JESUS’ SERMON ON THE MOUNT
III. “A Place to Stand”
9-24-06
Ken Peterson
Mtt. 5:17-20
TEXT: I tell you the truth,
Until heaven and earth disappear,
Not the smallest letter, not even the least stroke of the pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (18).
INTRODUCTION
Please humor me as we conduct a little experiment this morning. I’d like everyone to close their eyes and think of which direction is north in relation to where you are sitting. Now, this is next step is voluntary, no one has to do it, but I hope a lot do. Please raise an arm and point to what you feel is north– no peeking. Thank you. Let’s put our arms safely down now and open our eyes.
As you can guess, we are not unanimous in our idea of what is north. Who is right? Well, I have the authority here, a compass. True north is... To some of you, that probably “feels right,” and to others, it doesn’t. And there is probably a third group who is clueless and thinks, “Who cares?”
I bought this compass a couple of months ago. I haven’t had a compass for years, having lost the one I had from my dad’s brief time of owning an Army Surplus store. Polly doesn’t have the best sense of direction, and I’m usually pretty good, so I’ve been her compass. When we moved here and bought our house, one day she asked me to point out exactly where true north was. I took her out on the deck and pointed it out, giving her a landmark to go by, looking straight toward Orchard View Drive from our sliding glass door. That has been our north for four years. With my new compass, I decided to check my reckoning of north from our house. When I set the compass on the deck railing to get my reading, what I had reckoned north to be was about 30 degrees off the compass reading. And, I’m not kidding, my first reaction was, “This compass is wrong! I should have bought the more expensive one.” Then, I remembered lining up all three of the choices I had of compasses in the store, and they all pointed the same direction. But it still didn’t “feel” right.
Billy Graham tells a story about early in his ministry, being in a town where there were holding a crusade. He was looking for the post office, so he asked a young boy for directions. The boy told him. Then, Billy Graham said that they were having a special meeting and invited the boy to come. The boy asked what the meeting was about. Billy responded, I’ll tell you how to get to heaven. The boy said, “I don’t think so! You don’t even know where the post office is.”
A PLACE TO STAND
We need an objective authority outside ourselves, don’t we? While we need a compass to give us geographical direction, we also need an unswerving moral and spiritual authority. And that includes directions to heaven.
Do you ever get the feeling that our society rests on unstable ground? There seems to be nothing
to anchor to. We certainly live in a time of shifting values and morals. In a recent Gallup poll, two-thirds of Americans said there are few, if any, absolute principles to direct human behavior. But, here in our text, Jesus is giving us a safe, immovable place to stand:
I tell you the truth,
Until heaven and earth disappear,
Not the smallest letter, not even the least stroke of the pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (18).
I take my title from that famous statement by Archimedes who stated (referring to the physics of levers), “Give me a place to stand and I can move the earth.” Jesus is declaring God’s Word and promises can be counted on when everything else fails or is uncertain. When our world disintegrates around us, when nothing seems solid, when things we counted on are ripped away from us, and when we are confused by voices inside and outside pulling different directions– Jesus is giving us a place to stand where we can rest solidly on God’s unchanging promises. If we don’t have a solid, unmoveable place to stand, we cannot move our world in the right direction.
Remember, the Sermon on the Mount, with which Jesus launches His teaching ministry, is a summary of what life looks like when we truly let Jesus have His way in our lives. The sermon opens with the Beatitudes which speak to us of being. The essence of the Christian life is unconditional love. It is not earned, but pure grace we receive as we relinquish our lives to Jesus and then experience His blessedness, the deep joy He brings. Then, as our lives flow outward in our love for others, we begin to experience the blessedness of ministry. Then, last week, Jesus moves on to commissioning these disciples using two strong “You are” statements, each coupled with a metaphor– salt and light– defining who we are and our role in the world.
Now Jesus begins a series of commands of what we are to do in this Christian life. Dr. Dale Bruner has divided this section into a Christian Heptalog, seven commands, one for each day of the week as a means of instruction and emphasis. Today’s text he identifies as Sunday, the first day of the week and it is Scripture Day. Following this are then six reinterpretations of Old Testament commands: "You have heard it said.... but I say to you...” Each of the seven commands in effect strengthens the Word of God that has already been spoken in the Old Testament.
I want to share with you Dale Brunner's translation of the Scripture we’re meditating on this morning. He has a literalness in his translation from the Greek I find helpful.
Do not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill them. For Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one dot of an i, not one cross of a t, will drop out of the law before it all happens. So whoever loosens up even one of the least of these commands, and so by his behavior teaches others to do the same, will be called "least" in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called "Great" in the kingdom of heaven. Because I want to tell you something: Unless your righteousness is greater than that of the Bible teachers and the Pharisees, you will never even get into the kingdom of heaven."
