Adultery in the Heart 心里犯奸淫

馬 太 福 音 第 5 章：27 - 30 节
Sermon on Matthew 5 : 27 - 30

Title: Adultery in the Heart 心里犯奸淫

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, in Matthew 4: 17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Then on a mountain, like Moses on Mt Sinai, Jesus presented the law of this kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is not just near. The kingdom is here. The king is enthroned. The law is declared. The people are called. The kingdom is here. This may sound like a surprise to you because that’s not how we would imagine a kingdom of heaven to be like. “Very frequently the Gospels present the kingdom as coming—either in process of dawning now or promised for the future and yet already inaugurated. The anticipation of some Jews [might be] that the kingdom of God would come in a climactic burst that would usher in righteousness and destroy the ungodly. [But that is not the case.] Instead, it comes like seed sown in various soils, like yeast transforming dough.” [1] And so the kingdom operates by growing and transforming to whom it encounters. To those who have not encountered the gospel, the kingdom is still coming to them. But to those who have accepted the gospel, then it is a process of growing and transforming, from within ourselves to the world at large. This kingdom is very much organic and life-based. In a way, it is like a living thing.

These days, as children reach the schooling age, parents become part-time tuition teachers, and so I’ve picked up some Primary 3 science knowledge as well. The way a living thing is differentiated from a non-living thing is based on a few key attributes. One, it needs nutrition. Two, it can grow, move or respond to stimuli, and eventually reproduce. Three, it can die. And I think these three attributes are good indicators of what it means for our faith to be still alive. One, you should know that it needs feeding. Are you giving it any nutrition? Is it in an environment conducive for survival? Two, if your faith is healthy, then its liveliness will be displayed through its interaction with its surrounding. It grows, it fights, it reproduces itself in others. If your faith is a living thing, then it cannot be unnoticeable. But the last criterion that is often neglected is the most crucial. If a faith is living, then it has a possibility of dying. Because it is alive, you should know that it could also die. This kind of mindfulness is needed for our faith. I’m sincerely worried when I observe a church member’s faith that doesn’t grow or reproduce, and when I prod it with spiritual words or actions and it doesn’t respond to stimuli. Such a church member isn’t worried about the faith dying, but I’m afraid to inform that perhaps it cannot die only because it’s already dead.

Brothers and sisters, do you constantly check and ensure that your faith, that is part of this kingdom, is still very much alive? Since our faith is on Jesus Christ, the outward manifestation of a living faith is therefore Christlikeness. But what is Christlikeness? I believe Christ-likeness is measured by the quality of your relationships.

Matthew 22: 35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

35 内中有一个人是律法师，要试探耶稣，就问他说： 36 “夫子，律法上的诫命哪一条是最大的呢？” 37 耶稣对他说：“你要尽心、尽性、尽意爱主你的神。 38 这是诫命中的第一，且是最大的。 39 其次也相仿，就是要爱人如己。 40 这两条诫命是律法和先知一切道理的总纲。”

These two commandments spell out the essence of the law, and Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law. Therefore, the measurement of Christlikeness is the quality of your relationships. Are you at peace with God, with yourself and with one another? Conflict and differences are bound to happen between people. I’m not here to be judgmental. Even the prophets and Jesus himself wrestled with God’s will. But where there is love, eventually there will be peace. And this, in my opinion, is the measure of Christlikeness. The Sermon on the Mount has conveniently divided different aspects of relationships into its own sections. Today, we shall examine the issue of marriage relationships.

Matthew 5: 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

27 “你们听见有话说：‘不可奸淫。’ 28 只是我告诉你们，凡看见妇女就动淫念的，这人心里已经与她犯奸淫了。 29 若是你的右眼叫你跌倒，就剜出来丢掉！宁可失去百体中的一体，不叫全身丢在地狱里。 30 若是右手叫你跌倒，就砍下来丢掉！宁可失去百体中的一体，不叫全身下入地狱。

The meaning of adultery is straight-forward, it is the breaking of a marriage covenant. It could be the breaking of one’s own covenant, or the breaking of another person’s covenant. In a conventional sense, if you are married, you shouldn’t get sexually involved with another person. And if another person is married, you shouldn’t get sexually involved with him or her. Adultery is a serious issue with serious consequences. These days, that could mean a big chunk of your fortune, as Tiger Woods found out to the amount of $100m. But in the past, it could even be a death penalty. And because it can be serious, technicality is important. You cannot just say oops after a stoning session, “on second thoughts, maybe it wasn’t adultery after all”. Hence in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, a semen-stained blue dress became a hot topic. And in Anwar’s sodomy trials, the evidence even involved an entire mattress.

For the kingdom of heaven, Jesus seemed to have introduced even more technicality. 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. While the designation of adultery is straight-forward, adultery in the heart is much harder to define. Since the penalty is “hell”, some of us may understandably need more clarity on this matter. What Jesus did was to combine the 7th commandment on adultery together with the 10th commandment on covetousness. That includes 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 不可贪恋人的妻子、 并他一切所有的
(Exodus 20:17) So, to “look at a woman lustfully” deals specifically with the “intentional looking [of a married woman] with the aim of breaking the marriage of another man.” [2] Therefore, technically speaking, Jesus is not talking about looking at woman in general, but rather, the concern is primarily on marriage covenant. If you are married, you should not break your own covenant by looking and thinking about sex with other women. And whether you are married or not, if you are looking at a married woman and thinking about sex, then you are breaking her marriage covenant in your heart.

At this moment, some guys must be thinking, “Thank you for the clarification pastor, I almost gorged out my eye and cut off my hand for nothing. If I hear you right, then technically speaking, if I’m not married, then I can look at an unmarried woman lustfully, isn’t it?” Technically yes, this law on adultery doesn’t concern two unmarried persons. Some of you might be regretting marrying too early. Maybe some of the married man might ask “what if it is just admiring the beautiful body? If it is not lustful, does it make it ok?” Again, the law technically does not say anything about pure artistic admiration. But for all the imaginable queries you might have, who can look, who cannot look, what kind of look, etc, I’m sorry to say that your sin might be even greater. Because you are just trying to stay righteous based on technicalities, and that is precisely the opposite of Jesus’ teaching here. Yes, adultery is a serious matter and technicality is important in handling legal matters properly. But technicality can also become misleading when one thinks that as long as it is technically legal, then it is morally or legally acceptable. [3] That is where I think some Pharisees and scribes might have gone off tangent in going overly legalistic with the commandments.

Simply put, it isn’t about who can look and who cannot look, or which way of looking is technically ok. Jesus isn’t actually introducing more technicalities with his laws at all. No! In fact he is saying, “Do you think that just by guarding your sexual relationships technically, with lots of specifications, you are fine? No! Even if you are just contemplating it, without actually doing it, you are already committing adultery in your heart.” Jesus’ law about adultery in the heart is precisely against technicalities, since you cannot technically measure the thoughts of another person. The point is questioning what is going on in your heart. As Pastor Enoch said last week, Jesus is going into the Radix, the center and root of the matter. [4] Do you really honor marriage covenants, whether it is your own or the covenant of others? Or do you think you can be sinless and escape scot-free based on technicalities? Your intentions and your heart are what matters. It’s how much you honor the marriage covenant of yourself and others. Therefore, even the eye gorging and the hand cutting are also not technical measures to help you cure your lust. Otherwise, it is your mind and your heart that you need to remove from your body, since it is your mind and your body that sin.

If Jesus is not really introducing more technicalities to the concept of adultery, then what is his objective? I believe the answer lies in the greater context mentioned earlier, that of the kingdom of heaven and what is necessary for this kingdom to be growing healthily. The kingdom of God speaks about God’s sovereignty: God’s kingdom rules over all. But on the other hand, when we call it the kingdom of heaven, there is a difference of emphasis and perspective: the kingdom, we might say, is viewed a little more focally from heaven’s vantage point. So this kingdom is a subset of God’s total reign under which there is acceptance with God and eternal life. From heaven’s vantage point, the kingdom of heaven is where Jesus reigns, where his words and his will are the primary concern of his people. In this kingdom, what counts is the quality of your relationships. Love is what matters.

I like what Paul said in Romans 12: 9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 9 爱人不可虚假；恶要厌恶，善要亲近。
So love doesn’t mean everything is condoned. And it is far removed from a world of free casual sex or open marriages. But it is also not about conservatism or devaluing sex as unclean. Instead we need to look at matters from God’s perspective and his love of the world, and then think about how we can cherish and protect marriage relationships in a community.

And when I think in this way, I would summarize my thoughts into a simple Chinese phrase: 嫉恶如仇, 爱人的心. We would have a vengeance against the sins of the world. We would fight against people advocating a disregard for marriages. We would condemn wanton values, philandering husbands or loose women. But such hatred for evil does not translate into self-righteousness or being judgmental. How can this be so? That’s because the underlying motivation must stem from a love like Jesus. Jesus detests the sinful state of man, but his resultant action is not hate, but rather to transform man with mercy and love.

Matthew 9: 10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 21: 31 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God!

10 耶稣在屋里坐席的时候，有好些税吏和罪人来，与耶稣和他的门徒一同坐席。 11 法利赛人看见，就对耶稣的门徒说：“你们的先生为什么和税吏并罪人一同吃饭呢？” 12 耶稣听见就说：“康健的人用不着医生，有病的人才用得着。 13 经上说：‘我喜爱怜恤，不喜爱祭祀’，这句话的意思你们且去揣摩；我来本不是召义人，乃是召罪人。”
耶稣说：“我实在告诉你们：税吏和娼妓倒比你们先进神的国。

As we listen to the different sections of the Sermon on the Mount, it is timely for us to reflect on our Church community. How should we decide on our values, and how do we transform our relationships? If we just want a bunch of saints, then we just have to lay down the law, specify all the technical details, and that can be easily done. Anybody who doesn’t qualify is out, and whoever is remaining just has to always put up his or her perfect pretentious front to ensure the squeaky-clean church stays that way. But that kind of community will never grow, that is not the kingdom of heaven that challenges and eventually converts the world. We need to honor marriage relationships. We even need to shield our minds from unrightfully lustful thoughts. But the high standards of Jesus are not for judging others, but rather for personal repentance. That we may realize that we sometimes take our marital fidelity for granted. That we may realize that we also need to hold the marriage vows of others as sacred. Just as how Jesus reached out to sinners and tax collectors, we build a healthy community so that we may be a beacon of light in a world of temptations. Let this be a place where we better ourselves. Jubilee is a place where you can come in broken, but nourished and transformed by the word and the love from one another, you may be made whole and complete.

[1] D.A. Carson in http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/article/kingdom-ethics-and-individual-salvation
[2]Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1-7 (A Continental Commentary), p 204
[3]For the sake of research, I had to educate myself on lap-dancing大腿舞because it is one of those erotic activities that are technically not sex. Did you know that you can get lap-dances in some clubs in Singapore? It is rather relatively new here, and when a club tries to push the envelope, there will be challenges. When boundaries are challenged, these are the 2 common responses often repeated. One, “It's just all for fun”. Come on, what is the big deal; we are all consenting adults; nobody is hurt; what’s the big deal. The other common response is: As long as it is legal, we will carry on. It is easy to mistaken that as long as something is legal, or if it’s just for fun, it means it’s ok. [source: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/clubs-here-offer-x-rated-entertainment-draw-crowd]
[4]http://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=588