Matthew 5:21-26

Anger is an old foe of mine. I have struggled with anger for most of my life. It’s been mostly self-directed – with a few exceptions along the way. As I think I’ve mentioned in a previous sermon. I am a reactor on a life-long journey to become a responder. While I am much more aware of my triggers these days, I can still be reactive at times.

One way I have come to describe my anger over the years is that it can feel like a pinball of anger ricocheting around my soul. I’d like to think that at least sometimes it’s righteous anger but mostly it’s me wanting what I want when I want it.

When I was much younger, I got into a fight and went into a blind rage, and put another young man into the hospital. It terrified me because I had no idea where the rage came from. The end result is it likely moved me toward trusting Jesus because I realized I couldn’t trust myself. And it even affected my early days of marriage. When Linda and I disagreed I shut down because I was afraid of what might happen.

All that to say, I’m a fellow traveler—not someone who has it all together.

So, let’s see what Jesus has to say about our anger. Matthew 5:21-26 is one of the premier relational passages in the whole Bible.

It is the first of six commands in Matthew 5 that theologians call The Six Antitheses (Matthew 5:21-48). Sometimes these are called the Six Intensifiers, because that’s what Jesus is doing. All six of these commands begin with the words, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…”

This phrase was actually quite common for Rabbis to use. What they were usually trying to say is, “You thought it meant only this, but actually it means this…”[1] What Jesus is doing with these six commands is pointing to a way of life that is much much deeper and more expansive than just the words of the command itself. Jesus is not changing the meaning; He’s intensifying the meaning.

Jesus wants His hearers to search out the wisdom underneath the command. It’s actually a lot like reading the book of Proverbs (Wisdom Literature). We can read a proverb and think to ourselves, “There’s a lot more here than there appears to be at first glance.”

What Jesus is saying with these six commands, is that God’s wisdom can be found in every Law of the OT and Jesus is showing us how to dig for and find that wisdom. Jesus agrees with these six commands from the OT and goes on to apply them in very practical ways and reveal the deeper intentions of the OT Law.

In these six commands, Jesus is not so much reinterpreting the OT Law, but He is correcting the long-term misunderstandings of the OT Law.[2] Last week it was pointed out that the followers of Jesus are to be a city set on a hill (5:14) and in these verses that follow Jesus is teaching about the kind of human community and relationships that we ought to be intent on developing. The basic problem of the Pharisees and other religious teachers—and I would say, the basic problem of the human condition, lies in the contradiction between our outward professions, our acts of piety, and the condition of our hearts. Jesus addresses this contradiction later on in Mathew 23:23 where He says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” The scribes and Pharisees had become experts in the minutia of the OT Law instead of delving into the matters of the heart.[3] It would be incorrect to say that Jesus is replacing the OT Law rather, He is showing His disciples that, the Law, rightly understood, goes much further than what the scribes and the Pharisees had taught them.[4]

So, with all that said, let’s consider Matthew 5:21-26…

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. ²³ Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. ²⁵ Come to good terms with your accuser quickly, while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will not be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last [cent].” 

And here’s the big idea: To maintain right[eous] relationships, we receive God’s grace to battle our anger and contempt at the heart level.

With the notion that Jesus came to actually turn the world right side up, I think this passage addresses three ways this happens as we learn how to process our anger (and contempt) biblically.

1. Right-Side-Up Reckoning (Vs. 21-22)
2. Right-Side-Up Reconciliation (Vs. 23-24)
3. Right-Side-Up Recompense (Vs. 25-26)
4. Application: Remember the Way of Righteousness

Let’s consider them one at a time…

1. Right-Side-Up Reckoning (Vs 21-22)

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” 

So, the first thing we see here is that Jesus is equating anger with murder (righteous vs. unrighteous anger – Jesus in the Temple / Eph 4:26). Martyn Lloyd-Jones said in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount that we are only to be angry at sin. We also see here that both murder and anger are answerable to the local court.

What we have here is unrighteous anger followed by two insults. The Greek word for “you good-for-nothing” is raca, which literally means ‘empty-headed.’ Dallas Willard points out that raca may have “originated from the sound one makes to collect spittle from the throat in order to spit.” And the Greek word for the phrase, “you fool” is the same word (mōros) we get our English word moron.

What’s most interesting here is that while the descriptions of the behaviors decrease in intensity – from murder to anger to empty-headed, to moron, YET notice the consequences increase from being accountable to what amounts to the local court, then to the Supreme Court, and then if we call someone a moron, we could end up in the fiery hell!

Can you imagine what the congregation listening to Jesus must have been thinking? (And I hope you’re a little bit freaked out as well.) Remember, Jesus just said, in v. 20, that the righteousness of His followers MUST EXCEED the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Tim Mackey from the BibleProject said of this verse, that Jesus “is scrambling our sense of values” to make the point that He is just as concerned with the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb 4:12) as He is with any outward action or activity. That’s heavy.

And there’s even a deeper meaning to grab a hold of here… Insults, anger, and murder are all declarations of contempt that devalue a person who was made in the image of God. The late Dallas Willard, writes that “contempt is to think or speak of someone in such a degrading way that they are dehumanized. It spits on the deep need to belong and is inherently poisonous. It stabs the soul to its core and deflates its powers of life. Contempt can hurt so badly and destroy so deeply that murder would almost be a mercy.”

In these verses, Jesus is teaching us to see in ourselves all the ways our anger and insults devalue and express contempt for people as we, or when we, sit in judgment of another’s worth. The scribes and Pharisees simply did not understand the deeper purpose of the Law.

2. Right-Side-Up Reconciliation (Vs. 23-24)

“Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

Biblical scholars would say the context here is that you have just insulted your brother and are now presenting your offering to the Lord. The one who initiates the reconciliation here is the one who has wronged the other person.[5] What Jesus is saying is that God only welcomes offerings from those who are acting justly (Gen 4:4–7; Pr 15:8; Isa 1:11–17; Jer 6:20; Am 5:21–24).[6] This is a distinct reference to Cain and Able.

3. Right-Side-Up Recompense (Vs. 25-26)

“Come to good terms with your accuser quickly, while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will not be thrown into prison. ²⁶ Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last [cent].”

Jesus is saying that we need to seek reconciliation quickly. And that failure to reconcile will have disastrous consequences on a human level, but even more so if we are not reconciled to God.[7] Jesus is also addressing the problem of conflict in the larger society—in this case legal conflict, which (as we know) has only proliferated in our current cultural context. Followers of Jesus are to consistently pursue, and seek to assist with, heart level reconciliation in all areas of life.[8]

Application: Remember the Way of Righteousness

To make our way to practical application we must first go back to Matthew 5:20: “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

I hope that today’s passage helps you to see that righteousness, from the perspective of Jesus, has much more to do with the intent of the heart than any outward compliance or activity. Matthew 5:20 is the thesis statement of the whole sermon. The main point of the SOTM is that Jesus is explaining that our righteousness comes most unexpectedly—it’s the right-side-up way.

To partake of the righteousness that Jesus is challenging us to live by, we must go back and put into practice the first three Beatitudes, remembering there is an emptying and then a filling in our spiritual formation (or sanctification) process.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his commentary states, “Keep showing up at Mat 5:3.”

Blessed are the poor in spirit… To enter into God’s kingdom, we are invited to admit that we have come to the end of ourselves and need God’s help and care.

Blessed are those who mourn… As we are honest about our own sinful tendencies there will be a transforming grief, or repentance, that surfaces – not only for our own lives, but also for the injustice, greed, and suffering that grips our world.

Blessed are the meek…Grieving over sin and suffering places us in a humble learning posture (remember, disciple means learner).

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…Spiritual hunger and thirst is the desire to be empty of those things that don’t reflect God and initiate a deep deep longing for wholeness in our lives. And it’s out of that longing that God supplies His empowering grace to do IN us and THROUGH what we have not been able to do on our own.

Exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, then, is a matter of seeking to worship, honor, serve, and responsively obey God from a fundamentally changed heart. This is a heart that reaches beyond the legalistic boundaries of the law to allow the Holy Spirit to have complete and total access to our hearts that will fill us afresh with mercy, purity, and peace.

[1] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes.

[2] ESV Global Study Bible Notes.

[3] Gospel Transformation Study Bible Notes.

[4] Pillar New Testament Commentary.

[5] ESV Global Study Bible Notes.

[6] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes.

[7] ESV Global Study Bible Notes.

[8] Reformation Study Bible Notes.

This is a portion of a sermon preached at Calvary Church Pacific Palisades on Oct 22, 2023, where I am currently serving as the Intentional Interim Pastor..

We are six weeks into our Family of God series and the purpose of this series is to explore four essentials and four expressions that define what it means to be a part of Calvary Church.

1. The 4 essentials that we have looked at are the Church, the Bible, the Trinity, and the Gospel.
2. The 4 expressions are Worship, Community, Mission, and Formation.

Today we will be considering a passage that will be very familiar to many of us – Acts 2:42-47… “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Today we will spend most of our time looking at v. 42. It would be my contention that v. 42 contains the basic ingredients of A Devoted (Biblical) Community and that vs. 43-47 are the fruit or outgrowth of our whole hearted devotion.

Before we get into our text for today, I think it’s important that as we consider the concept of A Devoted Community, that we see (or remember) that the God we worship is a God who has eternally existed in community. The Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit have dwelled in perfect unity, love, and joy for all eternity. And this triune God created this world and humanity to invite us into A Devoted Community.

Both C.S. Lewis and Tim Keller liken the Trinitarian community to a Divine Dance. In his classic book Mere Christianity Lewis refers to the Trinity this way, “God is not a static thing…but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost…a kind of dance.”[1] Tim Keller picks up on Lewis’ metaphor of a dance and elaborates on this concept in his book The Reason for God where he devotes a whole chapter (14) to what he calls The Dance of God.[2]

First off, it is essential for us to see that A Devoted Community is not just a NT concept but that it’s rooted in the Divine Dance of eternity—which we have been invited into (not as gods, which would be the Mormon heresy, but as family – sons and daughters, brothers and sisters).

With that said, here’s the big idea for today: Biblical community is our shared devotion to our common life in Jesus Christ, which seeks to reflect the love of God to a broken world.

Let’s turn our attention to Acts 2:42: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

For the remainder of our time let’s take a (hopefully) refreshed look at the five overlapping concepts in this verse: Devoted, the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. We’ll spend the most time looking at the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, but let’s get started…

Devoted. This word is a fairly accurate transliteration of the Greek word (“continued steadfastly”). Nevertheless, the verb “devoted” (προσκαρτερέω) has several shades of meaning in the original language. It’s worth taking a moment to consider the aggregate power of the word.

1. To adhere to
2. To persevere
3. To show courage
4. To be in constant readiness

That’s a bit of what this word is conveying. Their allegiance to this church was not a convenience, it was a commitment. It was a matter of ultimate concern. This is where we need to stop and ask the question, if you’re a Jesus follower, what is the current state of your devotion? And if you’re not a believer, you should know what you’re being invited into.

Apostle’s Teaching. There is a 1-word summary statement for the whole of the apostle’s teaching and that word is gospel. What do I mean when I say the gospel is the 1-word summary statement?

I mean that the gospel is not simply the entry point into the Christian life but it is also the foundation and the power that shapes ALL we do as active and intentional followers of Jesus Christ, both in our daily lives and in our experience as A Devoted Community of believers.

The gospel is not only the fire that ignites the Christian life but also the fuel that keeps us going and growing each day. The gospel is the gloriously great announcement of what God has done when Jesus condescended to leave the Trinitarian communal perfection and majesty of heaven and come down into our brokenness to live the perfectly obedient life that we could not.

What this gospel gift provides for the repentant believer…

1. A free and perfect righteousness
2. Unrestricted access to a perfectly holy God (availability for intimacy)
3. The empowering gift of the Holy Spirit
4. The free gift of eternal life
5. A coming renewed creation that will be free from decay, disasters, disease, evil, sin, and death

The gospel is not what God requires. The gospel is what God provides! The gospel is not good advice – it’s good news! (You are fully known and fully loved).

Martin Luther famously said we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Why? Because our souls are like musical instruments. During any given day or week our souls can drift out of tune with the glorious gospel. This is one of the most important reasons to make church a priority – so that we can remember and be refreshed by the gospel.

Fellowship. The Greek word is koinonia and signifies a deep and honest sharing of ourselves. It is a shared life with others who have a passion for Jesus, the Son of God. Koinonia is embracing honesty, humility, transparency, and authenticity in a world that is more comfortable with an “image-is-everything” mentality. My own definition is to break off a piece of yourself (the real you) and share it, asking, when you encounter the real me, in both my beauty and my brokenness, will you still love me, accept me, and forgive me?

For us to engage in biblical koinonia we must be passionate about creating safe spaces for people to share their woundedness, brokenness, fears, doubts, and holy longings. Calvary Communities are the best place for this to occur.

Larry Crabb a Christian psychologist and author wrote a book entitled Real Church in which he said, “A real church aims toward spiritual community where souls connect, where shame weakens, where sin surfaces, where failure meets grace, where irritations soften, where holy desire grows.”[3] Would you like to be a part of a church like that? I would…

In order to affirm the need for safe spaces, I’d like to offer a few prescriptive thoughts about what a safe and hospitable space that can foster biblical koinonia looks like…

A safe and hospitable space allows grace and space for mystery, doubt, and respectful theological interaction. There’s a maxim that both denominations and churches adhere to which states, “In the essentials, we must have unity; in the non-essentials, we must have liberty; and in all things, we must have charity.”^[4] Our essentials are listed above. It is also commonly held that the essentials of the faith include the doctrines related to salvation.

So, a safe and hospitable space has boundaries at the edges with enough structure and guidance to provide security, stability, and support as well as enough spaciousness and flexibility to provide freedom for growth and change. A safe and hospitable space understands that we don’t change each other. We provide people with space and timely “exhortation” (cheerleading; more than confrontation) and God does the changing.

A safe and hospitable space is also created when we view evangelism as a conversation rather than an event. 1 Peter 3:15 “…always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

And finally, I’d like to suggest that we begin to adopt what’s called a “Post Worship Hospitality Radar” (PWHR).  A fine-tuned PWHR picks up all new or distressed people within a radius of 10 or 20 feet, at the conclusion of a service. If we all looked for someone, this place could be electrified with post worship gospel hospitality.

Breaking of Bread. This phrase almost certainly has a double meaning. In this first century church, smaller groups met in homes and shared meals together. It was an opportunity for both broken and redeemed people to find connection and belonging. Breaking bread together also indicates they celebrated the Lord’s Supper together regularly. The Lord’s Supper is a celebration of the gospel – a regular remembering of what Jesus Christ had accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection.

It’s thought that this practice has become more formal over the years. Certainly, we don’t need to wait for the Lord’s Supper – or Communion, (which comes from the same root word as community), to be celebrated at a Sunday service. You can celebrate it in your Calvary Community, or you can also celebrate it with friends, or your spouse, and even with your kids. It’s a great way to both remember and teach your kids the gospel.

Prayers. In the Greek, the definite article occurs before the word “prayer.” So, the literal transliteration is actually, “the prayers” (ESV).

Luke, the author of Acts, is likely referring to specific prayers and likely specific times of prayer as well. Most of the new converts were well-versed in the Jewish Scriptures and they were also well-versed in stopping what they were doing several times a day to pray. I think we can also assume that the prayer Jesus taught the disciples to pray was also making its way into “the prayers.” In any case, being devoted to prayer is about fixing or realigning our attention on the Person of Jesus Christ. Some years ago, Eugene Peterson (MSG paraphrase) wrote a book entitled Answering God^[5] and in it, he makes a strong case that we only pray well if we are immersed in Scripture. He said we learn our prayer vocabulary the way children learn their vocabulary—by getting immersed in language and then speaking it back. 

As I mentioned earlier v. 42 is WHAT they did and vs. 43-47 is the FRUIT of what they did.

V. 43: There was a strong sense of awe. The Greek word for “awe” is the same word we get our English word phobia from, so there was a definite holy attentiveness to God working in and through this newly forming devoted community of believers.

V. 43: Wonders and signs were taking place. In other words, the supernatural life and power of God was being poured out regularly in their midst.

Vs. 44-47:  We see the activity of biblical community in action, including…

1. Mutual identification in the gospel Equality and unity within social classes and ethnicitiesEnthusiastic joyPraise and adorationFavor among the unconverted (“You don’t have to advertise a fire!  –Leonard Ravenhill)
2. V. 47: Salvations

Epistle to Diognetus—a letter to a friend explaining why Christianity was growing so quickly. It has been dated between 130-200 AD… “Christians busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They live in their own native lands, but they live as aliens. For every foreign country is to them as their native land, and every native land is as their foreign country. They marry and have children, but they do not kill unwanted babies. They share their table with everyone, but they don’t share their bed with everyone. They love everyone but are persecuted by all. They are poor and make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of everything. They are treated outrageously but behave respectfully. They are mocked and blessed in return.  When they do good, they are attacked. When they are attacked, they rejoice as if being given new life.”^[6]

This is how authentic Christian community affected the world in the first couple of hundred years of our existence…

Fear and doubt are contagious. And by God’s empowering grace, so is faith. It is essential that we surround ourselves with people who will help bolster our trust and growing faith in Christ by being devoted to Christian community.

[1] Mere Christianity: 136.

[2] The Reason for God: 214-221.

[3] Real Church: 152.

[4] This statement is often attributed to Augustine, yet it (apparently) cannot be found in any Augustinian text. Upon further research, the quotation has been found to be a common tenet quoted as authoritative in several Christian traditions, expressed in various ways, and attributed to various authors. A 17th-century date is provided by Philip Schaff in The History of the Christian Church (Eerdmans Repr 1965, Vol. 7: 650-653), which traces the authorship to Rupertus Meldenius a relatively unknown theologian and author of a “remarkable” tract in which the sentence first occurs.

[5] HarperOne, Reprint edition 1991.

[6] Epistle to Diognetus. Dated between 130-200 A.D. The anonymous author of this Epistle gives himself the title Mathetes, which means “a learner, pupil, or a disciple.”

The gospels tell the what of the crucifixion while the epistles help us to understand the why.

One of the most subtly graphic passages in the epistles is Paul’s declaration to the Corinthians…

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  –2 Corinthians 5:21

This doesn’t mean that God made Jesus sinful, it means that on the cross the Father treated Jesus the way sinners deserve. Jesus sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane was a mere foretaste of the coming rejection. One commentator wrote, “Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before His betrayal, but found hell rather than heaven opened before Him…”[1]

On the cross, Jesus endured the FULL WEIGHT of the sins of humanity. Think about it, every past, present, and future sin of every person who would ever live was beginning to smother the soul of Jesus. Someone has said that the physical suffering that Jesus endured was like a flea bite compared to the emotional and spiritual suffering of bearing the sins of humanity.

What we encounter in the gospels is that Jesus didn’t exude the peace of God on the cross. If we look closely, we see that He actually lost His peace while He was dying on the cross. He cried out in agony saying, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”  and then a few minutes later, in His final moment, “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last” (Mark 15:34, 37).

To paraphrase what happened as He passed from life to death, we must acknowledge that Jesus died screaming. It was torturous, excruciating, and violent, fueled by unfathomable pain.

Here’s what may help us to better understand what happened on Good Friday, Jesus relinquished all of His peace so we could receive and enjoy eternal peace. The essence of the gospel is that God, out of unfathomable pain and immeasurable love became one of us and accomplished for us what we could not accomplish on our own. The Christian life is not about what we could or should do to earn God’s favor and acceptance, it’s about what God accomplished for us. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

A Bible Project Video to further prepare for today: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/gospel-luke-4/

[1] Bill Lane. The Gospel According to Mark. Eerdmans 1974: 573.

The Bible is the only book in existence that requires a growing intimacy with the Author to fully comprehend the contents. I’ll explain…

I became a Jesus follower during college (I was right in the middle of the Jesus Revolution movie). As a new believer, I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I spotted a Bible as Literature Course being offered. I registered as quickly as I could. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get course credit for getting to know my Bible better! However, the first day of class was very confusing for me. It quickly became apparent that our professor knew the Bible very, very well—but she did not believe a single word of it. Ouch! I found that there were other Christians in the class, and over the course of the semester, she relished each and every opportunity to belittle and push back on anything and everything the Christian students would say. For our professor, the Bible was mythological nonsense. Looking back, I can see that apart from the regenerating presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we are completely incapable of encountering the Author of the Bible and discerning spiritual reality.

In Ephesians 5:21-6:9 Paul is reinterpreting the Greco-Roman “household codes” that had been taught for hundreds of years going back to Aristotle (384-322 BC). In my recent attempt at contextual study I found that Paul’s reinterpretation is bookended with mutual submission (see 5:21 and 6:9) and I have come to see that Paul turned the household codes on their head in a subtle yet spectacular way by redefining the male role from one who rigidly rules to one who sacrificially loves (Gk word agapaō) and serves his whole household. The subversive significance of Paul’s reinterpretation is that women, children, and slaves were now given a voice, which was intended to sow the seeds of a practical equality and dignity for every human. And regarding slavery, Paul clearly condemns “manstealing” in 1 Timothy 1:10.

For the last 500 years, there has been an ongoing debate as to how the teachings of Jesus relate to the Old Testament (OT). There are three basic views:

1. The Reformers believed that it related to a perfect continuity (or, continuousness). That Jesus’ teaching did no more than explain the OT Law. In keeping with this view, when they came across what would appear to be certain corrections in the OT Law where Jesus uses the phrases found in Matthew 5: 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, and 43: “You have heard it said…but I say to you…”  They argued that Jesus was merely correcting the interpretations of the Scribes and the Pharisees.

2. The Anabaptists[1] represented a second view of the Reformation. They said that Jesus’ teaching was a radical discontinuity (or, break) from the OT. That what Jesus said is radically new and He even repealed or rescinded some parts of the OT. Some of the Anabaptists would even argue that Jesus was at odds with some of the specific laws of the OT.

So, of the above two views, one was a radical (or perfect) continuity while the other is a discontinuity with the OT.

3. The third view, which I believe is the correct one because it seems to deal most honestly with the text, is the view that Jesus’ teaching is radically new and supersedes (or replaces or succeeds) the OT, but is also in full, or complete continuity, with the OT. 

One way to think about this third view is to see that Jesus completed, or fulfilled, the Old Testament Law. 

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill”  –Matthew 5:17 

“Fulfill” means to complete. An example of Jesus fulfilling the Law is that when Jesus came, He brought an end to the dietary and ceremonial laws around sacrifice – because He became the ultimate Sacrifice. It isn’t so much that Jesus contradicted the Law, but that He fulfilled the law, He validated the Law. That is why cultural critics of Christianity (and sadly, many churchgoers) don’t realize that we are not bound to the OT Law any longer. 

The OT Law was given to point people forward to the promised Messiah (Jesus). Once Jesus came, the Law’s purpose was fulfilled, and it became obsolete. It was not destroyed, but fulfilled by a higher law, the law of the gospel of grace, and God’s radical and revolutionary kingdom was established on the earth.

So, Jesus’ subversive and radical teaching about a New (Kingdom) Covenant supersedes the OT but it doesn’t contradict the OT. Jesus’s teaching was new and radical (and non-violent) and it did not exist before Jesus came. As mentioned above, this is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about (Mat 5-7). Jesus is reinterpreting the Law by moving it from outward rigor to the motivations of the heart.

It’s pretty common these days for people to dismiss Christians as inconsistent because “they follow some of the rules in the Bible and ignore others.” The challenge usually sounds something like this: “When the Bible talks about certain sexual behaviors as sin, you quote that; but when it says not to eat shellfish or not to get a tattoo, you just ignore it. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what suits you best?”

One of the most helpful ways to think about this is to look at the three types of laws there are in the Old Testament.

1. There were Civil Laws, that were set up so the nation of Israel could thrive in their daily living. What we see in the NT is that Jesus came to establish the KOG on the earth – a spiritual Israel, that we now identify as the Church. We’re no longer bound by the civil codes of Leviticus because God doesn’t have a nation-state on earth anymore. It is true that some civil laws have made their way into the legal systems of the US and have been adopted in much of the world.
2. There were Ceremonial Laws related to Israel’s worship and were primarily to point people to the coming Messiah. These laws are no longer in effect with the coming of Jesus. These laws were about “clean” and “unclean” things, and various kinds of sacrifices. Other temple practices. illustrate for us God’s holiness, our unholiness, and what God would do about it. The entire sacrificial system was designed to point out just how large the gap was between sinful humanity and a perfect God—and just how costly it would be to bridge that gap. If we accept Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice, we don’t need the lesser sacrifices anymore. In fact, it would actually be offensive to go back to them, because that would communicate that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t sufficient.
3. There were the Moral Laws, which reveal the nature and will of God declaring what God deemed right and wrong—the 10 Commandments, for instance, were fulfilled in Jesus as well, in that he kept all of them perfectly, every day, always, for his entire life. But unlike the civil and ceremonial laws, which were more time-bound, these laws reflected God’s assessment of right and wrong. They reflect God’s character, and since his character doesn’t change, his views on morality don’t either. In fact, whenever Jesus mentioned the moral laws, he either reaffirmed them or intensified them! To follow Jesus is to seek to love what he loved, including the moral law.

This helps explain what can seem contradictory to those who don’t see how Jesus fulfilled the Law. In Romans (7:1-6) and Galatians (3:25) Paul is very clear that we are released from the constraints of the Law.

What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the Law? It means that every law pointed to Him, and he completed everything they pointed to. Thinking of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law helps us see why we keep some of the OT commands and (now) “ignore” others because they were fulfilled by Jesus.

The Jesus follower is not under obligation to keep the moral law as a way of earning his or her way to God. Instead, s/he is changed by the presence and power of God’s Holy Spirit to begin to desire to keep God’s laws. This, by the way, is what separates Christianity from every other religion or philosophy of life, it’s not about what we must DO to please and appease God, it’s about what God has DONE through the finished work of Jesus Christ in dying for our sins. So, obedience then becomes the fruit of God’s sacrificial grace and not the goal. The goal is to love God and love people, which is known as the Great Commandment (Mat 22:37-40). In fact, Jesus says the whole OT can be summed up in this Great Commandment (v. 40).

So the next time someone says that Christians arbitrarily pick and choose from the Bible, we can respond with the civil/ceremonial/moral law response. We aren’t being arbitrary we’re being faithful. We’re reading the OT as the New Testament teaches us to. So we can eat our shrimp and get that tattoo without guilt, but let’s not throw away the 10 Commandments just yet.

[1] Meaning to baptize over again when a person has made their own confession of faith – even when they had been baptized as children.

Mark 9:2-29

A sermon prepared for Wintersburg Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana CA. A series adapted from Tim Keller’s book, Jesus the King

Most of us have heard the expression “mountaintop experience.” It’s one of several expressions that come from the Bible and have made their way into secular society.

The term “mountaintop experience” comes from the many times in the Bible when God revealed Himself to people on a mountain.

• Like the testing of Abraham and Isaac (Gen 22:1-19)
• Moses receiving of the 10 Commandments (Ex 19:20-21)
• Elijah learning how to hear the voice of God (1 Kings 19:11-12)
• The Transfiguration, which we’ll be considering today…

And as we recently closed out Black History Month, I was also reminded of the final speech Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the day before he was assassinated in Memphis. The speech is regarded as the “Mountaintop Speech,” where he spoke of having seen the Promised Land but was pretty sure he wouldn’t live to reach it…

Mountaintop moments are not to be confined to momentary memories. Like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, (and as we’ll see) Peter, James, and John, mountaintop moments are moments of personal insight and breakthrough that we are to take with us as we head back down into the valley. Because if we’re on a mountaintop there’s nowhere else to go but down. I think it’s important for us to keep in mind that fruit doesn’t grow on the mountaintop. Fruit is grown down in the valley.

Our passage for today is a long one—28 verses, and it contains a pivot point in Mark’s Gospel. As has been noted, Mark’s Gospel can be separated into two parts. Part 1 is describing who Jesus is (and we’ll see the culmination of Part 1 today), and Part 2 is describing what Jesus came out of heaven to accomplish on our behalf.

Part 1 begins to climax in chap 8:29 when Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was, and Peter answered with conviction: “You are the Christ!” Now, Peter was an impetuous guy and sometimes it got him into big trouble and sometimes his impetuous nature led him to make profound announcements. This is one of those moments. And then Jesus tells His disciples that He must suffer and die—and then be resurrected. And Peter, probably feeling pretty confident, rebukes Jesus. And Jesus then rebukes Peter, calling him Satan.

I think we’re all at least a little bit like Peter. Sometimes we make profound declarations and sometimes we say the dumbest things.

If you can relate to Peter—even a little bit—I think this sermon is for you…

In the final 5-verses of chap 8, we see Jesus clearly stating that true followers must join Him on His journey to the cross. It would be nice to think that Jesus suffered so we wouldn’t have to – and in a way that is true – Jesus is the better Adam and He suffered to restore our access to a holy and righteous God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered” (Heb 5:8). And the same is true for us as well.

In Tim Keller’s book, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering he states, “The great theme of the Bible itself is how God brings fullness of joy not just despite but through suffering.” This is counterintuitive for most people; but suffering, the Bible seems to say, is the unlikely route to joy. The trouble with us humans is that we too often settle for momentary happiness instead of a deep and lasting joy.

As we narrow down our focus, there are two parts to our passage for today in Mark 9…

1. The first 8 verses are about Jesus and the 3-amigos heading up the 9k foot Mount Hermon (the topographic prominence is at about 6k feet). Luke says in his account, that they went up the mountain to pray (9:28).
2. 9-29 (of Mark) are about coming off the mountaintop experience and going back into the valley with all of its difficulties and disappointments.

Mark 9:2-8: “Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!’ ⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.”

The big idea: Our glimpses of God’s glory are not to become momentary memories but motivation for devotion.

I would like to ask and provide a brief response to four questions that I asked of this Transfiguration text…

1. What is the significance of the Transfiguration?
2. Why Elijah and Moses?
3. Why do we need to read about Peter’s faux pas?
4. What is the significance of the cloud and the Father’s voice?

We simply don’t have the time to go into sufficient detail. Nevertheless, let’s look at them one at a time…

1. What is the significance of the Transfiguration? And He was transfigured before them; ³ and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

• Catholic theologian Peter Phan describes it most succinctly, “The full identity of Jesus is revealed in the Transfiguration.”[1]
• Most scholars agree that the Transfiguration serves two primary purposes:
  • It turns an important corner in the ministry of Jesus – from who He is to setting His course to Jerusalem and the cross.
  • It’s also believed that the 3 disciples needed to be strengthened for the days ahead by this divine affirmation (even though they didn’t understand it at the time.
• The Greek word for transfigure is the same word we get the English word metamorphosis from and the root meaning “to change.”
• “The word transfigured describes a change on the outside that comes from the inside. It is the opposite of ‘masquerade,’ which is an outward change that does not come from within.”[2]
• In Ex 33:18-23 Moses was on Mt Sinai, and he was exposed to God’s glory and Moses reflected God’s glory for several days afterward—like the moon reflects the sun. When Moses went back to the Israelites, he needed to wear a veil to shroud God’s glory (Ex. 34:33–35). But here, Jesus produces the glory of God—because Jesus is the glory of God in human form.
• Referencing the Transfiguration Paul tells the Corinthians in 2 Cor 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…” What Paul is saying here is that unlike the glory of the Old Covenant that was given to Moses alone, the glory of this New Covenant is changing us from the inside out. Another word for this ongoing transformation is sanctification.
• We could say the transfiguration was not a new miraculous moment, but a temporary pause of an ongoing miracle. “For Christ to be glorious was almost a less matter than for Him to restrain or hide His glory”[3]

2. Why Elijah and Moses? ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.

• Most (western) theologians see that Moses and Elijah represent the whole OT consisting of the Law and the Prophets – Moses representing the Law and Elijah representing the Prophets. The thought behind them meeting is that Jesus is the completion of the Law and the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Old Testament.
• Lk 24:27 (Road to Emmaus): “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Although the disciples of Jesus wouldn’t understand it at the time, Jesus is telling them in Lk 24 that the whole OT is really about, and points to, Jesus.
• It should also be noted that both Moses and Elijah had their own mountaintop experiences with God. And in death, both were tended to by God. God Himself buried Moses somewhere on the plains of Moab (Deut 34:5) and Elijah was taken into heaven in a “chariot of fire” (2 Kings 2:11).

