Yesterday Pastor Morgan continued our teaching series on the Sermon on the Mount by teaching Matthew 5:17-20. Our very own Susan Holmgren and Terrence Phox led us through our Black History Month moment during worship - you can find this recording online through our podcast!

 

So far, we have covered the series of blessings found in the Beatitudes as well as the two metaphors of salt and light. Pastor Morgan focussed this week on Jesus establishing his authority and our relationship with the scriptures. But first, a moment was taken to acknowledge the significance of the word authority. At Redeemer we recognize that the concept of authority carries great weight and many of us may have been on the receiving end of abuse of authority. However, we must remember that Jesus does indeed have authority over our lives if we claim to follow him. 

 

This authority of Jesus is established not by our own hands, but rather by God. We see through the library of scripture that Jesus fulfilled the law and prophecies of the Old Testament - that He is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promise in Abraham. The word fulfill means to satisfy, accomplish, or complete - this is the good news of the gospel! Jesus Christ has fully satisfied the penalty of sin through his life (fulfillment of the law and prophets), death (covenant sacrifice), and resurrection (defeat of sin and death) and in-so-doing, Jesus has Redeemed us and reconciled our relationship with God the Father! Praise and glory to God our King! 

 

Pastor Morgan also taught us that we need to examine our relationship with the scriptures. A challenging question was posed: when we read the Bible, do we read with Jesus as the focus or do we read with ourselves at the center? In other words, because Jesus is the fulfillment of the scriptures, do we examine and seek for the way scriptures reveal Jesus to us, or are we looking for things that will merely benefit our life and preferences? Do we read with ourselves as the authority, or Jesus? 

 

As we continue in our series, we must keep this in mind as Jesus begins to interpret and divulge greater depth of meaning to the scriptures. In the coming weeks, we will see Jesus lead us into an understanding of, what Pastor Morgan coined, a “deeper righteousness.” Jesus will take a teaching from the Old Testament, and reframe it in a way that makes it practical and personal for us. 

 

Lastly, Pastor Morgan summarized this text for us in a few key points as well as a final exhortation for us:

 

 

In this text, Jesus uses the phrase, “…least in the kingdom of heaven.” While there is much to be explored here, Pastor Morgan issued an exhortation for us to be careful and serious with how we handle the scriptures. We must wrestle thoroughly with the Bible and its implications for our lives. As we do this, Redeemer is committed to being a safe and honest space to process. There is ample opportunity to bring any questions, doubts, concerns, or anything else to community to work through and we are committed to protecting these spaces as a church family.