Veritas Columbus Sermons

A sermon based on Matthew 5:27-32 by Aaron Lockhart, preached on July 2, 2017 at Veritas East as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

A sermon based on Matthew 5:27-32 by Patrick Knable, preached on July 2, 2017 at Veritas Short North as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

Discussion Questions:

1. Of what importance is it that Jesus introduces his comments (vs 27) with, “You have heard that it was said…” ? Why did God create marriage? Why is adultery a serious offense?

2. How would you define lust? What does our culture think it? How does lust lead to death? What hope do we have in our struggles with lust? (If lust isn’t an intense struggle for you, do you show compassion to those who do struggle with it? Also, lustful thoughts are not limited to men. It is important to address this with women as well.)

3. Are there things that you need to cut off that are increasing your struggle with lust? Who do you talk to about your struggles in this area? (If you have never shared your struggle with lust with anyone, consider reaching out to someone in your community group. You are not alone in your struggle and you were not meant to fight it alone. Christ offers forgiveness and hope, and He has given the gift of community to walk alongside you in the midst of this.)

4. Jesus does not accept the practice of easy divorce. Through Moses, God instituted a regulation for marriage that upheld the sanctity of marriage and protected the women. Considering the context of these verses and what we read Jesus says, how does this protect women? What are the grounds for divorce we see given here (vs 32)? The Greek word for sexual immorality is porneia. What all does this include?

A sermon based on Matthew 5:21-26, preached on June 25, 2017 at Veritas West as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

A sermon based on Matthew 5:21-26 by Paul Allen, preached on June 25, 2017 at Veritas East as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

A sermon based on Matthew 5:21-26 by Brad Snyder, preached on June 25, 2017 at Veritas Tri-Village as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

Framing the Discussion: How should we think about this concept of “anger”? Brad said that a helpful analogy to think of the connection between anger and murder is that anger is the seed and murder is the tree. How does that seed become a tree? (Leaders: Brad said that "just like the only difference between a seed and a tree is time and the right conditions…the only difference between anger and murder is time and the right conditions.”)

"Every time you get angry, or don’t get angry, it says something significant about how you think things should be, and how much you care." - Brad from the Sermon

What does unrighteous anger look like? Another way to think of this is to ask the question "How is anger expressed in our lives?” And: How/why do we get angry in the first place? (Leaders: Brad said that the problem with our anger - what makes it unrighteous - is that we try to determine on our own what is good and what is evil. He said, "We try to take the place of God thinking we know what is right and that our will is supreme! So whenever we don’t get what we want, whenever we don't get our way…we get angry!” So there is a heart issue that is the seed of the tree of anger/murder.)

Three questions to explore step by step: What does righteous anger look like? How was that expressed in the life of Jesus? And: What role does our recognition of other people’s personhood play in our fight against anger? (Leaders: Brad gave the example of Christ’s righteous anger at the Pharisees in Mark 3:1-6 where Jesus gets righteously angry at their hard hearts because they don't care about this suffering image bearer with a withered hand. Brad said that "the righteous and good anger in the Bible always comes from caring about what God cares about and letting him define what's wrong, and what it means to make it right.”) Some quotes to consider here:

“We treat the damage we do with out lips very lightly because we do not see the corpses we leave behind.” -
Sinclair Ferguson

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Read verse 22 again and note how powerful words are. What was Jesus’ example of this? When we attack other people with violent words, what are we saying about them? (Leaders: We are essentially saying that we don’t value other people - calling someone “a fool”, as Jesus mentioned, is like saying they are worthless. They are literally worth “nothing”, and when we do this, we devalue someone made in the image of God.) A good quote on the power of words from this context:

"We have often murdered one another in mind and heart and thought, have we not? We have nursed thoughts against people which are as foul as murder. ...we have said of another, 'Raca.' Oh, yes, there are ways in which men can be destroyed short of murder. We can destroy a man's reputation, we can shake somebody else's confidence in him by whispering criticism or by deliberate fault finding. That is the kind of thing which our Lord is here indicating, and His whole purpose is to show that all that is included in this commandment: 'Thou shalt not kill.' Killing does not only mean destroying life physically, it means still more trying to destroy the spirit and the soul, destroying the person in any shape or form.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Gospel Reconciliation: Read Philippians 2:1-11. Brad said that "Reconciliation is the only thing that brings an end to anger” and that “If anger is the common language of the world, then Reconciliation is the common language in the church!” Two things to dig into: What does this reconciliation of anger look like - How did Jesus describe it? How does the gospel transform our hearts toward reconciliation? (Leaders: Because Jesus fulfilled the law, victory and joy is no longer defined as winning the fight and getting your way. Victory and joy are found through repentance and reconciliation - that Jesus wins. The gospel shows us how differently God handled his anger at those who opposed him from how we handle our anger at those who oppose us - this is at the heart of the Phil. 2 passage. It took Jesus dying, taking the cross for us to reconcile us to God.)

"Our anger, leads us to insult and treat others as nothings in an effort to make ourselves something… while Jesus’s anger at our sin led him to make himself nothing, to make us something" (the righteousness of God - 2 Cor. 5). - Brad from the sermon

Takeaway questions for reflection this week: Assuming that we all have “a problem with anger”, what does anger look like in your life? What does it look like when things don’t go your way? What about when you have to wait on someone or something? Are there people in our lives that we need to forgive, or be reconciled to/with?

A sermon based on Matthew 5:21-26 by Matthew Martin, preached on June 25, 2017 at Veritas Short North as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

Discussion Questions:

Pastor Matt began the sermon by discussing this idea of Jesus' authority to say the things he said in the sermon on the mount. Can anyone summarize what Matt was saying in this regard? ... How do you regularly view the words of Jesus? As authoritative, or as something else?
Pastor Matt used the phrase "toxic anger." In what ways have you seen anger to be toxic, perhaps in your own life or in the lives of those around you?
Matt shared the idea that anger often times comes from reality not meeting up with our previously held desires or expectations. What do you think about this? ... What are some ways you have experienced this recently in your life, unmet expectations leaving way for anger to brew? ... What shapes your desires and expectations? How can we root our expectations in truth?
What does the idea of retaliation look like for a Christian? ... How does the idea of "loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you" (Mt. 5:44) feel? ... What about the gospel allows us to respond in grace and mercy, rather than judgement, anger, and hate?
In Genesis 4, Cain answers God saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?". What can we learn about anger from the case study of Cain and Able? ... In Ephesians 4, Paul says that Christians "are members of one another." How can loving Christians aid one another in their pursuit of Christ likeness in regards to this idea of anger?

A sermon based on Matthew 5:17-20 by Wes Thompson, preached on June 18, 2017 at Veritas West as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

A sermon based on Matthew 5:17-20 by Brad Snyder, preached on June 18, 2017 at Veritas Tri-Village as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

Getting Started: As Jesus gets into this portion of the Sermon, what are the people listening to Him thinking? Where have the first verses of this sermon left them mentally/emotionally? Why? So given what Jesus has said in the Beatitudes, what are the people thinking about the law; what about blessing? (Leaders: different people listening to Jesus would have had different thoughts, but shock would have been the universal reaction. They would have been wondering, “what about the law”? That was a huge focus for the Jews - they found their identity in this, and rightly so. But it both crushed them, and made them proud. So "some are celebrating and some are furious” said Brad. This is the backdrop to this passage 17-20).

Defining Our Terms: When Jesus says, “the law and the prophets”, what is He referring to? (Leaders: the entirety of the Old Testament Scripture).

Brad mentioned that there are at least four ways in which Jesus “fulfills the law”, let’s look at some of those (Leaders: as you reviews the points below, point number four might be something you’ll want to spend more time on, so budget your time accordingly!):

First by being the full revelation of God’s character (see Hebrews 1:1-3; John 1:14) - What did this look like in the life of Jesus? How did he manifest the character of God? What attributes do we see in the life of Jesus?

Second by fulfilling what the prophets predicted the coming of the messiah (see Luke 24:25-27). What kinds of prophecies can you recall from the Old Testament that spoke of a coming Messiah? Are there any details that we celebrate - for instance, at Christmas - that relate to this? (Leaders: just a few examples: Gen. 49:10 the Messiah would come from tribe of Judah and have the scepter; Ex. 12 Jesus the passover lamb; Deut. 18:15-19 Messiah will be prophet like Moses; 2 Sam. 7:12-16 Messiah will be a descendant of David; Ps. 2 Messiah will be called “God’s Son”; Ps. 22 Messiah will be forsaken, pierced, but vindicated etc. etc.)

Third by perfectly fulfilling/obeying the requirements of the law - not just outwardly but by having the perfect heart, rejecting the superficial observance of the law (see Hebrews 4; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22). Why was it so important that Jesus was obedient to the law and to the Father? How does this matter to us even now 2000 years later - and specifically what does it mean for us personally?

Fourth by fulling the entire story of redemption and the history of God’s people - all history points to Jesus. And this transforms how we look at history (especially redemptive history in the Bible). How do stories like David and Goliath get transformed when we realize that they are NOT about us, but about Jesus? How does this change your approach to Bible, and also living out the Christian life? Are there other stories in the Bible which you can see pointing to Christ in a similar way? (Leaders: When we see Jesus as the one who fulfilled the law, and the one to whom history points, we see that these men were simply “types” who pointed forward to "the perfect”. There are certainly aspects of these men and women that demonstrate the fullness of Christ’s character, but they were all men like us. Read Hebrews 11 for more examples of this!)

Its not the question of Jesus’ relation to the Law that is in doubt but rather its relation to him! - D.A. Carson

Do Christians pick and choose aspects of the law to obey? Brad explained that one way to think about the Old Testament law is to separate it into “civil, ceremonial, and moral” aspects - though there are definitely some overlap between these. Without spinning wheels working to divide them all up, how can we see how Jesus fulfilled the civil law? What about the moral law? Has the ceremonial law completely passed away? How has Jesus transformed/fulfilled this aspect of the Old Testament? How does this affect our walk with Christ today? (Leaders:

For all the Old Testament and the Law, we can ask "How does this point me to Jesus, and if He fulfilled this then how should I live?" - Brad, from the sermon

For new covenant Christians - the church - what does it look like to obey the law today? Do you obey the law of Christ merely from outward conformity? There is nothing righteous about obeying to simply be accepted. Therefore, how do we rightly obey? What does that look like in your family life? In other words, what do we expect from our kids - do you mirror Christ-like obedience? What would that look like?

Looking a bit at how legalism works in our lives…Brad mentioned that while the legalism of the Pharisees certainly added a great burden to the lives of Jews, it also prevented them from dealing with heart issues. What are some of the ways that we reshape the law of God to make it more palatable to us? Put another way, how have we/you insulated your life from dealing with heart issues? Have you ever implemented rules or practices that started with good intent, but ended up preventing you from dealing with heart issues by becoming the focus of your efforts?

Jesus loves you too much to abolish the law, and he loves you too much to let the law condemn you! So what does he do? He came to Fulfill it for you! He lived a perfect (righteous) life...but he didn’t only fulfill the law by being obedient to it, he fulfilled the punishment the law demands for someone whose broken it and rebelled against it! He fulfilled the punishment you owed and he fulfilled the righteousness you need to be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven! - Brad, from the sermon

What are the consequences of Christ’s fulfillment of the law for our lives today? (Leaders: we are accepted by God because of His grace. We can walk in grace, knowing that we can stop running from the law, and let it drive us to our need for Jesus. Let the law do its work to let it lead you to grace.)

A sermon based on Matthew 5:17-20 by Joe Byler, preached on June 18, 2017 at Veritas Short North as part of the sermon series in Matthew.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does it mean that Christ came to “fulfill the law”? How is this third way better than if he had said that he came to “abolish the law” or “enforce the law”?

2. What does Christ’s fulfillment of the law mean for us as Christians in regards to our relationship with God?

3. If the law is fulfilled, what place does it have in the life of a Christian? What laws still apply to us – all, some, or none? Think categorically in terms of moral (relational laws between people and God), civil (governing laws of the land), and ceremonial (sacrifices, cleansing, etc.) laws

4. In day-to-day life, what does it look like for you to live in light of this truth of the fulfillment of the law in Christ? How do you address sin in your life? How do you pursue righteousness?

5. The Psalmist says he delights in the law of God. What about Jesus can allows us to say we delight in God's law?

A sermon based on Matthew 5:13-16 by Jeremy Hart, preached on June 11, 2017 at Veritas Tri-Village as part of the sermon series in Matthew.