There are 613 statutes in the ancient Hebrew law. How many are there in the new law?

It depends on who you ask. Church people will give you different answers, depending on what flavor of church—what denomination—they happen to be a part of. This is one of the fundamental clues pointing to how they misunderstand Jesus and his priorities.

It turns out that his answer to the question is as shocking as it is liberating. Join us as we look at what he says in Matthew 5:13–48.

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In this new Kingdom of Heaven, what are the standards of crime and punishment? Of law and order?

One of the problems church people have with Jesus’s radically simplified law code is that it seems ready-made for people to take advantage of. We can see the need for mercy and forgiveness, but only for those who seem to be on the right path.

In Matthew 5:48, 6:12, 14–15, and 18:21–35 Jesus gives us a wake up call about his limits.

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• Attending to waywardness over generations
• The Retribution Principle

After 50 years of all-out war, who is winning? And, remind me, who are we supposed to be fighting?

And, who is the Golden Rule supposed to be applied to? Just the people on our side?

Good church people have gotten pretty far off track in all the fighting. Maybe Matthew 6:1–8, 16–23, and 7:1–14 will help remind us of what needs to change, and who needs to do the changing.

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In the war to make America safe again for Christianity it seems like for every two steps we gain, we take five steps back.

We’ve been doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results. Some would say that’s the definition of insanity, but others would say we just need to try a little harder, for a little longer. Who are we supposed to believe?

In Matthew 7:13–27, Jesus tells us how to know who to follow.

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Who are the first twelve people you meet in the Kingdom of Heaven? And what can they tell us about who this kingdom is for?

Good church people think they know the answer—at least to the second question. And their answer explains why the church looks the way it does today.

In Matthew 8—11, Jesus issues his first invitations for people to join him in this kingdom. Based on his choices, it seems pretty clear that his kingdom isn’t going to look much like our churches after all.

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