Motives Matter
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Text: Mat 5:17-48
Main Point/FCF: What God desires from us is not legalistic, external obedience to a list of commands but a truly transformed heart that delights to obey and follow God.
Introduction:
We’re going to cover a lot of ground today, so we’re going to have to keep this kind of the “view from 30,000 feet.” But actually, I think that kind of works for this passage, because this passage is all about missing the forest for the trees. So actually, I think it’s better to take this section of Jesus’ famous sermon as a whole, so that we can better grasp the point that Jesus is making.
Have you ever missed the forest for the trees? Have you ever gotten so obsessed with examining some small aspect of a painting that you forgot to just enjoy the beauty of the painting itself? Have you ever focused so intently on one aspect of what someone said that you missed the point of what they were saying?
Perhaps something like this has happened at your house. Mom tells her son to sweep the kitchen floor. So, the boy grumbles and grabs a broom and sweeps the kitchen. But, he only sweeps the crumbs into a pile in the middle of the floor, he doesn’t sweep it into the dustpan and throw it in the trash. Mom says, “I told you to sweep the floor!” He says, “I did! See?” He did the task of sweeping but missed the point of mom’s instructions. The point was to have a clean floor, not just to do the mechanical motions of moving a broom across the floor. The boy missed the forest for the trees. He focused strictly on the words of his mother’s instructions, rather than their intent.
We do this with God, too. In biblical terms we call this obeying the letter of the law and neglecting the spirit of the law. But God did not give us this book, he did not send his son to die for us, so that we could just follow a list of “do’s and don’ts.” God intends much more for us than that.
So this morning we’re going to look at the rest of Matthew ch. 5. Verses 17-20 give us the main point of this part of Jesus’ sermon, and then the rest of the verses unpack what that looks like in our lives. So we’re going to start with vv. 17-20, and then we’ll look briefly at each of the following sections.
Prayer
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus reveals to us the true intent of the Law. (5:17-20)
Jesus reveals to us the true intent of the Law. (5:17-20)
“Law” means the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, or the “Mosaic Covenant.” It is also sometimes used along with the “prophets” (i.e., “the Law and the prophets”) as an inclusio to mean the entire Old Testament.
When Jesus says in Matthew 5:17...
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
...what he means is...
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to [reveal to you their true meaning/intent].
The problem with legalism is that those who strictly obey the letter of the law often entirely miss the point of the law.
When we worked in PNG, there were a lot of Seventh Day Adventists there. They have quite a heavy missionary presence in PNG. The SDA’s look at verses like these and say, “See! Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Law! We’re supposed to follow the OT Law!”
And then, they think they have further support from Jesus’ next words in Mt 5:19
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
And so, like diligent little Pharisees, they teach that you must worship on Saturday, abstain from eating pork, and follow all kinds of other laws.
But we don’t have to wonder what Jesus was talking about in Mt. 5:19, because we get a perfect example of someone relaxing the true meaning of the Law when he confronts the Pharisees in Mat. 15.
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
The Pharisees’ problem was that they focused almost exclusively on the letter of the law. They developed an entire corpus of extra laws just to make sure they wouldn’t accidentally break the real Law. They thought that the point of the Law was a list of rules that, if followed perfectly, would grant them approval and justification before God.
But the purpose of the Law was to show us how to live in a right relationship with God and other people, and to show us that we could never hope to justify ourselves before a holy and righteous God! The point of the Law was to point us to Christ! Ironically, in their meticulous obedience to the Law they missed its entire purpose and rejected the very Messiah it foretold!
Christ is the point of the law; Christ is the goal of the law; Christ is the meaning of the law. So if you try to follow and obey the law, but avoid Christ, you have missed the whole point of the law.
R. C. Sproul
So, when Jesus says in Mt 5.20...
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
...he means that unless you grasp and understand the true intent of the Law--the thing that the scribes and Pharisees missed--you are headed for hell, because you will end up trying to reduce faith into a list of “do’s and don’ts” and miss Jesus.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
Plato
What follows, then, is essentially a list of examples of how the Pharisees missed the true intent of the Law, and what the Law really meant.
