The Red Letters #3

The Red Letters: Diving in Deep to the Sermon on the Mount   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  1:00:51
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When I was a kid, I was not allowed to go to the movies. I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene, and our denomination had taken a stand against the movie theater. I distinctly remember the first time I felt deprived because of that stance. The year was 1975, and there was a movie coming out that everybody was talking about. It came out over the Summer, and when we started back to school in the Fall, I was the only one in my class that had not seen it. Even my teacher was talking about this great movie. It was Bambi. I was not aware that it wasn’t really a new movie, I just knew that it was being released in theatres and I was devastated that I didn’t get to go see it.
You know how at the beginning of the school year, everybody is excited to talk about what they did that summer, and everybody was talking about the movie. If I remember correctly, one of our first assignments for the year was to tell about our experience of going to see that movie. I was embarrassed to tell the teacher that I couldn’t write about that because I wasn’t allowed to go see it.
It was the beginning of my questioning some of the rules that I followed because the church said, “this is the way you live.” Our position on movies was the biggest one for me. We had other things that we took positions against that didn’t really bother me, but I had a hard time understanding why I couldn’t go see Bambi, or Star Wars.
We also had this rule against dancing, but that one didn’t really bother me too much. I didn’t like the idea of looking silly, and I knew that I would look silly if I danced, because nearly everybody looks silly when they dance. I was excited about that rule when 6th grade gym class had square dancing for several weeks. I went home from school after telling my teacher that I would need to be excused from square dancing because it was against my religion. Imagine my horror when I told my mom I needed a note so that I could be excused and she told me that she thought square dancing would be ok. So, it was a bit confusing to me - I couldn’t go see Bambi, but I could square dance. It was difficult for me to explain to my friends because it was difficult for me to even understand!
As I grew older, the questions around holy living got more difficult to understand sometimes. We had developed this list of attributes that described what it meant to be holy - the way we were supposed to live if we were going to be Christ followers. Some of them were, and are difficult to explain biblically. The Bible talks about Jesus and His disciples on the night that Jesus was betrayed, passing wine around the table and drinking from the cup, but our table never had any wine or other alcohol. I remember friends making fun of me because I couldn’t drink, but the Bible never says do not drink alcohol, it does say, “do not get drunk” though, and that is what most of them were doing when they would drink.
Fast forward a few years, and I was a pastor beginning to counsel couples that were preparing for marriage. I’ll never forget the first time I realized how out of sync the biblical guidelines for sexual relationships was with the prevailing view of the world around us. I had a couple that I was counseling, and it came out early in our counseling sessions that they knew that they were compatible because they had been living together for quite awhile, and they were ready to take the next step and get married. They had no idea that God’s Word gives guidance that sex is designed for the marital relationship. They had been advised that it was more responsible to live together before marriage because the divorce rate is so high and they didn’t want to have a divorce. They were shocked when I shared with them that the divorce rate is much higher for couples that live together before marriage than it is for those that do not.
The world looks at us as if we are an anomaly when we talk about biblical sexual standards. Why do we have differing standards than the world around us in so many different areas? Why do we look to live an upright and holy life? Because the Word of God guides us in the way we are to live our lives. But we often miss the whole point of these biblical standards of living. God has given us guidelines not in order to restrict us or to make our lives more difficult. He has given us directives and guidelines because they make our lives better. Living our lives the way that God has designed us makes for a more complete life. Jesus said:
John 10:10 NRSV
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
He wants us to have the best life possible! We started a deep dive into the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapters 5-7 a few weeks ago. This morning we continue that deep dive as we look at:
Matthew 5:17–20 NRSV
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever 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 does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day thought that He was trying to destroy the Old Testament way of living. The religious leaders had come up with all kinds of rules and regulations that gave strict instructions as to how a good god-honoring Jew was to live their lives. They looked at the Law and the Prophets - the Old Testament, and had come to expand and develop their own way of living. For them, obedience to the letter of the law was much more important than anything else. So, this was a radical claim made by Jesus that “your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees” in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
In the minds of those that heard Jesus say these words, that would have been impossible! These religious leaders were well versed in the law - they knew the law better than anybody else, and everybody knows you have to know the law in order to obey the law! If you don’t know the speed limit on a particular stretch of road, it is hard to follow the law. If you know the speed limit, then you can make a choice of whether to follow that law or not. The scribes and Pharisees not only knew the law, but they followed it to the tee.
For the average person in Jesus’ day, there was an understanding that the scribes and Pharisees conformed to the law in a greater way than anybody else. In fact, people didn’t feel that they were obliged to be as good as them, so this teaching sounded completely out of line with their way of living. There is no way that those who didn’t know the law as well would be able to surpass the righteousness of these religious leaders, but that is what Jesus tells us we must do in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Since that is the goal for all of us this morning, it would help us to know what Jesus meant by this outrageous claim. His earlier words in the Sermon on the Mount could have been misconstrued to make people think that He was setting up something altogether new and separate from the Old Testament, but:
“Jesus was not presenting a rival system to the Law of Moses and the words of the Prophets, but a true fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets—in contrast with the Pharisees’ traditions.” Louis A. Barbieri, Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: 30.
Verse 20 could be seen as the thesis for the rest of this chapter, maybe even for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5:20 NRSV
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
For the average Israelite in Jesus’ day, there was no one more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees, but Jesus clearly is telling us that
Belonging to his kingdom, and living the kingdom life, takes more than external conformity to a set of religious standards. It has to go deeper than that.
Iain D. Campbell, Opening up Matthew, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2008), 45.
In fact, you and I would never be able to live a more righteous life than the scribes and Pharisees if all He was talking about was the outwardly righteous way of life.

