THE LAW: RIGHTEOUSNESS GREATER THAN THE PHARISEES
INTRO #1: Explain why I am preaching today: head pastor and associate pastor is in Mexico serving at an orphanage and doing street evangelism.
INTRO #2: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS ILLUSTRATION: So instead of a big league pastor, they’ve called up some nobody from the minor leagues. Instead of getting a pitcher from the St. Louis Cardinals, you’re getting one from the Springfield Cardinals. Rather than seeing a home run hit, you’re seeing a really, really, really good bunt, & then a relatively slow big man run to first base.
So if you are a guest today, please don’t make any decision until you’ve heard from the big league player.
TRANSITION: THE TOPIC I WAS GIVEN. As many of you know, we are in the middle of a sermon series called Sermon on the Mount. Pastors Jeremy & David have been using the Ripley’s Believe It or Not theme. And there are some of the most amazing topics ever recorded. For example:
LAST WEEK WAS ABOUT LIGHT & SALT: Now I know this may sound silly. But I love salt. When I was a young man, I actually took a whole week and studied the Biblical significance of salt. Once I was asked to preach on it and even wrote a song about a salt.
NEXT WEEK: Now I don’t know for certain, but it looks to me like its one of the coolest topics in the entire Bible: Murder. Yeah, awesome! And though you think it’s a simple topic, there’s more to it than you think. And Jeremy will cover that awesome next week. And who knows what else: 21 people coming back from serving an orphanage in Mexico, it’s probably gonna be an awesome Sunday.
MISSIONARIES RETURNING, FATHER’S DAY, & MURDER…WOW!
SO WHAT’S MY TOPIC: OLD TESTAMENT MOSAIC LAW AS DESCRIBED BY JESUS. Fantastic.
All seriousness aside, there are some revelational consequences that we need to be aware of, some interesting details. So without further ado, let’s go to God’s Word.
BIBLE VERSE: 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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.
THE QUESTIONS:
What does it mean that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them?
How does one set aside of these commands?
How would one’s righteousness surpass that of the Pharisees?
1) What does it mean that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them?
*Before I answer this question, I want to let you know that I have spent the majority of my week on this topic. Not that I didn’t understand it, but that I couldn’t explain it. But it’s clear now. Listen to what Pastor Denn Guptill says:
A. PASTOR DENN GUPTILL:
“I am convinced that Christ stated this specifically for all those well intentioned-people who are forever saying, "I’m not under law, I’m under grace." Somehow we seem to have gotten the idea that Christ stamped the Old Testament with big red letters that say "null & void." We have drawn the faulty conclusion that the Old Testament no longer matters, that it no longer applies, that it’s just a collection of historical books. Well except for the Ten Commandments, most of us would let those stand at least the two biggies, murder and adultery. And yet Christ plainly said I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Can these words really be coming from the mouth of Christ?
B. TECHNICALLY SPEAKING. Technically speaking, the word abolish translates in the Greek to kataluo which literally means “to loosen down.” The word kataluo is found 17 times in the New Testament, including prophetic inferences to the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Romans. It has an extended meaning: “to overthrow, to deprive of success, to invalidate.”
C. NO MURDER/7 YEAR PUNISHMENT SCENARIO:
NO MURDER: Let’s say we had a law that stated “No Murder (hold up NO MURDER sign).” And then I went on a binge and committed murder…of some random person’s pet rat. Well, then I would receive a punishment. And in this case the punishment is 7 years (hold up SEVEN YEARS PUNISHMENT SIGN). So, because I did it, I am now serving my punishment. So…then someone calls along and pays off my debt…my debt IS FULFILLED (rip up the Seven Years Punishment sign). Nice, I’m Free!
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LAW? It’s still good isn’t it. Or, parts that were not made clean are. So technically, we are free, but the commands are still to be followed. And we are not to ignore them, we are to follow them.
Answering the questions out of order…
3) How would one’s righteousness surpass that of the Pharisees?
A. THE PHARISEES RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The Pharisees identified 613 rules in the Old Testament. And you thought following the rules was just about the Ten Commandments. 248 of them were commands to do something & 365 prohibitions to NOT do something.
For the few that were sincere, the Nicodemuses of the Pharisees, they prayed daily and fasted every week. They memorized thousands of lines of scriptures and I have been told that there were a handful of cases that the Pharisee actually memorized the entire Old Testament.
They spent their lives, being good. Really, really good.
B. THE MEANING OF SURPASS.
The definition of surpass means to “go way beyond.”
C. THE POLE VAULT SCENARIO.
Many of you know that I am a track coach. And because of this, I’ve seen all sorts of amazing accomplishments. I’ve seen my share of 10 second hundred meter dashes, watched discus throwers hit 190 feet, I’ve actually seen a high school kid high jump 7 feet tall.
In the world of Pole Vault, the most difficult of the 21 track and field events, a record was set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Sergie Bubka of the Ukraine went 20 feet 1 ¾ inches high. The record is awesome.
And guess what, if God’s standard of holiness was to be met by a pole vault, the standard would be 1000 feet high. As impressive as 20 feet tall is, it is nowhere close where it would need to be to meet God’s standards.
2) How does one set aside of these commands?
Well, because of question number one, the answer to question two is pretty simple.
A. THE QUESTION: CHRISTIAN, ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE BY LICENTIOUSNESS…A LICENSE TO SIN, OR ARE YOU GOING TO OBEY GOD’S COMMANDS.
B. THE EXPLANATION. I’m going to tell you a story. There once was a boy. And that boy was married, he had a 2 year old daughter, and twin sons born early in the hospital, living on life support and the doctors told them that the chances were very good that they were going to live. And when they came home, the boys were on monitors because they would forget to breath occasionally. And the boy-father sat down to pay his bills that month, and found out that month that there wasn’t enough money to pay even one of them.
So it was decision time. Does one honor the commands of the father? Or does one go his own way? There was a song out back then, and it was played over and over and over again. So here it is, with all the old 80s hair and everything else. We’ll play it for you.
C. TWO SETS OF JONESES.
Sources:
Gotquestions.org. What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law, but did not abolish it?
Guptill, Denn. A Look at the Law, Cornerstone Wesleyan Church, Hammons Plains, November 1996.
Rogers, Matthew. Raising the Righteousness Bar, Understanding the Kingdom Sermon Series, Christian Church of Clarendon Hills.