It's (Not) Payback Time: How Kingdom Citizens Respond to Mistreatment

Hopson Boutot

Poquoson Baptist Church

Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago • Presented 2 years ago

Matthew 5:38–42

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10,000 Reasons

WELCOME

Good morning family! Hear the Word of the Lord...

Psalm 103:1-4—“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,”

“Of course God loves me like that! I’m pretty great!” (iniquity, diseases, pit)

We gather to remember who God is, but also to remember who we are. And apart from His mercy and grace we deserve nothing good from Him. But He gives it to us in endless measure anyways!

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in Matthew 5:38-42. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 2 quick announcements:

1) A word about PBC. We are Missionaries.

We will labor to reach our neighbors and the nations with the Gospel.

Sometimes that means working together to get to know our neighbors so we have opportunities to tell them about Jesus

Sometimes that means partnering with other ministries that are commited to gospel ministry

Let me tell you about three opportunities this spring to be on mission in our community and beyond...

(and yes, even an announcement can have sub-points)

1) Baby Bottle Campaign (bottles due March 13)

2) Walk 4 Life (April 30)

3) PBC Easter Egg Hunt Outreach (April 9)

2) TableTalk—“One Another” teaching series

55x the NT commands Christians to relate to “one another” in specific ways

The most popular command is to “love one another,” but there’s 27 different “one another” commands that relate to life in the local church

These commands teach us how we’re supposed to live life together as the people of God

And we’re going to begin studying them one-by-one, starting tonight at 5PM

Sterling Tollison teaching

Come for the conversation, stay for the fellowship.

Now look in your Bibles at Matthew 5:38 as Kelly Watkins comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Matthew 5:38-42)

Prayer of Praise (God is good)

Blessed Assurance

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Prayer of Confession (Worldliness), Eli Dowell

What A Beautiful Name

PBC CATECHISM #9

What do we believe about humanity?

We believe God created people in His own image as uniquely male and female.

PASTORAL PRAYER (John Rogers)

SERMON

Michelangelo (the Renaissance artist, not the Ninja Turtle) is praised by many as one of the greatest artists of all time.

At a mere 26 years old, he accepted a commission to create his most famous work, the Statue of David.

SHOW STATUE OF DAVID IMAGE

He began carving the massive block of white marble on September 13, 1501 and would not finish until January 25, 1504. Upon completion, the statue measured at 17 feet tall and over 12,000 pounds. Today the statue is visited by over 1.2 million people every single year.

An old legend suggests that Pope Alexander once asked Michelangelo the secret of his genius.

Michelangelo allegedly responded, “It’s simple. I just remove everything that is not David.”

In some ways Jesus’ words in our passage this morning are like Michelangelo’s Statue of David.

Jesus’ words here are beautiful, massive, and intimidating.

They’re also incredibly popular, and have influenced massive historical figures like Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and many more.

But like Michelangelo's massive slab of marble, the true meaning of this passage is often shrouded by misunderstanding.

So with God’s help, we’ll carve away everything that is not what Jesus intended so we can see the beauty and the glory of His words for us today.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:38

Jesus is preaching a sermon to His disciples about how to live rightly as citizens of the kingdom of heaven

He’s contrasting kingdom righteousness with the righteousness of the religious teachers

“You have heard that, but I say to you this”

1) vv. 21-26, Jesus looks beyond the prohibition of murder to the anger that drives it

2) vv. 27-30, Jesus looks beyond the prohibition of adultery to the lust that precedes it

3) vv. 31-32, Jesus looks beyond provisions for divorce to the Creator’s intent for marriage

4) vv. 33-37, Jesus looks beyond the common thinking about swearing oaths to God’s desire for His people to be truthful

Today: Jesus looks beyond the law’s teaching about justice in the community to how God’s people should respond when personally mistreated

But before we can understand how God’s people should respond when mistreated, we need to carve away everything that is not what Jesus intended when He uttered these famous words almost 2000 years ago.

Matthew 5:38-42—“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”

Let’s carve away 4 Incorrect Interpretations of these words, and then we’ll explain what Jesus does mean and apply it to our lives today.

Jesus is Not Contradicting the LAW

5:38-39a—“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil....”

