Completeness in Character

All right, church, take your Bible or your device, if you will, go to Matthew chapter five. If you're just joining us for the first time, either in person or online. We're in a series right now called Mature Audiences Only, where we're talking about spiritual maturity and what that looks like. Barna did some research and discovered that the majority of churchgoers have no idea how their church defines spiritual maturity. They don't know what's expected of them.

And so we're making it clear, we're laying out for you what we believe spiritual maturity looks like. And there's a big difference between being a Christian and being a disciple. The word Christian is mentioned three times in the New Testament. The word disciple is mentioned 269 times in the New Testament. So quite a difference in the emphasis from Scripture.

So we really want to dive deeper into what it means to grow up in the things of God. And I believe that in the times in which we're living, God is calling us to grow up. God's calling us to get off of the milk of the Word and start eating the meat of the Word. And it doesn't just happen in a multi week series. It doesn't happen in a day.

It's a lifelong journey. It's a lifelong process. One of the things that we have said is that it is long obedience and the same direction. Long obedience in the same direction. Now I realize I've been pastoring for over four decades and I realize that there are some people that are very content to just keep sucking on the bottle.

Some people that love their diapers, some people that just will not give up their pass.

And so I thought I would maybe make it a little easier for you. For those of you that just want to stay where you are, can I just quickly give you 10 ways to remain spiritually immature? Whether you give me permission or not, I'm going to. It's coming real quick. 10 Ways if you just want to remain spiritually mature, if you love your passy, here's what you need to do.

Number one, gather infrequently in church. Attend church infrequently. Just whenever it feels good, whenever it's convenient for you, show up. But don't worry about coming on a consistent basis. It's a guarantee you'll stay immature.

Number two, read the Word of God occasionally, just every now and then for inspiration. Number three, isolate yourself from other believers. Number four, do not serve. Don't serve. Make everything about you, make everything about your schedule, about people serving you, about people catering to you and you'll stay immature.

Number five, don't develop a regular time of prayer. Don't prioritize that. Number six, fight for your rights. Fight for your opinions. Don't surrender your rights.

Fight for what you think you deserve and the way you think you should be treated. Number seven, ignore what the Bible says about tithing and giving. Number eight, neglect the discipline of fasting. Number nine, consume worldly entertainment regularly. And number ten, always take the easier way.

Yeah, be more concerned about your comfort than you are about the character of Christ.

Just trying to make it easy for you. Those of you that want to remain immature, you don't want to grow up in the things of God. Ten steps. Just follow those and a year from now, you'll look the same as you do today. Five years from now, you look the same as you do today.

All right, man, you guys are quiet. I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I'm just trying to help you. So we've been. We've been unpacking this document that our pastors created five years ago on what spiritual maturity looks like, because we want you to understand what that is.

And we've laid that document out. In fact, I put it on the app in week one. If you want to go back, download the app, you can find the entire document so you know what it looks like. But let me tell you, we're still on point one of the document this week. Four of the series, we're still on point one in talking about death to self.

We've talked about obeying the commands of Jesus to love the Lord with all of our heart and to love our neighbor as ourself. We've talked about what it means to be build relationship with unbelievers. And then last week we started into this thing of living according to the living a blessed life according to the Sermon on the Mount. So we started talking about the Sermon on the Mount last week. And let me just tell you, it is a daunting task to try to preach through the Sermon on the Mount in three weeks.

That's what I'm trying to do. Last week we talked about the Beatitudes in chapter five. And, and then this week, next week, we're trying to get through the Sermon on the Mount. It'll be a miracle if I get through this message this morning before 1:00'. Clock.

I don't know what the next service is gonna do, but let me tell you, it is a challenge. But we're gonna jump into this. We're gonna dive into this, I'm gonna do the best that I can. And really, those of you that love exegetical teaching, that's what this is gonna be, where we're just gonna go scripture groups by scripture group, and I'm gonna lay out some takeaways for you. Beginning in Matthew, chapter five.

I wanna read a couple of verses right now. Beginning in verse 13. Stand, if you will, to honor the word of God. It's on the screen behind me. I have a feeling I'm gonna be out of breath before this is all over.

You guys keep up with me, okay? Here we go. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13. Jesus says you're the salt of the earth, but what good is salt if it's lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again?

It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everybody in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everybody will praise your heavenly Father. Let's make some declarations real quick. Everybody together. Ready, go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the Word. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated.

