Matthew 5:13-16, 17-20. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 17, 2023.
We are continuing our look at Jesus, King Messiah, who was also The Prophet like Moses. He is giving the good news to the poor and misfortunate of Israel that the door to the Kingdom of Heaven is in front of them. They only need to enter by faith in Jesus as its king.
This sermon will finish the introduction of Jesus. Thus, I have titled this first part “Jesus Opens the Door to the Kingdom.” Verse 17 will begin the main body of the message Jesus is giving. I have titled it as “Fulfilling the Torah and the Prophets of God.”
Let’s look at this first part.
Verses 3 through 12 are called the beatitudes, and they answer the questions of who God is planning to bless and how. The surprise twist in these beatitudes show that God values things very different than we do. None of these people would have thought of themselves as blessed, but rather cursed. Jesus is not in the temple talking to the elite religionists of his day. He is in the wilderness on a mountainside with the poor and afflicted of Israel surrounding him. He tells them that they are blessed because God is opening up the Kingdom of Heaven to them.
We also pointed out last week that the beatitudes do more than tell them they are blessed. They also create a composite sketch of Jesus himself. Jesus is the ultimate poor and afflicted one whom God values, more, whom God loves. Jesus is the ultimate person who is blessed of God to the ultimate degree.
This is exactly what Isaiah is prophesying in Isaiah 53:3-4. Here is the text. “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
Notice the intention is to show that our value system would be so messed up that we would think Messiah, the Servant of the LORD, was essentially cursed of God. These people listening to Jesus would have been told by society (and believed it) that they were not blessed of God, otherwise their life wouldn’t be so filled with sickness and poverty. Yet, Messiah would appear to be the most cursed of God, while all the time being the most blessed of God. This is why Jesus not only puzzled people in the first century, but continues to puzzle them to this day.
Starting in verse 13, Jesus gives three metaphors that represent the purpose behind why God is blessing these unfortunates. In other words, the blessings mentioned in the first part has a purpose that goes beyond those people. Do you remember Abraham? God blessed him above all others in his day. Yet, that blessing was intended to be a blessing to all of the nations (Genesis 18:18; 22:18; and 26:4).
This is a principle with God. His blessing to anyone is never intended to be only for their sake. If you picture a reservoir behind a dam, then you will get the point. We can be so fearful of the lack of future blessing that we dam it up and hold it to ourselves. Yet, God has a purpose in blessing us that intends for us to find ways to release it to others in a good way. He wants to bless others through the blessings that He gives to you, and He wants to bless you through blessings that He gives to others. May God help us to understand this way of God so that we can be truly blessed.
The first purpose in our blessing is pictured by salt. Those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus are intended to be the salt of the earth. Jesus doesn’t tell us what the salt represents, but he does give us a hint by emphasizing the flavor of the salt. Through the years, two aspects have been pointed out about salt. It makes things taste better, and it preserves things from rotting.
So what is the flavor? Are we making the world taste better for God? Or, are we to be making this life taste better for the lost, so that they will see God? This is not explained.
A good principle to remember is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. We can look for other places where the Bible talks about salt and see if it is used as a metaphor for anything. You are going to find about 42 places in the Bible where it uses the word “salt.” It almost always simply means salt. However, there are a couple of references that are interesting.
In Leviticus 2:13, we see that a grain offering was required to be salted, even referring to it as the “salt of the covenant.” So whatever the salt represented, it was important to God. We should also put on the back burner of our thoughts that Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Jesus tells us to remember her. The most helpful verse is given to us by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 4:6. It reads, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” From this verse, it appears that the salt most likely represents grace in Matthew 5.
Does this make sense in the story of Lot’s wife? Notice that she had been the recipient of a lot of God’s grace, particularly being saved from the destruction of Sodom. Being turned into a pillar of salt may represent the sad reality of her perishing over the top of all the grace that God had given her.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, who is the ultimate grace of God, graciously opens the door of the kingdom to the poor and afflicted of Israel. Yet, such grace in their lives, is intended to be spread, salted, on others in Israel, and even to the Gentiles, by extension. This grace of God is what not only makes this life that He has given us flavorful. Yet, for the lost, we become the flavor of God by being His grace to them. Only some will like the taste, but it is God’s intention for us nonetheless.
If the salt loses its flavor, its grace, there is something missing. Essentially, we are missing Jesus. We are then not helpful for the purposes of God. We will simply be trampled upon by men. In this world, there will be trampling. The trampling itself does not mean that you have lost your flavor. Rather, if we have lost our flavor, that is the only thing that we would be good for. Don’t miss that point. In Jesus, any trampling that happens to His people will accomplish the work of God because we have the flavor of God in us, essentially Jesus. They trample us over the top of being the grace of God. This will open the eyes of some as they see that something is wrong. On the other hand, the trampling of those who do not have the grace of Jesus only seems fitting to the world.
Jesus then gives two metaphors back to back because they essentially point to the same thing. Believers are to be the light of the world and a city on a hill. These are both about visibility. Light enables people to see things that they couldn’t see before, and elevation helps whatever is on it to be seen as well. Of course, Jesus is the light of the world, but because he is in us, we become the light of the world (like a lamp).
