A TUTORIAL ON EFFECTIVE SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Teaching, Training & Commissioning
Chapter 11
THE STANDARD is HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The “Laws and the Prophets” were meant to teach and guide the Jewish people in all their thought and conduct in order to live a life pleasing to God to have success in their affairs.
Then, In one bold and sweeping statement Jesus announces that He is the fulfillment, the revealing and the completion of all the Law and the Prophets spanning their four thousand years of history.
Jesus is saying that His life, ministry and teachings not only explain Law and the Prophets but completes their meanings and requirements.
The significance of this announcement is that not only does it satisfy all the requirement of the Jewish Law, that is the Torah, but, it relegates the Law and the Prophets as being subject to Jesus and His teachings.
The requirements of the law said that in order to be in right standing with God, the Jew had to perfectly obey over 600 laws in order to atone for sin and gain the favor of God, which no one could do.
This is not dissimilar to the person who believes they can earn ‘saving favor’ with God, or can earn their way into heaven by way of their own set of rules or laws of good behaviors and good deeds.
The Jewish Law adequately points out our sinfulness and condemns us for our sin, just as the non-Jew is condemned by their own heart. Just as the Law is inadequate when it comes to changing our sinful nature and canceling the curse of sin; so is the human heart since it is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.
We need something better than an external set of Laws or the imaginations of our heart to accomplish that, and that something better is Jesus.
What this leads to is that the disciple of Jesus is not to be bound by and must not adhere to any external Law, social norm, familial, political or national allegiance over their loyalty, allegiance and obedience to Jesus, our Christ. Doing so is tantamount to the annulment of these commandments, and the teaching others to do the same; that person shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. This is also the annulment of your effectiveness as a disciple of Christ. In Jesus’ own words, “Your salt will have lost its savor”.
Secondly, generation after generation of people have been condemned to perish because of their ignorance of God or their rejection of Jesus; and we as “The Called of Christ, are charged with the mission to preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
This is not a metaphor.
It is every Christian’s charge and mission.
The time has come when even those who “attend church” do not endure sound doctrine; but they want to have their own way. So, they seek teachers according to their own self-centered desires. They turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)
We must be sober in all things, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist and fulfill our mission and ministry as His disciples.
Finally, know that Jesus is our righteousness which surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, and only by His Righteousness do we enter the kingdom of heaven.
We have been conditioned and taught to “attend church”, (which, by the way, is a nonsensical term). We sit, watch, listen, participate in a few good deeds and then go to the relative safety of our homes, having never engaged the enemy of Christ or reached a lost person in Jesus’ Name.
Please, dear loved ones, let’s not be like the son who said he would obey his father, but did not. Let’s be the son who does what his father asks of him.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
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“Removing the Obstacles” (The previous episode can be found at “The Transformation”)
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