The Heart of the Matter (is Christ in the Heart); Build your Life #13

Introduction: Eagles fans (the band not the team) may remember their drummer & co-vocalist, Don Henley (a native Texas boy). Besides the Eagles, Henley had a successful solo career. One of his more well-known songs is called “The Heart of the Matter,” which made it to #21 on the Billboard top 100 in 1989. The song is about trying to forgive his love interest who has found someone new. It’s been speculated that the song is based on a 1948 novel of the same name by Grahame Greene.

‌After I learned that, I asked Becky to pick up the book for me. I haven’t read enough of it to recommend it, but I have read enough to figure out that the main character, Henry Scobie, has some major heart issues. It occurs to me that all of us are like Henry, and Henley. We all have matters of the heart that need to be sorted out, before it is too late. Jesus teaches us that the heart of the matter is the matter of our heart.

‌Matthew 5:17–20,Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven & earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ‌

We are studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He has already said that the poor in spirit have the kingdom of heaven, & those persecuted for righteousness’ sake have the kingdom of heaven, & if you are persecuted for His sake, great is your reward in heaven, & if you do good works, people will glorify God in heaven. But now, this doesn’t make sense. Jesus qualifies entering the Kingdom of Heaven- your righteousness must be greater than that of the scribes and the pharisees. ‌

To everyone listening to Jesus, the scribes and the pharisees would be considered the MOST RIGHTEOUS. Think of the best person you’ve ever known, the one that you thought- if anyone is going to heaven, they surely are, & you get the idea of who Jesus is talking about.

Scribes were the Bible nerds of their day, they knew the Law backwards & forwards (brain), Pharisees would be the religious right, they kept the law stringently (brawn). i.e., These were the heads & the hands of keeping the law. If knowing & doing was the end-all, be-all, then no one else could have beaten the righteousness of the scribes & pharisees. Jesus’ criticism is “not that they were not good, but that they were not good enough” (Carson). They were the religious elite, the moral right, they were SELF-RIGHTEOUS.

‌Jesus is talking about a righteousness that is deeper than the head, and stronger than the hands, it begins in the heart. The heart of the matter is that we need Christ in the heart.Here’s why-

1. ‌Jesus fulfills the WORD of God. 17

‌It seems like Jesus is anticipating a question that no one is asking (yet at least).They will get to the place where they accuse Him of breaking several laws- Sabbath law, washing before eating, eating with sinners, etc. Before those things even happen, Jesus preempts their question- Have you come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; with an emphatic “No,” “do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.”

‌Destroy- throw down, demolish; the sense = to annul, or to officially declare them invalid or inapplicable. He is saying that He did not come to nullify the Law or the Prophets but, in contrast, to fulfill them.

‌Law & Prophets-a way to express the whole of the Jewish Scriptures, i.e., the Hebrew Bible; Law = Torah; Prophets (include what we think of as History); Writings (Wisdom lit, poetry)

‌Fulfill- to complete or fill; in the sense of satisfying or filling up, e.g., as a container is filled up.

ILL: Think of the OT Scriptures as a container that one might pour water into, it has 4 sides- the law, history, poetry, & prophets; Jesus completely fills up the container of the OT, & it overflows into the New.

“Fulfill” has already been used 5 times in Matthew to describe how Jesus fulfilled the prophets: birth (1:22); time in Egypt (2:15); the murder of the baby boys in Bethlehem (2:17); His hometown Nazareth (2:23); & ministry in Galilee (4:14).

Christ’s fulfillment of the Scriptures includes all the specific predictions, pictures (types), & eschatological hopes of God’s people (D.A. Carson). 2 Peter 1:19–21, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts...

We need to take it to heart that Christ fulfills the Word of God.

2. ‌Jesus fulfills the WILL of God. 18

‌His word “assuredly” (KJV- verily) is the word amen = truly. Jesus is the “yes” & “amen” of all of God’s promises (2 Cor 1:20). The will of God in the promises of God will ALL come to pass through the Son of God. None of them will not come to pass until all God’s will is fulfilled.

‌Pass away/ pass from- to pass out of use or got out of existence.

