June 9, 2019
Morning Service

At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out the attitudes that He expects His followers to display.  Many of these are the exact opposite of what the world displays; we are to be different.  He then defined us as His followers by telling us that we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.”  We are to make the world a better place (taste better) and shine the light of Jesus’s love to this dark and dying world.  He then asked if salt has lost its flavor then what good is it?  He also said if you light a lamp and cover it with basket, what good does that do?  His meaning was if we don’t do the will of God spreading His gospel and sharing His love, who will?  We, as His church united and also individually, are His hands and feet in this world and we need to be ready to be a willing and yielded tool in His hand when He can use us.  Each of us are uniquely placed in this world precisely where God wants us to be and there are people in our lives that each of us can influence by being “Salt and Light” to them.  Simply by displaying the “Beatitudes” we can show them that we have something different than what the world offers and create an opportunity for us to share our faith with them.  Don’t get so busy with life that you miss those opportunities because if we don’t share Christ with them who will?  Look for chances to be “Salt and Light” in your world.   He now continues with a discourse where He begins to define the real meaning of the Law by magnifying it.

Mat 5:17-19 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  (18)  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.  (19)  Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

            The Law of Moses was given to the God’s chosen nation of Israel to help them to know what He expected of them and to give them direction in living a life that was pleasing in His sight.  It was very detail oriented even legalistic as it told them exactly what, how and when you needed to do certain things.  This not only includes the 10 Commandments that we are all very familiar with, but also the 613 other ones that pertained to all the civil and ritual aspects of how the Law impacted their lives.  Throughout the OT times this is all they knew about pleasing God and keeping the Law was a way of life for them.  The true purpose of the Law was to make it very obvious to those who tried to live it that it was impossible to be perfect.  They needed help and in the OT that help would come in the form of their promised Messiah (Christ).  The Law was basically set up by God to fail in order to prove to His people that they could not do this alone, but needed the coming Messiah and Savior.

            For Jesus to arrive on the scene and attempt to abolish the Law and start over would have not been received very well at all.  Here He explains that He has not come to “destroy but to fulfill” the Law.  This is simply the next step of God’s plan to place His perfect plan of salvation into motion.  The time had come to reveal the true meaning (magnify) of the Law and explain how it all is fulfilled in Him as the Messiah. 

            The biggest problem with the Law was that man had added their input into it and misinterpreted and misapplied it to fit their evil desires.  Paul told the Roman church that the “law is holy and the commandment, holy, just and good.”  At the time of Jesus, man had made the Law a confusing mass of rules that were impossible to understand let alone live by.  The blame fell mainly upon the religious leaders of the time as they had become extremely legalistic and had lost the original true meaning behind God’s Law. 

 

Mat 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

            The scribes and Pharisees were experts at telling others what to do (legalism), but they missed the true meaning of the Law themselves.  They felt justified in their actions not by their faith.  They were quick to point out fault in others often ignoring how they themselves were failing to live up to that same standard.  They were content to obey the Law down to the very smallest detail on the outside, but never allowed God to change their heart on the inside.  They looked very pious, religious and dedicated in their manner of life, but they had never truly surrendered their heart to Him.  Here is how Jesus describes them later in Matthew’s Gospel.

 

 Mat 23:23-28 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.  (24)  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  (25)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  (26)  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.  (27)  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  (28)  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

            Jesus severely reprimanded these religious leaders for obeying every small detail of the Law by their actions, but they were missing the whole meaning behind it.  They would stain the water they drank to be sure they did not defile their bodies by swallowing a gnat; but Jesus compared what they were doing as “swallowing a camel” instead!  They lived lives that demonstrated the true definition of what a hypocrite really was.  Outside they looked like beautiful temples but inside they were full of “dead man’s bones.”  They painstakingly followed the Law but lacked the true motivation they needed in doing so; they did it to look religious not to please God.  Remember Jesus defined our motivation for us to obey simply out of our love for Him; following our heart.

 

 John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

            It seems our study keeps coming back to this basic fundamental truth; we follow Him because we love Him.  The Pharisees failed to grasp that truth to their destruction.  It is easy to judge and condemn these religious leaders for their extreme hypocrisy, but the problem with that is twofold in that it is not my job to do that and I am at times a hypocrite myself.  Each of us personally need to examine our own heart and be sure we are not doing the same thing that Jesus so strongly rebuked.  Are we going through the motions of following Jesus on the outside, but inside we lack the true love we need for our Savior to serve Him in the correct manner?  A true changed life changes from the inside out not the other way around.  We must first give God our heart, mind and soul and then our body and actions will line up with that change.  Following the letter of the Law was not enough to justify these truly “religious” men; it was the why they were doing it that was the issue.  It is our love and relationship with the person of Jesus Christ that makes all the difference in the world.  Do you know and love Him?  In the end it is not what we do that justifies us but that we know Him.  Jesus says this later in this sermon.

 

Mat 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

            Don’t get caught up in the hypocritical life of a legalistic Pharisee by trying to live a life that is worthy to earn your salvation.  Accept that you need a Savior and build your relationship with the One who loved you enough to die for your sins; it is that love that truly fulfills the Law.

 

Father forgive us for the hypocrisy that is in our lives and help us to give our whole heart to You.