West Concord Church West Concord Media Team

Part: 9 - The Caution in Practice (v. 1)

Virtue signalling
Vanity satisfied
Victory lost

The Caricature of the Proud (v. 2)

Blowing their own horn
Blowing Gods reward


The Character Preferred (vv. 3-4)

Secretive giving for Gods glory
Satisfaction given in Gods glory


More to Consider
Virtue signaling is off-limits for the follower of Christ. If people happen to see you giving money to the poor, so be it; but the motivation should never be so that people will notice you. God looks on the heart, not the outward man (1 Samuel 16:7). As one commentator writes, The secrecy of our charity is one good evidence of its sincerity (William Burkitt, Commentary on the New Testament, entry for Matthew 6:1). What about Matthew 5:16? Jesus said, Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Is this a command to engage in virtue signaling? No, this is not a reference to boasting or announcing our good works (in the same sermon, Jesus warns against such ostentationsee Matthew 6). The Lords words in Matthew 5:16 are telling us that, in living an obedient life, others cannot help but notice (cf. 1 Peter 1:15). The glory is God the Fathers, not ours. Gotquestions.org
Its one thing to want to be good, to lead a virtuous life, to stand behind moral values of consequence. Its altogether another to want other people to know just how good we are. Herein lies the danger of virtue signaling: its mostly talk. Signalers can trumpet their outrage or anger, or indicate support for fashionable causes, all without obligating themselves to any substantive action that might bring more hope and healing to the world. And this signaling relies on criticizing others, implicitly or explicitly, in order to boost ones own image by comparison. Peter W. Marty, christiancentury.org
To sum up, our Christian giving is to be neither before men (waiting for the clapping to begin), nor even before ourselves (our left hand applauding our right hands generosity) but before God, who sees our secret heart and rewards us with the discovery that, as Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. John StottWatch at: https://youtu.be/kyCDWip2nn8

Part: 8 - Matthew 5:43-48
The Definition of Grace (vv. 43-44)
You have heard it said: Love your neighbor, hate your enemy.
but I say to you

Love your enemy
Bless your enemy
Do good to your enemy
Pray for your enemy


The Distribution of Grace (v. 45)
Common grace: the gifts of creation
Saving grace: the gift of salvation

The Distinction of Grace (vv. 46-48)
The lost love their friends and family.
The disciple of Christ must do more!
The perfect love of God is our standard.

More to Consider
Looking back over all six antitheses, it has become clear what the greater righteousness is to which Christians are summoned. It is a deep inward righteousness of the heart where the Holy Spirit has written Gods law. It is new fruit exhibiting the newness of the tree, new life burgeoning from a new nature. So we have no liberty to try to dodge or duck the lofty demands of the law. Law-dodging is a pharisaic hobby; what is characteristic of Christians is a keen appetite for righteousness, hungering and thirsting after it continuously. And this righteousness, whether expressed in purity, honesty or charity, will show to whom we belong. Our Christian calling is to imitate not the world, but the Father. And it is by this imitation of him that the Christian counterculture becomes visible. John Stott
We must recognize Jesus fundamental point: only the person who places his confidence entirely in God can learn to renounce his own security and encounter his neighbor openly. Schweizer says, And when he encounters his neighbor thuswith the compassion of God himselfhe will no longer need to kill in order to live; no longer need to guard his heart with half-truths or oaths; no longer maintain his cause by vengeanceby returning blows or going to courtor carry the day for his own party by vilifying the enemy. Myron S. Augsburger
The word perfect in Matthew 5:48 does not imply sinlessly perfect, for that is impossible in this life (though it is a good goal to strive for). It suggests completeness, maturity, as the sons of God. The Father loves His enemies and seeks to make them His children, and we should assist Him! Warren W. Wiresbe
Watch at: https://youtu.be/6N_a59XwDS0

Part: 7 - Matthew 5:38-42
The Principle of Retaliation (v.38)
You have heard it said
1. Retribution 2. Retaliation

...but I tell you
1. Do not resist. 2. Do not revenge.

The Principle of Righteousness (vv. 39-42)

A slap in the faceturn the other cheek.
A lawsuitoffer your cloak.
Forced servicego the extra mile.
Loaning moneydo not turn them away.


