Following in the Footsteps of Jesus: Treat People With Dignity

Posted on Jun 14, 2009 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Matthew 5:17-26
Date: 14 June 2009

Quite a few years ago there was a young Jewish boy born in Germany who developed a great admiration for his father.  His father was enthusiastic about his Jewish faith and so the whole family went to the synagogue together regularly for worship and instruction. The whole atmosphere of the Jewish faith filled their lives.  But when the boy was still a teenager they were forced to move to another part of Germany where there wasn’t a local synagogue and the pillars of the community all belonged to the Lutheran church.  Suddenly his father announced that they were going to abandon their Jewish faith and joined the Lutheran church instead.  When the stunned family asked ‘Why?’ he explained that it would be ‘good for business.’

This left the young man feeling bewildered and confused.  His disappointment with his father turned to anger, and his anger turned into bitterness and that bitterness plagued him for the rest of his life.  Years later he left to study in England and sitting in the British Museum he wrote a book that outlined a whole new vision of life, an entirely new way of thinking, and proposed a movement that would transform the world.  In his book he described religion as “the opiate of the people” and said that the world could be explained in purely economic terms without needing God.  His father’s hypocrisy had sparked a book that ignited a revolution that impacted of billions of people around the globe.  It changed this world that you and I live in.  That boy was Karl Marx and the movement that I’m talking about is communism.

Marx’s life illustrates the way in which some people respond to God.  Some people think that, contrary to all the evidence, all religions are harsh and old fashioned, that they are somehow unscientific and are based upon an illusion.  But often when you look just beneath the surface what you find is that the reasons for rejection are far more personal and closer to home.  Somewhere along the line they have found themselves disappointed by the life or lives of those closest to them and have concluded, “Hypocrites. I don’t want any part of this God-thing.”

Well, when Jesus burst upon the scene in first century Judea a similar kind of question hung over His head. This kind of question was initially asked about Him

For instance, do you remember how last week we talked about how Jesus sat down on a hillside near Capernaum and spoke to the crowd saying, “I have a dream!” Yes, Jesus was going to set the world on fire!  What did you think of His speech?  Did it inspire and excite you?  Was your heart thumping like mine?

In any case the crowd might have been thinking about the big picture that Jesus was painting, but what the Pharisees and Sadducees, the teachers of the law and the religious leaders of the time, were thinking about was a very different thing.  Put yourself in their shoes.  They were reflecting that Jesus hasn’t been trained under a ‘name’ Rabbi and come up through their training system.  Jesus spoke with an authority of His own without quoting this person or that one. Jesus demonstrated great spiritual power through deliverance and healings.  He might well be a loose cannon.  There is something old and yet something new about Him.  There is both freshness and a familiarity about Him.  So where does Jesus stand?  The question of the hour was, would Jesus, like Marx, reject the old ways and do something radically new, or would He somehow stay within the fold?

1. So Jesus states His position up front.  He’s knows what they’re thinking. There’s no beating about the bush.  Jesus says, “I stay within the faith of my fathers.  I will honour the core of our ancient religion.  So if you’ve ever wondered do we have to believe in the Old Testament? The answer from Jesus is [Pause] “Yes.”

In fact Jesus expresses His support for the Old Testament in three ways.  For a start He says, “I haven’t come to abolish the Old Testament, but to fulfil it.” The verb “abolish” in Greek means to “loosen down” in the same way that you would let down or deflate a tent. Jesus says He hasn’t come to loosen down the tent, but to fulfil it –to fill it up full. He did this by keeping the moral law and by satisfying the ceremonial law, which already pointed to Him.  Jesus comes to clarify God’s will and intention -to reveal the full depth of meaning that the Old Testament holds.”

Jesus then goes on to say that the Old Testament will not lose none of its authority and it principles will remain until God has accomplished all that He wants to through it.  The Old Testament reveals what God wants.  This will never change so its importance and the truth behind it will never be out of fashion. Its relevance endures.

Then He goes on to say that if you keep and teach its commands, you will be great in the Kingdom of heaven, and if you don’t, you will be the very least.  So Jesus states that He has come to give the Old Testament its full meaning, that its Laws will always remain, and that a wise person will do well to practise them.

2.  By now the Pharisees heads are nodding. They’re glancing at each other, “Good. Good.” The religious leaders are just beginning to relax and feel comfortable with Jesus teaching –may be he’s safe after all -when Jesus suddenly drops two bombshells –wham, wham –one straight after one another, like two sudden jabs to the stomach.

But, He tells the crowd; you must keep them in a better way than the Pharisees do.  You have to be better than them.  Immediately the Pharisees heads come up. The crowd goes into shock and disbelief.  There’s an anxious hush.  I don’t know if we can picture this accurately, but nobody (you see) nobody keeps the Old Testament Laws better than the Pharisees.  No body!  They are the religious elite.  They’re a bunch of about 6,000 men who are sworn to keep the religious laws with a strictness with which no one else can compete.  For example, the Old Testament says to give a tithe, a tenth, of what you grow in your fields to God and to present it at the Temple.  The Pharisees often kept small herb gardens in order to season their meals.  They would cut up the herbs that they grew and offer 10% to God as their tithe!

Why this is like telling Tiger Woods, after an unbroken string of victories, that he’s not the greatest golfer in the world.  This is like telling you and I that if we can’t play better than Tiger Woods then we shouldn’t even be on the field.  (Patrick, what are your odds of beating Tiger Woods at golf?  Not very good?  Then ours are even worse).  The ordinary people are very surprised.  How on earth can we keep the Old Testament laws better than the Pharisees, our religious professors, the Tiger Woods of the spiritual world?

And then Jesus offers a series of clarifications on how to keep the Old Testament laws that simply blows everyone out of the water.  He illustrates how they are to keep a number of Old Testament teachings and its murder, pure murder (if you understand what the slang means).  The first one is about murder itself.

Jesus explains in His first clarification of the Old Testament Law that if you murder someone you must be punished.  Human beings are made in the image of God, so if you murder one, the Bible says you shall be judged.  Sometimes if you abuse someone as well you can also be taken to court and jailed.  That happens even today.  But what Jesus says to the crowd is that if you are simply angry towards someone, or you get a bit hostile in the street or if you have contempt towards a Christian brother or sister, then don’t worry about the police and the courts.  They are the least of your worries.  You are in danger of the very fires of hell!

Let me ask you a few questions: How many of you have never been angry with another brother or sister?  [Hands?]  How many of you have never verbally abused anyone?  [Anyone?]  How many of you have never called someone an idiot and a moron (that’s the actual word Jesus uses), and meant it?  [May be you used some other words instead!]  According to Jesus most of us, if not all of us, are going to hell!  It’s all over folks.  So what on earth is Jesus getting at?

3. In this case Jesus is going back in a radical way to the roots of the Old Testament. Jesus is getting back to the first principles laid down by God. He’s cutting away all of the rubbish and debris that have accumulated around the Old Testament over the years.

Now I always think it’s a little bit dangerous to illustrate Jesus teachings from your own life, but I grew up in a church that I both loved and hated. I loved it because of the people.  I loved it because of its wonderful history and rich traditions, but I hated it because not one of the adults seemed able to tell me how you started and cultivated a personal relationship with God. We just seemed to go through the same pretty boring religious motions every Sunday.

You might have heard the story of a devout Christian who had a cat that always interrupted him during his devotional time with God.  He would sit down before he got dressed, read some of the Bible, reflect upon a devotional book, write down some notes and then pray.  He came to cherish this time and so did the cat.  It would always get in the way!  So finally he got a soft collar and tied the cat to the bed stand.  It didn’t upset the cat and it meant he could get on with his time with God.  Over the years his daughter came to see how important this time was to her Dad, so she started doing that too when she had her own family.  Dutifully she would tie the cat to the bed stand and then do her prayers, although over the years because she felt too busy she didn’t always spend as much time in prayer as her Dad.  Then the day came when her son grew up and wanted to carry on some of the family traditions that meant so much to his ‘olds.’ But the pace of his life had grown so fast that he had no time for Bible reading, reflection, prayer, and those kinds of things, so he cut them all out.  But in order to carry on the religious tradition of his family, each day while he was dressing he tied the family cat to the bed.  Well, I felt that I was stuck in a church like that!  The reason behind all the activity had gone, but we were still carrying on with the pointless act.

I was tempted to reject the Christian faith because I felt it wasn’t being lived properly.  However, what I did in the end was to rebel against this expression of the Christian faith, not against the faith’s contents.  I was a naughty boy –I became a Baptist and a minister to boot, because I wanted this relationship with God to have real content.

And what I want to suggest is that Jesus does something a little similar.  Okay He doesn’t become a Baptist minister, but He goes back looking for a deeper, purer faith.  He takes responsibility for his own life and for others.

You see the issue was that people were trying to keep the whole letter of the Law, but not the spirit of the Law.  They were missing the whole character of the Old Testament.  They had made it their ‘job’ to be spiritual, instead of embracing a living relationship with God with their whole heart.  They were enthusiastically, but mechanically just going through the motions doing the minimum they thought was required.

I’ll exaggerate to illustrate, but just imagine two Pharisees passing each other in the street. “Hi Fred. Murdered anyone today?” “No (not recently).” “What about you?” “No. Me neither.” “Sounds like you’re doing a great job of obeying God!” “Yeah. You too!” “Keep up the good work!”

Bah!  They got it all wrong. Repentance must start with the heart and then show itself through your actions.  True faith must live and breathe from the heart. Psalm 51:16-17 states, “You do not want sacrifices, or I would offer them; you are not pleased with burnt offerings. My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God; you will not reject a humble and repentant heart.” There are no so set rules on what this will look like, but if you have it, Jesus says it will show in the way that you live.

4. So if you look at the question of murder the underlying principle is that you must treat people right. You must treat them pro-actively with dignity.  Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you,“ and this means that you must offer them every possible consideration and basic courtesy that you can.  It’s something deeper and broader than simply not murdering.  It might mean cleaning up after yourself at home, in the movie theatre or at church.  It might mean holding the door open for someone else.  It could mean being polite and not always fighting back when provoked.  It means getting rid of all rudeness.  It might mean saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to shop staff.  As Paul tells us in Philippians’ 2:4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Customs will vary from culture to culture and age to age, but Jesus offers two timeless applications of what this might look like.

