Matthew 5:13-20
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Last week, we covered the beatitudes (the blessings) that Christ taught to His disciples.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Blessed are those who mourn
Blessed are the meek
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Blessed are the merciful
Blessed are the pure in heart
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
We go from blessings, into the attitude and effects we should have on those around us.
Salt and Light
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
You - spoken to someone receiving a message - this is meant for everyone hearing (pointed towards the disciples and the crowds that had gathered) and those now reading these verses.
What is the purpose of salt?
Salt is a seasoning and a preservative. We (as Christians) are to season this earth with God’s Word - to make it more palatable, to taste better, to have flavor AND we are to PRESERVE God’s original intent for the earth, which is to be in communion with Him.
But what does it mean for salt to lose its taste?
Have you ever tasted salt that didn’t taste…salty?
Salt - Mark 9:50, Luke 14:34; how can salt regain its saltiness? First, salt is formed from a chemical process combining sodium and chlorine into NaCl. It should be noted that pure salt cannot lose its taste. It takes a second chemical process to break apart the molecule, exposure to water, OR it would have to be diluted with other components to the point it had little flavor. So, salt loses its flavor by either separation OR by contamination.
Doesn’t this fit well into the Christian lifestyle? We can only lose our fire, our zeal, our desire to serve God when we are either separated from Him, or when we have become contaminated by the world. In either case, salt that has lost its ability to flavor or to preserve is useless.
Salt that was worthless was still a contaminant - salt could deaden/kill land if piled and concentrated. It was spread onto roadways and walkways to kill the grass and weeds.
We should be like salt, we are to purify - Christians should be the antiseptic to a filthy world, preserve - we draw out the unnecessary so we can keep society from spoiling, and please - the words and actions of a Christian should be desirable, regardless of where we are at. We should not be UN-agreeable or cruel. If we become un-salty (diluted or contaminated) we are unable to do God's work efficiently/effectively and become useless in fulfilling God’s Will.
Christ goes on to teach the disciples they are the light of the world, something that can not be hidden.
What does it mean to have a hidden light?
How easy is it to hide light? How many of you have ever been out at night, especially on a high ridge in darkness and looked out and saw a light? On the farm, it’s not uncommon on a dark night to be able to see the light from the Jonesville, Pennington, Woodway and Stickleyville area, and on extremely dark nights, to be able to see the glows from Kingsport. Light has a way of carrying, it can carry on for what seems like forever. Think of the stars - Proxima Centauri is the closest identified star to earth and it is still 4.24 light-years (5.88 trillion miles) away from earth. Yet we still see the light! As a matter of fact, we will still see the light for a good while, even when the star burns out.
We, as Christians should be a light that can be seen, something that is so bright it cannot be hidden. Christ uses the analogy people do not light a lamp and put it under a basket.
What purpose would the light serve if we placed it under a basket?
It makes no sense, as placing the light under the basket would keep the light from spreading, from illuminating, from carrying out its intended purpose. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we should be spreading the light wherever we go, illuminating the message given to us by Christ, and carrying out the great commission, seeing people come to know Him as their personal Savior before it is eternally too late. To try to keep it bottled up inside us, and contained within us defeats the natural purpose of the light we have been given.
There can be no closet Christians!!!
Our light should be visible to others around us! It doesn’t mean we all have to be the next greatest theologian, we don’t have to be the next great evangelist, but by our GOOD WORKS people should be able to see the light of God illuminating from us and it is then that glory and honor is given to God.
Fulfill or Abolish the Law?
Fulfill or Abolish the Law?
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 say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 Therefore whoever relaxes 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 does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The great debate, which came first the chicken or the egg?
What is the difference between Christ coming to fulfill or abolish the law?
Abolish - to annul, to make void, to invalidate. When Christ brings up that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, He simply meant He did not come to earth so we could remove all God’s commands from creation until His birth. No, instead He simply points out that all the Law and Prophets POINTED to Him. They were fulfilled (not done away with, but SATISFIED, ACCOMPLISHED) when He was born.
Jesus was accused of trying to destroy the law of God. It seems as though we have confused Jesus’ love and forgiveness as de-emphasizing the law and penalties that go along with breaking the law. Jesus nor His earthly life neither contradicted or destroyed Old Testament scriptures. Instead, He became what had been implied throughout the OT. The OT only told us how God wanted us to live. The fulfillment through Christ SHOWED us how God wants us to live.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word (spoken and written about) became flesh - So Christ came not to only interpret God’s Word but to be a living example of who God wants us to be. You see, before His birth the law was 613 written words and rules. It could only help point to us what we were doing wrong. It had no spirit, no life, no power to enable a person to do the law, but Christ fulfilled and completed the law in Spirit and in Life - He was literally able to put spirit and life into the worlds and rules of the law. Now, where the Pharisees and other religious leaders found fault with Christ is that the True interpretation did not necessarily fit “their” interpretation of law.
