A New Standard on Adultery

*This blog is actually  my sermon notes from two weeks ago.

Matthew 5:27-32 – “27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

• Brief Transitional Introduction
  • Review what has been covered on the Sermon on the Mount thus far.
    • The Character/Attitude change Jesus wanted from us in the Beatitudes
    • The Calling to be the Salt, the Light, and the City on a Hill
    • The Correction of Christ’s purpose with the Law – Not to abolish it but to fulfill it
      • He gives us a new way to see it.

A Different Standard

As a research scientist, one of the most important things I do is to make sure that the concentrations of all my reagents (the ingredients that I am working with) are correct before using them for an experiment.  It is critical that one calculates the right value, because it could be the difference of a successful or failed experiment.  Usually to make these calculations, we use something known as a standard curve.  Simply, it is a group of known concentrations of solutions that we can then use to infer what our sample’s concentration is.  These concentrations are plotted into a line, and we use that line to determine what the concentration is.  Here is an example of how important having the right standard curve is:

If a person measured a value of Absorbance of 6 when he was using some scientific equipment, if he used Line #1 as his standard, he would find the concentration to be 10; but if he used Line #2 as his standard, then his concentration would then be 2.  These are two completely different values; the value given by Line #1 is five times more than Line #2.  Now, let’s put it in a way that is more relatable and easier to understand.  Let’s say that you went to the bank and deposited $1000.  The bank has a new system now in which they will count how much money you deposit by running it through a machine and counting how many green spots they see.  Now, if they use Value Set #1, when they see six dots, they will determine that you have a total of $1000, which is exactly correct.  But if they use Value Set #2, when they see six dots, they will determine that you only deposited $1.  You just lost $999 without doing anything if you used the wrong set.  That just goes to show you how important it is to use the right standards.

The New Standard for Adultery

In our passage today, in Matthew 5:27-32, Jesus Christ basically explained to His disciples the right standard by which to judge from the Law.  If you look at vs. 27, you find that it is clearly a reiteration of the seventh commandment in the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  From when the Law was given by Moses on Mt. Sinai up until this time, this commandment was simply seen as don’t commit adultery – 1)  If you are married do not sleep with another person who is not your spouse and 2)  If you aren’t married, don’t sleep with a person who is married.  That is simply how they interpreted it.  It went straight down to that, right down to those two basic simple points.  The problem was they never looked into any other parts.  They made sure that the physical act was not occurring but they definitely couldn’t check or examine the heart.  It was as if they were basically saying, “If you think about committing adultery, but you don’t physically do it, then it’s fine.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”  But even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were concerned about the heart situation, their interpretation of the law certainly did not cover what Jesus covered here in saying, “…Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  It didn’t even matter if you and the woman were not married yet, if you even had those bad thoughts, then you were committing adultery.  No wonder Jimmy Carter at one point stated, ““I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.”  It was clear and simple, Jesus was setting a much higher standard than what was the current accepted norm but it was the correct standard.

Now, let’s look at our lives today and see how this statement affects us.  Where is our current standard for adultery and sexual immorality?  If you take the field of advertising today, what do you think is the number one rule?  Sex sells.  Is that not right?  Just the other day, my mom and I were watching a show on SyFy network called Heroes of Cosplay, one pair of people who were entering a costume competition simply told her partner, “Sex sells,” to try to convince her partner to design a more revealing costume.  It’s true.  In our society today, sexuality is treated as if it was a common bus token.  Almost every movie you see has some sort of sexuality in it.  Even TV shows today focus on these things, lifting up adultery as if it is something to be honored.  Just look at how high ratings used to be for Desperate Housewives a few years ago.  Now, we have copycat shows like Mistresses or Devious Maids.  It is all the same thing, in which, adultery and sexual immorality are treated as if they should be something pursued.  There is no sanctity for marriage any longer.

