A Great Misunderstanding

Illustrations:

LOL - Does that mean, Lots of Love or Laugh Out Loud?

Several other illustrations. For instance. When Electrolux began advertising in America they ran an ad campaign that read, “Our vacuums really suck!”

From English to Russian, back to English: ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ ended up: ‘Invisible idiot’.

From English to Japanese, back to English: ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’ (from Hamlet) ended up: ‘It is, it is not, what is it?’

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan: 'Finger-lickin’ good' came out as: 'Eat your fingers off’.

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan: ‘Come alive with the Pepsi Generation’ came out as: ‘Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead’.

When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its advertisements were supposed to say: ‘It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you’. However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word ‘embarazar’ meant embarrass. Instead the advertisement said: ‘It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant’.

In our text this morning we see three very clear misunderstandings.

That is evident by the first three words Jesus spoke . . . “Do not think . . .”

Someone was thinking something they shouldn’t have been thinking.

The Pharisees (and the Scribes)

They thought that Jesus was not concerned about the law. But it was because they misunderstood the nature of the law as God intended.

Jesus

Jesus was misunderstood.

He had said, “ I am establishing a new kingdom,” and that was interpreted that he was completely doing away with the Old.

Today’s interpretations

“Holiness means being righteous and being righteous means keeping the law” MLJ

“We must have the new mind and disposition which leads us to love the law and to desire to keep it; and by His power he enables us to fulfill the law.”

Those are very problematic statements.

So, the first few words of our text this morning make it clear that someone misunderstands something.

Do not think that I have come to . . . don’t think it. This implies whatever it is you are thinking is wrong or not accurate or a misunderstanding.

It is important to understand exactly what Jesus meant by what he said.

Before we look at this in greater detail I want you to look at verse 20.

This verse is an indicator of what is to follow. Jesus is going to spell out / define further what a righteous person looks like or how they act or the good works he has been speaking about.

His description will be misunderstood by the scribes and the Pharisees. It will feel to them that Jesus is abrogating responsibility to the law or that he is in some way abolishing it for this new kingdom he has spoken of.

Thus . . . verse 17.

I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets.

This statement is actually a way to say, “I did not come to abolish the Old Testament.”

Jesus fulfilling them was his drawing out the true essence and declaring the true reality.

Where would we be without the OT? That portion of Scripture informs what we believe and, when understood properly, it informs us of what God’s expects of His people.

Think for a minute. What is a righteous person? How would you answer that?

Let me help you. Note that the word “right” is the root of the word.

A righteous person will be “right” in what they think/believe and in what they do.

And righteousness is what God is concerned about. You can’t be righteous if your beliefs are not Biblical (according to truth) and your behaviour is not in accordance with God’s will.

Verse 20.

Jesus affirms this.

Note vs 18. Not one jot or tittle will pass away. What we believe.

Eternal word of God. Jesus believed in the inerrancy and inspiration of the OT!

Vs 19 - Not one behavior is to be annulled. What we do.

I am not here to set aside the OT. Just the opposite I am here to affirm the OT as the word of God and to clarify its call to the people of God to be righteous.

I have come to fulfill it.

Jesus wanted it to be absolutely clear that anything he said or did was not in opposition to the OT. He affirmed the truth of the OT and the expected behavior taught in the OT.

This is preemptive on Jesus part. Jesus is going to get to the nitty gritty of true righteousness.

I’m going to jump the gun this morning and give you four illustrations of this tension between the law, in and of itself, and true righteousness.

Three from OT. One from NT.

The author I quoted also says “the moral law stands now as much as it has ever done.”

Often, that is a reference to the 10 commandments.

Do you have to keep the 10 commandments?

Ex 20:8 - “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

Uh oh!

But, You do you know, don’t you, that you could keep the Sabbath and still be unrighteous?

Amos

Amos 5:21–24 (NIV)

21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;your assemblies are a stench to me.

2 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

23 Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 8:5–6 (NIV)

5 saying,

“When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended

that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,

6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

Deuteronomy 22:8 NASB

“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.

Deuteronomy 22:8 (NIV)

8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.

What’s that about? Safety because God cares about people and he wants to do the same.

How do you treat others.

Matthew 23:23 (NIV)

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

What about sacrifices?

The penalty and the fact that a price has to be paid is still ion play.

Any Gospel message that waters down sin and how it separates us from God not a true [representation of the gospel.

Lastly, Phil 3.

If anyone can boast . . .

Verse 5 - as to the Law, a Pharisee

Verse 6b - As to the righteousness that is found in the Law - blameless

Verse 6a - As to zeal - a persecutor of the church

There is a disconnect there. That cannot be righteousness!!!

And so we end . . .

Romans 8:1–5 (NIV)Romans 8:1–5 (NASB)

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Is there any disconnect in your life right now?

Ask God to impress on you the true nature of righteousness. Because if you struggle with the truth of what Jesus just said in the four verses we looked at this morning, you are really going to struggle with the remainder of the Sermon on the mount.