More Than Rule-Keeping

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

Serve Saturday

Serve Saturday is a church-wide serving initiative designed to do two things at once:

Mobilize our church to serve tangibly

Strengthen relationships and shine the light of Christ through practical care

This event should reflect both mercy and mission. We want to serve people in meaningful ways, not merely complete tasks. Whenever possible, projects should create opportunities for conversation, encouragement, prayer, and ongoing relationship.

Because this is a church-wide effort, projects should include a deliberate mix of:

care for people within our church body

care for people outside our church body

This should also be a family serving day, meaning at least some projects must be appropriate for adults serving alongside children.

Sign Ups begin next week. We are aiming to have several projects of various kinds, each with their own project leader. I am praying for 35-40 people to serve on that day.

Scripture Reading

Mark and Sandy Beighley

Matthew 5:17-20

Today we will be continuing our study of Summer On The Mount. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 824. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

Have you ever heard that following Jesus is just about keeping rules? And in response to that, one might say, “no it isn’t about rules! It’s about relationship.”

Well, which is it?

If you read through the Bible, there are no shortage of rules, especially in the old testament. But some Christians say, “yeah but that was the Old Testament. Now we are under the New Testament and so we don’t worry about rules anymore.” But if you read the Gospels, Jesus issues over 400 commands. Why then, if it’s not about rule-keeping, does Jesus issue so many commands?

Do you see why this is not quite as easy as some might think? There’s actually two ditches we want to avoid:

Being so rules-focused that we forget about our relationship with God.

Being so relationship-focused that we live “lawlessly” and excuse our own (or other’s) sin.

What should we do:

The Bottom Line

Kingdom righteousness is more than rule-keeping.

It is obedience from the heart because Jesus has fulfilled the Law.

Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount with a comment on his attitude toward the Law. It was customary for prophets and teachers of Judaism to state their “platform,” almost like a politician. One key area was to state your position on the Law of Moses, the prophets, etc.

TRANS: Let us begin in verse 17, and we will learn that Kingdom Righteousness is more than rule-keeping:

Matthew 5:17–18 ESV

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.

Jesus and the Law

Jesus fulfills where the Law pointed.

Matthew 5:17-18

When Jesus says “the law or the prophets,” he is referring to the entire old testament. He fulfilled them in several key ways, as observed by Pastor Kent Hughes:

Jesus fulfilled their prophetic predictions.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

Jesus would be crucified (Psalm 22)

Jesus came out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1)

Jesus fulfilled what the Law required for payment of sins.

The Old Testament had created the expectation that payment for sins required the death of an innocent sacrifice (usually an animal like a spotless lamb)

Jesus would be our sacrifice to pay for our sins

Jesus fulfilled the law in that He obeyed it perfectly.

He was tempted like we are, but he never sinned.

He was “born under the law” (Galatians 4:4) “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).

Only one person in all of human history was righteous by works — Jesus.

Through faith in Jesus, we receive a new heart and the promised Holy Spirit.

We are unable to keep the commandments of God without His help. We need a new heart that is oriented towards obedience to Him. This was prophesied by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 11:19-20)

The Holy Spirit is our “Helper” who indwells in us (Romans 8:2-4)

Because Jesus came to fulfill the Law, we must now interpret the Law from Jesus’ perspective. His understanding is the final interpretation. He spoke against the Pharisees and other sects because of their incorrect interpretation and application of the Law.

Jesus was not abolishing the Law when he countered the Pharisees saying, “You have heard it said … but I tell you.” Rather, he was correcting the perversions that the scribes and Pharisees had made of the Law.1

1 R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 92.

The purpose of the Law and the prophets was to Point. It was never meant to be a permanent fixture, it was meant to be fulfilled. It set the stage for a messiah. Jesus came as the fulfillment of that redemptive story.

But just because Jesus fulfilled the Law and the prophets does not mean we now dispense with them. They still serve a purpose.

TRANS: Because the Law and the Prophets are inspired by God, we cannot be selective about what to keep and what to throw out.

Matthew 5:19 ESV

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.

Disciples do not minimize what Jesus came to fulfill.

Matthew 5:19

… to be called great or small in the kingdom of heaven means to be high or low in God’s esteem, to be a more or less worthy representative of those who acknowledge him as king. Disciples should delight in and learn from every word that God has written (cf. 4:4) rather than picking and choosing between them.1

1 R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 188.

The age-old question is this, “why do we keep some of the old testament laws and not others? And if we do not keep all of the old testament laws, are we violating what Jesus is teaching here?”

But remember, greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven comes when we teach and obey Jesus’ understanding and fulfillment of the OT law. Jesus fulfills where the Law pointed. The Law of Moses was never meant to be permanent, but to point. But that does not mean that the Law now serves no purpose. We study and honor the OT Law because now Jesus helps us to understand its true meaning.

