How can you summarize Matthew 5?* Well, first of all, don’t seek to be “happy” and don’t fall into the trap of saying of your kids “I just want them to be happy.” Often times, that’s the worst thing for us… what we want is to be “blessed.” That’s how Jesus begins Matthew 5, be blessed!! The best way to do that is to be salt and light in the world. Make sure that you flavor the people around you with Jesus, show people the gospel with your life… let your light sign. Then you’ll be in the spot Jesus wants you to be.
Anger, lust, relationships, getting even… here’s how we should act “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
It’s the difference between living by the “letter of the law” so that you only do the minimum required, and living by the Spirit and doing all that you can. Think about it this way, if the law says the IRS can take 15% of your income, how much do you send in? Do you ever just decide to send in 20% for kicks? Probably not. The letter of the law leads you to send in 15%… that’s not how we should view following Jesus. If we’re trying to find out how bad we can be, what’s the minimum we can do, and still not sin, we’re asking the wrong kind of question.
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.
What is the relationship between the Old Testament Law and the followers of Jesus and the New Testament? Maybe this video will help…
If you’d like to share this video, you can just copy and paste this link: https://johnmarkharris.net/abolish-fulfill
*Reading the NT in 2016 plan can be found here
