Yesterday Pastor Morgan preached through our final installment of our series on the Sermon on the Mount before we break for our Prayer series and Brooke led us through an author spotlight for Black History Month. Brooke highlighted Jason Reynolds and you can find more info about Jason on his website: https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/

 

The text for the sermon this week was Matthew 5:27-30. Pastor Morgan began by reminding us that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is his instruction for us as his followers on life in in the Kingdom of God. We also reviewed Pastor Jon’s helpful prelude for this section of the Sermon on the Mount with his 3-step framework. Here is a refresher:

 

Pastor Morgan shared Jesus’ story of the good samaritan to illustrate for us the point that when you want to fix a problem, you can’t just manage symptoms and stay superficial, you have to focus on the heart of the problem or issue. When Jesus teaches us on lust in these few verses, he is going directly for the heart of the sin of lust. 

 

Pastor Morgan took some time to clarify for us what Jesus is saying here. This is important, because there have been many different interpretations and applications of Jesus’ teaching in these verses and many of us have a diversity of experiences as a result. When Jesus speaks about looking at a woman lustfully, he is not saying that noticing beauty is wrong. Additionally, Jesus is also not communicating that Christians should stop being sexual. So, what then is Jesus saying? 

 

Jesus is saying that prolonged gazing at someone, lingering in your look for the sake of sexual gratification, is lustful and sinful. When you no longer see someone as made in God’s image, when you objectify and allow your mind to posture towards your own gratification, this is dehumanizing to them and you, and this is lust. What you do with the initial thought of admiration or noticing beauty is the heart of the issue. Morgan shared a quote from Martin Luther that captures this well, “you cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” Meaning, you cannot help yourself from noticing beauty in what God has created, but you can keep yourself from lustful thoughts with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

Pastor Morgan also took time to point out the specific language Jesus uses regarding looking at a woman lustfully. At times in the history of the church and at times still today, women have been blamed for the inability for men to control their lust. Jesus is teaching us that you deal with the issue of list primarily within your own heart. In other words, men cannot blame women for their lust, men must take ownership of their desires. This doesn’t mean there is no room for conversation on how to love one another well within the church, but Jesus is very clear that the primary point of contention when it comes to lust is within you, not outside of yourself. 

 

The church must wrestle with the question of what our discipleship to Jesus has to do with our bodies and sexuality. Where our culture might say that grappling with these issues is surprising natural desires, followers of Jesus would contend that we are not removing desires but transforming or reordering our desires into alignment with God’s kingdom. Pastor Morgan used the illustration of diets to give language around how people have processed desire in the past:

 

It is important to note that Jesus isn’t encouraging his followers to simply use bandaids when struggling with lust, he uses language of amputation. Lust isn’t something followers of Jesus are allowed to simply tolerate or shrug off. To use Pastor Morgan’s words, “it is better to go into heaven with some desires unmet than to hell with all your desires met.” If you have further questions on this or would like to speak with one of the pastors, please let us know. We know this topic can be a very difficult and sensitive area for people.

 

Pastor Morgan ended the sermon with some practical ways for us to further process Jesus’ teaching on lust: