Worship Call 0706 The smallest Letter and Mark
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This is Wednesday August 10th in the two thousandth and twenty second year of our Lord, and this our morning devotional from George Whitten from worthynews.com
My question is how do we transition from speaking of salt and light and all of sudden there seems to a different context all together when Jesus says
Matthew 5:17–18 (NASB95) — 17 “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.
Our growth comes from nowhere but from scripture and this is what these people had. By Scripture I mean the Old Testament writings, the Law, the prophets, and the writings.
The scripture not only points to the one who is coming. But it also tells us about our God, about our salvation, about how to worship God. It is Scripture that where we find our origins, which is not a pool of primordial soup which we crawled out of but our origin is that of a loving God who wonderfully created us and gave life by his own breath.
Psalm 119:11–16 (NASB95) — 11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. 12 Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes. 13 With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. 16 I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.
It is the word by which man is accountable to. No, not just the believer who stands before the Judgment seat of Christ but for all those unbelievers who will stand before the great white throne Judgement to give an account for their unbelief.
2 Thessalonians 1:6–10 (NASB95) — 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.
Why does the world attack the word of God so if it were irrelevant?
Because they are every bit accountable to God’s word, the Law the Prophets as we are. Though the Ten commandments are those that are found in the Decalogue of the constitution of the Israelites the Mosaic Law, and do we dismiss the 10 on the grounds that we are Christians and not God’s covenant people. Which of the 10 does not apply to your life?
1. No other Gods
2. No idols
3. Do not take the Lord’s name in vain
4. Keep the sabbath (there is a sabbath rest for Christians Hebrews 4:8-10)
5. Honor you father and mother
6. You shall not commit murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not bear false witness
10. You shall not covet
It is no wonder the Government has outlawed the commandments from being posted in courtrooms in schools and where they could be read and understood. It is apparent that our own government has discarded what was written in the Law so that they may be without restraint to break everyone of God’s commandments.
Psalm 119:105–112 (NASB95) — 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 106 I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. 107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word. 108 O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, And teach me Your ordinances. 109 My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. 111 I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart. 112 I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end.
So am the light of the world, I must be myself following the path before me which lit by the Word of the Lord.
Don’t think for a moment, Says the Lord, that the Law and the prophets no long have value when it comes to your spiritual edification. And for you Mr. and Mrs. Christian don’t think that the word of the Law and the prophets have no longer hold value to you.
It is the word of the Lord which produces the fruit that others may see in our Love toward man and our good works which causes others to want to come and worship with us and give glory to God.
Psalm 1:2–3 (NASB95) — 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
What Jesus says also about having not come to
καταλύω katalyō 17× to dissolve; to destroy, demolish, overthrow, throw down, Mt. 24:2; 26:61; met. to nullify, abrogate,
means that when the false teachers teach something different or contrary or have rejected the Law and the prophets all together and teaches a different doctrine that they are heretics and should be avoided.
1 Timothy 6:3–5 (NASB95) — 3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
Matthew 5:18 (NASB95) — 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.
33.36 ἰῶτα n: the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (corresponding to the ‘yod’ of the Hebrew alphabet)—‘iota, smallest letter, small mark.’[1]
33.37 κεραία, ας f: a part of a letter of the alphabet—‘stroke, short mark, short line of a letter, part of a letter.’ ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου ‘not one small letter or part of a letter shall pass away from the Law’ Mt 5:18.
The reference of ἰῶτα (33.36) and κεραία is to the small details of the Law, and therefore it may be appropriate in many languages to translate Mt 5:18 as ‘not one of the smallest parts of the Law will be done away with’ or ‘… will become null and void.’[2]
Now here is the warning
Matthew 5:19 (NASB95) — 19 “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.
James 3:1 (NASB95) — 1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
36.30 λύωe: the failure to conform to a law or regulation, with a possible implication of regarding it as invalid—‘to break (a law), to transgress[3]
By failing to teach the Old with a new is discarding the importance of scripture and is a violation of rejecting it from the pulpit. That Pastor will be held accountable and as it were that Moses had his failure and was not permitted into the Land as a result of his own mishandling of God’s word, so is the pastor will face a great loss as he is considered least in the kingdom by his own mishandling of God’s word.
Matthew 5:19 (NASB95) — 19 but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Do I care about how I will be perceived in the Kingdom of heaven? Well, I certainly would want to hear the words from our Lord…
“Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things I will make you ruler over many.”
[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 392). United Bible Societies.
[2]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 392). United Bible Societies.
[3]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 469). United Bible Societies.