Love is the Law of the Land

Summary

God is calling us to widen our circles and live out the greatest commandment: to love Him and love our neighbors as ourselves. This isn't just about vertical righteousness between us and God—it's also horizontal, reaching out to everyone around us. The real spiritual life spreads outward as much as it reaches upward. We're citizens of the kingdom of heaven, called to be salt and light in a world that desperately needs God's presence shining through us.

Are you ready to let God search your heart and break down any barriers you've built between yourself and your neighbors? Join us in this journey of authentic community where we confess our need for God's grace and invite Him to lead us individually and collectively. Don't fall into the trap of self-righteousness—instead, embrace the beautiful freedom of loving God, trusting Jesus, and following the Holy Spirit. Come be part of a community that's learning to truly love without judgment and shine God's light wherever we go!Text...

Transcript

We Have the Mind of Christ

But we have the mind of Christ. That is a good line for us today.

We, uh, this so far in 2026 have been considering what does it mean for us to widen our circles. And in that. We have added a new time for us on Sunday morning, our journey Sunday morning circles, and the purpose of that is for us to know one another, and to be known by one another. And in our conversations, we talk about what the scripture that we are going to wrestle with here in this moment during the sermon, but also talk about how that impacts and influences our lives, how is God speaking to us through the week? And so I want to give another special plug for that. If you are available at 10 a.m. on Sundays, we would love to have you here.

When you think about Jesus' teaching, I would argue that the main theme of Jesus' teaching is to love God and love your neighbor. And the reason why I would argue that is not because I have achieved some level of understanding that gives me the authority to suggest that, but that Jesus himself, when asked, what is the most important commandment, he said, love, the Lord your God, with your heart, and so am I, and love your neighbor as yourself. So this is the main thing that we are seeking to live out here at journey in 2026 through our widening circles.

What Does It Mean to Widen Our Circles?

What does that mean to widen our circles? Well, circle represents community, right? Community is a word that is often thrown around in the church. Sometimes words can be used so much, and in so many different ways, that they begin to lose their meaning. But when we talk about community here, we understand it really in three ways.

There's, first of all, community with God, right? For us to know God and the harder part of all of community, but particularly with God. The harder part of that is to be known by God, to open up ourselves before the Lord and allow God to search us as the psalmist proclaim. So community begins with knowing God and being known by God, being known and to know one another, is another part of community. And then community with our neighbors, to know our neighbors, and to be known by our neighbors.

Who is my neighbor, is often the question that we ask. And quite simply, this question, the answer to this question is, whoever is next to you. is your neighbor, the person who lives next to you, is your neighbor, the person who sleeps next to you, or in the room in your house is your neighbor. The person at the grocery store is your neighbor. Whoever it is that is next to you, the person who is next to you right now, and this moment is your neighbor, and we are called, by Jesus, to love, God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The Sermon on the Mount

And so, with that in mind, I want to read from Matthew chapter 5, we are working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. If you are astute and can remember back to the summer, early fall, we spent quite a long time working through the Sermon on the Mount. And as we follow the sacred calendar here in the month of February. We are back at it. And you might say, well, maybe we should study something different. But what I would say is that we can't study the sermon on the Mount Enough. And so, we're going to follow along in the electionary and be present here in Matthew chapter 5. And we're going to read starting in verse 13. And I want to invite you as you are able to stand, as we hear the reading of the gospel. And as we stand, we pray that God would capture our attention, as we change our posture, we invite God to reveal his words to us.

Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot? You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Do not think that I have come, Jesus says, to abolish the law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I tell you, 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. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others, accordingly, will be called the 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.

This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated.

Two Questions

So today, in light of Jesus' teaching here in Matthew 5, there are 2 questions for us to work through. First of all, what is fulfillment of the law and the proclamation of the prophets. That's question number one. Number two, what is the righteousness of the Pharisees? What is the righteousness of the Pharisees?

Well, I don't like to put words in someone's mouth when I don't have to. So, when we're talking about what is the law, what did the prophets speak? I think it's probably wise for us to read what the prophets spoke. We do not have to wonder. We can hear what they said. And so I want to read a portion of what we read earlier in Isaiah 58. Just a couple of verses, beginning in the second part of verse 9.

