LAW AND ORDER

Matthew 5:17 – 20

INTRODUCTION:           

Did you know that:

• In the state of Alabama, it is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in a church?

• In the state of Washington, it is illegal to pretend one’s parents are rich?

• In California, it is illegal to set a mousetrap without a hunting license?

• (But you must remember: that’s California where it is also illegal to wipe your car with used underwear.)

• In Maryland, it is illegal to play Randy Newman's "Short People Got No Reason to Live" on the radio?  (I LOVE Maryland!!)

• In Oblong, IL, it is against the law to make love while hunting or fishing on your wedding day?

• And, in Nicholas County, West Virginia, no clergy members may tell jokes or humorous stories from the pulpit during church services? 

I’m sure each of these odd and obscure laws had a purpose at one time.  But the times change and now these laws just seem peculiar.  Maybe even humorous (but not in Nicholas County, WV when referenced during a sermon!!)

 

Some Christians seem to regard the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Old Testament law a bit like the obsolete statutes I just cited.  Do you suppose Jesus thought the Old Testament law was out of date and a bit weird?  Let’s hear what he had to say about the subject.

^17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ^18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ^19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ^20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

That certainly doesn’t sound like the words of someone who thought the Old Law had gone out of date, does it? 

 

I want to propose to you this morning that until we respect the Law of God the way Jesus did, we cannot be his disciple.  I want to suggest that until we revere God’s Law the way Jesus did, we cannot follow him. 

So we are going to take a few minutes to see how Jesus regarded the Old Testament Law.

First of all, Jesus considered the Old Testament Law to be the Law of God.  It was not merely the tradition of men nor was it just a souvenir of the past.  The Old Testament Law was the Law of God.

The Old Testament Law at first was The Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20.  You remember those, don’t you?

• ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

• TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

• THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

• FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

• FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

• SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

• SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

• EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

• NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

• TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

 

But the Jewish people had more than just ten commandments.  The first five books of the Old Testament are called the books of the law or, the Mitzvoth.  Traditionally, rabbis have said that there are 613 separate commandments within the Mitzvoth.  The 613 commandments of the Mitzvoth were really amplification and application of the original Ten Commandments.

 

In addition to the books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) that formed the basis of the Mitzvoth, Jewish scholars recognized that there were principles that could be derived from the other books of what we now call the Old Testament.  So the scholars went through the books of history, or poetry and of prophecy and they extracted lessons from them and recorded them in a series of teachings called the Midrash. 

 

But then the rabbis tried to help by expounding and expanding on the Mitzvoth and the Midrash so they created the Talmud, which runs to 30 volumes in the Soncino translation and is 4 times larger than the Mitzvoth.  30 volumes!

 

Many Christians have been taught that Jesus came to abolish these thousands upon thousands of laws of Judaism.  But hear the words of our Lord:

^17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ^18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Jesus considered the Old Testament Law to be the Law of God and if you truly love God, you do not disrespect His Law or His will.  So Jesus considered the Old Testament Law to be the Law of God and he considered it to be worthy of reverence.

In fact, it was Jesus’ respect for the Law of God that caused him to confront the religious leaders of his day so pointedly.  They accused him of having contempt for the Law but, in fact, Jesus had contempt for what the religious leaders had done to the Law.  They had encrusted the Law with the barnacles of traditions and opinion.  Over time, what some rabbi said about God’s Law had become as sacred as what God said in the first place.

 

Not only that but the clever religious leaders had figured out loopholes in the law to permit them to violate the will of God, all the while protesting that they were obeying the letter of the Law.

 

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but he did come to scrape away the layers of tradition and opinion and to close the loopholes that the hypocrites had created.

Jesus considered the Old Testament Law to be the Law of God and he considered it to be worthy of reverence.  Not only that, Jesus also considered the Old Testament Law to still be in effect.  That is, he believed that it was still binding on God’s people.

Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen; not a jot nor a tittle; not the cross on a “t” nor the dot in an “i” of God’s Law will be abolished before it has all been accomplished, fulfilled, obeyed. 

 

Now when Jesus said that God’s Law was still in effect and all of the loopholes had been closed, that elevates the Law of God to a high level.  But it also elevates the demands on God’s people.  The Ten Commandments, the 613 Mitzvoth, the Midrash are still in force.  I doubt that Jesus would have included the Talmud as part of the Law of God since those were the opinions of the rabbis based on the Ten Commandments, the Mitzvoth and the Midrash.  But even without the Talmud there were several thousand laws, covering hundreds of minute details of everyday life and every Law is still in effect; every rule is still in force; every statute must still be obeyed.

 

It is not humanly possible to even remember all of God’s Laws, much less obey all of God’s Laws.  But Jesus says they must be obeyed.

 

But we’ve all broken at least a few of God’s Laws.  That puts us in pretty serious trouble before God.  In fact, Jesus said that if we have broken even one of God’s Laws, it is the same as if we have broken all of them: we’ve violated God’s Word and we have disobeyed God’s Law.

 

The truth is that no one has ever fully obeyed all of the Law of God.  All have sinned and come up short before God.  No one is righteous: no not one.  Scripture is studded throughout with the grim news that ever person is guilty before God; every person stands condemned before God.  Everyone except Jesus who, alone, lived to be an adult and did so without sinning.  Not even one time.

 

For those who take God’s Law seriously, like Jesus did, and who have sinned, like Jesus did not, this is devastating.  God’s Law, so comprehensive that it touches all areas of life; God’s Law, so demanding that no one has or could obey all of it all of the time; God’s Law, so crucial that breaking the Law brings the death penalty: that Law of God is still in effect and the sentence must be carried out.

 

That is what Jesus wanted us to know about God’s Law.

 

You also need to know that Jesus walked the talk.  He said that God’s Law should be honored and then he honored it by obeying it.  He lived it.  He fulfilled it.  So he is in the position to command that we honor God’s Law by obeying it.  He did.

 

Folks, let’s get serious about a serious subject.  To disobey any part of God’s Law is sin.  Sin is a terminal illness and we’ve all been infected.  Sin is a capital offense and we are all guilty. 

 

A man heard a preacher say something similar and he spoke with him after church.  He asked the preacher, “I know now that I am a sinner and I want to be saved.  What must I do to be saved?” 

 

The preacher replied, “You’re too late.” 

 

“To late?” the man cried.  “You mean it is too late for me be saved?” 

 

“No,” said the preacher.  “You’re just too late to do anything to be saved.  Jesus already did it all.”

 

That, my friends, is to good news of the Gospel. 

INVITATION:                          # 305    – “Jesus Paid It All”

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