Matthew 5:13-48: Jesus Finishes the Law

Matthew • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

0 ratings

· 3 views

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

The Lord Jesus began is great sermon by giving every single person a pathway to sonship. Starting with humility, with the help of the Holy Spirit was can go from being “children of the devil” to “children of God”. But this path is not easy, nor is it for the faint of heart. Not only will the process be painful, but once we come out on the other side we will be met with persecution and mistreatment.

The Lord calls us to rejoice in these things, and the Scriptures make it clear that the one who perseveres to the end will be rewarded. The Lord himself says, “your reward is great in heaven”.

Now that he has given us a map for our journey, the next part of his sermon is going to look at how the children of God should behave. This section will consist of Christ fulfilling, or finishing, the Law.

But first, Jesus gives us one last ‘warning’ if we are to participate in this journey with Him.

13-14: Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

This warning Jesus gives us comes in the form of his famous analogy of being salt and light. It’s like the famous phrase from the movies “Mission Impossible”: Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it.

By undergoing this process of transformation into God’s children, we will become like salt of the earth. What does salt do?

It preserves things - Christians preserve the good in the world.

It also cleanses things - we “salt the earth” by proclaiming the Gospel. Paul says it is like a stench to those who are perishing. The salt of the Gospel burns and torments the spiritual wounds of everyone who hears it. It does purify those wounds for everyone who wants it. But for many, it will also make them angry towards us.

It also makes us like a light in the world. The darkness does not like to be shown upon. To be revealed. The Gospel reveals all things - for those who enter into the light, grace and mercy will be shown. But the darkness will fight back.

And so Jesus warns us: if we are going to be salt and light, we must be prepared to face the consequences - the persecution and hatred that comes with it.

If we can accept this, then we must not shrink back from it. In fact it might even be argued that it would be better to have never accepted the mission to begin with. Why? Because if salt loses its purpose, what good is it? And how can it ever get it back?

The same can be said with light: you don’t hide it. To hide light is foolish. You let it shine no matter what.

What are ways in which Christians can lose their “saltiness” or hide their “light”?

Indulging in earthly things rather than heavenly

Hiding our faith from others and refusing to tell them about Jesus.

Outright denying the Lord Jesus

Abandoning the faith altogether.

This undoing process puts us in a real danger. Jesus puts it plainly: we’ll be “thrown out and trampled under people’s feet”.

Instead the Lord Jesus says that we are to take our light and let it shine as bright as we can. And how do we do that?

By doing good works!

The best way to showcase the Gospel is to display the righteousness that it brings in our lives.

But our good works aren’t meant to bring us glory. It’s not to make us look good. It’s to bring glory to the Lord. This is ultimately why we should do anything.

Jesus did all things to bring glory to His Father, so he set the standard for us as well. (Matthew 9:8 “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.” )

Paul talks about how people glorified God after his own conversion in Galatians 1:23–24 “They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.”

17-48: I accept, now what?

It’s almost as if someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “I accept the mission and all the risks that come with it. I am ready to hear what you have to teach us and put it into action. Is it something new?”

Perhaps to their surprise, Jesus answers, “No!” he hasn’t come to give them something completely new. In fact Jesus makes it very clear: he has not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets.

If Jesus had in fact been trying to upend the Law, this would mean a disharmony between Him and God, the old and new testaments. But there is no disharmony. Jesus instead finishing what the Law started.

What does it mean to fulfil or “finish” the Law & the Prophets? Think of it like the Washington Monument. This Monument is very clearly built with two different kinds of stones? The difference in color can easily be seen. Why?

When the monument was first built, it was interrupted. Later, when it was finished, different colored stones were used. Now suppose the monument had never been finished? It would have been silly to say, “This is a great monument!”

Just like any project that goes unfinished, this was the Law before Christ.

What we are about to see in Christ’s teachings are this completeness. He is completing what Moses started. Not only will the Law be complete in word, but Christ will also physically fulfil them in deed.

