Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Romans 3-4
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 5:17-20
Jesus: Do not think that I have come to overturn or do away with the law or the words of our prophets. To the contrary: I have not come to overturn them but to fulfill them.
This, beloved, is the truth: until heaven and earth disappear, not one letter, not one pen stroke, will disappear from the sacred law—for everything, everything in the sacred law will be fulfilled and accomplished. Anyone who breaks even the smallest, most obscure commandment—not to mention teaches others to do the same—will be called small and obscure in the kingdom of heaven. Those who practice the law and teach others how to live the law will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you this: you will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless your righteousness goes deeper than the Pharisees’, even more righteous than the most learned learner of the law.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I find it interesting that Jesus tells those around Him that even the smallest, most obscure commandment will remain in effect. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, even though He talks to His disciples about a new covenant and then His disciples talk to the Gentiles about the futility of circumcision and other Jewish rituals that they need not keep as followers of Christ. Is this a double standard? Did Jesus mean what He said when He spoke these words to the Pharisees and the crowds gathered around Him that day?
I think Jesus meant every word, but I also think Jesus saw the greater meaning of the Father’s word and His law. God gave Moses and the Israelites the law the Pharisees tried to impose on those Jesus spoke to that day. But He told the crowd their righteousness must go deeper than the Pharisees if they expected to see the kingdom of heaven. Stop and think about that for a minute.
The scribes and Pharisees spent their lives studying the law God gave Moses, but Jesus counted them as unrighteous. Why? Because they didn’t live the concepts of the law they studied. Abraham didn’t have the law, but God counted him as righteous. Cornelius didn’t follow Jewish law, but Jesus said of Him, “I haven’t seen such faith in all of Israel.” Enoch didn’t have the law, but God saw such obedience in his life that Enoch didn’t suffer death, but rather God took him straight to heaven. He did the same for Elijah, one of his great prophets.
So stop and think about God’s law for a minute. What does Jesus mean when He talks about God’s law? I really think when we listen to God, He does what He says He will do and puts His law in our hearts. We don’t need a bunch of rules and regulations because His Spirit in us will lead us toward righteousness. He will keep us on the path of righteousness so we do not soil His name. Just look at every civilization across the world. All of them have laws against murder, theft, adultery, and other crimes against other members of the community. Most have regulations and rules that govern behavior concerning the major religion of the community.
How do those rules come into existence? Why do we establish those laws in the first place? I think it’s because God places within the heart of every human being the innate knowledge that He exists and demands our worship and our obedience to His laws. As Paul points out in his letters, God gave us the laws to that we will understand better how to behave in society because we have become so corrupted in our societal fall from grace. Those boundaries that the written law gives us keep us in line so we can come to know God and learn to hear Him amid the clamor the world raises to try to drown out His voice.
Once we come to know Him, though, we can hear Him. We can distinguish His voice among all the others in the same way you can hear your baby’s cry in a room full of infants. We can distinguish His commands from the cry of the world in the same way we can pick out our spouse’s voice among the din in a crowded room. We can hear Him, because He puts His law in our heart. We no longer need a list of written rules and regulations because God transforms our mind so we become more like Him each day. We begin to live according to His wishes instead of our own. We begin to live within the boundaries of His law, His precepts, His directions and commands, so that we stay by His side on this journey of life.
What is the sacred law? It’s God’s Spirit directing us when we give ourselves completely to Him. Will it be different from His written word? No! God doesn’t contradict Himself. That’s why Jesus can say, “…not one letter, not one pen stroke, will disappear from the sacred law—for everything, everything in the sacred law will be fulfilled and accomplished.” He wants to accomplish His law in you and me. The question each day is, “Will I let Him?” What’s your answer?
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