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We attended church this morning. We have been going to the same church for a while as the pastor is doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount. We’d like to hear the whole series.
I like to arrive early. They publish in the bulletin the scripture they will cover and I like to read it before service starts. That way, when they read it aloud I can better follow along in my mind.
The pastor is expecting to have surgery this week. He suffers from constrained blood flow in his legs. One leg in particular seems to be the worst. It causes him severe pain. Since his recent arrival to Vineland, he as had some difficulty getting the doctor to recommend surgery. He looked like he was in pain today.
They will do a bypass in his leg. He has had this done before and knows what to expect. The only use a local anesthetic. They keep him for 24 hours because he is on blood thinners and they want to make sure he doesn’t start bleeding. His cardiologist checked him out and told him everything is fine including his previous heart attack. The pastor replied, “What heart attack?” It seems he’s had a heart attack in the last two years, but never knew it. That’s a little scary.
Here’s the scripture the pastor covered this morning.
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:
"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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:1-2; 17-20
The pastor said that many Christians claim to be not under the law but under Grace. They ignore the Old Testament and many times just pick out the parts of the New Testament that they like.
He mentioned two competing ideas are Relativism and Legalists. Relativism says that we each make up or own morality. The serial killer is a relativist. He makes up the morality that it is OK to kill.
The Legalists on the other hand have very detailed rules. It is almost like an IRS rulebook. These laws go far beyond God’s law.
He said God’s moral law remains in effect. Keeping the law will not make you righteous. However, if you are righteous, you will keep the law. To say we are not under the law, but under grace is hypocritical. We obey the law because we desire to obey Him (Christ).
One thing I like about his pastor is his punctuality. Under his guidance, the service runs like clockwork.
My only complaint is, now that I’m summarizing this, I don’t know which laws he said to follow. One of the other people said it is the Ten Commandments. However, I’m not sure that’s Christ's point.
Posted by Ted at February 15, 2004 4:46 PM