The Spirit of the Law

The Jesus Way is our series on the Sermon on the Mount. My name is Adrian, I'm one of the pastors here. Thanks for being here today or joining us on the live stream. So excited to dive into God's Word. It's been a while actually since I've spoken. I saw somebody in the last service, they're like, "I didn't know you could talk longer than four minutes." I'm like, "I can't." It is possible, I can talk way too long like last night. So we're about to dive in. Let's just get to it. Take out your message notes if you have them. We're gonna be in Matthew chapter five. If you have a Bible, you can turn to Matthew five, first book of the New Testament. If you don't have a Bible, there's some in front of you. Bible app, you can swipe to it. We're gonna be in Matthew five, six and seven for a while. So get used to turning right there in church. Maybe next week we'll do like a contest. Who can get to Matthew five first? We won't do that. All right, we're gonna dive in. I wanna say thank you to just a lot of the resources. Thanks to all the people that wrote those. At the bottom of the notes, I've listed them. Great resources I'd encourage you to check out if you wanna dive deeper into the Sermon on the Mount, as well as some conversations I had with Renee and Mark, Val and some of the other team. Really grateful for that. Thank you guys.

Before we dive in, anytime I'm up here for extended time, I like to just share how our family's doing. This is a picture of us. That's me on the left. And my wife, Jamie and I have been married for 18 years now. And we've, oh yeah. That deserves applause for real. We've been in Santa Cruz for 17 years. I've been on staff here for 17 years this year. And some people are like, oh. My daughter, Ella, just finished the seventh grade and Penelope just finished the fourth grade. Ella's about to go to New York and DC with her school tomorrow and then Penelope is on her first day, first time going to sleep away camp this week at Frontier Ranch. Super excited for her. But we appreciate your prayers and thank you for you guys. Everybody who's been praying for us and supporting us over the years, we really appreciate it. We've needed it.

Well, something I've learned as a parent is you have to be very detailed with your kids. Like extremely so. There are times when I'll ask them to do something and they will do it, but not really. Do you know what I mean? Like I'll say, hey guys, go to bed. Like, okay. And they go, you know, they go, I mean, get in bed. And they go, and that means go to sleep, right? And so a little bit later I'll hear noise upstairs and I'll think, there's no way that's them awake 'cause I said go to bed. So they obviously listen to me and go to sleep right away. So I go up there, there must be something wrong. And then I look at them, they're in bed throwing stuff, talking, laughing, not sleeping. And I'm like, didn't I say go to bed? And they'll be like, yeah, what do they say? We are in bed. Yeah.

It's not just my kids. This kid's mom said no food in the living room and no iPad in the kitchen. He's going places. Then there are these other kids. Maybe you've seen these funny answers to test questions that teachers post. This first one is find X. So he circles it and says, here it is. My kids are here, don't get any funny ideas, okay? You're gonna get marked wrong. All right, the second one is briefly explain what hard water is. Ice. I mean, you know, that's brief. It is hard. This is my favorite one. Is this some test about rocks and stuff? What is the strongest force on earth? Love. You know what? I agree. Who's this teacher marking it with that red X? You should have marked it wrong with like a heart at least or something. All right.

But we've all been guilty of this. Humans have been doing this, you know, forever where we technically follow the rules but we find a loophole, right? We will follow the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. Maybe you've seen this on the road or you've done this on the road. You're in traffic and here comes a merge lane. That merge lane is for people coming onto the highway to then merge into traffic. But some of us see that as a way to get in front of people in front of you. So you get over in the merge lane, you shoot down and you get over. That is letter of the law stuff, not spirit of the law. I've done that. One time I did that and a lady would not let me in 'cause she saw me do it and she went like this. And I went, "Yeah, you're right."

We also do this with God. In last week's message, Jesus calls people out on it. The Pharisees, he sees them. They are putting heavy burdens of religion on people with the law and they're finding loopholes for themselves. And so when he goes on to describe what we read last week when Renee's sermon is, Jesus described what it looks like to follow him. And it is really, this verse is the key to interpreting the whole sermon on the mount. This is his big idea. And it's found in Matthew 5:20. It says this, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." And this shocked his audience because to everybody there, the Pharisees, they're the most righteous people we know. But righteousness according to Jesus is yes, to love God and love his law and follow it, but it is also to love people. And this is what the Pharisees got wrong. They were so worried about perfectly obeying the law that they disregarded people. And then they were mad at Jesus 'cause they thought you're disregarding the law. Like you don't care about the law, you care about his people. And he said, "No, I didn't come to abolish the law. I'm here to fulfill the law."