God’s intent is for us to live in peace with one another. (5:21-26)
God’s intent is for us to live in peace with one another. (5:21-26)
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
The Pharisees had taken “thou shalt not murder,” added a threat of judgment, and thought that so long as they avoided that they were good!
If we think that all God expects of us is to avoid murdering someone, we have set the bar incredibly low and missed the purpose of the command.
When we insult, demean, or harbor bitterness and resentment towards someone, we fail to see or acknowledge the image of God in them. The intent of the command was for us to recognize the image of God in people.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
James says that it is ridiculous to claim to worship God while we despise people that God has created in his own image:
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
We ought to seek reconciliation with others, just as God has sought reconciliation with us.
We ought to seek reconciliation with others, just as God has sought reconciliation with us.
In this context, Jesus is saying that if we have wronged someone else, we ought to be the first to apologize and seek reconciliation.
But, in another passage, Jesus says,
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
The second we start asking “Who started it?” or “What is my obligation in this circumstance?” we have missed the point. The point is peace and reconciliation.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
If God has sought reconciliation with us, we ought to seek reconciliation with those who bear his image.
God’s intent is for us to be pure and faithful. (5:27-32)
God’s intent is for us to be pure and faithful. (5:27-32)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
You have heard it said, “You can look, but don’t touch.” But Jesus says "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Purity starts in the heart. (5:27-30)
Purity starts in the heart. (5:27-30)
Worldly people ask, “How far can I go before it’s sin?” or “What is the minimum standard for sexual purity?”
Teenagers dating usually ask, “How far can we go before it’s sin?” The spouse justifies their wandering eyes because, after all, they haven’t actually done anything. The unmarried couple says, “What’s the harm? As long as we’re in love it’s ok.” The homosexual tries to twist Scripture around to justify his actions and says, “What does it matter who I love?”
But God calls us to a higher standard of purity.
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We need to stop asking the questions that the world asks— “What is permissible, how far is too far?”--and start asking the question God wants us to ask:
How can I be more pure? What is God’s design for marriage and sexuality?
Even in Jesus’ time, marriage had been twisted and perverted and true purity and faithfulness were rare.
Even in Jesus’ time, marriage had been twisted and perverted and true purity and faithfulness were rare.
3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”
8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Now if you want proof that our hearts do not love God as we ought, let your own thoughts right now testify against you. Because by the time that the words of Christ on divorce have been read we have already begun to make exceptions and excuses. “But Jesus, what about this situation? What about that situation?”
And the fact is that the Bible does give situations in which divorce is permissible--Jesus himself here names infidelity as a reason. There are situations in which divorce is permissible, but there is not a single situation in Scripture where divorce is required.
Again, we get trapped into asking the wrong questions: “What reasons can I use to justify divorce?” and forget to ask the right questions:
What is God’s design for marriage and sexuality?
God designed marriage as a picture of his faithfulness to his church. (5:31-32)
God designed marriage as a picture of his faithfulness to his church. (5:31-32)
God designed marriage and sexuality to be a picture of oneness, of perfect unity and faithfulness.
God intended marriage to be a permanent union, an earthly representation of a heavenly reality.
Paul tells us in Ephesians that marriage was created as a picture of Christ’s love and faithfulness to his Church:
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.
31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
If you are unmarried then the question you ought to be asking is not “How far is too far” or “What is permissible?” but rather “How can I demonstrate my faithfulness and love for God through my sexual purity?” “How can I show the world how much Christ is worth to me by my chastity?”
