“Going to the source of action is a major part of what Jesus has in mind by saying that one must ‘go beyond the goodness of scribes and Pharisees.’ One must surpass humanly contrived religious respectability ‘if one is to mesh their life with the flow of the kingdom of the heavens’ (5:20).
True enough, he also meant that we are actually to do what the law, as God intended it, says to do. And that too was quite ‘beyond’ the goodness of the scribes and Pharisees. They talked a lot of law, but they did not keep it.
Confidence in the Christ is, correctly understood, inseparable from the fulfilling of the law. People came to him on one occasion and asked, ‘What shall we do to work the works of God?’ (John 6:28). His reply was, ‘You do the work of God when you place your confidence in the one he sent.’ We would now say, and say correctly, ‘Trust Jesus Christ.’ But…the idea of having faith in Jesus has come to be totally isolated from being his apprentice and learning how to do what he said.
The tragic result of this separation is seen all around us today. What we are looking at in the contemporary Western world is precisely what he himself foretold. We have heard him. For almost two millennia we have heard him…But we have chosen not to do what he said. He warned that this would make us ‘like a silly man who built his house on a sand foundation. The rain poured down, and the rivers and winds beat upon that house, and it collapsed into a total disaster’ (Matt 7:26-27). We today stand in the midst of precisely the disaster he foretold, ‘flying upside down’ but satisfied to be stoutly preaching against ‘works’ righteousness.
If people in our Christian fellowships today were to announce that they had decided to keep God’s law, we would probably be skeptical and alarmed. We probably would take them aside for counseling and possibly alert other responsible people in the group to keep an eye on them. We would be sure nothing good would come of it. We know that one is not saved by keeping the law and can think of no other reason why one should try to do it.
This leaves us caught in a strange inversion of the work of the Judaizing teachers who dogged the footsteps of Paul in New Testament days. As they wanted to add obedience to ritual law to faith in Christ, we want to subtract moral law from faith in Christ. How to combine faith with obedience is surely the essential task of the church as it enters the twenty-first century.
The law of God marks the movement of God’s kingdom…we step into his ways and drink in his power. ‘If you love me,’ he said, ‘do what I have said. And I will ask the Father and he will give you an additional strengthener, who will never leave you’ (John 14:15-16).
[Jesus] knew that we cannot keep the law by trying to keep the law. One must aim to become the kind of person from whom the deeds of the law naturally flow. The apple tree naturally and easily produces apples because of its inner nature. This is the most crucial thing to remember if we would understand Jesus’ picture of the kingdom heart…
And here also lies the fundamental mistake of the scribe and the Pharisee. They focus on the action that the law requires and make elaborate specifications of exactly what those actions are and of the manner in which they are to be done. They also generate immense social pressure to force conformity of action to the law as they interpret it.
But the inner dimensions of their personality, their heart and character, are left to remain contrary to what God has required. That heart will, of course, ultimately triumph over their conscious intentions and arrangements, and they will in fact do what they know to be wrong.
It is the inner life of the soul that we must aim to transform, and then behavior will naturally and easily follow. But not the reverse.”
– Dallas Willard
I think this is where our church shines. Discipleship is an essential part of our DNA. It’s been interesting to see this from a different angle, as well, with the outreach. Small groups are willing to do anything “unglamorous” to help the cause. Everyone is willing to be a servant, however small, to show love to women who need it. When people are presented with opportunities to join God in His mission, they are already the kind of people who don’t hesitate to play whatever role is needed.
Of course what God has asked our group to do is not the only thing people join Him in. I see people pouring their lives into others all the time. If that is what I see, I can only imagine the kind of prayer and love and investment and service that goes on behind the scenes.
God, You are so good to change our hearts. We know it is You inside us that is the difference. May we become ever-increasingly Your disciples in holy obedience to what You have told us pleases You.