It feels good to leave the heavy messages of the prophets and come into the sunshine of the New Testament. But the message of the prophets, as well as the rest of the Old Testament, are very important to our understanding of the New Testament. As soon as we begin reading Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, we discover that it is filled with several quotes, and even more allusions, to the Old Testament. I have heard many people say that they follow the New Testament and not the Old, but that was certainly not the teaching of Jesus, or even in the thinking of the first Christians. The Old Testament was their Bible. If you begin reading the Bible by starting with the New Testament, you are coming in at the middle of a story. It is like trying to read a novel by starting half way through — you have missed everything that has led up to that point in the story. That is why I’m glad we have read through the entire Bible this year.
The stage for the appearance of Jesus Christ on the world scene is set up by the teaching of the prophets, the inadequacy of the temporary old sacrificial system, and the complete failure of God’s people to live up to the law. Jeremiah the prophet said, “You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do” (Jeremiah 32:22_23). Paul writes in the book of Romans: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering” (Romans 8:3). The book of Acts says, “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38_39).
As we enter the New Testament we notice substantial differences in what we have read previously in the Old Testament. God’s relationship with his people is changing. Their method of approaching God is very different. All of this was made possible by the sacrifice on the cross of Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God. God did not change, but through the work of Christ we were changed. This was predicted by the prophet Jeremiah when he wrote: “‘The time is coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people’” (Jeremiah 31:31_33).
Nowhere is this “heart” relationship with God more evident than in Jesus’ teachings, especially in what has been called his Sermon on the Mount. We begin to understand that what God was wanting all along was not obligatory obedience to moral laws, but hearts of love that would make us want a relationship with our Creator. This new love would be marked by faithfulness. We begin to see that Jesus was talking more about an attitude than he was about doing certain things the “right” way. We understand that he was addressing a condition of the heart rather than observance of rules. He wanted us to have a new heart, a new mind, a new attitude, a new outlook. He wanted us to become a whole new person. The change in us would be so radical that Jesus would describe it as being “born again” (John 3:3).
The first principle of the new law which we need to understand is: We keep wanting to DO something and God keeps wanting us to BECOME something. Jesus wants to internalize our relationship with God. It is a transformation of the heart, mind and attitudes. The issue is character. In the Old Testament the law was something written on stone tablets. It was something you did. Your relationship with God was based on performance. Obeying the law of God was your duty. In the New Testament the law is written on your heart. It becomes something you want to do, not what you are obligated to do. It becomes a love relationship with God. The Old Testament law changed what you did; New Testament law changes who you are. You become a different person. You are changed from the inside out. The focus becomes the interior life. It has to do with thoughts and motives, desires and intentions, love and surrender. This is a whole new way of understanding what it means to live for God, because this means that you can be a perfectly moral person and miss the whole point of what Jesus was saying.
The old law was much easier because it was observable. You could see if a person was stealing or being violent. You could eventually catch them cheating or lying. But the new law has to do with the person inside which no one sees. We often think of the Old Testament law as being hard, demanding and difficult, but we need to understand that, of the two, the New Testament standard is much more difficult. The Old Testament said that 1/10 of what I have belongs to God, the New Testament says that everything I have belongs to God. The new law of Jesus not only speaks about what I am doing, but about whom I am becoming. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21_22). I have been able to control myself enough that I have never become violent with anyone. I have never physically attacked anyone. But I have not been as successful with not being angry at people. I have never murdered anyone, but I have thought very bad things about them in my mind and called them names in my head. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27_28). I have never committed adultery, but I have not been as successful at keeping lust out of my heart. I have never stolen anything, but I have not been as successful at not wanting what someone else has. This new law is difficult for me.
And, yet, this new law is how I will be judged. The Bible says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double_edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12_13). This means that even if you haven’t been caught, you still haven’t gotten by with it. It means that even if no one knows what you have done, it is still wrong. This means that even if you have done the right thing, but have done it for the wrong reason, you will be held accountable. That is much more difficult than the old law, because now I am not only judged for what I do, but why I did it. God is asking that my intentions and motives need to be transformed by the Holy Spirit and come under his control. God judges the attitudes of my heart as well as the actions of my hands. The part of me that nobody sees needs to belong to God. I need a new heart. The beauty of this is that when I allow God to change my interior life, I begin to experience health in a way I have never experienced before. God begins to change me from the inside out, and my actions and my interior life come into harmony. I am no longer a spiritual schizophrenic. A new genuineness takes over my life.
The second principle of the new law which we need to understand is: We keep wanting to depend on OURSELVES and God keeps wanting us to depend on HIM. If you really want to understand the teaching of Jesus just spend some time reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Read it over several times as though this was the first time you have read it. I get overwhelmed every time I read it because I realize how far I am from the kind of life he is talking about. What he is talking about is something so radically different that it takes a total dependence on God to enter into it. It is not something I can do by my own effort. If this is what I must be like, God has to change me completely, because I can’t do it at all. I have to totally depend on him every moment of my life, and the minute I stop depending on him I begin to fall. The Christian life is not an offer I make to God, it is an offer which I must accept from God. It is not something I do for him; it is something he does for me.
Listen as Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38_42). Can you live like that? Most of us would be ready for a fight if we experienced that kind of injustice. But when we are completely depending on God, we allow him to settle all the scores. We don’t try to get even; we give him control. You have to lean on God to do what Jesus taught when he said, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27_28).
In order to live God’s way we have to have God’s power. We have to depend on him. This means that we live with humility. Jeremiah wrote: “I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). This is difficult in our culture of radical independence. It means that we surrender to God and agree to live his way instead of our way. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We are not sure we like the idea that we can’t do anything without him. We want to be in charge. We even want to be in charge of our own spiritual lives. We want to accomplish things for God and have him congratulate us. That way we can compliment ourselves and have others admire us. We want to feel good about ourselves. We want to do something to please God, but he is wanting us to allow him do something in us. We have to give up our straining and striving, and surrender.
The Christian life is a life of dependence on God. It is the way of surrender and humility. The Bible says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Paul wrote to the Romans saying, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:1_3). This means that I have to be surrendered totally to the lordship of Jesus Christ in my life.
The third principle of the new law which we need to understand is: We keep wanting to be SUCCESSFUL and God keeps wanting us to be AUTHENTIC. This calls for a whole new way of thinking. It goes against the grain of everything our culture believes. The kingdom of God really is an upside down kingdom. In this kingdom success may look like failure. The way up is down. Those who lead must become servants. The first are last and the last first. Those who are the greatest in the kingdom are the least. Adults are to become like children. Less is more. Those who mourn are joyful. Those who are poor inherit everything. The meek rule. The hungry are the ones who are full. But this way seems like insanity to the world. St. Anthony predicted the social climate of our day when he wrote: “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’”
Jesus called a little child and had him stand among the people. He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2_4). A child is authentic. There is very little pretense. They seem to be totally unaware of how they look or how they smell. What you see is what you get. You are made aware of their needs and wants. They have not yet learned to pretend to be something they are not.
Henri Nouwen speaks of the need to die to the false self. He says that we have to “give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others.” We find our meaning and value in God. We measure ourselves by his yardstick. He says that we are his children and that is good enough for us. We live authentically with our genuine self showing through. We reject the standards of the world which define success. We understand that success in the kingdom is measured by faithfulness. That faithfulness may not look like success in the eyes of the world, but it pleases God, and that is our concern.
Those who are poor in spirit do not look successful. The meek, mourners and merciful are not always those the world looks up to. The pure are often seen as prudes. The persecuted are rejected outright by the world, but they belong to God and will be rewarded by him.
This kind of authenticity is illustrated by a man like Charles H. Townes, who when he speaks about winning the Nobel Prize for his work in laser technology says, “It’s like the beaver told the rabbit as they stared up at the immense wall of Hoover Dam, ‘No, I didn’t actually build it myself. But it was based on an idea of mine.’”
It is like Alex Haley, the author of Roots, who has a picture in his office, showing a turtle sitting atop a fencepost. The picture is there to remind him of a lesson he learned long ago which says: ‘If you see a turtle on a fencepost, you know he didn’t get there by himself.’ Halley says, “Any time I start thinking, ‘Wow, isn’t this marvelous what I’ve done!’ I look at that picture and remember how this turtle — me — got up on that fencepost.”
The man in the New Testament we call the rich young ruler was a man who wanted to take all the credit for his spiritual life. He thought of it as something he was doing for God, instead of something God was doing for him. He began well by asking, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). But when Jesus told him to obey the commandments, he proudly announced, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” He must have said it with a smile, expecting Jesus to congratulate him. The Bible says, “When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’” (Luke 18:22). But when he heard this, he turned away with sadness, because he was a man of great wealth. He was not authentic. His religion was a matter of impressing God and others. He did not want to hear that he still lacked something; he wanted Jesus to compliment him. Instead of listening to Jesus he was justifying himself. His actions were right, but his heart wasn’t right.
How do we follow the new law? We ask him to change us and give us a new heart. We internalize the words of Jesus: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).
Rodney J. Buchanan
October 8, 2000
A NEW LAW
Matthew 5:1-19
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21_22).
The principles of the new law which we need to understand are:
1. We keep wanting _______________________________ and God keeps wanting ___________________________ .
2. We keep wanting _______________________________ and God keeps wanting ___________________________ .
3. We keep wanting _______________________________ and God keeps wanting ___________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Oct. 8, 2000)
1. *Try to imagine what it would be like to live before Christ came to earth. What would be some of the important differences between then and now?
2. Read Romans 8:3. What was the old law powerless to do? What makes it weak?
3. *Read Acts 13:38-39. What was available through Jesus Christ that was not available through the Mosaic law?
4. *Read Jeremiah 31:31-33. What did God intend to do under the new covenant? What are the practical results of this covenant?
5. What is the relationship between actions and character? Which comes first actions or character? Which is most affected by the new covenant?
6. *Read Matthew 5:21-28. What was different between what Jesus was saying and how people understood the old law?
7. *Read Hebrews 4:12-13. How will we be judged?
8. Read John 15:5. What is possible in your life apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ? Would your life look any different if you took this literally?
9. In what way does our fierce independence interfere with our relationship with God?
10. If you had the ability to determine whether you would either be successful or faithful which would you choose?
11. *In what fundamental ways is the kingdom of God a different worldview from the worldview of our current culture?
12. *Priority Questions