The law Jesus references here is sometimes called the lex talionis, a Latin phrase meaning “the law of retaliation”

This time Jesus is quoting an concept that is repeated several times in the Mosaic law

Exodus 21:24

Deuteronomy 19:21

Leviticus 24:19-20—“If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.”

Both Gandhi and MLK rejected the logic of the law of Moses here when they said, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."

Is that what Jesus is doing? Is He rejecting or contradicting the law?

The lex talionis was about the legal system for a nation. These were laws intended to ensure that the civil punishment fit the crime.

Contrast with the Code of Hammurabi, written before the law of Moses, which threatened different penalties for injuring a person depending on your social and economic status...

If a free man struck another free man, he paid a fine. But if a slave struck a free man his ear would be cut off. [1]

The lex talionis was grace for a nation. The punishment given in a court of law should fit the crime. That was the point of these laws.

But once again the Pharisees and religious elites had taken what God intended and twisted it. They had taken a set of laws that were intended for the law courts and extended them to personal relationships.

This is vigilante justice. Someone takes from you, you take back from them. No need for police, government, judges, or courts. Just take matters into your own hands.

One of the problems with this is when we take matters into our own hands, we often go beyond a just punishment. Like John Wick killing dozens of people for killing his dog.

To this Jesus says NO!

Jesus is not contradicting the OT law. He is arguing against a misapplication of the law.

Let’s carve away another incorrect interpretation...

Jesus is Not Speaking ABSOLUTELY

One of the challenges teaching our son Ezekiel English has been his tendency to interpret every rule absolutely

e.g., “No Mommy” became his word for “no”; saying “no ma’am” to Jonah

Sometimes readers of Jesus’ teaching interpret Him in the same way.

We saw that last week, where some Christians have taken Jesus’ teaching on the abuse of oaths as an absolute prohibition on oaths

But taking Jesus’ teaching here absolutely could have even more dangerous effects...

5:39b—“… Do not resist the one who is evil...”

The 19th century Russian novelist and social reformer Leo Tolstoy said it was this phrase that became the key for him to understand the entire Sermon on the Mount. It opened up for Tolstoy an entire new way of looking at the world. Unfortunately for Tolstoy, he was understanding Jesus wrongly.

Tolstoy said this phrase meant that “Christ totally forbids the human institution of any law court because they resist evil and even return evil for evil.” [2] For Tolstoy, the same principle applied to the police, the army, and the government.

If Jesus was forbidding any resistance of evil...

We couldn’t discipline our children when they sin

We couldn’t resist the Devil when he tempts us

We couldn’t resist bad theology

We couldn’t resist sin in our own churches

We couldn’t resist when the powerful unjustly oppress the weak

Government couldn’t resist the evildoer in society

We would become like “the crazy saint” whom Martin Luther once preached about “who let the lice nibble at him and refused to kill any of them on account of this text, maintaining that he had to suffer and could not resist evil.” [3]

Jesus is not speaking absolutely, saying Christians should not resist evil of any kind or in any context. He’s speaking about resisting the evil of being personally mistreated.

Let’s carve away another incorrect interpretation...

Jesus is Not Speaking to EVERYBODY

Imagine if we took Jesus’ words and applied them to the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Should Ukraine refuse to resist the land-grabbing advances of a power-hungry dictator?

Should the Ukrainian Ground Forces turn the other cheek while Russia attacks?

If Russia takes Kiev, should they give them Kharkiv as well?

Should they give Putin whatever he wants?

And if so, where does it stop? Georgia? Estonia? Latvia? Lithuania? Poland?

What if the same logic was applied to the aspirations of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler?

That’s exactly what people like Gandhi proposed. In 1940, he advised the British army "I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions. Let them take possession of your beautiful island, with your many beautiful buildings. You will give all these but neither your souls, nor your minds. If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourself man, woman and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them.” [4]

We should thank God that Britain and her allies did not agree. What other atrocities would have been committed against the vulnerable if no one stood up against the evils of Nazism?

Now Gandhi gave this advice partly based on his interpretation of Jesus’ words in this text. But Gandhi misunderstood what Jesus meant. Jesus is not giving instructions to nations, kings, or soldiers. He’s not giving us public policy.

