God’s Lesson Plans for Your L= ife:

The Textbook

Matthew 5:17-20

Last Sunday, we began a study of Jesus’ Sermon o= n the Mount. Prior to this, we spent sixteen weeks journeying through the book of Genesis. So we took a long leap from the fi= rst book in the Old Testament, Genesis, to the first book of the New Testament,= Matthew, something which, if we are people who think about our faith, could raise so= me questions.

Most of us have probably wondered about the relationsh= ip between the Old Testament and the New.&nbs= p; Maybe we still have questions about how the laws we find in the Old Covenant are affected by the grace we discover in the Gospel of Christ.

Some Christians are quick to say that the old laws don’t apply to us, because Christ has set us free from having to obey them. But then, maybe we̵= 7;re so used to having a Bible with an Old Testament AND a New Testament that we don’t give the relationship between the two much thought any longer.<= /p>

Well, I promise you that was not the case among those = who first heard Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—when this was all brand = new. They had lots of questions. They did not have the New Testamen= t yet, but they had this new teacher; and some of them had deep concerns about Jesus’ message and how it related to what they had been taught in the past.

Of course, not everything they had learned had come st= raight from their Scriptures—from what we now call the Old Testament. We need to realize that they also = had lots of traditions that had grown up around some of these passages—in= terpretations by the scribes and Pharisees which, as the new Teacher would point out, were not always in line with what God intended.

All of these things were troubling them when Jesus sat= down on a hillside and began to preach. <= /span>The Beatitudes were the first surprise. They didn’t sound like anything they had ever been taught befo= re.

Some of those on the mountainside had begun to think t= hat Jesus might be the Messiah, but what he was saying sounded nothing at all l= ike the military leader they had been told to expect. Why, He even encouraged them to be peacemakers!

On the other hand, they had noticed that Jesus was a b= it of a rebel. He didn’t alwa= ys keep the rules. For example, = he would heal sick people on the Sabbath—there was a rule against that. And if he was hungry, he would pick grain on that holy day.

And he would talk to people that all the good folks re= garded as unclean and off limits. Th= at was simply unacceptable to those who made it their purpose in life to keep the letter of the law and to criticize and condemn anyone who didn’t.

Considering all this, there was probably nothing in th= is sermon that surprised people any more than what Jesus said in our text for today—and this may be true for us as well. So listen now to Jesus’ word= s in Matthew 5:17-20:

17 "Do not think t= hat I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish th= em but to fulfill them.

18 I tell you the truth, unti= l heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. =

19 Anyone who breaks one of t= he least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called leas= t in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands wil= l be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I tell you that unless= your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, = you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Well, there is so much here in these few verses that y= ou and I must try to understand if we are to get the connection between the Old Testament and the New, between the Law and the Prophets and the teachings a= nd ministry of Jesus. So what ar= e we to make of this?

1. First= , JESUS AFFIRMS THE BIBLE AS OUR TEXTBOOK. Our theme for this series of messages is “God’s Lesson P= lans for Your Life.” In keep= ing with our theme, I invite you to think about the Bible as God’s Textbo= ok for our lives. Here, Jesus pu= ts His stamp of approval on the Scriptures.

“I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” He says; and then He adds, “…not the smallest lette= r, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law unt= il everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17b-18)

Let’s begin, then, by acknowledging the deep res= pect and appreciation that Jesus had for those writings which the faithful in th= at day referred to as “the Law and the Prophets.” When He was only twelve, he amazed= the scholars in the Temple with His knowledge of the Scriptures—maybe He = had had someone like Miss Joan in Bible Drill—okay, Jesus probably had so= me other advantages—but the point is He knew “the law and the prophets” well and He affirmed their trustworthiness.

As Christians, and especially as Baptist Christians, w= e love the Bible, respect the Bible, and seek to teach and preach its truths. Some have accused us of worshippin= g the Bible. We don’t, althou= gh I understand why people might get that impression.

We do make it our aim to know and understand what the = Bible says because we believe it to be God’s word for our lives.

This church affirms the Baptist Faith and Message stat= ement about the Scriptures adopted in 1963. Look at what it says:

“The Holy Bible was written by men divine= ly inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man. It = is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. It reveals the principles by which God judges us; and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is J= esus Christ.” Ex 24:4; De 4:1-2; 17:19; Jos 8:34; = Psa 19:7-10; 119:11, 89, 105, 140; Isa 34:16; 40:8; Jer 15:16; 36:1-32; Mat 5:17-18; 22:29; Lu 21:33; 24:44-46; Joh 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Ac 2:16; 17:= 11; Rom 15:4; 16:25-26; 2Ti 3:15-17; Heb 1:1-2; 4:12; 1Pe 1:25; 2Pe 1:19-21<= /p>

Do you see all those Bible references after the statement? In Baptist life, t= hose are more important than the explanation which precedes them. Holy Scripture is always more impo= rtant than anything you or I may write or say about it. And among those 29 Biblical refere= nces is the passage that we have before us today --where Jesus Himself affirms t= he Scriptures.

We can’t really claim that we are followers of J= esus if we don’t accept the Old Testament--Jesus didn’t give us that op= tion—not if we are true to His teachings. And what Jesus says here is consistent with what we see elsewhere in Scripture. II Timothy 3:16, f= or example: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

So we teach and train each other in God’s word, = and when necessary, we use it to correct and rebuke one another as well. You may have a textbook from a cla= ss you took in school that you have held on to for years in order to refer back to= it when needed. Well, that’= ;s the Bible’s role for us. We= need its wisdom and guidance daily. It has that kind of authority in our lives.

