The Sermon on the Mount
Adult Class-Spring 2004
Lesson 4
Our Declaration of Independence acknowledges that we possess rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But happiness comes only as a by-product of doing some productive and useful work. If happiness is made the goal, it proves forever elusive. In the same way, if we try to pursue righteousness as a goal, we miss it and substitute a legal formalism. Yet we are to desire righteousness. How can we attain to righteousness? By pursuing the heart of God.
Jesus has no desire to clean us on the outside only. He desires to remake us from the inside out. If our hearts are cleansed and made righteous, that will overflow into our daily conduct. If our hearts are corrupt, no amount of legal restrictions can fence in our iniquity. What Jesus wants is for us to develop the heart of God, since that will remake us into the kind of people we were always intended to be!
Matthew 5:13-20 deals with the qualities of citizens of the kingdom of God. As usual, Jesus teaches with vivid metaphors that make his statements clear and powerful. In verse 13, He compares His followers to salt, an analogy with multiple implications. From the first, though, we must remember that salt in the ancient world was very valuable. At times, Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and our word "salary" derives from the Latin salarium, meaning, "a special allowance to buy salt."
It is worthwhile to remember also that most salt in the ancient world was not nearly as pure as our table salt. It was more like halite (road salt) and it would soak up moisture from the air and easily combine with impurities to render it tasteless. After such contamination, its only use was to add to a road surface. Jesus' point here is that Christians are valuable and needed in the world, but if the world gets into the Christians, they are worthless and will be cast out.
In verses 14-16, He compares us to light, which reveals reality to all observers. The idea of high visibility is further emphasized by His mention of a "city on a hill." It is possible that as Jesus taught, over His shoulder in the background was the gleaming silhouette of Sepphoris, a new city build by Herod, splendid with white buildings. He continues the image of public display with a common-sense illustration involving how everyone used household lamps. Then He makes it clear that He is really speaking of our daily conduct in the world.
Our obedience to Christ shines in the world (Philippians 2:14-16). Although Christians don't live in a separate country, with odd clothing, a foreign language and strange customs, we are citizens of another kingdom-governed by laws different from our native land. We don't look different on the surface, but we are different. That difference shows in our daily conduct as we follow our Lord. And even if they don't understand our motivation, people will praise God for our good works.
Matthew 5:17-20 finishes this section with a brief discussion of our motivation-we seek the complete heart of God. Jesus begins by denying any thought of setting aside the Law or the Prophets. He plainly declares that He has come to fulfill them. The word, "fulfill" is very important to Matthew. He uses it 11 times in labeling specific prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. But "fulfill" here means more than the successful completion of an ancient prediction. Christ intends to be the perfect example of what the Law and the Prophets were meant to bring about-an ideal servant of God. His heart was perfectly aligned with the Father's heart and was in perfect submission.
We tend to view the Law with alarm, realizing that its provisions are superceded by the New Testament in Christ's blood. The earliest Christians, though, accepted the New Testament but also valued the Old Testament Law. Paul declares that the Law is good and holy in his discussion of sin in Romans 7:7-25. The Law was meant to develop the heart of God in His people. The morality of the Law is unmistakable, the compassion in the Law is very high (Leviticus 19:18), and the worship detailed in the Law is meant to exalt the love and nature of God. We come to know God in the Old Testament as we see Him interact with His people.
The emphasis of the Law has not changed. God still wants people to develop His heart in them. It is that emphasis that is good and holy and righteous. Provisions for worship have been changed because of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection. Requirements for clothing and diet have been set aside by the Holy Spirit's inspired word. Everything was accomplished when Jesus declared, "It is finished," and breathed His last on the cross. But the problem of sin, righteousness and the judgment to come is as urgent today as ever. And God will not look with favor on anyone who attempts to set aside His emphasis in the Law.
As Jesus completes this brief section, He says two things that must have seriously shocked His hearers. First, He declared that their righteousness would have to surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. That alone would baffle His hearers, since the Pharisees and teachers of the law were obviously more holy than anybody. They had restrictions over their lives so severe that they could only eat with others like them. They were rigid in their observance of customs. But remember that God wants a changed heart, not just changed behavior. And their behavior could never save them.
The second thing Jesus said seems innocent to us: "I tell you." Here, though, He declares His authority to make new challenges. The rabbis of the day would engage in a pilpul, an exercise in inductive authority: "Rabbi X says . . ., but Rabbi Y says . . ., so to harmonize, it seems that the requirement of the law is . . ." Jesus blew all that away by refusing to appeal to an outside source for authority. This will become even more pointed in the next section we study, Matthew 5:21-32.
Discussion Questions: