be meek instead of resisting and to walk not in the flesh, nor in the soul for their own interest, but in the spirit for
Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 19 THE DECREE OF THE KINGDOM’S CONSTITUTION (7) Bible Verses: Matthew 5:39 But I tell you not to resist him who is evil; rather whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 5:40 And to him who wishes to sue you and take your tunic, yield to him your cloak also; 5:41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 To him who asks of you, give; and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 5:45 So that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 5:48 You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. [THE NEW LAW CHANGING THE OLD LAW] What the King decreed in verses 21 through 30 as the new law of the kingdom complements the law of the old dispensation [the law regarding murder and the law regarding adultery], whereas what the King proclaimed in verses 31 through 48 as the new law of the kingdom changes the law of the old dispensation. [THE NEW LAW TOUCHING AND EXPOSING OUR BEING] Verse 38 says, “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” This is the old law. In verse 39 the Lord says, “But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Verse 40 says, “And to him who would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” In verse 41 the Lord says, “And whoever shall compel you to go one mile, go with him two.” To turn the other cheek to the striker, to let the one who sues have the cloak, and to go with the compeller the second mile prove that the kingdom people have the power to suffer and to be meek instead of resisting and to walk not in the flesh, nor in the soul for their own interest, but in the spirit for the kingdom. Suppose someone comes to you and wants your shirt, and you give him your jacket also. Perhaps you can afford to give him ten jackets. The issue here is not whether your financial status allows you to give him your jacket; it is whether your temper allows you to do it. If someone demands your shirt, your anger may be aroused. Thus, it is not a matter of a shirt or a jacket, but of your temper. It is the same in principle with being struck on the right cheek or compelled to walk a mile. The problem is not your opponent; it is your temper. The Lord allows someone to claim your tunic as a test to expose where you are, to prove that the “gopher” of your temper is still lurking within you. We are a spiritual people, even the kingdom people, but our temper is still hidden within us and needs to be exposed. In verse 42 the Lord says, “To him who asks of you, give; and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away.” To give and not turn away from the borrower proves that the kingdom people do not care for material riches and are not possessed by them. However, the real issue is not material wealth. Giving to those who ask or who want to borrow touches our being. The Lord is not saying that we should lack discernment and behave in a foolish way regarding material possessions. He is telling us that we must be above both material things and our temper. We should never be stirred in our temper by this kind of thing nor touched by the material things. This is the overcoming attitude of the kingdom people. anger. The old law did not touch people’s anger or their heart. But the new law, the changed law, touches both our temper and our heart.
Verse 43 says, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Legally speaking, the old law is fair and righteous; for a good neighbor deserves our love and an enemy deserves our hatred. Thus, to love a neighbor and to hate an enemy is right and fair. Verse 44 says, “But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Once again, this is a matter that touches our being. The reason you love your neighbors is that they are good according to your feeling. Although your neighbors correspond to your feeling, an enemy does not. Instead, he stirs up your temper. Hence, the matter of loving our enemies is a test. If you read chapters five, six, and seven of Matthew, you will see that this heavenly constitution does not allow even an inch to our natural being. Rather, it kills every germ in us. All these laws touch our being and put us on the cross. All these laws kill our natural man, our natural taste, and our temper. [NOT MERELY A REQUIREMENT BUT A REVELATION] Verse 48 says, “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” For the kingdom people to be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect is to be perfect in His love. They are the Father’s children, having the Father’s divine life and divine nature. Hence, they can be perfect as the Father. The demand of the new law of the kingdom is much higher than the requirement of the law of the old dispensation. This higher demand can be met only by the Father’s divine life, not by their natural life. The kingdom of the heavens is the highest demand, and the divine life of the Father is the highest supply to meet that demand. The Gospels firstly present the highest demand of the kingdom of the heavens in the Gospel of Matthew and lastly afford us the highest supply of the divine life of the heavenly Father in the Gospel of John so that we may live the life of the kingdom of the heavens. The demand of the new law of the kingdom in Matthew 5 through 7 is actually the regenerated kingdom people’s expression from within their new life—the divine life. This demand, by opening up the inner being of the regenerated people, is to show them that they are able to attain to such a high degree. All the requirements of these changed laws [not only expose us but also] reveal how much the divine life within us can do for us. These laws are not merely a requirement; they are a revelation, showing us that the divine life can even make us perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We have this perfecting life within us. We have a life with such a divine nature that it can make us as perfect as our heavenly Father. The Lord’s word was intended to touch our being, our natural choice, and to expose what we are and where we are. When we have been exposed and subdued, we shall give the full opportunity to the divine life to live in us. This will make us perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect. We cannot imitate the Father. When I was young, I was taught by those in Christianity that our heavenly Father loves those who are bad and that we should love our enemies just as our Father does. Although this sounds good, it actually is like trying to teach a monkey to behave like a person. You may teach a monkey to behave like a kind gentleman. The monkeys, however, will fail to do this because they are not the sons of that man. We are the sons of our heavenly Father. Thus, the Father’s life and nature are within us. All the outward enemies, compellers, and opponents expose what we are. Because they expose our natural being, we learn not to trust ourselves any longer, but to look to our Father and to realize that we have His life and nature within us. Through this exposure we come to see that we must stay close to Him and live by His life and nature. In this way we shall be perfect as our heavenly Father. This is the kingdom life, the kingdom living. Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm
Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 20 THE DECREE OF THE KINGDOM’S CONSTITUTION (8) Bible Verses: Matthew 5:45 So that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens, because He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 5:48 You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. [THE THREE ASPECTS OF THE LAW] In order to understand this matter of the law, we must know the three aspects of the law: the principle of the law, the commandments of the law, and the rituals of the law. As we have seen, the principle of the law is over. Today, in the dispensation of grace, God does not deal with us according to the principle of the law; rather, He deals with us according to the principle of faith. Whether or not we shall be justified, saved, and accepted by God depends on the principle of faith, not the principle of the law. As long as we have faith in Christ, we are justified by God, accepted by Him, and saved. This is what it means for the principle of the law to be abolished in Christ under the dispensation of grace. Although the principle of the law has been abolished, the commandments of the law have not been annulled. Instead, the standard of these commandments has been uplifted. Thus, the commandments, related to the moral standards, have not been abolished; they will remain for eternity. Even for eternity we should not worship an idol, murder, steal, or lie. In His heavenly kingdom the King has uplifted the standard of the law in two ways: by complementing the lower laws and by changing the lower laws into higher laws. In this way the morality in the commandments of the law has been uplifted to a higher standard. The kingly Savior Himself kept all the commandments of the law when He was on earth. Then He went to the cross to die for us. Through His substitutionary death, He fulfilled the law on the negative side. Furthermore, through His substitutionary death, He released His resurrection life into us, and we now have this resurrection life in our spirit. Because we are able to live by this resurrection life, we have the strength, ability, and capacity to have the highest standard of morality. As we walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4), we fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, fulfilling even more than the law requires. Therefore, we do not abolish the law; rather, we fulfill it in the highest way. The third aspect of the law is the rituals of the law. For example, offering sacrifices and keeping the Sabbath are outward rituals of the law. These rituals were also terminated because they were part of the old dispensation of shadows, figures, and types, all of which have been fulfilled by Christ as the reality. We are no longer obligated to observe the rituals of the law. Therefore, the principle of the law and the rituals of the law have been terminated, but the commandments of the law, which require a high moral standard, have not been terminated. Rather, these commandments have been uplifted. [WALKING ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT] Romans 8:3 says, “For what is impossible to the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Due to the weakness of our flesh, it is impossible for us to fulfill the law. We can do nothing. As far as the law is concerned, our case is impossible. Therefore, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, so that “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit” (v. 4). Because it was impossible, due to the weakness of our flesh, for the law to be fulfilled, God sent His Son to keep the law on the positive side, and to die for our weakness on the negative side. His purpose in doing so was that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. The “us” in verse 4 refers to those who do not walk according to the flesh,
but according to the spirit. God sent His Son to keep the law and to die for us that we may walk in the spirit to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law. Romans 8:16 reveals how our spirit is formed: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.” This verse reveals that our spirit in which we walk to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law is formed through the witnessing of the Holy Spirit with our spirit. This indicates that the Holy Spirit of God has come into our spirit. This took place at the time of our regeneration. The Spirit of God came into our spirit to regenerate us. From that time onward, the Holy Spirit has been witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God. Thus, verse 14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” With these verses before us, we can understand why the Lord concluded His word in Matthew 5 by saying, “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We are not only God’s creatures; we are also His regenerated children, possessing His life and nature. Thus, we are not God’s creatures trying to copy and imitate Him; we are the Father’s children living the Father’s life. [GROWING IN THE FATHER’S LIFE] [[I]n our spirit, we have become God’s children having God’s life and nature. If we walk according to this regenerated spirit, we are the children of God living by God’s life. When we live and walk in the spirit, spontaneously we shall be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Consider a brother who has four children. The more these little ones grow, the more they live like their father. These children are not four monkeys trying to imitate a human being. No, they are children of their father who are growing into the image of their father. The more they grow, the more they live their father’s life. Likewise, we are not monkeys—we are children of God. Although some of us may [254] be rather babyish or childish, we are growing nonetheless. These young ones may be naughty, but they are growing. Wait for a certain number of years, and you will see that all these naughty little ones will be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect. We are not trying to imitate God. Rather we are the Father’s children growing in the Father’s life. This is the reason the Lord Jesus said that we should be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Now we can understand why in Matthew chapter five the Lord refers to us as the children of God or the sons of God. He was not giving a word to unbelievers, to those who were merely God’s creatures; He was giving a word to the sons of God. God is no longer merely our Creator; He is also our heavenly Father. Because He is our Father, we have His life and nature. Eventually, through our growth in life, we shall be the same as He is. Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm
