|
HOUSMAIL
HM028
25 June 1999 THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW" These
are the words of Jesus: "Think not
that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets;" I have come not
to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and
earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is
accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and
teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who
does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:17-20 RSV) Immediately
following these words Jesus commences a series of interpretations of the Law
of Moses, in which he begins with "Ye have heard that it was said
....." and then goes on to say, "BUT I SAY TO YOU ....." There
are some who carelessly wrest the Scriptures to say that Jesus came to lower
the requirements of obedience, so that we could all be saved with less effort
and less inconvenience on our part! This philosophy amounts to a state of
rebellion against the real teaching of Jesus! It creates a fuzzy and
deceptive gospel of tolerance and indulgence, which is falsely defined as
"love" and "grace". And calls to honest and practical
heart's obedience, are rejected as "legalism". But if we honestly
and carefully compare that with the actual words of Jesus, it is nothing less
than a thinly disguised revelation of an unbelieving heart! Others
seem to think that Jesus was CHANGING the law! He was not! When
He said "Ye have heard ..... " he was stating the common
understanding of the law as taught by the Scribes and Pharisees of that day.
And when He said, "But I say ...... " He was making a challenging
contrast between what they said, and His own PERFECT understanding of how God
really meant the Jews to obey the words of Moses. For those who heard Him, He
was raising the standard FAR HIGHER than they were being taught by their
religious leaders! It
is also clear that He expected them to OBEY this radical teaching! First He
defined what HE meant by fulfilment of the law and the prophets. Then He said
"Be ye perfect ...... ". (i.e. perfect in doing what He had just
taught.) And the standard for measuring the required "perfection"
is ..... "as your heavenly Father is perfect"! (Matthew 5:48) ..... That is a LOT
of perfection, isn't it? Some
make the fearful mistake of explaining these words away as impossible for
humans. Others pay lip service but think they can be ignored as
"impractical" in our late 20th century middle class urban culture.
But consider this ..... if it really is impossible or impractical for humans
to obey, then there could be no real justice in God's future judgement
against those sinners who fail to do the impossible! To accuse God of that
sort of injustice, is a serious SLANDER against God! Read
the Sermon on the Mount again ..... carefully. Is there anything there that
is impossible? Moreover, Jesus was human ..... AND HE OBEYED ALL OF IT! There
lies THE GOOD NEWS. If obedience is possible for the human Jesus, then it is
NOT impossible for OTHER HUMANS, who love God as He does! They too can LEARN
to obey, as He did. (Hebrews 5:8-10) Of
course, for all of us it is true that, in our past lives, before we heard
Jesus, we have all "sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". (Romans 3:23) However, in
COMMANDING obedience, Jesus is NOT concerned with past failures (Acts 17:30) but with what He can
teach us to do with the rest of our mortal "born again" new lives,
which follow on from belief and baptism. Belief
in the Gospel of the Kingdom (ALL OF IT ..... including this beautiful
teaching about radical obedience) leads to repentance. And TRUE repentance
leads inevitably to the making of a covenant with God to live for the future,
in a way which demonstrates BOTH faith (James 2:18-26) and repentance. (Acts 26:20) IMPOSSIBLE
THINGS? When
confronted with the impossibility of a Virgin Birth, Mary's reaction was to
believe the angel who said: "For with God nothing shall be
impossible." (Luke 1:37) Nearly two thousand
years before, those same words had inspired the faith which preceded the
birth of Isaac to the 90-year-old barren Sarah, and Abraham whose
100-year-old body was "as good as dead". (Romans 4:19-21) Now for Mary, they
led to something even more "impossible"! A Virgin Birth was no more
impossible, than the birth of Isaac. Nor, half a lifetime later, was the
resurrection of Mary's miraculously conceived child, any less possible. And
in due time, neither will our own resurrection be any less possible. So
why should we doubt the PROMISE inherent in that commandment from Jesus, to
"be perfect"? Here
is Paul's challenge: "Put off your old nature which belongs to
your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be
renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after
the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24) And
here is Paul's prayer for that "impossible" miracle to happen: "For this reason I bow my knees before the
Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that
according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with
might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have
power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. (Ephesians 3:14-19) Is it
really true? Can we be truly filled with "all the fullness of God"?
Can we really grow to "mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ"? (Ephesians 4:13) In
answer to that question, Paul was INSPIRED to write: "Now to him who by the power at work
within us is able to do FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, to
him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever
and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21) Freely
paraphrased, Paul is saying there that it can happen for us, FAR BEYOND OUR
WILDEST IMAGINATION! "For with God NOTHING shall be impossible!" That is part of the FAITH OF ABRAHAM! CONCLUSION Believing
the Gospel this way, offers real assurance of an inheritance in the Kingdom
of God. Indeed, without this life changing repentance, the message of the
Kingdom is not Good News at all! It is only the BAD NEWS of impending
Judgment! The
commandment from Jesus to "be perfect", is NOT intended to be
changed, ignored, or explained away as impossible. Instead of automatically
reacting with reasons as to why it might not mean EXACTLY what it says, we
should rather be praying for love, and faith, and wisdom, and help from God,
to understand the outer limits of what it means, and then do the
"impossible". May
we continue to pray that way, until, with God's help (and NEVER without God!)
we reach that state of full-grown maturity in Christ, which experiences the
fullness of that beautiful GOSPEL PROMISE inherent in the command from Jesus! Allon |