April 26, 2020
We’re in week 11 of Matthew at Park Church. The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the earliest biographies of Jesus, presenting Jesus not as a mere historical figure, but as “good news” for the world that should reshape every part of life.
This week, we continue in the Sermon on the Mount, discussing Jesus and the Law.
1. Read our text, Matthew 5:17–20.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching His new followers the ways of the Kingdom, and He anticipates some confusion. He was teaching about the Kingdom in ways that seemed revolutionary for His Jewish audience. It seemed like He was flipping their understanding of the Kingdom upside down. Was He attempting to ignore the instructions they had received from Moses? Was He making a break from Israel’s history and the promises of the prophets? Not by a long shot. Jesus claims that He had come to fulfill the law and the prophets.
God gave the Law to Israel in order to show them how to live in His Kingdom, to highlight their rebellious nature, and ultimately to reveal their need for a Savior who could transform their hearts. However, many of the teachers in Israel had reduced God’s instructions to a list of external behaviors. They were using their external obedience to the Law to cover up the decay that was festering in their hearts. Jesus sees straight through the pretense. He is the Savior to whom the Law was pointing, and His teachings reveal what true Kingdom faithfulness looks like. By the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it will be clear that faithfulness to God requires heart- level transformation, and that’s exactly what He had come to do.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Revelation 1:17–18
You Rose (Meditation on Revelation 1:17–18) (Rachel Buterbaugh, Joel Limpic)
The Lion And The Lamb (Brenton Brown, Brian Johnson, Leeland Mooring) / Forever (Gifford, Jobe, Johnson, Johnson, Taylor, Wilson)
CONFESSION OF SIN:
Gracious God, You have given us the law of Moses and the teachings of Jesus to direct us in the way of life. You send us Your Holy Spirit so that we can be born to new life as Your children. Yet, O God, we confess that the ways of death have a strong attraction and that we often succumb to their lure. Give us the vision and courage to choose and nurture life, that we may receive Your blessing. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Romans 3:21–25
You Keep On Getting Better (Dante Bowe, Jonathan Jay, Majesty Rose)
PASSING THE PEACE
(Click to Read)
When we’ve met as a large group on Sundays, we’ve always had a time of greeting one another after singing. Many churches call this time “passing the peace.” In some church traditions, one person will say to another, “The peace of Christ be with you” to which the other person responds, “And also with you.”
While potentially unfamiliar for some, we felt that “passing the peace” during greeting times at home could be a powerful act in this age marked by very little external peace. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He wants His kingdom to be marked by this very peace! We want to “pass” to one another this peace that only Jesus can give, especially at a time like this.
It might feel a bit cheesy, but we encourage you to actually pray the peace of God over each other during our times. We encourage you to look into each other’s eyes as you say, “The peace of Christ be with you!” and have others respond with, “And also with you.” Be open-hearted to Jesus, asking Him to fill you with His peace.
SERMON & COMMUNION
King Of Kings (Jason Ingram, Brooke Ligertwood, Scott Ligertwood) / All Hail King Jesus (Gretzinger, Jackson, Mattis, Riddle)