This is why He says that no part of the Law will ever pass away. This is why later He will say in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Jesus now tells us the practical implication of this fulfilment: whoever keeps and teaches the least of the commands wil be least in the kingdom, while whoever does and keeps them in totality will be called great in the kingdom.

Think of the Law of God as a spectrum. The greatest command is to Love the Lord your God with everything you have, and the second greatest is to love your neighbor. Everything can be summed up in those two commands.

But when you break it down, you begin to see that the requirements of the OT Law were really the “least you can do” in fulfilling those two commands. Christ’s teachings are the “most you can do” in fulfilling those two commands.

The bombshell here is that, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven our righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and pharisees!

This would have been a shock to the pharisees! And probably elicted some cheerful laughs from the crowds!

The scribes and pharisees prided themselves on being better than everyone else because they perfectly followed the Law. Here Jesus says, “Cool, that’s the least you can do. To actually get into the Kingdom, you gotta be better than that.” How embarassing to those people who were so arrogant and proud!

Now someone may ask, “Why didn’t God just give the people Christ’s teachings to begin with? If they are the final fulfilment?” Quite simply: they couldn’t handle it! And if the Israelites couldn’t handle it, the rest of the world certainly couldn’t.

The rules of righteousness had to be given in stages, in accordance with the hearts of men. Think of Christ’s response to the pharisees asking about divorce. They rightly said, “Moses told us we could get one.” and Jesus says, “Yes, he did. Because your hearts were hard. The most righteous way is to not get divorced at all!”

The problem that the Israelites had (and especially their religious leaders) was that they ignorantly believed that the Law was the most righteous way.

Another way to think of it, if you can’t handle the OT Law, you definitely can’t handle Christ’s Law. But it’s best to start with one and work our way towards the other.

Let’s not miss what this all means for us: We must follow the precepts of Christ, which is putting our faith in Him into practice, if we are to enter his Kingdom. This is also why we don’t directly have to practice the OT Law any longer - by putting His words into practice, we love God and love other, thereby fullfilling even the least of the OT Law.

21-48: Application

So what does all this look like in practice? Jesus begins walking through the OT Law, showing how it is the “least righteous” and then he gives the completed command, showing how it is the “most righteous” way.

Remember, this is a spectrum. Least and greatest aren’t mean to be “bad” and “good”. The OT Law was good! It is just the “least we can do”.

First, we have murder and anger. The least righteous thing we can do in the treatment of our neighbor? Not murder them! If you’re saying, “Wow, what a low standard.” Then you’re finally starting to understand it!

Of course not murdering our neighbor is a good thing. In fact, it’s a step up from murdering them. But it is not the most righteous behavior. And what is that? To not even be angry with them!

Jesus tells us that to be angry and to insult our neighbors, or to degrade them in the worst ways (calling them ‘fools’), is a just as bad, if not worse, than murdering them.

He gives a couple of examples of how to put this into action:

if you’re worshipping and have a problem, go and sort it out. Enimity between your neighbor will create enimity with God.

Jesus also uses a simple illustration of going to court. If you’ve caused so much damage to someone that they are taking you to court, repent and work it out with them before hand!

Next Jesus moves onto adultery. According to the Law, “You shall not commit adultery.” This is the least righteous thing you can do. It is certainly better than committing adultery which would not be righteous at all! But the Lord Jesus tells us that the most righteous way, the completion of the command is to not even have lustful intent in your heart.

He makes sure we know just how terrible sin is: if any part of our body causes us to stumble, it’s better to destroy it.

Of course Christians didn’t start physically maiming themselves in the name of avoiding sin - but the significance is clear. Sin will send us to hell, and we must avoid it at all costs, even if it is of great value!

On divorce, the least righteous thing you can do is get one. In the ancient world, similar to today, this formal pact at least protected the woman to some degree. It was better than simply kicking her out of the home with no protections.

As Jesus told the pharisees later, this Law was given because of their hardness of heart. The truth is, no marriage should ever be dissolved. That is the most righteous thing someone can do.

