Jesus Is Scriptural
Everything that Jesus said in His sermon from Matthew 5:1 to 5:16 was a scriptural concept. Nothing Jesus taught contradicted God’s Word. Jesus is God. On the other hand, the religious leaders in Israel were “making the word of God of none effect through [their] tradition” (Mark 7:13). If anyone was destroying the belief and practice of the Old Testament, that is, the fulfilling of the Old Testament, it was them, not Jesus.
Believing and practicing the Old Testament was letting light shine before men. Jesus did that and He called upon kingdom citizens of His to do the same. Proof that He didn’t arrive to earth to destroy the scripture He inspired, Jesus promised perfect preservation of every letter of it.
If Jesus would preserve every letter of written scripture, surely He also expected His people to do all of it too. His teachers would also teach men to do everything scripture said. One could say at this point: in other words, you’ve got to be better than the Pharisees. The righteousness of the Pharisees is not saving righteousness. It is their own version of righteousness that comes from human effort. They couldn’t produce the righteousness that would get them into heaven. That righteousness comes from above.
Righteousness and Saving Faith
Righteousness, which is from above and by the grace of the Lord, exceeds the faux righteousness arising only from man’s works. It doesn’t rank scripture into majors and minors, because it can’t keep everything that He said. Like Jesus, it fulfills written scripture. James in his epistle later says the same. True believers are both hearers and doers of what God said.
Saving faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Someone is begotten by the Word of Truth. It would follow that He would also be a keeper of scripture, like Jesus said. That supernatural righteousness of God produces obedience to scripture. You can detect the unrighteous servant of unrighteousness by His diminishing of scripture.
Here is a professing teacher of God. Someone disobeys scripture. He doesn’t want to offend that person by saying something. He lets it go. This is not doing the least of the commandments and teaching men so.
Ranking Doctrines or the Triage Approach
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day ranked doctrines. Their unity revolved around a triage approach. Instead of following the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, they pervert into just the opposite of what He taught. Unity on the least commandments, what they call, non-essentials or minors. These teachings are not a “hill you want to die on.”
Left-Winged Legalism
Professing Christians especially today practice a left-winged legalism more often than the more commonly highlighted right-winged type. The left wing calls its legalism, “grace.” It is turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. Since you can’t keep everything scripture says on your own, reduce its teachings to what you can keep. This is left-winged legalism.
Those practicing left-winged legalism relish pointing out more consistent practice of scripture than theirs as legalism. They do it all the time. How you know they aren’t legalists in their estimation is by their inconsistent practice of scripture. People who try to follow everything like Jesus taught and teach others to do likewise, they aren’t the greatest in the kingdom to left-winged legalists. Instead, they’re “legalists.” Again, it’s in reality just the opposite.
As Jesus moves on in His illustrations in chapter five, you can see how much a truly righteous person strives to love God and His neighbor. It’s not the get-by-ism of the Pharisees and modern evangelicalism, so they can keep their crowds. They’ve dumbed down scripture so that it is unrecognizable as Christianity. This follows the same tack of the Pharisees. There is nothing new under the sun.
“Professing Christians especially today practice a left-winged legalism more often than the more commonly highlighted right-winged type. ”
That is an interesting term that fits the typical saved person who reacts as a lost person when spoken to about biblical holiness, faithfulness and a true love for Jesus Christ.
They are the same “Christians” who love to say “judge not” without even understanding the context of Matthew 7. Matter of fact, when you tell them they are wrong in saying that, for that is not in the bible the way they learned it, they get upset. If you then ask them where that came from in the bible, they look at you with a blank stare.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
(Mat 15:8-9)
Tom
I agree, Tom.
Brother Brandenburg,
I’ve been preaching through Matthew 23 and last week we looked at how the Pharisees “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” What I see today is that almost everyone now thinks that eating gnats is the best thing ever. In their estimation they don’t swallow camels (even though I’m not sure they really understand the law and judgment), but they would admit that they’re fine with people swallowing as many gnats as they want as long as they don’t “leave the fundamentals.” I see a lot of independent Baptists moving into this camp. They have to or else their churches will die because their kids especially despise “all things” that Christ commanded.
I told our church that I see the Pharisee problem on both sides of the aisle. Some make too high a priority of outward righteousness by, for instance, giving out the “best soul-winner of the year” award, while others do what you said, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.
In my understanding, it’s more important to be right on the weightier matters, but this will lead to submission and obedience of those things that aren’t as weighty.
Thanks for the series.
I agree with your take, David. Right on.
This isn’t to do with the series. Just a question about closed communion. How would you deal with snowbirds who spend half the year up north and half the year down south? There is a family in our church who are members of a church in TN, but they’re at our church probably 6 months a year. How would you deal with that? Thanks.
David,
I know this is slightly off topic.
Why would you have a closed communion?
1 Corinthians 11 is clear. In this instance, it is not up to the church to recognize who is saved or who has ought with his brother, but it is up to the preacher to make sure that they are warned of the consequences since it says, “let a man examine himself” (v28), “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (v29). These are all personal pronouns.
The Lord’s body is to be discerned by a lost man or child of God no matter where he comes from.
I also believe that the bible teaches that the church that gathers on the Lord’s day or others times is to teach and preach to saved people. It is not to invite lost people. The church can use other times to minister to them (1 Corinthians 14:3, 22-23).
I understand if you have written beliefs that those who are Christians should agree to them (Acts 15) for conscience sake, but communion is not something that any church should “close”.
Tom
Hello Tom,
I do not believe the church is to recognize who is saved or has aught either. However, in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul said “Do not ye judge them that are within. Them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”
That teaches that there is a recognized “within” and “without” of the church. I believe only those who are church members are to partake of the Lord’s supper together as it is “the communion of the body of Christ.”
I agree that church is not for the lost and do not use our church services as outreach, but that has nothing to do with my stance of closed communion. Communion isn’t just for anybody who walks into the church that day. It is for the body, those that are within.
If someone wants to partake of the Lord’s supper with our church, they must be a member of our church. This has to do with the purity of the church.
I hope that answers your question.
If your church believes and practices closed communion, someone needs to join to partake. I would spend some personal time explaining the position. Let them ask questions, understand it themselves. You could make it easier for them to join when they get back, just vote that they become members when they return every year. A church could make that vote.