"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. 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.
‘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. 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” Matthew 5:17-20 (NIV)
‘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. 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” Matthew 5:17-20 (NIV)
First,
I encourage you to listen to the song which I referenced in Sunday’s message.
A really, really big part of me thinks that this is greatest song ever
composed and ever sung. Here
it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnaZlwme8Sw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnaZlwme8Sw
That
kind of captures Jesus big point in the first part of the Sermon on Mount.
The sequence of his sermon is essential.
God’s free offer of Grace to every person on the planet is the context
for every thing he says in chapters 5, 6, and 7.
Next
Jesus tells his audience that every detail of the Old Testament Law is being
fulfilled by God’s having come to earth in Himself.
So, what about the laws that mandate capital punishment for a teen
who’s cussed out his mother, or no trimming of the beard or no cooking a goat
in his mother’s milk? The
former is about family respect and behavior, the second is about people noticing
that you’re different because of God, and the third is a reminder that we are
not well off when we mix allegiances (cheese doesn’t mix with meat as a
metaphor for not mixing priorities).
Jesus
arrives and gets to the heart of Law.
Law is only an imperfect method of arranging
life so that we self oriented people are organized into not getting in
each other’s way. Jesus is
about something way bigger than that.
He came to change hearts, motivations, character, our inner selves, so
that, much more than self policing, each
of us grows an inner ‘want to’, an inner desire to achieve the best for
others. Jesus seeks to change
every human motivation from
avoidance of bad consequences for myself (law) to offering the best I have for
the best of of others, even at my own expense (Grace)
“Lord,
please change me in that way. Move
me to care more about the welfare of
others, even over and above my own. Lord
as I proceed through this study on the Sermon on The Mount, please be my guide.
I want, Jesus, to be mentored by you.
Take me under your wing and transform me from what I am now into what you
intend for me to become” Amen
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What I'm not completely getting: just because we now think we know what these weird laws are about, does that mean we can justify shaving every morning and eating cheeseburgers or pepperoni pizza every night?
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