He’s not talking to everybody, but to a specific group of people.

5:1-2—Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened his mouth and taught them, saying...

Jesus’ primary audience is His disciples, not the crowds

Jesus is not speaking to everybody. He’s speaking to Christians.

Let’s carve away another incorrect interpretation...

Jesus is Not Speaking EXHAUSTIVELY.

At first glance you might think that a lot of what’s in this text doesn't apply to you at all.

Some of you have never been slapped on the right cheek.

Probably none of you have been sued you for their tunic. And you don’t own a cloak.

Most of us haven’t been forced to go a mile (military personnel notwithstanding)

The only example that nearly all of us can relate with is people begging or borrowing something from you

Jesus is not speaking exhaustively here. He’s giving several examples of the categories of mistreatment that Christians might endure.

When we zoom out and look at each of the principles behind these examples, there will be something for everybody to apply.

Now that we’ve carved away some of the incorrect interpretations of this passage, let’s see what Jesus does mean and how to apply it to our lives today.

Jesus is Speaking to CHRISTIANS Who Are MISTREATED.

Let’s look at the text again, not to carve away the incorrect interpretations, but to understand what Jesus intended...

5:38-42—“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.

Big idea: Christians should respond to personal mistreatment with grace.

Repeat last sentence, emphasizing personal

The language in the text is clear. Jesus isn’t talking about how to respond when someone else is being mistreated. It’s right and biblical to stand up for the vulnerable when they’re being mistreated. Here Jesus is talking about how you, Christian, are to respond when someone mistreats you.

Jesus gives 4 illustrations of mistreatment that Christians may sometimes endure.

A slap, a lawsuit, forced labor, and the loss of property

In these four illustrations I want you to see 4 Upside-Down Values of the Kingdom

A) Value your offender more than your honor

5:39b—But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Jesus is NOT arguing against self-defense or self-protection.

Not saying we can’t have a safety team to protect our church in the unlikely event of an attack

Not saying you can’t have a gun to protect your home

Not saying that a wife or a child has to endure the physical assaults of an abusive husband or father

This is a backhanded slap on the right cheek meant to insult a person, not a physical assault meant to injure them.

Jesus is telling Christians to care more about those who offend you than you care about your own honor.

Nik Ripken gives a powerful example of this kind of love in his book, The Insanity of God.

In the early 1990s, he was a part of a team providing aid to starving Somalians. As the crisis continued in Somalia, the people became belligerent, even antagonistic towards Americans. It got so bad that the aid workers like Nik had to be guarded by American troops.

One particular day, after receiving her allotment of daily food, a wrinkled old woman became angry. She called the food “animal feed” and began screaming at a Christian aid worker named Bubba who had taken three months of personal vacation to care for needy people.

She screamed and cursed at Bubba. He smiled back. She screamed and cursed some more. He smiled even wider. Until finally she leaned over, grabbed two fistfuls of dirty, broken wheat, grain dust, dirt and chaff. She straightened to her full height and flung the filthy mixture as hard as she could into Bubba’s face.

Nik remembers the sound of metallic clicks as the soldiers around them locked and loaded their weapons in readiness for whatever would happen next.

All eyes were on Bubba.

A Somali man could have beaten the woman for such a public insult.

Instead, Bubba rubbed the grit out of his eyes and began singing...

You aint nothin’ but a hound dog

Cryin all the time [5]

Which do you value more, your honor or the one who violates it?

You can value your offender more than your honor if you remember that following Jesus isn’t the path to honor in this world anyways. Yes, honor will come. But not in this life.

Christians should value their offenders more than their honor.

B) Value peace more than possessions

5:40—And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Jesus is NOT saying you should let other people rob you blind.

Not saying it’s wrong to lock your doors or have a security system or a safe

This is a formal lawsuit in a court of law, not a thief trying to steal what belongs to you.

Also, the articles of clothing that Jesus mentions here are important...

The tunic was a softer fabric that was worn as an undershirt. The cloak was an outer garment that would also serve as your blanket at night when it was cold.

Since most people would’ve only had one cloak, it was extremely valuable and was actually protected by law.

