Mt. 5:13-20
As Jesus taught the people out on the hillside above the lake, He realized that they had lost their ability to think God’s thoughts. They had been steeped in years of trying to outthink the output of men’s view of life. Let me explain. When God gave the law to Moses, it was given simply as a means of showing mankind how God views life. It was meant to help man find the best way to live life…how to discover happiness and health and the meaning to life. But within a very short period of time, the Jewish people began to take the law and codify it and expand it until it became an impossible onus around their neck. They grew to hate it and looked for every possible way to get around it. They had ridiculous tricks for sidestepping the law. For example, they could not travel from their homes on the Sabbath more than 2000 cubits. That was called a “Sabbath’s day journey.” But you could get around that by taking some food with you and stopping to eat it which meant that was your new home. Then you could go another 2000 cubits and stop and establish a new home, etc.
They had systems set up which allowed them to “legally” circumvent the law. Nevertheless, the law was always hanging over them and it had ceased to be what it was meant to be and had instead become something that continually caused them to look for ways to legally break it. How sad. So it no longer helped them to see who God was and instead, made God out to be an ogre that they feared and wanted to deceive. In short, they began practicing religion and not relationship. God was not someone that loved them but someone Who was always angry with them for breaking the law.
Now Jesus arrives on the scene and puts a new standard before them. He helps them to understand the mind of God. Paul told the Corinthians that strange as it may seem, we actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of God (I Cor. 2:16). Jesus said to them that it is not only the man who actually commits murder that is guilty in God’s sight but the man who is angry with his brother as well. That was a totally new thought to the Jewish people. It is not only the man who commits adultery and consummates the act but the man who allows the unclean thought to settle in his mind also. He is guilty in God’s sight. The Jewish people were concerned with the letter of the law, but Jesus is telling them that God is concerned with the reason behind the law.
The reality is that in everyone of us there is a battle which must be waged between the desires of the flesh and the desires to follow after God. If we genuinely give our lives to Christ, Christ will become the power in our lives and His power is the greatest power in the universe. Our victory over sin comes from bathing ourselves in His power. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loves me and gave His life for me” (Gal. 2:19, 20).
There are two important factors in that verse. First, the power of God over sin and 2). The love factor. Love is the most motivating force in the world. King Edward abdicated the throne of England in order to enjoy the love of one Wallace Simpson, an American divorcee. As Christians, we have access to the greatest power the world has ever known. It is the power that created the universe and hung the stars in space. Paul told the Colossians that “Christ is the image of the invisible God. By Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And…He is also the head of His body, the church” (Col. 1:15-18). You have access to that power because Christ lives in you.
But…the love relationship has to be there. If you are in love with yourself, then you will experience no more power than you are able to generate in your own puny strength. That’s not much! Even a Rambo like Samson was no match for a few men when he trusted in himself rather than in God. But when you fall in love with Jesus and He becomes your all in all, you have tapped into some serious power. Satan does not have the power to stand up against a believer who is vitally connected to the source of all power. He trembles when he sees a believer on his knees, connecting to the Ruler of the Universe. How sad it is that many of us never quite make the connection with the One Who can make all the difference in the world to our everyday lives. We read the story of George Mueller and other great saints and we inwardly “ooh” and “aah” but somehow never quite understand that that the same God is in us.
So Christ lays down a new standard by which we must live. We are no longer under bondage to the law, but we are captivated by God’s love. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor the way you love yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40).
God no longer judges us by our ability to keep the law. It is possible that a person could keep the law perfectly and yet be rotten through and through. Rather than judging from outward appearances, God looks on our heart (I Sam. 16:7). David understood this. He had sinned greatly and had outwardly shamed the name of Jehovah. But he cried out to God and asked Him to “create a pure heart in him and to renew a steadfast or reliable spirit within him” (Ps. 51:10). That’s why David asked that God would help him keep the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart acceptable in God’s sight (Ps. 19:14). But David also understood that this was not something he could do in his own strength. David confessed to God that he had hidden God’s Word in his heart so that he would not sin against God (Ps. 119:11). The very first Psalm recorded “his delight is in the law of the Lord and in that law he meditated day and night.” The result is that God surrounds him with His blessing.
Now we come back to our text. Christ has taught them that they are to be the salt and light of the world. Their light is to shine brightly in the darkness and their salt had better be salty or they are of no worth to the kingdom but are thrown on the ground and trampled under the feet of men. What Christ is telling them is that they will be judged by a higher standard than they would be if they were under the law. He tells them that unless their righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That must have bowled them over because the Pharisees made a great show of their righteousness. No one in the land was more “righteous” than were the Pharisees! But it was outward righteousness. Their heart was evil. They were proud, self-righteous, legalistic, unloving, critical, and argumentative, just to name of few of their sin. Christ had strong judgment against them (Matt. 23:33).
Now He is telling them that if they just think things in their heart, they are guilty of sin. Whoa! That’s heavy. They had better come to understand God’s grace or they will never make it. Who of us have not had thoughts in our heart that should not have been there? As we have been studying in Romans, Christ paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross. But…He also came to live in our lives so that we would stop sinning. We are to “have the same attitude in us that was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). “We are to be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of God and are to become more and more like Him in every way” (II Cor. 3:18).
But the reality is that some of us have battled anger in our hearts from the time we were little kids. We’ve had knock-down, drag-out battles with ourselves to try to change. Some of us have battled impure thoughts since we were teenagers. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better as we get older. Some of us have critical spirits and we don’t like that about ourselves. It doesn’t feel Christlike. Some of us can’t seem to quit gossiping…I mean talking. The list goes on and on.
What I want us to understand today is that God did not leave us in a pile of sin and tell us He would see us by and by. He came into our lives to free us from the vicious circle of sin and death and to give us His own character. That is word for word from Peter who himself struggled with an unChristlike nature (II Peter 1:4).
But many of us have been going about our transformation in exactly the wrong manner. We have been trying to conquer our sin by using our own ingenuity. It won’t work! It never has worked and it never will work! God won’t allow it to work or He would never have needed to send His own dear Son to earth as a substitute for us. Victory over sin come from discovering His life within us. It’s like a little kid discovering balance as he tries to learn to ride his bicycle. Or it’s like someone discovering buoyancy as they try to learn to swim.
Someone wrote a song with the words, “I keep falling in love with Him, over and over, and over and over again.” Do you know it? It’s a great song. When you love someone deeply, it’s easy to want to please them. You’ll lay your life down for them and never even consider it. And you fall in love over and over again by spending time with them. Spend time with God. Learn to talk to Him. Learn to listen to Him. Study about Him in His Word to you. Memorize God’s Word. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR THIS!! Show me a husband and wife who are struggling in their marriage and I will show you a husband and wife who are not spending time communicating with each other. The same is true of our relationship with God. The health of our Christian walk will be in direct proportion to the time we spend with the source of our power.
How is your spiritual health today? “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee!” It can’t be said any better or any simpler.
-QUESTIONS-
1. Why did the teachers of the law make it more complicated than it was? What were they missing with all their laws and addendums to the law? (Their laws had become a little like our tax code today. Who can understand it?)
2. Christ said that He came to fulfill the law (Mt. 5:17). What did He mean by that?
3. Describe the battle that rages between our flesh and our desire to follow after God. What is the nature of the battle? Does it ever stop while we are on this earth?
4. Why is our love relationship with God so important? How do I fall in love Him? Why do so many people miss the “love connection?”
5. If God no longer judges us by our ability to keep the law, what basis does He use for judging us?
6. What did people like George Mueller discover that the average Christian misses?
7. David is described in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). How could a man so sinful, (murder and adultery) ever attain such a high accolade?
8. What do you think Christ meant when He said, “Your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees? (5:20) How is that possible?
9. If you were explaining to a new Christian how to follow II Cor. 3:18, what would you tell them to do?
10. Why is memorizing Scripture such a positive thing to do? How does it hold you back from sin? (See Ps. 119:11; Heb. 4:12, 13; II Tim. 3:16).
11. What does the sermon say there is no substitute for?