The Sermon on the Mount is broken into three categories we talked about last week. The introduction, which is basically the Beatitudes. And then the body, which we're going to jump into today, begins in chapter five, right around verse 21. And then the conclusion, which is chapter seven, beginning at verse 13 through the remainder of chapter seven. And we're going to jump into the body today, then conclude that tomorrow and go into the conclusion or not tomorrow, next Sunday.

But here's kind of an easy way to remember how the Sermon on the Mount is constructed. Chapter five is all about relationships. Chapter six, end of chapter seven, verse 12, is all about our responsibility. And then chapter seven, verse 13, until the end of the chapter, is all about our response to maybe the greatest teaching of Jesus, time of his time here on the Earth. The Sermon on the Mount, obviously one of his more famous teachings.

We're jumping in today in chapter five, beginning in verse 21, to the relationships. Jesus is teaching all about relationship. And he begins in verse 21 by saying this, you've heard that our ancestors were told, you must not murder. If you commit murder, you're subject to judgment. But I say, if you are even angry with somebody, you're subject to judgment.

If you call someone an idiot, You're in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you're in danger of. Of the fires of hell, verse 23. So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. It's all about relationship.

Go and be reconciled to that person, then come and offer your sacrifice to God. When you're on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you'll be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won't be free again until you have paid the last penny. Now, Jesus makes a statement earlier in chapter five where he says, I didn't come to abolish the law of the prophets, the law of Moses.

I didn't come to just throw that out, or to say, that's useless to us now. That has no merit with us now. No, what Jesus said is, I came to fulfill that. And what we find in the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus takes the law of Moses, the law of the prophets, to a higher level. There's greater accountability and greater expectation with Jesus teaching than even what we find in the law.

Jesus is saying, it's not that it's not useful to us any longer. In fact, it's very useful. But I'm gonna take it to another level. And by doing so, Jesus is calling you and I to a higher level. He's saying, it's time to grow up.

It's time that you go to a different level in your relationship with me. So here's the takeaways from those verses that we just read. Number one, keep your heart clear. Don't let offense take root, and listen. That's coming from a pastor who's had many, many occasions through the last four decades to be offended.

And so have you. Like, if you've been in church for any time at all, if you're just living life, your boss, family members, your kids, your husband, your wife, somebody's gonna offend you. And you have to decide, as a mature believer, how will I respond to that? Will I cling to my rights to be angry? Will I cling to my rights to get revenge?

Or will I give up my rights and act like a mature believer and determine that offense will not take root in my heart. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Number two, be a peacemaker. And last week, as I team taught with my son Cole, he laid out the difference between a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. A peacekeeper is one who never wants to rock the boat.

It's somebody who just never wants to upset anybody, so they do whatever they have to do just to keep the peace, just so everybody's happy. I just want everybody to be happy. Can we all just get along? Can we all just be happy? That's not the same as being a peacemaker.

A peacemaker is one who contends and fights for unity. A peacemaker is one who says, even if it upsets you, we're going to confront the things that the enemy is trying to use to divide us so that we can maintain the harmony that Jesus desires for us to have as believers in the body of Christ. Number three, take away from that passage of scripture, Settle your accounts quickly. I'm sure that you've discovered, as I have as well, that if you allow things to just remain unsettled, if you don't talk about those things, if you don't go to a brother or sister. That's why Jesus says, if you're in worship like we were this morning, and all of a sudden you realize somebody has something against you, That phrase right there easily trips some of us up.

It does me, because I would have thought Jesus would have said, if you realize that you have something against somebody else, then you need to get up and go settle that. No, Jesus says, if you realize somebody's got something against you, then you need to leave your sacrifice at the altar and you need to go to them and do whatever you can do to make peace with that person to settle the issue and do it quickly, because the longer you wait, anybody discovered what happens. Like the enemy then jumps in the middle of that unresolved dispute, blows that thing out of proportion, blows up your perspective, allows things to begin to simmer inside of your heart that can then divide. And Jesus says, just as soon as you know there's something that's off, resolve it immediately. Verse 27, Jesus goes on in his teaching, you've heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery.

But I say anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In other words, Jesus has taken the law of Moses to a higher level. Now he says, so if your eye, even your good eye, causes you to lust, gouge it out, throw it away. It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your hand, even your stronger hand, causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. You've heard the law that says a man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce. But I say that a man who divorces his wife unless she has been unfaithful causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery. Again, a lot to unpack.