Exodus 22:26-27—“If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

Your cloak couldn’t be legally required as payment in a lawsuit, but Jesus is saying that you should be willing to forego the personal security provided by a cloak if that’s what it would take to bring peace.

Romans 12:17-19—“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

The family feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys lasted for over 30 years and is steeped in American lore. Although the origin of the feud is disputed, many believe that the war began with a dispute over the ownership of a razorback hog. One thing led to another until 60 lives were lost.

That sort of thing makes sense in the world, but it shouldn’t for Christians.

Which do you value more, your possessions or peace?

You can value peace more than possessions if you really believe that none of this will last forever anyways. But the people who threaten to take what belongs to you will last forever.

Christians should value peace more than possessions.

C) Value your oppressor more than your freedom

5:41—And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Remember that Jesus is speaking during a time that the nation of Israel is occupied by Rome. Roman law gave a soldier the right to force a civilian to carry his cargo for a mile.

Think of the Roman soldiers who forced Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross.

Imagine the inconvenience this would cause to the average Jew

Jesus says that rather than fight for your personal liberties, your heart posture should be to forfeit your freedoms and even give more than what is required of you.

Personal freedom is a good thing. Jesus is NOT saying that it doesn’t matter or it isn’t important. But He is saying you should be willing to forfeit your own for the sake of others. He is saying we should value those who oppress us more than the freedom they threaten.

As Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie were being processed into Ravensbruck [ruh-vens-brook] concentration camp, Corrie harbored hatred in her heart towards the Nazi guards who mistreated them. But Betsie said, “If people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find the way, you and I, no matter how long it takes.”

One night, when Corrie couldn’t sleep, she asked her sister if she felt anything about the man who betrayed them into the Nazi’s hands. The man who separated their family and whose actions would eventually lead to the death of her father and sister. Corrie fantasized about killing him.

When she asked Betsie, “Doesn’t it bother you?” Betsie answered, “Oh yes, Corrie! Terribly! I’ve felt for him ever since I knew — and pray for him whenever his name comes into my mind. How dreadfully he must be suffering!” [6]

Which do you value more, your oppressors or your freedom?

You can value your oppressors more than your freedom if you really believe that you are truly free in Christ, and no one can take that freedom from you. You can value your oppressors more than your freedom if you believe that they’re the ones who are truly enslaved and only the love of Jesus can free them.

Christians should value their oppressors more than their freedom.

D) Value your neighbor’s well-being more than your own

5:42—Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Following Jesus here doesn’t mean you always have to say yes to everyone in every circumstance.

In a sermon on this text, John Piper offers a helpful illustration. “Imagine you want to give to a poor neighbor down the street. She’s on welfare, has six kids, and doesn’t have a washing machine. To go to the Laundromat down several streets over is a huge burden for this mom. You’d like to buy her a $600 washing machine, and dryer, too. You save and save, and just when you have got enough to bless her, another person says, “Can I have that 600 dollars for a car repair?” Give to him who asks. What are you going to do?” [7]

Jesus’ teaching here shouldn’t suspend other biblical teaching about wisdom, those who won’t work shouldn’t eat, etc.

Jesus is simply urging us to value our neighbor’s well-being above our own.

Whose well-being matters more to you, yours or your neighbors?

Christians should value their neighbor’s well-being above their own.

When we carve away all the misconceptions about this passage, we see a beautiful call to show grace, even when we’re mistreated.

But those who have eyes to see should see something more. In this passage we see a portrait of Jesus Himself.

He did not fight for His own dignity, and even gave His cheeks to those who pulled out His beard. He did not His face from disgrace and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6).

He did not insist on His personal security, and as He was crucified the soldiers at the foot of the cross gambled over Jesus’ cloak.

He did not insist on His own liberties as He was falsely accused, flogged, and crucified. He even prayed for the Father to forgive His persecutors.

He freely gave all that He had, even His very life for those who deserved nothing.

Unbeliever: Repent and believe

Christian: Jesus did all that for you and for me. Imagine what God will do if we’re faithful to show this kind of grace to those who mistreat us.

Man of Sorrows

BENEDICTION (Philippians 4:7)

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