The Importance of Understanding God’s Intent

Posted by David on December 1, 1996 under Sermons

A common problem understood by everyone is the problem created when someone hears or reads what we said, but does not understand our intent in what we said. We were not misquoted; we said the words. But we were misrepresented because the words we said wereinterpreted to mean something we definitely did not mean. That is when we have this impossible argument: “You said this. This is exactly what you said. Am I misquoting you? Isn’t that exactly what you said?” “Yes, that is exactly what I said. But you misunderstood whatI meant by what I said. This is what I meant.”

Let me illustrate the problem. The words are, “I will kill you.” Four simple words. None more than four letters long. What do the words, “I will kill you,” mean? Literally, the words mean that I am going to destroy your life. Is that what those four words always mean? That dependson the intent of the person and the situation, or the context of the situation.

Two good friends who love each other dearly love to play practical jokes on each other. One of them has just executed the perfect practical joke on the other. The perpetrator of the joke is laughing so hard he can’t sit up. The victim of the joke, grinning from ear to ear, says to hisfriend, “I will kill you!” Is he threatening to destroy his good friend’s life? No. He is promising his friend that he should be prepared to be the victim of an even more ingenious practical joke.

What if his good friend, the perpetrator, is murdered one week after playing the practical joke? What if the victim of the joke is arrested and tried for this friend’s murder? What if he has to admit on the witness stand that he said the words, “I will kill you?” How important is it for the jury tounderstand what he meant by those words? Which reveals the truth–the literal meaning of the words, “I will kill you,” or his intent when he said, “I will kill you”?

This illustrates an enormous problem in interpreting and applying the scripture. The problem is as old as the oldest scripture. Among people who accept the Bible as God’s inspired word, disagreements rarely are based on what is said in scripture. People who accept the Bible as God’s word commonly agree on the words. Most disagreements center in the intent of the words. What did God intend by what He said? Always, the context is powerfully related to the intent.

Jesus and the Pharisees agreed on what the law said. They disagreed about God’s intent in what the law said. Often, the Pharisees declared the law meant only what the words literally said. Jesus commonly emphasized that God’s intent went far deeper that the literal wording of the law. Matthew 5:21-48 is an excellent illustration of this problem.