And I said last week we could spend an entire year preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. And here I am trying to do it in three weeks. A lot to unpack in those verses that we just read. But again, Jesus takes the law of Moses to a higher level and he establishes the truth, first of all, that adultery is more than an act of the flesh. He says it can happen in the heart.

It starts here in the heart, and then it may manifest in the flesh. And then he makes some radical statements about cutting off your hand and gouging out your eye. Now hear me loud and clear. I do not recommend that as soon as you have a lustful thought or that your fingers type in a pornographic website on your computer or on your phone. Or I do not recommend that you gouge your eye out the moment you have a lustful thought or you cut your hand off as soon as you type in that pornographic website.

Jesus is teaching there are steps that you can take before it gets to that point.

Listen, I'll just give you a personal example. I don't remember exactly when this happened. I think it was sometime last year. But I'm on social media, primarily Instagram. I have a Facebook account.

I'm hardly ever on it. I had Twitter. I was hardly ever on it, but I had all three. A lot of that stemmed from when I released the book nationally several years ago. A lot of it stemmed from Life Ride and the social media platforms.

We were connecting with people all over the country. But at some point, I think it was last year. Honestly, I don't remember. At some point I was looking for somebody told me about something on Twitter or I should follow somebody or I should do something. So I'm on Twitter and I'm just going through there and there was a post.

And nothing about the post would make me think that it was inappropriate. Nothing but it was something that caught my attention and I clicked on the post and as soon as I did, I realized it was an inappropriate post. Like it would lead me to places that I did not need to go. And I just made the decision right then. I'm like, I don't need Twitter.

I don't need to be on this and I certainly don't need the temptation of this. All of us are human beings, right? Your pastor is human. I'm like, I just don't need this. So I just immediately deleted Twitter and haven't been on it since.

Now, I'm not saying that. Hang on. I'm not saying that to say, oh, wow, you're so holy. You're amazing, man of God, because you did that. Now listen, I know my weaknesses, but here's what I am saying.

There are steps that you can take before you have to cut your hand off or gouge your eye out. Like sometimes we're just stupid.

Can we just talk? Like, we give ourselves way too much credit in saying, oh, you know, that's not going to be an issue for me, or I'm stronger than that, or I can meet that person at the bar just to have a business meeting and it's not going to cause a problem for me. Whatever. Just be smart. Take steps so that you never have to get to the point that you cut your hand off or gouge your eye out.

But Jesus says if you cannot, if you cannot find a way to avoid temptation. If it gets to the point that you need to cut your hand off or gouge your eye out, it's way better that you do that than for you to enter hell with all of your limbs intact in both of your eyes. Some of you, and I've known men who have done this. Some of you might need to get a flip phone, get rid of your smartphone because it represents too much of a temptation to you. Some of you might need greater accountability in your life, but you refuse to plug into a small group or into a group of men or women that can hold you accountable.

Some of you need to increase your time in the Word so that the washing of the water of the Word can transform your thought life. Because we know that our hearts are immediately transformed at salvation. But the mind is not immediately transformed salvation. In fact, it's a lifelong process to transform your thinking. And you only do that through the Word of God.

You don't do that through just some self help book. You do it by spending time in the Word of God. Some of you need to set some Boundaries. And you need to determine I will not be on my laptop or I will not be on my phone past a certain time of night, whatever time that is, 8 o', clock, 9 o', clock, whatever. But you need some boundaries in place.

That's what I'm saying. Don't be stupid. Just be wise. Like scripture says, wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove. But Jesus is saying if all else fails, take whatever radical steps that you need to take.

And then he starts talking about divorce. And we might not like what Jesus says about it, but many of Jesus teachings are designed to confront the leaven that we've allowed to be mixed into our hearts. Our culture says that a no fault divorce based on irreconcilable differences is normal and okay. Just like the religious people of Jesus day were referring to the law of Moses that allowed people to divorce for whatever reason. But again, Jesus takes it to a higher level and he calls us to a higher standard than that of the world.

Can I get an amen on that?

So here's three takeaways. Number one. Do life with others and bring things into the light.

The enemy has permission to dwell in darkness. The domain of the enemy is darkness. So bring things into the light. Don't think that you're strong enough. Don't think that your spiritual roots go deep enough that you don't need accountability in your life.

