When we consider everything that is happening in the world right now, I can’t think of a more appropriate text for our lesson today than Matthew 5:21-26. Truly God arranges things as he would have them because I did not look at the political calendar to arrange my sermon series.

Introduction

Our lesson today brings us to the ethical teachings of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Today’s text carries forward the theme of fulfilled-righteousness from last week’s lesson. This theme stretches from Matthew 5:17-48, and centers on Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law. Our Kingdom-expectation should anticipate an exceeding righteousness that surpasses even the meticulous legalism of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

The righteousness of Christ’s heavenly Kingdom is the righteousness of the new creation that is expressed by faith through love.

Consequently, Jesus’ five ethics center around God and his nature:

1. Honor God’s image (v. 21-26)
2. Relational purity (v. 27-32)
3. Integrity of truth (v. 33-37)
4. Mercy-based Justice (v. 38-42)
5. Holiness of Love (v. 43-48)

These Kingdom ethics are rooted in God himself, each reflecting his nature and conveying his light. Therefore, Jesus is telling us that God’s Kingdom reflects God’s nature. This shapes how we treat these principles.

In today’s lesson we are going to examine Jesus’ first kingdom-ethic: stated positively, “honor the image of God in people”; stated positively again, “seek peace with people”. Or stated negatively, “don’t hate people”.

Jesus’ first Kingdom-ethic builds on the Law’s prohibition against murder (Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). To understand what Jesus is talking about, then, we need to first understand the basis for the Law’s prohibition against murder.

Genesis 1:26–27 (CSB) — 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.

Genesis 9:6 (CSB) — Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.
Human life has intrinsic and irreducible value because we alone are made in the likeness of God. Unlike God’s other creatures, we have been given personhood; we have our own individual wills, emotions, and bodies. And, as moral persons, we are uniquely capable among God’s creatures of possessing a moral conscience that is sensitive to “good” and “evil”, even feeling pain as if it had been physically pierced. Human life is precious.