Naylor Community
Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 5:17-20
Matthew
5:17-20
New
International Version
Matthew
5:17 “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. 18 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.
19 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. 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.
-- several years ago, I decided I
was going to start growing orchids -- someone had given me an orchid as a gift,
and I just loved it, and I decided that I was going to start growing orchids as
a hobby
-- so I went out and bought a bunch
of books about orchids and started learning -- I learned that there were
different kinds of orchids and they all flowered differently and had different
needs -- and I learned that it was easy to keep an orchid alive, but to get an
orchid to rebloom could be challenging -- you had to have the soil pH just
right -- the water levels kept right --
you had to water it from the bottom up and not pour water into the pot
-- you had to make sure the soil was the right type of soil -- light levels had
to be perfect -- you had to have special fertilizer just for orchids
-- so, I made me a list of all this
stuff and I went out and bought a bunch of different kinds of orchids -- and I
made a checklist for each kind of orchid I had -- I would watch them every day
-- I would measure the light and the water levels and make sure I was fertilizing
everything perfectly for that particular type of orchid -- I would go through
and check my list and ensure I was doing everything right
-- and do you know what happened
when I did that? -- absolutely nothing! -- I could not get those orchids to
bloom -- when you buy orchids in the store, they are all blooming and look so
great, but then in a few weeks, those blooms die and you’ve got a bunch of
leaves and a dead stalk -- and, no matter what I did, I couldn’t get those
orchids to rebloom
-- I went back to my books -- I
logged off on my checklist everything the books said to do -- I made sure I was
following all the rules perfectly -- and I was -- I was doing everything just
like the books said -- but I couldn’t get those orchids to bloom again for nothing
-- finally, in a fit of rage --
which does happen occasionally -- not often -- but sometimes I do get really
incensed -- and this was one of those times -- I tore my checklists up and I
threw those books and the special fertilizer in the trash and I took those pots
of orchids out of the kitchen and threw them into the yard and walked away and said
I was done with trying to follow all these rules and nothing working
-- you know what happened next, don’t
you? -- yeah, those stupid orchids started blooming and looked even better than
when I bought them
-- now I bring this up, not as a
horticultural primer, but as a summary of where we are going today in our study
on the life of Jesus -- if you’ve been following along, you’ve seen how everything
in Jesus’ life was moving along a set trajectory -- everything was planned --
everything happened in accordance with the Father’s will
-- from the original promise of the
Messiah in the Old Testament to the announcement to Mary and Joseph that Mary
would have a baby even though she was a virgin -- all the way up through His
birth in Bethlehem -- His presentation in the temple -- His teaching in the
temple as a young man -- and then His baptism, the temptation in the wilderness,
and the start of His Galilean ministry -- all of it was planned and foretold
before time ever began
-- and when we step back and look at
Jesus’ life and ministry from this higher perspective, we start to see how
everything builds upon the previous and how everything progresses over time
-- so, now, we have reached the
point in our study of Jesus’ life where He has proclaimed Himself as the
Messiah in the synagogue in Nazareth and has called His first disciples -- and
now, Jesus begins His public ministry in earnest
-- having previously taught only in
the synagogues of Galilee to small groups of people and being run out of the
synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus now starts to carry His message and the good news
of His coming to the masses -- the first recorded event of Him doing so is
found here in this section of Matthew that we know as the Sermon on the Mount
-- it is in this sermon that Jesus begins
to explain to the people why He has come and to show them the way to true
righteousness and salvation is through faith and not religion -- and in doing
so, Jesus takes their understanding of faithful obedience to God to a whole ‘nother
level
-- previously, the people had walked
around with a religious checklist that they followed in hopes of obtaining salvation
and righteousness -- maybe not a written checklist, but one they knew in their
heads, if nowhere else -- in the Old Testament, God had given the Israelites
613 rules to follow -- some negative -- “don’t do this” -- some positive -- “do
this” -- but then the Pharisees added more rules for the Israelites to follow
-- in fact, they added over 1500 additional rules that they came up with to “help”
the Israelites follow the original laws of God
-- so, all these were put together in this
religious checklist of what the Jews were to do and not do -- and they
followed, or tried to follow, these checklists to the letter -- just like I tried
to follow my horticultural checklist religiously when I was trying to get my
stupid orchids to bloom
-- and what Jesus does in this sermon
is to tell the people they’ve gone too far -- to tell them to do with their
religious checklists the same thing I did with mine -- to get rid of them -- to
stop trying to follow all these rules to the letter and to get back to the
heart of the Law as God originally intended
-- it’s like Waylon Jennings sang in
“Luckenbach, Texas” -- “It's time to get back to the basics of love" -- that’s
the entire sermon on the mount summed up
-- at this point in Jesus’ life, He starts
sharing public messages to the crowds in Galilee, telling them to put aside
their man-made checklists -- to put aside their rules and their traditions and
their rituals -- and to get back to the basics of love -- to the basics of the
Law and the Prophets -- and to rightly understand why God gave the Israelites
the Law in the first place and what it takes to have a true relationship with
the Father as He desires
-- so, let’s look now at this excerpt
from the Sermon on the Mount as we move forward in our study of Jesus and His
life and His ministry from a higher perspective
II. Scripture Lesson (Matthew 5:17-20)
-- verse 17
Matthew
5:17 “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.
-- so, Jesus has already sat down
on a mountainside there in Galilee and begun to teach His disciples and the
crowds of people that were beginning to follow Him -- He began by sharing with
them the Beatitudes -- the part of the Sermon on the Mount that most people are
familiar with:
-- blessed are the poor in Spirit --
blessed are those who mourn -- blessed are the meek and the merciful and the
pure in heart -- blessed are the peacemakers -- and blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness
-- inspiring words that would have
been received favorably by the crowd of people gathered there to hear Jesus
speak in public for the first time -- probably just what they wanted to hear --
words of blessing and affirmation -- a good, positive message
-- and then Jesus goes on to talk
about how the Jews are salt and light to this world -- and they would have
heard that as affirmation that they were the chosen people of God -- those who
were the only ones who knew the truth and followed the truth and who had those
religious checklists they could follow to make sure they were doing everything
right
-- but then Jesus’ message starts to
change -- and He takes their familiar understanding of religion and the Law and
the Prophets and He begins to carry it to a whole ‘nother level
-- He begins in verse 17 by proclaiming
that He had come -- and we kind of gloss over this -- we don’t pay much
attention to it when He says that He has come -- but to the first century
Israelites, that phrase was important
-- this was a Messianic proclamation
-- Jesus was saying that He was the Messiah -- the One who Moses said was to
come -- the One who would restore Israel and set up the Kingdom of God on earth
-- and, so, the people would have
heard that and it would have triggered them -- a ripple would have gone through
the crowd at His words -- here was a man proclaiming to be the Messiah who had
come to bring God’s Kingdom -- to run the Romans out of town and restore Israel
to its former greatness -- to put aside the old and to start a revolution that
would sweep the world and put the Jews in charge once and for all
-- but after proclaiming Himself as
the One who had come, He shocked the crowd with His next words -- He had come,
but not to do what they expected -- He had not come to abolish the Law or the
prophets -- He had not come to start a new religion -- He had not come with new
rules and new laws for them to follow -- He had not come as the leader of a
revolution
-- instead, He had come to fulfill the Law
and the Prophets -- to affirm the word of God that had been given -- to restore
what had been corrupted
-- Jesus had come to resurrect the
Jewish faith -- to lead a revival -- to lead the people back to life again by
removing the dead traditions and rules and rituals of religion that the
Israelites had added to the Law and the Prophets and by restoring the truth and
the heart of the Father’s will that had been given to them in the first place
-- “I have not come to abolish the
Law and the Prophets,” He said, “but to fulfill them”
-- verse 18
Matthew
5:18 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.
-- Jesus reiterates His message here
-- God’s Law, as given to the Israelites through Moses and the Prophets, must
be fulfilled -- His Law was holy and perfect -- His Law was righteous and just
-- His Law summed up the will and the purposes of God for His people
-- there was nothing wrong with the
Law -- it reflected the holiness of God -- it was the way the Israelites and
the Pharisees had modified the law and misunderstood and applied it that was
the problem -- in doing so, they had missed the purpose of the Law -- they had
missed the heart of the Law -- and they had turned God’s will and God’s
purposes into a checklist of do’s and don’ts that God never intended
-- and the people understood there
was a problem -- no one could follow the Law -- no one could check off
everything perfectly that God told them to do -- and this was especially true
once the Pharisees got ahold of it and added even more rules -- they just
couldn’t do what the Law required -- they just couldn’t check off everything
and they didn’t see how it was possible
-- that’s why they hoped Jesus had
come to get rid of it and to replace it with something new -- but He tells them
here that the Law and the Prophets must be fulfilled -- that not a jot or a
tittle -- not the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen -- would disappear
from the Law until everything was accomplished -- until all was fulfilled --
pointing to His ministry and the purpose for the cross
-- verse 19
Matthew
5:19 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. 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.
-- we live in an age where we flirt
with antinomianism -- that is, we flirt with the idea that we don’t have to
follow the Law any longer -- have you ever heard anyone say, “We live by grace,
not by the Law” -- that’s the idea behind antinomianism -- literally, against the
Law
-- but Jesus says otherwise here --
He tells us that living in an age of grace doesn’t mean that we don’t have to obey
God’s commands -- instead, He says here that whoever practices and teaches
these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven -- and He condemns
those who break the least of the commandments and teach others to do the same
-- God expects us to follow His commands
and His Law, even today -- nowhere in Scripture does Jesus ever say otherwise
-- nowhere in Scripture does Jesus say that we no longer have to follow God’s
Law
-- but Jesus does say that we need to make
sure we are following the heart of the Law and not trying to follow manmade
conceptions of what we think God’s law is
-- the intent of God’s law was not to give
us a checklist of what to do and what not to do, but to point us to the heart
of the Father -- to show us how to live our lives in imitation of God -- to
live our lives reflecting the attributes and nature of God Himself -- as Peter
wrote in 1 Peter 1:16, “it is written, ‘Be Holy as I am holy’” -- we are called
to live like God -- to love like God -- to reflect His very nature and
attributes and holiness in our lives
-- but we all know that we can’t -- we all
know that because of this sin nature that we inherited from Adam that we all
have this internal bent towards sin, which is nothing more than disobedience to
God’s Law and His commands
-- so, God gave us the Law -- not as a
checklist to ensure our salvation and righteousness -- but as a giant neon
arrow pointing us to the only One who could fulfill the Law -- to the only One
who could meet His righteous demands -- the One who says here in verse 17 that
He has come to fulfill both the Law and the Prophets
-- trying to fulfill the law on our own is
impossible, for we will always fail to fill out and follow our religious
checklists perfectly -- that’s why Jesus says in verse 20 that “unless our
righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, we
will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”
-- we cannot save ourselves -- we cannot
find salvation through religion, because we’re going to do something wrong --
we’re not going to be able to fill out our checklist of do’s and don’ts
perfectly -- if we break just one commandment, then we’re done -- like it says
in James 2:10, “Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all.”
-- and Jesus goes on in the rest of this sermon
on the mount to make it clear to His disciples and the crowd that day that all
of them were lawbreakers -- all of them had sinned against God -- and all of
them needed to get rid of their religious checklists -- He takes their rules to
a whole ‘nother level by pointing them back to God’s original intent to shine a
mirror on their hearts and their lives
-- He tells them, “You’ve heard that it is
written do not murder” -- and all the people in the crowd who had never
murdered anyone breathed a sigh of relief -- but then Jesus went on to say, “but
if you get angry with your brother or call them a disparaging term, then that
is the same thing as murder and breaks God’s law” -- and everyone started to
lose hope
-- He tells them, “You’ve heard that it
was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’” -- and all the people in the crowd who
never would think of committing adultery started to get some hope -- but then
Jesus said, “However, if you look at someone else lustfully, it’s the same
thing as if you already committed adultery with them in your heart” -- and
everyone realized they were lost
-- He went on and did the same thing with
divorce and oaths and revenge and loaning money and loving their neighbors and
fighting one another -- each time, going above and beyond what the written Law said
to show them what God truly required of them
-- His point in this sermon was to show the
people what the true purpose of the Law and the Prophets was -- the purpose of
the Law was to make it clear to us that we will never measure up on our own --
the purpose of the Law was to point us to Christ, for it’s only through Him
that we find the fulfillment of the Law and satisfaction of God’s justice and
requirements
-- Jesus’ death and resurrection didn’t
destroy the Law and the Prophets, but they fulfilled them -- through His death
and resurrection, God’s holy law was fulfilled -- the penalty for disobedience
was paid -- and forgiveness for our sins was granted
-- and when we believe in faith in Jesus,
His own righteousness is imputed to us -- we become righteous in the eyes of
the Father -- and we are justified in His sight -- just as if I never sinned --
just as if I never broke any of God’s holy laws
-- additionally, the death and
resurrection of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers made
it possible for us to live lives in accordance with God’s law -- to choose not
to sin -- to choose to live as He originally intended for us to live -- in
obedience to His commands
-- Christians are saved by grace through
faith, but that does not negate us from living holy as He is holy and following
all His laws and commands
-- He told us that in the Great Commission
in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you to do”
-- and in John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love
Me, keep my commandments”
-- and Jesus goes on to tell us to
get rid of our written rules and requirements and to throw our checklists of
laws and commands away -- there are only two that are required, because if we
follow them, we will satisfy all the commands of the Law and the Prophets
-- Matthew 22:34-40 says, “Hearing
that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them,
an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the
greatest commandment in the Law?”
-- Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ --
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ -- All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.”
-- this is the heart of the message
of the Sermon on the Mount -- this is the heart of the good news that Jesus
started to share to His disciples and the crowds beginning with this sermon in
Galilee
-- God seeks obedience from the
heart, not just a superficial adherence to manmade rules and commands -- God
wants us to follow the heart of the Law by living as He lives -- by loving as
He loves -- by reflecting His nature and attributes and character with our
lives and words and hearts
-- in the sermon on the mount, Jesus
brought obedience to God down to heart level and restored the original understanding
and purpose of the Law while proclaiming His role as the Messiah in fulfilling
the Law and the Prophets and satisfying God’s righteousness and justice to
offer us forgiveness for our sins
III. CLOSING
-- I want to close by sharing with you a
story I recently read “about the famous piano virtuoso Ignace Paderewski. A
mother once took her little son to a Paderewski performance. Her little boy was
just learning to play piano and barely knew how to pluck out anything more than
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"; but she hoped that he would enjoy
the concert and be inspired.
“After they were seated, the mother
spotted an old friend in another seat and walked down the aisle to greet her.
But this left the little boy alone - who eventually crawled off his seat and
wandered around to explore the wonders of the concert hall. He eventually
explored his way through a door that was marked "NO ADMITTANCE" - and
that was the door that led to the stage where a large, impressive Steinway was
placed.
“When the mother returned to her seat, she
looked around frantically, trying to find her boy. The house lights were
dimmed, and the curtains were opened; and in horror, she found her little boy,
sitting at the piano on the stage with spotlights focused on him; innocently
playing - can you guess? - "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"!
“What a mortifying moment that was for the
mother! But it was at that very moment that the great piano master made his
entrance onto the stage. He quickly moved to the piano, gently leaned down to
the little boy, and whispered into his ear, "Don't quit. Keep
playing."
“Then sitting on the bench with the boy
and reaching his left arm around him, Paderewski began to play along with him -
filling in the bass portion. Then, he stretched his right arm around the boy
and added an obbligato. And together, the old master and the tiny boy played
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" like no one had ever heard before!
“The story is that, after the concert, few
people could remember anything else that Paderewski played; but everyone
remembered "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".”1
-- this is a perfect illustration of what
Jesus did for us here on earth -- He is the Master -- He fulfilled the law
perfectly -- and while we fumbled about with our little checklists of rules and
regulations, trying vainly to reach perfection and salvation on our own, the
Master sat down beside us and said, “Don’t quit -- Keep playing -- but play it
this way” -- and He showed us the way to the Father and satisfied all the
requirements of the Law and the Prophets in our place
-- when we could not reach Heaven on
our own, Jesus came from Heaven to show us the way and to take us there to be
with Him
-- that is the message that He began
to share with the world in this first public sermon in Galilee -- and that is
the message that He still calls out to us with today
-- so, don’t quit -- keep playing --
but play from the heart and in the power and strength of the Savior
-- let us pray
1
Modified from an illustration in Greg Allen’s sermon: “God’s Law Abides” https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2004/091904.htm
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