The Law - by James Newton

I've been listening to a sermon series on Matthew 11. This morning it followed on to Matthew 5, 6 & 7 and it struck me how timely it is listening to this series in how it fits with our own “Rest in the Heat” series at church.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus actually presents an even tougher standard of righteousness than what the Jews were used to. E.g. He took "you shall not murder" (a fairly easy one for most of us I hope) and took it further to say “if you are even angry at someone, you are up for judgement”. What?! He's piling on even tougher rules than the Pharisees enforced! He said that the law was remaining in place. How can we even think about living up to that?

Thankfully, when Jesus said He had not come to abolish the law, He continued by saying that He had come to fulfil the law. Do you know what this means? It means that He came to live up to a standard of righteousness that we could never reach – a perfect, sinless life that fulfilled the law in every way. And to quote a song we are going to be singing on Sunday, “Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the Just was satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me.” The cross is the big picture that puts everything into perspective.

In Matthew 11, at the end of the chapter, Jesus invites us to come to him for rest. To take on His easy yoke – a light burden. Because, you see, we all carry a yoke. It’s not like Jesus is saying “you’re not carrying anything, you should take my yoke”. No. We all carry a yoke. We all look for something that makes us feel like we are doing ok – that makes us feel right with the world or right with God – that makes us feel that our little world isn’t crumbling down around us. That yoke could be any number of things – career, hobbies, school, family, just to name a few. Even church can be a yoke! For the Jews hearing this message, their yoke was the law and the religious duties laid on them by the Pharisees.

Friends, if it’s not Jesus who we look to, we carry a very heavy burden indeed. Jesus isn’t saying “you’ve had a busy week come and put your feet up for a while”. He’s saying “I’m the only one who can actually make you right”. “It’s because I lived a perfect life and took your sins upon me at the cross that you can now live in Me complete.” “I was broken so that you could be restored.” “Come to me and learn from me and you will find a rest that surpasses putting your feet up at the end of the day.” “You will find forgiveness and love.” “You will find a greater purpose.” “You will find grace.”

by James Newton