Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Matthew

  • Speaking From Heaven, Not Earth

    Speaking From Heaven, Not Earth

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 17, 1987.

    About this sermon

    Matthew 5:21-26 makes three claims: Christ is the final authority, he speaks from heaven, and the cross already has its place and power here, well before Calvary. Christ’s incomparable perfection makes all three claims credible. Nothing in this passage is simply ethical advice.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning, our scripture reading is from Matthew chapter five. We are reading from verse twenty one through verse twenty six. Hear the word of God. He has heard that it was said by them of old time. Thou shalt not kill. and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

    I say on you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Racka, shall be in danger of the council, and that whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, While thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost pardon.”

    How many servants of yours, Lord, today proclaim your word? And, Lord, how many proclaim that word in humbler circumstances than we enjoy here? Lord, prefer them above us. that which is spoken by them, far above what is spoken here. Take the cause of the little struggling flocks, smaller and more desperate than us, and make them your chief concern.

    O Lord, we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. This morning, we come to the end. Of our three part series. On Matthew five. Verses twenty one through twenty six. So far. We have made two points. And this morning we want to add to those two points. yet another. Our first point was this.

    In these verses, verses twenty one through twenty six, Jesus introduces us to a series of contrasts. Six contrasts altogether that carry us to the end of this chapter of math. Now you can quickly, with your eyes, scan the verses and count them up for yourselves. The heart of each one of these contrasts is expressed with the repeated formula, you have heard that it was said of old, or you have heard that it was said But I say on you. When we look at these verses, twenty one through twenty six, specifically. We know that the contrast. In setting the tone now for all the other contracts that fill out the chapter. We know that the contrast here has to do with the matter of authority. Authority. Who is to be heard? Who is to be feared? Who is to be obeyed? On the one hand, we have What does what Jesus disciples have heard that the agents were told? You have that spelled out for you there. There’s twenty one. On the other hand, we have what Jesus said. First twenty two.

    So bold is this contrast that it is as if what others have said depends upon a bare human authority, while what Jesus says depends upon a divine authority. You have heard that someone said to the ancients, Someone has told you that the ancients themselves were told by someone else, so that on the one hand you have those who are speaking and teaching, speaking and teaching on what appears to be but a bare human authority, while Jesus speaks with divine authority. Even the multitude will grasp after this point, even though they fully do not comprehend it, they will feel after it. For at this sermon’s end, in the seventh chapter of Matthew, verse twenty-nine, we find the multitudes amazed. And we are told that they were amazed because Jesus taught with authority and not as one of their scribes. But what amazes us is the manner in which Jesus has drawn his contrast.

    For you see, it is no ordinary voice we hear speaking in the statements Jesus quotes in that twenty-first verse. Jesus is quoting Exodus twenty. Jesus is quoting the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. Here is the voice of none other than Moses, no ordinary voice at all.

    And Jesus goes on. Adding to that sixth commandment, a statement that says this, whoever commits murder, murder, he shall be liable of the court, guilty before the judge. Jesus, therefore, adds to the voice of Moses the voice of the Jewish legal establishment.

    They, or that establishment, basing its tradition upon the commandments. In other words, Jesus is taking the most revered authority within Israel. In fact, he’s taking the most revered authorities upon the face of the earth, and he is setting them opposite him. With this contrast drawn as it is by Jesus, It is as if those authorities opposite him have absolutely no authority whatsoever. By comparison. Now you are amazed.

    Does Jesus actually wish to wish to attack the commandment? Jesus actually wish to attack Moses or the legal institution, the legal system that has been built upon Moses and the law is he taking a fight because of his animosity toward the Old Testament. He hates the Old Testament and the traditions of Israel, or is he some sort of latter-day luminary? who suddenly appeared on the scene, who looks at things ancient as if they were antiquated, out-of-date and utterly irrelevant?

    Not at all. Not at all. Rather, by his contrast, Jesus is simply saying, my authority is so superlative My authority is so superior, so ultimate, that all other authorities pale as insignificant by comparison. And in their paling, they appear as if they have utterly no authority whatsoever. And can it be any other way?

    For this one speech is none other than God. The one who speaks bears the name that is precious to Matthew and so central to his gospel. That name being Emmanuel, God with us. So great is this authority that Jesus not Moses, Jesus, not even the Old Testament. Jesus becomes the final interpreter and arbitrator for man in man’s relationship to God. In fact, there is no interpreter of the law, even Moses himself, who can compare with Jesus.

    Now briefly, moving on from this point, we may want to construct something of an argument for ourselves. an argument that moves from the greater to the last. You see, the force and power you feel the force and power. If we say that not even Moses and the Jewish legal institution, the best that the world has ever seen, can compare with Jesus in authority, then what might we say of any other figure or any other system? What figures. In the history of the world, what systems or institutions. Do you better. And hold to be superior to Jesus. Your parents. Your government. The Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court. Plato. Aristotle. Chairman Mao. Abraham Lincoln. Bill Cosby. Maybe Michael J. Fox. Who are you going to put up?

    If Moses. Appears as nothing before Jesus, then certainly everybody else is as well. If Moses voice and the voice of Israel’s courts Are there human voices? What does that make of the voices of the rest of the world? Jesus speaks with divine authority. He is God. All others, in comparison to him, are but human voices.

    Now that doesn’t mean that you don’t love Moses. Jesus loved Moses. But the amazing thing is, you see, that even though he lived so many centuries before Jesus, Moses loved Jesus and planted to him. Well might have Moses said, If he were living in the day of Jesus, just as John the Baptist said, he must increase, but I must increase.

    And do you remember the scene of transfiguration? Jesus glorified on the Mount, who is there? Moses and Elijah. And the voice comes out of heaven. And the voice doesn’t say here most of the Elijah it says this is my beloved son here he can. Because only in hearing him have you heard Moses and Elijah. All right that’s the first. You can see this is going to be a long search.

    The second point we have made is that this contrast of authorities is expressed through a contrast of venues. For Jesus speaks with heavenly authority. He speaks as if from heaven, as if from a heavenly point of view. from a point of view that contrasts the point of view that arises out of the Earth. If you want to look at things from the top down, you have to listen to Jesus. By way of contrast, then, everyone else sees things through an authority, by way of an authority, that does, in fact, arise from the Earth.

    Jesus comes then, giving us the heavenly perspective. And this perspective Jesus opens up before us because he, in fact, in his person, has brought it with him. You see, when Jesus comes, the kingdom of heaven draws nigh. When Jesus comes, the kingdom of heaven comes upon us. Jesus brings near the kingdom of heaven as a gracious gift from God. But the proximity of the kingdom of heaven has bestowed upon us not only the blessings of heaven, but the discipline and the constraints of heaven as well. What is life like in heaven?

    Already the discipline and the constraints of heaven are being exercised in us. Why can Jesus go on from speaking about that sixth commandment in verse 21 and the Jewish legal courts to speak about anger and the courts over which God himself presides in verse 22? Why can he do that? Maybe more to the point, why must he do it? Because the kingdom of heaven has come near in the coming of Jesus.

    And now we who are the called of Jesus Christ look at everything with new eyes, and we relate to everything with a new heart. We don’t see things the same way any longer. We understand everything, according to the dictates of the kingdom that is from above.

    Not just murder, but anger and the loose and irresponsible tongue by heaven’s standards, hardly the standards of this world. What court of this earth would prosecute in such a case? How could they prosecute the case of anger in the heart? for the impetuous, irresponsible word. But by heaven’s standard, anger and the irresponsible tongue are judged lethal weapons, killers, killers.

    Do these weapons have any place In heaven? Does hatred have any place in heaven? Does the wicked tongue, the irresponsible tongue, have any place in heaven? You see, they don’t. In fact, they cannot survive in the pure climate of heaven. And so, they are not to survive among us who are called as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

    And what about the way in which we perceive other people? The coming of the kingdom casts the mantle of the king. Grab hold of this, if you will. The coming of the kingdom casts the mantle of the king over everyone that we meet. Our brothers in the faith, for example, are here spoken of by Jesus in verses twenty three and twenty four, where Jesus speaks about us being at the altar, presenting our gift. We remember our brother has something against us. We leave our gift. We go and are reconciled to our brother.

    The impact of the kingdom of heaven is such in these verses. that in them we are compelled to see no one else superimposed upon our brother, but the Lord. We see him. In white. In the light of God. Who loves him? Who sent his son to die for him? Who means to bring him? To glory.

    Therefore, when Jesus did his disciple to abandon his offering at the altar in order to be reconciled to his brother, it is in order that that one might offer himself to his brother who has something against. You are offering yourself, as it were, to God. When you offer yourself. To the offended. In this transaction, the offended brother functions as the Lord. Therefore, from the perspective of the kingdom of heaven, we pursue our brother as if we were pursuing God and with the same urgency with which we have pursued the God who has something against us, who is offended with us. We are to pursue our brother who has something against us. You don’t wait. You don’t let the sun go down upon your wrath and your anger. You do something about it. As surely as you do not let your fellowship with God suffer, neither do you let your fellowship with your brother suffer. You seek him out as if you were seeking God, and you make it no less important.

    After all, heaven is not a place where we can live at peace with God and at war with one another. Heaven is not a place where we can love God and hate our brother. And in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven has come upon us. Now, therefore, the discipline and the constraints of that kingdom in your life.

    You say the brothers in the faith are one thing, enemies are another. But don’t be so hasty in verses twenty five and twenty six. Jesus takes up the case of the person who’s the enemy, the one who is prosecuting us, because we owe a debt, because we are guilty of an offense that has been committed against him. He is in the right prosecuting the case.

    But you see, the proximity of the kingdom of heaven literally transforms that enemy as well into imagine it. Imagine it. into a godlike figure. Oh, no. I was doing all right with my friend. But now I learned that I have to treat my enemies in the same way. There’s no question about what’s going on in this passage about the man taking taking the other fellow to court. There’s no question about who’s at fault here.

    Place yourself in the past and you’re the one at fault, you’re the one in debt, you’re the one who committed the offense. Therefore, with the same fervency with which we have pursued God when he was hostile toward us, when he had a case against us, we are to pursue our enemy who has brought suit against us.

    Thus it is, you see, the amazing impact of the kingdom of heaven in the world. As we, not just with regard to our friends and those who believe, but even our enemies, we become instruments of peace, instruments of the peace of the kingdom of heaven in this sin-wracked, war-torn, hate-filled world. I’m talking about new life. I’m talking about life in heaven. and the lightnings ought to be among us.

    Finally, these verses place before us not just Jesus in his divine authority, not just Jesus as that one who brings with him the heavenly perspective, but also that Jesus who exhibits even in these verses the place and the power of his cross. We have stressed throughout our study of the Sermon on the Mount that the cross of Christ cannot be ignored or forgotten in these verses. Quite to the contrary, the cross is essential to any proper understanding and interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount.

    The liberals are wrong. They have excluded the cross from these passages, from these verses. They are wrong. The cross is at the heart of them. Jesus’ death on the cross for sinners. that they might be reclaimed, brought back to God. So we have said that the cross is central to the Beatitudes. They are to be happy attitude. They’re the words about the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s what they are. They’re filled with suffering. They’re filled with the triumph of the people of God through Christ came.

    You have a copy of that book burner. We have said that the cross of Christ is central to what Jesus says when he speaks of fulfilling the law and the prophets verse seventeen. We have said that the cross is central to what Jesus is saying when he speaks about accomplishing all things in verse eighteen, and we are not done preaching on verses twenty one through twenty six until we preach the cross of Christ. Now, how exactly do we see Christ’s cross in these verses?

    We do so. By reversing the force of the illustrations that Jesus gives us in verses 23 through 26, the two illustrations, the brother at the altar, then the one being prosecuted by the one who has a case against him. You see, you reverse it. You turn it around.

    What if you are the offended party? What if you are the offended party instead of the one at the altar in verse 23? What if you’re the enemy? with the righteous suit instead of the debtor or the guilty party. How would you behave, or how do you behave when you have those roles?

    Well, you behave as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and as such, you do not function like the citizens of any other kingdom in this world. For the pattern of your behavior is the pattern found in the king himself. The pattern of your behavior is that of the king who himself is the offended one, the enemy who brings righteous suit against the world for its end.

    And how did he act? How did he behave when he was the offended party? when he was the one who had the righteous suit against all mankind. Did he sit back? Did he sit on his hands? Did he wait for everybody to pursue him? No, he did not. He could have, but he didn’t. Instead, he pursued them. There are no excuses left. He pursued them, whether you’re the offended party or the offender. There are no excuses left for you.

    The pattern of your life, the pattern of your behavior, is found in Jesus Christ. It is found in these verses. No, our God pursued us with the word of reconciliation and peace. He pursued us by sending his son to die on the cross and thereby removing from us our offense and paying our debt.

    And you must imagine the father in heaven happy while he’s doing it. You have to imagine him happy while he’s doing it. He’s happy to pursue you even though he’s the offended one. He’s glad to put himself on the line to give up his life for you. that there might be peace. And as happy as he was to do this.

    Just as happy. Are you. In doing it doing it. You the offended one. Pursuing the terms of peace. those who have offended you. You the one with the righteous suit. Pursuing the guilty party. With terms of peace and love. And reconciliation. Here is Christ’s cross. God did nothing less than this. For us here is our. We must do the same. You think he. Isn’t he. So superb. And so one. Is there any like all the.

    There is none, none to compare, and oh how weak and frail we seem, and how we fall apart and stumble and fall, yet what perfections are in Him, our Savior. We have no one else, we want no one else by Him, our Christ. Is there any authority like that of Jesus? Does he not bring with him the very perspective of heaven? And is not that perspective now at work in us, so that even now His cross, His character, become the benchmarks for our behavior and life. That we who are in Him may be like Him, serving Him with all that is in us, just as He has served us with all that is in Him. O gracious God, May we love Jesus more and cling to him for all that we are worth.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Six Contrasts, One Authority

    Six Contrasts, One Authority

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 3, 1987.

    About this sermon

    The six contrasts of Matthew 5:21-48, each framed in legal terms, make one sustained argument about the difference between human and divine authority. John 5 warns that Moses becomes mere human tradition the moment anyone reads him apart from Christ. Getting lost in the details of each contrast means missing that larger argument.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning, our scripture begins with John chapter 5. We are looking at the end of that chapter, beginning with verse 39. This is John chapter 5, verse 39. Circumstances, Jesus’ confrontation with the leaders in Jerusalem. And this is what he has to say. Hear the word of Christ. Search the scriptures. For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.

    And ye will not come to me that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my father’s name, and he received me not. If another shall come in his own name, him he shall receive. How can ye believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone?

    Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” Beginning with verse twenty one.

    We have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath off against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time thine adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto you, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost part.”

    Pray with me briefly. Today, Lord, your word is heard in all the continents of the earth. May it be our prayer and our heart’s desire that your word would go forth as that seed planted in the hearts of men and women for that bountiful harvest of the last day. Father, to that end, may we preach and may we hear. Lord, to your glory, may your words be before us now. Amen. Some of you this past weekend had the pleasure of entertaining in your homes members of the I had the pleasure of entertaining in my home Douglas Whittington. Now, there’s something that you need to know about Douglas Whittington.

