Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

Discovered By the Way We Act 

Matthew 5:17-20 

PSBC 2/13/00

In a nutshell: Jesus proved He could institute some new ways of acting for His followers by fulfilling the old ways. If we are going to make a difference, we must change our hearts and change our actions to come in line with the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount.

I. Introduction:

A. Odd Laws still on the books

There are some old laws, still on the books, in various places in the United States that are pretty strange...

-Young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi, unless it's in a church.

-In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather duster while she's in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in jail.

-No one can eat unshelled, roasted peanuts while attending church in Idanha, Oregon.

-In Honey Creek, Iowa, no one is permitted to carry a slingshot to church except a policeman.

-No citizen in Leecreek, Arkansas, is allowed to attend church in any red-colored garment.

-Swinging a yo-yo in church or anywhere in public on the Sabbath is prohibited in Studley, Virginia.

-Turtle races are not permitted within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana. (Robert W. Pelton in The Door. Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no. 5.)

Well, in our study this morning, Jesus addresses the whole issue of old laws and makes a very important shift to get us ready for some new laws in the next section in the Sermon on the Mount.

B. Sermon Series–Leveling the Field of Our Faith

1. Re-visit the series title

But before we look at this section, I want to make sure we are all up to speed on where we are in this series on the Sermon on the Mount. I've given this study a working title of , "Leveling the Field of Our Faith."

I call it that, simply because, whether you are a new Christian or have been a part of God's family for many years. Whether you are a professional or a laborer... Whether you are rich or poor... Whether you are a student or retired or somewhere in between... the truths taught in this 3-chapter-sermon are the definitive way to live and act if you are going to have any kind of part in the helping God with the advancement of His Kingdom on this earth.

And just to remind you, the Kingdom of God is a personal relationship with God –a personal relationship that gives meaning and purpose to life now, and a sure hope for eternity with God when this life is done.

A person enters this Kingdom, by accepting –the fact that they are a sinner, –understanding that being a sinner means that you deserve to be separated from God (which is death and eternal hell) –and you accept God's plan as the only way to deal with your sinful condition.

And God's plan for dealing with the sinful condition of every person on earth, is simply stated in...

John 3:16 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

2. Transition section

Today's portion of this sermon is a transition section. The Beatitudes, that started this sermon, and the reference to "salt" and "light" in verses 13-16 really focus on the foundational character of a person who desires to follow Jesus Christ and be a part of advancing the Kingdom of God.

But starting with verse 17, we have a change of focus that will carry through for most of the rest of this sermon. Instead of developing character, this new section focuses on the application of that Christian character to everyday living.

So, we're going to treat today's verses as a preamble to the new focus that Jesus takes up. Let's look at verse 17...

Matthew 5:17 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.

II. Fulfilling–not abolishing–the Law

A. Jesus' Respect for the Law

Before Jesus makes any changes to His followers thinking, He connects with them by talking about the thing most important to every seriously religious Jew–the Old Testament–or the Law and the Prophets.

When Jesus refers to the Law, He is referring to the three different parts of the Jewish law in the Old Testament: The MORAL law, the JUDICIAL law, and the CEREMONIAL law.

When he speaks of the Prophets, He is speaking of all the authors that God used and empowered by His Sprit to write messages, warnings, predictions and encouragements.. both directly and indirectly... based on the Laws that God had given to the nation of Israel.

And Jesus makes a broad and revelatory statement to His audience on the hillside and to us. He says that He didn't come to abolish those MORAL, JUDICIAL and CEREMONIAL laws that God had given, and that were reinforced by God through His prophets. Rather, He came to fulfill them.

In fact, in the next verse, He reiterates what a high view of these laws He holds–so no one can mistake His motives or motivation of what He's going to be teaching in the next sections of this sermon on the mount. Look at verse 18...

Matthew 5:18 18 I tell you the truth, 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.

The smallest letter to which he referred was a Hebrew letter about the size of an apostrophe. The stroke of the pen to which he referred was what we would call a serif, the little projection at the foot of a letter.

So, no one can doubt Jesus clear message. He has such a high view of God's Law in the Old Testament that not even the smallest part of that law will be abolished while heaven and earth still exist. So Jesus isn't going to abolish the Law. But He is going to do something to it–He's going to fulfill it. But what does that mean? Well, let's look at the three parts of the Law and examine what Jesus did to each as we look back at history.

B. Fulfilling the Law

1. Judicial Law

Let's look at the Judicial law first. These were the laws that God gave to Israel to govern them as a nation. These were laws relating to agriculture, settling disputes, diet, cleanliness, dress, and other special standards that God expected of His chosen nation. These laws were the first things that a Gentile saw that helped set Israel apart from the rest of the world. But Jesus said He came to fulfill these Judicial laws. How did this happen?

The Judicial law was fulfilled on the cross. Crucifying Jesus was the ultimate apostasy committed by God's people, to God's Son. It was the final rejection of their promised Messiah.

Matthew 27:25 25 All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

John 19:15 15 But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered.

What this did was put an interruption to God dealing with the Jewish people as a nation. And with that, the judicial law passed away–there was no longer a need for distinction between the nation of Israel and the rest of the world. God had put a divine parenthesis around His use for Israel as a chosen nation, and that status was opened up to the Gentile world.

Matthew 21:43 43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

The final blow happened just 37 years later when in 70 A.D. all of Jerusalem, including the Temple, was razed to the ground by the Roman army under the direction of Titus.

Now, let me say this. God isn't done with Israel yet. She is still His chosen nation. The parenthesis will come to an end. In fact the end began in 1943 when she again became a nation. But that new nationhood is in preparation for something much more important. It is in preparation for her to be restored spiritually, just as Romans 9-11 teaches.

But for our understanding this morning, we need to see that the Judicial Law–the nationally defining laws of Israel–were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

2. Ceremonial Laws

What about the Ceremonial Laws? These laws governed Israel's worship. All the ceremonial laws of cleansing and sacrifice and the priesthood were designed with only one purpose in mind. To bring sinful people back into a relationship with a holy God. Sacrifice and atonement were at the heart of this system that was repeated over and over again in the lives of the Jewish people.

But when Jesus died on the cross–the perfect sacrifice–the lamb without blemish–He brought all sacrifices to an end. The system of ceremony was fulfilled.

Matthew 27:51 51 At that moment (of Jesus' death) the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.

Friends, if a human being had torn that curtain which separated the area that represented the presence of God (the Holy of Holies) from the rest of the world, that curtain would have been torn from the bottom to the top. But God from the heights of heaven reached down and tore it in two from the position that only He could do it from–from the top to the bottom.

And that act fulfilled and put to an end the need for the ceremonial laws of the Jewish nation. Jesus was now accepted by God, as the perfect sacrifice to end all sacrifices. All the sacrifices over the centuries before Calvary's cross could never save a person from the consequences of their sin. They were merely pictures of the Messiah's work of cleansing from sin. And once that was done, all the other ceremonial laws were fulfilled.

Hebrews 10:19-22 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Because the reality had come, the pictures and representations could end. They were fulfilled.

3. Moral Law

But what about the Moral Law? This was the foundational code. The 10 Commandments and all similar laws which governed a person's relationships to other people and to God, Himself. Those were the rules and regulations for everyday living. These were the things that if you kept them you were blessed, and if you disobeyed them, God punished.

The Moral Law was God's standard for restoring a relationship with Him. Keeping all of the Moral Laws would entitle you to heaven–because you were perfect. But no one ever made it. No human being was ever perfect–except Jesus. He fulfilled the Moral Law by living a totally perfect life. He obeyed every commandment. He met every requirement. And He lived up to every standard. He was the only human to ever do that. So He fulfilled the Moral Law, and freed us from the penalty of not keeping it perfectly.

Romans 10:4 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

This verse is telling us that through God's grace, Jesus is able to give to each of His followers the righteousness that He earned through His perfect life.

So, since we have that righteousness, does that give us license to ignore the Moral Law? No it doesn't. Paul addressed this issue in

Romans 6:15 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

Even though it was fulfilled by Jesus, the Old Testament Moral Law serves a very important purpose for Christians and for society. It points out our inadequacy to attain righteousness on our own. It keeps is humble. And it points out our need for a Savior. And that will ultimately lead a person to Jesus.

III. Shift to Kingdom Requirements

Now, we come to verse 19. And in verse 19, Jesus makes a shift in this preamble. He shifts from what was taught in the past by the religious teachers of the Jewish nation, to what He is now going to teach His followers to do, as the Messiah.

In his book, Lessons from a Father to His Son, Missouri senator John Ashcroft writes:

[My father told me], "John, I'd like you to fly this plane for a while."

I was eight years old at the time, blue-jeaned and T-shirted and wide-eyed at the world. My father was an amateur pilot. I looked around me at the spartan interior, which was nothing at all like the multitudinous controls, gauges, and computerized equipment in planes today. The control stick looked like a broom handle and came up between my legs.

"What should I do?" I shouted back to my father, who was seated behind me.

"Just grab the stick and push it straight forward."

"Okay." I took hold of that stick and did as I was told. Immediately the plane went into a straight bombing-raid dive toward a farm on the outskirts of Springfield! My stomach came up to my throat and I lost all sense of time or place as fear gripped my insides. I let go of that control stick in a millisecond, and Dad pulled the plane back up.

He had a good chuckle, and I had a good lesson: actions have consequences. I learned in a particularly vivid--in fact, terrifying--way that my decisions and actions could imperil my future.

Well, friends, that's the gist of this next verse of the preamble. Your actions toward these new teachings by Jesus will carry consequences. Either negative consequences or positive ones. And those consequences will affect your present and your future.

Look at verse 19...

Matthew 5:19 19 Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The use of the word "these" (these commandments) now refers to what Jesus is about to teach starting with verse 21 of this chapter and going on to verse 12 of chapter 7.

So, let's look at the negative consequence, first.

A. Negative Consequence

In essence, Jesus is saying that if you choose to break any of the new commandments; or if you choose to teach someone by what you say or by your example... a lifestyle or a belief that is contrary to what Jesus teaches on murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, getting even, treatment of your enemies, giving, prayer, fasting, what should be valued, worry, judging, or asking God for things..., you will experience a negative consequence.

And that consequence is that you will be least in the Kingdom of heaven.

Basically that means that you will experience NO blessing, NO reward, NO fruitfulness, NO joy, and NO usefulness in your life as a Christian now, and you will receive nothing but fire insurance from hell in the life to come.

2 John 8 8 Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.

The Bible teaches that there is a system of rewards for believers in heaven that are earned by what we do on earth. And this verse teaches that if you choose to ignore or go against Jesus commands in this sermon on the mount, you will receive none of those rewards–that's what the least will receive–nothing!

B. Positive consequence

But, if you follow what Jesus is teaching in the rest of this sermon, and teach others to do the same by what you say and what you practice, you will be called "great in the kingdom of heaven."

Great implies rewards. In this life it will mean the rewards of blessing, fruitfulness, joy, and usefulness in your life as a Christian.

And in the future, it will mean greatness in heaven. What that means, exactly, no one knows. But I can tell you one thing, greatness is always to be prized far above the least.

IV. Surpass the Pharisees

Finally Jesus ends the preamble with an clear instruction...

Matthew 5:20 20 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.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law worked hard at keeping a system of laws that when they were finally written down beginning in the middle of the 3rd century A. D., they filled up over 60 volumes of rules and regulations that they thought would earn them salvation. There was no heart-change involved. It was all external and self-centered.

But Jesus is saying in this verse that He wants His followers to obey His commands because they come from the internal impetus of a changed heart. Jesus is looking for men and women who have adjusted their value system to reflect Jesus' value system; and they have made a commitment to be Christ-centered -a person who thinks about Jesus first, before they act.

V. Conclusion

Let me briefly conclude with this summary. I believe this preamble is here, in front of some radical teachings, to challenge us. These verses are here to get us to start realizing that Jesus is real and that we must not play games in our relationship to Him. Because if we do, we'll suffer some significant consequences.

What helped put this all in perspective for me was a statement I read this week that was made by the great devotional writer, A. W. Tozer, in one of his books. He said, (front of bulletin)

To many Christians, Christ is little more than an idea, or at best an ideal--He is not a fact. Millions of professed believers talk as if He were real and act as if He were not. Our actual position is always to be discovered by the way we act, not by the way we talk. (A. W. Tozer in This World: Playground or Battleground?)

Friends, Jesus really fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. So He has the authority to teach us something new. And in the weeks ahead, we are going to learn of some radically new ideas about what it means to be a follower of Christ. And that in all probability, is going to require us to make some significant value adjustments, and a renewed commitment to following Jesus Christ, not only as our Savior from sin, but also as the unquestioned leader of our lives.

You see, as I've talked to non-believers in my neighborhood and in restaurants, at the hospital, and on the streets of Palm Springs, I've found out that the people of the Coachella Valley have had enough of talk from Christians. Talk is cheap. They need to start seeing a difference in the way we act. Only then will we earn a right to be heard and have the chance to attract them to Jesus Christ.

Amen.