Sermon Tone Analysis

*Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds*

*/Part 32: The Sermon on the Mount/*

*Matthew 5:17-20*

*/September 12, 2010/*

 

 

* *

*Prep: *

·         108, 111

·         Read Sermon on the Mount

 

*Scripture reading: Matt 5:17-20*

 

Foundations of Faith Announcement (Thank painting crew)

 

Prayer

 

Intro

 

We’re taking a break from the OT.

After all that time reading about sacrifices, regulations, kosher laws, and etc., it will be nice to get to the NT, where it’s all about grace, right?

·         Not exactly – because we have stumbled into the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus sets out to make Law harder, not easier.

The Sermon on the Mount has many endearing parts, such as the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer.

But the more seriously you take it, the harder it gets:

 

/“/Turn/ the other cheek.”

/(Matt.

5:39)/ /Does this mean you have to let some punk beat you up?

 

/“/Give/ to the one who asks you.”/

(Matt.

5:42)/ /What if they are going to use that money for drugs?

/“If your right eye causes you to sin, /gouge/ it out and throw it away.”

/(Matt.

5:29)Is this literal or figurative?

What if it is literal?

/ /

/“...anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress...” /(Matt.

5:32) So most re-marrieds live in ongoing sin?

 

/“Do not /swear/...your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”/

(Matt.

5:36) Does this mean we can’t testify before a courtroom?

·         This stuff is a lot harder than “don’t eat bacon”!

Will you throw me out if I admit I don’t enjoy the Sermon on the Mount?

Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledgehammer?

And I honestly hope you don’t enjoy it either:

 

“I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.”

C. S. Lewis

 

·         Christians have grown deaf to its radical demands through familiarity or reinterpretation, myself included.

Jesus’ teachings (like this Sermon) were meant to make the Law stronger, so Israelites would recognize their need for grace.

Q   But didn’t Paul say we are not bound by the Law?

What then about Jesus stricter version?

Q   How do we read and apply both Jesus’ commands and the OT?

 

Q   Or perhaps you are more concerned about if you have to gouge out your eye because you look at porn.

Jesus himself shows us the way in this passage.

We are going find out whether or not we are subject to the OT, and if Jesus really expects us to follow the Sermon on the Mount.

Intended Purpose

 

*Matthew 5:17-20 * 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.

The disciples seemed to think that Jesus was going to override the OT (“Law and Prophets” is another way of saying the OT – Jews still call it “Law, Prophets, and Writings” (TaNaK).

·         Quite the opposite, Jesus came to fulfill – to bring it to its intended purpose.

It’s like the old timer who bought his first chain saw because he was tired of chopping his wood with an ax.

He brought it back the next day, and says, “This thing is worthless, it took me twice as long to chop a cord of wood with it.”

The salesman asks to take a look at, and then fires it up, and which point the old timer nearly jumps out of his skin, and shouts “What was that?!?”

 

Jesus came to explain what God meant by the laws, stripping away all the human traditions, rationalizations, and workarounds that the Pharisees had been added.

Q   What was the purpose of the Law?

Here are some key ones:

 

1.

To restore relationship with God – back in Eden, we had walked with God, but now sin separates us.

 

2.

Halt the destructive power of sin – ever since the Fall, we have been destroying themselves and each other.

Said another way, the Law tried to keep us from *hurting* *ourselves*, each *other*, and our *relationship* with *God*.

If the *Law* and the *Sermon* does this, we *can’t* *afford* to ignore them.

We don’t want to be eternally *distant* from God, to keep making the same *destructive* *choices*, or *messing* our *kids* up.

The problem is that the *Law*, even Jesus’ *expanded* *version*, *couldn’t* *effectively* *fulfill* these purposes:

 

·         Isreal could be nearer God, but it required daily sacrifices, they had to go through a priest, and it was only for Jews.

·         They had a great moral code, but lacked power to obey fully.

*Jesus* came to *fulfill* these things *completely*:

 

 

Accomplishing the Law

 

18 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 [/ou me/] disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Q   So has the Law disappeared?

·         heaven and earth are still here, so I guess not.

Q   So if the “jot and tittle” are still here, what about eating kosher, circumcision, and the other things the NT “abolishes”?

Here is where is gets interesting: He said two things have to happen first – “heaven and earth” (meaning this world) disappear and “everything accomplished.”

Q   Have those purposes of the Law been accomplished?

Yes and no, or more specifically “now and not yet.”

Parts of it have and parts haven’t.

Interpretive key

 

As I have struggled with how to interpret the OT and Jesus teaching, here is an interpretive key I have just recently figured out:

 

(Sure, this is a “nerd alert” thing, but I wish I have learned this in college because I have cheated myself out of the depth and richness of the OT for years.)

Q   Has this passage’s purpose been accomplished by Christ’s death, the filling of the Spirit, or the establishing of the church?

If “*no*,” then the command probably *still* *applies* to us: The *10* *commandments* and many other things *haven’t* been and will not be accomplished until heaven, and remain in *full* *force*.

·         But Jesus made it *simpler* by saying the Law and Prophets can be *summed* by loving *God* and loving your *neighbor*.

And in the OT is a great *depth* of *material* showing us how to do these things: *Parenting* instructions, proverbs on *business*, and having a good *sex* life.

But if “*yes*,” its purpose has been *accomplished*, we’re not bound.

But we should look for the *principle* behind the command.

 

1.

The need for a sacrifice to restore relationship with God has been complete fulfilled and accomplished in Christ – we don’t need to *sacrifice* “*Fluffy*” for our sins.

·         But the principles that “the wages of sin is death” and that someone else can pay that wage still applies.

2.

The purpose of *external* *markers* of Jewish identity (e.g.

*kosher* eating and *circumcision*), have been accomplished – we can eat bacon, and don’t have to get snipped.

·         But the principle remains that God’s people are to be noticeably different – “by their fruit” and “by your love for one another,” etc.

As you read the OT, remember Jesus said it hasn’t disappeared.

Look to see if the purpose been accomplished by Christ’s death, the filling of the Spirit, or the establishing of the church

 

·         I hope you can *enjoy* and *utilize* the OT more than ever before.

·         I wish I had known it before we started – we could *start* *over*!

nominal Christianity

 

Jesus continues:

 

19 Anyone who breaks [I think a better translation is “loosen”] 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.

Notice something here – those who loosens the commands and teach others to do the same may still be Christians, they are in the Kingdom of God, but they are the least in the Kingdom.

·         In other words, a second-class commitment to God’s commands yields a second-class faith.

Who is Jesus talking about in v. 19? He’s talking to any of us who do not take his rule over our lives seriously.

·         This is what we call nominal Christianity.

You are all for him saving you from your sins, and giving you peace and all that, but you still hold the reins and do what you want to do.

I mean, there’s freedom in Christ, right?

Q   Here is the simple test: What deciding factor in decisions you make – what you want or what Jesus wants?