It is all from Him. Truly law taught to love neighbor - no command to hate. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus is pointing us to both a radical inner righteousness, and a radical outer righteousness. This denotes the transcendent excellence of His nature, while He is infinitely distinguished from all other beings. If that's the cry God has put in your heart through Jesus, then the sermon of Jesus in Matthew 5-7, this “Sermon on the Mount”, is for you. It answers the question, what … 1. Matthew 5:48 is similar to these topics: Matthew 5:45, Matthew 5:46, Matthew 5:42 and more. . What we wholly fail to conceive is a perfect man. That's why God gets all the glory. (19:17-22). Find Top Church Sermons, Illustrations, and Preaching Slides on Matthew 5:48. Is this scandalous call to perfection only something Jesus emphasized? 1 * When he saw the crowds, * he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. Other verses throughout the sermon are also concerned about righteousness...5:13...“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? So the scandalous call of Christ in Matthew 5:48 exposes our desperate need for righteous-ness. Matthew 5:48 During the Seventies, there was a bumper-sticker that said, “Christians are not perfect – just forgiven.” Sadly, it gave both Christians and non-Christians the wrong impression of the true spirit of Christianity. Imperfect you must run to perfect Jesus, to receive both perfect grace and perfect righteousness. Wait a minute. 5:48 is not the end of the Sermon on the Mount, else we could safely resolve that that’s the conclusion of all that the Lord taught that day, spanning three chapters (Matthew 5, 6 & 7). Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. But we compromise. Do his words still sound scandalous to you? Whoa. Exceeding Righteousness, The Perfect Fulfilling of Law: Christ's Sixth Illustration. Can you imagine if a Supreme Court nominee was asked during confirmation hearings whether or not he would care about justice every time he presided, can you imagine what would happen if he or she said, “I will care about justice...most of the time”? 2 He began to teach them, saying: . It's in Matthew 5:20... For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 1. It should yield us satisfaction that such a perfect Being as God is governs the world. A. 2. God cannot demand anything less then perfection, can he? When Jesus spoke about "Responding To Evil", He laid down two principles: a.Do not resist an evil person - Mt 5:39a b. To some they may be scandalous. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:45. so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. September 9, 2018 For God to be God, he must demand perfection, every time, all the time. [18] He said to him, "Which ones?" Matthew 5:6... “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”. Browse Sermons on Matthew 5:48. [20] The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. I. CHRISTIANITY PRESENTS A PERFECT STANDARD OF HUMANITY. And yet, there is nothing improper or offensive about them. Matthew 5:38-48 is part of a larger section (vv. It is loving for God to expose our inability, and therefore, the futility of our attempts to be righteous. Matthew 5:43-48 “Love your neighbor” (5:43) is central to Jesus’ teaching and he will repeat it on two other occasions in Matthew (19:19; 22:39). ñ: í í-16). He inspires us to seek after the perfect; for we may be "made like unto him in all things." Do you hear that word? No, in terms of that which comes from outside us; from someplace else, not from. The Beatitudes - He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's a verse about righteousness. 6:33...But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chaps. Sermon Bible Commentary. 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, *. Do you see why this scandalous call is actually full of grace? In both later instances, the phrase is central to what Jesus thinks about the entire Law of God. Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. And that new self is “created after the likeness of God”. That same is true about God. Not only did Jesus use the term and warn us about stumbling blocks, but He is also identified as a. It's not. Way of Grace Church | P.O. Box 1671, Buckeye, Arizona. It may be come as surprise to you that what's actually improper and disgraceful in this Matthew 5:48 dynamic is our thinking about grace. No, it actually flows from “the new self” to which Paul pointed his readers in Ephesians 4:24. That's the inner righteousness we talked about. God has transformed his children through Jesus. He writes in Ephesians 4:21–24... ...you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, [22] to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, [23] and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, [24] and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Think about it. Putting our head in the sand, hoping that the conflict will end, only delays the inevitable.Appeasement of parties. God cannot demand anything less then perfection, can he? Matthew’s concept of perfection has to do with imitating God’s love and behavior. Not only did Jesus use the term and warn us about stumbling blocks, but He is also identified as a skandalon. This makes it difficult to interpret and apply His teaching to contemporary living. And since I have God's grace, through faith, I no longer need to measure up; because of Jesus, I don't need to pursue perfection.”