He says, for example, if you are at worship, and you remember that someone has a grudge against you, get up and go and make peace right away.  This is always important, particularly if that person is your spouse, because as 1 Peter 3:7 says it will hinder your prayers, but more importantly note that you might have caused the offence in the first place and that Jesus expects you to go and apologise.  The other person may not forgive you, but that’s not your problem.  If you truly treat others with dignity, Jesus says you will try and make amends.

Likewise Jesus says that if you meet someone in the street, someone you’ve made so mad that they would want to drag you into court, it is your responsibility to go and make peace with this person.  You should take the initiative to see if things can possibly be put right.  Don’t wait for them.  May they can be.  Maybe they can’t, but to live in the spirit of the Old Testament is to treat people right –because they are precious and valuable to God.

C.  And this in the end is close to the heart of the revolution. This is one of the cardinal values of a Kingdom life.  As an early observer of the Christian life said, “Their leader has taught them the strange idea that they are to love one another.” So what matters is how you treat the people around you, and this is how you change the world bit by bit.

As you might remember from last week I told you about the difference that the followers of Jesus made to Roman society.  (They banned gladiator blood sports, discouraged people from committing suicide, rescued unwanted children, gave new freedoms to women, stamped out paedophilia, opened the first hospitals, reformed slavery, formed charities to help the poor and even forced the Emperor to keep within the rule of law).

Political philosopher Michael Novak asks, “What did Jesus Christ add to Athens and Rome that ultimately transformed them?’ Part of the answer he says, is the idea of human dignity, of treating people right.

I wonder, what would have happened if Karl Marx’s Dad had spared a little more thought for his son’s emotional welfare instead of his business interests?  What if his religion had been a bit more about inward principles instead of outward observance?  The world might have been spared a whole lot of pain, but I guess we’ll never know.

None-the-less Jesus is making this argument.  Go back to the first principles behind it all, and the very first one that He mentions involves people –just love them and love them well!

Please bow your heads. You are called to be light and life to this world.  The Risen Lord has chosen you.  Ask: How well do I love?  Do I show it by my thoughtfulness, my sincerity, my consideration?  (Or am I just going through the motions?)  Who is it that you need to apologise to?  Go and do it!

Song: Everyday!

Prayer ministry + Prayer night next Sunday (Testimony)

Exposition

(17)  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law Pentateuch or the Prophets can be a misunderstanding (whole OT), the Pharisees accusation against Jesus; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them to give them meaning –clarify God’s intent and meaning, The verb “destroy” means to “loosen down” as of a house or tent (2Co_5:1).  Fulfil is to fill full.  This Jesus did to the ceremonial law which pointed to him and the moral law he kept. “He came to fill the law, to reveal the full depth of meaning that it was intended to hold” (McNeile).

(18) I tell you the truth adamant, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen one iota, of its authority and principles will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished unit ‘what’ is accomplished? This is not plenary inspiration.

(19) Anyone within the faith who breaks one of the least of these commandments God’s will and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven because the Spirit helps us obey them, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven reaffirms them. The Pharisees weakened the law by focusing on the external demands and then altering them (Mark 7:1-13).  Jesus calls for inner conformity to the Spirit of the Law

(20) For I tell you those outside the faith that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law shocking –Professors! you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven He sets a very high standard, although they were getting it wrong, legalism is righteousness by works not observance by faith, Psalm 51 a contrite heart you desire. (Jesus -Inside-out thinking)

Clarification 1: (21)  “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder premeditated, deliberate, external, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  (22) But I the Living Law, equivalent to scripture tell you that anyone who is angry 1. internal anger with his brother a fellow Christian in the body of Christ will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ 2. hostility empty-headed, verbal abuse is answerable to the Sanhedrin human judgement if caught. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ (Gk: Moros =moron) 3. contempt will be in danger of the fire of hell spiritual judgment. Don’t be rude and disrespectful –be salt and light.

(23)  “Therefore because of judgment, if you are offering your gift at the altar a. worshipping at church and there remember that your brother has something against you a different (reverse) test, (24) leave your gift there in front of the altar do we do this? It is ineffectual, e.g. 1Peter 3:7 “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” First go and be reconciled to your brother quickly, aggressively; then come and offer your gift. (25)  “Settle matters quickly with your adversary at law, b. in the street, at court who is taking you to court.  Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison i.e. go direct. (26) I tell you the truth; you will not get out until you have paid the last penny smallest coin, no chance of release, no mercy shown to those who don’t show mercy.

It is not enough not to commit homicide.

Philippians’ 2:4  “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Father, when you examine our hearts and our attitudes, we are sinners. No, we aren’t literal murderers, but you couldn’t tell that from our hearts. Forgive us. Cleanse us. And infuse us with the kind of love you have that can love and redeem us in all our conflicted rebellion. Transform us by your Spirit, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.