SPECIAL DAYS: Fifth Sunday in Lent

March 17, 2002 -Lesson: Matthew 5.17-20

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Ralph P. Karstedt, in As I See It, tells the story of "a seven-year-old who approached his mother one evening and asked her what sex was.

"He was rewarded with a nervous lecture on the birds, bees, cats, dogs, and other facts of life.

"The little boy shifted his weight from right foot to left and finally said, Gee, mom, how am I going to put all this on the top line of that little card the teacher gave me? ⁽¹⁾

1. Confusing isn't it?
1. The boy wanted a simple answer to his innocent question.
1. He did not expect the answer that his mother gave him.
2. He needed clarification.
2. There are times even for us when life can be confusing.

MAIN BODY:

1. In the lesson for today Jesus says: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."
1. If Jesus did not come to abolish the law, does that mean all the Old Testament laws still apply to us today?
1. It can be confusing
2. In the Old Testament, there were three categories of law:
1. Ceremonial laws regulating worship
2. Civil laws for governing the state
3. Moral law defining relationships with God and neighbor.
3. The laws or the law was vital for the health and moral well-being of the people of Israel.
2. If Jesus did not come to abolish the law, does that mean all the Old Testament laws still apply to us today?
1. Let us take the time, at least a brief time and consider each of the sets of laws to see if or how they apply or not.
2. Then, perhaps we may have some clarity to replace confusion.
2. How do we worship.
1. Turn to Leviticus 5:1-13 (page 80) and browse the passage to see that is necessary to receive forgiveness for sins. (Printed here for you to read)

¹When any of you sin in that you have heard a public adjuration to testify and--though able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter--do not speak up, you are subject to punishment. ²Or when any of you touch any unclean thing--whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing--and are unaware of it, you have become unclean, and are guilty. ³Or when you touch human uncleanness--any uncleanness by which one can become unclean--and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall be guilty. ⁴Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath, and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty. ⁵When you realize your guilt in any of these, you shall confess the sin that you have committed. ⁶And you shall bring to the LORD, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for your sin.

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⁷But if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall bring to the LORD, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸You shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering, wringing its head at the nape without severing it. ⁹He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. ¹⁰And the second he shall offer for a burnt offering according to the regulation. Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for the sin that you have committed, and you shall be forgiven.

¹¹But if you cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, you shall bring as your offering for the sin that you have committed one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a sin offering; you shall not put oil on it or lay frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²You shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall scoop up a handful of it as its memorial portion, and turn this into smoke on the altar, with the offerings by fire to the LORD; it is a sin offering. ¹³Thus the priest shall make atonement on your behalf for whichever of these sins you have committed, and you shall be forgiven. Like the grain offering, the rest shall be for the priest.

2. We do not worship according to these forms and ceremonies.
3. When we sin, we ask God directly for forgiveness.
4. We have one mediator, Jesus Christ

⁵For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, ⁶who gave himself a ransom for all--this was attested at the right time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NRSVA)

5. I cannot imagine what our worship would be like without Jesus.

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2. How do we govern ourselves.
1. Turn to Exodus 21:11-34 (page 59) and browse the passage to see that is necessary to receive forgiveness for sins. (Printed here  for you to read)

¹²Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. ¹³If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee. ¹⁴But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.

¹⁵Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death.

¹⁷Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁸When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed, ¹⁹but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery.

²⁰When a slaveowner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. ²¹But if the slave survives a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner's property.

²²When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman's husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine. ²³If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

²⁶When a slaveowner strikes the eye of a male or female slave, destroying it, the owner shall let the slave go, a free person, to compensate for the eye. ²⁷If the owner knocks out a tooth of a male or female slave, the slave shall be let go, a free person, to compensate for the tooth.

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²⁸When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. ²⁹If the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not restrained it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. ³⁰If a ransom is imposed on the owner, then the owner shall pay whatever is imposed for the redemption of the victim's life. ³¹If it gores a boy or a girl, the owner shall be dealt with according to this same rule. ³²If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall pay to the slaveowner thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³If someone leaves a pit open, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make restitution, giving money to its owner, but keeping the dead animal.

2. We are a representative democracy, not a theocracy.
1. Our laws are more humane.
2. We seek mercy as well as justice.
3. What defines our relationship with God and neighbor (all other people, near to us or far from us).
1. The moral law.
1. What is the moral law.
2. We immediately think of the 10 commandments of Exodus 20.
3. We do not often think of the law behind the law.
4. It is the basis for it all.
2. Jesus did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
1. He came to clarify the meaning of law.
2. He came to define the purpose of law.
3. He came to expand application of the law.
3. One day Jesus was confronted with a question that is vital to our understanding of morality and law.
1. Which commandment is the greatest?