    He is a professional. He is a professional at getting lost. You might recall that there was a morning, a Sunday morning, a number of years ago, when Doug was scheduled to preach here. Well, I believe that it was sometime after 1130 when he finally showed up. He had been lost. As I say, he was a professional at it. You might recall the story about him not that long ago of the trip that he made to summer camp. there in the panhandle of West Virginia. Well, people were expecting him at three, and then they were expecting him at four, five, six. Dinner came and went. Still no Doug. He had campers in his car. He had food in his trunk. Where was Doug?

    Well, when he finally showed up at 930, we found out that he had not only seen much of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, but he had visited a number of truck stops and got all kinds of directions, competing directions, in order to find the camp that was hidden there in the hills and valleys of northern West Virginia. Doug Withington is a professional at getting lost. And he says, and I think that some of you can identify with him, that Pittsburgh is of all the cities in the United States the place that you can get lost in easiest. Easiest.

    The worst place in the world for a professional at getting lost the worst place in the world for that kind of person to find themselves. Considering being lost, what if you’re totally lost? And by that I mean, you don’t even know where you’ve been, let alone where you’re going. You can’t even retrace your steps.

    Have you ever been in a situation like that? I think there was an afternoon some Sundays ago when some O’Leary’s and Jones’s found themselves in the woods. Looking for a way out and not knowing where in the world they were. They didn’t know where they’d been. They didn’t know how to get back. let alone how to make any progress. So when in doubt, pray.

    And I understand that’s exactly what Chris Jones did. Eventually they found a road, and they at least knew that all roads lead somewhere, so they followed the road. But when you look at Matthew 5, 17 through 20, it says, if you find yourself in the middle of the woods, and in order to get your bearings, it’s important for you to know where you’ve been in order to understand well where you’re going.

    For finding yourself in that passage, those very controversial verses, don’t think that I came to abolish the law of the prophets. I didn’t come to abolish. I came to fulfill those words that are familiar to us all. Finding yourself in the midst of those words, in that passage, it’s imperative that you have the sense about you to look back to where you’ve been in order to look forward to where you’re going. Now we’ve tried to make the connection between those verses and what preceded clear. I’ve expounded those verses in terms of an unspoken question on the lips of the disciples.

    And that question is, alright Jesus, if things are as you say, Here you are describing the blessings and the demands of this kingdom that you are claiming to inaugurate. Things are, as you say, what then of the law and the prophets? So Jesus, in those verses, makes the response. And in doing so, he maintains a grip upon the Law and the Prophets in such a way as to set himself in the center of them. Now it’s not simply a setting of himself in the center of those Law and Prophets in some general way. But he sets himself in the center of them quite specifically namely in terms of that which is virtually the fulfillment of them, his death, his resurrection.

    So now, you see, we have that exposition of verses 17 through 20 with the backward look, but we also, from those verses, are looking forward. We’re looking forward to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. More specifically, we are looking forward to the verses that end this chapter, this fifth chapter in Matthew. And we are prepared now to go on and look at these verses in terms of the exposition that is mandated because of what we have concluded concerning the centrality of Jesus and his work to the law and the prophets.

    No exposition of the law and the prophets will ever again be adequate if it leaves out this person, Jesus Christ. And specifically, if that exposition leaves out his death and his resurrection. We have here presented to us then a superlative righteousness, a righteousness that far exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees.

    Jesus speaks about that righteousness. Now, in the twentieth verse, And it is by way of this superlative righteousness that Jesus makes plain the revelation of the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven. That wisdom that comes from above. That wisdom that is utterly uncommon. It is unlike anything with which we are accustomed. It is then, in turn, of that wisdom, a wisdom made plain in Jesus himself, a wisdom made plain in his ministry, his words, and his life, a wisdom made plain in those things which he does, and those things that consummate his life here in the world, in the flesh, wherein he gives himself supremely for our sakes, that we may be redeemed Well, here we go into verses 21 through 48. And it’s imperative that we expound these verses in terms of the things that we’ve said.

    Now, I want you to know, first of all, as we move into this section, how there is a refrain, a structure that is common It is repeated. It’s there to organize your thoughts. It’s there to concentrate your attention. A series of contrasts are presented for you.

    As we read verses 21 and 22, you see it there. You have heard that the ancients were told. That’s how it reads in the New American Standard. You were hurt, you have heard that the ancients were told, and then in verse twenty-two, but I say to you, contrast. That’s not a contrast spoken once in these verses, it’s repeated no less than six times. You’ll notice that it is repeated in verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight. It is repeated again in verses thirty-one and thirty-two. 34 and 35, 38 and 39, and finally in 43 and 44.

    A series of contrasts then are presented to you. These words are presented to you in order that by them there might be this exposition of that uncommon wisdom that comes with Christ, that wisdom that is from above, out of heaven. Now how are we to understand these contrasts? Appropriately, Jesus, in presenting to us the first of these six contrasts, is giving us a programmatic contrast. one that is deliberately set here for our instruction. And if we get a hold on the first one, the other ones will be easy.

    Now, this is a common practice by Jesus. You might recall how he deals with the matter of his speaking to his disciples in parables. For instance, if you were to turn to Matthew 13, there’s a listing of the parables there given by Jesus. the first one being that parable concerning the sower. And Jesus makes the comment to his disciples when they question him about the interpretation of that parable, if you understand this parable, then you will understand all the parables.

    Now, we have no easy task for us this morning. These contrasts that are given here are not easily penetrated. But Jesus, in this first one, is going to give us clues, helps, in order to direct us through the series that follows. What is the exact nature and major focus, then, of the contrast that we find in verses twenty one and twenty two. There have been a number of suggestions made. One, is it what appears immediately in the verse?

    The first word. you contrasted with the ancient or those who are old. Is the contrast between Jesus disciples, those who have been called unto him, those whom he is presently instructing, even us as we are instructed by him and those who have preceded the time of Jesus. specifically of Israel, and maybe even more particularly Israel, as Israel was given the law by God in former times, in the days of Moses. Is the contrast then here between the you and the those of old.

    That’s one suggestion. Another one is, is the contrast what pushes itself upon us from the structure of the passage? That between those who have said in former times such and such, and Jesus, who now says what he does, is the contrast between those who have said such and such formally, between Jesus and those who have said those things in former times. I don’t think that either of these suggestions is what Jesus is getting at.

    For you see, if you take them absolutely, then they establish barriers where no barriers are meant to be. For instance, if you take the first suggestion, that the contrast is between the you of the passage and the ancients of the passage, us and those of old living in that former age.

    If we take that as being the contrast, and if we take it absolutely, then established is a permanent wall between the church, which we are, and Old Testament Israel. But is that true? Is there a permanent wall established between the Church and Old Testament Israel? No. In fact, the pressures of the New Testament can convince us of just the contrary.

    Paul, writing to Gentile Christians in Corinth, talks to them as if their fathers were those who lived under Moses leadership. And what of the second? What if we say that the contrast between those who said this and that in former times, and Jesus, who now says what he does. But if we take that absolute, we are confronted with the fact that the one who says Such and such in a former time is none other than Moses. Because what Jesus does here, as he goes down through these contrasts, is merely to quote the commandments.

    The first one is, thou shalt not kill. If we take it absolutely, then we are establishing an impenetrable wall between Jesus and Moses. Can we do that? We know that such a wall cannot be built. Well, if these two alternatives are ruled out, what option do we have left? Is the contrast here, rather than these which we suggested, is it something that is suggested to us by the prevailing tone and images of the passage. Notice, for instance, the legal imagery of this section, verses 21 through 26.

    Notice all of the legal terms, and if you have a New American Standard, you’re in better shape than if you have the King James in front of you this morning, because the legal wording is brought out much more clearly. In verse twenty one, the words used there are court and guilty in verses. In verse twenty two, court again, Supreme Court and guilty. Twenty four, reconciliation, a legal term. Verse twenty five, opponents at law, the judge, the officer, prison, and also in verse twenty six, prison is in view. All of these legal terms. But you will notice as well, in addition to these legal terms, there is a convolution given in verse twenty one for not only there and brought out again clearly in the new American standard.

    Not only there is there the quotation of the Old Testament commandment, you shall not murder or thou shalt not kill, but there is also the quotation, a quotation or a saying that truly has no Old Testament counterpart. Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court to the court. I know the King James has judgment there, but in view is not final judgment. You is the legal system of Israel, the court of Israel. That is what is in view.

    So you have the addition of this saying here to the commandment that has no Old Testament counterpoint. And with that, you see, you are drawn along a certain line that is going to lead you to certain conclusions and also establish for you the precise nature of the contrast given to you here, and that contrast will be carried on throughout the rest of this chapter.

    You see, the contrast is not between church, between the church and Israel. The contrast is not between Jesus and Moses. The contrast is between courts. The contrast, the contrast is between ways of judgment. The contrast is between two authorities. On the one hand, you have Jesus speaking out against that which is merely a human judgment in the name of that judgment that comes from above, from the kingdom. The contrast is not between the Church and Israel. It is not between Christ and Moses. The contrast is between two competing authorities, two competing structures, one of the earth, the other of heaven. The judgment that Jesus is pleading for is the judgment that comes out of heaven, and an uncommon judgment it is.

    Notice how it progresses. Notice how it progresses. According to a human court, how could the things mentioned in verse two stand up? Verse 22, stand up at all. How are you going to prosecute a person who’s angry? You can’t prosecute them at all. How are you going to prosecute somebody who says to his brother rock or even calls his brother a moron? Now, you see, the language here suggests something quite ridiculous, and that’s exactly the point.

    Jesus is putting before his audience, before his disciples, those things that mean nothing whatsoever to human courts of law. And he’s making them the most important things. Those things that wouldn’t be prosecuted in any human court, they are prosecuted in the court of heaven. And those things that the world looks upon as being insignificant, they’re the most significant thing. In fact, they’re so significant that they’ll send you straight to hell. He turns the whole legal system of the world on its head.

    And it doesn’t even matter if that legal system claims Moses as an authority. You see, it doesn’t even matter if that legal system claims the Judeo-Christian heritage. Moses, without Christ, is merely human tradition. Rendering judgments according to the Ten Commandments, without seeing Christ and the administration of the wisdom that comes out of heaven, is merely rendering a human judgment.

    That is what is happening. Among the brothers, notice how brother is repeated here throughout, among the brothers all of whom are disciples of Jesus Christ. It isn’t the legal arrangements of the world that prevailed. It’s the legal assessments of heaven and of Jesus Christ. And those things that would be thrown out of the human court are the very things that will judge your soul. according to God because you see the things that pertain to God are the things of the heart the things that no human court can see and no human judge assess There is much more here for us to learn We’ll look into the matter again next week Oh Lord We know well rely upon human judgment We might thank well upon our own revered legal system. We may even claim Moses as our authority. But our Lord Jesus Christ. Turns all of that inside out and back upon itself. Oh Lord. You deal with our hearts. the anger of them, the impetuous and foolish word that we may speak. And those things that are looked upon as nothing by the courts of the world, and even the courts of Israel, are looked upon as being of the most supreme importance in the kingdom of heaven. Help us, Lord, we pray.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Christ Lived What He Preached

    Christ Lived What He Preached

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 26, 1987.

    About this sermon

    In Matthew 5:1 Christ goes up the mountain, and that ascent already prophesies his ascension into glory and the coming separation of elect from non-elect. Four points of his teaching on the mount form a single unit. Christ authenticates all four by living exactly what he preached.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture this morning is from Matthew chapter 5, and we are reading from verse 21. Hear the word of God. He hath heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever shall say to his brother Ratha shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire.

    Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother has off against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee, to the judge and the judge deliver the to the officer and I’ll be cast into prison. Barely I say of the thou shalt thou shalt by no means come out then still thou has paid the uttermost part.

    Your word to the ends of the earth goes now our God spoken by those who are truly unprofitable servants yet called sanctified by you and Lord for your own sake and for the sake of your great name bring to the surface their gifts And may the magnificence of your spirit be evidenced as the word is proclaimed with power.

    We ask in Christ’s name. Amen. Jesus up into the mountain goes. Jesus up into the mountain goes. He ascends. And he sits down. Now you may be confused. For the words that I’ve just spoken sound as if I’m stealing them from the Apostles Creed or from the confession of the Church that declares to us the conclusion of the matter beyond Christ’s crucifixion. After his death, his resurrection, his ascension. But all that I am doing is paraphrasing for you the beginning of Matthew 5. Jesus goes up into the mountain and he sits down And in that language, you hear things that remind you of the great destiny awaiting this person.

    He truly will ascend, and he will sit down in glory at his father’s right hand. But even before that time, you are given the preview you are given the preview of that which is yet to be. So, even before glory arrives in all of its splendor, glory appears. And marvelously, that glory appears in this creation, in this world, no other.

    The very world in which you live the very place in which you dwell. Glory in this world, the world of all my troubles and woes, the world in which I strained and agonized and suffered, the world in which I am confused and befuddled at times, upset, distressed, The world seems so common and ordinary.

    We’re given over to the team. Where everything seems to be smacked of saying. This world. Yes. This one. In this world. the glory appears. It is the glory of the kingdom. The kingdom. And what you see then, here at the opening of Matthew 5, is that premonition of those things yet to be when glory shall surround the son of God in all of its magnificence. The son himself.

    All of this given to you here. Before that glory actually is the sun in all of its fullness, so that you might know what the Son what Jesus will, in fact, do from glory. These things told you in the gospel so that you might understand what Jesus will do, yes, what he presently does from glory. And what does he do?

    He receives his disciples whom he is called. Now, understand that there is something here of a discriminating work that is going on. For you see, we are told, as Matthew begins, that Jesus sees the multitudes, but he withdraws from the multitudes. And on the mountain, then, withdrawn from the multitudes, his disciples come to him.

    Those, truly, yes, those, if properly understood, those whom he has called. is he like? He’s chosen. So what does he do from glory? He draws his own, he calls them and he receives them. And he teaches them. And these things he continues to do today. Presently That one who is in glory seated draws to himself those whom he calls, and he receives them even now. And you are a testimony to that. Has he not moved your heart? Has he not worked in you? Can you not say so this morning? Is it not the truth?

    That being the truth, the one here described as having spoken on a mount in Galilee is still speaking and acting from glory from the throne, and he is drawing you to himself. You, a disciple, no less than the disciples spoken of in this passage. Now, that does interject something into the ordinariness of our lives. You see, that does, and you would confess this too, that does make a difference. That does. Now, you might be too busy listening to the suggestions and whispers of Satan, who’s telling you that it doesn’t make any difference. But you know that it does.

    A right from glory, this one who has been enthroned, he and his sovereign power calls and draws and saves. for himself. But he also, and here’s the emphasis of the passage, he also teaches. Disciples come to be taught, and from glory, not just from a mountain in Galilee, but from glory, Jesus, the Exalted One, teaches. He teaches presently, and his instruction from glory is recorded here. Not just for Jews in the first century, not just for the early church, the instruction, the teaching of the exalted Son of God is here for you, for me. But what does Jesus teach?

    He teaches us about the kingdom, he teaches us that wisdom that belongs specifically to the kingdom. The kingdom as described here consistently throughout Matthew as the kingdom of heaven, that kingdom of glory, that kingdom that is upon will hear them. Here, then, the instruction, the teaching of that wisdom regarding the kingdom of heaven.

