This week, we have been looking at a section of an
account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel
of Matthew, where Jesus made a statement that provides for us a timeless goal
that we should strive towards, both as individuals and as a church. Wednesday, we looked on as Jesus painted for
the crowds listening to Him a word picture to describe what the world should
see when they come into contact with His followers. Jesus explains to the
crowds listening to Him that those who follow Him are the light of the world.
Jesus painted this word picture to explained that, as
the light of the world, followers of Jesus are to reveal and reflect Jesus and
help provide the guidance and direction necessary for people to be able to
navigate life here on earth. After providing this word picture what the world
should see when they encounter His followers, Jesus provides two additional
images to challenge the crowds listening.
First, Jesus reminds the crowds listening of a
timeless reality that they were all too familiar of: a city set on a hill
cannot be hidden. A city that is located
in an elevated location can be seen from miles away. In Jesus day, this would
especially be the case after the sun set. In the pitch black darkness of the
desert of Israel, the light of an elevated city would be seen for miles and
miles.
Jesus then provided a second word picture, this time
of a lamp that would be used to provide light in a home. Jesus used this word
picture to explain that for the light to fulfill its purpose to reveal,
display, and to provide the opportunity for those in the house to navigate an
otherwise dark environment, the light needed to be in the right position.
After painting these two word pictures, Jesus challenged
the crowds who were listening to live their lives in such a way that the world
around us may see their good works and glorify God who is in Heaven. Jesus here
is calling the crowds listening, and us here today, to reveal and reflect
Christ by how we love and serve the world around us. Jesus calls His followers
to engage the world by loving and serving those who God has placed around us.
The church is the only organization that does not
exist for the sake of its members. The church has been divinely designed to be
the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world. And God places
the local church in distinctive environments to be distinctively different. God
has placed City Bible Church in Bullhead City to be a city within a city that
loves and serves those around us. And
when we love and serve others in a way that reveals and reflects Christ, the
result is that we glorify God in Heaven.
And that is why we believe and are focused on the goal
that God has given us at the church where I serve to be a city in a city that
is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city. We
believe that as we live life together in community with a focus on engaging
those in this city in a way that reveals and reflects Christ by loving and
serving those in the city, we will be the vehicle that God uses to advance His
kingdom mission and bring Him glory.
Today, I would like for us to look at what Jesus had
to say next, because it is what Jesus had to say next that will set the stage
for the sermon series that we will be engaging in as the church where I serve in
the weeks leading to Easter. So, let’s look together at what Jesus had to say
next, which Matthew records for us in Matthew 5:17-18:
"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.
Now to fully understand what Jesus
is communicating here, we first need to understand what Jesus is talking about
when He refers to the Law and Prophets are. The Law and the Prophets were how
the Jewish people referred to the Old Testament. Jesus explained to the crowd “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prophets”.
Jesus point was that He did not enter
into humanity to set aside or put an end to what was written in the Old
Testament. Instead, Jesus explained that He entered into humanity to fulfill
what was written in the Old Testament. Jesus did not enter into humanity to
bring a new teaching that would override what was previously written. Jesus entered
into humanity to explain and reveal what was written in the Old Testament
really meant. Jesus entered into humanity to show humanity what it would look
like to actually live out what the Old Testament taught in our day to day
lives.
But notice that Jesus did not stop
there. Jesus continued by stating that “until Heaven and earth pass away, not
the smallest letter or stroke from the Law will pass away until it is
fulfilled.” But what does that mean? The
phrase “heaven and earth pass away” was what we would call today a slang term
that conveys a sense of permanence. If Jesus was making this statement in the
language we use in our culture today, this statement would have sounded
something like this: “Hell will freeze
over before anything that is written in the Old Testament will come to the
place where it no longer matters”.
Jesus point was that the teaching
and the demands of the Old Testament to God’s people would never lose its
significance. But not only would the teaching and demands of the Old Testament
never lose its significance, Jesus also explained that every word of the Old
Testament was important and would be fulfilled.
Jesus did not come to advocate a cut
and paste spirituality where we can pick and choose which verses of the Bible
we will follow. Jesus did not come to advocate a buffet style Christianity; “I
like that portion, but I’ll not take any of that”; Jesus came to reinforce the
reality that every word, every commandment, every demand that God makes to His
followers in the Old Testament was from God and God’s expectation was for
members of His kingdom community to follow every one of His demands.
You see, Jesus wanted to make sure
that readers of His message throughout history would clearly understand that every
word and every demand from God to His followers has eternal significance and eternal
importance. Jesus then hammers this point home with what He says next, which
Matthew records for us in Matthew 5:19-20:
"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.
Here we see Jesus explain to the
crowds listening, and readers of His sermon throughout history, that whoever
annuls even the smallest of God’s demands of His followers and teaches others
to do the same would be called least in the kingdom of Heaven. The word annul
conveys the sense of doing away with something or releasing someone from an
obligation. Jesus point is that anyone who does away with or releases others
from following God’s demands is least in the kingdom, while those who keep them
are great in the kingdom.
You see, for Jesus, the issue is
obedience to the entire Old Testament teaching. And it is here that we see
Jesus reveal for us the reality that obedience matters. For Jesus, the one who
is disobedient to God’s demands is least in His kingdom. But what does Jesus
mean when He says to be least in the kingdom of Heaven? To be least in the
kingdom communicates the sense of being of low esteem in God’s eyes and an
unworthy representative of the kingdom.
The one who is obedient to God’s
demands, in contrast, is great in the kingdom; they are highly esteemed in
God’s eyes and viewed as a worthy representative of the kingdom. Jesus then
hammered the importance of obedience home to the crowds listening by explaining
in verse 20 that “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and
Pharisees, they would not be able to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.”
Now when Jesus uses the word
righteousness, He is referring to a quality of character and behavior that
represents being right with God. In other words, this idea of righteousness
conveys the sense of meeting God’s demands so as to experience a right
relationship with Him. Jesus here is revealing the reality that obedience
matters because obedience determines entrance into the kingdom. Jesus point is
that in order to be right with God so as to be able to enter the kingdom of
Heaven, a person’s character and behavior must exceed that of the scribes and
Pharisees.
To fully grasp the significance of
Jesus statement here, we first need to understand who the scribes and Pharisees
were. The scribes and Pharisees were the most respected and revered people in
Jewish culture. They were the religious leaders of the nation. In the culture
of the day, these were the spiritual superstars.
Now I want us to take a minute and
imagine ourselves in the crowd as Jesus is preaching this sermon. What would be
going through your mind at this point? I don’t know about you, but I would be
thinking “but Jesus, those guys are really spiritual. There is no way that I
can be more spiritual or obedient than those guys”.
And that was Jesus point. That is
exactly what Jesus wanted them to understand. You see, the problem was that the
religious leaders of the day had taken God’s demands of His people and set a
standard for what constituted obedience that wasn’t God’s standard. These
leaders believed that in order to be right with God, one had to keep the list
of rules that God had given His people, called the Ten Commandments. In
addition, these religious leaders added over 600 additional rules and
regulations that they believed would make one right with God, if obeyed. So the
people of Jesus day were striving toward a standard of obedience that wasn’t
God’s standard.
How often do we do the same thing? We
make our lists and charts for what we believe is spiritual and what we believe
meets God’s standard of obedience, yet so often the reality is that our lists
and standard looks nothing at all like God’s standard. So, as we lean into a
new year, we are going to lean into a new series entitled “Jesus Uncut”.
During this series, we are going to
see Jesus reveal to the crowds listening to His sermon, and to us here today,
the true nature of what God demands of humanity in order to experience a right
relationship with Him. During this series, we are going to see Jesus reveal for
us the true nature of what it means to obey the message and teachings of the
letters that make up the Bible.
During this series, we will see Jesus uncut, as
He reveals the lifestyle that should mark a person who is living in a right
relationship with Him…
No comments:
Post a Comment