• Review of last week

  • Points of law – murder

  • Adultery

  • Divorce

  • Taking of oaths

• On your honor (Matthew 5:33-37)

  • Be known for telling the truth.

    • Ephesians 4:25 – speak truth with your neighbor

    • Precludes the need to swear

    • Oaths proliferated – Matthew 23:16-22

      • These oaths were both unnecessary and nonsensical. Avoid these!

    • Prescribed oaths – Exodus 22:10-11

      • If required, we can certainly take an oath, but we should not do it lightly. God expects us to pay our vows, so make them sparingly. Jesus was not forbidding all oaths but was trying to prevent needless swearing. Always tell the truth, regardless of whether an oath is involved.

    • Ecclesiastes 5:2-5

• Getting even (Matthew 5:38-42)

  • Exodus 21:23-25

  • Deuteronomy 19:18-21 – The judge decides on the punishment – not the offended party!

  • Leviticus 19:18

  • Romans 12:19

  • Romans 2:1-2

  • Avenge insults? John 18:22-23

  • Compliance to a fault

    • As much as possible, comply with the ruling authorities.

  • I Thessalonians 5:15; Proverbs 20:22

• Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48)

  • Romans 12:14-21

What is gossip?

• Romans 1:29-30; II Corinthians 12:20; I timothy 3:11; 5:13; II Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3

• “whispering; secret detraction” – Strong

• “secret slanders” – Vincent

• Consider:

  • II Timothy 4:14-15; I Corinthians 1:10-11; Galatians 2:11-14; III John 1:9-10

  • Not all bad reports of others are necessarily gossip.

• The sharing of personal or negative information about someone else, either true or false, without righteous intent.

• Be careful about adding phrases to a report to try to pretend it is not gossip.

What’s so dangerous about gossip?

• It severs our relationship with God.

  • James 1:26

  • Matthew 12:36

• It is an attractive sin.

  • Proverbs 18:8

• It hurts relationships.

  • Jeremiah 9:4; Proverbs 16:28; 17:9; 25:9-10; 26:20

• It becomes something that you can’t fix.

  • James 3:5

How do we stop gossiping?

• Apply the muzzle.
  • Psalms 39:1; Proverbs 11:13; 21:23; James 1:19
• Stop listening to gossip.
  • Proverbs 21:19
• Change your thinking about others.
  • Matthew 12:34

Why are fathers specified?

• Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4

What about women?

• I Timothy 3:11; 5:11, 13; Titus 2:3

• Put on … good speech (continued)

  • Keep your goal in mind: positive change

    • Colossians 4:5-6

    • Ephesians 4:29

    • Our goal is to edify others.

    • II Corinthians 2:4; 7:8-9 – Helpful words sometimes hurt at first.

    • Proverbs 25:12; Ecclesiastes 12:11 – A wise person should present themselves in a wise way that the listener will be likely to respond well to. The listener should be patient and look for good wisdom in what the other is saying. Compare the message to the Bible!

• Put on … kindness

  • Introduction

    • Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:8, 12-13

  • Kindness is a decision, not just a reaction.

    • Luke 6:31 – Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

    • Luke 6:32-35 – We should be kind because that’s how we decide to be. God is kind to us because that’s how He decides to be. God is not reacting with kindness because we were kind to Him first!

    • II Timothy 2:24-25

  • Kindness identifies me as a child of God.

    • Kindness originates with God.

      • I John 4:8

      • I Corinthians 13:4

      • Ephesians 2:4-7; Psalm 136

    • Luke 6:35

    • II Corinthians 6:3-6 – “commending ourselves as servants of God”

    • Galatians 3:22-23 – Kindness is one part of the fruit of the spirit.

  • Kindness brings people closer to God.

    • Romans 2:4 – The kindness of God leads us to repentance.

    • Proverbs 31:26 – This kind of woman gives her family a spiritual boost.

    • II Chronicles 10:7

    • Acts 9:36-42 – Tabitha’s kindness made a profound impact on others! Would her words not have had a great impact on people because of her kindness? (Proverbs 3:3-4)

    • God loves us! Our job is to reflect that love to the world. Part of how we do that is kindness.

Introduction

• John 16:25

• The Bible is 100% true, but not 100% literal.

• The Bible contains lots of figurative language.

  • I Peter 5:8

  • Deuteronomy 1:28

  • Isaiah 66:1

  • John 6:48

  • John 8:12

  • John 10:9

  • John 15:5

  • Matthew 13:3-8

• Figurative language in the Bible makes the message more vivid, powerful, and memorable.

When should we take a word or phrase figuratively?

When it is said to be figurative

• John 2:18-21
• Galatians 4:24
• Ephesians 6:17 – “sword of the spirit”
• Isaiah 9:2

When a literal understanding contradicts another passage

• Mark 10:5 – Literally “all” the people? Luke 7:29

When it matches a pattern of figurative language in other passages.

• John 6:27 – “do not work for food”
• I John 3:18 – “do not love with word or tongue”

When a literal understanding contradicts known facts or common sense.

• John 3:3, 5 – being “born again” (compare I Peter 1:23)

When should we NOT take a word or phrase figuratively?

When a literal understanding simply contradicts our beliefs.

• This is intellectually dishonest!

If we miss a figure, we miss the meaning

• John 10:11
• John 11:11-14
• Matthew 16:6-12
• Matthew 26:26-29 – Partaking of Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Missing this figure results in doctrines like transubstantiation.

Conclusion

• The Bible means what it means!
• There are lots of figures of speech in the Bible, and we need to do our best to accurately and objectively understand them.

• Beatitudes, continued

  • Roots of murder (Matthew 5:21-26), continued

    • Attitudes

    • Progression: anger, contempt, hatred

      • Murder’s mileposts

      • I John 3:15

      • Stop the progression at anger. Don’t let it go on!

    • Practical advice

      • Worship versus anger

      • Ephesians 4:26

  • Adultery and the law (Matthew 5:27-30)

    • Where does adultery begin?

      • Why is adultery bad? Genesis 2:18-24

        • Woman was God’s gift to man – a companion. Adultery is dealing treacherously with that gift. It snubs both the woman and God.

      • Don’t go there

      • Work not to go there

    • Divorce (Matthew 5:31-42)

      • Important statement? Matthew 19:3-9

      • Very close to adultery

      • Can cause adultery

  • On your honor (Matthew 5:33-37)

    • Be known for telling the truth

      • Ephesians 4:25

      • Precludes need to swear

      • Oaths proliferated