Fulfillment of the Law

Introduction: Sermon on the Mount

I’ve been gone for a couple of weeks but we are continuing our series through the SotM

Key Themes/Ideas

Jesus’ Kingdom Manifesto

Not how to get into the kingdom

But what someone already in the kingdom looks like

Beatitudes/Salt and Light

These are describing the characteristics of the kingdom citizen

After this week the sermon gets very practical

What we do

How we give/pray/fast

How we relate to others and our possessions

But this sermon starts off with character before it gets into the ‘how-to’s or the practical wisdom

And Jesus did this with purpose and we will see this highlighted throughout this series

God is more concerned with our hearts and character than the boxes we can check saying we did the right things

But I would say today’s scripture is the key to the entire SotM

And I don’t say that lightly

Jesus clearly states his relationship to the OT

Jesus raises the standard of the people of God

Scripture Reading:

Matthew 5:17–20 (CSB)

“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 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. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

What is the Law and the Prophets?

Jesus says:

Matthew 5:17–18 (CSB)

“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 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.

So at this point in the sermon, Jesus has given an upside-down vision of his kingdom that doesn’t make much sense to the world (and still doesn’t today)

Saying its a blessing to be poor in spirit, mourning, and persecuted

And calling these meek, humble, merciful people to be the light shining in a dark world

Jesus was Jewish and he had to address the question people must have been thinking (and the religious leaders attacked him for)

Did Jesus come to throw out the teachings of the OT and bring something completely new?

They thought the Messiah would come in power to crush the Romans, who is this homeless preacher from Nazereth?

Jesus seems to break the Sabbath regulations on multiple occasions

Jesus is referred as “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” in Matt 11:19

Luke 7:39 (CSB)

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!”

Surely something is off, has this man come to abolish the works of the OT and bring something new?

Addressing this Jesus says:

Matthew 5:17–18 (CSB)

“Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 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.

So the first question we are going to tackle this morning is:

ASK: What is the Law and the Prophets?

We need to know what Jesus is talking about

The Law

Torah vs Mosaic Covenant

In English “the Law” evokes images of lawyers, judges, and police officers making decisions about what is right and wrong and enforcing this (usually to our detriment). When we hear “law” we think of legal cases or rules that must be obeyed. We don’t think about “covenant,” even though this is certainly what the term would have conveyed to any first-century Jew. A covenant includes restrictions and rules, certainly, but the latter are understood as part of the former, not a separate and impersonal government.

The Prophets

Eschatological Promises vs Prediction

The Law and Prophets

More than just commandments and predictions

But a story Jesus is placing himself in

And he is saying, “I am what this story is all about”

So the next question we have to answer is:

How Does Jesus fulfill the Law and Prophets?

We know that its not just about Jesus obeying every law and keeping perfect obedience (although that is a part of it)

And that its not just about him fulfilling all of the prophecies concerning the Messiah made by the prophets

But Jesus is pointing to something deeper here

The Bible is telling a story from Creation to Fall to Redemption

Jesus is saying that He is what the Bible is all about, that if we pay attention we can see him through it all

This means that Scripture finds its fullest meaning in him. It is by him, for him, and about him. It is an enigma unless the one who reads it sees the Lord Jesus Christ at its core.

I want to read this excerpt from one of my favorite teachers:

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him.

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture

‘The Old Testament is the Gospel in the bud, the New Testament is the Gospel in full flower.’

So after making this public, clear, provocative statement, that he has come to fulfill the Jewish scriptures,

He gives a shocking charge to his listeners:

A Greater Righteousness

Matthew 5:20 CSB

For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

This is shocking:

Pharisees: Good guys / Bad guys?

How can our righteousness exceed the most pious righteous people?

And this is a key (if not the key) to the SotM

We’ve mentioned this before but: Jesus is calling people to true righteousness

To wholehearted devotion and commitment to God

And he doesn’t just give us this and leave it at that

This whole sermon is about how we live that out

Our relationship to the Law and how we can actually obey it

Murder in the Heart

Adultery in the Heart

Truth telling/Making Oaths

How to deal with being wronged

How to love our enemies

How we give

How we pray

How we fast

How we relate to our possessions

How we deal with anxiety and worry

How we deal with others

And how we do all of these things not as just boxes to be checked but something that flows from our character

The key distinction that is made in this sermon is not the righteous vs the unrighteous

But the truly righteous (wholeheartedly righteous) vs the false righteous (the hypocrite)

So when Jesus says our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees he is not saying we need to do more, but we need to become a different sort of person

Christian righteousness far surpasses Pharisaic righteousness in kind rather than in degree. It is not so much, shall we say, that Christians succeed in keeping some 240 commandments when the best Pharisees may only have scored 230. No. Christian righteousness is greater than Pharisaic righteousness because it is deeper, being a righteousness of the heart.

It is deeper than just obeying what God wants grudgingly or as a burden

1 John 5:3 (NLT)

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

Philippians 2:13 (NLT)

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

He is concerned to show his disciples in the kingdom that their righteousness must transcend the formal obedience which, at its worst, Pharisaism was capable of: the attitude that said, ‘Right, I have fulfilled precisely what is required of me, but I didn’t want to do it, and I shall not throw in one iota of extra commitment.’ Jesus looks for the inner disposition as well as the outer action. The law is not the limit of obedience; it is to be seen rather as the springboard for a life of devotion to Jesus and his Father

Its not that we just do the right thing

Its that we actually want to do the right thing

That we follow and obey God and say no to sin because we love God

Marriage and Adultery Illustration

Conclusion

Now part of this is our responsibility but this is impossible to do on our own

We need the life of Jesus in us (the Holy Spirit) to even begin to want to live righteous lives

Paul (as a Christian) outlines this importance:

Romans 7:22-25 (NLT)

I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

So we live this life caught in a battle but without the Spirit we stand no chance

And this isn’t just in general but the particulars of our lives

So I want to take some time for reflection:

What areas of our lives are divided?

Where do our heart and our actions separate?

Where are we being called to not only tolerate and grudgingly obey God but to follow Jesus with our whole heart and joyfully obey his teachings?

Reflect

If something came up, great!

The next several weeks we will be in the particulars of different aspects of our lives where we often have divided hearts

I want to charge you all to bring these areas of our lives to God in prayer

Maybe it is a sin that you are struggling with that you don’t want to fall into but you inevitably give in over and over

Maybe it is a relationship that is strained, you have bitterness towards someone yet you know you are being called to love them like Jesus does

Maybe it is anxiety over something unpredictable in your future, you know you should be able to trust God, but the stress of it all is pressing you all around

Maybe it is a sadness or depression, feeling like no one notices or cares about you, and you know that God cares, but it seems so distant

In any and all of these areas we want to pray that God would bring to life these truths we already know

That we would be people that wholeheartedly follow Jesus and obey him joyfully not as a burden

Lets Pray.