Look at how we dress.  At one point in time, underwear was actually considered underwear (things that you wear under your clothes), but now, people strut around in that stuff.  It’s crazy.  Girls are wearing skirts and shorts that are too high and tops that are way too low.  Guys are walking around half-naked most of the time with no shirt on so that people can admire their abs or wearing their pants so low that you’re usually scared that they will trip and fall.  All of this to do what?  Most likely for the purpose of “being attractive” to another person.  If you get right down to it, whether you state it this way or not, when you dress that way you are trying to get another person to lust after you.  It’s awful, but that is literally what you are doing.  You are encouraging those thoughts and ideas to pop into a person’s head.  It’s completely wrong.  You are literally tempting your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to stumble.  That is why it is so important to dress appropriately.

Look at the statistics for pornography.  http://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/

• One in five mobile searches are for pornography.
• 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women say they are addicted to pornography.
• On average, Nine out of ten boys and six out of ten girls were exposed to pornography before the age of 18.
• 68% of young adult men and18% of women use porn at least once every week.

This is really sad, but this is our society today.  We don’t think that lust is wrong anymore.  But it is.

Clearly, if we look at our society today, we come nowhere close to Jesus’ standard.  We no longer consider thinking evil thoughts about another person as sin; instead, we only consider sin if the action is taken.  That is awful.  We need to get back to the way Christ has set the standard, especially, since we are Christians who should be the salt and light of this earth.

The New Standard for Divorce

Another thing Jesus corrects in standards is with the issue of divorce, which he closely tied to adultery in vs. 31-32, “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”  This saying found its origin in Deuteronomy 24:1, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house…”  Did you notice that the phrase used in society at Christ’s time left out the key phrase:  “Because he has found some indecency in her.”  The Old Testament gave a clear reason as to why divorce was allowed.  It did not say irreconcilable differences or because he no longer loves her.  Only in the case of indecency.  In addition, if you read the rest of the context of that passage in Deuteronomy, it didn’t suggest one to get a divorce, but it was stating that if you divorced someone, and then she married another, you can’t go back to her (Deut 24:1-4).

God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16).  In our passage today, Jesus basically equates divorce (outside the reason for sexual immorality) as committing adultery.  It is just as bad.  The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) just this year updated their statistics for marriage and divorce in the US – in the 44 reporting states and D.C., they found that the divorce rates were 3.6 per 1000 population.  They also reported that the marriage rate was 6.8 per 1000 population, meaning that if you had taken these two statistics and assumed they were from the same group, we have a 52.9% divorce rate for all marriages.  The only good thing I find is that the trend indicates that it is dropping.  (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage_divorce_tables.htm).  It is just sad to see that this is the commentary we have of our marriages today.

The Standard for Sin in General

Matthew 5:29-30 – “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

When we look at the issue of lust and sexual immorality or the issue of divorce, the answer for why we are in the condition we are in is simple – we have treated sin with nonchalance.  We don’t treat sin as the danger it really is.  I want you to think of the most disgusting thing that you could ever think of.  Would it be a moldy sandwich that has been lying under your son’s bed for that last five years?  Would it be a foot infected with fungus?  Now, also think of the most dangerous thing that you can ever think of.  Maybe a king cobra, which if it bites you could kill you in less than 15 minutes?  Maybe the E. bola virus?  Maybe a death trap set up by your favorite comic book villain?  Now combine the most disgusting thing and the most dangerous thing you can think of and put that together.  That is what sin should be like to us.  It should create in us the most utter disgust.  It should inspire in our hearts hatred towards anything that would lead us in that direction.  It should cause us to be cautious with what we do, never stepping close to a line that could cause us to fall.  The truth is we should never even be able to see that line.

Jesus Christ took sin seriously.  In this passage, He told them that if your eye would cause you to sin, to lust after another, to think evil thoughts, to become covetous, then pluck it out, so that you won’t be led to sin.  If your hand causes you to do what is wrong, like to click that mouse to go to a pornographic website, to hurt another person, to steal, then chop it off.  Why?  Because He took sin seriously.  He knew that sin’s eventual result was death, not only physical death but spiritual.  The end result of sin was punishment by death in the Lake of Fire.  It was a serious and awful offense.  God hates sin.  It is a disgust, disgrace, and outright abomination to Him.  That is why He had to punish it so dearly on the cross.

