“Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew
5:17
John
Bunyan’s classic story, Pilgrim’s Progress, tells the
allegorical story of “Pilgrim”, who leaves “The City of Destruction” where he
lives, on a journey to the Celestial City. Along the way he enters through the
narrow gate, his burden falls off at the empty tomb, and he is given a book to
guide him on his journey. Unfortunately, at a resting place, Pilgrim
accidentally leaves the little book behind, and when he discovers that he
doesn’t have it, he rushes back to his former resting place to get it. He
cannot go on in this journey, without the Book that is so indispensable to Him
in his pilgrimage. Of course, that “book” in Bunyan’s story represents the
Bible, and it is indeed the “indispensable book” for a person who is on their
way to heaven.
In the
first part of The Sermon On The Mount, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. He
describes in the Beatitudes what the character of His disciples is to look
like, and then as we saw last week, He tells us what the role of His disciples
is to be in the world: to be salt & light to those around us. Now here in verses17-19 He reminds us of the indispensable book He gave His disciples for our
journey to heaven: the word of God, the Bible.
After
Jesus had ministered to multitudes of people in Matthew 4, and after teaching the
beatitudes, showing how blessed the lowly, rejected, and overlooked are because the
kingdom of heaven is wide open to them, it is natural for these Jewish people
to begin to believe that Jesus is bringing something totally new. This isn’t
the old way. This isn’t what the current religious leaders have led them to
believe.
This is
why Jesus tells His disciples here: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law and the Prophets.” No way, He says (and it is a “double negative”; a very
strong statement!) The scriptures are the word of God! He did not come to do
away with them, rather, He says, I came to fulfill them. The
powerful message that Jesus brought also brought some confusion. So Jesus
assures them that the Torah is still to be respected.
The
culture in which we live has a dramatic affect on how we interpret Scripture. Timothy
Keller in his article on Scripture says, “The more society moves away from and
outright rejects God’s word as being true, the more Christians will “tear out”
pages of Scripture to make it more palatable to their culture. The more
Christians participate in the sins of their culture the less likely God’s word
will have an authoritative position in their lives!”
Just
imagine how hard would it have been to be Noah (Genesis 7), Lot (Genesis 19) or
Moses (Exodus 32) to remain faithful and obedient to God while everyone else
was feasting on their sinful desires or their hearts (James 1:14-15)? Instead
of accepting the “foolishness” of this world (1 Corinthians 3:19) we as
Christians should bow our knees and unquestionably accept the authority of God’s
word to teach us how to live holy lives (2 Timothy 3:16).
In the
end one must choose what will be the compass for living one’s life. If we allow
our culture to dictate our beliefs, then while that broad path will be
pleasurable it will not lead us closer to God. If we accept and allow His word
to be the authority in our life, then we will be blessed and will one day hear
the words “good and faithful servant.” The choice is ours to make: to whom do we
want to be our master?
I
reminded of someone sharing an acronym for WORD (Want it, Open it, Read it, and Do
it). Jesus did this in His life here on this earth. Jesus wanted the Word to
reach each and every one, He opened it without diluting the true meaning, he
read it so that everyone might listen and he did what was asked to be done.
Dear
friends this Lenten Season may we to be able to expand the acronym for WORD – to
want it, to open it, to read it and most importantly do it?”
May the
Lord help us. God Bless you
Amen
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