3. Why do we need to read about Peter’s faux pas? ⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.

• Mark tells us that Peter, in his terrified state, blurts out the suggestion of building three tabernacles, but the voice of Heaven elevates Jesus above Moses and Elijah. There is room for only one tabernacle. As Keller says in Jesus the King, “Jesus is the temple and tabernacle to end all tabernacles and temples, He is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, the ultimate priest to point the way for all priests.”[4]
• In 2 Peter 1:16-19, Peter recalls this event and reaffirms the authority placed upon Jesus in this event: “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’ — ¹⁸ and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”
• Church fathers going back to the first century, as well as theologians since that time, agree that Peter, himself, informed Mark’s gospel…

4. What is the significance of the cloud and the Father’s voice? 7 Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”

• The cloud has come to be called the Shekinah Glory cloud, which shows up several times throughout the OT and has often been described as the “raw presence of God.” (The word Shekinah is not in the Bible, it was introduced by Hebrew scholars and means “dwelling” or “one who dwells,” referring to the divine presence of God.)
• And it’s worth noting that only twice in the Synoptic Gospels, is a voice from heaven heard: the first time is at the baptism of Jesus, the second time is at the Transfiguration. If the baptism signifies and initiates the opening phase of Jesus’ public ministry, the Transfiguration inaugurates the next, cross-focused phase.
• We assume that the Father’s voice coming from the cloud is intended to be a rebuke of Peter—and it was, but it was also more than that. Because the disciples of Jesus were having such a difficult time understanding why Jesus must suffer and die, the Father wanted them to both grapple with the words of Jesus and also be encouraged as Jesus moved toward the cross. And I think these words are meant for us as well…

⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

So, what we see in this Transfiguration passage is the pinnacle of the first half of Mark’s gospel narrative—who Jesus is and then Mark’s gospel now transitions to what He came to accomplish on our behalf.

As Jesus, James, Peter, and John make their way back into the valley they encounter a father whose son is demonized. And a crowd has gathered wondering why the other disciples of Jesus have not been able to cast the demon out of the boy.

From my perspective, there are two key verses in this section (vs. 14-29)…

1. The first one is v. 24 where the exasperated father proclaims, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
2. “His disciples began questioning Him privately, ‘Why could we not drive it out?’ 29 And He said to them, ‘This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.’” (28b-29)

In the light of the Transfiguration of Jesus and His call to His followers to take up our cross and follow Him, here are some application points for us to consider as we live most of our lives down here in the valley…

• The gospel narratives show us that the cross must proceed the crown. The arc of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation is that God doesn’t take His people, or Jesus, around suffering loss, and grief; He takes us through suffering, loss, and grief. The good news is that He goes with us and we go in His strength and power. I find myself thinking often of Job 42:5: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.”
• We are facing a very broken world each and every day—and some days the best we can muster is, “I do believe, help my unbelief.” We notice that the father of the boy came to the disciples of Jesus and then to Jesus Himself, in helplessness and vulnerability. What we see in these verses is an exasperated father bringing to Jesus what was most precious to him—his beloved son who was repeatedly being tormented by the god of this world. What can you bring to Jesus during this Lenten season?
• Last week Pastor Dave spoke to us about how idolatry is a constant temptation for us to find our comfort, joy, and delight in people or in things that are less than the glory and the majesty of the transfigured Jesus Christ.
• When Jesus cast the demon out of the boy it appeared as though the boy died (v. 26). For that moment, things seemed to get worse before they got better. When we surrender our lessor source/s of glory it will be painful, but it will eventually be replaced with the glory of Christ. What is your lessor source/s of glory today (money, power, status, sex, family, a relationship, an ability, or education)? As we move through this Lenten Season, how can you turn it over to Jesus?
• And finally, in v. 29 there is the call to prayer. Prayer is the focusing and directing of our faith in specific requests to God. Both faith and prayer remind us that [real] spiritual power is not in ourselves but in God alone, and both wait and trust in His promise to [deliver and] save.[5] The most important thing you can do during this (hopefully) final stage of this long transition season is prayer.
• I have great hope and excitement regarding the next season of fruitful ministry here at WPC. I would only remind you of two things as we draw to a close:
  1. That faith coexisting with doubt is normal. It’s always going to be both/and.
  2. And that Jesus meets us in our admitted helplessness and vulnerability.

As Tim Keller in Walking with God through Pain and Suffering restates the gospel saying, “Jesus lost all His glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is being cast away from God. He took that so that now all suffering that comes into your life will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous.”[6]

See Christ only…

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so,
We were made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go.

~ by William Blake[7]

[1] Peter C. Phan. Being Religious Irreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue, Orbis 2004.

[2] Warren Wiersbe, Be Diligent (Mark): Serving Others as You Walk with the Master Servant (The BE Series Commentary), Cook; (2nd ed.): 107.

[3] C. H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon’s Sermons Volume 47: 1901 (No. 2729), Christ’s Transfigured Face (ccel.org).

[4] Pg 114.

[5] Pillar NT Commentary. DA Carson, Ed., Mk 9:28-29.

[6] Viking 2013: 180-181.

[7] Auguries of Innocence (1863).