Sermon Notes & Questions for 5-7-23
May 7, 2023

Jesus & The Law

Matthew 5:17-20

The Law is:
1) Moral
2) Judicial
3) Ceremonial

About God’s Moral Law:
1) The Law may be summarized in love, but His law is not replaced by love. (Matt. 22:37-40)
2) The Law is holy and just and good. (Romans 7:12)
3) The Law’s purpose is that sin “might become sinful beyond measure.” (Romans 7:13)

Modern Strategies To Avoid the Law:
1) I will write my own law so I never have to face the fact that I am a law breaker.
2) I will reject all feelings of guilt.

Two Truths
1) God’s law is perfect, holy, just, and irrevocable.
2) God’s primary concern for you is not to remove uncomfortable feelings of guilt from your life. His primary concern is to reconcile you to Himself.

Your law-breaking is a problem you have no ability to solve. You are the problem. You are not the solution. (Rom. 3:20, Eph. 2:1)

How Jesus Fulfills the Law
1) Jesus obeyed the law perfectly.
2) Jesus paid the penalty for our law-breaking through His death. (1 John 4:10)
3) Jesus obeyed the law on our behalf. (Rom. 4:4-5)

The Good News
1) Through faith in Jesus, His death becomes our death.
2) Through faith in Jesus, His righteousness becomes our righteousness.

T.A.G. Questions

  1. Icebreaker: What rules were important to you while growing up??
  2. What rules or guidelines are meaningful to you now? Why?
  3. What was most memorable from today’s sermon? Why?

Community Group Questions

  1. Icebreaker: Describe a project which took you a long time to complete. How fulfilling was it to finish?
  2. What do you believe are some of God’s long term projects in our world?
  3. Name three of God’s laws which you believe are still relevant and important. Why?
  4. How do you see some people trying to be a law unto themselves? (read Romans 2:12-16 & 3:10-18 for clues)
  5. How does God’s redemption through Jesus transform the effect of the Law for believers?
  6. What do you need to bring into the light in order to clear your conscience with God? Meet with another trusted person to confess this and receive God’s forgiveness.

Further Notes for Leaders

Life Application Bible Commentary Notes for Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus did not come as a rabbi with a brand-new teaching that he had thought up and hoped to convince people was true. Instead, he came as the promised Messiah with a message heard from the beginning of time. He came not to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill the promises in those Scriptures. The meaning for “fulfill” has been taken three ways: (1) to accomplish or obey the Old Testament laws; (2) to bring out the full meaning of the law and prophecy, showing how Christ is the fulfillment of all to which they pointed; (3) to bring the Old Testament law and promises to their destined end or intended completion. Most likely, “fulfill” contains the thrusts of both (2) and (3). Jesus fills to fullness; he completes and transcends the law. The Old Testament law is not rescinded but now must be reinterpreted and reapplied in light of Jesus. God does not change his mind. He did not send his Son to repeal, abolish, or annul what he had told his people previously. Instead, the Father sent his Son as the fulfillment. Jesus’ coming had been part of God’s plan from creation (see Genesis 3:15). The disciples would not thoroughly understand how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures until after his death and resurrection (Luke 24:25–27).

Jesus’ reference to the law means the commands in the Pentateuch—the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy. In synagogues on the Sabbath, a rabbi would read a portion from the Law and a portion from the Prophets. Unfortunately, many of the learned men of the day who should have seen in Jesus the fulfillment of their Scriptures completely missed him. The Pharisees attempted to follow meticulously the law and saw Jesus only as a lawbreaker. The Sadducees revered only the Pentateuch but missed the promises of the coming of the one through whom all nations on the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).

“Our Lord’s mission was not to destroy, but to construct. As noon fulfills dawn and summer spring, as manhood fulfills childhood and the perfect picture the rude sketch, so does Jesus gather up, realize, and make possible the highest ideals ever inspired in human hearts or written by God’s Spirit on the page of inspiration.” - F. B. Meyer

Barton, B. B. (1996). Matthew (pp. 86–87). Tyndale House Publishers.

Group Leader Tips

  • Pray for your group before and after you meet. Prayerfully work through the questions and bible passage yourself before you meet.
  • At the beginning of your first time together, explain that these groups are meant to be discussions not lectures. Encourage the members of the group to participate. However, do not put pressure on those who may be hesitant to speak during the first few sessions.
  • Avoid answering your own questions. However, leaders may set the tone by occasionally sharing their own answers without dominating the time or the discussion.
  • Learn to accept silence in the group while they process your questions.
  • Appropriately call upon quieter members when they seem to have something to share.
  • Acknowledge and thank group members for their sharing. Redirect the group if they get off-topic too much.
  • Don’t be afraid of controversy. It can be very stimulating. If you don’t resolve an issue completely, don’t be frustrated. Move on and keep it in mind for later. A subsequent study may solve the problem.
  • You may need to divide the group into smaller subsets (men, women, pairs, etc.) to help the time and participation to flow.
  • If possible, the group host should not also be the group shepherd/facilitator. This helps the group to eventually multiply as it grows larger.
  • Look for ways to share the tasks in the group to help build a healthy discipleship culture. Look for the persons God may be leading to serve as apprentice hosts or shepherds.