1. In Matthew 5:21-48 Jesus specifically focuses on six understood laws that had a significant impact on daily life in the real world of first century Jewish society.
   1. Those six are:
      1. Matthew 5:21-26: “You shall not murder” coupled with “The murderer is guilty.”
      2. Matthew 5:27-30: “Do not commit adultery.”
      3. Matthew 5:31, 32: “If you divorce your wife, do not merely abandon her.”
      4. Matthew 5:33-37: “You shall not break your vows, but you shall fulfill your oaths to the Lord.”
      5. Matthew 5:38-42: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
      6. Matthew 5:43-48: “You shall love your neighbor” coupled with “You shall hate your enemy.”
   2. I want us to look at each of those six in a brief overview to see the contrast between the Pharisees’ literal, legalistic applications and Jesus’ emphasis on God’s intent.
      1. We could spend weeks examining all the material in these verses.
      2. There is far more I would enjoy sharing about each of these six statements than I have time to share this evening.
      3. I make this special request: Instead of focusing on details that are of special interest or concern to you, please try to stand back from a focus on details and try to see the broader picture, the broader context.
      4. Remember Jesus is speaking to his disciples who must live and function in first century Jewish society in Palestine.
      5. I hope the handout you have will help you do that.
2. Consider the six in order.
   1. “You shall not murder; the person who commits murder is guilty.”
      1. As far as the Pharisees were concerned, that was simple, direct, and self-explanatory: “It meant what it said, and said what it meant.”
      2. Jesus said that the guilt resulting from murder involved matters more than merely the physical act of killing someone
         1. Commonly, anger led to contempt.
         2. Contempt led to murder.
         3. One’s hostile anger could get him in trouble with the court.
         4. One’s contemptuous treatment of another was a more serious court matter.
         5. To contemptuously reject a person as being utterly worthless and unworthy of any consideration or respect was such a serious matter that the divine court would sentence that contemptuous person to the fire of hell.
      3. So Jesus said, “Accept responsibility for your own emotions and your responsibility to respect other people. In all relationship problems, pursue reconciliation diligently.”
         1. The person who restrains himself from committing the physical act of murder has not fulfilled the intent of the law.
         2. God’s intent went beyond the physical restraint that prevented murder; it prohibits the hostile anger and contempt that can lead to murder.
         3. Where there is respect for people, there is no murder.
   2. Do not commit adultery.
      1. Again, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, this was simply understood: do not commit the physical act of adultery: do not have intercourse with someone else’s wife.
      2. Jesus said that more is prohibited than the physical act.
         1. The problem begins long before the physical act occurs.
         2. The problem begins when a man deliberately looks at a woman for the purpose of visualizing the act of adultery with her.
         3. It is that lustful indulgence that says within, “I surely would if I could.”
         4. Jesus said that is the moment when the man becomes guilty of adultery.
      3. He admonishes them not to let a God-created need, a God-given desire to be perverted and destroy the entire person.
      4. Do anything necessary to prevent that from happening.
   3. If you divorce your wife, she must understand that she has been divorced; do not merely abandon her.
      1. The context of this command reflects a world and a situation that are completely foreign to us.
         1. Women had no significant status at the time of Israel’s exodus from Egypt or in the first century world.
         2. Men possessed all rights and status, so a wife was little more than a possession.
         3. There was a time when a man who did not want to be married merely abandoned his wife without informing her–since she received no explanation, she did not know if she was married or not.
      2. This was the situation that the law originally addressed.
         1. The men of Israel were instructed not to abandon their wives without explanation–if a man was divorcing his wife, she must be fully informed that he was divorcing her.
         2. Of course, the wife did not have the right to divorce her husband; only the husband had the right to divorce his wife.
      3. The Pharisees applied this law in this way:
         1. When you divorce your wife, you must do three things.
         2. You personally must place a simple writ of divorce in her hand.
         3. You must make certain that she clearly understands that it is a writ of divorce.
         4. You must do this in the presence of witnesses.
         5. She must clearly understand that she has been divorced.
      4. Jesus said that the intent of God was not focused in correct divorce procedures.
         1. God was not encouraging frivolous divorce.
         2. Frivolous divorce results in adultery.
      5. Very likely the adultery problem and the divorce problem were strongly inter-related–both commonly involved the indulgent, lustful searching eyes.
   4. Don’t break your vows; fulfill your oaths.
      1. The Pharisees focused this law on making your vows or oaths correctly.
         1. Since this was basically an illiterate society, business deals did not utilize written contracts or guarantees.
         2. Deals were closed and guarantees were made by oath: “I swear by . . . that I will do this.”
         3. If a person did not swear by the right thing, the oath and the promise it confirmed were not regarded as binding.
         4. Thus a person could lie and steal legally if he were imaginative with his oaths.
      2. Jesus said be so devoted to doing exactly what you promised to do that an oath is unnecessary.
         1. Evil, dishonest people need oaths.
         2. Honest people of integrity will do what they say they will do.
   5. In matters of injury, you will take eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
      1. When this law was given, it was a merciful law, a law of limitation.
      2. One could not inflict more harm on someone than he had received.
      3. The Pharisees focused this law in the concern for justice; justice must be served.
      4. Remember that Jesus described the righteous person as gentle, merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker.
      5. The person concerned about the intent of God will refuse to seek vengeance or retaliation–he focuses his actions on mercy, not on justice.
         1. He presents a threat to no one, not even those who are unjust to him.
         2. In a gentle spirit, he does more than is demanded of him and is generous.
   6. Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
      1. Love your neighbor was clearly declared from the earliest history of Israel; hate your enemy is not found in Scripture.
      2. Perhaps the Pharisees defined neighbor to exclude certain peoples, and made a distinction between neighbor and enemy.
         1. If so, the same legal injunction that required you to love your neighbor also required you to hate your enemy.
         2. What Jesus says would suggest that they focused on hating your enemy.
      3. Rather than addressing the distinction they made between neighbor and enemy, Jesus addressed God’s intent clearly: love both.
      4. He gave two reasons for doing so, reasons that would have great meaning to those who wanted to be righteous:
         1. Reason # 1: That is what God does.
         2. Reason # 2: If you don’t, you do nothing more than ungodly people do.
      5. His admonition: Imitate God; let God be your standard.
3. It is quite easy to see how the religious leaders would accuse Jesus of seeking to destroy the law.
   1. His description of a righteous person was radically different from theirs.
   2. His interpretation and application of the law was radically different from theirs.
   3. His understanding of how a righteous person would conduct himself was radically different. The righteous person:
      1. He opposed within himself anger that targeted other people and contempt for other people.
      2. He accepted responsibility for his own feelings and attitudes, and he committed himself to reconciliation.
      3. He refused to abuse sexual passions.
      4. He rejected frivolous divorce.
      5. He was a person of integrity, a man of his word.
      6. He was committed to mercy and kindness, not to vengeance and retaliation.
      7. He was committed to the best interests of his enemies as well as his neighbors.