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

2. How did Jesus answer the question.

³⁷He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSVA)

3. On these two hang, are dependent on.
1. The ten commandments were God's attempt to define love for a people who did not really understand the meaning of love.
2. The first four define love for God.
3. The last six define love for the other.
4. This is why Jesus gives a new commandment

³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34 (NRSVA)

5. In the epistle of James, James states it this way.

⁸You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. James 2:8-12 (NRSVA)

1. The royal law is the law of love.
2. It is the law of liberty.
6. Paul also describes what it means to fulfill the law

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:8-10 (NRSVA)

1. The one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
2. Love for God and neighbor is the fulfilling of the law.
7. You will not make it into the kingdom by seeking to follow the law.
8. You will get into the kingdom by learning to love and thus fulfilling the law.

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4. But unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not get into the kingdom of God.

¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

1. What do we teach knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Years ago, in a central European town, the older townspeople could be seen making the sign of the cross as they passed by a certain ordinary- looking wall. When a visitor asked why they were doing this, no one knew. The visitor's curiosity led him to begin chipping away at the layers of whitewash and dirt covering the wall until, underneath, he discovered a beautiful mural of Mary and the child Jesus. Generations before, the townspeople had had a reason for making the sign of the cross, but succeeding generations had only learned the ritual. They continued to go through the motions without knowing the reason.

1. We teach by clarifying.
1. Chipping away the layers of confusion and doubt.
2. Brushing away the dirt that would prevent another from seeing the beauty of Jesus.
2. We teach by exemplifying.
2. We do not water down the teachings.

Poem: "The History Teacher," by Billy Collins from Questions About Angels (University of Pittsburgh Press). ⁽²⁾

The History Teacher

Trying to protect his students' innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.

And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.

The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
"How far is it from here to Madrid?"
"What do you call the matador's hat?"

The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
on Japan.

The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,

mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,
while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,

wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.

1. We live and teach the whole of the good news.
2. We do not add, nor do we leave anything out.
3. The poem represents it all.

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CONCLUSION:

1. We teach love and faithfulness.
1. This is the way to become great in the eyes of God.
2. Its easy.
2. Last Wednesday evening at Bible study we studying Acts 25.13-26.32, Paul Before King Agrippa.
1. One of the questions that was asked was: "What motivates you to tell non-Christians about God?"
1. It depends on what you want to tell them.
2. So often we get bogged down in the five spiritual laws, or the details of doctrine.
3. We try to tell people what to do.
4. We find this often so difficult to do.
2. I suggested that it was easy.
1. You tell people about the excitement that you find in Jesus and the joy that he brings into your life.
2. You tell people of the support you have received and the comfort that you have received.
3. You tell people about hope that sustains you.
4. You tell about the love that strengthens you.
3. This is the greatness of the kingdom of God.

Amen!!!!

ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL

Craig Bird in "Gearing Up for God," tells the story of two people living in different times. ⁽³⁾

"Ancient Rome: Two strangers meet along a dusty road. Miles pass in pleasant conversation. Obscure references to religious ideas slip into the dialogue. The men sense a spiritual kinship but are wary of expressing it. After all, Christianity is a criminal offense punishable by death.

"They stop to rest. The discussion rambles from the latest war news to the price of bread and the hijinks of the Roman Senate. The younger of the two pushes his walking stick through the dust as he talks, tracing half an oval.

"The older man glances at the mark, then into the eyes of his new acquaintance, and quickly around to see who else might be paying attention. Then with his own staff, he draws a mirror image, connecting with the first line at one end but intersecting it at the other. "He is risen!" he exclaims. "He is risen indeed!" comes the reply.

"Modern Rome: Two American tourists meet while waiting to clear customs. One wears a $50 pullover knit shirt. The logo replicates what the ancient Christians drew in the dirt - an emblem of a fish. The other sports a baseball cap with a four-letter acronym on the crown: 4WWJD?

"Nice shirt," says one.

"Great hat," says the other."

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There is a story of a young Naval Academy graduate, who after completing his first overseas cruise, was given an opportunity to display his talents at getting his ship underway and out of port. The young officer's efficiency established a new record for getting a naval ship underway. He was stunned, however, when a sailor approached him with a message from their captain. "My personal congratulations upon completing your underway preparations exercise according to the book and with amazing speed. In your haste however, you have overlooked one of the fundamental rules-make sure the captain is on board before you leave." ⁽⁴⁾

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Principles apply at all times in all places. They surface in the form of values, ideas, norms and teachings that uplift, ennoble, fulfill, empower and inspire people. The lesson of history is that to the degree people and civilizations have operated in harmony with correct principles, they have prospered. At the root of societal declines are foolish practices that represent violations of correct principles. ⁽⁵⁾

1. As told by Ralph P. Karstedt, As I See It (Lima, Ohio: Fairway Press, 1985), 74. © 2001 Communication Resources, Inc. Used with permission.

2. Taken from the, The Writer's Almanac®, a daily program of poetry and history hosted by Garrison Keillor, March 12, 2002 Copyright ©Minnesota Public Radio

3. Craig Bird, "Gearing Up for God," cited on Beliefnet. © 2001 Communication Resources, Inc. Used with permission

4. Bobby Ives, "Greetings," Boat Notes, The Carpenter's Boatshop, Fall 1999 Newsletter, 1. © 2001 Communication Resources, Inc. Used with permission.

5. Stephen R. Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1991, 87-93. © 2001 Communication Resources, Inc. Used with permission.

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