Because Jesus came, there are differences between how we live and how Israel lived. For example…

The sacrificial laws are not obeyed today by bringing animals to an altar. But they are not “relaxed” either. We honor them by teaching that sin requires blood, substitution matters, access to God requires atonement, and Christ is the final sacrifice. To ignore those commands would be to relax them. To preach them as fulfilled in Jesus is to uphold them.

The ceremonial purity laws are not obeyed by avoiding certain foods or ritual washings. But they still teach that God is holy, sin defiles, and God’s people must be distinct. Christ fulfills them by cleansing us from the inside out.

The civil laws given to Israel are not directly binding as the legal code for the church, because the church is not a theocratic nation-state. But they still reveal God’s concern for justice, restitution, the poor, the vulnerable, truthful courts, and ordered community.

The moral commands are not lowered in the New Covenant; if anything, Jesus presses them deeper. Murder reaches into anger. Adultery reaches into lust. Oath-breaking reaches into truthfulness. The righteousness of the Kingdom is not less than the Law; it is deeper than external compliance.

So Matthew 5:19 is not contradicted by the New Covenant. It is clarified by it.

Jesus is warning against the person who says, “This part of God’s Word does not matter.”

But fulfillment says : “This part matters so much that we must understand how it reaches its goal in Christ.”

One error says, “The Old Testament law is irrelevant because Jesus came.” The other error says, “The Old Testament law is binding in exactly the same way after Jesus came.”

Matthew 5 pushes us away from both. Jesus fulfills the Law, and fulfilled does not mean forgotten. It means brought to completion in him.

Disciples of Jesus do not minimize what Jesus came to fulfill. And great is the one who lives this way in the kingdom. Remember Kingdom is one of our 10 key concepts:

Kingdom

The kingdom is not just where you go one day; it’s living under His rule today.

Matthew 5:3, 10, 19–20; 6:10, 33; 7:21

TRANS: Jesus then counters what would have been a common misconception regarding the Law at the time: That you can become righteous before God by good works:

Matthew 5:20 ESV

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus shows the absurdity of righteousness by works.

Matthew 5:20

Jesus says that our “righteousness” must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees. The Pharisees and scribes were religious experts. Teachers, moral guides, and the ones who upheld the Law in the community. They were considered “righteous” because on the outside they looked the part.

The problem was, Jesus saw through their game. Later in the gospels, Jesus calls the pharisees “White washed tombs.” (Matthew 23:25-28) Meaning, they were pretty on the outside, and spiritually dead on the inside.

Jesus’ claim was meant to shock the audience, but not for its own sake. It was to reveal the absurdity that righteousness can come by works.

R.T. France says it perfectly:

As long as “righteousness”34 is understood in terms of literal obedience to rules and regulations it would be hard to find anyone who attempted it more rigorously and more consistently than the scribes and Pharisees. The paradox of Jesus’ demand here makes sense only if their basic premise as to what “righteousness” consists of is put in question. Jesus is not talking about beating the scribes and Pharisees at their own game, but about a different level or concept of righteousness altogether.1

1 R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 189.

Being righteous by good works is impossible for two reasons:

In our fallen state, we cannot keep the Law perfectly. We fall short.

Even hypothetically if we *did* keep the Law perfectly, we would become so prideful in our own effort. And therefore break the Law.

Jesus is setting up the idea that righteousness has to do with not just outward acts, but the heart. This is why we’ve defined “righteousness,” one of our 10 Key Concepts, this way:

Righteousness

Righteousness is a changed life flowing from a changed heart.

Matthew 5:6, 10, 20; 6:1, 33

Remember how Jesus started the sermon? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Belonging to the Kingdom starts with humility, brokenness, the recognition of spiritual poverty and helplessness, and going to Jesus in that state to receive mercy and grace. This is why the Pharisees could not belong to the Kingdom as long as they lived their way. They believed they could be good enough by their works, but the Kingdom belongs to a people who know they don’t deserve to be there.

Jesus points to a life that is about more than just rule-keeping, he points to a life of obedience from a changed heart.

TRANS: Jesus fulfilled where the Law pointed, Disciples do not minimize what Jesus came to fulfill, and Jesus shows the absurdity of righteousness by works.

Application

Celebrate all that Jesus accomplished for you.

When we all stand before the judge, there will be a lot of “finger-pointing.” When asked, “why should I let you into my heaven? There will be excuses and condemnations:

“Well it’s his fault…”

“Well they didn’t…”

“You weren’t fair…”

But then there will be those who point to Jesus, and with their whole heart and tears in their eye will say, “Because He paid the price that I owed. I am not worthy, but He makes me worthy.”