Originally, the law only gave rules and ways of behavior. It didn’t explain the purpose or meaning behind the rules. Instead, the law always had to have an interpreter. Christ explained the rule and interpreted the law, giving it its real and full meaning.
Before Christ, the law demanded righteous perfection - you HAD to live a perfect life. So the law only pointed out our sin, and the inability for all of us to keep it perfectly. Yet Christ fulfilled the law in every detail, and in perfect righteousness demanded by the law so that we, if we believe in Him, can be counted perfectly righteous by God.
Punishment also came with disobedience to the law. If the law was broken, then there was a punishment. But Christ fulfilled and completed the law, paying the maximum price of death on the cross to show the ultimate love. He took on the punishment of the law for every person’s disobedience Himself freeing all of us from the penalty of the law IF we believe on Him.
But whoever relaxes one of these laws or teaches others to will be called the least in heaven- the law requires continuous effort to keep up. any person who continues to break a commandment, even if it is the least commandment, shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. And the person who continues to obey the commandments shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. The point of this is, a person cannot break a commandment and ask forgiveness, then go out and break another commandment and ask forgiveness over and over. Such a person cannot expect God to think he is serious about the commandments of God. No man would think he is serious—why should God? The person only deceives himself. Christ warned all who break and teach others to break the law, even if they break only the least commandment: they shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Four significant lessons are seen in this point:
(1) All the commandments of God are important, but some are less important than others. The man who breaks the least commandment and continues and continues to break it (teaching men such) shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
(2) Breaking a commandment of God and continuing to break it is serious, even if it is one of the least commandments. Such behavior teaches men that the commandment is not important. The result: a person shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
(3) When a commandment is broken, a person is to ask forgiveness and repent. He is not to continue breaking the commandment and asking forgiveness over and over. Continuous disobedience teaches that the commandments of God are not really all that important. It is that person who will be judged severely.
(4) The obedient person can expect great reward.
⇒ He shall be called great in heaven.
⇒ He is loved in a special way by both God and Christ.
⇒ He receives very special manifestations of Christ’s presence.
Verse 20 points out a person must have more righteousness than a religionist to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The religionists, the Pharisees and the Scribes, had some righteousness. They just did not have enough. They were, in fact, strict religionists. They worked at obeying thousands and thousands of rules and regulations, governing everything ranging from dress and social behavior to ministry and work. However, they lacked the one essential: loving God so much that they would deny themselves and seek their righteousness in His Son, Jesus Christ.
The point is shattering: a person must have more righteousness than a strict religionist to enter heaven. Many are religious, but few are strict religionists. What did Christ mean? Who can enter heaven if a strict religionist cannot?
There are four facts in this verse that must be heeded. They should stir everyone of us, stir us to search our hearts and make sure we are approaching God as we should.
(1) Many religionists make the same fatal mistake that the Pharisees and Scribes made. They seek acceptance with God …
• by giving God a formal worship instead of giving God a confession of unworthiness and of their need for Him in a personal way.
• by giving God good works instead of giving God their hearts.
• by giving God a clean and moral body instead of giving God a confession of needing help spiritually.
• by giving God only a part of their lives, instead of giving God the total abandonment of themselves.
(2) Many make the fatal mistake the religionists made, but to a lesser degree. They worship and do good …
• to be respectable in the community
• to seek the acceptance of God
• to have the fellowship of others
• because they were forced by their parents to do good
• to feel comfortable within their own consciences
• to secure the approval of family and friends
• because they were taught to do good
(3) Some feel they must do good to be acceptable to God. Their motive in life is to work and work at doing good in order to secure God’s acceptance. They have never learned the truth: they cannot do enough good to be perfectly acceptable to God.
(4) Many worship and do just enough good to satisfy their consciences. They do just enough good to make them feel comfortable and acceptable to God. But they miss the whole point. What God is after—the only thing that makes a person acceptable to God—is the giving of his total being over to God (day and night).
⇒ in unworthiness and confession: that he has need for God in his life now and forever.
⇒ in trust and love: that he trusts and loves God because God has given His own Son and promised to accept him in His righteousness.
⇒ in thankfulness and appreciation: because God has accepted and assured abundant life now and eternally.
⇒ in adoration and praise: because God is God (Elohim) and has revealed His glorious love in Christ who has redeemed him eternally.
⇒ in worship and service: because the love of Christ constrains him.