Now, Jesus Christ certainly did not mean that one should literally poke his eye out or cut off one of his members, but He was using it as a strong picture of how serious the issue of sin is.  For us to really understand this concept, let’s take an example from a recent summer blockbuster, World War Z.  In that movie, Brad Pitt was a soldier who was looking for a cure for a world-wide zombie infection.  Once a person was bitten by a zombie, the virus would spread and within seconds turn that person into another rabid, flesh-eating monster.  At one point in the movie, Brad Pitt was defending a portion of Jerusalem with a fellow soldier, when all of a sudden that person got bitten in the arm.  Immediately, Brad Pitt pulled out a knife and cut off that person’s arm, and to their surprise, she did not turn into a zombie, the virus did not have time to spread from the site of infection to the brain.  Just like with any infection, whether snake or zombie bite, the first step is to prevent the poison from spreading, so you must isolate the area, even if it requires amputation.  The loss of just one little thing could be the difference between life and death.

We need to treat sin in the same way, in that, when we see even an inkling of it showing up in our lives, we need to cut it off right at the source.  If you see pride starting to pick up, then kill it right then and there.  If you see anger, then go get it settled with your brother right away.  If you see lust coming up, then stop watching that television show, that movie, that website.  If you are prone to gossip, then stay away from gossipers.  It is that simple.  Cut it off.  Find out what sin you have in your life and cut it off.  The end result is death.  Maybe not hell for a Christian, but definitely spiritual degredation.  Maybe not everlasting fire, but a broken relationship with God.  Is your sin really worth that?  I think not.  We need to take sin seriously.  We would never let a little child run around with scissors or play in the street.  We would never have a person play Russian roulette right in front of us.  We would never even allow a person to prepare our food without gloves on.  So why would we take sin so lightly?  This dangerous thing as if it was something minute.

The Hope to Attain This New Standard

Looking at Christ’s standards for adultery, divorce, and sin, in general, can certainly overwhelm us and even weigh us down.  It could easily bring depression to us as we consider the various ways we would try to attain to this standard.  Christ requires our minds and hearts to be pure and not even think a lustful thought about another.  Christ requires us to sanctify marriage and not treat it so cheaply.  Christ requires us to treat sin as a deadly poison that needs to be cut off right at the tap.  How could we ever do such a thing?  How could we ever live up to that standard?

The truth is that we can’t.  There is no possible way in our own strength that we can be the people Christ called us to be.  We have already failed at this multiple times.  My own life is filled with the sin of lust and covetousness, so much so that if I had a thousand eyes, I would still be blind.  I have personally treated sin carelessly, acting as if it would be okay if I committed one “small” sin as long as I didn’t go overboard.  But the beautiful and glorious thing is that Christ has forgiven us.  He came to this earth, to not only create a standard of living that is much higher than anything we could imagine, but He came so that we could be made in a way where we can reach that standard.  When Christ died for us, He forgave us all our sins, no matter the ones in the past, the ones now, or the ones in the future.  All of them have been forgiven.  In addition, with His Resurrection, we as Christians were all also given new life in Him, in that, when we received Him as Lord and Savior, we became new creatures that are no longer enslaved by the rules of constant sin and struggle but are free to reject sin, live for Christ, and bring glory to God.  We as Christians need to abandon our old nature and our old standards and instead take on these new standards that Christ has set out for us.  These standards will set us apart from the world, making us the salt, the light, the city set on a hill that He has called us to be.  Let us treat sin as sin not as a puppy dog or a little doll, but as a deadly virus that can easily infect and destroy the Christian life.  To close, we must simply remember what Christ told the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery but was saved by Him in John 8, “Neither do I condemn you; and sin no more.” (NKJV)