Revolutionary Reimagining of the Law

Joseph Kraftchick

Think Different, You're Different. The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Matthew 5:13–20

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Greetings

Good Morning

Great to be with you this morning

My name is Joe Kraftchick and if this is your first Sunday here, welcome. I of course am not the regular person you will see up here but one of a few different people who are helping out with the preaching while Pastor Gary is away on his sabbatical

Today, we’ll be continuing our look at the Sermon on the Mount

Today, we’re going to be looking at 5:13-20

Turn with me there and we’ll read.

Matthew 5:13–20 NIV

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. “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. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:13–20 NIV

Before we begin let’s pray.

Thank you for your word

This particular text and it’s meaning and significance for us

Thank you for the willingness to study and listen to these words

I pray that we might continue to be enriched, encouraged, and inspired by the words we read in the lives we lead.

Introduction

Last Sunday, we covered the opening section of the sermon, the Beatitudes.

After that section we have Jesus jump into a couple images of salt and light before talking about the Law.

This is fitting as in the beatitudes he has just covered some hallmarks of his people.

Last Sunday, Kate did an excellent job walking us through this idea of blessedness as it pertains to the people. The “right on” markers of his people.

Jesus isn’t done talking about his people, he continues the conversation about his followers, with a different focus.

Now we move forward in the sermon with an understanding of the characteristics of these people.

They’re not characteristics that the world associates with power or strength.

They are probably not desirable in the eyes of the world in many ways

Things like being poor, mournful, meekness, merciful, peacemaker

In the eyes of the world and culture these people are of little standing.

But these are the markers of the followers of Christ

These are God’s people.

Jesus now in our passage today focuses on the responsibility of his followers.

Salt

In v. 13 Jesus opens with some imagery around salt. Which is not the most common image used in the Bible.

Salt is probably a little more influential and impactful to Jesus and his audience than it is to us.

We probably identify salt primarily with its seasoning properties.

This is a factor in the NT as well, but salt’s main purpose in a world without refrigeration is its property as a preservative. Seasoning is a secondary purpose.

When Jesus is talking about salt and saltiness he is using language of calling, identity, and action.

Remember I mentioned earlier that Jesus is still talking about his people. He’s not switching gears to a lecture on salt.

The idea is that if salt is doing its job it is acting as a preservative, saving food from spoiling or rotting.

Similarly the followers of Jesus if they are like salt they are in a similar preserving function.

What is good in the world they help preserve

Salt is also a little bit different in first century Palestine compared today

We might wonder how salt can lose it’s saltiness

However, in this world salt is very impure, likely mined from the shores of the dead sea.

Because of this impurity it was possible for this rock salt to have the sodium chloride leached out of it

It would literally lose it’s saltiness

But when salt loses its saltiness it isn’t fulfilling any of its purposes, it’s no longer a preservative and no longer a seasoning.

We can think of the people of God like a preservative in the world preserving what is good

We can also think of being salt in the world like salt used as a seasoning in cooking, it permeates throughout the food, it’s penetrating, noticeable, as well as preserving.

This is Jesus’ task and responsibility to is followers, be like salt when its fulfilling its purpose.

Light

Similar to salt we also have Jesus using the image of light to describe his followers in the world.

The first thing to note is that Jesus says to his audience, his followers “you are the light of the world”

This is the same phrase that Jesus uses to describe himself in John

John 8:12 NIV

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5 NIV

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

This is the same phrase that Jesus uses to describe himself in John

Here he uses it to describe his followers, he’s making a direct association between himself as the light and his followers as light

We may not in a sense be the light on our own, but as we live in a world with darkness the intention is that we reflect that light of Jesus into the darkness, that we point to the light of Jesus amidst darkness

Part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus is that light he gives us to shine into the darkness

Pause and think about what that might mean to shine a light into darkness.

Like actually shine into darkness.

It’s about living a life to a different calling, one that operates in ways that are often counter to cultures expectations/pressures

Not necessarily about being against the pressures of culture, because we don’t want to be always arguing, fighting, or combatting, with our world

That’s not really light shining.

How do I shine a light that reflects Christ in my world?

In my personal life, my relationships, my work, my family, my friendships.

Think about the beatitudes here. How am I being meek, merciful, peacemaking, etc.

How am I being a light?

The point of being a light in darkness isn’t to blind people, rather it’s to illuminate for them, guide them, show them that there is hope in the darkness.

The thing about being a light is that as a follower of Christ it should be part of our nature.