    Its content, run down through it. First point, blessed. First point, blessed. Not a demand, but a gift. I can’t emphasize that enough. I can’t say that enough to myself. I can’t remind myself of that too often, because my habit of mind is to forget it. The way I think about things, demand must precede gift. Gift comes as the reward. That I have fulfilled the demand. But that’s not wisdom according to the Kingdom of Heaven. The wisdom of the Kingdom of Heaven takes the thinking of the world, takes my thinking, and turns it upside down.

    Turns it inside out. It’s completely, utterly extraordinary. It’s baffling, it’s so baffling that we can hardly understand it, we can hardly grasp it. And that and. Constraint is all the more. To hold back the truth here. The blessing blessing the blessing precedes the demand. The gift precedes the demand, or if I can draw out for you a little better. This somewhat philosophically conceived. The is precedes the ought. The is precedes the ought.

    In other words, according to the wisdom of the kingdom, what you are that which you have made, that which you have been made to do, by the grace of God, that precedes what you will become through your obedience, your response to the demands. It isn’t that you will become sons so much that you are sons. It’s not so much that you become children, but you have been made to be the children of God, and now all of the demands that are laid upon you by the Father in light of the fact that you’re part of the family. So the is that you are precedes the ought.

    And isn’t that the way of it? Isn’t that the way of it? As you read the Old Testament now, isn’t that the way that you understand what’s going on there as God deals with Israel? It’s because he has redeemed them, and he has made them his people, that he now lays upon them their duty. I am the Lord thy God, he says, that hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and therefore thou shalt have no other god before me. You see how it works itself out. They are constituted a nation. precedes the other. Why? Because it must be completely, thoroughly, by grace. It must be thoroughly, completely, by grace. Not what my hands have brought. completely early. By God’s grace. Precedes. The man. Now that’s the wisdom of the king. Exalting.

    But there’s something else here, you see, as you run down through the opening part of the sermon. The blessing and the demand are not what were expected. We see the anticipation for the children of Israel. When Jesus was preaching and teaching, even the anticipation of these disciples that he taught here, and I might say by way of parallel, our own expectation as we come to Christ and he receives us see our expectation their expectation is that blessing comes in such a way that it ends suffering.

    Blessing comes in such a way that all opposition to that blessing anything that would differ from that blessing is removed completely. The wisdom of the Kingdom of Heaven is different than that. It is not blessing instead of the opposition and the suffering. It is blessing in the midst of the suffering and the opposition. Therefore, blessed are the poor in spirit. The blessing comes to those who are in the predicament of poverty.

    In the midst of, not instead of. But everybody was looking for the instead of. And you might be looking for the instead of. And therefore, your view of life may be quite muddled. And your distress multiplied. Because the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven is being pushed away, instead of grasped and held. I can say to you that it is only in the midst of the things that Jesus here describes, poverty, spirit, etc., that the blessing is a reality.

    What about the demands? The demands of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of the Messiah, as that kingdom was anticipated, were along the lines of those demands appropriated for exterminating anybody that opposed. Not only would the blessings come in such a way that all opposition, you see, would be ended with the demands of the kingdom that laid upon all the believers who embraced Messiah would be of such a nature that in keeping with those demands, they draw the sword and there would be an end to all the opposition. But note the demands.

    Now that you are called to blessing in the midst of suffering and opposition, the demands that are laid upon you are those that compound the ones that oppose you. For you are called to be merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker, even with regard to those who hate you.

    Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Well. That gets us up to verse seventeen. And the response you see of the disciples then, if this is as you say Jesus, what then of the Law and the Prophets? I thought the Law and the Prophets were in keeping with my expectation. Aren’t they saying what I believe? Aren’t they advocating what I have advocated? Aren’t they spokesmen for a hope along the lines of that which I have hoped for? So Jesus tells them. about the significance of his coming, not to dismantle the law and the prophets, but to fill them all.

    Of their greatest significance of that which they were designed to teach from the beginning. Himself. At the center, then, of the wisdom of the kingdom of heaven is the one who received and the law and the prophets are unto him. In fact, the kind of life that has been described here as you run through the opening part of the Sermon on the Mount is exactly that which corresponds with the life of the exalted. He is the one who found and experienced and knew the blessing in the midst of poverty of spirit. He is the one who, in the midst of that opposition thrown at him by the world, continue to be merciful, pure at heart, and a peacemaker, did not return kind for kind, insult for insult, reliance for reliance.

    And now, as Jesus would progress in his teaching concerning the wisdom of the kingdom, he’ll take up commandments in series. and he’ll deal with them in such a way as to convince you that the very wisdom of the kingdom of heaven is coming to play through those commandments that have been held to the ages just a bare command as the Jews would embrace thou shalt not kill not on your life for the probing will be as high as the throne of the sun And what Jesus here describes in verses 21 through 26 will be that which becomes an expression of his own life and the life of all his disciples, those who are being drawn to him, received by him, and instructed by him. In the weeks to come, we’ll be taking up the commandments, the sayings that have been dealt with by Jesus here. as we run through the fifth chapter of Matthew.

    Let us pray. The uncommon wisdom, our God, of your kingdom that is from above, the manifestation of that glory from above in your Son, who even now receives those who are drawn by him and Lord he instructs them he instructs us and may we truly be instructed. Oh Lord. May it be plain to us that before we do anything at all in compliance with the demands of the kingdom. We have been made by your grace citizens of the kingdom how so through the work of Jesus Christ who came and died that by his blood we might be washed that we might be cleansed that we might be included and so it is Lord through the cross unto glory we your children drawn by him now assembling before him to receive of him the things that he is delighted to give for Christ’s sake. Our final hymn is hymn 649.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Three Periods, One History

    Three Periods, One History

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 18, 1987.

    About this sermon

    Redemptive history divides into three distinct periods here, illustrated concretely through how marriage itself looked different across each one. Matthew 23’s warnings against the scribes and Pharisees supply the negative example of a righteousness that never got past the first period. What each period actually asks of God’s people is humility, becoming servants rather than masters of the law.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading begins with a reading from Matthew 23, Matthew 23 beginning with verse 1, and we are reading on to verse 24. I hate to stop in the middle of this. The woes become increasingly intense, and I think that you’ll recognize that as we move through this chapter, but we’ll read as far as the 24th verse.

    Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be born, and lay them on men’s shoulders, that they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

    But be not ye called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

    But woe, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows’ houses and for pretense make long prayers. Therefore, ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

    Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, He is a debtor. He fools and blind, for whether is greater the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold.

    And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon the altar, he is guilty. He fools and blind, for whether is greater the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

    Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, ye, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. For these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. He blind guides, which strain at a mat and swallow a camel. And then from Matthew five, verse 19, whosoever Therefore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men.

    So he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, he shall in no case enter into the kingdom.

    Our father, before the judgments spoken out by Christ, we would tremble. He would hear the words that he speaks and take them to our hearts. Father, we would be then addressed in comfort by him, those words of comfort intended for our consolation. By the work of mercy brought by you and him, we have been granted a righteousness that even outdistances the righteousness of the law. the veritable righteousness of God, which is by faith. O Lord, here is a righteousness glorious indeed, and may we embrace it with all that is in us, knowing that it is given to us as a gift from above, that it is ours, a treasure. Therefore, Lord, may we hold fast this treasure that you have given to us.

    The whole matter of time calculation in Scripture is a very difficult thing. It may appear quite simple as we look at things we hear in Scripture repeatedly. those in Scripture speaking of the present evil age, that’s one time period, and the age to come. Very simple indeed, keeping that in mind.

    We also hear of complications. You know the gospel of John, and you know how Jesus has spoken in that gospel. One case in point is how he speaks to the woman at the well. He tells her, about an hour, an hour that is coming, but he goes on to say, it is already here, when the true worshippers of God will not worship in the mountains of the Samaritans nor at Jerusalem, but they will worship God in spirit and in truth. There is a time coming, but then there is this convolution of time. Jesus says, it is already here. We have Paul speaking in Galatians 3 and 4. He divides time around the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    He speaks of it in relationship to faith. It’s a very odd way of speaking because we think of faith very subjectively. It’s my faith. But Paul speaks of faith objectively. He says in that third chapter in Galatians, when faith came. and by that he is not referring to when he personally believe that when the faith. Arrived in its fullness. As it pertained to the objective events of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when faith came.

    Now Jesus himself in the synoptic gospel, the first three Matthew, Mark and Luke. He also speaks of matters along the lines of what has already been mentioned simply, yet there is a convolution. On the one hand, you have Jesus talking about the law and the prophets of having achieved their purpose unto the point at which The gospel is proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom. That point, of course, having been reached when John the Baptist appeared on the scene and spoke as he did.

    You may want to take note of how Jesus frames this in the eleventh chapter of Matthew will stick to Matthew. You will remember Jesus there dealing with the question of the place of John the Baptist and speaking to the crowds of his significance, and in the eleventh chapter of Matthew, the eleventh and twelfth verses of that chapter, you have verses there that have been confusing, difficult, strained over by many. But note what Jesus said. He said, Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

    Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So you have then. The greatness of John the Baptist. Even as great as he is, he is least in the kingdom of heaven. Now, that’s not to say that John the Baptist doesn’t have a chief seat.

    Jesus here is speaking about the transition of the time. from one era to another. It goes on in verse twelve, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven. Now there’s a controversy as to how we should translate what appears next. Actually, it’s probably best translated this way. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven asserts itself can work into that the idea of violence as appears there in the New American Standard.

    The Kingdom of Heaven asserts itself. Its energy is making itself felt and then go on and energetic men or violent men determine them. Take it by force. Such is their determination. They can be content with nothing else. Kingdom has appeared. And there are those that can settle. for nothing less.

    OK, well, Jesus understanding of the time up to the time at which the kingdom of heaven is proclaimed, and it’s as if that’s the transition of the ages, but then you have the convolution of things. If you just turn one chapter later into chapter twelve, you’ll notice how this Convolution comes out, and it pertains specifically to the ministry of Jesus. Another passage that has been quite controversial through the ages. You’ll note verses thirty one and thirty two.

    Therefore, I say to you. Any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men. But blasphemy against the spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him. but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

    Well, not only do we have mention of this age and the age to come in this passage, but we also have the convolution of the time in terms of the time in which Jesus is here in the flesh, and the later time of the visitation of the Spirit. That, then, being the significance of that often debated thirty-second verse, when Jesus says that men may well escape judgment for having blasphemed him while he was in the flesh, they shall not escape judgment when they blaspheme him in the Spirit, in the age or the time of the Spirit.

    Well, if we put these things together, we can see that there is a simple approach to time, namely present age, age to come, when faith came, and then the time in which faith was operative, seemingly on the approach of the Apostle Paul, up until John the Baptist, and then there was the introduction of the kingdom of heaven, and everything was transformed by that. Yet, yet there is this other matter of the administration of Jesus himself, while he is in the flesh, having a special significance, so that we can say, there’s not just two eras, it’s as if there are actually three. There is that time preceding the appearance of Christ, then there is the time of Christ himself in the flesh, and then comes the administration built upon his death, resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    All of these considerations being true. and these considerations impressing themselves upon Jesus and his words at various points in his teaching. This makes the interpretation of some passages quite difficult, because in passages, certain passages, you can have the times introduced in a confusing and an apparently contradictory way. And laying bare those difficulties, problems, the convolutions, as I’ve spoken of them, is not an easy task. But now, as we take up Matthew 5, verses 17 through 20, and deal with this, I think that it’s important for us to keep in mind that we do have before us the notion of the threefold idea of time itself working itself out in this passage. Namely, you have the time prior to the coming of Christ, you have the time of Christ, and then you have that time that is going to be ushered in by the fulfillment of those things which he accomplishes in his death and resurrection.

    Let me give you an illustration. John is engaged to Jamie. The marriage yet to take place. This arrangement, as you think about it, brings before you, brings into view three separate times in the lives of these two people. The first, that time prior to the engagement, then the time of the engagement itself, and of course, finally, the time of the marriage.

    Prior to the engagement, these two lived under the scrutiny of their parents. We might say their parents exercised an authority, the proper authority, in terms of that future day when their children would leave home and establish their own homes. When John and Jane became engaged, different allegiances were in the process of formation. On the one hand, their parents continued a strong parental role. On the other, evidences already appeared of the promises of that relationship yet to be sealed. The bond between John and Jane begins to rival that between each of them and their parents.

    Finally, the great day arrives, and the marriage expected, anticipated, is an accomplished fact. But interestingly, While a new situation now exists, and John and Jane have their own life and their own home, both continue to demonstrate the warmest affection for and give the deepest honor to their parents.

    Nevertheless, great changes. Can it be debated? Can it be denied? Great changes have occurred in the relationship to such an extent that we can say that the very authority structure has been altered. Obligations to the parents are now viewed through the lens of the marriage. The couple doesn’t find its orientation, first of all, in terms of the parents, but in terms of themselves in their marriage relationship. This is what makes it hard to go home after you’re married and your mother still thinks that you’re her little boy and that you should jump to. But anyway.

    There is a new authority structure that is operative, and that authority structure asserts itself so that what was formally the case must be viewed differently. All relationships, then, in this complex context of relationships, all relationships, then, are viewed through the lens of the marriage itself.

    Now, what I just described, and I admit somewhat idealistically, there’s great similarity to Jesus’ relationship to the law as he is making his relationship to the law plain. I’m not all that certain of how plain it is, to be honest with you, but as he is making that plain, in Matthew five seventeen one.

    The time of the law and profit is like our two village under our parents. We are under the law like a child, not yet separated from the parent. But then comes the engagement, and this is comparable to the period when Jesus was alive here in the The rule of the parent, the law, the prophets, that rule is in effect, but there are sparks, sparks promising the breaking forth of a new day. Yet, even here in this period of engagement or this time in which Jesus is in the flesh, how inappropriate disrespect or disregard of the law is.

    Therefore, during this period, Jesus demonstrates a meticulousness regarding the law, just as a son is to dutifully obey his parents. For example, Jesus keeps the feasts prescribed in the law. There’s no argument. He keeps them. He also commends attention to detail in the law.

    And while he put out by the Pharisees and scribe practices concerning the time he is not saying the tide itself, but he is encouraging attention to the detail of the law that in Matthew twenty three verse twenty three. The least commandments have their power. and they are to be observed, and woe to him who does not observe the least of the commandments, you see. The disciples, in deference to the scribes and Pharisees, are told to do what the Pharisees say. They are not to do as the Pharisees do.

    Notice Jesus opening to that tirade in chapter twenty-three. Also, you will remember. Jesus, on more than one occasion, insisted upon the pursuit of precise requirements of the law. For instance, in dealing with someone like the leper of Matthew eight. He tells the leper, Go show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses prescribed. The law stands, you say.

    But, of course, this period of engagement is full of little markers of the impending alteration of affairs, or the coming marriage. Coming is a day when it is no longer correct to go to the priest and to offer the sacrifices and the offerings prescribed by Moses. In time, the engagement will end and the tutelage will have achieved its purpose. The marriage will take place, and in that transition, the parent, the law, the prophets, they will be revered, but there is a whole new relationship, you see, from which the law and the prophets are themselves to be viewed. Now, this transition may well be seen more clearly from another vantage point.

