The Law and the Gospel
Matthew 5:17-20 (read here)
One of the accusations that would be made against Jesus was that he was a trouble causer and that he was trying to abolish the Jewish religion and everything it stood for. The Pharisees, in particular, would accuse him of disregarding the Law, which they claimed to hold so dear. So, very early on in his ministry, in this his first major teaching, he says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets.” Nothing could be clearer than that. To us today, he would say, “Don’t think that the first part of the Bible, plus-minus the first thousand pages is done away with. Don’t think that,“ says Jesus.
Now there is a sense in which he did come to do away with some of it. All the laws relating to sacrifice and service in the temple, things relating to whether you bring a bull or a calf or a dove – what is sometimes called the ceremonial law – Jesus does do away with that, although the word he uses is “fulfill”. In vs 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." In his sacrifice on the cross, he fulfills what all the many laws relating to sacrifice looked forward to. He fulfills them.
Much law in the Old Testament has to do with ritual – what you can eat, what you can’t eat, what you can touch, what you can’t touch, when you are clean, when you are unclean. Rituals like circumcision. These too are done away with or.... fulfilled.
But … Jesus did not take away the moral law. The Ten Commandments and the many other moral laws remained enforced by Jesus and they remain in place for us.
Vs 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 disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” The moral law is not done away with. In fact, when the Law is mixed with the Gospel, it becomes a promise. So, the moral law “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength” in someone who is born again, that command is actually now a promise. I will love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength. “Love your neighbour” is an Old Testament moral law – in you and me it can become a promise - I will love my neighbour. “Love your enemy”, another moral law. Wow, I will love my enemy.
Every command in Scripture comes with a promise of grace and power to obey it. That is good news, isn’t it? Isn’t that beautiful? God often says, “Be holy as I am holy.” That is a moral command. For us it is a promise of something that God will do in us, in fact something that he is doing in us this very moment. Remember the third beatitude which spoke of the blessing that comes to the meek? The Good News translation puts it this way: “The will receive what God has promised.” Do you see the great hope contained in those words? So every great command comes with the promise of grace. But remember this: every promise from God comes with an implied moral responsibility as well.
The Law and the Gospel are a beautiful oneness. They are meant for each other. The one fulfills the other. In vs 19, “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands 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." Willfully breaking one command makes us guilty of breaking all of them. There is no little sin. You and I are called to be obedient, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Our obedience shows us that we have faith in the saving power of Christ. Power to save us not only from sin, but from sinning.
We are saved by faith, but what is saving faith? It is a faith that works by love and it is a faith that comes with power. Saving faith is a powerful thing in your life and in mine. Just a mustard seed size of it can move a mountain. That is power.
John Wesley taught, and we believe, that faith without power is not faith. We need power to live a righteous life. We cannot do it on our own. You know that, don’t you? It’s your experience as much as it’s mine. We cannot do it on our own. We need power. Why? Well, Jesus goes on. “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 Pharisees were very righteous. They were good at doing what was right, at obeying God, doing the will of God, obeying the laws. In Bible Study we will look more at their righteousness. Suffice it to say that they studied the Scriptures, they prayed, they were honest, they fasted twice a week. They were regular in attendance at the Synagogue. They gave a tenth of their earnings to God. They gave another tenth of their earnings to the poor. We could go on and on. We will a little bit in the Bible Study. They were righteous and they were very obedient to the letter of the Law.
“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.” How do we surpass their righteousness? Well, ......everything the Pharisees did was spoilt by their wrong intention. They sought their own glory, not the glory of God. They did these things, obeyed these laws, because they had to and not because they wanted to. There was no love in their religion, no love for God and no love for others. No love. Their religion did not come from the heart.
For our righteousness to exceed theirs, it is necessary not only to do what is good and right but to do it with the right intention. To do it because we want to do it and to do it to the glory of God.
Now you might be beginning to understand why Jesus will say later in the Sermon on the Mount, “The road to heaven is narrow and it is difficult and there are few people on it.” The good news is that anyone, please hear that, anyone can get onto the road to salvation. Anyone can be saved. Anyone can receive power from on high to live life down here on planet earth. The good news is that if Jesus says your righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees, then the promise is that your righteousness can and will surpass that of the Pharisees.
Do you have this hope in you? Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that to have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. You might not see this righteousness in your life right now, you might well be unsatisfied in this area of your life but you can hope for it. And then, in the words of Jesus, you can hunger and you can thirst for it. Do you remember the blessing that comes to those who thirst and hunger for righteousness? God will satisfy you fully. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that really exciting? I would jump up and down for joy but the person filming this doesn’t have a wide enough angled lens to catch how high I would want to jump at that incredibly good news. It’s exciting, I hope it’s exciting for you.
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. Do you want a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees? Do you want to be holy like God is holy? Do you really want to? I would hope that by now you are saying, “Yes, this is the deepest desire of my heart. Lord, you know it is.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, know this: If it is your desire, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, God will do it in you.
Amen
