Righteousness & Retribution | Matthew 5:38-42

Scripture

• Matthew 5:38–42

About this sermon

Introduction: Some of our greatest temptations to DO WRONG come to us when we KNOW we have been DONE WRONG. The flesh desires to get even. The flesh desires to respond to others in the way that we have been treated. We said this morning that the scribes and Pharisees approached righteousness in a way — they read and applied Scripture in a way — that baptized worldliness into their religious system. All the sins of their world, sinful anger, sexual immorality, a low view of marriage, and deceptive communication, were being excused in the name of God. And so was the desire that the natural man has to seek his own vengeance. Payback is what the natural man does. “I’m simply treating you the way you treated me.” “If you don’t like this, then maybe you should think about the way you’re treating me.” “I don’t get mad, get even.” “You better think twice, because you don’t know who you’re messing with.” You hear these kinds of responses from people. ALL OF THEM SPEAK OF TIT FOR TAT. Tit for tat — “An English saying meaning ‘equivalent retaliation.’” Jesus addresses that attitude in our verses. WE ARE REMINDED, BY THIS 5TH EXAMPLE, THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT JUST DISTORTED BY A SUPERFICIAL READING OF SCRIPTURE, BY REDUCING THE DEMANDS OF SCRIPTURE, OR BY ADDING TO THE ALLOWANCES OF SCRIPTURE. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS DISTORTED WHEN WE MISAPPLY THE SCRIPTURES. Righteousness is distorted when we take a truth meant to be applied in one realm, and then WRONGLY apply it to another realm. That is the kind of distortion represented in this 5th example. The scribes and Pharisees used the misapplication of Scripture to justify sinful responses that characterize lost humanity. • WHAT THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN TAUGHT (vs.38) This is taken directly from the law of God. ESV Exodus 21:23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ESV Leviticus 24:19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. ESV Deuteronomy 19:15 "A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. What is important about each of these texts is that the CONTEXT is clearly punishment handed out in accordance with Israel’s civil justice system. These are cases that involved judges, witnesses, and/or a representative body of citizens that sometimes even participated in the punishment (stoning). TO PUT IT IN OUR CONTEXT, THESE ARE PUNISHMENTS METED OUT BY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. This is NOT a principle for personal vengeance. This is about justice in society in accordance with the law, not about getting even in accordance with personal desire. AND IT SEEMS, GIVEN WHAT JESUS WILL SAY IN THE VERSES THAT FOLLOW, THIS IS HOW THE PRINCIPLE WAS BEING APPLIED. The scribes and Pharisees applied a principle for civil justice to personal offenses. Thus, they opened the door for a self-centered, self-driven, “getting even,” approach to personal wrongs. AGAIN, I WANT TO STRESS THIS, THIS IS WHAT LEGALISTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS DOES. It puts a spiritual face on fleshly activity. It finds a way to spiritually excuse what it wants to do. It finds a way to attribute to God what is NOT the work of the Spirit of God. THIS PRINCIPLE, THAT THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD MATCH THE CRIME, WAS MEANT TO ACCOMPLISH TWO THINGS. • IT EXISTED TO RESTRAIN EVIL • IT EXISTED TO PROTECT PEOPLE It was meant to restrain evil, because people would learn that whatever they did to someone else THE JUSTICE SYSTEM would do to them. And the goal, in God’s law, was that justice would not be delayed. Swift justice curbs evil. ESV Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. It was meant to protect by restricting the civil punishment to match the crime. That is, people could not vent their anger and punish someone in a way that exceeded what the person had done wrong. The punishment COULD NOT exceed the crime.