The Heart of the Law
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Keys to the Blessed Life
Keys to the Blessed Life
Jesus began His sermon talking describing the Blessed Life, and as Andy explained last week, that isn’t what we would consider to be the “good life” or the American Dream.
It is a full and fulfilled life in Christ. Whether we are poor or rich, sick or healthy, successful or not...
No where in God’s Word do we see the Blessed life tied to material prosperity or perfect circumstance.
Rather, Jesus says the blessed life is a life aware of our neediness, humbled by our brokenness, longing for righteousness, moved by mercy, motivated toward purity, and marked by persecution.
It’s a very different picture than what we see in the world.
But there was an appeal to Jesus’s message that drew people to Him because everyone desires a life of blessing.
But if this life isn’t dependent on our life circumstances, then where is it found?
That really is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount…How do we live the Blessed Life?
That brings us to the next section of Jesus’s Sermon.
The Law and the Prophets
The Law and the Prophets
READ Matt 5:17-48
Jesus was accused throughout His entire ministry of having weak and relaxed view of the Law.
He hung out with tax collectors, ate with sinners, and did things that were not permitted on the Sabbath, causing the Religious Leader to write Him off as a teacher, let alone the Messiah.
The non-religious were attracted to Jesus because of these things though. Thinking He was loose and easy to follow since He wasn’t pushing the rules as hard.
Knowing these questions were being debated around Him, Jesus confronts the accusations and describes how the Blessed Life and the Law are not in opposition, but are intimately linked.
As we walk through this passage, I want to point out 3 keys to the blessed life.
1) Understand how we RELATE with the LAW.
1) Understand how we RELATE with the LAW.
17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.
Jesus is confronting 2 ends of the spectrum of how we are to relate to the OT Law in this passage.
On one side is the Jewish leaders (the scribes and the Pharisees) who understood believed the Law was to be followed to the “T”. No law was to be avoided, lessened, or changed in any way.
they ensured themselves and others that this was accomplished by adding additional, clarifying laws to the laws.
for the religious zealot, Jesus was a heretic if he didn’t follow the law the way they interpreted and applied it.
On the other side were the minimalists, who embraced parts of the law, but who were willing to loosen up, reframe, or totally ignore other aspects based on what best fit their desires or life circumstances.
Matthew, the author of this Gospel account, would have likely fit into this category, having spent the first part of his life as a tax collector.
he would have viewed the law as flexible in regards to money, adherence to certain practices and ceremonial traditions.
for that reason, there was likely a lot of conflict between Matthew and the some of other disciples.
So what did Jesus believe about the Law? Who did He side with?
The answer really is neither.
Jesus didn’t come to abolish, or set aside the Law and the Prophets, but to FULFILL what had been revealed.
The Word “fulfill” is deeply significant and really is the key to the passage.
it doesn’t really mean Jesus followed all the Law, even though He did.
It doesn’t really mean Jesus finished the law as if it were a list of requirements.
It MEANS Jesus satisfies the intended purpose of the law
Michael Wilkins says “Jesus’s interpretation of the OT Scriptures completes and clarifies God’s intent and meaning through it.⁸ Everything that the Old Testament intended to communicate about God’s will and hopes and future for humanity finds its fullest meaning in Jesus.”
While there are aspect of the Law that have come to fruition in Jesus (such as the sacrificial system and the food laws), there are others that endure and ought to guide our lives even now.
What Jesus says in verses 18-19 is challenging and perhaps hard to understand, but it has huge implications for us.
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
It might be shocking to hear, but Jesus EXPECTS US to follow the Law.
The purpose of the law has always been to draw us into relationship with God. To fix what was broken by sin.
It is a guide to broken sinners on how we can get home.
But the only way we can really understand it and live according to it is by following the one who ultimately fulfills it to the very jot and tittle.
Remember Paul’s words in Romans 8:1-4
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The law was never the problem, WE were/are.
It’s Jesus’s point in Matt 5 20
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
Imagine the shock this statement would have caused those listening.
The scribes and Pharisees were the epitome of righteousness in the Jewish culture.
If they weren’t righteous enough to enter God’s Kingdom there was no hope for anyone.
And that is exactly what He was saying.
No amount of lawkeeping was good enough because the problem was in the human heart.
See, the scribes and the Pharisees sought to make the law something they could accomplish, something they could live up to, but their focus was really only skin deep.
Though they might have looked good on the outside, inside they were dirty, rotten sinners in need of a heart transplant, just like you and me.
We often like to make the Pharisees into bad guys, but even though they likely weren’t the nicest of people, we are not all that different then them.
The next section of Jesus’s sermon really is a surgical diagnosis of the human heart as He confronts the false and superficial righteousness of the Pharisees.
