The Righteous One

Legal Confusion

Cindy and I stumbled onto a TV series that was discontinued. It is called “The Good Wife” and each episode is a new court case. What makes the series interesting (for me) are all the intricacies of the law and the decisions that the firm makes to try to defend their client. It seems that the more someone works at the firm, the more confusing the law becomes.

I think that the Christian can become confused as well when we study the Bible. You may know the verse in the NT that we are no longer under the Law.

Romans 6:14 NIV

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

But it can be confusing because there are a lot of laws in the OT – some of them are easy to understand, “murder is wrong”, and other laws are harder to understand. People find themselves confused and, at times, not sure what God expects of us to be “righteous”. Now that is a word that needs to be explained…

Righteousness - adherence to what is required according to a standard; for example, a moral standard, though not always.

Righteous person — a person characterized by righteous actions and morals.

So, if righteousness is a standard, what is that standard? Well, the OT supplied that standard, especially through the laws that were given to Moses. The 10 commandments became a standard, the rules for worship became a standard, the purification rites and sacrifices became a standard as well. I’m just mentioning the major ones for the sake of time.

So, by the time of the birth of Jesus, the Jews had been following trying to follow the entire Law but it was very difficult. Jesus was about the change everything.

Jesus Changes it All!

Now, that brings us back to Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount. There is something about Jesus that is radically different from any prophet that they had ever had. Let’s look at what He has to say…

Matthew 5:17–20 NIV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

I want us to notice something (this is very English teacher-esque). The Sermon on the Mount begins “in the third person (‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’); he continued in the second person (‘You are the salt of the earth’); and now he changes to the authoritative first person and uses for the first time his distinctive and dogmatic formula I say to you (18) or I tell you (20).”[1] The question becomes, “Who are you to tell me!”

Everything is about to change because of Jesus Christ. This is why our Bible divides into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The work of Jesus changes everything…

The Old Testament is the NT concealed; the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

Jesus – The Righteous One

Jesus is the standard in the New Testament. He is the standard for us today. WWJD is very real in this sense. We really need to see what Jesus is saying here and it seems that there are 2 main points that He wants to make: (1) Jesus fulfills the Law completely, and (2) as modern-day Christians we are expected to be better than the Pharisees and teachers in righteousness.

Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Law

Let’s look at the 1st of these two statements:

Matthew 5:17 NIV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Jesus realized that the Law needed to be fulfilled in Him. He needed to be sinless. He needed to be perfect. He was priest, king, and prophet. The prophecies of the OT were fulfilled in His birth, life, and death. Everything was completed in Him down to the most minute detail. Jesus knew it and He mentions that every prophecy would be complete down to the smallest letter, or jot.

Matthew 5:18–20 NIV

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus referenced a popular saying among the Jewish rabbi’s that would stress the importance of paying attention to the little things.

Jesus’ smallest letter (NIV), or “jot” (KJV), undoubtedly refers to the Hebrew letter yôḏ, which Jewish teachers said would not pass from the law. They said that when Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah, the yôḏremoved from her name cried out from one generation to another, protesting its removal from Scripture, until finally, when Moses changed Oshea’s name to Joshua, the yôḏ was returned to Scripture. “So you see,” the teachers would say, “not even this smallest letter can pass from the Bible.” Jesus makes the same point from this tradition that later rabbis did: even the smallest details of God’s law are essential.*[2]

I tell that story because this was the culture of the people that were listening and watching every move that he would make.

I think that it is pretty easy for us to accept the 1st point. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law. But it hasn’t answered the question of how we should live. What does it mean for us on this side of the Cross?

Better than the Pharisees and the Teachers

The Pharisees and the teachers spent their lives followings rules. Someone has calculated that the law contains 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions…How then can Christian righteousness actually exceedpharisaic righteousness, and how can this superior Christian righteousness be made a condition of entering God’s kingdom? Does this not teach a doctrine of salvation by good works and so contradict the first beatitude which says the kingdom belongs to ‘the poor in spirit’ who have nothing, not even righteousness, to plead?[3]

From time to time I see on FaceBook a list of things that are ‘signs you are over 60’ or whatever. The more things you’ve done or experienced (used a rotary phone), the more you qualify as a ‘senior citizen’. Many Christians think they are Christians in the same way. Goes to church. Sings Amazing Grace. Doesn’t do this or that. Jesus is not looking for us to have a checklist. He wants a righteousness of the heart. If we will do things from the heart because of Christ, then the law is truly written on the heart.

Jeremiah 31:33 NIV

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The Bible teacher, John Stott, says it this way…

We must not imagine (as some do today) that when we have the Spirit we can dispense with the law, for what the Spirit does in our hearts is, precisely, to write God’s law there. So ‘Spirit’, ‘law’, ‘righteousness’ and ‘heart’ all belong together. The Pharisees thought an external conformity to the law would be righteousness enough.[4]

It is not about getting the checkmarks right. It is about loving God and loving others and obeying out of relationship with Jesus.