The consequences of divorce that Jesus gives here are particularly strong, and painful, even to modern ears. Some things to keep in mind:

Just as he did previously with lust, Jesus is showing the very real consequences of sin. If we are going to get a divorce, especially for really bad reasons, we are going to hurt other people.

Speaking of “really bad reasons”, the debate at the time was “What’s a good reason to get a divorce?” Some teachers said, “There is no good reason.” while others said, “Any reason is a good reason!”

Jesus nullifies both, by making us ask the question, “What are you doing to yourself, and more importantly, the other person, when you choose to get a divorce?” The answer: at some level, if they want to get remarried, you’re making them commit adultery. How is ANY of that loving your neighbor?

Jesus then moves onto oaths and promises. Again, the bare minimum, the “least” thing we could do: Not lie and keep our promises. But the Jesus knows our nature. And so the most righteous thing we can do: not make promises at all. Either say yes, or no.

Next, Jesus addresses “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

Ghandi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” what he apparently failed to realize is that it actually makes the whole world equal.

For all the hate that “An eye for an eye” gets, there’s actually much grace in it, just like there was grace in all of the OT Law. When someone harms us, human nature is to retaliate in kind. But we don’t just retaliate in kind, we try to pay them back double what wa done to us.

Human nature says, “Two eyes for one eye and two teeth for one tooth.” But that is not justice. That is not equality. And so the first step towards true righteousness is to say, “One eye for one eye and one tooth for one tooth.” Do you see the grace that is required in being able to do that?

But even this isn’t the most righteous response. Not even just walking away is the best response. The Lord completes the command by telling us that the most righteous response is not even resist someone who mistreats us. Instead, turn the other cheek of they slap you. Give them more than they ask if they sue you, go the extra mile, and give to those who ask. This all takes even more grace.

The truth is, if you cannot handle “an eye for an eye”, you are not ready to handle “turning the other cheek”. This same concept can be applied to every single teaching we’ve seen here.

If you can’t not lie, you can’t handle not making any promises at all.

If you can’t at least get a proper divorce, you certainly aren’t going to really understand marriage.

If you can’t not commit adultery, you’re never going to be able to get those lustful thoughts under control.

If you can’t not murder your brother, you’re never going to get your anger under control.

We have to start with the lowest bar, baby steps, and work our way up. Once we’ve achieved the completed commands, we will truly be fulfilling the Law.

The last is arguably the most difficult: loving your enemies.

The Law said to love your neighbor. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law had also taken this to implicitly mean we could hate our enemies.

According to the Lord, this may be true, but it is not the most righteous way. Sure, it’s a step up from hating both your neighbors and your enemies - but there is yet a better way.

The better way: loving your enemies, and praying for them. Jesus even specifically says “those who persecute you” bringing us full circle to what he said at the beginning of the sermon - we will endure persecution.

Why is this important?

If we want to be sons of God, we have to act like our Father who is in heaven. And our Father loves His enemies. How do we know? Well, he gives blessings, like the sunrise and rain, even to the wicked.

It also means, like with the rest of these commands, we have to be better than the baseline. Guess what? The average Joe loves his friends and those who treat him well. That’s easy. But to be truly righteous? That means going one step further.

The Lord Jesus sums it all up with this: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. That word also means complete. We must be like Jesus.

I think this all echoes what John said in John 1:16–17 “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Don’t misunderstand. The Law contained God’s grace. But through Jesus we received grace upon grace. Complete grace! And he calls us to do the same with others.

Conclusion

Maybe you’re sitting here thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot. I struggle with some of those, or even a lot of them. How can I ever reach perfection?”

The beauty of it all is that Christ pours out his grace on us. And He send His Holy Spirit to continually sanctify us regularly so that we can be transformed into His Image, becoming children of our Father in Heaven.

Remember, Jesus starts this portion off by saying that if you do the bare minimum, you’ll still get into the kingdom. It’s better than nothing. But to really be called great in the kingdom, we should always be striving to obey His complete and perfect commands.

And when we fail? His love, grace, and mercy still cover us. Paul knew this better than anyone, and yet he praised God for it. We should too.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Related Media

Related Sermons