Bulletin Articles
On Doing what Jesus Says
Jesus taught: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes 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. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:17-20)
What is the relationship between Jesus fulfilling the Law and the Prophets with His follow-up statement: “Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same…”? What does one’s keeping of the commandments have to do with Jesus fulfilling the Law, and how does this connect to one’s righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees?
One of the points being made is that one’s view of Jesus is shown in how that person carries out the Lord’s will. If we believe that Jesus is Lord and fulfilled what He promised, then we should commit to following Him. To set aside the “least” of the commandments that come from Him is to make one “least” in the kingdom because it minimizes His Lordship and purpose. Nothing short of total commitment to Him is acceptable. If He is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, then setting aside God’s will is to set aside the One who fulfills it. We may not be under the stipulations of the Law that became obsolete at the death of Jesus (Gal 5:2-6; Heb 8:13), but we are under the One who fulfilled it and carried out God’s plan that was expressed throughout the Law and the Prophets. To set any of that aside is to set aside what God intended and carried out in the Son.
Jesus tied the fulfillment of the Law, Prophets, and Psalms to His purpose in coming into the world: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45). He then indicated that His purpose should also be the purpose of His disciples “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (vv. 46-47). Because Jesus fulfilled what is written before, the disciples are willing to submit to His will and tell others about it.
Doing what the Lord says is grounded upon who the Lord is. This is why loving Jesus and doing what He says are connected: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” Jesus said (John 14:15). We can say we love Jesus, but if we don’t commit to do what He says, we really don’t. We can call Jesus Lord, but not doing what He says shows what we really believe about Him. If we call Him Lord, we need to obey Him because that’s who He is (Luke 6:46-49; Matt 7:21-27).
We take God’s will in total or we snub Jesus as not really being “all that.” We accept Him as Lord or we deny Him by our lack of commitment. Obedience to the Lord is not about trying to earn salvation, for that will never be possible. Rather, it is about recognizing Jesus for who He is, and that is no small matter. If we believe that He fulfilled all that God planned and purposed, we will never seek to set aside anything He teaches. We may do it imperfectly, but our commitment of faith should always stay true to the purpose: “we make it our aim to please him” (2 Cor 5:9).
The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was outward. They made a show of it, but their hearts were not where they ought to have been. That said something about the nature of their faith and what they really thought about God. Our faith and actions demonstrate the same today. If we believe Jesus is who we confess Him to be, then our actions need to demonstrate that this is our core commitment. We dare not set aside the teachings of Jesus because He is the One who came in the flesh as the Word of God and Author of our salvation. As Peter put it, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).
