Summer in the Sermon - Part 3 Counter Culture Righteousness and CC Law

OPENING Prayer–

Father we come to you this morning in full worship - Worshiping you in Spirit and in truth! Jesus, the one you sent. The one whom you gave the name above all names. The One through whom and for whom and by whom you made all things. The one in whom your fullness dwells. The one who is Lord and master. Father open our eyes that we would behold Jesus. Open our ears that we may hear Him speak to us this morning. Close us off to any voice of the enemy that we would hearken to Jesus and to Him only as His flock that we would know His voice. Deepen our intimate relationship with Him. Open your word to us in deeper more meaningful ways. Confront our lives through the sharp two edged sward of your word and the power of your Holy Spirit. Let us Live differently! Empower us to see You do more than we can even ask or imagine according to your power that is at work in us so that you get all the glory in the church and both now and for every generation.

As we continue to worship you through the declaration of your word - I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight today Father. I pray all of this In the mighty, holy, abundant, beautiful and all sufficient Name of Jesus.  - and all everyone said?

If I have not had a chance to meet you;

 My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship. 

If you have a copy of the Bible in either electronic version or the actual book kind -

Open it to  Matthew Chapter 5 This morning as we will look at Verses 17-48 this morning as we continue Our Summer in the Sermon Series walking together through the Sermon on the Mount! 

TENSION

Suppose this morning I was to declare to you in simple and straight forward terms so that I would eliminate any miss understanding that I no longer wanted to be called a christian. And so I simply places that on my news feed on FaceBook in quotations. “Please do not refer to me as a christian as I no longer desire to use that label nor have that label placed on me as I no longer want to Identify as a Christian”

Now before we get any further down this road - Everyone take a deep breath as I promise I am not leaving the faith.

IT would be very easy for you to think that I was leaving the faith and no longer a person whose faith and religious category would be “Christian” you would probably thing that I was headed to Agnostic or Atheist all together.

And IF I were to invite you to join me in this and you adopt the same policy for your life IT would be very easy for you to think to yourself, NOPE - I cant go with you on this one! and in fact this might actually cause us to break fellowship.

Let me suggest to you that there might be something deeper behind this declaration that might not appear obvious. you see whats not obvious is the heart behind the declaration. You don't know the heart behind the Why’s - The deeper parts of motivations and intentions and the desire for different long term outcomes behind the declaration.

And because you are not aware of the heart behind the declaration and the deeper motivations that drive the whys you might be missing out on something extremely important.

This happens to us ALL the time. This is happening to us now currently in our culture and is exploding and dividing us in the area of Race, Racism, Social Justice and cultural change.

This also happens to us in the way we understand God and his commandments for our lives. I don’t know how many times that I have through to myself, as I have looked at the commands that God has laid out for me in His word, and there is always the ONE that He is working on in the moment where I miss the heart behind the why’s and I think if I do that I will loose out.

Inevitably it is really my own desires to live my own life, and me being wooed away from God and not daring to trust Him in everyday and with everything and the real issues is I look at His commands as a regulation on outward behavior. As long as I don’t actually do something wrong than I am OK.

Reality is we look at the Laws of God and we actually ask the question “Is it really about behavior? Is it just moral ism, make good choices ant that is what will please HIm? or is there a deeper issue at play?

With that let is look at our text

TRUTH

Matthew 5:17–48 NASB95

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 25 “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 “Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent. 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 lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. 31 “It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil. 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 an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 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 causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

BACKGROUND

We need to constantly keep in mind as we walk through the sermon on the mount that this was more than likely a series of conversations between Jesus and somewhere in the 70 to 100 people. Jesus, seeing the thousands that are following Him, retreats to this big hill and sits on a Rock and about 0 -100 people come to engage this teacher this miracle worker in conversation about life, and love and marriage and happiness and relationships. These people would more than likely been Jewish people.

So coming off of verses 3-12 where someone has asked about happiness in this life and Jesus has answered with what happiness and joy that transcend this life and even transcend death, he answers with what That kind of Joy and Happiness look like in the beatitudes.

Some-one then asks - “If we live that way how will we have influence and a place in this world?” and Jesus answers with Salt and Light -

UNPACKING

AS we begin vs17 - Imagine with me, in this conversational teaching style, that Someone in this Jewish audience “That all sounds great Jesus but what about Torah?

Now if you've been hanging out in Church for an length of time you have Heard that the TORAH means “LAW” and also is in reference to the first 5 books of the Old Testament.

There is a deeper meaning to the word Torah - IT does mean Law and in a deeper way it means “Revealed Instruction” - Instructions revealed to us by the Spirit of God to the writer Moses. Divinely instructing Gods people in the will and way of God.

SO in this conversation about Live and Love and Happiness and Joy and Marriage and relationships and Prayer - Someone early in the Conversation begins to Ask Jesus if He was laying down some kind of New Revealed Instruction? Remember that the Bible says the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he spoke worth authority.

So Someone asks “Hey is this some kind of New Revelations of instruction? and Someone else might have said “what about the old revealed instruction?

Jesus Begins the answer with VS 17 by saying - “Do not think that I have come to abolish or get rid of or invalidate the Law or the Prophets - I did not come to Abolish but to fulfill! -

We must understand the meaning of Fulfill - For all of my adult christian life - I thought that what Jesus was saying is that He came to accomplish every point of the Law -

Don’t misunderstand me - Jesus certainly lived a perfect life according to the Law - However, that is nor what Jesus us saying Here. Jesus is not declaring that He came to accomplish all the points and all the dos and don’ts of the Law - What Jesus is saying Here is - I have come to Fill in the blanks -I have come to fill in the law - I have come to set it right where you have got it off target - I have some to re-teach some things that you have been taught but have miss applied- I have come to reveal the heart behind the why’s and give you the fullness of the heart of God in this. Jesus is going to Say in terms for all of us to understand “you thought it was a bout moral behavior but i will tell you its about your heart, whats inside you, your thoughts and your internal you!”

Jesus then gives the importance of the Divine Revealed Instructions of God - He gives the importance of the Law - in Vs 18-19 as He says that not the smallest letter or stroke of the Pen will pass from the Law until the end of time.

He issues a warning - IF we lessen the law in any way - If we say that Jesus undid part of the Law - If we claim Grace over the Law and don't recognize the Law for what it and the severity of the :aw and what it Truly is; then we will be least in the Kingdom - But if we keep it we will be great in the Kingdom -

Now this might give some of us license to Take out parts of God-s rules that we don't like, the ones that make us most uncomfortable the ones that seem contrary to or experience - BUT this is not the Case.

YOU SEE THERE IS SOMETHING that we just don't like at all - In fact we cant stand it - Were OK when we acknowledge our own shortcomings and our own faults or we are in agreement with others that we have character flaws - But when someone else comes and points them out to us we push back - Especially when we have never admitted or realized something crooked about our self.

There isn't a single one of us who like the Bullhorn guy on the corner in down town SA who screams at us “your a sinner” but the truth is we are.

Jesus simply says “let the Law of God do what the Law is supposed to do and don't lessen its severity simply to make you feel good”

Jesus then Lays down a Huge Gauntlet - HE SAYS Unless your “Righteousness” exceeds that pf the Scribes and the Pharisees you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven -

This word Righteousness has Two Meanings - ONE - “Doing what is right” and TWO “being put in right relationship with someone or some thing”

In the whole of the redeeming work of Jesus we need to understand that Jesus is saying that unless you are put in right relationship with God in a greater way than these scribes and pharisees then you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Let me declare the truth of our salvation - if this was on the basis of our actual behavior - We would never get there and our salvation would be based on works not on grace by faith.

Jesus then begins to teach with Authority - and when Jesus does this Jesus begins to fill in the Law - He begins to give the heart behind the why’s He begins to place before us the Value System of heaven and the fact that the Law of God goes so far past Behavior - He is declaring to us that he Law of God is about the heart - what the heart values - What God values - And it is COUNTER CULTURE!

VS 21 - You have heard that the ancients were told - .

Jesus will make statements like this a total of 6 times in the next 27 verses - He will make reference to the OLD Testament 10 commandments and the levitical law then also make reference to how modern Jewish teachers have allowed the points of the Law to be missed or weakened -

Matthew 5:21 NASB95

21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’

Jesus then says “ BUT I SAY TO YOU” This is one of the ways that Jesus is claiming His identity as God - His Divine nature - I want you to notice that Jesus is not adding restrictions to the Law He is not adding a burden to the law He is adding the heart of God to what the Law says -

Jesus Says “you get angry with your brother” - You get angry with another human being - another member of the human race” another member of Gods creation another image bearer of God you are guilty of murder -

Now for a little clarification - What Jesus is saying is that if we get mad at someone else in a retributive way - If we get angry where we wish harm, we wish retribution by us or someone else - We get angry where we wish the wrath of God on them or we want to release our own wrath on them where we want to take vengeance or we want vengeance paid - Jesus says NO NO - Vengeance is God’s and God’s alone

I said it last week and it bears repeating - The ONLY appropriate response in any manifestation of the brokenness of our humanity playing it self out is grief, sadness and mourning on the part of us who claim Jesus as lord and master. For when we mourn over the brokenness of our humanity being played out in our lives and in our culture God promises to comfort us.

Jesus then Goes Further and Says if you call your brother an “good for nothing” in other words “You Idiot” - Jesus is bringing into the light of the understanding that of God that our words have the power of life and death - When we call people degrading terms - Idiot - Stupid - retarded - immature - childish - or when we use racial slurs or other degrading terms, Jesus says we are guilty of Murder because our words have the power of Life and Death and when we do that with our mouth or with our heart and thoughts - We are speaking death into someone else’s life.

Jesus then goes to the ultimate problem and that is when we call someone a fool we are guilty enough to Go to hell -

This is where we as Christian have really messed up - Then we say “you fool” to anyone - We are saying in biblical terms “you are a person who declares there is not God” The Bible does declare this. This is the declaration and Judgement of God. We do not get that right to call someone a FOOL - Our Job is not to exact the judgments of God upon ANYONE, That is the role of the Holy Spirit - Now that does not take away our responsibility to agree with God as to His moral code he calls all men to. However: our job as the church is to Labor with the lost until Christ be formed in them_ Travailing with them as a woman in child birth.

Jesus says IF you have done this if your brother is offended by the words you have called Him in what ever conversation you have had - Leave you offering to God and go ask your brother for forgiveness , make amends with Him and seek reconciliation.

Jesus is laying down the Value that creation has in the eyes of the Father and how much He loves us and how much he hates the brokenness of our humanity.

VS 27 You have heard it said “you shall not commit adultery”

Jesus Again speaks with authority - BUT I SAY TO YOU - if you look with Lust you are guilty -

Jesus then says some powerfully strange things - That if not looked at in the context of the whole of scripture could lead to come pretty interesting things for sure -

Jesus says If you eye makes you stumble- Tear it out - IF your hand makes you stumble cut it off -

We must understand that Jesus is speaking figuratively here - We know this because none of His apostles gouged their own eyes out nor did they cut off their hands -

Some of you might say well they were perfect =- NO read the last of Romans 7 and you will find out that Paul was a disaster of a sinner -

What Jesus is saying is that it is better for you to go with out what others have than to go to hell with everything you and others have - It is better for you to not see what others see and for you to not possess what others possess rather than to Go to Hell.

I know a couple of brothers who have what they call the yellow line commitment - That is when they drive by the horseshoe part of the river they look at the double yellow line - This keeps them from looking at the women who come out of the river in their bathing suits with Lust.

I used to think this was some what over kill as I don't remember seeing anything coming out of that river that would catch my eye, but pride comes before the fall and now I look at the yellow lines as well.

Again - Jesus setting the heart of the Commandment to open His character and nature and display the value that women have to Him as Image bearers and should have to all men as fellow image bearers of God. Valued by the creator —

Jesus then Lays Down one of the Hardest Teachings in the aspect of filling in the fulness of the Law - The Torah! and it is the one that we as western christian people have weakened the most.

Jesus Says in VS 31 - IT Was SAID “ever sends His wife away let Him give her a certificate of Divorce BUT I SAY TO YOU gain Jesus Speaking with AUTHORITY.

EVERYONE - who divorces His wife except for the reason of Unchastity - Which means ( sexual infidelity with another person) makes her commit adultery.

Why does it make her commit adultery? The very same reason that If he marries a divorced woman He commits adultery - God’s will and intention and conventional creation of Marriage is to be for LIFE and to be faithful to one another no matter what the circumstances - God was faithful to His people as they were adulterous idolitors before Jesus and Jesus is faithful to His bride and washers her in His word to present her hoily and blameless even though she is not faithful in everyday.

The Jewish person asking the question was concerned with the integrity of divorce and Jesus responds with His heart for marriage.

I NEED TO PAUSE AND TKE A SIDE TRACK HERE TO ADDREES SOMETHING _

Some of you who are in second plus marriages: did I commit adultery when I married a divorced person? and I also know because of the closeness of this question some of us have negated the question and avoided it altogether.

Some have asked me over the years “if Jesus said I committed adultery does that make my current marriage adulterous?

Let me answer with Extreme clarity and with an extremely personal and biblical understanding.

1st - Is my current marriage adulterous? NO - unequivocally NO marriage is an Holy relationship, Made Holy by a Holy God who loves you and who has instituted marriage as Holy - It would be a complete contrast of the character and nature of God to declare something He has mandated as Holy to be Unholy. God just don't work that way.

So you marriage is a Holy union between you and your spouse ordained by God and set apart. Doesn't matter if it is marriage number one or marriage number 7 or any number in between. God’s design, God’s purpose and God’s will is that this marriage will be till death do you part.

If I marry a divorced person do I commit adultery? Let me share my own personal understanding from the Bible ad through my own experience. Not as a Pastor but as a man who has suffered through the process of Divorce. the Answer to the question as uncomfortable as we might be in it and as much as we might hate the answer, the answer to the question according to what Jesus, the creator of all things says is “YES”

But that is not the question that we really need to ask, cuz Jesus tells us the truth about that. The real question is: Is the blood of Jesus sufficient to wash us clean of that one?

The answer is YES!

Jesus supporting marriage under all means is then confronted about the question of Taking Oaths or making pledges or making promises.

I can hear the question “how then can we make an oath?”

Jesus says “you have heard that the ancients were told - You shall not make a false vows, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.

Jesus speaking with authority says “but I tell you make no oath at all wither by heaven or by the earth or by Jerusalem not by your head - This seems strange but Jewish people of the Day had moved into the practice of making oaths by anything but God with the gentile world and when pressed in Jewish court they would get off because they would had not made the oath by the Name of God.

This was a loophole - They were following the letter of the law but not the heart of the Law -

Jesus once again goes to the Heart of the issue and fills in the loopholes and shares this principle because every person is to be valued and cheating someone else, devalues the other person, loophole or not.

It Seems like the question then turns to Fairness - Jesus has just laid out that following the letter of the Law may not be the fairest and You can almost hear the Question from his Jewish followers: What if someone Hurts me Physically, how are we supposed to handle this, the Romans, they steal and physically hurt us. And some of our own countrymen work for them and do the same? How do we deal with this? How do we retaliate?

Jesus the says one again “you have heard that it was said eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth”

with all authority Jesus says “BUT I TELL YOU - DO not resist the Evil Person. If you get slapped on one side turn the other cheek as well. if he wants your shirt give your coat as well. if you have to walk one mile walk two. Give to someone if they ask and do not turn away someone who wants to borrow from you.

Now you talk about Counter Culture - This is counter Culture living for then and Today - Especially here in the Texas Hill country. We have Guns!

What had happened then and has happened today is that the Eye for and EYE and Tooth for a Tooth justice mantra had been taken too far. This was a system of justice that was to be used by the courts and people started taking it into their own hands. We see some of this today in the riots.

Here is what Jesus in laying down for us all as individual peopl - We do not retaliate - We love. We do not spread violence and hate and anger and retribution we spread love. This was evident in the life of three men that some of us may know something about - Tolstoy - who mistakenly applies this teaching to governments and institutions - Gandhi - Who led a peaceful people to independence through non-violent Resistance - and in our own country - Dr Martin Luther King who was a man of intense suffering and who understood the individual restriction against retribution that Jesus was talking about.

Jesus then closes this section of the conversation by answering a question that must have come form the previous one - HOW DO WE DEAL WITH AND INTER ACT WITH OUR KNOWN ENEMY?

Jesus said “you have heard that it was said “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” and then with all authority Jesus says But I say to you - Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.

Jesus lays down the counter culture philosophy of all counter culture philosophizes.

Love your Enemies - Pray for those who persecute you.

Jesus then sets apart why this is so different - We are to be Holy and to be Perfect and Holy means set apart and different - IF you Love those who love you or those it is easy to love what differentiates you from the rest of the world -How will you be different than those who are influenced by money and prestige the Tax collectors of the day? How will you be different than the unbelievers the gentiles who only love those it is easy to love?

Jesus then says “you are to be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect - This word “perfect” means “complete” to be at a point where there is no further achievement of excellence.

APPLICATION

This all sounds really difficult - What do we do with this teaching of Jesus - What do we do with this filling in of the gaps of the Law of God? What do we do as we Experience the discomfort for the words of Jesus laid against our own imperfection? What do we do with the knowledge of the true condition of our hearts and minds as we hear the very words of Jesus. The one who loves us and gave His life for us?

We let it do what it is supposed to Do - The Purpose of the Law and especially the fullness of the law that Jesus laid down in these passages is to point us to the perfection of Jesus, To draw us closer to Him, toe move us to understand how much we really need Him to live His life through us. The Law in all it’s fullness is to bring us to Jesus every moment of our life.

Jesus will then use the law to conform us to His image in the process of sanctifying us to be more like Him. A process to enjoy as beloved children of God adopted by His spirit, Covered by His grace. Knowing that the New Life Jesus has come to give us is counter culture and abundant.

Pray with me!

The GOSPEL

The Gospel

In the beginning when this entire thing called life got started, many years ago, God created all things and He created man in His own image. God and man were in perfect relationship with one another. God gave man one boundary that they should not eat the fruit of a particular tree. But man looked at the fruit and saw that it looked like it would taste good and was told that it would make man like God. The instructions from God started to not make sense to the man and he made a choice independent of God to begin to live a life that made sense to man and took a bite of the fruit of the tree. In doing this he rebelled against God. When he rebelled against God his relationship with God was broken and with this rebellion came death. The Bible calls this rebellion sin.

Each one of us is born into this same broken state. Because of this we naturally rebel against God and because of our own rebellion against God we are broken and our relationship with God is broken. This brokenness overflows into every area of our life. This brokenness has broken our ability to have a relationship with God: our ability to have a healthy relationship with each other is broken. Our ability to have a healthy relationship with the created world around us is broken; Even our ability to have a healthy relationship with ourselves is broken. Because we all are naturally in rebellion against God, everything and everyone is broken and in desperate need of having this brokenness repaired and put back into right relationship with God our creator. The Only one capable of repairing this degree of Brokenness is God.

The Gospel, the Good news is that God is putting all things back into right relationship with Himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ. God restores people back into a right relationship with Himself by calling all men to faith and He restores, recovers, redeems and reconciles back into right relationship with HIM, those people who turn their whole life to Him in a living faith. Faith in what? Faith in the historical facts that God, in His loving kindness, provided all of mankind an open door of being back into right relationship with Him by taking on flesh and dwelling among us as a man named Jesus. Jesus, who was fully God and fully man, lived a morally perfect life, never rebelling against God, as a completely innocent person freely accepted the sentence of death on a roman cross. Faith in the fact that when Jesus’s blood was being poured out on the cross and He died; Faith that He, as God, paid the price for our rebellion and satisfied the Wrath of God and in doing so all of our sin and rebellion against God is completely forgiven. Faith in the historical event that three days after His death God raised Jesus from the dead by the same power that created all things and in those two acts of dying and being raised from the dead, Jesus defeated Sin and Death once and forever for all for those who believe.