Before verse 9, and Isaiah 58, the proclamation here is for us to understand the significance of spiritual disciplines, particularly the spiritual discipline of fasting, also repentance. And so when we understand that, appropriately, then we hear from Isaiah. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in the sun's scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Vertical and Horizontal

Fulfillment of the law and the words of the prophets, always is vertical, meaning about us and God, but at the same time horizontal, meaning between us and our neighbors, Evelyn Underhill wrote the real spiritual life, must be horizontal, as well as vert spread more and more, as well as aspire more and more. That is what we are called to. And this isn't just a new idea with Jesus. This is, in fact, what God has been calling the people of God to since the very beginning, relationship with him, and also relationships with one another. When we think about the psalm that we read earlier, this is the case there, too, that how we are devoted to God plays out and how we love our neighbor. It is vertical, and horizontal. So that is what the law and what the prophets proclaimed, that Jesus came to fulfill.

But Jesus also said, do not be like the righteousness of the Pharisees. So, what then is the righteousness of the Pharisees? Well, the righteousness of the Pharisees was generally speaking, all vertical. It had nothing to do with how they interacted with one another. It had to do with God and themselves. And one of the descriptions of the Pharisees is that they tend, don't elbow your neighbor at this point, but they tend to minimize their flaws and maximize the flaws of the people of which they think less of. They tend to minimize their flaws and maximize the flaws of people they think less of. Hello, American politics, right? They tend to minimize their flaws and maximize the flaws of the people, they think less of.

And furthermore, they have a standard of righteousness that has been talked about in the law. But they have all kinds of excuses to get what they want, ways of manipulating the law to work in their favor, while criticizing their enemies and scapegoading people who don't follow for all of the problems in the world. Does that sound familiar to any of us?

The Enemy Was Never a Problem

In all of the Old Testament. All the way through, all of the Old Testament prophecies. Everybody turn your listening ears on. Turn them up. In all of the Old Testament. The enemy was never a problem. Turn to your neighbor and say, the enemy was never a problem.

Now, we're talking about the enemy being a person, right? There is the enemy, the Satan, as the Bible calls them, that is the enemy, and is a problem. But here we are referencing our neighbors, in the Old Testament, neighbors, even neighbors that were enemies, were never the problem. They never once caused the people of God to stumble. Enemies as the neighbor are, in fact, inconsequential to God and in the kingdom of heaven. The problems with the people of God begin by the people of God forsaking the ways of God, and then being allured into the ways of those who live contrary, to the God, the enemies, or the occupying folks. The enemies of the people of God were never the problem. It was always the people of God being allured by their ways. If there is a word for the people of God today, that is important for us, that is one of them.

You say, Jonathan, I don't know if I agree with you about that. Well, we're going to look at 1st Samuel, chapter 8. And I want to read a lengthy passage, but an important one for us. This is the moment where Israel is asking the prophet Samuel to appoint a king to follow him. Okay?

So real quick, up until this point, once the Israelites were set free from captivity in Egypt, God was their king. There were prophets, there were judges, there were people who helped the Israelites when it comes to, what does it mean to follow God? But God was the king. Samuel is not a king, right? Samuel is a what? A prophet, right? And so here is what happens in 1st Samuel chapter 8.

All of the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rema. They said to him, this is not a nice thing to say, you are old, and your sons do not follow your ways. Now appoint a what? A king, is Samuel a king? No, who is the king of the people of God? God, we're all together on that. Appoint a king to lead us. Such as what? All of the other nations. Remember, it's not the other nations that are the problem, it is the people of God being allured into the ways of the other nations, that is the problem.

Verse six, but God, but when they said, give us a king, to lead us, this displeased Samuel. So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him, listen to all the people are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as what? as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt, until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly. And let them know what the king who reigns over them will claim as his rights.

Now, we today, in the United States of America, live in a country called the United States of America, right? And our country has a government, and our government, whether you are with it or not at the moment, our government, the role of our government, is to protect and to keep the people. However, to live in a nation where God is not the king, to live in a kingdom, where God is not the king, always takes something from us. It's the way that it's been since the very beginning. And so listen to Samuel, who was inspired by God to proclaim what the king is going to take from the people. When God is king, God does not take from the people. So keep listen to these distinctions here.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who are asking him for a king. He said, this is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of 1000s and commanders of 50s, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields, and vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his attendance. He will take a 10th of your grain, and of your vintage, and give it to his officials in attendance. Your male and female servants, the best of your cattle and donkeys. He will take for you for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks. And you, yourselves, will become his slaves. When that day comes. You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. No, they said, we want a king over us. Then we will be like, all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles. When Samuel hurt all of the people and what they had said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, listen to them and give them a king. And Samuel said to the Israelites, everyone go back to your town.

Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven

There is a lot that is going on here, and the toothpaste is out of the tube, right? We live in places with borders that are run by earthly people, and that is the way that the world operates. But for us, as the people of God, We are citizens of a country, for all of us, citizens of this country, but we also, and more importantly, are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And so, what we need to understand is that there is a thin line between respect and worship. It is a very thin line. And the alarming thing is that the difference between respect and worship is very subtle. And the lines between what is a truly righteous pursuit, and a self-righteous pursuit can be blurred just as much.

For instance, Jesus talked about the righteousness of the Pharisees. Jesus would then go on to say, the Pharisees blame their lust on the women for which they lust. They describe their greed and desire for power as righteousness. They demand perfection of everyone, but never lift a finger to help those in need. Those are quite indicting, quite indicative of the righteousness of the Pharisees.

Now, given that, this might sound strange to you, but I always want to make sure to say when we're talking about the Pharisees, that they are not all bad people. Some of them were conniving and manipulating, but not all of them were. For the most part, the Pharisees were upstanding citizens, they wanted to do what it was right, they were doing the best that they could, to live lives that honored God. Yet, they were caught up in this struggle. They had trouble seeing the lines that had become so blurred that they were being deceived. And this is the lesson that we need to pay attention to because you and I are susceptible for falling in the same trap.

I hear a lot of blame oftentimes to the enemy or to those who are different in the world today. When we think about the issue of lust since Jesus brought it up, we understand that modesty is important for all of us, not just for women, but for all of us, but modesty is about self-respect. That is the root of modesty is self-respect. It is not cover up yourself so you don't cause lust. When we think about greed and power and influence, God does sometimes give people power and influence, but that power and influence is never to be used for personal gain. It is always to love our neighbors. When we think about righteousness, righteousness is a part of the kingdom of heaven. The Spirit works in our lives to lead us on a holy path. But that path, as we talked about, is vertical and horizontal. We cannot forget loving our neighbors.

We are never called. There is never an amount of holiness that we can attain that allows us to judge our neighbors or to blame them for whatever problems we experience. This is why, a journey, we participate weekly in the ancient, and passed a long rhythm of confession in the church, because we realize and profess, we need God's grace. There is never a moment in our lives where we can make it in the kingdom of heaven on our own. We always at every moment need God's grace. All of us. That's the one thing. And we've talked about this. Here at Journey, when we come to the table. The one thing that unites us is, the thing that you cannot remain at the table of Jesus is the same, all of us, every time we come, we are inviting God to lead us, and God will lead us individually and collectively.

It is not my job as a pastor to tell you where God will lead you. That is not, that is above my pay grade. It is not your job to tell others where God wants to lead them. It is our role to proclaim the good news of Jesus, the Messiah, who is resurrected from the dead, and he will lead you, wants you recognize his presence in your life. The righteousness of the Pharisees happens when we become self reliant. When we think that we can do it on our own. When we think that we have achieved something, And the problem with that is that it always causes us to look down on those who are behind us or not in alignment with us. And the result of that is that we end up creating barriers for our neighbors, barriers between us and our neighbors.

Salt and Light

So Jesus says, you are to be salt and light. You are to be salt and light. To be salt and light is to love God. to trust Jesus and to follow the holy spirit. And when we do those things, love God, trust Jesus, follow the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of heaven is made more full in our lives and in the world around us. And that is the purpose of our lives here on earth in our pursuit of the kingdom of heaven.

Would you pray with me?

God. We confess today that oftentimes, the allure of brokenness... can capture our attention. For some of us, it's lust, for some of us, it's greed. For some of us, it's a self-centered life. And there are many other things. But Lord, we trust you today. That 1st of all, we do not have to hide our temptation from you. But we are able to confess. that we need you and you are faithful to respond with your presence. So, Lord, search our hearts. If there are any places within us where we have corrupted our love for you by building barriers between us and our neighbors, of any stripe that you would reveal that to us, and that you would lead us out of any self-righteousness. And that in that you would lead us in ways of being salt and light, in the world around us as we seek to love our neighbors, and to be present. to whoever we are with. We ask these things today, Jesus, in your name for your sake. Amen.