REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14) HAVE SOMEONE COME FORWARD AND EXPLAIN THE CHART.)
FLIP CHART: Go over John Stott’s outline of SOM.
INTRODUCTION:
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. An Introduction to Six Illustrations
2. Five Principles that Underlie a Christians Righteousness
3. Weighing the OT Law of the Sabbath Using the Five Principles
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you …………. You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that …… It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that ………….. Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, ………… “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: ………. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:21-48).
SIX ILLUSTRATIONS OF FIVE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING A CHRISTIAN’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
I. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
These illustrations are sometimes referred to as six anti-thesis. A contrast of two ideas that are in opposition to each other. Statement / Anti-statement; Concept/Anti-concept
1. Murder (5:21-26) … The 6th Commandment
2. Adultery (5:27-30) … The 7th Commandment
3. Divorce (5:31-32) … Deut. 24:1
4. Oaths (5:33-37) … Lev. 19:12; Numbers 30:2
5. Legal Rights (5:38-42) …Ex. 21:24-25, Lev 24:20, Dt. 19:21
6. Love for Enemies (5:43-48) … Lev. 19:18
(1) Prohibition against murder – Warning against anger & hate.
(2) Prohibition against adultery – Warning against lustful thoughts.
(3) The regularization of divorce (marriage as exploitation) – The permanence of the marriage (equal respect as persons)
(4) Oaths, as assurance of truth telling – No oaths: integrity, as assurance of truth telling.
(5) Lextalionis: equal retaliation as the way of resolving disputes – Reconciliation through creative suffering.
(6) Loving one’s neighbor and hating one’s enemy – Loving ones enemy
Four of the illustrations – Murder, Adultery, Oaths, Love for Enemies are based on commandments; Divorce and Legal Rights can be described as giving permission. The Pharisees and Scribes minimized the commandments and stretched the permission.
Some have debated that the new teaching is Jesus correcting Moses; Others say it is Jesus correcting the Pharisees.
When Jesus confronted the devil in the wilderness He said, “It is written.” In these six illustrations he says, “It was said” and “It has been said.”
Saying that the six illustrations is Jesus correcting Moses is like saying it is Jesus correcting Jesus, for Jesus / Jehovah gave these laws to Moses at Sinai. Remember Jesus said, “I am that I am.” He is the great “I am.”
Jesus is not legislating new law here. He is seeking to correct the misinterpretations of the Scribes and Pharisees and help the listeners to understand the true intent of the law. The Pharisees and the Scribes weakened the Law and in some ways negated the law. They were making the law easier.
“Our Lord’s chief desire was to show the true meaning and intent of the law, and to correct the erroneous conclusions which had been drawn from the Pharisees and scribes and all the false notions which they had founded upon it” (MLJ 216).
John Calvin: Jesus is not performing the work of a legislator of a new law when giving the Sermon on the Mount. He is a faithful expounder of the law that had already been given (Stott 80).
The teaching of Jesus is 5:21-48 shows how the righteousness taught by Jesus surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
II. FIVE PRINCIPLES THAT UNDERLIE A CHRISTIAN’S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The rest of the Sermon on the Mount – 5:21-7:27 is an elaboration of Mt. 5:20 …. How a Christian’s righteousness can surpass the righteousness of the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
But the question is, how do you interpret and apply some of these instructions: Anger is as bad as murder; cut off hand, gouge out eye if tempted by lust, no divorce even for abandonment and physical abuse, not oath taking whatsoever, never defend yourself, give away anything that a person asks of you.
We need to focus on the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, not as a code of ethics.
READ: He is concerned about the principles rather that the detailed examples. So if we take the illustrations and turn them into law we are denying the very thing He was setting out to do. Now it is characteristic of human nature that we always prefer to have things cut and dried rather than to have them in the form of principles. That is why certain forms of religion are always popular. The natural man likes to be given a definite list; then he feels that, as long as he conforms to the things stated in the list, all will be well. (MLJ, 215).
If we study the Sermon on the Mount carefully we will discover at least five principles that guide and inform the righteousness of the Christian. Here Jesus gives us six illustrations and each one of these illustrations reinforce the five principles that underlie all true Christian righteousness.
“I do not hesitate to suggest that our Lord was really more concerned about these common principles that He was about the particulars. In other words, He lays down certain principles and then illustrates them. Obviously, therefore, we must make certain that we really grasp the principles first.” ( MLJ, 211).
“So if we take the [six] illustrations and turn them into law we are denying the very thing He was setting out to do.” (MLJ, 215).
WE MUST OBEY THE LAW IN THE LIGHT OF THESE FIVE PRINCIPLES IF WE ARE TO CULTIVATE TRUE CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1. The spirit, not the letter of the law, [content instead of form] must take priority.
QUESTION c/ FLIP CHART: What does a picture perfect wedding look like? Write “Picture Perfect Wedding” on top of chart and then list all of the input of the class.
Now emphasize that the wedding can follow the “letter” or “form” of the perfect wedding and yet be a travesty if the bride and groom to not really love and respect each other. The love and respect are ‘spirit’ and ‘content’ and all of us would agree that ‘spirit and content’ in a wedding is far more important that ‘letter and form.’
ILL: Hug Gloria while reading the paper – letter without spirit.
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (II Cor. 3:6). “It is a spiritual, not a written law.” (Knox).
“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, the Spirit, not by the written code.” (Romans 2:28-29).
2. Conformity to the law is more than just actions.
Thoughts, motives and desires are equally important. The law of God is concerned with what leads to the action and not just with the action itself.
3. The law contains both positive as well as negative values.
We tend to always see the law as restrictive, “Thou shalt not” instead of seeing it as positive, as protective. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” protects my wife and family as well as the neighbor’s wife and family.
4. The law is to be used as a means of developing spiritual character.
Ill: The law is a beautician, personal trainer, dietician, interior decorator etc. Its goal is to edify, to beautify, to make us into the image of Christ, to make us all that God wants us to be.
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” (Ps. 119:9).
5. The law is not an end in itself, but a means by which we come to know God.
READING: The one test which you must always apply to yourself is this, ‘What is my relationship to God? Do I know Him? Am I pleasing Him?’ In other words, as you examine yourself before you go to bed, you do not just ask yourself if you have committed murder or adultery, or whether you have been guilty of this or that, and if you have not, thank God that all is well. No. You ask yourself rather, ‘Has God been supreme in my life today? Have I lived to the glory and honor of God? Do I know Him better? Have I a zeal for His honor and glory? Has there been anything in me that has been unlike Christ – thoughts, imaginations, desires, impulses?’ In other words, you examine yourself in the light of a living Person and not merely in terms of a mechanical code of rules and regulations. And as the law must not be thought of as an end in itself, neither must the Sermon on the Mount. These are simply agencies which are meant to bring us into that true and living relationship with God. We must always be very careful, therefore, lest we do with the Sermon on the Mount what the Pharisees and the scribes had been doing with the old moral law. (MLJ, 219)
III. THE OT LAW OF THE SABBATH AND THE FIVE PRINCIPLES
“On the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing’; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Gen. 2-3)
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Ex. 20:8-11)
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” (Isa. 58:13-14)
READ: Matthew 12:1-13
CLASS ACTIVITY: Evaluate Matthew 12:1-13 along with the OT Law in the light of the five principles.
1. The spirit, not the letter of the law, [content instead of form] must take priority.
QUESTION: According to Mt. 12:1-3 how did the Pharisees contradict the spirit of the Sabbath law?
Ill: As long as the Pharisees and scribes did not actually bear a burden on the Sabbath, they thought they were keeping the law perfectly. Did they prioritize the Sabbath as a day to cultivate their relationship with God, to meditate on His attributes, to worship Him, to develop a closer relationship with Him?
In Matthew 12:1-14 – The letter = Do not harvest, do not heal on the Sabbath; The spirit = Mercy.
2. Conformity to the law is more than just actions.
QUESTION: What thoughts and motives should the Pharisees have had besides being concerned about the correct observance of the Sabbath in Mt. 12:1-3?
ILL: So they asked the question: ‘Well, what is work? The word of God says that work was to carry a burden, perhaps – that’s how they interpreted it. But to say it’s to carry a burden wasn’t enough, they had to go on and say: ‘Well, what is that burden? What’s the definition of the burden?’ So, the scribal law that was written down – and I have it before me here, I’m going to read it to you – this is what they say was the law, the rule, the regulation for the Sabbath day: ‘A burden is: food, equal to the weight of a dried fig; enough wine for mixing in a goblet; milk, enough for one swallow; honey, enough to put into a wound; oil, enough to anoint a part of the body; water, enough to moisten the eye salve; paper, enough to write a customs house notice upon; ink, enough to write two letters of the alphabet; and a piece of reed, enough to make a pen with to write those two letters.’ (David Legge).
3. The law contains both positive as well as negative values.
QUESTION: What would be a positive aspect of keeping the Sabbath or one day in seven for the Lord?
We can teach against breaking the Sabbath as “Thou shalt not,” which we should do, but we must not stop here. We must be positive and show that by giving us one day in seven, God has given us a great gift …. time. Time to spend with Him. Time when we don’t have to work. Time when we can focus totally on His person, read His Word, read books about Him, worship Him. A day free from the burdens of the world.
In Matthew 12:1-14 the Pharisees were saying what you could not do …. But there was no emphasis in their Sabbath law on what you should do. Most of the emphasis was on the negative …. Whereas there is much positive about the Sabbath.
4. The law is to be used as a means of developing spiritual character.
QUESTION: According to Mt. 12:1-3 how could the Pharisees have seen the Sabbath as a means of developing spiritual character?
We must not think of the keeping one day in seven for spiritual life development as something that cramps us, as something that is restrictive.
Ill: The law is a beautician, personal trainer, dietician, interior decorator etc. Its goal is to edify, to beautify, to make into the image of Christ, to make us all that God wants us to be.
This “First Day of the Week” is a special time to let the law of God do its work of beautifying our souls. It is a time for working with our “Personal Trainer,” the Holy Spirit. It is a time for consulting with our dietician and inviting the “Interior Decorator” to work in our soul.
5. The law is not an end in itself, but a means by which we come to know God.
QUESTION: According to Mt. 12:1-3 how could the Pharisees have seen the Sabbath as a means of coming to know God better?
In Matthew 12:1-14 how could the keeping of the Sabbath Law be used as a means to know God better? We might see his concern for His hungry disciples and their well-being superseded the restriction against work. We might see that God is more concerned about helping a sufferer than keeping a tradition.
SO WHAT!!!
1. Jesus, instead of giving us a new set of laws, gives us a set of principles that guide is in living righteous lives.
2. We must focus on content / spirit more than letter / form when obeying the law.
3. God’s law intends to develop our spiritual character, to draw us closer to Him.