And I want to dwell on this section just a couple of minutes to let Jesus push against
2) Stop AIMING for the MINIMUMS.
2) Stop AIMING for the MINIMUMS.
Like the Pharisees, we like our Christianity to be something we can attain or accomplish. A bar low enough for us to reach it.
6 Times in 21-48 Jesus says the words “You have heard it said...” and “But I say...”
In each of these illustrations, Jesus is contrasting what was said in the OT Law and its traditional interpretation with what was truly intended when the Law was given.
In each case, we find interpretations of the law that are the minimum standards for compliance.
For example: Matt 5 21
21 “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment.
By a raise of hands here today, how many people have murdered someone?
Likely not anyone.
But Matt 5 22
22 But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.
Now, how many of you have ever been angry with someone, or insulted someone, or called someone a fool?
What about Matt 5 27
27 “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery.
There could be some here that would raise there hand to this one, but Matt 5 28
28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Many more, if not the majority of us in this room would raise our hands to this.
Here is the danger of aiming for the minimums in following Jesus:
We begin to believe that we are good enough in and of ourselves to gain our own righteousness and force God to accept us.
This is legalism and it robs us from the joy of the Gospel and the goodness of a Blessed life as we minimize the purpose and power of the cross of Christ, making ourselves into our own saviors.
Or we set the bar so low that no real obedience to God and His Word is really necessary for us to feel like we are in right standing with God.
As long as we pray the prayer, get wet in the baptismal waters, and come to church a few times a month, we are all good with the big guy upstairs.
Who cares if we get a little drunk with our buddies on the weekends? Who cares if we fudge a bit on our taxes to get a bigger refund? Who care if I fantasize about someone else sexuality other than my spouse?
We have bought into the lie that the blessed life is one that is found in pursuing what makes me feel good right now.
The true meaning and purpose of the law, and this didn’t change when Jesus came, was twofold:
To show us how Holy and Set Apart God is.
And to show us how lost and broken we are without Him.
In each of these 6 illustrations Jesus wants us to see that our greatest need is not more rules or easier rules… We need new hearts.
3) Get to the HEART of the MATTER.
3) Get to the HEART of the MATTER.
Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law, remember.
Though many aspects of the law were satisfied in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, the heart of the law is still alive and well.
The Law is God’s will and God’s way.
Jesus finishes this section of His sermon with a really powerful and challenging charge.
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
As you walk through the 6 illustrations Jesus gives in this passage, it would be easy to brush off Jesus’s words metaphoric, seeking just to prove a point.
But in each case Jesus gives us practical ways to pursue righteousness in all 6 of the cases.
“Go and reconcile with a brother or sister before you offer anything to God.”
“Get serious about fight against the lusts of the flesh. Do whatever you need to in order to win the battle.”
“Fight for your marriage, for your spouse, and for the glory of Jesus in your marriage.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Be honest and upright in how you deal with others.”
“Let God be the one who brings justice and pays back evil.”
“Let love guide you in all your relationships, even with those who are your enemies.”
These are expectations, not metaphors.
But these are surface level expectations, they are heart level.
Jesus expects those who trust in Him, who have given their lives to Him and received Him as Lord and Savior, to live differently because something has happened in them than changes everything.
In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God makes a promise to the people of Israel as they are exiled in Babylon.
25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.
The word “fulfill” in Matthew 5:17 is pointing to this promise.
Jesus did what God promised to do 550 years before.
He made it possible for each and every one of us to get rid of our hard, stony hearts and receive new hearts of flesh that are responsive to His Word and eager to follow His ways.
Hearts reformed and renewed by the Spirit who guides us to walk in the ways of Christ.
Here is what I want you to hear.
Christianity without sanctification (us growing in loving obedience to Christ) is a Christianity without Christ.
Christianity without the pursuit of holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit is a Christianity without Christ.
If the gospel does not transform us, it's not good news.
Through the power of the Spirit today, we can be transformed from being angry to being peaceful, lustful to pure, deceitful to honest, vindictive to gracious, hateful to loving.
Jesus has not come to condemn you. He has come to offer you life.
And that life come through the Spirit of God drawing you toward repentance.
So right now, I want to invite everyone to close your eyes and bow your heads.
Where is Jesus confronting you? As we read that text, where did you shift in your chair and get uncomfortable? Where do you want to avoid the teaching of Jesus?
Is it anger, lust, dishonesty, retaliation, vindictive heart, hatred?
Will you just do this for me? Will you meet Jesus there? Will you ask him, "Be my teacher. Help me"?
He confronts you, but he forgives you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but he also wants to transform you.
Where have you looked to your own goodness, your own power, and your own works to give you the confidence and assurance that only the Cross of Jesus can actually provide.
Right now, in the quietness of this room, ask Jesus to forgive you and to restore in your the glory of His salvation.