FILLING SCRIPTURE FULL
In this first major teaching of Jesus’ ministry, he begins by saying unequivocally that he did not come to change the Old Testament or set it aside. The term, "The Law and The Prophets," is a way of designating the entire Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill it, or to do it, or to accomplish all it says. Let's break "fulfill" into its component words– full and fill– to get a feel of what He is saying. Jesus is saying He came to "fill the Old Testament Scriptures full" with obedience and meaning.
What can that mean? Well, I think it can be seen in two ways. First, only Jesus completely obeyed the law. Only Jesus was a sinless man. But secondly, Jesus came in fulfillment of much of what the law was about. For instance, the elaborate sacrificial system of offering animals to atone for sin did not save. Only Jesus saves. Yet, people were saved by faithfully following the law, bringing lambs to be slain in their place for sins, because it all pre-figured Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross as The Lamb of God, “slain from the foundation of the world”(Rev. 13:8).
It all worked retroactively when Christ came to fill it full of meaning. Throughout the Old Testament, bringing your sacrifice and laying it on the altar was an act of faith, awaiting Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. Furthermore, everything in the Old Testament was in sense preparing for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. God was forming a special people, a nation into which He could send His Son. The laws were to help them become a Holy Nation. There needed to be a place– a particular piece of geography and a particular nation of people into which the Messiah could be born. That is the story of the Old Testament. Throughout those almost 2,000 years, prophecies are sprinkled regarding the coming Messiah. So, in all those senses, Jesus fills the Old Testament full of meaning.
Unfortunately, Christians too often seem to feel a tension with the Old Testament. They say things like, "I prefer the God of the New Testament to God of the Old Testament." Actually it is a rather silly statement, since it is the same God. God hasn’t changed. But, we know what is meant. With only the less-complete revelation of the Old Testament, there are aspects of God’s nature we may not understand, particularly the extent of His incredible love. On the other hand, we must remember that Jesus' Bible was our Old Testament. Perhaps if we referred to the Old Testament as Jesus’ Bible, maybe we would approach it with more sensitivity and anticipation. What Jesus learned about God and shared with us was from the Old Testament along with God's personal revelation to Him. His teaching was immersed in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Jesus is saying, what He is teaching is the message of the Old Testament in its fullest sense. Jesus is stressing that everything in the Old Testament is of importance and God's unchanging Word to us. Not the smallest letter or the least pen stroke in what is written can be changed.
When we know Jesus, we can read the Old Testament in light of Him and gather its full meaning. We don't have the option of choosing between a God of love and a God of wrath and judgment. Both testaments are true and compatible. We need the Old Testament to see the seriousness of sin and to understand our propensity toward evil. There isn’t enough time to answer all your questions now about the Old Testament and what you may see as contradictions to the New in just one sermon. But, Jesus is saying here, we must give up that arrogance that approaches Scripture through the lens of our judgement, thinking:
“I like this, but I don't like that.”
“I reject this story because I don't think God would command Israel to slaughter all these people in this story.”
“This miracle must be myth. It is just too much to believe God would...”
No. Scripture judges us, we don’t judge it. And we must ask ourselves what each and every passage, Old and New Testament, reveals to us about God. As we come to Jesus, we must let Him fill the Old Testament full of meaning, insight, and direction for us. I have little problem with the Old Testament. O, yes, there are those things I'd like to cut out too, but I realize my squirming is due to my conditioning in 21st century America. The Old Testament reminds us that evil is serious and causes terrible destruction. We are in a war that is not easily won. The cross stands as a reminder of this. Without the Old Testament, our concept of redemption is mushy and it lacks the power we need to know the depths of sin and the depths of the love of God.
THE DURABILITY OF SCRIPTURE
Jesus also emphasizes the durability of God’s Word. It cannot pass away, it is eternal. To emphasize this statement, he precedes it by His "Amen, I say to you..." In the KJV, it is "Verily, I say unto you..." The Greek word is "Amen." Whenever it is used by Jesus, it carries the highest authority– a kind of verbal setting in bold what follows. This is the first use of this expression by Jesus, and it is notable that He uses it to emphasize the immutability of the Old Testament Scripture. Also, remember what Jesus says in Mtt. 24:35, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." Jesus' words go beyond heaven and earth's existence and are eternal.
But, you may say, we don't obey all the laws of the Old Testament such as the dietary and ceremonial practices. Are we just picking what we want to observe? No. There are three parts to the Law given in the Old Testament:
1. The moral law as in the Ten Commandments, and that is forever binding. It is how our God created our world to work.
2. The Ceremonial and Religious Observance laws. This includes the sacrificial system, the offerings, the design of the tabernacle and the temple, and the practices of priests. It is all fulfilled in Christ. These are not discarded as much as completed in Christ. So with Christ in our lives, we are practicing even more fully in the worship of God without the externals. The Book of Hebrews is classic in interpreting this for us.
