Focus on Love.
Reading Time: 8 minutes
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”
Matthew 5:17
Once, I talked to an older individual who said something that stuck with me. One of the biggest fears and apprehensions older people have towards younger people is the worry that the younger people may throw away what the older people fought for. The fear in younger people taking leadership is a fear that the newcomers may throw the baby out with the bath water. That idiom is simply used to say that while some things are worthy to be discarded or eliminated, don't make the mistake of throwing away the things of value while in the process of progression. Back in the day, when households didn’t bathe as much, families would share bath water. They would start from oldest to youngest and as you’d expect, the water would be putrid by the time you made it to the youngest members of the family. This allowed an opportunity for attention to be taken from the smaller, younger members of the family and placed on how bad the condition around them was. When people had their sights rightly set on the desire to discard the pungent water, it was easy for them to accidentally forget the life, potential, and purpose that could be found if another glance was taken.
When younger people see progression, older people sometimes see the discarding of their years of blood, sweat, and tears. When we see the impact, seasoned saints may see the potential to overlook the past life they worked for and fell in love with. A word to the wise is to make sure those around you recognize that you respect them and the things they stood on in the past before trying to move forward into greener pastures. We are not against each other. My mom once said something along the lines of, “When you see them, they’ll hear you.” As leaders, we need to make sure our teammates know we're on the same team. Everyone desires to be seen and for their emotions, fears, dreams, triumphs, and failures to be recognized and sympathized with. We are all on the same team, looking to efficiently and effectively accomplish the same goals, and that needs to be remembered. In the Bible, I think Matthew did a great job of setting the stage for this. I felt compelled to read through the gospels to learn more about the life and way of Jesus and noticed something interesting. Matthew points out how Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy over 5 times before getting to Chapter 5. Matthew is a Jew writing to Jews about this new guy on the scene named Jesus and seems to prioritize explaining that while the method may be new, the message is all the same. While Jesus may have seemed different to some of the seasoned churchgoers in his day, He fulfilled over 365 prophecies written in the Old Testament. Jesus may have seemed different than what they were used to, but He assured them they were going for the same goal.
In Matthew 5, Jesus is introduced, He has received His instructions and drafted His team. He sees a crowd forming as His influence grows and starts a sermon explaining His way of life. He mentions who His followers are called to be and what they might expect, but Jesus seems to take a detour of discourse to clarify what He is here for.
Jesus may seem counter-cultural, different, and even dangerous to some, but He goes on to explain that He hasn’t come to tear down what their grandmother and ‘em fought for. He hasn’t come to throw away what has been gained. Jesus actually makes the bold claim that He is the solution to all their problems. He is here to accomplish their goals. It’s easy to fight so hard for a goal that we forget the goal and focus on the fight. It’s possible that we spend so much time focused on our means to our end that we forget the end we were longing for the whole time.
Jesus says, “I'm not here to abolish the law and the prophets. I'm not here to step on what you value. I'm not here to tear down what you worked for. I'm actually here to accomplish the goal you were working for in the first place.”
I want to remind you that the whole point of the Old Testament (the first half of the Bible) was the story of how a group of people found themselves in hurt, oppression, fear, and shame and wanted a way out. The oral traditions and literary legacies found in the Old Testament were literally supposed to help people cope with their issues and inspire the hope that they would soon get better. And Jesus is saying, “You had all that to get to the result I'm about to give you. The goal wasn't singing those specific songs, following the traditions, or going to church on a specific day.” Those are all methods to help get them closer to their goal of experiencing the presence of God and Jesus is coming in to say He is cutting out the middleman. The prophets wrote so that their readers could be close to God and Jesus is accomplishing the goal by coming close to them.
Later in Jesus’ sermon in Chapter 7, Jesus says the whole Old Testament can be summarized in the idea of doing for others what you would like them to do for you. Jesus later says that the whole law and prophets can be summarized in the idea of loving God and loving people. Our goal is love, not law. The law was simply a method to get us to the destination of loving people. And so many of us spend so much time focusing on the method that we forget the mission. If you are reading theology books and watching seminars and sermons every spare second you get in the day but are somehow using it as a reason to hate and oppress others, you are actually going against the true path your religious exercise was meant to lead you toward. And Jesus is coming in to say I'm not against the goal of loving people. I'm actually here to accomplish it in you. Not only is the goal to be with Jesus, but you also can't love others without Him and He has come to accomplish that each day in you.
It may seem different. It may seem new. But it actually is the mission we all signed up for in the first place. I remember hearing a story of a famous producer who was working with top artists and musicians while in high school. They were going on tour and working with top labels before they graduated. They told the story of their dad sitting them down and questioning why they needed to go to college if they were already accomplishing the goal college was supposed to set them up for. He explained how while college could help cultivate and elevate, it was the means and not the end. The point of college was to get them prepared and positioned for their career, but since they were already in their career it was wise to evaluate and make sure the method was seen as a path and not the destination in itself.
This isn't supposed to be academic advising for those who are praying about their future plans. This is is a reminder to keep the goal, not the methods or path first. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the door. Jesus accomplishes the things you are craving. Jesus is the remedy for the sickness of the human condition. Jesus is all we need. Jesus is what we were looking for this whole time. Don’t try to love without knowing the embodiment of love. Don’t say you're a Christian if it just means going to church and not actually following Christ. Don’t make the method God. There are some things God calls us to that help us live out our calling of loving others, but doing them without the goal of loving others kind of misses the point. Jesus got into so much trouble because He cut out the middleman and accomplished the religious leaders’ goals without their methods. They were so big on studying the things that pointed to the Messiah that they missed the Messiah.
Jesus didn't come to abolish the methods. He came to remind us that the methods are supposed to lead to Him. In order to not throw the baby out with the bath water we need to remember our goal. The goal is not liturgy. The goal is not worship style. The goal is not delivery, the goal is Christ. And remembering who our goal is will actually help us figure out which methods suit us best.
Method is important. A ship positioned inches off of the target can end up miles away from its destination. It is important to know how we are getting to our destination, but knowing our destination is greatly more important. Jesus came to fulfill the law. Don’t focus so much on the law that you forget why it's there in the first place. Don't get so caught up on the path that you forget your destination. Don't be so occupied with your what that you forget the why. Don’t focus on the methods so much that you miss the Messiah.
Focus on Jesus. Focus on faith. Focus on moving forward better. Focus on Love.
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