We have no light in and of ourselves. Rather, we become a container of light that is supposed to be made visible to the world around us. A good metaphor for this is the earth, the moon, and the sun. Only the sun makes light in and of itself. However, the moon can reflect light to the earth because of its relationship to the sun relative to the earth. Jesus is not on the earth, but our relationship with him makes us able to give light to them, i.e., information about God, His character, and His purpose.
God’s intention is that the truth, about who Jesus is and what he has done for those who will believe, will be made known to everyone. If this is hidden, it is not done by God. If our light is under a basket, it is because we are not cooperating with His intention for whatever reason. In fact, a city on a hill has no say about it. It will be visible.
The principle given in verse 16 is that we are to do good works, live out the righteousness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, in such a way that those good works point them to our Father in Heaven. God wants them to see true righteousness born of the Spirit and out of relationship with Jesus.
This will set up a later tension in the Sermon on the Mount between things that should be visible to others and things that should not be. The flesh tends to make things public that it shouldn’t and keep private what should be public. In more simple terms, the flesh makes public what should be private, and private what should be public. How do we know which should be? We know through the word of God and relationship with Jesus by the Holy Spirit. He leads us. Nothing can replace true spiritual relationship with Jesus.
In verse 17, we come to the main body of Jesus’ teaching. It is going to come across as something totally new, as if Jesus was adding to the Torah, or even changing it. Thus, Jesus begins by clarifying exactly what he is doing.
Jesus knows that his teaching will be misconstrued by some, whether purposefully or ignorantly, as anti-Law. Paul had this same problem. In fact, even in the Church, there are some pastors who basically tell their people that they don’t need to know the Old Testament. It isn’t for Christians. However, instead of destroying or abolishing the Law (the instructions of God given at Sinai), Jesus had come to fulfill it.
This is Matthew’s 7th use of the word “fulfill.” It is easiest to see this with the prophets. They often pointed to future things that God was promising to do in order to encourage the faith of people before they were fulfilled. You might picture this as an empty glass, or a glass that is not completely full. The presence of the cup, or rather many cups of prophecy, gives us hope that God will keep His word. Past fulfillments encourage waiting for future fulfillments. The Law also has aspects that need to be fulfilled, like an cup that is only partially filled. An example of this would be the sacrificial system. It begs the question of just how does the blood of an animal remove my sin from me. The work of Jesus on the cross and at the resurrection becomes a fulfillment of the sacrificial system. We now understand what it was trying to teach us. And, herein lies the problem. We too often think of the Law as a list of infractions and penalties. However, it’s true purpose is to teach us about righteousness, sin, judgment, and the loving grace of God.
We should be careful of just thinking of Jesus as fulfilling some of the prophecies. He is what all the Law and Prophets were pointing us towards. Their whole purpose is so that we would recognize, embrace, and follow Jesus.
Paul explains this in Galatians 3:23-25 by comparing the Law to a tutor or a schoolmaster. Israel was like a child who is under the rule of a governor or governess. When the child becomes an adult, the job of the governor will be over, and the young adult enters into the next phase of life. Jesus was too valuable of a gift to simply send. God took precious time training and teaching Israel through the Law so that they could recognize Jesus for what he was, the ultimate servant of the LORD.
Jesus is coming forth as the Messiah to lead Israel into the Kingdom of spiritual adulthood. “The Kingdom is here; it is time to step up, son!”
In verse 18, Jesus speaks to the certainty that every bit of the Law and the Prophets would be fulfilled. To do this, he refers to the durability of heaven and earth. This heaven and earth are not eternal. They are destined to be transformed (melted down and reformed) into a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 20). How are we going to survive that? The answer is only by Jesus!
Jesus explains that before the heavens pass away, i.e., the Revelation 20 event comes, every bit of the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled. In order to emphasize both the certainty and the attention to detail of its fulfillment, Jesus mentions two words that are strange to English ears. The KJV and NKJV have the words “jot” and “tittle.” The ESV has the words “iota” and “dot.” The NIV doesn’t even try to come up with a word for them. It has “smallest letter and least stroke of the pen.” What is he talking about?
If you were in our church when I preached this, I walked us through the Hebrew letters and what these words are referring to. In a shortened form for this article, the word “jot” or “iota” is a reference to the Hebrew letter “yod.” It looks like an apostrophe but is a consonant that has the sound of /y/. It is the smallest letter in Hebrew (at least half the size of the others). The “tittle” or “dot” refers to a small protrusion on a letter that distinguishes it from another letter. This is the case between the Hebrew letters Resh and Dalet. The Dalet is not rounded like the Resh, having a protrusion on the upper right-hand side of the letter. This small stroke on the letter is important to distinguish the letter.