3. The Judicial laws for the governing of the nation of Israel. These include things like the requirement that houses must have a parapet around the roof (Deut. 22:8). It was for safety, not decoration. So, building codes got their start in the Bible! And, every seventh year, they were to let the land lie fallow– agricultural regulations and conservation practice. And, there were rules about punishing wrong-doers, loaning money, etc. After Christ’s coming, the role of Israel as a theocracy and a witness to the nations has passed, along with those rules. We are the new Israel, the church. So, the Judicial parts are fulfilled by Christ.
Of course, there is much more involved in a faithful interpretation of Scripture. But that gives us a start.
THE NECESSITY OF OBEDIENCE
Jesus goes on to stress the necessity of obeying all of God's Words to us. He warns us against the temptation to dismiss Scripture, to “relativize” it, to get out from under its difficult texts cheaply. He says to beware of loosening the text's simple meanings. It is a call to honest exegesis. This applies not only to outward compliance, but (as we shall see in the next weeks) the spirit and intent of the law. Jesus pronounces judgement of those who break even the least of the commands that they will be least in His kingdom. The word used here, translated “break” in the NIV is translated more literally by Bruner as “loosens up.” It includes belittling or minimizing. Thus, if we minimize any of Scripture, our life in His kingdom will be minimalized.
Then Jesus makes a truly shocking statement, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (20)
No one in that day was stricter at observing all the law than the Pharisees. But the problem was, as we'll discuss often in next weeks, that it was all external observance. Their hearts remained unchanged. That is why we need a Savior. Only He can get inside us and change our motivation and cleanse the inner disease of sin. Only He can purify us and make us holy. And, as He gives the law its true meaning in his repeated, "You have heard it said...but I say to you,” in his revisiting some of the Ten Commandments, we discover the utter impossibility of fulfilling the law. We realize we cannot be saved by our perfect obedience, but only through His saving grace.
When we receive Jesus into our lives, he literally becomes our righteousness.
In the next few weeks, we’ll explore further how Jesus fills Scripture full of meaning and life-giving power. In fact, while we have the written Word of God in Scripture, Jesus is the Living Word of God to us. With Him, all of God’s Word comes to life, not only as our compass, pointing us in the right direction, but empowering us to live like Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Lee Eclov tells about the philosopher Emile Cailliet who was born in a small French village near the end of the 19th century. His early education was committed to naturalism, leaving no room for God or the supernatural. Then when he was 20-years-old, he was thrust into the front lines of WW I. In the horrors of war, he felt the uselessness of all his philosophizing when his buddy died standing in front of him, speaking to him of his mother. He writes,
“Was there a meaning to it all? A [person] can endure anything if only it appears meaningful... I felt– not with my reason, but with my whole being– that I was naked and, war or no war, destined to perish miserably when the hour came.”
Then, one night a bullet found Cailliet. His life was saved by American medics, but he was hospitalized 9 months. When he was discharged to resume his studies, he had to admit that the books no longer seemed like the same books. He says:
“During the long night watches in the foxholes I had in a strange way been longing– I just say it, however queer it may sound– for a book that would understand me. But I knew of no such book. Now I would in secret prepare one for my own private use. And so, as I went on reading for my courses, I would file passages that would speak to my condition, then carefully copy them in a leather-bound pocket book I would always carry with me. The quotations, which I numbered in red ink for easier reference, would lead me as it were from fear and anguish, through a variety of intervening stages, to supreme utterances of release and jubilation.”
Then the day came for him to read through it, “the book that would understand me.” He sat under a tree and read through his precious anthology and was overcome by disappointment. Cailliet realized it would not work simply because it was of his own making. It carried no strength of persuasion.
On that same day, his wife had come into possession of a Bible by extraordinary circumstances. He had always been adamant that religion was taboo in their home, and at the age of 23 had never seen a Bible. His wife was apologetically trying to explain how she happened to pick up a copy of the Bible, but after his disappointment, he felt an eagerness to it. He describes what happened next:
“I literally grabbed the book and rushed to my study with it. I opened it and ‘chanced’ upon the Beatitudes. I read and read and read– now aloud with an indescribable warmth surging within... I could not find words to express my awe and wonder. And suddenly the realization dawned upon me: this was the Book that would understand me! I needed it so much, yet, unaware, I had attempted to write my own– in vain. I continued to read deeply into the night, mostly from the Gospels, and lo and behold, as I looked through them, the one of whom they spoke, the one who spoke and acted in them, became alive in me.”
Do you fully appreciate the gift we have in Scripture? It is indeed the book that understands us and leads us to God. When you feel torn apart inside and your world dissolves around you in ways beyond your control, here indeed is a place to stand. It always thrills my pastor's heart when I hear from someone in the church in great personal crisis say something like:
"I didn't know what to do, but then I began reading one Psalm after another and I’ve just been living with them. I find my perspective restored, and the beginnings of hope and assurance from God again."
No matter what people may do to us or life may throws at us, God’s purposes and plans, revealed through His Word will prevail. And the bottom line to it all is His unfailing love toward us. That is something you can count on that is true for all of eternity. It is our reliable compass continually leading us to God.