that if you wanted to watch a film it required a trip to Block Buster and you had to walk out with an actual video cassette. Now, within the privacy of your own bedroom, you can watch almost anything within a couple of mouse clicks. And so setting the filter at 12 helps reduce the temptation of watching something that will be unhelpful in my walk with Jesus.
And each of us will need to make our own decisions – in terms of what helps and what hinders our relationship with Jesus. We need to recognise that some of these decisions may be inconvenient, costly and painful. But are they as inconvenient, costly or painful as the (non-literal) measures mentioned by Jesus? And that’s part of the point. We don’t just need to make choices that are convenient and which fit in with our current lives – but sometimes we need to be prepared to make decisions that will be life-changing and costly.
Jesus doesn’t mince his words. And there’s no nice way of saying it. But the risk of making consistent choices that pull us away from Jesus is that that’s where we might find ourselves for eternity – away from Jesus.