We ought to have no more choice on being a light than a lit lamp has in being a source of light.

Simply put to follow Jesus is to have the light of Christ and to let it shine.

This is what Jesus is getting at when he talks about others being able to see your good works in v. 16

This question of doing good works being seen by others might stop and make us think.

This is because we likely know what Jesus says later in the same sermon v. 6.1

Matthew 6:1 NIV

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So in our passage Jesus wants works to be seen by others while later in the sermon he warns against practicing your piety or righteousness for others to see.

If we’re going to wrestle with this notion a little bit there’s a distinction we have to make.

What do we do about this?

In our passage Jesus is not advocating doing good things for the display of others.

Instead he’s just finished the beatitudes and talking now about the nature of salt and light.

Salt and light are salty and bright, that’s what they do, it’s in their nature. If they are doing what they’re supposed to be doing they can’t help but do these things.

I think that’s what Jesus is getting at with this statement about good works or good deeds.

As a follower of Christ our nature ought to be transformed so that we do good things.

We can’t help ourselves, to follow Christ is to be so permeated throughout your life that it changes all aspects including the things your do

Just as salt is salty, and a lamp gives off light, a follower of Jesus ought to do good things.

This is a transformative process that takes place in us. It’s not an easy one and it’s not always a fast one. That’s why Jesus is spending this time preaching to his followers about it.

The sense is that over time as we follow Christ and build our faith and our relationship with him, hopefully we become more Christlike.

Then there is the kicker, that these good deeds, may result in God being glorified

They are not carried out for our benefit or our glory

We’re going to talk about Moses a fair bit as we look at the law and this was where he ran into a problem.

Numbers 20:11 NIV

Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Moses strikes the rock for the Israelites without giving glory to Yahweh.

Rather the good deeds that we do because of our relationship with Jesus may be done so that God is glorified

We are salty and we are light because in Christ it is our nature to do so, so that all glory may be to God.

Law

Jesus has covered illustrations of salt and light and now he turns his focus to the law.

Ryan touched on this a little last week in his introduction on the significance of the Sermon on the Mount, but there is some pretty clear Moses imagery at work here.

Not just the Sermon but in many ways Jesus life and ministry as a whole that we could spend a lot of time on, but we need to keep going.

There is some echoes of Moses going on with Jesus so it is not unexpected that he now wants to address the Law.

The Law or Torah are the first five books of our Old Testament, coincidentally the 5 books historically attributed to Moses.

At the centre of the Law is the 10 commandments.

So when the word Law is used in the OT and NT can be reference to the Torah as a whole or focused more specifically on the 10 commandments at the heart of the law.

These books are the central texts of Judaism and Jewish life

Ryan used the phrase canon within a canon when talking about the sermon on the mount last week, and the same thing applies here for the Jews

The Torah is something to be studied and memorized. With Jewish boys form ages 6-12 working on memorizing the Torah

This is an amazing feat!

Think of your yearly Bible reading plans, things are pretty exciting for the first several weeks through Genesis and Exodus, but the excitement kind of wears off once you hit Deuteronomy on.

These are hard texts to read, some shocking content (hello ), some stuff not exactly thrilling reading (looking at you Numbers)

But these are the texts held close and studied, memorized intensely

In Jesus’ time you had a Jewish faith and religious system that was centered around the law and especially the legality of the Torah

Any Jew worth his salt would be able to tell you that the Law contains 613 commands (248 positives or dos and 365 negatives or don’ts)

The Torah was easy to become legalistic about because it offers so many rules and guidelines to follow

This was the evolution over hundreds of years, it wasn’t like one day this system and way of life just came into being.

It was a long process.

Obviously the problem becomes when the law and the guidelines become the focus and the centre.

It becomes about following the letter of the law instead of considering the point of Torah to begin with.

God doesn’t make covenant with his people so that following the Law is the end goal.

Remember God’s covenant with Abraham

Genesis 12:2–3 NIV

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

with Jacob

Genesis 28:14 NIV

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

with Moses

Exodus 19:6 NIV

you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

The point of God’s people isn’t the law, the point is that they’re supposed to be different from the nations around them so they can be a blessing to all the peoples of the world.

In the world that Jesus enters into and the one he is preaching into in the Sermon on the Mount this isn’t the reality. God’s people are not living differently, they are in a sense with the law, but that wasn’t the point. The point was blessing the nations and the world, being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Jesus the Revolutionary

This is where Jesus comes in and this is where he’s really a revolutionary.

He’s starting a revolution but he wasn’t the first person to look to start a revolution in this world.

