Traditionally the beatitudes have been seen as being directed against the Pharisees. Some people argue that Jesus here defines kingdom living against Pharisaical living. But look at 5:1 who is on the mountainside? Crowds and disciples.

Jesus isn’t defining the kingdom against the Pharisees but against humanity. It is not uniquely the Pharisees who limit what obedience looks like, we all do it, and the danger if we limit it to the Pharisees is that we let ourselves off the hook. We are just as prone to limiting obedience to God as anyone, humanity is the problem not the Pharisees.

Have you heard of Mr Loophole? Who is he? A lawyer who is famous for getting celebrities off using loopholes, technicalities or clever arguments. What he specialises in is limiting the scope and application of the law, and he pushes to the nth degree what we all do.

I wonder what you instinctively thought as we read; "You shall not murder" great we think I haven’t ever killed someone. We limit obedience, but Jesus as he begins "you have heard it said" is not saying the law is flawed but he goes on to show how it would and should be properly interpreted and applied. So as we saw last week "You shall not murder" wasn’t the limit of the law but its beginning - the proper interpretation and application is much more comprehensive; don’t get angry, love others and seek reconciliation as you have been reconciled, forgive as you have been forgiven.

It’s a bit like on your computer when a programme is running you can minimise it, it makes it smaller and less significant, or you can maximise it and make it dominate the screen. That is what Jesus is doing here, we minimise holiness, Jesus maximises it, we limit Jesus takes off the limitations.

Having experienced grace and been brought into the kingdom Jesus followers are to live with kingdom concerns, no longer looking for loopholes, not satisfied with half hearted holiness but putting sin to death and pursuing the family value - godliness. Being perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect in every area of life.

1. A People who Pursue Purity
As Jesus moves from the 6th commandment to the 7th it poses a question, how do we think of the 10 commandments? We tend to think of them as a list of do’s and don’t, or maybe as a civil law designed to ensure a cohesive society. But actually the 10 commandments are not about externals but about the heart. Turn to Deuteronomy 5:6, what is the basis for the 10 commandments? It is that God has redeemed Israel and freed her from slavery for his service, they are now his people because of his grace, and they are saved to worship their saviour.

In Deuteronomy 6 having just repeated the ten commandments Moses summarises them v4 "Hear O Israel; the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength." The 10 commandments are to do with our hearts. Look back at commands 1-3, here we see that fleshed out as God says he is to be his peoples greatest treasure and nothing else is to rival his place in our hearts, not idols, not images, no other so called God’s, and we are to treasure his name.

In fact every time we break commands 4-10 it is because we have broken commands 1-3, we have allowed something else to displace God in our hearts. So for example when we get angry with someone because of how they have treated us, or refuse to forgive someone or be reconciled with them it is because I have displaced God as my greatest treasure and the thing I love above all else.

Turn back to Matthew 5 and as Jesus turns to the 7th commandment we see that again the heart is the issue. We see Jesus get to the heart of the problem, look at(28), the disciple will not allow anything else to take God’s place as their greatest treasure. In this case lust.

The disciple will not be content merely not to have committed the physical act of adultery but they will not allow sex or self gratification to displace God as the thing that they treasure, as their ultimate. Instead they will seek purity and radically deal with sexual sin and temptation.

As God’s people disciples have been freed from slavery to sin and called to worship their redeemer. They will therefore be radical in dealing with sin. In this case Jesus speaks of gouging or tearing out the eye which is the gateway to the heart and the hand which acts on temptation. Disciples treasure God above all and will not allow any rivals to him, they will not flirt with it, or play with it.

We live in a very sex orientated culture, this last month has seen the launch of a new website specifically for those looking for extra-marital affairs, some students are acting as escorts to fund university places, and pornography has become the number one use of the internet. Sex is one of societies gods.

Be different, pursue purity, is Jesus call, it is the mark of kingdom living because God is his people’s greatest treasure and we live aware of the redemption that is ours.

There is a danger with this passage that we just set up hurdles and fences rather than dealing with our hearts. It is great to have software to stop access to pornography and to think about placing the computer in a public place in the home if that is a problem you struggle with. If you are attracted to someone else it is right to flee from that, if you find yourself longing for someone else relationship or marriage it is right to do everything to stop that wrong desire.

But ultimately if we just try to modify behaviour we will succeed for a time but will inevitably eventually fail, we need to deal with our hearts. God needs to be our greatest treasure because we remind ourselves of our redemption and rescue, and the new heart we are given with the freedom it brings, and the Holy Spirit who ensures that our failure is not inevitable and that change is possible.

Kingdom people pursue purity.

2. A People who share God’s view of marriage
These verses are connected, Jesus is continuing his look at how to truly apply the law. As we look at these verses I want to set them in the context of Jesus teaching on divorce and marriage elsewhere. Read Matthew 19:3-10.

Again the issue is a loophole, Israel has minimised the way to live as God’s redeemed people. They misuse Deuteronomy 24:1-4 which is very specific, it does not say God approves of divorce, in fact from Malachi we know God hates divorce, but it is case law which says if a man divorces someone he can’t remarry her later.

The problem in 1st century Israel was that divorce and remarriage had become widely accepted and a certificate of divorce could be given for any reason, they argued that a displeasing act was the grounds for divorce. In some circles it was agreed that even burning a meal was grounds enough. But Jesus doesn’t accept divorce and remarriage and it should not feature in the kingdom.

The passage in Matthew makes clear as does the Old Testament laws that divorce was only permitted because of the sin and hard heartedness of the people. In no sense did God approve of it. There is only one permissible ground given for divorce, "sexual immorality" and then it is permitted it is not demanded, all other divorce is not permitted and therefore any subsequent remarriages are adultery.

There is some debate about what exactly is meant by this word, it is the Greek word ‘porneia’ which can mean adultery, marital unfaithfulness, prostitution, fornication, and is a generic term for sexual sin of any kind. Some say it is only sexual intercourse with someone other than your partner, but it is any sexual act outside of marriage.

And following on from what Jesus has just said we know that God’s saved and redeemed people are to worship God not have sex or gratification as a rival. That means that sexual immorality in or outside of marriage only occurs because of hard hearts, placing of something other than God as your treasure.

Jesus is giving us a kingdom view of the sanctity of marriage. God instituted marriage as a permanent and exclusive union, which God makes and man must not break.

The Kingdom will be marked by a different attitude to sex and marriage. Jesus in Matthew 19 points back to the wonder of Genesis 2 and marriage as God intended it. Jesus disciples treasure God and the reconciliation they have received above all and that will be reflected in their view of marriage. They will view marriage as God views it, and in their marriages will display kingdom values - they will be quick to forgive and flee from immorality.

So is it permissible for a Christian to divorce? I think the key here is that divorce is only permitted because the Israelites hearts were hard. God did not design marriage to be broken and broken marriages are always the result of sin and hard hearts. They are always the result of one, or both, partner(s) treasuring something else as equal to, or greater than, God.

God’s kingdom people should be different, treasuring God frees us to forgive others, to treasure what God designed - marriage, to repent of hardheartedness, and if we are fleeing sin and pursuing purity then such issues should not present themselves.

Practically what does that mean? If someone wants to speak to me about divorce I want to speak to them about the gospel, about God’s view of marriage and about reconciliation.

The Kingdom values are shaped by their greatest treasure being God, and by a radical determination to root out anything that might threaten or oppose his rule because we have experienced his grace.

Matthew