    You’ll recall that Jesus sends out his disciples, the twelve, two by two, in Matthew chapter ten. He told them on that occasion, and you might think it’s strange, don’t go to the Gentiles, he says. Don’t enter any city of the Samaritan. Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel only. But, as you know, what was completely inappropriate, improper during Jesus’ time in the flesh, the engagement period, becomes the binding obligation upon the disciples later. They are to go to the nations and proclaim the kingdom. Not avoid the Gentiles, confront the Gentiles. Not avoid Samaritans, but preach to them. It is right and proper. In other words, during the engagement period, a Gentile mission was forbidden. After the marriage, it is commanded. Yet, even into the new era, it must be remembered that the law and the prophets have their place. Salvation, says Jesus, is of the Jews.

    In this passage, we have been considering for some time now. We have heard a consistent refrain. Of reverence for the law and the prophets, and specifically the law and the prophets as they pertain to the prescriptive element, obedience, doing what is right. This reverence says Jesus. Must not be thought of as lost with him or in him or because of him. for Jesus himself reveres respects the law and that is why. If you hear someone denigrating the law or the profits or preaching as it were against that underline again how far. Perk up your ears. Take. Scrutinize care. It may be time to walk. It may be time to walk. Because you see, Jesus would never have done that. And that certainly doesn’t characterize his ministry.

    He loves the law and the prophets, and it shows in the way in which he speaks. But Jesus speaks as he does here, from within the era of the engagement, and he looks forward to the era of fulfillment, when the marriage will have occurred. When that marriage occurs, it will bring to reality. End of In that era, in that era of fulfillment, Jesus can speak in language that just seems to burst the category that we have formally considered.

    He talks about things being fulfilled. He talks about all being accomplished. He talks about the kingdom of heaven. He speaks about that kingdom as radiating its glorious presence. He speaks about that kingdom as if it is something into which we can enter. Verse 20. So, you see, there is that convolution of time.

    On the one hand, Jesus speaking from within the period of engagement looking forward to the marriage itself, when fulfillment will be a reality, when all things will be accomplished, when the kingdom of heaven will radiate, and we will be entering it. On the one hand, it seems as if things continue as they have, his emphasis upon the law and the prophets as inviolable. Yet, at the same time, it sounds as if an entirely new order is being inaugurated, commenced in his ministry. As the new world is inaugurated, even in that world, the parents are revered and honored, so that those who teach no less than their Lord are heard to speak well even of the least commandment, and are known to practice such teaching and practices only rightly carried out, I add, in light of the inbreaking of the kingdom of heaven through entrance into it, through the accomplishment of all things by the root of the death and resurrection of our Lord.

    Now the whole of the law. As you love that it must be. And will be to anyone who deprecates it. The whole of the law must be viewed as in Christ. From the perspective of the cross and the empty tomb. No more the possibility of using it selfishly, or even in the interests of the parents, so to speak, as if their interests were an end in themselves.

    No. From the least command to the greatest, we see the whole wall through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, by whom we are born again and receive the righteousness, that righteousness spoken of Jesus here in verse 20, that righteousness far superior to anything that the scribes and the Pharisees cannot. We receiving that. To enter the kingdom.

    No, you may well think that these verses are calculated to spell out yet once more doctrine works righteousness. for the righteousness of which Jesus has spoken here is connected with the accomplishment of all things of which he has spoken and the fulfillment of all things which he has spoken. See, that is why Jesus can so well in his tirade against the Pharisees and the scribes speak about the one who would be greatest, how should he live? As the servant. For the message of that one who is the servant, is the message of Christ himself.

    And out of that comes the blessing of exaltation. If you wish exaltation, you must be humbled. And there is nowhere else to learn that but at the cross. And having learned it at the cross, he assured that all that the prophets and the law intended is being said in you. Will you enter the kingdom of heaven? Do you have the righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees? In Christ, yes. You see the servant before your eyes. Now the constraint and all the weight of the law and prophets comes to bear on you in him, that you, like him, would be the servant to him.

    Father, it may be difficult for us at times to straighten out all of the language in scripture about time, On the one hand, things seem quite simple and uncomplicated. On the other hand, they seem quite complex indeed. We ask you, Father, that as we think of the various considerations of time, that we would understand not only what Jesus has said about it, but also how we fit into what he has said. For surely, Lord, we live in the period of the marriage when the fulfillment and the accomplishment of all things is a reality through his death and resurrection. We pray our father that the words that he has spoken we would take to heart that as he speaks about entering into the kingdom of heaven we would not in any sense be found short of entrance and Lord we ask that by your ministry to us through him we would have that confident assurance that we belong to him and as such we have a righteousness far superior to the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. Not so as to make more of ourselves than we are, only to make as much of Jesus Christ as you.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Messiah Comes, the End Doesn’t

    The Messiah Comes, the End Doesn’t

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 11, 1987.

    About this sermon

    The Jews’ own dilemma, that the Messiah has come yet the end of the age plainly has not, frames what Christ actually expects of his disciples as ordinary history keeps going. Romans 3 supplies Paul’s own account of a righteousness already accomplished but not yet fully unveiled. Already and not-yet, threaded throughout this whole series, governs 5:17-18 as much as anywhere else.

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    Sermon transcript

    Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that what things so ever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God.” To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

    Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith?

    God forbid, yea, we establish the law. And then from Matthew chapter five, verses seventeen and eighteen. Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, One job or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.

    Our Father, what power might there be found for us, we who have been found powerless in ourselves before the world, certainly in our moral capacity. But truly, Father, you manifest your perfect power in our weakness, and therefore, Lord, in our weakness We have given to us the very power of God by which we live, by which we are saved. O Lord, save us for Yourself, that we might manifest the power of God, though it be in our weakness. We ask this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

    You may recall that earlier I preached in this series a sermon in which I spoke to you about waiting. Waiting. Sometimes the waiting in our life can be nothing less than excruciating. Our whole life overlaid by that state of mind that waiting brings with it. We wait and are consumed by our waiting. I was speaking to a couple this last week, a couple expecting their second child. They were speaking about the advantages of the advent of the second child as opposed to the first, and how they had become somewhat nonchalant about the whole thing. But they were recalling how the waiting and anticipation had completely consumed them when the first child was on the way. waiting then, overtaking us completely, so that we are poised, almost poised to pounce upon that person, that thing, that event for which we have or for whom we have waited. But sometimes, sometimes the waiting proves hardly worth it. And when the desired thing or that anticipated person arrives, it seems as if our wait was foolish. What we waited for wasn’t half of our hope when its fullness arrived.

    There was much of this, you see, surrounding Jesus, his ministry and his message. Not that people weren’t excited when he first came. He appeared with remarkable words and words. You may recall, backing up to the fourth chapter of Matthew, the seventeenth verse, how he seems to erupt upon the scene, declaring the proximity, the nearness of the kingdom of heaven. He both preaches that kingdom and teaches about it in the Galilean towns, villages, cities, in the Galilean countryside and regularly in the synagogue. Note verse twenty-three in that fourth chapter. And as already indicated, matching his words were his extraordinary works. Not only did he speak about the kingdom of heaven, he demonstrated that kingdom and its power.

    Those who were ill, he healed. every form of disease, every form of ailment, the possessed, the insane, the many cripples in mind and body. We might be taken back by Matthew’s description of this magnificent ministry by Jesus. because Matthew’s description in that twenty-fourth verse of the fourth chapter seems so restrained. That is, we find in it nothing sentimental, nothing bodiline, and there’s nothing melodramatic about it.

    The words, as Matthew pens them, conspire to convey an almost rabid excitement, such excitement that Jesus caused. Great multitudes, underline the word great, great multitudes followed him like as if they were disciples. They followed him from everywhere, even from territories beyond Israel proper. They came from Gentile territories as well. All of this, you see, making it plain that from Matthew’s point of view, he’s speaking by the Holy Spirit, the wait for God’s promised Messiah is over.

    It is over. But in the mind of the disciples, is that wait over? Or do questions remain? On the one hand, you have a certainty at work. For those who he has called specifically Peter and Andrew, James and John, they think highest of him. They see him as that promised deliverer, the Lord Christ, come into the world. At least they are certain. Until shaken by his sermon on the mount. You see, the sermon on the mount was intended to shake even confident disciples concerning their expectations. They had expected, these closest to Christ, they had expected in keeping with their understanding of the Old Testament scriptures, a rather abrupt, even cataclysmal ending of the world drama Think of it in terms of that prophecy with which the Old Testament ends.

    A prophecy made famous, of course, in Handel’s Messiah. The Lord will suddenly come to his temple, and like a refiner’s fire, like fuller’s soap, he will purify the worship of God. Who can endure the day of his coming? Who shall stand when he appears? And not unlike that man who certainly had an impact upon them, these disciples, reflecting upon John the Baptist and his message, looked for fire when Jesus came. They looked for fire. But now Jesus recedes from the excited crowds, and he climbs a mountain, and he takes aside his special followers, those he has chosen, and he instructs them privately.

    As he teaches them, his message does not boil over from the flames that heat the words. His message does not boil over with words about an imminent end of all things, apocalyptic in character. Instead, the disciples hear words that make it sound as if this present world order is going to continue indefinitely. And that, you see, becomes the problem par excellence for the church and the gospel to the present day. The Messiah comes, but the end does not. The Messiah comes, but the end does not. So it is then that the disciples hear words that sound as if this present world order, out of keeping with what they had this present world order is going to continue indefinitely.

    So they hear things about burying up in the face of opposition persecution. They hear things about suffering and in the midst of it all showing mercy. They hear about doing good work And as the sermon continues, Jesus, this one they had hoped was the Christ, tells them about anger as serious in his estimation as murder. He tells them about loss. as serious in his estimation as adultery. He tells them about vanity. He tells them about revenge and how evil and despicable it is in the sight of God.

    And he tells them about the persistent nature of that fight against sin and evil in this present world order. the present world order continually. And Jesus warns them of the dangers of ostentatiousness, showing us in piety, showing us in prayer, showing us in fasting, if you can imagine such a thing. And he will expose the deception of earthly treasures and the sure and certain dividends that those treasures pay in anxiety, stress, and tragic unhappiness.

    Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. This present world order demands of the disciples of Jesus, he having come, the Messiah’s work evident and his power manifest. This present world order demands of the disciples of Jesus that they be alert to the cancer of malicious and self-righteous judgment.

    Judge not, lest you be judged with the very judgment with which you have judged others.” And at the same time he warns them against the deadly perils of a blind and naive tolerance. Don’t give that which is holy to God, and don’t cast your pearls before swine.”

    The world order continues, you see. And as this world turns, it is necessary for the disciples, says Jesus, to continue to ask, seek and not to do for others as they would have others do for them. And these disciples are viewed by Jesus as pilgrims on the narrow way that ends at the little gate leading to life. And few there be that find it. The disciples As the world continues are threatened by false prophets who make incredible claims. But who, despite those claims, says Jesus practice lawlessness.

    And over against such false prophets and those who would follow those false prophets The true disciples of Jesus must build their lives in this present world order upon the words of Jesus, and thus upon the rock and not upon the sand. Such lives, says the Lord, stand up to the torrents and floods that this present evil world experiences. Such lives, says Jesus. in the end, when in fact the end comes, shall not fall. There is the whole, then, of the sermon on the mount And in it, Jesus has portrayed things as if this world order, this present world order, is going to continue indefinitely until an appointed time, yet future. And the disciples, being representatives of the faithful in Israel, They had expected this present world order to end when the Messiah arrived. But obviously now, according to Jesus, that world order will not end.

    But, quarries the disciples silently in their hearts. them of the law and. So we have built our hope and expectation on nothing less than what we understood the Old Testament to be saying. And it is precisely this question, then, that lies at the base of the verses that we have been considering now for some time. Matthew five, seventeen through twenty. Jesus says, in response to the unspoken question from the disciples. I have not come to destroy the law or the prophets. Rather, the law and the prophets stand. However. Once more, the disciples speak, however. comes their response.

    If the law and the prophet stand and your arrival has not brought the end as we expected, what then is the value of your coming? Have you read any Dostoevsky? Have you read Brothers Karamazov and Chapter the Grand Inquisitor? where the Inquisitor puts Christ on trial, for he hardly lives up to expectations. What is the value of your coming anyway? Aren’t all things the same?

    Now, Jesus No, they are not the same, because I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets, and therein is the difference. And only I can do that. And what he means by this is that he has come to fill full the law and the prophets. I said that right?

    To fill full the law and the prophets, with his message and more with himself, and that which stands at the heart of the one who has come, at the heart of his life, namely his mission, his death upon the cross, and his resurrection to glory. At the center of the law and the prophets, so says Jesus. is the message in fulfillment about himself and about his cross and about that empty tomb. And if you don’t understand that, you don’t understand the law or the prophets. How magnificent, then, that message about fulfillment for taking center stage now is that glorious statement, you well should memorize it, Matthew 20, 28, I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many. That’s the meaning of the law and the prophets. Their intent, their goal, their end. That’s where they were directed all along.

    Indeed, all things are not the same. Nor will a disciple or any follower of Jesus, you, cannot be the same. Since Jesus and his cross and his resurrection are the air that you breathe, as servants of His, the air through which you are compelled to move in order to breathe the will of God.”

    Even though Jesus’ words here introduce how all things cannot be the same since He came, It remains true that Jesus is not here pushing down or pushing away the law or the prophets in any respect. One of the primary intentions of his words is to comfort his disciples in the knowledge that the law and the prophets are intact. What, then, of the law and prophets they have asked? Jesus replies, Because I came to fulfill, not to destroy, the law or the prophets, I say to you emphatically, and now we move on to verse eighteen, the universe will vanish before one of the smallest letters or the slightest strokes of the law will vanish. Jesus, therefore, is unwilling to let the law and the prophets go. His kingdom is making its appearance in the world that seems to go on indefinitely, and until the world ends, the law and the prophets will continue to play out their role. comes the response of the disciples.

    But then, if the law and the prophets continue to play out their role until the end, how can you claim that they are fulfilled by you? And once more, underscoring this whole idea, is what appears at the conclusion of that because, replies Jesus, of what he has accomplished in me. While there is on the one hand then that holding on to the law and the prophets, that point of continuity that Jesus is determined to maintain, Yet simultaneously, mysteriously, even oddly, there is that principle of discontinuity which must be grasped, made plain in his words concerning fulfillment and what appears in that slight phrase at the end of verse 18, until all is accomplished. Until all is accomplished.

    You see, verses 17 and 18 must be read as parallel statements. The one statement, verse 17, equals the other, verse 18. And as we take stock of those two verses, we can say that each verse is composed of two thoughts. The first thought is the inviolable nature of the law. This is expressed by the words, Do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy. And by the words in verse eighteen, Until heaven and earth pass, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law. That’s on one side. However, there is a second thought at work.

    And this second thought concerns the revolutionary significance of the Messiah’s presence, and the revolutionary significance of his kingdom. And this is expressed by the words, but to fulfill, in verse seventeen, and until all is accomplished, in verse eighteen. The prior statement in each verse is unto the latter statement. so that the latter statement becomes the lens through which you are to see the former. We are to see the law and the prophets in terms of their fulfillment, in terms of the accomplishment of all things.

