Nonconformist Chronicles

New Law or New Hearts?

Some people hate the Sermon on the Mount, which surprises me since the sermon was one of the texts that first drew me to Jesus. It made sense to me and I came away thinking that Jesus was the smartest man who ever lived. But not everyone feels that way.

Some complain, upon first reading the sermon, that its directives are impossible to keep. How can we possibly turn the other cheek to those who strike us? How can we possibly love our enemies or pray for those who persecute us? How can we choose heavenly treasure over the stockpiling of earthly goods? The sermon’s critics are right about one thing. It is utterly impossible to live this way—at least by our own strength. But I disagree with those who say the sermon cannot be obeyed. 

I also disagree with those who say the sermon was not meant to be obeyed. They say Jesus intentionally raised the bar so high just to show us how impossible it is to measure up so that we might give up and rely on grace to save us. The problem with such a view is that it turns the Sermon on the Mount into a law, a legal code much like the Law of Moses, with a similar function of exposing our sin, but giving us little or no empowerment for overcoming it.

While Jesus was not giving a new law, his intent is that the sermon be obeyed. This sermon is impossible to obey if you’re relying on your own strength alone. To see the sermon as a “new law” means you’re defeated before you start. The flesh is too weak to measure up to any law that originates from the mind of a perfectly righteous God. So approaching the sermon as law means it’s impossible to keep.  

But with God all things are possible—even obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. This won’t happen by sheer will power. Law alone cannot motivate obedience. Our hearts must be changed. We must allow God to work in us so that our obedience flows from inside out. Only a good tree bears good fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). So Jesus gave the sermon knowing that humanity didn’t need more legislation, but rather transformation. We didn’t need a new law, but new hearts.

The Sermon on the Mount describes the behavior of those whose hearts have been made new. They’ve been changed by a relationship with Jesus. They’ve been cut to their hearts by the hearing of the gospel. Their hearts have been broken by the cross and given renewed hope by the resurrection. A relationship with Jesus transforms and the relationship grows through the two-way communication of prayer and Scripture. We draw nearer to him as we are blessed by the fellowship of his body—the church. In the true believer Christ becomes known and others might come to know him through us.

Learning to Love God

For much of my life I failed to grasp what it means to love God. I know what it means to love my wife and kids. I can even love the stranger in need. But how can I love someone I cannot see? How can I love someone who does not speak to me audibly or even in sign language? How can I feel anything for this silent and invisible God?

I consoled myself with the notion that love is not a feeling at all and really has nothing to do with feelings. I told myself that love is not an emotion, but merely an act of the will. So to love God is to obey him. While this is true, it is only half true.

While love is not merely an emotion, nor is it a cold mechanical transaction in which parties do right by each other for mutual benefit as if they are trading commodities. A relationship with God, including conversion, has too often been likened to a mechanical process. Getting the right combination of coins in the vending machine will deliver the desired result. Reducing a real relationship with God to the working of any checklist, formula, system, or steps deemphasizes the relational nature of faith.

Faith in God, and love for God, is about relationship and not just a set of rules. If we learned anything from the Older Covenant it’s that mere compliance to law cannot save us. Even under Moses what God required was a contrite heart and a humble spirit. He doesn’t just want our compliance, but he wants our love. He doesn’t just want us to do right because we fear him, but because we actually feel something for him. Yes, I used the word “feel.” How can we really love anyone without feeling something for that person?

Real love entails affection. Jesus isn’t just after behavior modification. He wants our affection. Like an affectionate lover, God has wooed us to himself. Like an affectionate parent, he wants our obedience out of love and respect and not compulsion.

Our resurrected Lord asked Peter, “Do you love me?” He asked him three times, the first two times using the Greek word for committed love, which is agape. Each time Peter replied, “You know I love you,” using the Greek word for a close-knit friendship kind of love, which is phileo. By the third time Jesus asked, “Do you love me?” he used Peter’s term phileo (John 21:15-17).

Too many interpreters have thought this to mean that the first two times Jesus asked “Do you love me?” that he was asking for a committed love, but all Peter could bring himself to offer at the moment was friendship. So, it’s argued, that by the third time Jesus condescends to Peter’s level asking, “Are you sure that you can at least do that?”

But Peter wasn’t offering a love inferior to what Jesus wanted. Nor does Jesus condescend to Peter’s level by resorting to the use of phileo. But phileo is what the Lord really wanted all along.

While Jesus wants us to show our love in commitment to his lordship, Peter was willing to let his heart be the motivation. By the third time, Jesus wasn’t coming down to Peter’s level, but asking if Peter was really prepared to deliver on the love he claimed to possess. Yes, God wants our obedience. A disobedient lifestyle means one doesn’t love God regardless of how one claims to feel. But on the other hand, God doesn’t just want our obedience. He wants our affection.