Our righteousness, then—if it is to contrast with the outward and formal righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees—must be inward, vital, spiritual.

Jesus had not come to destroy or remove the Old Testament with the Law and prophets, He said that until Heaven and Earth shall pass away, that is, this is it is never going to happen! Until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter, or even the smallest stroke of a pen shall be removed. But for Jesus, fulfillment of the law must not be about proper performance. It has so much more to do with attitude and intention than it does about perfect performance.
You’ve all probably heard about the little boy that kept standing up during church. His mom kept telling him to sit down, and he kept standing up. So, finally, she sat him down and held him down. He looked at his mom and said, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing up on the inside.” We are going to see over the next couple of months, as we continue to dive in to this sermon, that Jesus believed that conformity to the letter of the law was meaningless unless the heart was right. In other words, what is going on on the inside is more important than what is happening on the outside.
Let me try to explain what I mean. When I was in High School, until about my Sophomore year, I had a somewhat photographic memory. It was kind of nice for taking tests, although it wasn’t always good for learning things that were important to remember for the long haul. I could look at a page of a book, and then look up at a blank wall and I could see the page pretty clearly on the wall. My “studying” was just turning the pages and looking at them long enough to be able to recreate them on a blank wall. It was kind of like cheating, but I didn’t have to have the cheat sheet because it was in my mind. I was getting the answers right on the tests, but I wasn’t really learning anything. I was getting things right outwardly, but there was no internalizing of what I was learning, and shortly after the test, the images would go away, so I wasn’t really learning anything.
Now, I know that we are not taking tests in church, but we are constantly being tested in life. Holiness, if it is to really be holiness cannot be dictated and cannot be lived out simply by following a set of rules. I can outwardly follow all of the rules while inwardly be as unholy and unwholesome as anybody else. Outward obedience to some set of rules has never worked to truly make people holy. No, obedience to a set of rules can make you appear to be holy, but without a transformation of the heart, there is no true holiness.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Four: The King’s Principles: True Righteousness (Matthew 5)

He would not accept the artificial righteousness of the religious leaders. Their righteousness was only an external masquerade. Their religion was a dead ritual, not a living relationship.

If He would not accept artificial righteousness of the religious leaders than, what makes us sometimes think that He will accept our artificial righteousness. Outward adherence to some set of rules can lead to legalism, but they do not lead to holiness. We can go deeper in our faith than some outward set of rules and regulations, though, and that is what God through Christ has called us and enabled us to do through the Holy Spirit living within us. Our obedience is to the internal law of love that is given us in Christ. We live it and we teach others to live it by our example in Christlikeness.
We are: Called Unto Holiness - that means a holiness that comes from the inside and works its way out into our daily lives through the way we live and interact with people.
We are about to enter in to a part of worship that I have missed greatly over the last several months as we have not been able to offer it safely. We don’t do this just to be obedient to Jesus command that we are to continue to do it until He comes. We do it because in receiving these elements, we are reminded that it is as we receive Him into our lives that holiness is instituted in our inner being. God can change us through the taking of these elements. I truly believe that, but if we simply are following some outward direction and not allowing Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit, then the elements will do nothing in us spiritually. Will you take these elements, knowing that they represent Christ’s body and blood that were shed for you? Will you take them into your body as a reminder that He is doing a miraculous work deep in your inner being?
The Communion Supper, instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, which proclaims His life, His sufferings, His sacrificial death, and resurrection, and the hope of His coming again. It shows forth the Lord’s death until His return.
The Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. It is to be received in reverent appreciation and gratefulness for the work of Christ.
All those who are truly repentant, forsaking their sins, and believing in Christ for salvation are invited to participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. We come to the table that we may be renewed in life and salvation and be made one by the Spirit.
In unity with the Church, we confess our faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And so we pray:
The minister may offer a prayer of confession and supplication, concluding with the following prayer of consecration:
Holy God,
We gather at this, your table, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who by your Spirit was anointed to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed. Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, ate with sinners, and established the new covenant for forgiveness of sins. We live in the hope of His coming again.
On the night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, broke the bread, gave it to His disciples, and said: “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Likewise, when the supper was over, He took the cup, gave thanks, gave it to His disciples, and said: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.” Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Matthew 26:27–29, Luke 22:19)
And so, we gather as the Body of Christ to offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these your gifts. Make them by the power of your Spirit to be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ, redeemed by His blood.
By your Spirit make us one in Christ, one with each other, and one in the ministry of Christ to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, let us pray:
(Here the congregation may pray the Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Before the partaking of the bread, let the minister say:
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, broken for you, preserve you blameless, unto everlasting life. Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
Before the partaking of the cup, let the minister say:
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed for you, preserve you blameless unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and be thankful.
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