Getting Life Right: NO RULES. JUST RIGHT. Matthew 5:17-20
Some years ago, Outback Steakhouse had an advertising slogan: “No Rules. Just Right.” The slogan conveyed a relaxed attitude, symbolized by the lack of a set closing time posted on the door, and leaving no customer request unfulfilled.
NO RULES. JUST RIGHT. That is how many people would like their religion: Just do whatever seems right, or whatever your friends or society thinks is right. Be tolerant, and let people choose from a menu of beliefs that suit them. Life free from restraint, and follow your heart.
Would Jesus agree? Jesus was not big on rules! He refused to keep many of the Sabbath rules of his day: He healed on the Sabbath, and allowed his disciples to pick grain and eat it. He was casual about cleanliness rules: He didn’t wash ceremonially before eating, he touched lepers, and he did not condemn a woman who had a bleeding disorder and touched him. All of those things would be “unclean” according to Old Testament law.
Jesus did not seem anxious to condemn people who had broken the rules. He ate with people known as “sinners,” and even forgave sins.
Jesus definitely did NOT believe that RULES MAKE RIGHT.
Matthew 5:20 “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The “teachers of the law” were experts in rules. They had 613 main rules, with multiple examples of each one. The Pharisees were the most pious and committed people you could find anywhere. They were like believers today who are always in church, tithe, and memorize Scripture. They would be the kind of people who listen only to Christian radio and avoid R-rated movies. If anybody lived by the rules, they did!
Yet according to Jesus, living by the rules, even God’s rules, does not make people righteous. “…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
If RULES are not answer, is NO RULES A BETTER ANSWER?
The Outback slogan sounds great, until we get into the details.
WHO determines what is Right? The customer might want a 12 ounce steak at a 6 ounce price, or even decide not to pay at all. The cook might decide that serving food in an hour or so is just fine. The server might decide that a 35% tip is just right. The company might decide that overcharging customers or paying employees less than minimum wage is the right thing to do.
WHAT is Right? Maybe one person wants the sound turned up on the TV, and another wants a quiet, dim atmosphere. If a steak drops on floor, can the server implement the “3 second rule” and put it back on the plate. Should a baked potato come with butter and sour cream, or should it be covered with Tabasco sauce?
HOW can people get things Right? Should the menu be clear? Should there be policies, training, procedures, and written reminders? But what if the server was out late last night, the customer is impossible to satisfy, and the cook forgets to wash his hands?
To be RIGHT, there has to be a WHO, WHAT and HOW. WHO makes the rules, WHAT is the standard, and HOW can people get life right?
Where do people find the WHO, WHAT and HOW of righteousness? Jesus has a surprising answer: in the Scriptures—the Old Testament scriptures, known as the Law and the Prophets.
That is surprising because most people think the OT law is all about rules, and the prophets reinforce the rules of good behavior. Jesus didn’t see the OT that way. For him, the OT pointed the way to righteousness—a life that is right with God, self, and others.
Matthew 5:17-19 “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. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
WE READ THE BIBLE (OT AND NT) FOR THE WHO, WHAT AND HOW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
WHO is God?
Our view of God is the foundation of what we consider to be right.
***A gay man was researching churches, to find one that would affirm his behaviors. He said, "My God isn't simply the God I believe in, but the God I WANT to believe in and NEED to believe in." At about the same time, a Wichita church group was traveling the country to picket funerals, blaming tragedies on gay people. In their view, God was a wrathful despot who hated the same people they did. Our view of God impacts our behavior.**
We read the Bible, not as a rulebook, but to know God. We want to know his character, his values, his purpose, and his expectations of those who love him.
For example: God is the Creator of good things, the Source of a good life, and the Lord who will reign forever over his people in a new heaven and earth. The glory of God is seen most clearly in a love-relationship with people he created to joyfully serve him.
God’s character is holy and pure. He is righteous and just, and he upholds righteousness and justice, especially for the oppressed. He is merciful, compassionate, faithful and true, and he is gracious to those who seek him.
God is known through his actions. In Exodus, he frees slaves, gives 10 commandments to guide them in freedom, and provides manna to feed them. He disciplines their unbelief and rebellion, but continues to guide them to a land of promise.
In the NT, we understand that God is our Father, Jesus is Lord of all, and the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. We understand more fully God’s love on the cross, his power to save us in the resurrection, and his plan to draw all people to him through the church.
The foundation for righteousness is WHO God is. He is the King, and those who live in “the kingdom of heaven will recognize him as King. Jesus made that connection when he said, “Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”
WHAT does God say is right?
Jesus doesn’t throw out the rules of the OT. In fact, he would not remove even “the smallest letter, the least stroke of a pen.”