In all of these contrasts, one theme runs through each. Understanding God’s intent will always affect the way we treat other people.

Always seek to understand God’s intent in what God said. Never stop learning how to treat people as God intends for the righteous person to treat them.

Gratitude Blesses the Grateful

Posted by David on under Sermons

Consider these good parents who have a truly fine daughter. These parents love their daughterdeeply. And she is a daughter who would bring honor to any set of parents. She is considerateand respectful. She takes her education seriously. She is outgoing and makes friends easily, butis wise in selecting friendships. She is involved both at school and at church. And she naturallyexhibits a good spirit and good attitudes.

But, like everyone, she is not perfect. She has a few habits that frustrate her Mom and Dad. InMom and Dad’s thinking, if she would just change these few habits, she would be the idealperson. They want her to be that ideal person for her own sake.

At first, her parents encourage her to change these few habits. In time, it is obvious thatencouragement will not bring the changes they want, so they begin to insist. When insistencedoes not work, they demand. When demands do not work, they threaten. When threats donot work, they become angry and alienate their daughter. When she finishes high school, sheleaves home determined to have as little contact with Mom and Dad as possible.

At any time in this stalemate, the parents easily could have listed all the wonderful qualities theyappreciated in their daughter. At any time in this running confrontation, the number of qualitiesthey admired vastly exceed the irritating habits.

But because the parents exclusively focused their attention and concern on her irritating habits,they rarely thought about the qualities they admired. They spent their time being frustratedabout the few habits that irritated them. In time, their frustration became an obsession thatblinded them to their daughter’s admirable qualities. All they ever thought about were herirritating habits.

Because they were ungrateful for her many good qualities, because they focused only on thehabits that frustrated them, they lost their daughter.

1. Ingratitude is a powerful, destructive force that ruins people and relationships.
   1. We witness that truth in people’s lives all around us; in fact, our extended families likely haveexperienced that truth.
      1. Too many wives lose husbands because small things that irritate the wife make herungrateful for the many good qualities she admires in him.
      2. Too many husbands lose wives because the husband focuses so exclusively on the smallthings that disappoint him that he is ungrateful for the wonderful things that bless him.
      3. The same thing happens in congregations.
         1. The things that irritate us about each other are small and few when compared to the things wevalue and appreciate about each other.
         2. But when those small things capture our full attention, we are ungrateful for all the things we value in each other.
      4. In all relationships, gratitude is dependent on awareness–destroy awareness, and gratitude dies.
   2. We can easily fall victim to this same tendency in our relationship with God.
      1. In everyone’s life, the dark moments, the fearful times, the times of distress and grief, and moments of intense loneliness are inevitable.
      2. Those are the times when we allow the distress of the moment to swallow us with discontent. Those moments are so powerful and can be so overwhelming that they move us to:
         1. Feel angry with God.
         2. Feel abandoned by God.
         3. Feel betrayed by God.
      3. When we are consumed with resentment directed at God, it is impossible to recall one thingthat calls for gratitude.
         1. “What do I have to be grateful for?”
         2. “It is God’s fault that I am having this problem; why should I thank him for anything?”
   3. If we are respectful, God understands and accepts our times of frustration and distress.
      1. Moses blessed me by helping me understand that.
         1. In Numbers 11:10-15, Moses was stressed out, and in his distress he was certain that Godexpected far too much.
         2. It was a horribly depressing moment during Moses’ leadership.
            1. He had gone through the ordeal of getting Israel out of Egypt.
            2. He had endured the distress of getting them across the Red Sea.
            3. He had led them with all their moaning, groaning, and complaining to the Mount Sinai.
            4. He had successfully pleaded with God to spare their lives when they made and worshipped thegolden calf.
            5. He had received the law, built the tabernacle, and instituted the religious orders and worship.
         3. After all of this–after seeing God work in the plagues of Egypt, after walking across the RedSea on dry land, after being watered and nourished by God in the desert, after hearing God speakin a voice and seeing the presence of God on Mount Sinai, the people were deeply depressedbecause they were tired of having no meat to eat.
      2. After everything God did directly and visibly for these people, there was no gratitude in Israel.
         1. Every family was in their tent crying, and every man was standing at the entrance of his tentcrying because they were sick of eating the same food day after day.
            1. What a disheartening sound–several hundred thousand depressed people crying!
            2. As they wept, they were asking themselves, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” (11:20)
            3. God’s anger was hot.
            4. Moses was beside himself with the situation–he was supposed to lead this mass of depressed people.
         2. It was more than Moses could take–he had had enough of this job and these people.
            1. He did not turn on God.
            2. But he clearly stated how he felt and what he wanted.
               1. “God, why have you been so hard on me?”
               2. “Why did you dislike me so much that you gave me the responsibility for all these people? Why did you put this burden on me?”
               3. “These people were not born because of me.”
               4. “I did not promise that I would take care of them like a nurse cares for her child. I did notpromise them that I would give them a land in order to keep a promise I made to theirancestors.”
               5. “Where am I going to get enough meat to feed all these people?”
               6. “I cannot be responsible for them anymore–the burden is just to big for me.”
               7. “If this is what you expect, then if you love me, please kill me right now.”
            3. I find God’s reaction amazing and insightful–he was not angry with Moses.
               1. He told him to select seventy men that he knew were capable of working under him and usethem to help meet the burdens of leadership.
               2. Then he told Moses that he was going to feed Israel meat until they were sick of meat.
            4. Israel was so focused on their appetites they completely forgot everything God had done forthem, and their discontent destroyed their gratitude.
            5. Moses was totally disheartened and distressed by an ungrateful people.
            6. God was angry at ungrateful Israel, but God was not upset with Moses.
      3. I learned one of my most valuable lessons about gratitude from David, the author of many ofthe Psalms.
         1. This is the lesson I learned: you can be both distressed and grateful at the same time.
            1. You cannot live this life without experiencing distress.
            2. It is neither healthy or wise to experience distress and not be honest about your feelings andemotions.
            3. But you can be honest about your distress and be sincerely grateful at the same time.
         2. David provides us many examples of this in his psalms, but let’s note just a couple.
            1. In Psalms 13 David is stressed out because of the pain his enemies are inflicting.
               1. In verses one and two you can hear the distress as he questions God.
                  1. “God, when are you going to notice my situation?
                  2. “Are you going to forget me forever?
                  3. “How long are you going to refuse to look at me?
                  4. “How long am I going to have to endure this sorrow?
                  5. “How long are my enemies going to be allowed to afflict me?”
               2. David is demanding in verses three and four.
                  1. “Answer me, O Lord, My God.
                  2. “Help me understand, or I am going to die.
                  3. “If something does not happen soon, my enemies will be celebrating their victory over me.”
               3. Obviously David feels defeated and very alone–and he is very honest about how he feels.
               4. But David also affirms his faith and gratitude in verses five and six:
                  But I have trusted in your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountiful with me.
               5. David’s situation at that moment is extremely difficult, but David clearly trusts God andappreciates everything God has done for him.
            2. In Psalms 22:1, 2 David voices his distress to God, and about a thousand years later Jesus uses that exact statement as he died on the cross.
               1. When David made the statement, he was crying out in distress.
               2. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I cry all day and can’t rest at night, but youwon’t answer me.”
               3. In verses 11-18 he graphically states how his enemies and evil people are troubling him–he istrapped in the center of a circle of strong bulls; he is poured out like water; his bones are out ofjoint; his heart is melting; and his strength is drying up.
               4. In verses 19-21 he cries out, “God, you are my help, don’t stand so far off–come quickly anddeliver me.”
               5. His distress is painful and real–but so is his gratitude in verses 24-31: “I will tell all my brothers your name; I will praise you in the middle of the assembly; I will tell everyone to glorify you and stand in awe of you. I know that you are the God who takes care of the afflicted.”
         3. David:
            1. Saw and fully felt the immediate.
            2. He was honest in his times of distress as he talked to God, honest about what he felt andhonest about what he thought.
            3. If he was angry, or afraid, or felt abandoned by God, he was honest about it.
            4. But no matter what he saw or felt in the immediate distress, David never failed to see the “bigpicture,” and he always held to the knowledge of all that God had done for him in his life.
            5. No matter how distressed he was, he always was grateful to God for being his Lord; he alwaysglorified God; and his confidence in God was always greater than the distress of the moment.

You and I do not control what happens to our lives. What happens to our lives is not within the power of our choice. You and I do control our awareness. We choose to be consumed by thedistress of the immediate, or we choose to remain aware of the ways God has touched and blessed our lives.

That is an important choice each of us makes. If we choose to be consumed with our distress and live in discontentment, even life’s best situations are filled with gloom and depression. If we choose to always remember the many ways in which we are blessed by God, we are able live ingratitude even when we are experiencing distress. Then, in even life’s worst situations, we will find light instead of darkness, find hope instead of despair.

Gratitude always blesses the grateful.