And what he did is what he told them is this, he was not introducing a new law, but he was refocusing them on the spirit of the law. And this is the part they were getting wrong 'cause the spirit of the law is yes, love God, follow his law, but loving every person as an image bearer of God. That term image bearer, that comes from the first page of the Bible in the beautiful poetic account of the creation of the universe, the world, it says, so God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. You might've heard or you might've said like, "Oh, we all have a divine spark or divine light inside of all of us." This verse is not saying that we are divine or that we are gods 'cause there is only one God. But it is the basis of Jesus' call to love others. This is the basis, the image of God in all of us, that is the reason why we love others and how we fulfill the law. Every single person on this planet is sacred, has dignity and should be honored and loved.

And so later the apostle Paul continues on this idea in Romans 13, he says, "Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law." The commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and whatever other commands there may be are summed up in this one command, love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Check this out, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law and that's what they got wrong, those Pharisees, and Jesus is preaching. And so then Jesus goes on to describe what does that look like? What does this righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees look like? And so then he uses six real life, down to earth examples. And what we're gonna do today is we're gonna cover the first three examples he uses. And I just gotta say one quick note, Jesus in these examples is gonna talk about some very hot topics. We have to remember and push back and just see, he's using these examples as examples to talk about one big point. So we need to not get lost in the weeds of these examples. You'll see what I'm saying when we get there. You ready? Are you ready? All right. One person, yep. Everybody else is like, oh, you're still talking.

Matthew 5:21, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. We're gonna start here. You have heard that it was said. This phrase, he is gonna use Jesus in the beginning of every single one of these examples, all six. You're gonna hear that six times. And it is a phrase that everybody at the time, most people will have heard before. This is a very common turn of phrase. At the time, there were all these rabbis who had disciples. These rabbis, they meditated and memorized scripture, and then they interpreted scripture, and they taught about it, what their interpretation was. Now, different rabbis had different interpretations. And so they debated each other. And they would quote one rabbi, and they would say, you have heard it said, and they would quote some rabbi. Wait one hour before going into a pool after you eat. And then they would offer their counter interpretation of what they believe in. But I say, wait two hours before going into a pool after you eat. So Jesus is using that same turn of phrase. You have heard that it was said, but he does something different here than all the other rabbis. He doesn't quote a rabbi that's there, he quotes scripture. He quotes scripture written by Moses. I mean, some might consider the greatest rabbi of all time. And then he offers his own interpretation, and this shocks everyone. 'Cause the Pharisees are like, who does he think he is? Is he debating Moses? What is Jesus doing here? Simply this, in this one verse, he is establishing his authority, that he isn't just another teacher of the law like these guys that you see around you. They know the letter of the law, but I'm gonna show you what the spirit of the law is. They might know what it says, but I'm gonna tell you what God means by these laws. And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, you'll see how people react to what he says. In Matthew 7:28, after he's done with his sermon, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. Look, because he taught as someone who had authority, not as their teachers of the law.

