Jesus spent much of His earthly ministry confronting the bondage which religious laws had brought the people under. But His approach was veryunique. Though He knew the demanding weight of all these laws, He taught the people that there was a higher law that superseded these laws of men. As He guided them in the law of the Kingdom, which is the higher law of love, He showed them by word and example that love went further and way beyond what was demanded by these laws of the land.
Fathers in Jesus day, had total rule in their homes, and their word was law. This empowered harsh discipline and severe punishments to wives and children. Of course, as it always does, power corrupts and becomes misused and abused. I have met many good Christian men, who attempted to be the absolute ruler in their homes and expected their word to be unquestioned as the king of their castle. They were strict and readily gave out severe punishments when their word was disrespected.
I think about the guy who got married and after the honeymoon, he sat down at the breakfast table and announced to his wife, “I am the king of my castle, and my word is the law around here, and you will obey”…. Two weeks later he was telling a friend how he had laid down the law. The friend asked him how it worked out. Well, he said, I didn’t see or hear from her for a week, then the ringing in my ears and the swelling in my right eye went down enough so could see just a little bit!!!
Jesus told the men… “He that is greatest among you, is the servant of all”… Wow, without attacking or criticizing the law, he was calling His followers to go above and beyond the law… and operate in the higher law of love.
I call this “Father’s Love Goes The Extra Innings”…. In the message today about Fathers who go above and beyond, I want to begin by sharing 3 examples which Jesus gave to His followers which challenged them to go above what the law of the land required and be radical revolutionists who choose to operate as Kingdom people, and in doing so, require more of themselves than others around them required. They are never content to do just enough to get by….
So Jesus tells them in Matthew 5:38 “The law tells you “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” v39 But I say unto you, do notresist evil, but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also”.
If you’ve seen the movie “First blood” with Sylvester Stallone, You know this is not the way he did it! His approach was “take no prisoners”… Leave nothing standing! Do worse to them than they did to you! Our bad self wants the wrong doer to bleed! (cut me and I’ll cut you) is the terminator’s approach! It has been well said that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you will treat everything as though it were a nail.
When I was a kid, we were all watching the good guys shooting up the bad guys on our black and white TV… bullets were flyingand bombs were exploding, when my brother got so involved, he got his BB rifle and shot the TV… The thing blew up and we all sat there looking at the hole in the screen… (it was a great shot… dead center) but it was a foretaste of what was to come in his life…..
Today we see it in the form of “road rage”… “it was temporary insanity that made them pull the trigger”… “child abuse” has become too common…. “The Hatfields and the McCoys” couldn’t even remember why they were fighting, but someone had to pay for whatever it was that somebody did to somebody!
The problem with retaliation is that the other person will take it to the next level and it starts a domino effect of retribution.
When you’re making an important decision, don’t let your emotions have a vote in the matter….Jesus in this teaching, is talking about ruling your emotions and not letting your emotions rule over your life. He’s talking about self-discipline instead of always choosing the path of self-gratification. Retribution is the total opposite of forgiveness and the message of grace. (I owe a debt of forgiveness, therefore I WILL forgive because I have been forgiven)
Without forgiveness our lives will be governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation. You haven’t seen that person for 20 years but you still label them by the incident that happenedmany years before…
One of the signs of a mature person is that they don’t only see how THEY feel, but they have become aware of the feelings of others around them.
They not only see how things effect THEM, but they see how others are effected as well. We call it empathy or compassion. Listen, some people are so confused about how thing actually are, that they will stay up all night studying….in order to pass a blood test.
Mathew 7:2 “The judgment that you judge others with is the same judgment that shall come back to you again. v3 And why do you focus on the splinter that is in your brother's eye, but don’t see the 2x4 that is in your own eye? v4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me pull out the splinter from your eye, and ignore the 2x4 that is in your own eye? v5 Don’t be a hypocrite, first get the 2x4 out of your own eye, then you can see clearly to get the splinter out of your brother's eye”.
The flip side of this coin, is those folks who can’t forgive themselves. They drag around this huge emotional ball and chain, which holds them back and keeps them from ever achieving their dreams, until the dream dies and they lose their purpose, their joy, and their faith. They become like a caged bird, whose song is soon snuffed out and never really lives because it is in a prison of it’s own making. Stop treating yourself like an emotional second classcitizen. If God forgives you, accept it and let yourself go, let yourself live, come forth and take off the grave clothes! It’s a terrible thing when a person becomes their own enemy and begins to oppose themselves. It’s called assured self-destruction.
Turn your sad sack into “Happy Shack”… Stop slapping yourself and stop the punishment and release the love…. Look in the mirror and Shout it out.. “I love me, because God loves me”! And the punishment stops here and now!!! You can’t truly love others, if you can’t love yourself….
So Jesus is telling us to rule over our “out of control” emotions! Next, He tells them and us, about the above and beyond rule of the kingdom…. He says in Matthew 5:40 “And if any man will sue you in court, and take away your robe, let him have your cloak also”.
Now, to get the impact of this, You have to understand a little bit about the Jewish wardrobe to understand this teaching. You see, a Jew who was living in Jerusalem at that time, had a standard wardrobe.
He had several tunics, which in this case refers to their, “fruit of the looms”, which was worn under his robe, made of a soft material that was pleasant to the skin. Then came his robe, but usually, he had only one outer garment, his cloak. It was made out of heavier material & was a very important piece of clothing. Not only was it his coat, it was also his blanket at night. It kept him warm & protected him from the elements.
In fact, his cloak was so vital to him… the law said that you can’t sue a man for his cloak. You can sue him for his fruit of the looms, because he has more of those, and he usually has more than one robe.
But you can’t take away his cloak because then he would be cold & unprotected. So the law said that all he was required to surrender was his robe and his underwear (or tunic).
But Jesus said, "Let’s suppose that you have made a deal. But something goes wrong, & a payment comes due & there’s way too much week at the end of your money… So they hire a lawyer & sue your shorts off….
So, You go to them & say, "To show you that I am a man of integrity, to show you how concerned I am that I’m not able to meet my obligations, I’ll not only give you my tunic, I’ll give you my cloak, too. I’ll give it all." Jesus is saying it’s better to lose everything materially, than to lose your values and compromise your integrity! This man fell on hard times and things happened beyond his control but it didn’t destroy his faith that something better was ahead if he did the right thing.
He’s telling us that no matter how bad it gets, you always have a choice about how you will live your life. You can always choose to live with integrity and not allow your situation to compromise your faith. It’s always the right time to do the right thing. Let me fit in some Father’s Day quoteshere….
~Robert Frost…The father is always a Republican toward his son, and his mother’s always a Democrat.
~Cindy Garner….Why are men reluctant to become fathers? They aren’t through being children.
~Reed Markham….Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow.
~Umberto Eco…. I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of unintentional wisdom.
A little girl got home from church, told her dad, “Daddy, the Preacher’s sermon this morning confused me.” The dad said, “Why is that honey?” The girl replied, “Well, he said that God is much bigger than we are. Is that true?” “Yes, that is true,”. “Well, He also said that God lives in us. Is that true, too?” Again, her dad said, “Yes, that is certainly true.” “Well,” said the girl. “If God is so much bigger than us and yet He lives in us, shouldn’t He start showing all over the place?” (there you go!) In scripture, the word “righteous”… is supposed to describe those who have chosen to let Christ shine through their Christian lifestyle. The word righteous is actually about consistently doing the right thing, regardless of what others are doing around you. To do the right thing because it is right, according to the values and standards which operate God’s kingdom. There are tremendous benefits for those who choose to do the right thing, even though you are being wronged by others. Here’s an example of a few of those…(and there are many more)
Psalms 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. Psalms 34:17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers them out of them all. (Now that’s a pretty good deal)
We are all where we are now... because of the way we reacted to what happened to us where we were before we got here. (is that right)
So the Lord is telling us that we can take matters in our own hands, or we can choose to do the right thing, and let Him take care of the outcome. In fact, all of us can be as close to God as we want to be, we just need to choose to be!
Then, Jesus went on to tell a third principle…. Matthew 5:41 “And whoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two miles instead.” v42 Give to him that asks of you, and from him that would borrow from you, turn not away”.
And once again, you have to understand the background. Whenever the Roman Empire conquered a town, a Roman yoke was put at the entry to the market place or over the main entrygate to the city.
It was a constant reminder to everyone that they were required to give devotion, obedience, tribute, & many other things to the Roman Empire.
Part of this subjection of the population, involves what Jesus is using as an example here…
Whenever a Roman soldier or official wanted you to carry his pack for a mile, or run an errand for a mile, or guide him for a mile, you had to drop everything & do it. It was a Roman law. It stipulated that by this law, no one would be required to go farther than a mile. To make sure that no Jew did more than the law required, they would measure out a mile in each direction and drive a stake in the ground to mark that exact spot and not an inch more.
Just for a moment, picture this group standing around Jesus, as He drops this bomb shell on them, that they should cheerfully go the first mile and then go another mile beyond the stake they had carefully put in the ground to mark the limits of their obedience.
Sometimes we miss the fact that God will use our enemies to teach us things we would never learn otherwise. Sometimes it’s the negative things, and the bad things that bring us to truth. Most of us probably learn as much from folks that teach us what not to do and how not to live as we do from those shining examples of living life well. Esau was the one God used to force Jacob to face his own deceit….
It was Paul the persecutor of the church, who showed the apostles how to tear down the walls of prejudice and include the gentile world.
Had it not been for the Roman empire, the apostles would not have been driven out into all the world with the gospel…. They would have stayed near Jerusalem and what was familiar and kosher….
Would America have become the center for the spread of the gospel to the world, if it were not for the oppression that happened in Europe which caused the pilgrims to flee and seek religious freedom . Sometimes we can have our minds so made up, so that we miss the bigger picture that God is trying to show us. We get to the place that we are no longer sensitive to His voice because of our traditions and our mind sets. Jesus is telling us that we should be more willing to go the extra mile for God’s kingdom than we are for this world’s kingdoms. That we shouldn’t wait until the above and beyond service is required or demanded, but we should anticipate it and initiate it voluntarily ! Trying to change your outer world without adjusting your inner beliefs and attitudes, is like believing that a merry go round is actually going somewhere.
A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you won’t get far unless you change it!
Jesus is guiding us with Holy Spirit insight, to help us see how radical love behaves itself. How it goes beyond what is usually required, how It does the extra-ordinary…. How It goes the second mile.
It’s true that we speak the loudest without words, we speak with how we live this thing out, called the second mile.
The hard, callused Roman Centurion standing at the foot of the cross, had studied Jesus now for several hours. He watched Him when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. He saw Him as He stood before Pilate. He watched them mock Him as they put a crown of thorns on His head & a reed in His hand, & a purple robe on His shoulders. He heard the terrible things that were shouted again & again. He watched Jesus being beaten with a cat-of-nine-tails. He watched carefully and even supervised as Jesus carried His cross up the Via Dolorosa, to the top of Golgotha & he saw and heard as the nails were driven into His hands & feet. He heard Jesus cry out, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." And he watched as Jesus breathed His last breath. Then that hard, callused Roman Centurion cried out, "Surely this was the Son of God."
He saw Jesus turn the other cheek. He saw that when they stripped Him of His robe, He didn’t try to retaliate. He watched Jesus carry his own cross, with no complaint and no anger towards His tormentors. He heard with all the rest, when they crucified Him, as Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them…”
It was that powerful demonstration which caused his soul and spirit, to respond with a powerful conviction and confession. We know that it did not end there because later this same Centurion whose name was Cornelius and all his household turned to the Lord and were filled with the Holy Spirit as Peter shared the gospel with them.
Look at it…. Acts 10:44 “While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. v45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. v46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, v47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we did? v48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then Cornelius invited him to tarry there (and teach them)”.
I know it doesn’t make sense sometimes, when the Lord asks you to go above and beyond what is required, but know this, the second mile is the point of break through. It is tipping point where all you’ve prayed for, and all you’ve been believing for begins to overwhelm the distractions, the barriers, and the strongholds that have stood in the way.
As I was praying this past week, I saw legions of angels moving into the area, to fight through, and drive back the forces in heavenly places, that have hindered the answer, the solution, the open heavens that we’ve stood in faith and believed for. You can’t expect breakthrough without a second mile attitude…. What we do here will be amplified in the heavens! I believe the Father has let me know that help is on the way!!! This Father’s Day, I believe God is calling on the men to lead the way, in our homes, in our community, in His church!!! It was on Father’s day that one the most significant revivals of this era took place in Pensacola Florida. I believe God was spot lighting the importance of Godly dads…
This is not the time to let up, to give up, to hold back…. It’s the time to press in, to give it the extra effort, to go beyond what is simply required, and step into the second mile. To believe that no matter how bad it looks, God will use it to work out for your good and His glory!
Let’s have men, (not just fathers) come, and let us gather around them and bless them, that God will use them in a mighty way in this hour, in His time and His way! We do not stand alone or fight alone… reinforcements are even now entering the battle to change the outcome!
