Table of contents for Ye Have Heard It Was Said...

1. Ye Have Heard it Was Said…
2. Thou Shalt Not Kill
3. Reconciliation is More Important than Worship
4. Make Good As Soon as Possible
5. Thinking About Sex is the Same As Doing It
6. Better to Look Like a Mutant?

The Pharisees believed that they had kept every letter of the law—and prided themselves on what was on the outside.  As Christ continues to underscore how important the heart is, He takes aim at sexual sin—and says that it isn’t enough to simply abstain from committing adultery, but that you have to keep it out of your mind as well.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. – Matthew 5:27-28

This would definitely been a shock to those hearing it, for it was one thing for a person to speak about something done in the open, but a whole other thing to talk about what a person thinks about!

As men, part of our wiring (especially before we are married, but even after) is to desire the companionship and physical intimacy of a woman.  Their form is attractive.  Their proximity is intoxicating.  We desire them like nothing else—as has been proved time and again throughout history.

Jesus was pointing out in this comment that though many have not gone through with adultery—or fornication for that matter—many have thought about it.  They have undressed women with their eyes, performed acts on them in their minds, and desired them in their hearts.  And He says that this is equivalent to having done it—there’s no difference.

God measures man by a divine standard—He judges the heart.  It’s not enough to be good on the outside, and that was never the point.  The point was that we have to have a new heart—a heart that wants to please Him and that is clean from sin.

It does seem odd, doesn’t it?  Christians seem to tolerate all sorts of violence in their entertainment, but get all squeamish when it comes to sex.  And they’re called hypocrites because of this—I mean, sex is an expression of love, and violence is an expression of hate, right?

I have a theory here—and correct me if I’m wrong.  I think that the difference is what goes on in the mind.  After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told those that were there that if you looked on a woman to lust after her, it was as if you committed adultery with her, and that if you said “Raca” to your brother, it was as if you killed him.

Many illustrations of sex on television is something that invites our minds to participate at a sexual level with what we see.  Hence why porn is such a profitable market.  However, I don’t see much of the entertainment inciting us to anger or rage—the catalyst for murder.  So is it the case that Christians are more against sexuality in entertainment because of the link and promotion of sin—and regardless of the desensitizing that’s going on in both places—and are less concerned because the violence does not have them participating in it?