    What then is that fulfillment? What then is that accomplishment with which each verse ends? It is nothing less, nothing less than the completion The completion of the Messiah’s mission. Here, in these words about fulfillment in verse 17 and accomplishment in 18, we have a veiled reference by Jesus to his own death and resurrection. As we have made clear in verse 17, so it is in verse 18, the death and resurrection of Christ.

    This is the fulfillment. This is. the accomplished. Yes, indeed, the law and the prophets continued to maintain their status, that which they were intended to maintain. But in the administration of Christ only insofar as they are seen through the spectacles of Christ’s death and resurrection. The wage is over. That is the significance of the coming of Christ. The wage is over. But the world goes on. And the issue now is how will you live in light of the coming of the one who was expected and anticipated? The Sermon on the Mount becomes your charger. It becomes that description of your life in the world now, short of the end.

    How am I to behave? What am I to do? How am I to think? What is expected of me? I find my life here, but in no sense can I disassociate what I find in these words spoken by Jesus on this mount from what has been accomplished in him at Calvary and in the garden and the empty tomb. For me, what does that mean? A radical righteousness, does it not, in him, found in him nowhere else? fulfillment of the law and prophets in him to be sure, but no less than me. How so?

    As I now become servant for others. As I write unto him, forsake privilege, standing, position, for the sake of those who are in making myself expendable for their sake, not counting my life here, but giving it up. That is the Law and Prophets. That is the message of Jesus Christ. Now you may be thinking, I haven’t been doing all too well. along those lines. But you see, as Jesus speaks here in these verses, the concentration is upon Him. The concentration is upon Him first of all. He is the One who fulfills. He is the One in whom all things are accomplished.

    And therefore, your power, your strength is not found in yourself. You cannot find it. within yourself. It is found only in him who is now alive to do nothing less than give you the power to endure faithfully until the heaven and the earth pass away.

    Our Father, we take stock of ourselves, even in light of what the Apostle Paul has said, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But where might we find righteousness? Where might we find power and strength to live before you and in this present world order? We find it in that one who is the very righteousness of God, we find it in that one who is the fulfillment of the law and prophets, that one through whom all things are accomplished, Jesus Christ.

    Indeed, he has made this supreme difference. In light of your word, in light of all that you have promised and even prescribed, the Lord Jesus has come center stage and he is the source of our power he is our hope we are to find our strength in him please Lord now by your spirit grant us that strength from above and encourage us that we might walk as we should disciples of the Christ until the heavens are rolled back like a scroll and the elements of this creation are melted away and your children appear as the righteous in the heavens forever.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Cross at the Center

    The Cross at the Center

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 4, 1987.

    About this sermon

    Christ teaches from a heavenly mount as well as a Galilean hillside, and 5:17 already puts the cross at the center of all that follows. The cross binds the two greatest commandments, love of God and love of neighbor, into one. Christian ethics never stands apart from the crucifixion.

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    Sermon transcript

    This is Matthew 22, verse 34 and following. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, Which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ?

    Whose son is he? They said unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then called him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word. Neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.” And then Matthew five seventeen.

    Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Let us pray together. Lord, in our pride, we would think more of ourselves than we ought, and certainly more of our words than your word. But Father, through Christ and the ministry of your Spirit in our hearts, You have taught us the value of your word, for surely by your word all of our words are judged. We invite you, therefore, our God, our King, our Governor, to judge us, our words and works, through your mercy. for the sake of Christ our Savior. Amen.

    Jesus teaches. Jesus teaches his own. He teaches his own from a mount in Galilee. And he continues to teach his own today from heaven. His instruction, his commands, they are the same then as now. No ordinary teacher, not just one more prophet come from God. Not even a new and better Moses. Jesus is the teacher without equal.

    That one who in his person, not simply in his message. That one who, in his person, affects an alteration of history. Never has there been teaching like this. This one, then, in his person, affects a transition for the ages. time and history, life and reality will never be the same again.

    His coming, according to that angel prior to his birth, that angel who spoke to Joseph in a dream, his coming according to that angel means the forgiveness of his people’s sins. According to John the Baptist, Jesus’ contemporary, the coming of this one Jesus means the apocalyptic harvest, the clearing of the threshing floor, the gathering of the wheat, the burning of the chaff with supernatural fire.

    See what John says in Matthew 3 verse 12. And according to Matthew, the gospel writer, that coming of Jesus means the realization of God’s purposes and the Old Testament intent and promise. Truly, as Matthew comments with regard to the coming of the Christ, there is the fulfillment beyond the wildest imagination of any Hebrew of the land. The fulfillment of that passage, Isaiah 714, the Virgin shall conceive, bring forth the child, you shall call the child’s name Immanuel, God with us. And later in the fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel, the gospel writer will reflect upon the coming of Christ in his preaching ministry along the lines of Isaiah chapter 9. God’s light in Christ is broken out upon those who sit beneath the shadow of death.

    Then there is the testimony of Jesus himself According to him, his coming means, in chapter 3, verse 15, the fulfillment of all righteousness. And then, as you run through the series of the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, verses 3 and following, his coming means the arrival of end-time blessings.

    Jesus, therefore, is that one who in his appearance alone alters history. He is history’s end, he is its goal. And such alteration, such transformation, his own fully expected, his appearance in their minds was to bring about justice for those who have waited. Justice, equity for the poor, and judgment upon the oppressor. Glory for the righteous, shame for the proud. God prevails in the end. evil is dispelled conclusively. The Lord in his Christ rewards his own and punishes his enemies.

    But now, as we have seen, that one who alters history, the Lord’s Messiah, has come no longer to the people wait. He has appeared, but instead of bringing that separation of the sheep from the goats, instead of bringing about that separation of the righteous from the wicked conclusively, instead of ushering in that day in which the suffering of the righteous has ended, this Messiah introduces a fullness of righteousness that stands before the face of wickedness and takes the blows. He introduces his blessing into the midst of whatever suffering the righteous in his name are called upon to endure. but his own, had hardly envisioned the continuation of the times in which persecution and reviling would even be a possibility.

    Nor did they envision an environment in which there would have to be a reminder to do good Note the last three, the attitudes. A reminder to be merciful, to be pure of heart, to be a peacemaker. There would be no need for a reminder concerning these things, for, you see, such a reminder would be superfluous. What need is there to be reminded to do good in a place where evil is impossible? For the coming of the Messiah means the end of all things and the introduction of the state of perfection.

    Well, the weight of Jesus’ teaching is shattering for those he calls his own. The immediate question his disciples have is this. What then of the law and process? Was not the point of Old Testament teaching that the Messiah would usher in that perfect state of affairs and bring to an end all of the unpleasantness, all of the unfortunate aspects of life and reality all suffering, sighing, death and dying, gone, forgotten, put aside, no longer experienced. But Jesus now speaks, he being the one sent, the one who comes to affect the transformation of the ages, the transition of the ages. Jesus speaks as if things will continue and he will call upon his own to live in the light of his coming, he making a difference in them. His disciples, you see, want to know, if what Jesus has said here at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount is true, what about our convictions concerning the law and the prophets, it sounds to us as if you want to destroy the law and the prophets.

    So Jesus says in verse 17, not at all. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. And so it is that the one who comes, fills the law and the prophets full of himself. And in this way it becomes apparent that he is what they have been saying all along. What was Moses saying? What was David saying? Jesus. What was Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel? What were they saying? Jesus. He is the meaning, the significance, the content of the law and the prophets. But in taking stock of what he has said here to his own, our reaction may well be, ah yes, but how much of him? Is it to be merely his moral teaching or is it to include his redemptive work? And that is the issue now. Because, you see, on a bare reading, it is possible for you to look at Jesus’ comments with regard to the Law and Prophets and conclude that he has nothing else in view here but morality, how I behave. And there’s absolutely nothing redemptive here at all. There’s no cross in these words. There’s no blood, and there’s no cleansing. But, taking these words at their full, is there a place for the cross even here? No, even more.

    Is not the cross at the center of Jesus’ estimation of his relationship to the law and the prophets? Well. We have taken stock of a couple of passages in light of. Our suggestion that the cross is, in fact, at the center of what Jesus says concerning the law and the profit. We have turned to the seventh chapter of Matthew.

    We have looked at the golden rule, verse twelve, and we have concluded with regard to that golden rule that even here you cannot subtract from this verse one with the cross. And if you do, you miss the point and you don’t understand what Jesus is saying. Doing unto others what you want them to do to you is permeated with the cross and with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are no works, righteousness, doctrines here to be found.

    Rather, this text, Matthew 7, 12, testifies to that person besides ourselves who ends in our power because of me. That one who is placed within our power, within our hand, because of his need, he comes to us in his need, and now the question is, how will I respond? Will I make myself the servant for the sake of that one who is in need, doing unto him as I would have done unto me, or will I turn my back upon him?

    The point being, of course, that Christ does nothing less in dying upon the cross, what he has enjoined here in Matthew 7 verse 12. And this, says Jesus, is the law and the promise. There is another passage in which Jesus has something to say. about the law and the prophets together. That passage is Matthew 22. We’ve read it this morning.

    And the habit of mind has been to see here no less than in 7.12, a cross-less Christianity. In other words, the whole intent of Jesus is merely to make us better people. The objective is morality. It’s not salvation. It’s not It is simply betterment. The objective is not, then, saving people who cannot save themselves. It is making people who can, in fact, save themselves a bit better.

    Hencemore, here, as formally, Jesus summarizes the law and the time he faces an unsympathetic audience. The Pharisees that in counter-distinction to the disciples, whom he was speaking in the Sermon on the Mount. The language is delivered. Notice verse thirty four, but when the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together. Does that last phrase sound familiar? Does it sound like something you’ve read before? Does it sound like a psalm? Does it sound like Psalm 2?

    The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointing. Here, as Matthew frames the passage, he places the Pharisees in the place of those who have set themselves against the Lord. And now the lawyer steps forward to prosecute the case of the opponents of the Lord and his anointed. His objective to discredit Jesus by placing him at odds with the great interpreters of the law of that day.

    Jesus, however, answers with such brilliance that he proves himself more than a match for the Pharisees best. That brilliance is not located in the Old Testament text, he quotes, because the Pharisees and the lawyer knew those texts well, but in the way in which Jesus combines the text. In fact, the point is the way in which he connects them.

    You see, he says, After having quoted from the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6.4, he says, the second is like unto the first. Note verse 39. The second is like unto the first. The second commandment is like unto the first.

    There was only a request with regard to the greatest, remember. He could have ended after citing the first. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, heart, soul, and mind. And he goes on, and he speaks of a second, and by doing so he takes the second and exalts it to a place in which it is seen as indispensable to the first and as indispensable as the first. The crucial issue, therefore, is not so much the first commandment. You might think, how could one move beyond the power and force of that first commandment? You’re to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

    But the crucial issue now becomes the second, the second commandment. And the question is, how exactly is that second commandment like the first? How is loving our neighbor as ourselves, like the first commandment concerning loving God? What is at the root of both?

    Well, the thread by which the two are sewn together is an abandonment. An abandonment. an abandonment which we ordinarily associate exclusively with the first commandment, namely, holding back nothing in our devotion to God, giving our all, nothing less than this being the love in view. This abandonment rightly understood about our relationship to God, to be sure, as that first and great commandment hits us full face.

    But you see, Jesus doesn’t stop there, he goes on. He now joins to the abandonment with which we rightly understand that first commandment, the abandonment with which we are to understand the second, which is like unto it. For Jesus has said that an abandonment similar must characterize our love for our neighbor. The genius of Jesus’ response is not simply the fact that he ashamed his detractors who have no such love for him, their neighbor, but that he has so exalted the neighbor to be the object of an all-consuming love, a consuming love that we ordinarily would reserve for God. But you see, nothing less than this is the pattern of the self-giving abandonment toward God and our neighbor, which is at the heart of the Old Testament in the entirety of its message, the Law and the Prophets. It is precisely this pattern that we observe in perfection in Christ as he gives himself in obedient love to God for the sake of others, for the sake of his own.

    And where does he do this? But on the cross. The Son of Man is come not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. The first and second commandments spoken of here by Jesus preach Christ. Jesus hasn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill to fill them full of himself, and thus reveal their true significance that significance continues to allude all who fail to see at the center. At the center. Of the law and profits. on which Jesus, the sinless one, out of his love for sinners, surrenders himself, that they might be forgiven.

    Where might you turn to understand your Old Testament? To the cross. Where might you turn to understand to the cross. Now, do I have to spell that out any further? Do you see what Christ is calling for here? Out of the sum and substance of the Law and Prophets, out of the content of His own cross, for all who would own Him, He is calling forth from you that same sort of sacrifice evidenced in Him that you might be conformed to His image. Do you have difficulty loving your husband? Where are you going to learn? May I suggest at the cross? Do you have difficulty loving other people in this church? Where might you turn? Where are you to look? At the cross.

    The lesson in love is found in the cost. I know how it goes for us. We are taught just the reverse. First, you whip out one of your college psychology textbooks. Or you go and buy a stack of books to help you understand life a bit better. All the time thinking, well, this information will certainly end in a better understanding of God and His ways. But you see, what Jesus is saying to us, start with the cross and see everything else in its light.

    That’s the right method. Even those passages that seem filled full of moralism. Those passages that seem to be the calling cards of liberals. Adding weight to their contention that really all Jesus came to do was present us with a crossless religion. A religion of self-betterment. Moral improvement. No, not even those passages can be devoid of the cross. Rather, the cross is at the center. And now, you see, into this world, which has been transformed by the coming of Christ, that world utterly transformed by His presence, the cross becomes the center of the life of all who are His own, and their life becomes one of prosperity. We too, like unto him, giving up ourselves for the sake of others in imitation of him.

    Here, the weight, the power, the content of love. Truly, the law and the prophets. Truly, the law and the prophets. Let us pray. Father, Jesus is even gentle with us, we who are his own. But he might direct our attention back to those things that are central, indispensable. His cross. Where might we learn how to understand and read the law and the prophets? at the cross, where might we turn to understand how to love to the cross? So instruct us then, Lord, not counting our own lives dear, but giving our lives up for the sake of others, to the point that they may be preferred before us. The power to do this is found in Christ. who was not only crucified, but was raised from the dead, and in the power of that new life, gives his own life to those who call upon him in faith. We thank you, Lord,

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Filling the Law Full

    Filling the Law Full

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 21, 1986.

    About this sermon

    Christ fills the law and the prophets full with himself, which goes beyond keeping them. The Golden Rule in 7:12 raises two problems that commentators often note, and the text answers both. In 7:7-11 prayer belongs to that same fullness.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is found, first of all, in Matthew chapter five, verses seventeen through twenty. Matthew five, seventeen through twenty. Then we’ll be looking at some verses in Matthew seven, and also in Matthew twenty. Jesus said this, that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill.

    For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one kiddle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach men so, He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.” verses seven through twelve.

    Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. For what man is there of you, whom if his son asketh, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

    Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye also so to them For this is the law and the prophets.” And from Matthew chapter 20, verses 25 through 28. But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your servant.

    And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for men. Our Father, our hope is the Word, that Word which you have given through your servants, that Word which comes bearing witness to the Word incarnate, your Son. Our Father, may we receive your Word and may we live. We ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.

    Now, you may be somewhat disappointed with me this morning that I have not interrupted our series on Matthew 5.17. for a message about the birth of our Lord. But believe me, I love to preach on the birth of our Lord on the opening chapters of Matthew and Mark. I have done so even in season, as well as out of season. on a number of occasions. In fact, our current messages on Matthew’s gospel actually began two years ago, at Christmas time, with messages from Matthew one and two.

    But as you know, the pulpit must not be found by the season, especially one like Christmas, which lacks any clear and certain date, according to the Word of God. Truly, the church’s message and her worship are the year-round bound up in the advent of the Son of God, the appearance in this world of the Lord Messiah, the coming of God in the flesh. And that is why I said to you last Sunday evening that there is no good reason why that great hymn, Joy to the World, should be in prison by the church in the month of December. Much the same could be said for so many other great hymns confined by the calendar.

    What we need is a liberation by which we feel just as comfortable with Park the Herald Angels sing in July. As we do with sermons on Matthew 517 in December. He knew I was going to get around that. Nevertheless. Even if we feel compelled by the season. Matthew five seventeen. Is a wonderful. To be considered. The reason for this.

    Is the way in which this verse draws us into the heart of Jesus message. To the heart of Jesus himself. And simultaneously into the heart of the entirety of God’s revelation for us from the very beginning, through the entirety of the law and the prophets. It’s all here for us, even the incarnation, its significance, the birth of Christ.

    Now, previously, with regard to this passage, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Previously, with regard to this passage, I suggested to you that the image behind Jesus’ words here is that of a building, an edifice. His claim, therefore, is that he has come not to demolish, not to dismantle, not to disassemble the law or the prophets.

    He has come to fill them full, to fill them full, we have said, with himself. Now, I know that sense in which we ordinarily want to take these words of his. The pressures of this time of year contribute to a particular kind of reading for this passage. Thinking, for instance, of prophecy in connection with that word fulfilled. Thinking of prophecy in connection, then, with fulfillment. We invariably think about prophecies’ predictive function.

    In the prophecies are given promises, and those promises are fulfilled in Christ by His ministry. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that a virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son. Micah tells us about the lowly town of Bethlehem and that Israel is to look for her deliver out of that town. Now, don’t think that Jesus hasn’t come to fulfill prophecy in that sense. Of course he has. And Matthew, as you well know, is laced with example after example of this very thing. At least a dozen times he makes direct reference to the fulfillment of prophecy which Jesus signifies.

    However, at this point, Matthew 5.17, Jesus intends his words in an altogether different sense. You see, he he applies that word fulfilled equally. To the profits and to the law. And the sense for both must be exactly the same. In other words, Jesus, according to this passage, is fulfilling both the prophets and the law in precisely the same way. And so it is.

    Noting that emphasis. Noting that emphasis on the law as well as the profits. We recognize the force of Jesus statement. As we scan verses 18 through 20, and we note there that in view is not the predictive character of Scripture, but rather the prescriptive character.

    Thus the sense in which Jesus intends these words is as they pertain to the whole matter of obedience. And Jesus has come to fulfill the law and the prophets in that sense, according to his words here. Now, looking at that matter of obedience for a minute.

    We have no difficulty understanding the law in this fashion. Well, the law makes command. It issues demands and we are obliged to obey. But how are we to understand the profits along this line? How are we to understand the profits along the lines of the call to obedience? In keeping with our estimation of Jesus words, with regard to the law. Well, we’re not left in the dark. For we are to understand.

    The prescriptive character of the prophets and the law in precisely the same way in which Jesus does. The very same way in which he expounds. In Matthew seven. Verse twelve. Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them. For this is the law and the prophets.

    Now, I know that for many of you, this all sounds quite familiar. In fact, you realize that I said these very same things to you last week. But I have repeated them here this morning by way of reminder. In order that we might have our bearings. As we take stock. Look a bit. Deeper into the significance of Matthew seven verse twelve. A passage by hurried exposition of which left some of you bewildered. Last week. Matthew. Seven verse twelve. As you know, this is the so-called golden rule. The church and Bible scholars have had their problems with this text over the years, and that for two reasons. One is a textual reason.

    Because they have had difficulty explaining just how verse twelve. Note that verse twelve has to do with action and doing. Explaining how verse twelve follows on verses of seven through eleven, which have to do with asking for praise. And thus, they are at a loss to explain the word, therefore, with which the twelfth verse begins. Therefore, as if by way of reflection on what Jesus had just said, therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do so for them. So, the textual reason. the shift that they can’t penetrate from praying to doing. But there’s another reason why this has been so difficult for the church and for Bible scholars. This reason is theological, since verse twelve sounds so Christ-less.

    That is, it sounds so devoid of the redemption we find in our estimation of the Savior and our evaluation of Him in light of His cross. On the contrary, it sounds so full of what we have come to call works righteousness. Where’s the grace? Where is the redemption?

    Now, read along these lines, this reading of Matthew 7, 12, as somewhat Christ-less, seems to reduce the whole matter to that of a religion of Jesus as opposed to a religion about Jesus. That is, taken from this vantage point, this verse seems to suggest that what we are to have is a belief like Jesus’ belief, not a belief in Jesus himself. It seems to reduce Christianity to a bare moralism, Do this, do that. Well, you can see how the liberals have had a field day with this text.

    The essence of religion, they say, has nothing to do with supernatural transactions like an atoning death, a bodily resurrection, let alone a virgin birth or other miracles. Neither has it anything to do with the supernatural work of grace in people’s hearts. Far from the message about the need for a savior, here is a message in Matthew 7 verse 12 about a little more moral concentration and effort, something we can all set our sights upon and even achieve with no more help from Jesus than the inspiration of his words and his example. In truth, Jesus’ words in that so-called golden rule do not mean that he, the law and the prophets, promote a message about morality and ethics devoid of redemption and God’s saving work in Christ. Rather, Jesus’ words mean just the opposite.

    They mean that He, the Law, and the Prophets proclaim the Christ, proclaim the cross, even the fullness of the Incarnation. Still, you look at that golden rule and are a bit bewildered. You might well ask, where is the cross? Well, the answer to that question is found in understanding the transition that we spoke of earlier, that transition from verses seven through eleven to verse twelve. We don’t have any difficulty recognizing that verses seven through eleven are about prayer.

    Jesus says, Ask, seek not. Therefore, with the promise of response, even a father gives his children what is useful in answer to their request. How much more will our Heavenly Father give us good things when we ask him. But having followed Jesus argument now in those verses Have we seen everything by seeing only his encouragement to us in our prayers? Hardly. You see, the truth about prayer is that the one in need makes request of the one who has the ability to meet that need. The truth about prayer is that the one who is in need makes requests of the one who has the ability to meet that need.

    Therefore, we can say that the one who meets the need in some sense must be recognized as greater than the one who has the need. But when the greater one The one who has the ability to meet that need does in fact meet the need of the one who is in need. The greater one becomes the servant of the one who is in need. That one who has the power answers the request of the petitioner.

    As a servant responds to the bidding of his master, you see what’s happening. You may request. And the Lord becomes your servant to answer. The great God lowers himself. To become your slave in response to your In this way, then, the one with the power, the one with the position, becomes the servant of the one who has neither power or position. This action then places the one who is first last, and makes the one who is last. It is from this point that we move effortlessly into verse twelve, the golden rule. Right along these lines, we begin to understand.

    Jesus is saying, in effect, carrying through the tone of asking. Therefore, whatever you ask others to do for you when you are in need, do for them when they, in their need, ask of you. For this is the whole of the law and the prophets and the meaning of my presence and ministry among you. And how true this is. For the action reflected on in Jesus words about prayer and in his words there spoken of concerning action in verse twelve of chapter seven is precisely. Precisely the action we discern in the incarnation of God into human flesh. It is precisely the action that we perceive at the cross. God himself, in response to his people’s need, becomes the servant in order to answer their need.

    When Jesus, therefore, says in Matthew 5.17 that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, this is what he meant.

    He fills them full with himself, the testimony to the father’s condescension, the first, the greatest, becoming the last and the least and the last, the least sinful humanity becoming first. Becoming first. For the son of man. For the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his wife a ransom for men. That’s it. That’s the law of the prophets. And that’s Jesus.

    Now a life devoid of the cross and the incarnation of God is far removed from that which is the fulfillment and summary of the entirety of God’s revelation, found only through Christ. But a life driven by the cross and the incarnation, enters into the fulfillment and summary of all that God has said, found only in Christ.

    This one, our Lord, our Savior, our God. Let us worship and serve Him. Amen. Take us far away from our vain imaginings, our God, that we might see the fullness which Christ is. And Lord, by your mercy, May we dwell in Him, realizing that that fullness was intended for us. And Father, may we find that place wherein we have come to dwell, namely Jesus Christ, filled with pleasures, joys, and contentment. Yes, peace. Oh Lord. We ask this in your name. Amen. Our final hymn this morning is hymn 159, 159. Let’s stand and sing together.

    Christ is born today, Christ is born today. Good Christian men rejoice with heart and soul and voice, As we hear of endless bliss, Jesus Christ was born for this. He hath bought the land way for our land is blood forevermore. Christ was born for this. Christ was born for this. Good Christian men, restore a horse with heart and soul and voice. Now ye need not fear but pray. Jesus Christ was born to save. All to one and all to one. gave His everlasting hope, Christ was born to save, Christ was born to save.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Destroy, Fulfill, and the Prophets

    Destroy, Fulfill, and the Prophets

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 14, 1986.

    About this sermon

    Christ chooses his words in Matthew 5:17 with care, ‘destroy’ and ‘fulfill,’ and the prophets bind as much as the law does. Christ’s own righteousness fulfills both. The Golden Rule and the greatest commandment show the same fulfillment from two more angles.

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    Sermon transcript

    Matthew seven one birth, I think you know it well enough for twelve. Therefore. All things whatsoever he would that men should do to you. Do ye even so to them for this is the law and the profit. In Matthew twenty two. Verse thirty-five, reading through verse forty.

    Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. And this is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

    Then from Matthew five, once more, Verses seventeen through twenty. Think not that I am. To destroy the law or the profit, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Barely, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one job or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

    Let’s pray briefly. Father, as you have taught us concerning our confidence, you have also taught us concerning your word. Father, that is why we are to be in your word and about your word. Father, here, there is that testimony to the confidence exhibited by Jesus, a confidence which was true, a confidence which never had to apologize. O Lord, may we be found in Him, not with a confidence of our own, but with His. We ask this through Him. Amen. Jesus has said, I came not to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. But what did he mean? Fine words, I’m sure. But what did he mean?

    The force of these words is determined by two basic insights. The first is an insight into the significance of the one who speaks. And the second is an insight into the identity of his audience. those to whom he speaks. About the former, we have already spoken.

    Let me remind you, the one who speaks is no less than the Messiah, the Promised One, the Anointed One of God. The one who speaks is the Son of God, the One who is heir to all things of God. That’s the meaning of that title. But even more, the One who speaks is Emmanuel, God with us. Never before has there been one like this in the earth. God in flesh, come, and because of his coming, the transformation of all things.

    Now, about the latter, that is, the identity of his audience, those to whom he speaks, let me say this. Jesus here is not speaking to his opponents. Jesus isn’t even speaking to the multitudes, even though the multitudes are present, as we find at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Specifically, Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

    This latter insight, then, is all-important because it helps us to focus our questions about the text before us. For a starter, and we’ve asked this question before, last week we asked it, why would Jesus feel especially compelled to say these words about himself and the law and the prophets to his disciples? Why would he feel especially compelled to speak in this way?

    Do not think that I have come to destroy you. But the answer to this question is found in what we read in verses 3 through 16, the beginning verses of the Sermon on the Mount, those verses that begin with the Beatitudes. Now, rather than review the verses again for you this morning, something that I have done with you regularly, let me instead give you their impact. The total effect of these previous verses, verses three through sixteen, is that Jesus clearly indicates that the disciples are going to live, apparently, indefinitely, in the world a bit longer.

    And in all honesty, their circumstances in the world will not be all that pleasant. Poor of spirit, mourning tears, meek, that is humiliated hungry and thirsty, persecuted for the sake of righteousness, reviled, all manner of evil spoken against them, falsehood. The total effect, therefore, of these verses is that Jesus clearly indicates that the disciples are going to live, apparently, indefinitely in the world for a time yet. And in all honesty, the circumstances of their lives will not be all that pleasant.

    And you call this good news? They had expected, put yourself put yourself in their place. They had expected the end of everything. They had expected the separation of the righteous from the wicked. They had expected their vindication. They had expected all of the glory promised in the law and the prophets to be there when the Messiah came.

    And now, obviously, from what Jesus is saying, they can make it out this isn’t going to take place. At least, not as they have imagined. Therefore, the disciples’ unasked question, the one that lies beneath the surface of the text, their unasked question is this. If what you say is true, Jesus, then what has become of the law and the prophets? Do they count for nothing? Is there to be no fulfillment of them as we had expected? Jesus says, reading their hearts, for they don’t even have to speak a word.

    Jesus said. Assuring. I did come to destroy the law or the problem. Now think about his words. They’re a fact on the site. Even his choice of words. This word destroy has as its background architecture it means to destroy by dismantling disassembling demolishing along the lines of what your kids do with their lego sets regularly the visual image is along the lines of what we may have seen on the evening news when Pittsburgh decides to tear down a building. The image is one of clearing a site of a structure. And later, this very same word used here by Jesus is ascribed to him when he described the coming judgment of God upon Jerusalem and the temple, when not one stone will be left upon another. Well, Jesus didn’t come to do that, to the law or the prophets. He did not come to take apart, to disassemble, to demolish the law or the prophets. and leave their former place and empty for.

    But his disciple. Might well have thought. What the impact of his coming to be some sort of rewriting of revelation. That made the law and the profit obsolete. simply because now all their expectations were shattered as so many blocks, so many stones upon the ground. It seems that Jesus, this Jesus to which they have to whom they have attached themselves, this Jesus has a different program from that of Moses and David and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel. But Jesus did not come to demolish. He came, he said, to fulfill. And what about this word, fulfill? The image evoked by this specific word could not be more appropriate.

    You see, this word, in an inversion, a reverse, by root of contrast, assumes that the structure thought demolished by the first part of the statement is actually still standing. It remains. The structure which the law and the prophets is remains standing. No. That structure, that edifice, that building of the law and prophets is not to be torn down. Rather, as Jesus said, it is to be fulfilled, or better, filled for the structure. the building yet is to be filled.

    For. That this suggests you see. A certain liability. A certain defect with regard to the law and the price. In what sense do the law and the profit need to be fulfilled? Well. This is a difficult question to answer from this text. Chapter five verse seventeen in Matthew. Because by looking at things quite directly. It would appear that the law. could not be fulfilled in the same way in which the profits are. The law. If there is defect there. If it is in need of a fulfillment.

    The law would need to be fulfilled in a prescriptive sense in terms of a fully satisfying Therefore, the law is fulfilled in a righteousness and in obedience. But when we move on to the prophets, ordinarily we speak of the fulfilling of prophecy in a different vein altogether. The prophets are fulfilled in a predictive sense. That is, there have been promises made. There have been predictions of the future, and now those promises and those predictions are to be kept.

    In fact, throughout Matthew’s gospel, this is the sense in which Matthew ordinarily uses the word fulfilled. Because, as you may recall, Matthew is the one who punctuates his gospel with those phrases, such and such took place in order that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the proper.

