“Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the
teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, I have come to make
their teachings come true.” Matthew
5.17(GNB)
The
programme, on the TV, Grand Designs is always very interesting to watch. It’s a programme, if you haven’t seen it,
about people who build their own houses to their own designs, in glass, wood,
stone, or renovations of old buildings. There’s something very satisfying about
watching a house being built as you watch. Last week, the programme showed a
beautiful wooden house being built on a quiet wooded hillside in the Chilterns
in Oxfordshire. First a platform was dug into the hillside, then foundations
were put in place, then the house, which came in kit form, was put together.
Though they were separate parts, each upright, each beam, each spar fitted
neatly into the next, solid, stable, strong, each joist, beam, spar a part of
the whole house, until finally the house was complete. A
delight to watch.
In the
sermon that He gave on the hill in
What is the
Law of Moses ?
Well this
was the Law that generations before, God had given to Moses at
Well, there
are, of course, many separate commands contained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. But each, is solid, stable, strong, a
part of the whole of God’s Law which covers the whole of life. And through the
Law, the living God gave something vital to His people. Remember, He had
brought them out of
Now through
the Law, given at
And
actually, the whole of the Law can be summed up in those words,
to walk with God
and live with each other...............
The whole of
God’s law can be summed up in this:
Love for God
and love for those around you.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength
and your neighbour as yourself
The whole of
God’s law can be summed up in this:
Love God and
love those around you.
Now, with a
Law like that - at the heart of the nation’s life,
think of it -
living like that the people of
now had the potential to be a Godly people, caring
for one another,
had the potential
to become a light to all the earth,
the hope of all
the nations of the earth.........
for whoever has
heard of a nation with a Law like that ?
This is
absolutely unique. This was their founding constitution,
the great Word of
the prophets
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength
and your neighbour as yourself
But as the
years passed, if you read the history of
you will find that
instead, of the people of
potential as a
Godly people, caring for one another,
their full
potential as a light to all the earth,
the hope of all
the nations of the earth.........
they fall
short....... again and again.
Was it the Law
that failed ?
No - it was
you can read the
story of how the people of
Lincoln Steffens, the American writer, once wrote. "The greatest picture is not yet painted. The greatest play isn't written. The greatest poem is unsung. Nothing is perfect. There's no perfect airline. There's no perfect government. There's no perfect law.
Well, actually, there is a perfect Law, God gave it
to
We could alter Lincoln Steffens list, to read:
There's no perfect airline. There's no perfect government. There’s no perfect people.
But let us
return to the words of Jesus:
Do not
think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of
the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, I have come to make their teachings
come true !
You see, in
His wonderful words on that hillside, in among the olive groves, Jesus is saying
two things:
First: the
whole of the Law
Love for God
and love for those around you.
the whole of the
Law
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength
and your neighbour as yourself
The whole of
God’s law summed up in this:
Love God and
love those around you.
is still in
place........
Do not
think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses
says Jesus
Second: I have come to make their teachings come true
!
There is,
you see, only One who has walked in perfect love of God, in the fullness of His
heart and soul and mind and strength, in unbounded love for those around Him,
the sinful broken men and women around Him,
and that is this
man Jesus
In Jesus,
the One who speaks so gently here on the hillside, among the olive trees, the
Law, 50 generations on, and a thousand years old finds perfect fulfilment.
The whole of
the Law
Love for God
and love for those around is found in Him,
The whole of
the Law
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength
and your neighbour as yourself is seen in Jesus,
and the One who
is a light to all the earth,
the hope of all
the nations of the earth.........
is Jesus
In Him, the hopes, the longings, of the prophets
are fulfilled. Fulfilled and completed in Jesus, Himself.
His love for
God is seen in His perfect communion with God
from moment to
moment, so that His whole life
is One of love
for God
and His love for
those around is seen
as He calls the
sinners and the outcasts to Himself
invites them into
His company
His love for
those around is seen
in this,
that while we
were yet sinners,
Christ died
for us..............
through the love
of Jesus Christ our shown at the cross
God has done
a new thing. He has restored us to Himself,
and has restored
us to each other.
AMEN