Do life with other people. Number two, Be willing to take radical steps to protect your relationship with Jesus. Whatever you have to do, listen to me. Nothing, nothing, nothing is more important than your relationship with Jesus.

Don't jeopardize that. Number three. Refuse to create justification for divorce outside of the teachings of Scripture. Refuse to do that. Well, I have a right.

You don't know how I'm treated. You know how horrible that man is. You don't know how horrible she is to get along with. Don't. Don't allow yourself to create justification outside of the teachings of Jesus.

Here we go. Exegetical teaching. If you don't know what that means, look it up. Verse 33. You've also heard that our ancestors were told, you must not break your vows.

You must carry out the vows that you make to the Lord. Verse 34. But I say, do not make any vows. Do not say by heaven, because heaven is God's throne. Don't say by the earth, because the earth is his footstool.

And do not say by Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say by my head, for you cannot turn one hair white. Or black. Just say a simple yes I will or no, I won't. Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

What's Jesus getting at here? Well, you need to understand that in Jesus day people would make oaths for various reasons. Number one, they would make oaths because they wanted to avoid accountability and they wanted to manipulate other people. So they would make an oath so that they didn't have to be accountable for certain things and they could manipulate others. Here's the second reason they created oaths or made oaths with others in order to create loopholes, like ways out of certain situations.

Some oaths were binding and some were not. And so they would create these oaths that were non binding and it would give them a loophole to get out if they did not want to keep their word about something. So here's the takeaways from this passage of scripture. Number one, live a life of such integrity that your word is your bond.

This is simple stuff, isn't it? Live a life of such integrity that your word is your bond. Number two, speak truthfully and avoid exaggeration. Number three, build cycles of trust. In other words, spiritually mature believers, disciples of Christ should live their lives out in such a way that if you say something, everybody knows they're good on their word.

They're good on their word. Like if they tell you they're gonna do something, then they'll follow through with it. I've known so many believers who, who would make all these promises or they would tell you certain things and you guys have met them as well, and they just never follow through. And there's always an excuse, there's always a reason that's not building a cycle of trust. And Jesus is saying, live your life with so much integrity that when you say you're gonna do something, everybody knows you're gonna do it.

And every time you do that, you're building a cycle of trust so that your word is good enough. You don't have to make all these oaths, you don't have to swear by this and, you know, promise that. You just say, I'm going to do it and then you do it. All right? Verse 38.

You've heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say, do not resist an evil person. If somebody slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek. Also, if you're sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat too.

If a soldier demands that you carry his Gear for a mile, carry it two miles, give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow. Jesus here is teaching the principle of the second mile.

He's teaching the call for true disciples to surrender their right to get even, or to evoke revenge for wrongdoing. It's a countercultural kingdom approach that pushes on the buttons of our flesh. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Right. This is so practical.

It's just so real. So to understand the context of what Jesus was teaching here, the Jewish people were under the control of the Roman Empire. And because of that, the Jewish people were required by the Roman law to carry the belongings or the luggage, if you will, of a Roman soldier for one mile. And there were these mile markers that were all around the city. So if a Roman soldier stopped a Jewish person and said, I want you to carry my stuff.

The Jewish person, by law, had to carry it for a mile. And so they would reach that mile marker, they would drop the stuff. And Jesus comes along and he says, here's what I want you to do. Because true disciples go the extra mile. True disciples do more than what is expected of them.

He said, I don't want you to carry it one mile. I want you to carry it two miles. Now, come on, put yourself in the shoes of those Jewish people. They hated the Romans anyway. They hated the fact that they were under their control and that they had to pay taxes to Caesar.

They despised that. And then Jesus says, I want you to love your enemies. I want you to go the extra mile. They ask you to carry at one. I want you to go second mile.

Because Jesus realized this. It was in the second mile that real life conversation would happen where a Roman soldier would be like, hey, man, the mile marker was back there. You can drop this stuff. No, no, no, it's okay, man, I'll go the second mile. I'll keep carrying it.

And all of a sudden, the Roman soldier scratching his head and he starts asking, what is your deal, man? Why are you doing this? And it was in that second mile that real conversation would. It was in the second mile that life changing conversations could happen. It was in the second mile that unity could be built.