    He uses this device no less than twelve times. But noting the different senses for the fulfillment of the law and the profits Are we to conclude that Jesus intend some sort of distributive meaning for the word fulfilled that is does he intend his disciples to distribute the meaning to both the law and the prophets in a sense appropriate for each so that you have one word fulfilled being applied to the law in its distinctive sense and that same word fulfilled being applied to the prophets and its distinctive sense? Or does he mean Does he mean this word fulfilled? Does he mean for this word fulfilled to have the exact same meaning with regard to both the law and the process? It would seem that he intended to have the same meaning for both, and this is apparent from what follows.

    You see, Jesus. Jesus goes on in his message. versus eighteen through twenty. And the emphasis falls upon the law. And upon these commandments in which his disciples are to be found at work doing and teaching. And what he calls your righteousness in verse twenty.

    All of these descriptions reflect upon the sense in which Jesus means the fulfillment of the law and prophets in verse seventeen Jesus intent here is clearly prescriptive not predicted it clearly has in view obedient. Righteousness. But in what sense. We don’t have any problem with thinking of the law In this way, but in what sense do we call the prophet prescriptive pertaining to obedience. Even seeing in them, the man obligations, duties, responsibility in what do we understand the profit in this way. Well, here’s the glory in precisely the same way in which Jesus.

    And that’s why we’ve read from Matthew seven and Matthew twenty two where Jesus joins together the law and the promise and speaks of them not in a predictive sense as if we have in view the fulfillment of an unfulfilled prophecy but rather in terms of the fulfillment of righteousness and doing what is right and good. Prescription ordinance. Command duty So what do we find when we look at Matthew seven verse twelve, and what do we find when we look at Matthew twenty to thirty five through forty? We find, first of all, in Matthew twelve, Matthew seven verse twelve, the so-called golden rule of which Jesus said, For this is the law and the And in Matthew twenty-two, we have the two great commandments of which Jesus says, upon these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Yes, there is that sense in which the prophets are as prescriptive as the law. But how are we to understand that prescription?

    What stands at the center of it? what is at its heart. Take a look at the so-called Golden Rule, verse twelve of chapter seven. Grab hold of what Jesus is saying here. Do you understand that Jesus here is not preaching some sort of their liberalism? It was the habit of men in the last century and into this century to look at this verse in terms of some sort of doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, and that all that Jesus here is encouraging a new approach to behavior, a new way of living that has at its center ethics and the way in which we treat one another. Completely absent from this verse is any notion of redemption. Well, that is not true.

    If you take stock of that twelve for familiar to you as it is there for whatever you want others to do for you do so for them. The position that are in view in this are those of one who has within his power. The ability to grant to someone else in need that which is needed. And what Jesus is saying, when you have it within your grasp to play the part of God, how are you going to play the role? How are you going to play the role? When it was in your power to do to someone else what you, in fact, would wish to be done to you, how are you going to play the role? And, you see, the message of Jesus is, you become the servant, even though you have the advantage, you become the servant of the person in need.

    Why? Because of the constraints of God upon you. The law and the prophets. For God has done nothing less himself. He had the advantage. You were in need. And he made himself a servant for you. The verse is replete with gossip. And nothing else is in view in Matthew 22 and Jesus discourse on the two great commandments. For he ends up You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, that’s not just a phrase falling off the lips of Jesus. But he hoped it would be repeated until the end of the age. That verse, those words are gone. Because you see, that verse describes the very thing that you find at work in God himself. Who loves his own. As he loves himself. And so great is God’s love. That he will give himself. For those he loves.

    At the center of both of these passages Matthew seven and twenty two. is the message of selflessness, the message of giving up the advantage for the sake of the other, of the first becoming last, the Lord becoming the servant, of others being exalted, even if it means my own humiliation. It is the message, you see, of the cross of Jesus Christ. That is what is at the heart of these verses.

    The law and the prophet, therefore, are a building, a structure with an empty interior, because no one has been found to fill it up, all having fallen short. But now, looking carefully, we see that this building has a Jesus-shaped interior, and he has come to fill it full with himself.

    And here is the power of the Matthew five seventeen the disciples feel cheated that the Messiah has appeared, but they have been denied the end. And the glory. Instead, life continues and they must live in this world, even under severe strain. Where then might they find the advantage of the Messiah’s coming? the blessing of his presence. In the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, which he himself is. A fulfillment into which they and we have now entered. And that is why we preach grace. even from Matthew five seventeen. Matthew seven twelve. Matthew twenty two. Verses thirty five.

    Our Father, there is a building which the Law and the Prophets are. But Lord, though we find it empty, we know that you have filled it. And you have filled it full with your Son. Oh, Lord. May we then in him. Enter that building. And see. The fulfillment of the law and the prophets in us. As they have been fulfilled in him. And maybe not shy away from it. Even though it takes the form of a cross. And we are found in the form of a servant. For this is precisely the way in which Jesus himself fulfilled or filled for the law and the prophets. Here then, Lord, we will be at the center of your will for your glory. and the praise of your great.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Does Christ Change the Law?

    Does Christ Change the Law?

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 9, 1986.

    About this sermon

    Matthew 5:17 raises three exegetical questions at once: whether Christ changes the law, what ‘fulfill’ means, and how that fulfillment fits the six contrasts of 5:21-48. Two common errors about 5:17-20 fall short. The verse demands more patience than either allows.

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    Sermon transcript

    reading this morning is from Matthew chapter five, and we are reading from verse seventeen through verse thirty-two. This is Matthew five, verse seventeen, and we are reading through verse thirty-two. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

    For verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

    He had heard that it was said by them of old times thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire.

    Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath fought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, left at any time the adversary deliver the judge and the judge deliver the officer and down the path into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. He occurred that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.

    But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

    It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery.”

    Our Lord, we would have all of you. We would be done with the flattery of ourselves. The presumption. Surely we would not think more highly of ourselves than we are. And Lord, we would beseech you that we would stand out of the way, that Jesus Christ would shine forth brightly, and that by him this word would be illumined. We pray, Father, that with the light given by him, we with all humility and with all seriousness might live before you that we might shine forth brightly ourselves as lights in a dark place. This we pray through Christ our Savior.

    Amen. This morning. I can say to you. Without the least bit of exaggeration. That I am faced with the most difficult preaching assignment. Of my ministry. Now there is one yet outstanding. On the considerations that commence. And that is the Book of Romans. If I’m here when I’m sixty, we might get to the Book of Romans. But truly, I am faced now with the most difficult preaching assignment of my ministry. and being quite honest, I feel hardly adequate for it. But the time has come, and the task cannot be avoided.

    Therefore, by God’s grace, I am compelled to forge ahead. Standing before us Matthew five, seventeen, and following. Running on the forty-eight. A section of Matthew’s gospel and Jesus sermon on the Mount. That has proven particularly difficult and especially controversial oftentimes resistant to satisfying penetration. So here we go. We come to this portion of God’s Word by a somewhat circuitous route. You will recall that we began our messages on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes last year. We covered the first sixteen verses of Matthew five in a series that ended in the spring, and for the Easter season and the week that followed.

    We then turn to the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel to consider Matthew’s declaration of Christ’s resurrection. But interestingly, our consideration of that final chapter in Matthew brought us to the so-called Great Commission. And you may recall that we noted there, in those closing verses of this gospel, the prominence of Christ’s words in that commission, namely, that his disciples were to teach the nations to observe whatsoever he had commanded them. It was, therefore, his emphasis upon his commandments.

    And the prospect of returning to Matthew five and taking up where we left off at verse seventeen. That drove us to consider the Old Testament roots for any further reflection upon what Jesus could possibly mean by his teachings on the law and the commandment. Therefore, we have spent some time now reviewing the Ten Commandments. To what end?

    Our hope has been to appreciate the commandments afresh, not as Jews, but as Christians, not as moralists, but as the Lord’s redeemed. To see them in the light of God’s glorious climactic act in Christ, in the light of the risen reigning Lord. to see in them something of the difference that Jesus Christ makes to even as basic a consideration as the Lord. All this in the interests of the most basic contention. Nothing is the same since Christ came.

    Not even the Lord. Here we are at Matthew 517. But as we begin, let me attempt, however imperfectly, to acquaint you with the problems before us as we take up this weighty portion of Scripture. The first problem. Quite serious. Difficult. The first problem is this.

    If we stand by the contention that we have asserted. That nothing is the same since Christ came. If we stand by that contention, how can we then square that contention with what we find in verses 17 and follow? In fact, many a reading of these verses has claimed just the opposite. As far as the law is concerned, so it is asserted, nothing has changed whatsoever. Therefore, Christian obligation finds itself pursuing, albeit with new intensity or even deeper insight, the same, precisely the same, ethical line as we find in the Old Testament. The law is merely being republished and reissued by Jesus.

    This problem leads us to a second. And here the fight is enjoined in earnest. And any one of you here this morning who has taken up these verses in debate with someone else knows that inevitably the focus of the debate is going to center on one were. The word is. What does. Jesus says. I did not come to abolish, or in the authorized version, I did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. Well, here we go. What are our options?

    There are at least three major schools of thought about the force of that word. Some have contended that fulfilled means to bring to full expression, to bring to full expression, or to bring to light the true me, to bring to light the true me, or to set forth the proper intention, the intention that was there beneath the surface.

    Now this interpretation, you should understand, banks upon a distinction made within the law itself. A distinction between an outer and inner character for the law itself. And it is this distinction which Jesus now makes plain. The Old Testament, we are told, according to this interpretation, majored on the outer. Jesus Christ brings about a penetration to the inner core of the commandment, the law. The New Testament focuses on the inner.

    This interpretation also has a specific perspective on Christ. For those who hold it, they assert the intention here is to set forth Jesus Christ as the new Moses, who provides the people of God with the proper, final interpretation of the law. the latter-day Moses family, bringing to light the law’s inner meaning. All right, that’s one approach to this word fulfillment, and there are many who have embraced it, even some within Reformed circles. There are others who have approached the word in a more covenantal fashion, with an emphasis falling upon the continuity of the covenant God’s dealings with his people.

    The idea here is that Jesus claims, with the word fulfilled, to establish the law, and by that claims to validate the law. Or, as Dr. Greg Bonson of Theonomy fame claims, and many other reformed people with him, Jesus here is saying nothing more than that the law is confirmed and reasserted by him. On this position, the law itself is a constant, which in its integrity has been lost from view by Israel Jesus Christ is therefore the covenantal executor, a legal figure certifying the law’s perpetual validity and administrating it in keeping with its original intent. The law then here, reasserted, confirmed, validated by Jesus Christ. who in the legal fashion certifies the law’s perpetual validity and administrates that law, keeping with the original. First, we had Jesus as the new Moses, and now we have Jesus the lawyer, and now we move on to a third position.

    There have been those who have seen this word fulfill as meaning to fill up or to fill just taking the word apart. They have concluded that the sense in which Jesus means it is in this sense, to bring to conclusion, completing all that the law truly stood for. Not that the covenant is lost from view, But the stress is more upon the historical distinction between the old administration and the new, and also upon the transition that has been affected in and by Christ. Therefore, the emphasis falls upon Jesus as the end point of the law. not only as the one who perfectly fulfills, or fills full, the will of God, but the one about whom, note this point, the one about whom Moses and the prophets wrote.

    In fact, Jesus himself, the Son of God, now incarnate, now appearing in the world, is the one in whom the new promised covenant appears. And from the vantage point of the new, his shadow, Jesus’ shadow, falls back over the Old Testament, making it plain that the fulfillment, which he himself is, is what the law and the prophets were aiming at all along.

    I betrayed myself. It isn’t my objective this morning to settle this debate. But I think that you probably have guessed where I stand and in what direction I mean. Nevertheless. If we make a choice between these options that are before us, they may appear a bit subtle to you right now. But hopefully we’ll endeavor to make them more clear as we make our way through this passage. If we are forced to make a choice between the options or even in our own nation. Come up with another option.

    It should at least be clear to us that our choice must bear the weight of what we find in verses seventeen to twenty. That in the entirety of that section and also the weight of what we find seventeen. So that’s going to be the task, the undertaking. You see, in choosing one of these options concerning the interpretation of the word fulfill, it is in fact confirmed by what we find by our study in the rest of the verses.

    We talked about two problems. Now, we have another third. And that third problem appears to you as you make your way from verse 21 on to the end of the chapter. Well, as we do that, we are struck, we cannot help but be struck by the refrain. Jesus reiterates again and again. You have heard it from the ancients. but then he concludes, but I say unto you, you have heard from the ancients, but I say unto you. This refrain in various language is repeated six times as you move to the conclusion of the chapter. How are we to take the contrast introduced to us in this fashion by Jesus.

    You see, the problem is quite difficult. Because the statements of verses seventeen through twenty are so very strong concerning what seems to be a positive assessment of the Old Testament administration and the Old Law. While the statements of verses twenty one to twenty forty eight seen in some sense. In some sense.

    To either lay aside or go beyond. The Commandments the law as it was specifically spoken in the Old Testament book. Is it as some have claimed that Jesus, in these verses, 21 through 48, is merely deepening the demand of the law? Or is it, as others have claimed, that he is actually radicalizing the law, so that the law itself is undergoing some sort of strange, mysterious transformation? At his hand. By him. Well.

    This sermon might be quite difficult. You might feel that you weren’t prepared for this. You didn’t come with pen and pencil or with some paper. I hope that sermons down the road can bring some light as well as reflect the life of the passage that is before us. The problems are then set in front of us, problems that we are going to face in the coming weeks, ones that we will want to keep in mind as we study out this portion of God’s Word. But as I conclude this morning, I want to point out a couple of features. Which I hope will not only help you in understanding what is before you here. But also comfort and challenge. As well. Please. Don’t lose sight. Of those to whom Jesus is speaking. If there is a common mistake among interpreters, it is found here, followed by a second, which I’m about to mention. But don’t lose sight of those to whom Jesus is speaking.

    You see, over and over again, it is suggested by many scholars that Jesus intended audience is the anonymous unbelieving Jewish establishment. That has launched against Jesus a charge of fanatical antinomious anti-law. And here, so it is claimed, Jesus is making his defense against those accusations. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is not speaking to the anonymous unbelieving Jewish establishment about their charges against him of a fanatical anti-law. You see, his audience in 517 is the same as the audience in 516. That audience is the believing church. His intimate disciples, you, his own, the people of God. He is speaking to you.

    And the basic power of 5.17 and following is the fact that there is something about what has proceeded which necessitates Jesus speaking the way he does in verse 17 and following. Now, what is it that necessitates in speaking in the way in which he does against the background of what he is already said in verses three sixteen.

    I believe that that something is brought out in verse seventeen itself. that something is Jesus’ estimation of and his declaration of the significance of his own person and appearance. His appearance means nothing less than the coming of the kingdom of heaven and its blessedness, and because of that, he is able to say in the series of the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. As I have already intimated, this fact cannot, must not be lost sight of as we read clearly, openly, verse seventeen. You see, the other thing that you must keep in hand as you take stock of this seventeenth verse, beyond the matter of the audience, is what you find plainly on the surface of that seventeenth verse. The heart of the verse is not, first of all, the question about the abolition or the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. The heart of the verse is the coming of the one who speaks his person and significance. The heart of the verse is I came.

