Service 13 August 2023

Here’s what we were talking about yesterday.

I hope you find it of interest

Mark

Call to Worship

We are called to bring a new understanding of God:

that God so loves the world.

We are the salt of the earth.

We are called to bring a new hope in God:

that God gives us new life.

We are the light of the world.

We are called to follow

the commandments and the law.

The Law of God is to love God

and to love one another.

Come, let us be the salt of the earth,

the light of the world.

Come, let us love one another

with the love of God.

Let us join together in our love of God

to worship and follow Jesus.

Lord for the Years

Lord’s Prayer

I want us to start by considering a couple of verses from Matthews Gospel that I find very difficult. Here they are:

Matthew 5:17-18

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. ¹⁸Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with—not until the end of all things.

What did Jesus actually mean by this?

Activity

Here are some scriptures for you to take a look at

Old Testament		New Testament
1	Exodus 34:21	A	Matthew 5:38-39
2	Leviticus 11:1-19	B	Matthew 8:1-3
3	Leviticus 13: 1-3 (&Leviticus 5:3)	C	Matthew 12:1-6
4	Leviticus 20:10	D	Mark 7:14-19
5	Deuteronomy 19:21	E	John 8:1-11

There are 5 Old Testament readings (1-5) and then 5 New Testament readings (A to E). I want you to read them all and then see which pairs fit together.

Then think about what they mean.

Take some time to look at the scriptures now before reading on

Here are the pairings:

Topic	Old Testament Text	New Testament Text
Sabbath	Exodus 34:21	Matthew 12:1-6
Food	Leviticus 11:1-19	Mark 7:14-19
Unclean	Leviticus 13: 1-3; Leviticus 5:3	Matthew 8:1-3
Revenge	Deuteronomy 19:21	Matthew 5:38-39
Punishment	Leviticus 20:10	John 8:1-11

Each of the New Testament texts shows Jesus not obeying the law set out in the Old Testament texts

Love Changes everything

I’m fairly sure that Andrew Lloyd-Webber didn’t write this song to be played in a church service on a Sunday morning. (Or to be more accurate that he and his lyricists Charles Hart and Don Black didn’t)

But I think words like:

Love changes everything:

How you live and

How you die

Love changes everything:

Now I tremble

At your name.

Nothing in the world will ever

Be the same.

Might have something to say to us anyway.

Talk

So what did Jesus mean by those verses from Matthew that we looked at earlier?

Well one thing I think is clear from the passages you’ve all looked at is that he didn’t mean that the literal interpretation of at least some of those laws can’t be argued with. Because in all these cases Jesus said or did things that directly contradict what the law said.

So for example Leviticus laid down dietary laws – and Jesus said what we take in doesn’t matter

Leviticus says that people who commit adultery must be stoned to death – Jesus (very cleverly) prevents that from happening

Leviticus says that you can’t touch unclean people – and Jesus touches and heals a leper.

So I don’t think we can take Matthew 5:17-18 at face value. He must mean something different to that.

We all know that we don’t keep to all the Old Testament laws in our Christian lives and think nothing of it at all.

From very early on in the church, just after Jesus’ time on earth, Jesus followers were wrestling with just how much of the law they had to follow, and particularly how much the Gentile – non-Jewish – followers of Jesus had to follow. They decided that the dietary laws weren’t important and that the laws requiring circumcision weren’t either.

We’ve given up on all the rules about sacrifices and offerings too.

If you took Jesus words in Matthew 5 at face value we’ve got it terribly, terribly wrong.

But I don’t think we have

The fact is that Christianity just isn’t a rules-based religion.

Here’s what Paul says in his letter to the Romans (Chapter 10 verse 4)

For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God.

So we don’t need sacrifices in the Temple anymore to put us right with God.

Here’s Paul again in his letter to the Galatians

Galatians 3:23-25

²³But before the time for faith came, the Law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed. ²⁴And so the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith. ²⁵Now that the time for faith is here, the Law is no longer in charge of us.

To me it’s clear that we aren’t bound by all the Laws of the Old Testament texts any longer. So what it comes down to for us is examining which of those laws do still apply.

For some it’s easy

Do not kill

Do not steal

Do not commit adultery.

How about the others that aren’t so clear cut. How do we choose which of those are still relevant? Because that’s what it comes down to – making choices.

I think there’s only one thing we can do in making these decisions and that is thinking about Jesus’ underlying message of love.

I think that’s the same of any biblical text. If it doesn’t tie in with what we know about Jesus and what he said and did – which was all about teaching us to love one another – that was his new commandment after all – then however well-meaning the person was who wrote the words millenia ago –

We’re going to have a video clip now.

What’s the best TV series you’ve ever seen?

For me it’s the West Wing. The fictional President Bartlett would have made a much better President of the USA that most of the actual ones. This short scene deals with some of what we’ve been looking at today.