The Law Uncovers Some Pretty Ugly Stuff

What does God use to get your attention, to show that you are a long way from perfection? Does He use other people or circumstances?

Long ago a story was told about a proud fishing pond and a fish. Across the land, fishermen would come and exclaim how clear the water was in this pond. Upon hearing yet another positive accolade, the pond’s level of pride began to reach flood stage. “I must be the best and clearest pond in the world!” It didn’t take long for the old fishat the bottom to grow weary of this overdone pride. He had heard it for years. And he, better than anyone, knew what was really in this pond.

Resting on the bottom of the pond, the old fish began to rapidly flutter his fins. As he did, the motion of the water began to stir up the silt on the bottom. It did not take long for the pond to fill up with a murky cloud.

“Stop! What are you doing to me? How dare you dirty me up?!” screamed the offended pond. The fish responded in measured and striking words: “I haven’t done a thing to you except to show what has been in you all the time.

And that is what the law does to us. It simply shows us the sin that has settled in the bottom of our hearts. Just in case we forget who we really are, the law reminds us how desperately we need the cleansing power of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.[5]

It has become popular in some segments of the Church to discount the OT. I strongly disagree, and I disagree for these reasons:

First, the Old Testament contains doctrinal teaching...

The Old Testament does indeed instruct us about God and man and salvation, etc. All the great biblical doctrines are there. Yet it was only a partial revelation. Jesus ‘fulfilled’ it all in the sense of bringing it to completion by his person, his teaching and his work.

Second, the Old Testament contains predictive prophecy.

Much of it looks forward to the days of the Messiah, and either foretells him in word or foreshadows him in type…The first statement of his public ministry was, ‘Fulfilled is the time …’ (Mk. 1:14)…Matthew emphasizes this more than any other evangelist by his repeated formula, ‘All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet …’ The climax was his death on the cross in which the whole ceremonial system of the Old Testament, both priesthood and sacrifice, found its perfect fulfilment. Then the ceremonies ceased. Yet, as Calvin rightly comments, ‘It was only the use of them that was abolished, for their meaning was more fully confirmed.’ They were but a ‘shadow’ of what was to come; the ‘substance’ belonged to Christ.[6]

Third, the Old Testament contains ethical precepts, or the moral law of God.

[7]There are principles of wisdom for parents, leaders, coworkers, judges, lawyers, doctors, on and on. More than trying to forbid a behavior, we should look to understand the purpose of the statement.

So, what the Old Testament teaches about the great Christian doctrines, the prophetic revelations of Jesus Christ, and the ethical principles of the OT are true but our commitment to follow them are motivated by the who of Jesus Christ and the what of Jesus Christ instead of checking the boxes of a moral code – looking good on the outside but filled with rage on the inside.

It is About ATTITUDE

Christian righteousness is not about outdoing the Pharisees, it is about pleasing Jesus. Unfortunately, people often find themselves at one or the other end of a spectrum – legalism or license.

Legalism says – you can’t do this and is more concerned with the Law than the spirit of the Law. Think about Jesus healing on the Sabbath. We can be legalistic about a lot of things. Some people are legalistic about going to church. I’ll be honest, I may or may not go to church when I’m on vacation. I like going to church but I’m not obligated to go to church. When Christ saved us from our sin, He set us free from legalism.

“You, my brothers, were called to be free.”

License says – “Because of grace I can do whatever I want to do”. When we use Christ’s sacrifice as an excuse for sin, we are using God’s grace as a license to sin. This person may decide that they can go anywhere they want (clubs), isolate themselves away from church, fail to support their church, or a number of any other self indulgences.

Galatians 5:13–14 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Both extremes are missing what Jesus is teaching because both are focused on self – self-promotion by rigidly following rules or following no rules.

The Meaning of It All

The truth is that there is no way that I can wrap up the meaning of it all in one thought, but I think that we really need to understand the power that comes with the fact that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law. He completed everything so that we don’t have to. We can just simple enjoy the mercy and grace that has been provided by a perfect sacrifice through Jesus.

Today we talk about the pre-Covid and post-Covid worlds and think about the changes we’ve seen. Can you imagine the Old Covenant world as opposed to the New Covenant under Jesus? They are worlds apart. We owe that to Jesus. Forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. Eternal life through the work of Jesus. Faith, hope, and love through Jesus. That is what Jesus was outlining in the Sermon on the Mount…

And that is what is available to us today.

[1] John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 69. [2]Craig S. Keener, Matthew, vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), Mt 5:17–18. [3] John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 74. [4] John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 75. [5]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians(Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001), 80–81. [6] John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 71–72. [7] John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 72.