Success in life is no accident; it does not just happen. We all have an intention to live successfully, but even strong intentions are not enough. We need a reliable guide that we can safely follow. Jesus offers us a guide in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. In His statement that nothing in the law of God would disappear and that anybody that taught differently would be considered least in the kingdom of God, Christ was saying quite forcefully that the law is a reliable guide for successful living.
Matthew 5:17-20 NIV “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. 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. 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. 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.
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Scripture
Romans 7:7-13 NIV What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Text:
Matthew 5:17-20 NIV “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. 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. 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. 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.
Introduction
Success in life is no accident; it does not just happen. We all have an intention to live successfully, but even strong intentions are not enough. We need a reliable guide that we can safely follow. Jesus offers us a guide in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. In His statement that nothing in the law of God would disappear and that anybody that taught differently would be considered least in the kingdom of God, Christ was saying quite forcefully that the law is a reliable guide for successful living.
I The meaning of the law (Matt. 5:17, 20).
Matthew 5:17, 20 NIV “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. 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.
When Jesus spoke of the law as a reliable guide for successful living, he was not referring to the burdensome additions the scribes had added. Rather, he was speaking of the spirit of the law, the heart and essence of the law itself.
The “spirit of the law” is often contrasted to the “letter of the law.” In that context, the spirit of the law has to do with the deeper meaning or reason for the law, whereas the letter of the law refers to exact wording, literally applied, without regard for any deeper meaning.
Children are good at emphasizing the letter of the law to the exclusion of the spirit of it. Here's an example:
A child comes home from school and is told, “Do not watch TV until you finish your homework.” A few minutes later, his mother finds him watching cartoons on his tablet or his phone, with his homework untouched. The child protests that his mom only told him not to watch TV—she never said anything about watching cartoons on a tablet. In this example, the child has kept the letter of the law, but he has violated the spirit of the law. Obviously, focusing on the letter of the law can be a tactic to nullify the intent or spirit of the law.
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV “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.”
Jesus simplified what others had complicated when he made love central to the law.
This passage is often called “the Great Commandment” because with it, Jesus succinctly sums up the entire Old Testament Law. And Jesus perfectly demonstrated this commandment when He gave up His life for us.
In so doing, Jesus reduced the 613 laws of the scribes to the law of love for God and your neighbor.
In doing this, he kept the real meaning of the law, which was reverence for God and respect for others. In this sense Jesus offered the law as a reliable guide for successful living.
Let's read again;
“Matthew 5:17, 20 NIV 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. 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.
In explaining the meaning of the law in verses 17 and 20, Jesus stated a fact, identified a fulfillment, and refuted a fiction.
A. Here’s the fact it's in verse17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”
Two occasions are recorded in the Gospels in which Jesus warned people not to misjudge, or misinterpret His actions.The first is this occasion, and the other is when He said;
“Matthew 10:34 NIV Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
On both occasions he was saying don’t misinterpret popular beliefs concerning Me.
Jesus specifically said that He was not here just to destroy the law. No one was ever sent by God to just destroy. To destroy requires little intelligence or compassion. The most destructive person can destroy more in an hour than a great artist can create in years.
Jesus was here standing as the one who would fulfill rather than destroy the law.
When He said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”, Jesus avoided the danger of being negative.
He clearly avoided taking a position that would cause anyone to say, “Christ is the end of the law; now I can do whatever I please.”
All duties, all responsibilities, and all demands of the law remain. Now we are not talking about the food or clothing laws we are talking about the Ten Commandments and the moral laws that deal with our relationship with God and people.
Romans 7:7, 12 NIV What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Obeying the law cannot save, faith and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus is what saves through God's grace but we do need the law for successful living. Not the kind of burdensome laws the Pharisees and scribes created, but rather the law that Christ came to fulfill.
‘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.”
B. The fact was that Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it just as it says in verse 17 of our text.
Matthew 5:17 NIV “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.
To “fulfill” means to “bring to completion”.
Jesus came to save the law from its oral distortions, to clarify its purpose, and to redefine its application. For example, when a young person completes high school and enters college, he or she does not destroy all that they have learned in elementary and high school. As they enter college, they are working to carry the already-acquired knowledge further toward completion. In this way Christ fulfills the law. The law was good and had value, but it was not complete. Had this not been the case then, there would have been no need for Christ’s ministry.
The question now is, how did Christ fulfill the law?
1. Jesus fulfilled the law in his own person.
Jesus dramatized in his own life what it means to revere God. That reverence did not consist in laboriously following rules and regulations. It expressed in mercy; its pattern was not legalism but love.
Matthew 9:10-13 NIV While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
2. Jesus fulfilled the law by giving it internal meaning.
Prior to the coming of Christ, the law related primarily to the externals of life. It concerned itself chiefly with conduct. Jesus took us to a deeper meaning of the law than simply the external actions of people.