This is Israel under Roman occupation, and history notes that there are periods of resistance and attempts at revolution to get rid of the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel.

These revolutions are a very entangled mix of political, religious, and national identity all wrapped together in one. This is a dangerous combination.

For these revolutionaries the ending is almost always the same, as Rome probably isn’t the best empire to try and revolt against.

What Jesus is doing is different, his revolution is unique in that he was doing two things

1. He had to show the Jews that he was the fulfilment of all that Israel longed and hoped for, that he was the anointed one the messiah.

2. He had to show that he and his followers were living (and dying) by this new way, not a continuation of the old way

Two different components to his revolution that were often viewed in conflict with each other.

He has to be the fulfillment of prophecy while at the same time ushering in something new and unexpected.

The kingdom of here but it’s not the kingdom the Jews are waiting for

The messiah is here but he’s not here to deliver them from Rome

Jesus’ revolution is appealing to old and new ways, he’s threading a needle of both aspects

Law II

So why does Jesus bring up the law at this point?

The short answer is because that’s the bulk of what the rest of the sermon is about

He says that he’s not here to abolish the Law instead he is here to fulfil it and what follows this passage is Jesus jumping in and unpacking and reimagining the law

You see it going forward the next 4 sections are about murder, adultery, divorce, and oaths. These are matters of the Law.

The question we might ask as contemporary readers is what we are supposed to do with the law?

Clearly we’re not going to go the Pharisee route and apply a legalistic approach to the 613 commands of the law

Jesus isn’t here to circumvent the law and abolish it or get rid of it?

Why would he? the Law is from God, given to his people. The law, the Torah point to Jesus as well.

Jesus is fulfilment of the Law (and the prophets, etc.)

So what do we do with it, what significance does the law hold for us?

We can’t ignore it and we have to engage it, which sets up for the next couple of weeks of sermons.

I don’t want to step on any of my fellow preachers toes here as they’ll delve into some of the specifics from the sermon.

What I want to focus on is that the Law is often difficult for us because it’s an ancient document and rules, and it’s wrapped up in all sots of cultural influences that make it hard for us to get a lot out of it. In some cases the law can be a stumbling block of faith.

The point is that we can’t ignore the law and it is there for us to engage with but we don’t find our identity in the Law

It was never intended to be the identity for God’s people either.

This is what Jesus pushes back with the Pharisees over and over again, they’re arguing legal rules and regulations and Jesus is thinking about the larger purposes.

We should always push back against systems that attempt to or do become our identities

We do that because our identity is found in Christ.

Remember the salt and light

The point of the law wasn’t that you did the law to become one of God’s people. Rather the law was something that you did because you are one of God’s people

That’s an important distinction, the former is about trying to achieve an identity through a system, the other is an identity that results in action

Thinking back to earlier in our passage, you don’t shine light into darkness or do good deeds to be saved by Christ, instead you do these things because you have been saved already and your identity is in Christ.

If you look back at the Old Testament God’s people do get this for awhile.

For example, when we think about salvation, we can all point to the salvation we have in Christ. That he died for our sins, and rose again, and will return. That is our salvation event or experience.

In the OT the salvation event is the exodus. God’s people were slaves in Egypt, they cried out to God, he heard the cries, delivered them out of Egypt, and then at Mt. Sinai he makes a covenant with them and gives them the Law.

Note the order here, the people are saved and then they get the Law. God doesn’t send Moses to Egypt with the Law and tell them to follow it faithfully so he can come and save them.

No! he saves them gives them the law and the law is something you do because you are in this covenant relationship with Yahweh, the one true God who saved you.

The law isn’t so you can be saved, the law is done because you have already been saved

Eventually Time wears on, kings come and go, empires rise and fall, and eventually the law and legal system becomes the identity of God’s people

They’ve lost the part about being different and blessing the nations

Instead being different is about the law, that’s what sets them apart and it misses the point.

This is why Jesus is talking about salt and light and the law together

These qualities, these blessedness are carried out not in order to be a follower of Jesus or to get saved, instead they’re done because of the transformative nature of Christ has already saved us.

And now it is in our nature to be Christ like, to bear that light, shine into darkness, and point to the light of Christ in the midst of darkness.

You do it because you can’t help it, it’s in your nature.

My encouragement for us as we go out from here is that we think about this transformation.

Think about the work that goes into that, being conscious of it. Aspiring to be more like Christ, to be a light in the darkness.

And ultimately that God may be blessed.

Let’s close in prayer.

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