Yet Jesus also indicated that if we read the OT as rulebook, we won’t get to what is right. In Matthew 23:23, he said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness."
Jesus focused on the PRINCIPLES behind OT commands. (Tithing, for example, is about putting God first and caring for the poor.)
We can’t just take OT commands as rules for today! Let’s take an example, Leviticus 19:19-29, “Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material…Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or seek omens. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. ‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD. Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.”
If you had a haircut recently, you broke a rule! But what is the principle behind all this, that we should apply in our lives today?
Interpretation depends upon CONTEXT:
There is a LITERARY CONTEXT, and we should not take things out of context. At the beginning of the chapter, “The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’” “Holy” means “set apart as special,” and God’s people must not be like everyone else. (Preacher: the 2 kinds of seed and 2 kinds of material symbolized separation unto holiness, but you might want to skip that for now.)
There is a CULTURAL CONTEXT, which explains why some things are prohibited. God’s people are holy in the sense that they do not participate in the pagan religious practices of people around them. Pagan nature religions involved cult prostitution, which is obviously wicked. Those same religions involved divination by animal entrails, cutting, and tattoo marks. God’s people must stay away from all of that.
There is also a SALVATION-HISTORY CONTEXT. Israel was separated from the world as a nation, but the disciples of Jesus go into the world as salt and light. Christians are separated from the world, not by avoiding all contact, but by not being “unequally yoked with unbelievers.” Holiness is still necessary, but holy followers of Jesus must be in the world, while not of the world.
So what about getting a tattoo, or a short haircut? Is it OK to want the newest phone, or the hottest fashion trends? Is it OK to get drunk if everyone else is partying?
Rules are not the point. The point is that we are to be holy, different from people who do not know God. In our lives, no matter what we do, we reflect the holiness of God, as salt and light in the world.
HOW do we do right?
If we don’t read carefully, we might think Jesus is staying with the rules of the OT.
“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. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
What does Jesus mean when he will “fulfill” the Law and Prophets, and “everything is accomplished”?
The OT laws point to fulfillment in Christ.
Traditionally, laws have been put into 3 groups. Ceremonial laws, involving priests and sacrifices, are no longer necessary in the New Covenant in Christ. Civil laws applied to the chosen people of Israel, and no longer apply. Moral laws, such as the 10 commandments, still must be obeyed.
Jesus doesn’t split the law like that; he says ALL of the OT laws are important, and he came to “fulfill” them.
The only way we can be righteous is to fulfill the intent of God’s law through Christ!
The bloody sacrifices of the CEREMONIAL LAWS tell us that sin cannot be ignored, and must be dealt with. The OT sacrifices could not take away sin or restore a right relationship with God, but they pointed to the sacrifice of Christ, which did. Thank God! Because of the cross of Christ, we can be totally forgiven, our guilt is gone, and our relationship with God restored. Righteousness begins by accepting Jesus Christ as the final sacrifice for sin, and the way to fellowship with God.
The MORAL LAWS reveal sin, and they also reveal our inability to obey God as we should. We need inner change, as Ezekiel 36:26-27 says: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
The apostle Paul summarized the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, in Romans 8:3-4, “What the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
God’s law will not make us righteous; our righteous depends upon the work of the Holy Spirit within us. As Paul says in Galatians 5:16-18, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The CIVIL LAWS are no longer the law of the land, but they help us understand God’s passion for righteousness and justice. For example, the OT law about gleaning required landowners to leave some grain at the edges of their fields, for the poor to gather for themselves. God values social justice—mercy and care for the poor—as well as personal responsibility.
When Jesus came, he fulfilled the spirit of the OT laws. As he began his ministry, he said in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
In Christ, the Israelite kingdom was fulfilled in the kingdom of God—the reign of God himself. Jesus initiated the kingdom of God, and he sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom, healing the sick.
Of course, implementing righteousness and justice in the world is not easy, and the Bible does not tell us exactly what methods to use. It doesn’t tell us how churches should deal with people in need, and it doesn’t tell us how the government should provide a safety net. (The OT is clear about God’s command to provide a safety net, however!)
Yet in the kingdom of God, with Jesus as Lord and King, we are motivated to seek what Jesus did: good news for the poor, freedom for people captured by sin and oppression, and the good news of a fresh start for those in need.
We must go beyond rules to get life right, and the Bible answers key questions for us:
WHO determines what is right? God alone. Not our feelings, not the crowd, not the media.
WHAT does God say is right? The Bible guides us, not as a rulebook, but to help us know what God’s will is. As we understand what God said to his people in the past, we gain insight into his will for us in the present.
HOW do we do right? In Christ, we are forgiven and right with God, guided by the Holy Spirit, and passionate about bringing the righteous life of the kingdom of God into our world.
Christ fulfills the law and the prophets, and he alone can make us righteous.
