Matthew 5:1-20 Born to Teach
Theological Proposition/Focus: Jesus is Savior but he is also teacher.
Homiletical Proposition/Application: As we celebrate the birth of Jesus let us also reflect upon the reality of how Jesus taught us to live.
Introduction:
Image: The meaning of life is not 42
Need:
Subject:
Preview:
Text: Matthew 5:1-20: Start with verses 1-2, then read each within the main points.
Setting the Stage:
Body
Meaning in life comes from Christlikeness (5:3-12).
Humility is key to living a meaningful life (3-5).
Recognizing the need for Holiness brings deeper meaning to life (6-8).
A fallen world should not keep you from a meaningful life (9-12).
Image:
MTR: Determine to pursue Christlikeness as the source of meaning in your life.
Meaning in life comes from representing God to creation (5:13-16)
Image: The prime Directive.
The prime directive is found in Genesis 1:26-27.
And by the way, it is hard to imagine our prime directive being any more different than the prime directive in Star Trek!
We satisfy our prime directive by being a positive influence within our world (13).
We satisfy our prime directive by pointing others to God (14-16).
MTR: Determine to appropriately represent God.
Meaning in life comes through identity in Christ (5:17-20).
Image: The right paradigm helps make everything fit.
My previous training and time as a mathematician and researcher means that I often search for a paradigm through which I can view the world. A paradigm is a sort of model or typical example that you can use to explain phenomena. The paradigm that I generally accept throughout Scripture is that God created mankind to represent Him to His creation. However, time and time again mankind fails. In response to man's failure, God Himself came as a man to represent himself to creation. Colossians 1:15-16 states
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him (NIV).
Let me put a couple of pieces of a puzzle together here. Mankind has a prime directive, represent God. We fail. That doesn't mean we stop trying, it just means we fail. God responds by personally fixing our failure and invites us to identify with him and thus succeed where we otherwise fail. Let me show you how this plays out in Matthew 5:17-20.
Righteousness can only come from identity in Christ (17-18).
How often have you tried to be holy? How often have you tried to follow a bunch of rules and failed? Here is the thing, if you are trying to follow a bunch of rules, you are either failing a lot, or you are making up rules that you can follow so you feel good about yourself. If you simply try to just follow God's holy rules you will fail because you are a sinner!
One of the biggest questions that was asked of Jesus was whether or not he came to abolish the Old Testament law. The answer was no! Verse 18 tells us that Jesus kept the law, down to the smallest item. The NIV states that "not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." The Greek uses the word iota which is translated as the smallest letter in the NIV. In Greek Majuscule (the letters that would have been used in the first century) the iota looked like a verticle line. The idea here is that even the simplest strokes were kept by Christ. Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill the law because nobody else could. God had promised to bless the people who kept His Law. The problem was that nobody did. Jesus came and kept the law, received the promised blessing, and passes that blessing onto those whose identity is in Christ!
Does this mean you should just go and live however you want? No! your prime directive is to represent God, representing God demands you try to be obedient but don't let your personal obedience be your identity. Find your identity in Christ's obedience.
