Discover The Word

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:21-22).

IDEA: To understand what Jesus is saying about the real substance of God’s righteousness, we need to keep four factors in mind as we interpret what He is saying.

PURPOSE: To help listeners read the teaching of Jesus intelligently.

What do you think Jesus is doing in Matthew 5:21ff when he talks about our needing a righteousness that goes beyond the conduct of the scribes and Pharisees? Is He giving us a more stringent set of rules to follow? Is Jesus giving us a tougher law?

To understand what Jesus is saying, we must be aware of how to listen to Him.

I. We must read what He says in the context of what He has already taught in the Sermon on the Mount:

Have you ever had something you said taken out of context? What happened?

II. We must realize that Jesus preached in Palestine in the first century.

In that oral culture, preachers and teachers loved to tell stories.

They told stories without explaining them. The parables don’t work in the same way as illustrations do.

We use illustrations to explain an abstract concept to our hearers.

The Near Eastern speaker tells a story but lets the listeners figure out the point for themselves. The listener comes to the lesson intuitively.

III. Sometimes the speakers in the first century used hyperbole to make a point.

Jesus said that we must “hate” our families before we can be his disciples (Luke 14:26). That’s strong stuff. Is Jesus saying that we must cherish harsh feelings toward those who are closest and dearest to us? What is He saying?

Later in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:29), Jesus is talking about lust, saying, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.”

Do you think Jesus meant that literally?

Would that be helpful advice for someone addicted to pornography?

IV. Jesus wanted to pound home the principle that having a righteousness expressed in the Law isn’t merely doing the commandment as it appears on paper. Obedience lies in the spirit in how we keep the command.

If we fail to keep that in mind, we will turn what Jesus said into another set of laws.