And if you’re married, then the question you need to be asking is not “Do I have biblical grounds for divorce?” Because the fact is that probably every marriage has grounds for divorce. What married person has never had lustful thoughts for someone other than their spouse? So then, according to Jesus, everyone here is an adulterer at heart. And so many people get divorced because, technically, they have grounds for divorce. But Jesus says, “Motives matter.” What is in your heart? Are you looking for an excuse to leave? Or are you seeking a way to stay. And before you pat yourself on the back because you’ve never divorced your spouse--remember, God requires more than just “not cheating” and “not getting divorced.” God is no more glorified in the marriage of a couple that has been married for 60 years but bickers, fights, tears one another down, and acts like they hate each other than he is in divorce.
The question you ought to be asking is, “How can I display the love and faithfulness that Christ has for his Church in my marriage, toward my spouse?”
I know that in a room like this, we have people from all kinds of backgrounds. Some of you are already divorced, some are remarried, and it may even be that someone in this room is suffering under the crushing weight of the unfaithfulness of a spouse. Some of your marriages may be strained to the breaking point. And if that is you, I want to encourage you and walk alongside you through that. That’s what the church is for. Don’t struggle through that alone.
There is no sin that is unredeemable, except the sin of unbelief. All of us have sin in our lives. If you’re divorced and remarried, then make this one count for the kingdom.
If your marriage is struggling, I’d love to talk with you and walk with you through that. Every marriage has its ups and downs. There is no shame in asking for help. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m happy to listen and offer what I can.
And if you’re unmarried and you’re struggling with purity, maybe you need to expose sin to the light. Confide in someone, get an accountability partner, talk to someone you can trust.
But let’s not water down the word with excuses. This is the standard. This is what we have been called to. This is what true righteousness looks like--a purity that desires God above all else and is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to be closer to him. That’s God’s intent.
God’s intent is for us to keep our word. (5:33-37)
God’s intent is for us to keep our word. (5:33-37)
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
The only reason you would need to make a promise or take an oath is to make a distinction between how serious you take your word in this instance, as opposed to other instances.
But if you always keep your word, then there is no reason to make an oath!
God’s intent is for us to leave justice in God’s hands. (5:38-42)
God’s intent is for us to leave justice in God’s hands. (5:38-42)
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
"Eye for an eye” applies to legal situations, not personal vendettas.
"Eye for an eye” applies to legal situations, not personal vendettas.
16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.
18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 5
This “law of retaliation” (Latin lex talionis) was God’s means of maintaining justice and purging evil from among his people (see
The principle God intended was to discourage false witnesses, and for the punishment to fit the crime.
God gave this law to the civic authorities of the day, not to individuals.
The Pharisees--and many people in our day as well!--had misconstrued this to mean that it was ok to exact revenge for personal offenses. But this is not what God intended.
God’s law reveals that he does care about justice! Very much! So, even if we do not receive justice in this life for offenses against us, we can entrust justice to God knowing that all will be made right in the end.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
God’s intent is for us to show the love we have been shown. (5:43-48)
God’s intent is for us to show the love we have been shown. (5:43-48)
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
If you are harboring resentment towards someone and think that you can just hold onto that while you live your Christian life and worship God, you’re fooling yourself.
Holding onto resentment and bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person will die. It poisons your soul, impedes your worship, and breaks your relationship with God.
How can we “love our enemies?” Remember that while you were an enemy of God, Christ died for you:
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
That’s what it means to understand and live out the Law of God.
True obedience to God’s law is possible only through Christ.
True obedience to God’s law is possible only through Christ.
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
None of us are able in our own strength to never hold a grudge, never have a lustful thought, model a perfect marriage, always keep our word, never seek revenge, and love our enemies.
If you feel like it’s hopeless, there’s good news. The Old Testament (Law and Prophets) pointed to Jesus. It all pointed to a day when Jesus would come and he would perfectly obey the Law and show us what it looks like to live a godly life.
And, if we repent of our sins and put our faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us and helps us to obey God’s Law.
We still stumble and no Christian is perfect. But we can be mature and we can grow in our walk with Christ and become more and more like him.
Christ can redeem your broken relationships. Christ can heal your marriage. Christ can enable you to stay pure, to love your enemies, and to let go of bitterness and resentment, if you’re willing to surrender your life to him.
