Matthew 5:17
Open:
We have transitioned into a new era (Postmodern era) without most of us realizing it. Princeton theologian Diogenes Allen says, “A massive intellectual revolution is taking place that is perhaps as great as that which marked off the modern world from the Middle Ages.” Before someone yawns and sighs, “Who cares?” I need to inform you of some of the monumental changes in what distinguishes this new era from what we’ve all known and been accustomed to.
What we’ve always held to be true is now being challenged by a new way of looking at the world that sees to be taking hold of every aspect of the culture. The basic shift may be summed up by the statement of postmodernists that says: “There are no absolutes.” This is the breakdown of belief. Today, there is no universal consensus about what is true.”
Translation: “If it feels good—do it.” “If it sounds right—believe it.”
What does this have to do with our text? Everything!
The Jews were asking Jesus the same basic question millions of Americans are asking today. They wanted to know what to hold onto/what to count on.
Jesus’ meekness, humility, gentleness, and loved was a great contrast to the proud, selfish, and arrogant Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and priests. His call to repentance and His proclamation of the kingdom made people listen, even if they did not understand or agree. They wondered if he was just another prophet, or even a false prophet. They wondered if he was a political or military revolutionary who might be the militaristic Messiah they were expecting.
What everyone did agree upon was that Jesus was different! He did not identify himself with the scribal schools or religious movements. He identified himself with the outcaste, sick, sinful, needy people.
Whereas all the other rabbis and religious leaders talked only about the religious externals and traditions, Jesus taught about the heart.
But the primary concern of every faithful Jews was, “What does he think about the law; what does he think of Moses and the prophets?” If Jesus was doing away with the law, what was left to hold onto, to count on?
Jesus here tells us that there is something to hold onto, something to count on. When everyone around you shouts that everything is relative, remember what Jesus teaches in this text: The absolute, what you can always count on, is the law of the eternally sovereign God.
But, what is to law of God that Jesus says never changes?
I. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT WHAT JESUS SAID (v.17).
Jesus’ warning, do not think, indicates that most, if not all, of his listeners had a wrong conception about his teaching.
Most traditionalistic Jews considered the rabbinic instructions to be the proper interpretations of the law of Moses, and they concluded that, because Jesus did not scrupulously follow those traditions, He obviously was doing away with the law or relegating to a status of minor importance.
Because Jesus swept away the traditions of washings, special tithes, extreme Sabbath observance, etc., the people thought He was overthrowing God’s law.
1. Jesus begins by telling them that they were seriously mistaken about his view of the law.
The word Jesus uses for abolish is kataluo and it means to utterly overthrow or destroy, and is the same word used for the destruction of the Temple (Mt 24:2) and of the death of the physical body (2 Co 5:1).
The basic idea of “abolish” is to tear down and smash to the ground, to obliterate completely. In several places the word is used figuratively to nullify something, render it useless.
2. Jesus says that he had not come to nullify, to tear down and smash to the ground the law.
“The Law and the Prophets” represent what we now call the Old Testament, the only written Scripture at the time Jesus preached.
Everything Jesus taught directly in his own ministry, and everything he taught indirectly through the apostles, is based on the Old Testament. It is therefore impossible to understand the New Testament apart from the Old.
The rabbis looked through Scripture to find various rules and to those they added their own “take” on them—they would add supplemental requirements.
It was the keeping of such external minutia that had become the essence of the law for the scribes and Pharisees and many other Jews as well.
Jesus condemned such man-made traditions and requirements but upheld the true Word of God as something to count on.
II. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS YOUR HEART (v. 17b).
Jesus said he came not to abolish the Word of God but to fulfill it.
To “fulfill” means that Jesus took the letter of the law and expanded it to include the heart of the law.
There were 3 categories of law in the Old Testament and Jesus went to the heart of each of them:
1. Jesus Fulfills the Moral Law.
The moral law was the direct command of God in the 10 commandments.
Jesus was concerned with the heart and not just a person’s action or inaction.
2. Jesus Fulfills the Civil Law.
The civil laws were those related to daily living, agriculture, diet, cleanliness, dress, etc. These were special standards that were to set apart God’s people from the rest of the world.
Christ dwelling in us should set us apart from the world. His living in us should make a difference in what we say, how we think, how we act.
3. Jesus Fulfills the Ceremonial Law.
The ceremonial law governed the form of Israel’s worship. God’s people were to worship and love a holy God.
Sacrifice was the heart of the Old Testament worship.
As the perfect sacrifice, Jesus brought all other sacrifices to an end.
Galatians 3:24, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”
CLOSE:
So, we do have something we can count on. There is an absolute in this life after all. That which never changes is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God. And together, they expose our hearts, because that is what Jesus is concerned with. You can count on the fact that Jesus wants your heart to be right before God.
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, Pastor)
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