And Jesus says to true disciples, he says to you and I, we are to do more than what's expected of us as it relates to your boss, as it relates to your family members, as it relates to those in leadership in the church. Somebody asks you to do something and you say, great, I did that. Now what else can I do? Because Jesus says a mark of spiritual maturity is that you'll go beyond what you're asked to do or what you're required to do. We do more than what's expected of us.

And then he rolls right into verse 43 when he says, you've heard the law that says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, higher standard. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you in that same way, or in that way, you'll be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good.

He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? In other words, Jesus was like man, that's easy, that's low hanging fruit. He says, even corrupt tax collectors do that much. Verse 47.

But if you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anybody else? He says, even pagans do that. Now, the linchpin for right living. Remember the Beatitudes were just an introduction that lead us into the body, which is all about righteousness, the body of the Sermon on the Mount. It's all about right living.

It's all about righteousness. And the Beatitudes lay a foundation for how we should live. And the linchpin for all of it. The linchpin for all righteous living is found in chapter seven, verse 12, which says this. Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.

This is the essence of all that is taught in the Law and the prophets.

However you want to be treated, that's how you should treat other people. That's the linchpin of righteous living. Jesus is contrasting the world's way of approaching relationships compared to the Kingdom way. He said, true disciples do things differently. The world says we should hate our enemies.

Jesus says, love them and pray for them. The world says to love only those who love you. Jesus says we're to love those who won't love us back. Do kind deeds for those who will never reciprocate. True spiritual maturity, true Christlikeness is to love those who can do nothing for you in return.

So that sounds flowery. That sounds wonderful. Yeah, that sounds like being like Jesus. Yeah. But then when you start to do that, it pushes on the buttons of our flesh where we say, I shouldn't be doing that for you, you should be doing that for me.

You don't deserve this. And Jesus says, you're to love people that don't deserve your love. You're to love the People that are just unlovable, like, they're just jerks. Like, you're to love the Karens of the world, All of you Karens that are here or watching online, we love you.

And then he wraps it up. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 48.

He says, but you're to be perfect. Even as your Father in heaven is perfect, you're to be perfect now, before you disqualify yourself, before you check out, stand on the sidelines and say, you guys will have to take it from here because I am so far from perfect. You need to understand what that word means in the original language is the Greek word telios. And teleos just simply means that we are full grown, we're complete in all of our parts. And I love this part.

It means especially of the completeness of Christian character. It's reaching the end. And it's illustrated by the old pirates telescope that would extend out. And the more you extended it out, the sharper the image would become. And that's the word picture that Jesus gives when he says, you're to be perfect.

You're to be perfect. In other words, you're to grow in your relationship with Jesus day by day, month by month, year by year, so that a year from now, you don't look the same as you do now. And the Lord just begins extending your life, developing every part of your character so that you reach your full potential. Like when the end of time comes, whenever that may be for us, he's saying, you should have been extended all the way out. Maximize your potential in your relationship with Jesus.

That's what spiritual maturity looks like. And that's what he's calling us to in terms of relationship. All of those things that we just walked through over the last 20 minutes, they're much easier said than done. But if you want to stand out, we live in a culture where everybody wants to stand out. They want to be Insta famous, TikTok famous, YouTube famous.

Everybody wants to stand out. Let me tell you an easy way to stand out. If you live like Jesus teaches in what we just read in chapter five, it will be in stark contrast to the way of the world. And you'll stand out in a way where people say, what is your deal? Why do you act like that?

They just cussed you out and you just loved on them and smiled and what's up with all that stuff? And the beautiful thing is, Jesus is inviting you and I, no matter your age, gender, nationality, how long you've served God. Could be a day, could be decades. But Jesus is inviting all of us to reach our completeness in the development of our Christian character. So let's pray.

Father, what we desire more than anything is not to just achieve some religious accomplishment where we can check off some boxes. What we desire so much is to look like you and to smell like you. The aroma of Christ emanating from our lives to everybody we come in contact with. Lord, you've laid out for us what that means, how we should live in relationship to others. And I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would convict our hearts.

And I pray that we would determine to be doers of this word today. Of what we've heard, of what we've learned. Draw us. Draw us as you have invited us in. I pray that we would move towards you.

We would go deeper. We would long for the meat of your word. We would long to be challenged. We would allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to do its full work in our hearts. I pray, oh God, that just out of this one church of hundreds of thousands of churches across the nation, millions around the world.

Out of this church would come people who are mature in the things of Jesus, people who are true disciples of Christ. Call us. Draw us. I pray in the mighty name of Jesus.