When you go to Bible Study this morning, know that you= are directly descended from folks who were willing to suffer and die when neces= sary in order to be true to the teachings of this Book. They insisted that it was not what = the King said that mattered most, but what the Bible says; not what the Pope, o= r the denomination, or the preacher says, but always first and foremost what the Bible says. God may use any n= umber of people to help us understand it, but ultimately it’s our responsibility to apply its truths to our lives.

Baptists got their start when a group of devout believ= ers finally had access to the Bible in their own language and they began studyi= ng it for themselves. We baptize= only believers today because they discovered that when the Bible speaks of someo= ne being baptized, it’s only after they have professed faith in Christ.<= /p>

We baptize by immersion because they later discovered = that to be the true meaning of the Greek word “baptizo.” And when Paul described baptism to = the Christians in Rome, he likened it to being dead, buried, and raised to new life. It’s not that we believe that baptism by whatever mode saves us. It just seems right to baptize the= way Scripture teaches.

Again, we’re simply trying to be true to the Bible—including what it tells us about Jesus. Remember that last line in the Bap= tist Faith and Message statement about the Scriptures?” It says, “The criterion by w= hich the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”

A few years back, some of the brethren chose to “= ;monkey around” with that statement, and they took that sentence about Jesus = out of it, expecting all the rest of us to just go along in “monkey see, monkey do” fashion. We didn’t—some of us didn’t--and here’s why:

2. OUR TEXTBOOK AFFIRMS JESUS AS LORD. God’s word teaches us that J= esus Christ is Lord over all creation, Lord over the lives of all those who put their faith in Him, and He is Lord over the Bible.

If something we find in the Bible seems to be in confl= ict with what Jesus said, then Jesus always takes priority. The Bible is true and trustworthy,= but Jesus is “The Truth”…and He is “Lord of all.”=

Next Sunday, we’ll learn more about this as we h= ear Jesus saying, “You have heard it said,” followed by a quote from the = Old Testament; but then He adds, “…but I say unto you…”= putting a new spin on the old message. The scribes and Pharisees were right about this: what Jesus said was blasphemy,= unless…Jesus is Lord over even the Bible.

This is precisely what Jesus was proclaiming when He s= aid:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the La= w or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

The Pharisees had grown very comfortable in a religion= that they had reduced to “following a list of rules.” They were convinced that this made= them good people—sort of like the young man who felt quite proud of his own righteousness when he bragged,

“I don’t cuss, I don’t chew, and I don’t kiss…girls who do.”

Jesus insisted that a right relationship with God is a= bout far more than just keeping a set of rules.&nbs= p; He didn’t discount the importance of God’s Laws--the Ten Commandments and the others found in Scripture.

Jesus didn’t ignore them, break them, or in any = way tear down what God had built up over a period of centuries. He came, instead, to FULFILL these laws—to finish the job, to bring what God was doing to its intended c= ompletion.

If you will think of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount = as an Oak Tree, then those Old Testament laws were the acorn God planted so the t= ree could eventually grow. God= 217;s ultimate intention was the oak tree, but the acorn was necessary to the process.

Or compare the teachings and the saving work of Jesus = to higher education. No amount of college and graduate school eliminates the need for elementary, middle, and high school—right? If we’re in college, we shouldn’t need to go back to sixth grade, = but we should also remember what we learned back there!

Both the mighty oak tree and the mastered subject matt= er are the completion of something begun long ago. ‘I’m not destroying th= e Old Testament,’ Jesus said, ‘I’m fulfilling it--completing it.’

Now, in a lesson plan, you remember how the teacher in= cludes “the essential question.” Well, the Bible is our Textbook for life—our God-inspired Guide for living. And the central q= uestion it addresses is this: “Who is Jesus?”--the MOST essential question of all. If we are to experience life with = all the fullness the Father intends, we must get this right. Who is Jesus?

God, through His word, gives us lots of help with the answer. Teachers will often b= egin a class by telling their students what it is they want them to learn. Next, they teach the lesson. Finally, they review what theyR= 17;ve taught to see if the students got it—if they learned what they were supposed to learn. Let’s relate this to the Bible:

1) So much of the Old Testament writings, the Law and the Prophets, point us towa= rd the Messiah, the Savior who is to come, which is the ultimate “life l= esson” that God planned to provide for us.

2) In the New Testament, the Gospels tell us the story of Jesus, the Christ, the fulfillment of all that God had promised.&= nbsp; The laws, the prophecies—they find their completion in Jesus.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Now, “the Word has become fl= esh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The lesson is delivered. It’s perfectly complete.

3) And then we have the rest of the New Testament to make sure we get it—that we are learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus Chris= t, that we know how to live as part of His Body in this world, the Church. We devote our lives to understandi= ng and fulfilling God’s plans for us.

Jesus affirms the Bible as our Textbook, as God’= s word for our lives—truthful and trustworthy. And then the Bible, in turn, affir= ms Jesus as Lord—the fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption, the = only One who can save us from sin and give us eternal life.

The whole Book, God’s Book, points us to Jesus, = the Savior.

He is Lord of the Bible.

But the crucial question for us is “Who is Jesus= in my life? Who is Jesus in yours?” Do we know Him = today as our personal Savior? Have = we placed our faith in Him as our Lord?