Notice what this means. It makes sense that God is going to fulfill all of the statements and promises that He made in the Bible. However, this takes it deeper. He is not only going to fulfill the statements, He is going to fulfill the words, the letters, down to the small distinctions between letters. The detail to which God is fulfilling the Law and the Prophets will go to a level that we can’t even comprehend looking forward. It is similar to the disciples after the cross. Beforehand, they had trouble getting what Jesus was saying. It seemed so contradictory to the Scriptures. However, after the cross and after the explanations of Jesus, they look back at the Old Testament and it suddenly explodes with meaning that they did not see before. They had been trained not to see it.
Verse 19 then moves to underline the importance of the commands and their fulfillment. Jesus didn’t come to break the commandments, but some would. Some would even teach others to break the commandments. Breaking the commands is parallel with the earlier destroying the Law.
Now, if you read what Jesus is saying like a Pharisee, then you will think that we should still be doing sacrifices, and that the Apostle Paul really was a heretic misleading early Christians. However, this is an uninformed application. The Church does not teach that the Law has been destroyed so Christians can eat pork if they want, go to church on Sunday if they want, and skip doing sacrifices. Rather, we teach that Jesus is King Messiah who sets up a new covenant in which we now fulfill the Law and the Prophets by obedience to him and the instructions that he brought down from God the Father (like Moses). Jesus teaches us to accomplish the whole purpose of the Law.
This is what Jeremiah was getting at in 31:31-34 of his book. The new covenant was not taking away the Law, but putting the Law (the Torah, instructions of God) in their minds and writing them on their hearts. The new is absolutely connected to the old because the old was pointing to the new all along. Israel was by and large stuck on the superficial aspects of the law but not understanding the deeper truths that it was pointing towards.
It would be similar to parents giving their children a bed-time. They go to bed at a specific time, not because it is the inherently moral time to go to bed. Rather, the bed-time teaches a discipline and greater lesson that there is a time to go to bed and a time to wake up. All responsible adults who do not live like children, understand this and respect it in their lives, regardless of when exactly they go to bed. Yes, some laws are inherently moral. “You shall not murder.” But, the sacrificial laws, dietary laws, and feast days, were illustrative, even prophetic, of things that they only typified. They were training wheels to help us understand what Jesus was, and is, doing. Through Jeremiah, God basically says that their penchant to focus on the superficial aspects of the Law had kept it from getting into their hearts and minds.
Yet, God was going to fix that. How? Verse 34 tells us that God would forgive their iniquity and their sin. It is important to understand the power of God’s forgiveness of our iniquity. Jeremiah doesn’t explain the mechanism that God would use to make it possible for Him to forgive our iniquity. However, Isaiah 53 does. When you are given forgiveness undeservedly, it can have a powerful transformative affect upon your heart. It is not guaranteed. Some are not seeking forgiveness and don’t believe that they have done anything wrong. But, forgiveness powerfully affects the repentant heart that desires restoration of relationship. This is what John the Baptist meant when he said, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).
Jesus is instituting a new covenant, a covenant of the adult-children of God who are no longer under the tutor of the Law, but for whom the lessons of the Law point us to the ultimate fulfillment that God intended in it.
Lest we be arrogant towards Israel, let us remember that no one gets to adulthood without first going through childhood. Don’t think of it as God loving one more than another. Rather, it is God doing what is necessary to save humans. In fact, the kingdom is first offered to Israel, and a remnant of Israel entered into the Kingdom, becoming adult-children of God. The Church is founded upon the faithful work of Jewish men and women who took the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth, bringing Gentiles into the saving work of Jesus.
Christians do not throw off the Old Testament. Rather, we fulfill it in our lives through faithfully following the instructions of King Jesus.
To slam this point home even further, Jesus gives a serious, even severe, warning. Those who misunderstand his teaching here will be the least in the Kingdom as opposed to the greatest. This is not a time to be humble. Jesus is speaking about a judgment by God as to our service. We can be saved by believing in Jesus, but still misconstrue some of the finer points of what he is doing. It appears that a person can be in the Kingdom, but become hampered in our ability to truly serve Him. The key is to stay humble, stay in the Scriptures, and keep prayerfully seeking the help of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, verse 20 gives us a more powerful warning. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The idea of being shut out of the Kingdom is a fearful one. All of Israel saw the Kingdom as the apex of God’s promises to us. The Kingdom is perfect relationship into eternity. To be shut out of the Kingdom is to be shut out of all that will come for those who are in relationship with Yahweh.
It is only the righteousness of Christ that saves us. Yet, Christ wants to impact us by His Holy Spirit to live out that righteousness on this earth through a real relationship with our Maker, and Redeemer.
If we think of this warning in superficial terms, then we will be exasperated at the idea of doing more righteousness than the Pharisees. However, we need to understand the heart element here. A Pharisee may do a ton of things that he believes to be righteous because of the traditions of men. His righteousness could amount to filthy rags before God. But, one sinner who believes on Jesus and has even an ounce of Christ working in his heart can produce more righteousness, more true righteousness, than the other. It is quantity, but quantity that first survives a hurdle of quality.
May God help us to be a people fulfilling with Jesus all that the Law and the Prophets are pointing towards!