    I came, and the coming of Christ makes all the difference, and now mandates the way in which we are to see all that Who is the one? The Son of God. Emmanuel. God with us. The glorious King. To whom has been given the Earth and the Heavens. He has appeared in human flesh to fulfill all righteousness, and to save His people from their sins. Hear Him. Listen. Even though He may say things that are difficult to understand, and take a great deal of concentration on your part, hear. Your eternal destiny. Is in the.

    Father, may we never lose sight of Jesus Christ, that one who stands at the center of the word given, thereby making it plain that our relationship to you and our life with you is all of grace. May this reality and truth be plain and clear to us as we study over. Father be patient with us. And be patient with your people everywhere. But father we ask that. By your spirit. There would be that proper right grabbing hold of. Your word the intention of your son, the divine purpose, these things made clear to us so that we may please you in everything. Hear us, Lord. Our hearts cry out to you. We look to you for satisfaction and for illumination.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Let Your Light So Shine

    Let Your Light So Shine

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 19, 1986.

    About this sermon

    “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Jesus speaks to his church, persecuted yet called to be merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers. The salt and light are not first an evangelism program; they are the Beatitudes lived out. If believers can show mercy while the world hates them, they have no excuse not to abound in it when persecution eases. As 1 Peter 2 teaches, such good works lead others to glorify God, and the church needs no special programs to show them.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading from 1 Peter 2. We are reading the first twelve verses of this chapter, and then we will be looking at Matthew 5. Therefore, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.

    If so, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” unto a living stone, this allowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. He also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” Wherefore, also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.” and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.

    But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

    And then from chapter five in Matthew, verses fourteen through sixteen. of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father.” which is in heaven.

    Let’s pray. Father, you feed us from the beginning of the service to the end, from the call to worship to the benediction. You feed us, Lord, in the reading of your word. and in the offering up of our prayers. You feed us as we give gifts, as we offer our tithes and offerings to you. Father, you feed us, we are nourished according to your appointment in the preaching of the humble servants, then, Lord, your preachers should be, that they might expound your word, making plain your gospel. And, Father, may it be plain as well that this church is your church, and you are Lord here.

    We pray and for Jesus’ sake, amen. As we move along in the Sermon on the Mount, it is so easy for us to lose our way. It is so easy for us to lose our orientation, forget what has been said, and become confused. what is presently said. I suppose it’s something along the lines of the old adage about the forest and the trees. We take stock of the particularities of the various verses. It’s possible for us to be lost. So here we are, moving along with Jesus’ words. And as we do, it is important for us to keep certain things in mind. And I wish to remind you this morning of three things, by way of introduction of our consideration now of these verses in Matthew 5, which we read.

    First of all, I hope you performed that little exercise that I gave you quite some time ago. I hope that when I suggested to you one Sunday morning that you go home and do a little bit of scissor and paste exercise with your Bible, that you did that. Now, I had in mind at that time that you take verses three through nine in chapter five, the Beatitudes proper. and you put them in one column, and then you match that column with verses 10 through 16, and that you read the one column in light of the other. Now, if you did that, I hope you saved the piece of paper that you wrote those parallel columns down upon. You have it and can refer to it. It’s important. And it’s especially important to us now, for you remember what I said.

    Verses three through nine are as the text, and verses ten through sixteen as the commentary. So if you have confusion about something in the text, with the attitudes proper, the best thing to do is to turn to the commentary. Now, we’re concerned with the latter verses in the commentary, verses thirteen through sixteen. And you might recall that as we went through our little exercise, I said to you that these verses about salt of the earth, light of the world, the city set on a hill that can’t be hid, that they are to be seen as a parallel to what we find in verses 7 through 9 in the Beatitudes, and that you should match them across the line in the parallel columns.

    Now that means that in understanding what Jesus intends, when he speaks about salt of the earth, light of the world, you are going to penetrate his meaning by seeing them, those passages or those verses, in the commentary in light of what he has said in the Beatitudes themselves. In other words, what does it mean to Jesus that we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world?

    It means that we are merciful. It means that we are pure in heart. It means that we are peacemakers. All right. You’re with me so far. There are other things that are important for us to remember. It is important for us to remember precisely to whom Jesus speaks. Now here you have to split your vision. I’ve already suggested to you a bit of split vision with regard to the Beatitudes and the Commentary. But here, once more, There’s a bit of split vision involved.

    Well, you see, Jesus is speaking to those who are his contemporaries. Those who we’ve described as expectant Israel, faithful, waiting, anticipating the coming of God’s salvation. Jesus speaks to them. And upon them he pronounces his blessing. Those then in Israel who have waited for the visitation of God and the appearance of his kingdom, Jesus speaks to them, but the split vision. For Jesus isn’t simply speaking to the faithful of Israel. He is speaking to his church, who are resident within those who at that time were hearing Jesus’ voice and believing.

    Now, I have tried to point that out to you by taking stock of the way in which Matthew introduces the Sermon on the Mount. I’ve noted this for you on a number of occasions. Once more won’t hurt. Jesus goes up into a mountain, and when he sat down, now Matthew is very deliberate in his description, for that ascent of the mountain in the days of Jesus’ ministry in the flesh parallels his ascent in the Spirit, in which he sits down at the right hand of God.

    And just as he taught those people who came to him on the mountain in Galilee, so now he teaches his church, who are congregated unto Mount Zion in the heavens. Alright, the split vision. Jesus’ contemporaries and also his church. Jesus is saying the same thing now from heaven that he said from the mountain in Galilee.

    One more thing I want you to remember. My, aren’t I organized this morning. The third thing that is important for us to remember is the situation. And this is, I would say, the thing that gives us the most difficulty in understanding and appreciating the force, the impact of Jesus’ words. You see, the situation is this. We must keep it in mind.

    Those in Israel who are faithful, who have waited for God’s salvation and deferred to those who promised some other kind of deliverance, who have turned their backs upon that kind of salvation or the promises that men might make, those who have set their vision upon God and God only, I wait for the Lord. He will do it, and him only. The people who have this kind of vision are not popular with those who love the world. Be it that they arise out of Israel, or they be congregated unto Christ as citizens of the heavenly realm.

    And therefore the situation which Jesus addresses here is one in which those who love God and are numbered with the Savior are those upon whom persecution and abuse come. This is what then magnifies the significance of Jesus’ blessings. Because it is particularly in that circumstance of oppression, persecution, abuse, that Jesus says, blessed are those who are being persecuted. Blessed are the ones who are abused. And that blessing has a significance that cannot be calculated.

    For you will remember how we have expressed the content of that blessing that now Jesus confirms. The theme of Matthew as it pertains to Christ is that we are to understand Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, and the blessing is nothing less than that. In the midst of our tribulation, the persecution we endure, there comes this message of blessedness. The blessedness is nothing less than the presence of God in Christ with us to sanctify to us our every distress.

    That should be clear to us now. Alright, wonderful blessings. But you see, Jesus doesn’t end there. And here comes the real grabber. Here comes that element that even beyond the blessing and the blessedness of those who are numbered in God and with Christ. At this point it is seen, its power takes its toll.

    Alright, I’m persecuted. in the midst of my persecution, but how do I respond to those who abuse me? And that’s the force of 7 through 9. I persist in mercy. I persist in purity. I persist in peacemaking, even though I’m hated. Now, there’s no other power to do that than that which is found in Christ. No other place will we find it.

    Those are the three things that I want you to remember as we take stock of the verses we’ve read this morning in Matthew 5. And I want you to keep these things in mind Because as we’re moving along with Jesus’ message, as I said at the outset, the pressure is for us to forget the things we’ve learned and to lose ourselves in the particulars of the text. Jumping into our word studies and trying to understand everything, their various relationships, but losing our grip on the whole. So we come to verses 13 through 16, and the pressure to misread it. Well, just what is the pressure exerted here that takes us in a wrong direction?

    You see, if you are like me, you have been raised in conservative circles. You have been raised in an evangelical environment, and you are acquainted with having been exposed to the evangelical hermeneutics, that is, their principle of interpretation. I’ve been reading commentaries this last week, and in that exercise I found that these men, Ph.D.’d as they were, were running in a direction with these verses that invariably missed the point, lead us off in the wrong direction.

    For in their reading of these verses, they find here in Jesus’ images of the salt and the light in the city, they find here in these images an evangelistic imperative. Now please, before I start, may I make an apology, or an apologetic, more to the point. You all know well enough that I’m not here to stand before you and denigrate the evangelistic calling of the Church of Jesus Christ, and certainly no one can immerse themselves in the Gospel of Matthew and not be impressed with the evangelistic imperative that is laid upon the Church of Jesus Christ. But the question isn’t whether there’s an evangelistic imperative for the Church, the issue is whether that’s what these verses are speaking about. Now hang with me. And if you’re a bit irritated, sit on your ire for a bit, hold it in, and we can get together. Have me over for dinner and we’ll have it out. The evangelistic imperative attached to these images.

    These commentators would see the salt and the light as essentially related to the evangelistic ministry of the Church. Here they would see, then, that Jesus has isolated the evangelistic mission of his people, as they, then, are both salt and the light to the earth and to the world. But this isn’t quite going far enough in terms of their explanation, for not only do they wish to see here the evangelistic imperative at the center of these verses, but then they construe the entire community, and that is, each individual within that community as evangelistically responsible and obliged You then are an evangelist.

    You are the missionary. You have the calling and the appointment and even the ordination to go out and preach the gospel. Not only is that your calling, it is your obligation. And if you fail in that obligation, you have disobeyed Christ and you are under his displeasure and even his wrath.

    Now, which one of us has not felt the guilt of that kind, the guilt brought about by that kind of exegesis and interpretation? Each one of us has. Now, I’m not against visiting guilt upon you, but I want you to feel guilty for the right And I think by the time we’re done with this passage, I’ve laid a little bit of guilt on you. But you get the drift. You know the exegesis, you know the interpretation. But I want you to note that such A construction of these verses strains the intent of Matthew in his writing, and even misconstrues Jesus’ purpose in these verses. First of all, take stock of this.

    In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to separate the evangelistic task and relate it to those who are specifically called to do just that. All you need do is read Matthew 10, and here he is laying particular evangelistic obligation upon the disciples as they are preachers of the kingdom, heralds of Christ. We can turn to Matthew 28 and the Great Commission, and I know how that passage has been used in the past. to lay a guilt trip uniformly on the people of God.

    But Jesus here is speaking to the disciples as he is commissioning them, as evangelists, as proclaimers of the gospel. And that’s why he speaks about their ministry in terms of baptizing. Are you baptizing anybody these days? Baptizing and teaching. and the teaching and the baptizing go together, they are part and parcel of the proclamation that goes out by Christ’s official heralds of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus in Matthew’s gospel does not hesitate to separate the evangelistic task of his church, causing it to reside in those who are especially called to proclaim the gospel with power and in the unction of the Holy Spirit.

    But secondly now, take stock of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. The force and power of this sermon is totally inclusive. There isn’t a part of it that can be specially applied to evangelists, or those who have special evangelistic ministries, or to the task of the ministry of the few. It is inclusive of all of God’s people. There is nothing there to separate preachers and evangelists and missionaries. The things that are spoken of here are spoken to all of God’s people indiscriminately. They are all obliged with regard to the things that are said here.

    The evangelistic interpretation of these verses is a clear contradiction of Jesus’ objective. You see the direction Jesus is going in his comments. He’s building up to that sixteenth verse and his pronouncement about good works. Good works, the doing of good. That’s the focus. Now, there’s power in these words that registers itself upon us when we take stock of the things of which we’ve reminded ourselves at the beginning.

    Specifically, all of God’s people are obliged to do good. especially as they are visited by persecution. It is the doing of good in the face of opposition and hostility by all of God’s people as a uniform objective of the people of God that is in view here by the Lord. And, what shall we say about our parallel construction, verses 3-9 and 10-16? The good works in view, in verse 16, are nothing else than doing mercy, being pure in heart, and persisting in the making of peace.

    Now, for a few concluding observations. First of all, I want you to feel the force of Jesus’ statement. In his argument, or in his message, he is taking the most extreme. But by taking the most extreme, he includes that which is less extreme. Let me illustrate. He places before you the picture of the people of God persecuted. And he is declaring to you his blessing and his promises in light of that persecution and your determination in conformity to him to be merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker. You see what Jesus is doing?

    By seeing you in the light of the extreme situation of persecution, he is saying to you, in effect, if you can be merciful when you’re being persecuted, then you can be merciful when you’re not. In fact, there’s no excuse for you when you’re not. But what a comfort. If I am trained by my Lord to be merciful while I’m being hated for it, if I can be pure in When the strain is so extreme, a maker of peace and sane circumstance, then when persecution is abated, ought I not to abound in mercy and the purity of heart? This is the school of Jesus. That’s my first observation. The extreme includes that which is less extreme. Secondly, I want you to see my way of conclusion, the way in which Jesus exalts good works.

    Please, you may be coming the route that I have traveled, and my experience has been that good works have been denigrated, denigrated in my church experience, in the theology that I’ve embraced, because invariably I am told that good works are useless, since they won’t save you.

    Therefore, ignore them. But do you see what those who are constrained to move in keeping with the evangelistic interpretation of this passage, you see what they do, where they end. They move in such a way that the only good work of value to them is that work in which they tell everybody that their good works are useless. And that is just the opposite of what Jesus is intending here, and certainly is contrary to everything that Jesus’ prized disciple Peter said in 1 Peter 2.

    Can I suggest to you that with the Reformation at its best, not at its worst, There was a revival of good works the likes of which the world had never seen, so that the doing of good was not placed in opposition to justification by faith and salvation by grace, but rather was seen as the expression of those who had been saved and returned.

    Finally, last observation. All right, you’ve convinced me. Boy, this is great. I don’t have to be an evangelist, but we’d better organize. You’ve convinced me so Let’s get busy and organize salt-and-white team ministries. We’ll incorporate. We’ll get a board of directors. We’ll send out flyers. We’ll develop a whole infrastructure within our society for promulgation of good works We’ll have Presidents and Vice-Presidents, we’ll have annual meetings, we’ll have banquets in which we award the Academy Award winner in good works for the year. We’ll organize a lamp and lampstand club. Do you really think that Jesus Christ had any such thing in mind? Really? Do you think Peter, when he was speaking in the second chapter of that first letter, had any such thing in mind?

    Societies and organizations that congratulate their members and congratulate each other for all the good they are doing. wonderfully organized, machine-like operations? Or did he have the simple kindnesses in mind that needed no program? No president or vice president. Just the simple kindness and grace, the demonstration of mercy. the loving heart, the open hand, the open home, the magnanimity of the people of God, expressed genuinely.

    I choose the latter. And it is this love and this graciousness this mercy, be there persecution or not, that is a light before the world, by which others are constrained to glorify God, our Father, in heaven. Okay. Father, may we hear the words of our Savior and hear them clearly. May we see the significance of our life in light of his words, salt, light of the world. And Lord, we pray that as we understand these things, it will be in keeping with what he has said about doing good, performing good to others, even in the face of opposition and oppression. And in this fashion, our God, we know in keeping with his word, you will be glorified by many in the day of your visitation. Give us strength, Lord, now, we pray.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.