Hebrews 10:15-16 NIV The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
Remember something that I said last week: “The most important testimony and witness of the gospel is not what you say, it is the impression your life makes on other people. After a few days people may not even remember the details of what you said. The greatest witness comes in the life you live rather than the words you say.”
To know people as they really are, we must visit the inner chambers of their thoughts and imagination.
Philippians 2:5-8 NIV In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Philippians 4:8 NIV Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
3. Jesus fulfilled the law by giving it a positive application.
Jesus made the law constructive. For years the dominant theme of the law was “Thou shalt not.” Don’t do this. Don’t do that. By the time the rabbis had superimposed their own meaning on the laws, there were so many things a person was not allowed to do that little time was left for positive thinking. Jesus changed this dramatically. He turned our attention, not so much to what we are not to do, as to what we are to do. Jesus seemed to define goodness, not so much in terms of abstaining from vices, as in obtaining virtues.
Matthew 5:43-48 NIV “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
C. Remember I said that in our text Jesus stated a fact, realized a fulfillment, and refuted a fiction. Here’s the refuted fiction. It is in verse 20
Matthew 5:20 NIV 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.
Jesus challenges us to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. In reality the Pharisees had an extremely high standard of righteousness.
Why would Jesus issue such a challenge?
He did so because, in their commitment to the law, the Pharisees had made the law purely external and mechanical. It lacked the inner dynamic of a religion of heart and soul. A common fiction accepted as fact was that righteousness consisted of keeping the mechanics of the law. Christ clearly denied this thinking.
Matthew 23:23-24 NIV “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
In the Old Testament we find great and universal principles by which we are to live, but very few rules and regulations. For instance, the Ten Commandments provide us with great principles so the scribes and Pharisees developed the rules and regulations.
The maze of rules and regulations with which Jesus had to contend is illustrated by an eight-hundred-page book called the Mishnah that the scribes had written interpreting the Ten Commandments. As though this volume were not enough, later Jewish scholars developed commentaries explaining the Mishnah. Today we know these commentaries as the Talmud. They consist of twelve printed volumes! And this all started with ten simple guidelines for successful living!
II. The immutability of the law (Matt. 5:18).
Matthew 5:18 NIV 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.
Here Jesus said that if heaven and earth pass away, not even a small jot or tittle of the law will pass away until it has all been fulfilled. In other words the law was immutable, unchanging over time or unable to be changed.
The smallest letter, the least stroke of a pen, was like an apostrophe. Christ is saying the law is so sacred that not even the smallest detail of it will ever pass away—it is immutable! The Ten Commandments are the permanent stuff on which our relation to God is built. And if we are to experience successful living, we must adopt these as our guide.
A. The law is immutable because God does not change.
Malachi 3:6 NIV “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Why should God change? He is perfect. He made us, and as our maker he alone knows best how we can live successfully. So he gives us his laws, not to limit or restrict us, but to free us to become the best we are capable of being.
B. The law is immutable because right and wrong do not change.
Psalms 19:7-9 NIV The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
The law is valuable, not because it is law but because it is right. Right and wrong do not change. The Roman Empire fell not because it was overwhelmed from without but because it decayed from within. We see that happening here in the United States today, yet God’s guide for moral recovery is still the immutable law he gave us thousands of years ago.
III. The measure of the law (Matt. 5:19).
Matthew 5:19 NIV 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.
Jesus said that we are measured by the law—we do not measure the law.
A. The law measures us on the basis of what we do (v. 19).
Jesus warned us against the breaking of the law and of influencing anyone else to break it.
"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".
Our astronauts need an external unchanging point of reference in their flights in outer space. That unchanging point of reference is some star or other heavenly body. They cannot rely on feelings or even the most sophisticated electronic equipment. Feelings and equipment can malfunction. Stars and heavenly bodies will not change.
Likewise, the law serves as a reliable point of reference from which we get the direction and proper course for our lives. The law is the only reliable measure for what we do.
B. The law measures us on the basis of what we teach (v. 19).
Jesus warned us against teaching or in any other way influencing people to violate the law. It is bad indeed to do wrong, but it is even worse if we also lead others to do wrong by what we teach.
"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".
C. The law measures us on the basis of what we are.
What we do and what we teach reveals what we are.
"but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Remember what we have already learned, we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. How we handle the Word of God and his commandments reveals the genuineness of our Christian character.
Conclusion
I like the old western movies and television series so this illustration was a great one for me. During the days of the old West cowboys would swim their horses across the rivers. When they were crossing an overflowing river, if they watched the swirling water around them, they could become dizzy, fall into the water, and be swept away by the current. On the other hand, if they kept their eyes fixed on a tree or rock or hill on the other side of the stream, they could ride through safely.
In the storms of life, it is the law of God that gives us calm and safety and balance. As we fix our eyes, not on the swirling water around us, but on God’s eternal laws, we, too, shall survive and cross the rivers of this life undisturbed by the water around us.
Sermon Audio
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