Who are you pointing at?

If you can imagine standing before the throne and pointing to your savior, I don’t know about you, but I get emotional thinking about that.

The only reason I get to be there is because Jesus loves me, he paid for my sins, and he gave me the chance to respond to this good news.

If you have given your life to Jesus, if you have a relationship with Him. Ask yourself: when have you last celebrated what he’s done for you?

Celebrate:

The hope you have for the future

The love you receive from Jesus

The freedom you have in His power

Celebrate all that Jesus has accomplished for you.

TRANS: Celebration is key because that is an attitude of the heart. Joy leads to obedience. And this leads to our last point:

Don’t settle for compliance; pursue obedience from the heart.

Compliance = “I did what was required, but my heart is untouched.” Obedience = “My actions are aligning with God because my heart is surrendering to God.”

Think about two children sitting at the dinner table.

Both are told, “Do not touch the dessert until after dinner.” One child obeys because he trusts his parents. He may want the dessert, but he understands that Mom and Dad are good, and he is learning to submit his desires to their instruction. The other child also does not touch the dessert, but only because he knows he will get in trouble. Outwardly, both children look exactly the same. Neither one touched the dessert. Both “followed the rule.”

But inwardly, something very different may be happening.

One child is learning obedience. The other is learning compliance. Compliance says, “I will do what I have to do as long as someone is watching, as long as the consequences are strong enough, or as long as I do not have a better option.” Obedience says, “I want my heart and my actions to come under what is good and right.”

That is why parents can sometimes be shocked later in life and say, “But my child was always so good!” And maybe they were well-behaved. Maybe they were respectful. Maybe they knew how to stay out of trouble. But the deeper question is: were they obedient, or were they compliant? Because when freedom increases, the heart often shows what was there all along.

This is the difference Jesus is pressing into in Matthew 5. The Pharisees could look righteous. They could keep the visible rules. They could appear to be spiritually impressive. But Jesus is not merely interested in outward compliance, He is after heart-deep righteousness.

Kingdom obedience is not less than doing what God commands, but it is more than behavior management. It is the alignment of our actions, motives, loves, and desires under the reign of God.

Most of us have been on an airplane, and before that plane ever leaves the ground, the pilots work through a checklist.

Nobody hears that and thinks, “How legalistic.” We are grateful they check the systems. We are grateful they do not improvise with people’s lives. The checklist matters because the destination matters.

But here is the key: the checklist is not the destination. The goal is not to say, “We checked all the boxes.” The goal is to fly the plane safely where it was meant to go.

That helps us understand the Law. God’s commands are not random hoops to jump through. They reveal His character, expose our need, and point us to Christ. But Jesus did not come merely to create better rule-keepers. He came to fulfill the Law and form a deeper righteousness in His people.

Kingdom righteousness is more than rule-keeping.

Compliance asks, “What do I have to do to avoid consequences?”

Obedience asks, “How can my heart and life honor God?”

Kingdom righteousness is more than rule-keeping. It is obedience from the heart because Jesus has fulfilled the Law.

Ask Jesus to change not just your behavior, but your

attitude

motives

Loves

Desires

Because true life-change happens when Jesus gets ahold of your heart, and changes you from the inside out. Then obedience to Jesus’ commands is not a burden, it is joyful.

Kingdom righteousness is more than rule-keeping.

INVITE PRAYER TEAM

Pray AND PRAY FOR FOOD

BLOCK PARTY

Everything is located along Walnut St. Go out the door and to the left around the building.

Lunch begins at 11 AM. The line will go from outside, into the gym, and there is seating both inside and outside. We will direct you.

Before you get lunch today, please make sure everyone in your family stops by the Info Tent to check in. The Info Tent is located right before you get food.

This is not just for guests, and it is not only for people who want to enter the scooter giveaway.

Even if Bethel is your church home, your check-in helps us get an accurate count for the event so we can plan better in the future, prepare enough food and supplies, and follow up well with new people who joined us today. It only takes a moment, and it really helps us serve our church and community better.

Conclusion : [text]

Talk About It/Think About It

When you hear the word “rules” in connection with Christianity, what comes to mind first?

How does seeing the Law as something that points to Jesus change the way we read the Old Testament?

What are some ways Christians are tempted to pick and choose which commands of God they take seriously?

Why would Jesus’ statement about needing a righteousness greater than the scribes and Pharisees have shocked His listeners?

Where do you need to stop treating obedience like a burden and begin seeing Jesus’ fulfillment as a reason to worship?

What is the difference between compliance and obedience?

Where are you most tempted to comply outwardly while resisting God inwardly?