Matthew 24:34–35, Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

‌Will heaven & earth pass away? yes- Revelation 21:1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... Until that happens, not one little bit of God’s Word or & plan will not come to pass.

‌Jot/tittle: jot refers to the letter י (yod), the smallest Hebrew letter; tittle is the littlest projection, hook, or serif that protrudes from a letter. There is nothing too small, or insignificant that isn’t in God’s plan.

‌Fulfilled-(not the same word as fulfill in vs. 17 = to fill up) this means to become, take place, in the sense of something happening, something that will come about, something to come to pass. ‌Before the earth and world go out of existence, before the new heavens and new earth take shape, EVERYTHING will take place just as God has willed it in Christ.

‌Ephesians 1:9–10,having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Everything in time, space, and eternity is about Jesus Christ. He came to fulfill God’s will.

3. Jesus fulfills the WAY of God. 19-20

‌Therefore-always have to ask what it’s there for. It pushes us back to the 1st 2 points- Jesus fulfills God’s Word & God’s Will revealed in God’s Law, i.e., the commandments.

‌Jesus says there are 3 kinds of people who interact with God’s commands in 3 different ways with 3 different outcomes for them:

Least in the kingdom- break the least (littlest) of the commandments and teach others to do the same = least in

Greatest in the kingdom- those who do the commands (i.e., carries them out) and teaches others to do the same = greatest

Not in the kingdom at all- unless your righteousness (doing & teaching God’s commands) exceeds (abounds, exists in larger quantities) that of the scribes and pharisees = will not enter in…

‌Go back to the Least-Breaking the least: breaks- to loosen, untie, or release, sense = to annul (similar to the word for “destroy”), but meaning to unbind, e.g., untying or unfastening and obligation | unhitch

‌Least- insignificant, trivial, i.e., not all commandments are equal, some are more important than others. ILL: outdated laws- In Arkansas, it’s illegal to mispronounce the state’s name; In Connecticut, a pickle cannot be sold unless it bounces (1948); In Indiana, black cats are required to wear bells around their necks on Friday the 13th (1939); In Oklahoma, it's illegal to wrestle a bear.

There are distinctions among the commandments. Several people would ask Jesus- “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matt 22:36). To Love God … to love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus pronounced woes on the scribes & pharisees, calling them hypocrites for paying their tithes(mint, anise, cummin) but neglecting “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone” (Matt 23:23).

‌Breaking the least of these commands (= least in) is contrasted with those who keep even the least & are faithful to teach them (= great in)

‌This 3rd category is of the most concern, it is where Jesus puts the most emphasis (vs. 20), and you can see why-

The ones in this 3rd category will NOT enter the kingdom because their righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes & pharisees. ‌

What was their righteousness? Romans 10:3–4, For they (Israel) being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end (telos, i.e., goal) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Vs. 20 does not explain how to get this kind of righteousness, it “simply lays out the demand.” The Good News is that- Matthew 3:15, Jesus came "to fulfill all righteousness.”

The only way that a person could have a righteousness GREATER than that of the scribes and pharisees is to have the righteousness of Christ. ‌You can do your dead-level best to keep every law of God, from the least to the greatest, but in the end, it’s not what you do or even teach, it is the state of your heart.

‌Jesus is talking about a righteousness that is deeper than the head, and stronger than the hands, it begins in the heart. THE HEART OF THE MATTER IS THAT WE NEED CHRIST IN THE HEART.

Soon we’re going to look at 6 of the things that the scribes and pharisees, the religious elite, the moral right, they had the 6 down to the letter (the jot & the tittle), they dotted the “i’s” and crossed the “t’s”; but they lacked the heart, they missed the spirit. We’re calling it “The 6 Hardest Things (you’ll ever try to do)”. It will get to the heart of things.

‌Christ is the heart of the matter. Jesus fulfills the Word of God, the Will of God, and the Way of God. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me” (John 14:6). There is no other way to enter the kingdom except through Jesus.

If you are trying to earn your salvation by what you do and teach, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The only way is Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus was righteous in every way, but He took our sin so that we could receive His righteousness. Have you received the righteousness of Christ?