. Since Jesus says “therefore” in 5:48, he is referring back to what he just said; and the last theme he taught–in 5:43-47–fits the bill of referring to who God is and who children of God should be. Brothers and sisters, friends, there is no problem with the words of Jesus. IV. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. “Sell everything you have? No, we give up on the idea that by my power, I can earn my position before God. “Jesus Really Means What He Says” (Matthew 5:38-48) Listen again to what Jesus says to us in today’s Gospel reading, and tell me what you think: “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. Here the Word of the Lord, as given to us in Matthew 5:38-48. [17] For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom. Our nature is corrupt. © 2021 Way of Grace Church: Buckeye, AZ All Rights Reserved. In the coming months, we will dig deep into what Jesus taught, allowing it to drive us to both the outer and inner righteousness He alone can give. At 111 verses, it is the longest continuous discourse of Jesus in the New Testament. . Scripture: Matthew 5:1–12. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. But without recognizing it, this man was breaking the very first commandment, “You shall no other gods before me.” Sadly, money had become his god, and as we see here, he wasn't willing to renounce it. He cannot compromise. Not outer righteousness in the sense of your actions. It is all from Him. Because for the Jews who heard the message, the death of Jesus on a Roman cross, a criminal's death, made claims about his lordship improper, disgraceful, even offensive. It comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 48. Another writer, James, the half-brother of Jesus, used it in a way that could be translated either way. Check out these helpful resources Biblical Commentary Children’s Sermons Hymn Lists. This scandalous verse is found in a sermon, a discourse, a message delivered by Jesus at the outset of his ministry, a message that stretches from the beginning of chapter 5, all the way to the end of chapter 7. John Piper May 21, 1995 289 Shares Passage: Matthew 5:48. [22] When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then we ought to be careful to practise goodness. That would be scandalous. Jesus is pointing us to in Matthew 5:48. The Sermon on the Mount consists— I. General calling to repentance and the promise of the kingdom: Matthew 5:3-10, characterized by: ^Blessed are… _ 2. Something new, something different has come. That's why I need God's grace. First, let’s dispel the misconceptions of peacemakers. Matthew 5:48 is the forty-eighth and final verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount.This is the final verse of the final antithesis, and it is a summary of Jesus' earlier teachings.. Then all our powers ought to be awakened to bless His name. Would you? Matthew 5:6... [apart from the righteousness of perfect law-keeping...which none of us could fulfill], The same Jesus who called us to “perfect” righteousness is the same Jesus who offers us perfect righteousness (his spotless record of perfect law-keeping), his perfect righteousness, through faith alone. But can the rest of this sermon tell us anything about this scandalous verse? So do these contexts help us understand what Jesus means when he says, “You...must be perfect”? But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies, Part 2. If we are to obey the injunction of the text it is necessary that we have faith in the fact. How many of us, even if we don't say it out loud, actually live by that belief? For, after all, God himself is the standard perfection; and it is only because we see him in Christ that we are satisfied with Christ. I think many who heard this conversation would have labeled the words of Jesus here, “scandalous”. Share. John Piper Jan 26, 1986 340 Shares Sermon. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus is pointing us to both a radical inner righteousness, and a radical outer righteousness. Jesus is telling his followers that they must be, that we must be perfect...like God is perfect...as your heavenly Father is perfect. I know I've fallen into that trap. Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount - Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. The Beatitudes *. God is the ultimate standard. Listen for it in this verses... Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. What is Jesus saying? His very nature is righteous. Something new, something different has come. Law was basis? Scandalous, right? “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ It also powers us...power to pursue perfection, just as Jesus said. A couple verses later, Paul talks about how we. So the call of Jesus in Matthew 5:48 is not a call to measure up. This inner righteousness is not simply about doing good works; about doing the “right thing”. I. Topic. How extensive the Divine goodness (Psalm 145:9, 16). But it is also. Justice is commonly distinguished into commutative and distributive, the former in an equal exchange of benefits; this can have no place in our dealings with God. What do I still lack?" But to understand that fully, we need to think about the radical outer righteousness Jesus is pointing us to in Matthew 5:48. Jesus left the multitudes and went up on a mountain. He is holy. And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, [19] Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 5:48. You have trusted Christ, then there is a new you, a new self, just as Paul talks about here. In fact the word “scandal” comes from the Greek word, . Scandalous. They are the words of Jesus. One Truth: Walk in Truth, The Gospel God doesn't simply act righteous. No, not perfectly knowledgeable, not perfectly chiseled, not perfectly proper in terms of social mores, and not perfectly fabulous in terms of your hair, makeup, or Sunday best. Can you imagine if a Supreme Court nominee was asked during confirmation hearings whether or not he would care about justice every time he presided, can you imagine what would happen if he or she said, “I will care about justice...most of the time”? Why was Jesus identified as scandalous? No, outer in terms of that which comes from outside us; from someplace else, not from me. Christ is the realized thought of God, when he designed the being man. That's why God gets all the glory. But if that's true, what do we do with Jesus' scandalous words in 5:48? Then He began to teach them, saying: The Beatitudes - “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. So because of the mercy of God, when you believe, grace positions you in a righteousness that comes from outside yourself, from God himself, the perfect record, the perfect standing of Jesus. Jim Bomkamp. We know what being like God means when we look on Christ. Let's take a few minutes and use the three different contexts to make sure we understand what Jesus is saying. So because of the mercy of God, when you believe, grace positions you in a righteousness that comes from outside yourself, from God himself, the perfect record, the perfect standing of Jesus. John Piper ... Sermon. 1. Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (NASB: Lockman) Greek: Esesthe oun humeis teleioi os o pater humon o ouranios teleios estin. Listen to the assurance Jesus gave right at the beginning of this sermon. If I walked in here this morning, and simply said to you, “You must be perfect as God is perfect”, I think a lot of people would have trouble with that. Will we fail? God doesn't simply declare us righteous because of Jesus, he also begins a work of making us righteous because of Jesus, righteous from the inside out. οὖν, from an ancient form of the participle of the verb εἶναι (Klotz, Devar.) A. Matthew 5:48 is not the only passage teaching us to be perfect (Genesis 6:9, Genesis 17:1, Deuteronomy 18:13, Job 1:1; 8; 2:3, Psalms We have and we will fail. Biblical Commentary (Bible study) Matthew 5:38-48 EXEGESIS: THE CONTEXT: Earlier, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (5:17). Previous | Index | Next >> "THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW" Acting Like Our Father (5:43-48) INTRODUCTION 1. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Note that Mat. [21] Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." I'd like to share one of those with you this morning. Feb 2, 1986. But did you know Jesus also said lots of things that are still considered scandalous today? When that happens, your “I can't be perfect” will be coupled with a new declaration, “I can't be perfect...but I want to be...by your power, Father, I want to be.”. The entire Sermon on the Mount is about perfection. It answers the question, what is moral perfection? It can. We should ask wisdom of God to direct us in our ways. (Read the entire sermon - Matthew 5:43-48 Love to Enemies Enjoined) Love ( 25 ) ( agapao from the noun agape ) ( Click study of agape ) describes an unconditional, sacrificial love, which ultimately is the love that God is (1Jn 4:8,16) and that God demonstrates (Ro 5:8- note ) (Jn 3:16, 1Jn 4:9) in its supreme form at Calvary. Is God perfectly good? (I Corinthians 14:20), Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. No, not perfectly knowledgeable, not perfectly chiseled, not perfectly proper in terms of social mores, and not perfectly fabulous in terms of your hair, makeup, or Sunday best. The Christ is to be so set before men, that they may get from his story the idea of a perfect human being. 3. So, like verse 48, Matthew 5:20 would have sounded extremely demanding...unrealistically demanding to the first listeners of this message. Wait a minute. Then Jesus turns to his disciples and all who want to learn from him: ^lessed are you… _ The main theme is ^the prophets _ (Mt. Passage brings us to seek after the perfect is the longest continuous discourse of Jesus, used it in same... Finish up this last verse in chapter 5, and a radical outer Jesus. Wisdom of God young man heard this he went up on a mountainside and sat down say it out,. Inspires us to seek wisdom ( Proverbs 4:5, 7 ) the way the Paul! 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