Bethany Bullet - February 1, 2011

I know this might sound like heresy or maybe blasphemy but having spent three weeks now on the Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule, I’m beginning to notice that Jesus has a rather nasty habit…before you throw the first stone consider the evidence:

• Last week we heard the commandment, “Do not murder.” Just as I was ready to say, “1 for 1,” Jesus had to go and raise the stakes, “If you are angry with your brother, mad enough to call him a fool, you have broken the commandment.”
• Next week (here’s a sneak peek); we will hear Him say, “Do not break your oaths.” Granted not quite the slam dunk for me as the first, but still I could manage it until Jesus decides to narrow it, “Simply, let your ‘YES be YES’ and your ‘NO be NO.’” All of a sudden half truths, shades of gray, and beating around the bush are gone.
• Then this past Sunday, “Do not commit adultery.” Jesus can’t leave well enough alone. He must tighten the law so no one slips through, “Anyone who looks at another with sensual desire/lust is guilty of this sin.” You noticed it too, right? Jesus has a nasty habit of making the commandment impossible to keep!

(For the full treatment of this text listen to the podcast of the 1-30-2011 sermon: PODCAST)

How about a modern twist on Jesus’ words? “Ladies any of you who will watch the Super Bowl just because the guys wear really tight clothes or gentlemen any of you who have watched games just because the cheerleaders wear hardly any – are guilty!” We could keep re-wording the commandment, Jesus always seems to, until each and every one of us reading are left with only one option - admit that we are guilty. Jesus will allow no one to escape the Law and the commandments will trap us eventually; for none of us are worthy to be recognized as Golden Rule keepers, 24/7/365.

No one escapes the Law – interestingly enough not even Jesus. Jesus became one WITH sin. Now, Jesus never became one IN Sin! He committed NONE! He is the Golden Rule wonder. He might have told some that they were children of the devil, might have called others a brood of vipers, yet in so doing He was both telling the truth and hoping to lead to repentance, not lashing out irrationally or in anger. Never once did He hold onto or act in anger that was unjust or unrighteous. Jesus always told the truth, when it was obvious, when it was onerous and even when it was dangerous. He was honest. He never lusted after another. Even those who made a living and profit off of lust, who were drug before Him for condemnation, or fell before Him in adulation; He never looked at them with anything but a pure love that flows from a pure God.

Yet, it is equally true that no one escapes the Law; not even Jesus. Jesus becomes one WITH sin; yours and mine and the entire worlds. There is not a single crime ever committed which Jesus did not make his own, not one transgression that he did not bear, not one wandering eye, not one racy thought, not one salacious pondering or doing that He was not one with on the cross; “He who knew no SIN BECAME SIN so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Every sin was cast on Him; including that of lust. No sin of yours is too big to give to God; no guilt of yours is too repulsive or vile to become His own.

(Read: 2 Samuel 11 & 12)

David knew that and when confronted with his crime of lust he declared: I deserve to die; God should reject me and discard me. My actions have been an abomination. Yet God forgave David and he wrote: “Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Hide your face from my sins, and wipe out all that I have done wrong. Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a faithful spirit within me.” He wrote those words not just for himself but for you and me.

That same God has forgiven you too and in Jesus He took your guilt to the cross.

God never LUSTS.

• All lust is Looks for a Union Short Term

Rather God LOVES.

• Longs for Oneness that Vows Endurance

Such is His love for you: Never will He leave you, never will He forsake you, and He will be with you always. He is good and His has vowed a love and oneness that endures forever.

Having received such LOVE He longs for you to love in such a way – that would be the Golden Rule way.

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer