So far, we have made our way through Jesus’ message of the Beatitudes: the attitudes of our heart. We have begun to explore the heart of the Sermon on the Mount to see what the Law says–and how Jesus says we should apply it as wisdom for our lives.
In the coming days we will look at Jesus’ words that emphasize one of the bigger temptations and sins in our society–immoral sex and lust.
I received a text message not long ago from someone I know that obviously had me in his cell phone. I am not even sure he realized that he sent me these messages: The first one read: “Yo man, can you find me a bag of dope? I need a quarter.” The second one read, “Yo girl, think I can get some **sex** tonight?”
This person is married, his wife is out of town. He probably has no idea that he sent me these messages (Nor will I probably ever tell him.) There are two morals to this story:
1. We are not what we only portray on the outside–we ARE who we REALLY are (on the inside)–Jesus knows our heart.
2. If you put your pastor’s number in your cell phone……… be careful when you send a text message.
One of the major problems of today’s society is “the RATIONALIZATION in our minds” that has reduced the REALIZATION of the serious nature of sin or wrongdoing in our hearts.
As we talk about this next lesson and great truth that Jesus shares with us, we will talk mainly of sexual sin, however, the lessons of how to deal in a healthy way with this sin in our lives is applicable to whatever our temptation is:
— temptation to steal
— temptation to lie
— temptation for greed
— temptation for anger that results in hate, gossip and pain
— you name the temptation or the struggle, we can apply these truths.