So what does he say? He says, "With that authority, you have heard it said, Don't murder." Now what's his interpretation? But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raca is answerable to the court, and anyone who says, "You fool," will be in danger of the fire of hell. Okay, whew, it's not holding back. What is Jesus trying to say? First of all, he is saying that the spirit behind this law is that God wants to, and if you write in notes on number one, protect the sanctity of every person. Protect the sanctity of every person. He starts off with a law that everyone already knows. It's one of the big 10. It's the sixth commandment. Murder is a crime. And it's because specifically the image of God within all of us, we see this in Genesis 9, it says, "Whoever sheds human blood by humans shall their blood be shed. For in the image of God has God made mankind." There's something about the image of God, the sacredness of humans, that God is like, "Do not harm another human. They are an image bearer of God." And so murder deserves judgment. That's what the law says. And everybody's like, "Yeah, we got that." Everybody tracks. Then he catches everyone's attention. Anger, if you're angry at somebody, that deserves the same judgment as murder. What? And then if you call somebody rocka, everybody know what that means? Rocka, basically it is an insult, an Aramaic. It means a basic definition is empty. But think of it this way. If you insult somebody by saying you are useless or you're good for nothing, if you do that, you deserve worse judgment than anger and murder. What? And then, just listen, he's not done. If you call someone a fool, or in our day to day dummy or stupid, he says you deserve hell. Now, what is Jesus getting at here? He is not talking about, "Did somebody call you rocka?" Nobody's called me rocka in my life. He's not talking about this word, okay? What he's saying is this. We all know murder is wrong, right? We can all agree. But there is something more to that. This law isn't about just murder. This law is about something deeper than murder 'cause murder is just the manifestation of a deeper issue inside. While rabbis, the Pharisees, they're not going around murdering people. You know what they were good at? Insulting each other. Wiser rabbis spoke out against this topic, but it was widespread. One of the greatest rabbinic rivalries. You have these rabbis and their disciples and they make these schools, the school of this person. And so these two, Shammai and Hillel, they're like the big ones. They're like, I mean, gang type. They don't like each other. One of the followers of the school of Himmel said, "A follower of the school of Shammai deserves to be put to death." Why? Because we disagree about the Bible. Here are some other insults they traded with each other. Kids, just get ready. You first born of Satan, it's pretty bad, but here we go. You demented ostrich. You... Are you ready? You vinegary wine. Oh yeah, that cuts deep. If you like wine, I don't really know, but that sounds bad. They also call each other idiots, brainless fools, poor learners, lazy zeros. They curse one another's children. And all of this, they wrote in the Talmud. It's their writings that exist. You can go find them. It's like they tweeted these things out for the world to see and now there's a record. Jesus is saying this, this, get this is his point. You think you're great just because you haven't murdered, but look how you treat each other. The spirit of that command was respecting the sacredness of every single person, every human. And when you insult each other, you are breaking the spirit of the law. So the question then for us is how about us? And this is it, this is the thing. Jesus isn't just talking about what you say out loud. Really all the laws is talking about our heart 'cause that's what God is concerned with. 'Cause you might say, well, I haven't said anything out loud, but have you thought these things? Have you thought people are idiots, brainless fools, poor learners, lazy zeros? A person, a group of people maybe you've thought this about. Two schools of rival rabbis back in the day. Can I think of two groups today who don't like each other and just insult each other all the time? I wonder. Today, a majority of surveys, current like modern recent surveys have shown Republicans and Democrats both think members of the other party are innately evil and immoral. Not because of anything they've heard, but just because of who they affiliate with. And that is beyond political disagreement, has nothing to do with politics. What Jesus is saying, this is undermining the image of God in a person. Jesus would say, you are denying someone and it doesn't matter who it is because you know what? You're on the other side. We are all guilty of it. So Jesus is calling us to something greater. And this is what it looks like. Matthew 23 says, he offers an example, a real life example. Therefore, if you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you. He's talking about when we offend people, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who's taking you to court, 'cause you did something wrong. Do it while you're still together on the way or your adversary may hand you over to the judge and that judge may hand you to the officer and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. This has nothing to do with courts and legal matters and gifts and altars. What Jesus is saying in this example is that we need to view others, even our enemies, even people who have called you names, you need to view them as image bearers of God. And when you offend somebody, make things right. Scott McKnight, the theologian, he says it this way, love means fellowship and fellowship means being in communion, in community, together. And fellowship requires reconciliation. If we're supposed to love others, then reconcile. And what Jesus is saying is do it quickly. But Jesus, I know I offended that person, but I gotta get to church, I'm on my way. You know what Jesus is saying? Turn around and go fix that, go settle that matter. Apologize, reconcile, that is more important than you having perfect attendance at church. 'Cause he cares about our hearts. So we protect the sanctity of every person. And the next example, he just moves on. Number two, protect the dignity of every woman. You've heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. First things first, Jesus is not saying sexual desire is wrong, okay? I, as a kid who was in a youth group in the 90s, this was used like, see, stop it. You know, like, you are wrong, you are bad. And I remember just feeling all this guilt about it. Listen, he's not talking about sexual attraction itself. That thing is not evil. The Bible talks about sex as a gift. There is a whole book in scripture that you can read that is about sexual desire between, but pointed in the right direction. Two people in a covenant relationship in marriage. And it just shows you the beauty and like the intensity of that desire. Jesus is not saying if you're attracted to somebody, you have sinned. So what is he talking about? He is talking about a specific kind of look. Tim Mackey of the Bible Project puts it this way. He's talking about the long, creepy stare, objectifying someone, looking at them like they exist for your own pleasure. It's about looking at someone, another person solely as an erotic object, not as a sacred human. One other thing to point at when you look at this verse, it's pointed directly at men. Now, it's not because men are universally the people that have this problem, but usually are. And women are usually, not always, the victims of this. But in Jesus' time, it was true. And if you think about it now, it is still true. A modern phrase that helps us understand what he's talking about is the objectification of women. And it has been perpetrated in movies and social media and ads for a long time, and even more so today, I feel. According to one recent study, recent movies right now, women in movies are four times more likely than men to wear revealing clothing, two times more likely to be partially nude, four times more likely to be fully nude. That is today. It's still happening. In this free society, media is tapping into that temptation to objectify people, especially women. The girls and I, my daughters, we, when my wife's like, on a date, I like to watch old movies, even when we're all together, but we have a time like, oh, let me show you this movie from my childhood. And I watch, you know, I'll show them a movie from the '80s. Now, I know that is an issue sometimes. Don't realize it until halfway through the movie, and I'm like, what? Don't remember this part. So parents, if you wanna go on that journey, fair warning. PG of the '80s was a different PG, okay? The language especially. But this week I'm like, okay, we got a night, I wanna watch a movie, I think this one is safe. I saw this in the theater with my parents. It's so funny. So we watched "The Three Amigos." Now, it's a good one. Now, remember that one, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short, a Lorne Michael movie. So in this movie, it's mostly guys, the whole movie. But the occasional woman that shows up, except for one, is much more revealing in their clothing. I mean, look at these guys. I don't think you could be more dressed as a human than these outfits that they had. (laughs) Boots, pants, belt, gun, jacket, frilly shirt, red thing. You can't see it, another red thing, huge hat. They're just missing mask and earmuffs. Then they'd be fully covered. Media, it continues. It was the same back then, it's the same today. Media taps into this temptation to objectify people, especially women, and so we see that play out. Jesus is saying there's a problem when you look at someone that way. Tim Mackey continues in that quote, so the last half of his quote, he says, "And when we do this, when we look at people this way, we are stripping a fellow human of their God-given dignity, even if we keep our hands to ourselves." And so again, Jesus describes what it looks like to honor this command. Here we go. "If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away." Don't keep it, throw it away. "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." What are you? Jesus is like going for it, but what is he saying? Again, we can't get like, what are these details? What is he talking about, these specific things? He's making a big, larger point. He's not telling us to mutilate our bodies. I can just say that 'cause when you read the Bible, there is zero evidence of anybody doing that. None of his disciples gouge out their eyes or cut off their arms. So obviously they saw it as like not being literal. What Jesus is doing is he's using hyperbole. He's using exaggeration. He's trying to get across the message that you need to go to whatever extreme necessary to prevent falling into this trap of objectifying people. In today's society, what we call it today is sobriety. Someone in recovery, they cut off things from their lives. Alcohol, drugs, pornography, whatever it is, they cut that out. And so what Jesus is saying, what do you need to cut out of your life to grow, especially in this area, looking at people, objectifying them? I can be honest for myself. I've had to stop watching certain things, shows and movies, taking apps off my phone that I believe the enemy is targeting, using to trip us up. I used to think that was so extreme. Like, "Oh, don't tell me not to watch something." I'm just speaking for myself. That I need to do whatever is necessary not to fall into that trap. Everything is on the chopping block. 'Cause what is important is protecting the dignity of people, even if they never know it. And in Jesus' case, especially women. That's what he's saying.

The next example, number three, God wants to protect the security of every wife. Verse 31, it says, "It has been said," Jesus is saying this, "Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." All right. It's tempting, very tempting to stop here and be like, "Okay, what are you telling us about divorce?" 'Cause the obvious question is, what about you, that's the one reason? What about this reason? What about this reason? What about my reason? I was having a conversation with Mark, and he said something that I wrote down that's like powerful, so that you can blame him for what I'm about to say. It's really good, thanks, Mark. We were talking about this and he said, we have to realize Jesus is saying something important about divorce, but he is not saying everything about divorce. Nor does the Bible say everything about divorce. What I can confidently say is this, two things. One, we all have our story, and that's not what this is about, judging anybody for anything that's happened. But two, Jesus is not saying that if someone is in a dangerous situation, that they need to stay in that dangerous situation. Because that goes against everything he's just said. The protection of humans and their dignity, because they are image bearers of God. So what is Jesus teaching us here? He is speaking at that time into a very real debate that was going on. Remember those two rabbinic houses, Himmel and Shemai? Well, Shemai taught that men could only divorce their wives for sexual immorality, infidelity, kind of along the lines of what Jesus just said. Himmel, on the other hand, he taught that men could divorce their wives for any reason they wanted to. And you can read about it because they wrote it down, and here are some of the reasons Himmel gave. He said, "If she burned dinner, divorce her." If you want. If she has a bad temper, get rid of her. This one's crazy. "If you find someone who is more pleasing to your eyes than your wife." What this led to was widespread divorce and women getting discarded, which led to poverty and insecurity for these women and their children. 'Cause in those days, we have to remember that for women, marriage was a means of survival. But to be honest, that still happens today in certain cultures on this planet. If a woman is not married, there is no way for her to survive. If a woman is divorced, which she has no say in, by the way, in this time, she was left with no money, no home, no way to survive. So Jesus, this is his point. Stop treating women like used property. Look at them and treat them the way they deserve as image bearers of God. Jesus is saying that the spirit of this law that we just read, it's actually not about divorce. 'Cause if we come to this passage trying to find reasons for divorce, we're missing his point. This law is about protecting women, protecting people who are vulnerable. 'Cause Jesus saw women being discarded and he was saying, stop. And as a dad of daughters, this hits home. No one deserves to be treated like property. And in this case, for history, for millennia, and even today, especially women.

Before I finish, I just wanna pause right here because Jesus just said some intense stuff. He talked about some very hot topics, like I said, and we didn't spend much time on them. 'Cause he didn't. I mean, I read this and he's like, "Nah, and you're gonna go to hell." Moving on, I'm like, what just, what did you just say? He just marches through this. I mean, if you read it, he just goes on. So we didn't stop and spend time on that. But I do know many of us in this room are feeling a lot of feelings. 'Cause some of the words that we just said. I do wanna say, because some of those feelings could be guilt or shame. And if you have been mistreated because of your past or your present, and maybe that even happens at a church or by a pastor or a leader, saying because of this thing in your life, you are disqualified from something or from coming here. I want you to hear this truth, if you're feeling that today, that you are welcome here. That Twin Lakes Church welcomes you and that we are for you. And I'm not just talking about myself or the pastor of this community, we are for you. Those things don't disqualify you from sitting in these seats. You don't have to worry if we find out about your past or your present, 'cause we all have one. You are welcome and you are supported. On the back of the notes, I included links to some of our support groups, including divorce care and our recovery groups. And you know the reason you're welcome here is because we're all in the same boat. We all need Jesus. We all have a story. We all have a past. Because of the redemption bought through Jesus's death and his resurrection from the dead, there is no condemnation. Paul writes about it in Romans. He says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." And it's through the grace that we have received in our redemption, it's through that grace that we are redeemed and we are saved and we are accepted by God. And in the Jesus way series, what we're gonna be talking about is learning how do we live that out? How do we live out this gracious, saved, redeemed life? 'Cause Jesus is the king of a new kingdom he's bringing that's different than this world. And we as citizens, followers of Jesus, are citizens of this new kingdom with this king. And we're called to live differently and to treat people differently than this world does. The amazing thing is he knows that we can't accomplish this on our own. You can't muster up the will and the person who has offended you, God calls you to love that person. The person who's hurt you, God calls you to love that person. And next week you'll see the person who you call your enemy, God calls you to love. Now that's not easy. I dare say that's not possible on our own. All he asks us to do is follow him. Follow Jesus in his way and he'll do the transformation in your heart and in my heart. And the only way we can follow him and be transformed is because the amazing miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who lives and dwells in every believer.

So today we saw three examples to drive home one main point. Some people think they're righteous because they follow all the rules and their relationship with God, but they treat people like enemies, like objects and possessions. What Jesus is saying is to be righteous and to be in his kingdom, a citizen of his kingdom, you must love God, love his law. Yes, follow the rules, but love other people and honor them. As followers of Jesus, he's calling us to look at other people the way he looks at us, precious image bearers of God who deserve honor, who deserve dignity and deserve love. So fellow Jesus follower, let's answer his call and live that way because that is the Jesus way. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord, for your love and your grace. God, every single person in this room can say this truth and we are all, can all confidently say together that we are lost without you. No matter where we come from or what we've done, we are all lost without you and your grace and your love. And so we thank you. And God, we acknowledge, Lord, that you call us to a greater life than the life that this world offers us, a life that honors and dignifies people because the sacredness in them, the image of God that they bear. And so God, I pray that you help us as we follow you to be able to do that, to love, to honor, even those we disagree, don't like, or even hate. God, you call us to love. I pray for those folks in this room who, for some reason right now, are feeling the heavy burdens of guilt and shame because of sins or their past or things that have been done to them. God, I pray that they would hear that they have full acceptance and belonging through you, through your death and your resurrection. That God, you defeated death. You paid the price for our sins and God, in you, there is no condemnation and the miraculous thing, God, I can never get enough of, is that you fill us with your spirit to empower us to live this life you've called us to. Gosh, you are gracious in your salvation and you are gracious in our sanctification, our transformation, to be able to live this life you've called us to. So God, I pray, fill us with your spirit. Help us to walk and talk and think and treat people your way, the Jesus way. In Jesus' name, amen.