S- "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose." (Matthew 5:17)
O- Jesus came not as someone who was going to make a new world order, but and anti-cultural revolutionary who will fulfill the law that is already written.
A- I read through Matthew 5-7 today. It's traditionally titled Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He begins by saying that He came to earth not to get rid of the law that was currently there, but to fulfill it. Many times when we read the Bible we don't know the context of the story. At this time God had been silent to the Israelites for some 400 years. In this time the religious duties and voice had been the priests and officials of the temple (pharisees and sadducees). In the midst of God being silent they interpreted the Bible at the time to fulfill their perspective on what God wanted, in the process they created many rules and laws that didn't necessarily coincide with what was originally written by God, but they stressed the need to follow these laws in order to be close to God.
Now this revolutionary teacher Jesus comes onto the scene and throughout the whole New Testament, but more specifically through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching how living in the kingdom on God or living a life follow God and His plan is more than just following the laws. My favorite phrase is "You've heard it said. . . But I say. . . " Time and time again Jesus lays out a law that was common at the time but then continues with what the heart of the matter is that Jesus is worried about.
You've heard it say. . . but what I really care about is . . . You've heard it said that lust is bad, but what I really care about is what you look at and what's in your heart. Jesus went beyond the normal laws of the current culture and focused on caring for the people affected by that culture. Many times in the American church we get so focused on whether we're obeying this law or that rule that we forget that what Jesus was worried about was not legalism and following rules, but it was at what was going on in the hearts of the people He interacted with. He was more worried about why they did what they did, rather than the actual action they did. Christ more focused on who we are than what we do.
P- God help me to have your attitude when I interact with people. I want to care for people for who they are rather than what they do. I want to help people be changed from the inside, not just their outside actions. In the same way, show me what and how to change who I am inside to be more in tune with your plan for my life.
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