More to Consider
This is the standard which Jesus asks, and it is the standard which he himself fulfilled. It had been written of him in Old Testament Scripture: I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. And in the event first the Jewish police spat on him, blindfolded him and struck him in the face, and then the Roman soldiers followed suit. They crowned him with thorns, clothed him in the imperial purple, invested him with a sceptre of reed, jeered at him, Hail, King of the Jews, knelt before him in mock homage, spat in his face and struck him with their hands. And Jesus, with the infinite dignity of self-control and love, held his peace. He demonstrated his total refusal to retaliate by allowing them to continue their cruel mockery until they had finished. John Stott
When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be but off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln's ingenuous settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it Daily Walk, May 22, 1992.
The most important element in this passage is the strategy that moves from negativism to a positive course of action. The disciple is to be free for God and for his fellow man who needs him. Turning the other cheek is not a surrender but a strategy of operation. This act is to take the initiative in behaving in the freedom of Christ and His love. Myron S. AugsburgerWatch at: https://youtu.be/GRbZqpF5qqU?si=t99rD8geMJifOAhM

"Come and See" - Come and See John 1:35-51
Jesus Invitation (vv. 35-42)A change in discipleship.
A change of direction.
A changed name.
Phillips Invitation (vv. 43-51)Jesus found Philip.
Philip found Nathaniel.Nathaniel found Jesus.

Part: 6 - Matthew 5:33-37
The Accepted Standard (v. 33) You have heard it was said

Ex. 20:7, Dont take the Lords name in vain.
Lev. 19:12, Dont swear by Gods name falsely.
Num. 30:2, Dont break your vows before God. (See also Ecc. 5:1-7)
Dt. 23:21, Dont delay in paying your vow.


The Actual Standard (vv. 34-36) but I say say to you

Do not swear at all.
Do not swear by anything - Official oaths are acceptable. (Matt. 26:63-64, 2 Cor. 1:23, Gal. 1:20) Oaths made in common speech are not.


The Approved Standard (v. 37)

Keep your word.
Tell the truth.
Shading your word is evil.

More to Consider
Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Slavery : "I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased.
"Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars.
Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands.
In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise."
Douglas E. Moore

Jesus' teaching confronts everyone with a tongue. Everyone makes promises they cannot keep, then breaks them. Everyone bends or fractures the truth. Consider when we are most prone to break a promise: We violate words spoken to the powerless-children-much more than we break promises to the powerful. We break invisible commitments (nursery duty) more than visible ones (teaching).
No one masters the tongue, because no one has a pure heart. So this word from Jesus the teacher leads to Jesus the Savior. The one who declared God's word at the start of his ministry gave his life as an atoning sacrifice for those who disobeyed that word.
Dan Doriani
Watch at: https://youtu.be/8uds2YNUojw?si=IJU4cSs_mWG57235

Part: 5 The Spirit of the Law (continued) - Matthew 5:27-32
The Sin of the Wandering Eye (vv. 27-30)
The deeper correction

You have heard it Said
but I say to you

The desperate conviction

Discipline your eyes.
Discipline your hands.


The Sacredness of the Marriage Covenant (vv. 31-32)
You have heard it Said: permissive social compromise.
but I say to you: protect the sacred covenant.

Adultery (Matt. 19:1-8)
Abandonment (1Cor. 7:12-16)
Abuse (Eph. 5:25-32)



More to Consider
The command to get rid of troublesome eyes, hands and feet is an example of our Lords use of dramatic figures of speech. What he was advocating was not a literal physical self-maiming, but a ruthless moral self-denial. Not mutilation but mortification is the path of holiness he taught, and mortification or taking up the cross to follow Christ means to reject sinful practices so resolutely that we die to them or put them to death. One wonders if there has ever been a generation in which this teaching of Jesus was more needed or more obviously applicable than our own, in which the river of filth (of pornographic literature and sex films) is in spate. Pornography is offensive to Christians (and indeed to all healthy-minded people) first and foremost because it degrades women from human beings into sex objects, but also because it presents the eye of the beholder with unnatural sexual stimulation. If we have a problem of sexual self-mastery, and if nonetheless our feet take us to these films, our hands handle this literature, and our eyes feast on the pictures they offer to us, we are not only sinning but actually inviting disaster. John Stott
Married or single, purity calls us to the highest regard for others, to see them as persons and not as bodies to be used for our pleasure. However, marriage is a covenant between two people for life, and adultery violates that covenant. Jesus expects His disciples to keep covenant in both deed and attitude. Myron S. AugsburgerWatch at: https://youtu.be/BBcXE83KY7A?si=Xr6PV9Ov_s4oaMqV