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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5.27-28; all emphasis mine, above & below, jeb). This saying is one of five times that Jesus used the “But I say...” expression during the Sermon on the Mount. However, these are not the only times that he used it. According to the other inspired records of His ministry, there were at least six other times when He uttered these words. Our purpose today will not be to examine each of these saying, but rather to look at the general significance of the statement when it came from the lips of Jesus Christ.
The word but is typically a word of contrast. It frequently is used to introduce two contrasting ideas or opinions. When Jesus used the “But I say...” statements in the Sermon on the Mount, it is clear that He was introducing contrasting ideas each of the five times. However, upon reflection, He is doing far more than that; He is introducing contrasting sources of authority. To put this another way, one to which each of us can relate, Jesus was contrasting truth with error! What the people to whom Jesus spoke had heard (past tense) was wrong; what they were hearing (present tense) from Jesus was truth! This makes His message much more urgent than merely a divergent opinion about mundane matters; when Jesus said, “But I say...” it was a matter of life and death!
Looking more closely at these statements in the Sermon on the Mount, it is significant that they were preceded by, “You have heard that it was said...” statements. One would have to be spiritually blind not to see that Jesus was placing His word against what had been previously taught; He was contrasting what had been said with what He was saying. Furthermore, He was clearly stating that His teachings were truthful and those which had been taught before were flawed in some way or the other. One can readily see that the “flaw” in the earlier teachings had to do with the heart of man and the fact that God demands obedience “from the heart,” not mere outward compliance with His commands. Be that as it may, the fact remains that Jesus took on the previous expositors of the Law and said in effect, “You are wrong!”
There is an underlying truth here that must be brought out; we will explore this truth in concluding our devotional. Here is that truth: Every positive affirmation of spiritual truth has negative connotations. It is impossible to “...just teach the truth and let others alone.” It is impossible to speak the truth in only a positive and upbeat manner and to avoid the negative. We live in a culture which takes pride in inclusiveness and decries exclusivity; in this matter our culture is simply wrong! The coin of truth always has two sides to it; there is the side with positive affirmation and there is the side which implies the negative (the negative is simply everything that opposes truth)!
God is! This is a positive statement. It implies that all statements to the contrary are false. God is Love! This is also a positive statement, but it implies that any teaching which denies the loving nature of God is false. Jesus love me! Again this is a positive statement; any doctrine that denies the Savior's personal love for me is error. One simply cannot teach truth without exposing and condemning error; any claim to the contrary is error!
That being said, as believers we have an obligation to speak the truth, but we also have an obligation to speak it in love (see Ephesians 4.15). The test of love is not whether it includes or excludes, but whether or not it reflects God's insatiable desire for repentance on the part of all who oppose the truth!
Questions:
1. Against whom or what did Jesus array His doctrine when He said, “But I say...”?
2. Why did Jesus not just teach the truth and let others alone during the Sermon on the Mount?
3. Does spiritual truth exclude? Whom or what does it exclude? For those who are excluded by truth, is there a way to be included? If yes, what is that way?
4. What are the two sides of the coin of truth?
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