The Sermon on the Mount Part 2
In the first part of The Sermon on the Mount we looked at whether or not Yeshua abolished the law of God. Today we’re talking about who is the least and who is the greater one in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of Heaven is where the eternal God sits on His throne. It is where the faithful King and His son lives. All authority for the whole universe resides there. It is a forever kingdom that can’t be destroyed.
The earth was created to be an extension of that kingdom, but in the beginning mankind became deceived and disobedient to God. This broke our connection to Him.
Later, YHWH allowed His son, Yeshua, to rebuild that broken connection to the eternal God Most High. Yeshua’s obedience unto death allowed King YHWH to give His authority over His eternal kingdom to Yeshua the Messiah.
Like every kingdom, there are rules, statues, and ordinances to follow. This is how Yeshua makes a righteous judgment. He uses the rules God set up to show mankind how to live correctly in the earth. He even tells us it’s a wonderful thing to teach others to keep God’s rules.
Don’t Become the Least of Them
Yeshua tells us in Matthew 5:19 if we teach people to break the least commandment we will be considered least in the kingdom of heaven.
19Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The Greek word for relaxes (ESV) is luo. It means: “to loosen any person (or thing) tied or fastened; to undo, dissolve; to do away with, to deprive of authority, whether by precept or act; to declare unlawful.”1
If we tell people they don’t have to keep the rules of God then we have essentially told them they can dissolve God’s way of doing things. No rules create chaos with everyone doing whatever they want to do without any consequences. In promoting chaos, we have become least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
All Kingdoms Have Rules
Every kingdom has its own set of rules. If you go to another country and try to apply the USA laws to their laws you’ll find out quickly it doesn’t work like that. For example, no freedom of religion or speech you currently enjoy in the USA is going to help you in another country. Depending on where you are in the world you could be jailed for life, beaten constantly, or even killed for believing in the God of the Bible.
God has a kingdom, and He has rules to follow in that kingdom. They have been set up since the beginning of time. Cain, Abel, Abraham, Esau, Jacob, and a host of others knew about stealing and treating each other kindly long before God wrote them on stone tablets and had Moses write the rest on scrolls.
All of nature and the animals still follow God’s set laws for them. The sun will not come up in the night. The ocean doesn’t overflow on the land daily, consuming its inhabitants. The lion will not start screeching like a bird. An ape will not mate with a bear.
Mankind Does Things Their Way
Human beings are the only ones who wish to do away with the laws of God. The consequences of this results in the body of Messiah looking like the body of the Enemy. You can hardly tell the people of God from the people of the world. Their sound, their look, their speech, and their walk look like the nations who do not know the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Their anthem is “God knows my heart,” “He made me,” and “Can’t no one keep all those laws.” This in essence resolves them of their responsibility to God and puts the blame on Him for burdening them.
Yet, 1 John 5:3 tells us the opposite.
3“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
Keep and Teach People to Keep the Commandments
Yeshua told us to keep the commandments of God ourselves. Then teach others to do the same. If you do, it makes you great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let’s say we don’t care about being least or great in the Kingdom. Yeshua goes a step further. He says in John 14:15-17,
15“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
The promise of the Holy Spirit is based on keeping his commandments, which are the commandments of his Father. He continues telling the disciples obedience shows their love for him and His Father. The words he has spoken wasn’t his, but the Father’s words. Most of those words are in the Torah. So, by doing away with the law, you have no way to obey God.
21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:21-24)
There are always rules to follow. The question is whose rules are you following – God’s, the Enemy, or your own, which may be a mixture of God’s and the Enemy’s depending on how you’re feeling that day.
Yeshua, who is our Master, is very clear on God’s word. He wants us to listen and obey. He wants us to help other believers do the same.
Will you help someone else to follow God’s way of doing things? Let us know in the comments why you would or would not?
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