Matthew: What Is True Righteousness?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aGiDJTP8z0

Psalm 112 NIV

1 Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands. 2 Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever. 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. 5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. 6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. 7 They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. 9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor. 10 The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

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Opening Hymn

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Isaiah 1:10–20 NIV

10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Worship set

1 Timothy 6:3–16 NIV

3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Prayer Chorus

Prayer

Worship through the Word:

What Is Righteousness?

What is righteousness? People familiar with the term recognize that it is a condition of entering heaven, but how do we achieve it? Or are we even able to achieve it?

These are the questions I want us to look at today. Our text is a familiar one. It is called, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We will be looking at this subject for three weeks. We will not read all of it, but will focus in on certain aspects of it. So, if you are able, please stand for the reading of Matthew 5:1-20.

Matthew 5:1–20 NIV

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17 “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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God!

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What is True Righteousness?

Today we are going to look at the beatitudes as taught by Jesus. This is not the first time I have preached on this subject. In fact, we even studied it as one of our Lent series. I try not to repeat myself since there are plenty of books in the bible that have very rarely been preached on that I hope to preach, but it is also appropriate to return to the life of Jesus and His teachings regularly.

This particular subject is very important and one I fear many misunderstand. When we read them, it is troubling and we often wonder why Jesus seems to be calling us to what sounds like an impossibility for us. It is my hope that today you will leave here feeling some clarity on the subject of the Beatitudes.

I do not want to take time to look at these individually, though I may on a couple that are the most misunderstood. My hope is to help you have a better grasp of why Jesus taught these.

Before we begin, I want us to watch some of that overview video again. This time, we will watch the portion I did not show last time. As you view it, keep in mind that I will spend 3 weeks on chapter 5-7 and then we will jump to chapter 13, so take special note of what takes place in chapters 8-10 as well as chapters 11 & 12.

Bible Project Video

We will start today with what is called...

I. The Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7

I have mentioned in the past that I do not like watching movies of Bible events because they often misrepresent facts. Now, I am not saying you cannot watch them. But as a teacher of the Bible, they begin to confuse me on what is real and what is artistic license. I know my parents really enjoy that series, “The Chosen.” I suspect this is a means God is using these days to take His message into our nation since so many do not attend church anymore. I have no problem with that. I have not watched it so I cannot say how accurate their details are but my understanding is they try to keep it true to scripture. This is easier to do with an ongoing series instead of trying to fit the entire account into a 2-3 hour movie.

However, many movies on this subject tend to show Jesus on a mountain and a multitude of many men, women, and children (like when he fed the multitudes) all gathered around as he delivers this long sermon. This is a misconception.

Chapters 5 - 7 are a collection of various teachings Jesus taught to his inner circle over time. Sometimes He addressed large crowds but He often drew away from the crowds to teach this smaller groups. It would have consisted of the 12 and perhaps some women (perhaps with children) that were traveling with them. There may have been even some others that were more sincere in their following. We know that in Matthew 10 Jesus sends out the 12 Disciples but in Luke 10, presumably another time, he sends out 72. Based on my own leadership experience. I expect that the 12 were nearly always there as Jesus taught. These 72 were probably there more than the crowds but less than the 12. The number of times Jesus spoke to the large crowds would be even less.

For the most part, most of this was teaching the twelve in preparation of their leading the church once he returns to the Father. Later, we will see that Jesus will address the crowds in parables with no explanations but then give explanation to the inner circle after the crowds have left. We will talk more on this when we get there.

Have you ever compared notes with a fellow class mate after a class and compared what stood out to you? You will find that sometimes you noticed the same things and at other times you noticed different things. This is why study groups are so successful. You each have take-aways from the professors teachings to help each other with. Each gospel writer gathered Jesus’ teaching and used them in their gospels according to the audience they were addressing. Matthew collected them by subject as we saw in the video. With this understanding, let us jump into...

A. The Fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17-20)

Jesus did not come and wipe out the structure of the Old Testament to create some new teaching. You need to think of it more like building blocks. Jesus’ teaching was building up from the foundational teaching provided in the Old Testament. People needed to understand the Old Testament to understand why we needed a Savior. However, it had become distorted over time by other teachings added to it.

The Old Testament had very few rules. It more or less presented principles. People were to take those principles and seek God’s help in understanding how to apply them to their lives. If they followed God’s lead, they need not worry about breaking God’s laws. God would not lead them in the wrong direction of sin. However, we know they were not good at following God’s lead.

I am starting at the end of our passage because to understand, we need to understand what the Pharisees were referring to when they pointed to the Law. When they referred to “the law,” they could be referring to one of four sources they considered the law:

The Law According to Judaism Practices:

1. The Ten Commandments,

2. The Torah (First 5 books of OT),

3. The Law and the Prophets (entire OT),

4. The oral or Scribal Law (Mishnah)

This scribal law was originally oral but later it was written. It is what is now called “The Mishnah.” It included very specific and detailed rules that they had created to try to prevent offending God or His laws (approx 800 pages in English). These became so detailed and full of such minutia that they created a commentary for the Mishnah called the Talmuds (Set of 12 books prior to exile, set of 60 books from exile period). To the Pharisee or scribe, all of these were sacred. But Jesus denied these Scribal laws. These were not from God but were man-made rules.

When you compare the two, you find a very big difference. God’s laws (pretty much all summed up in the Ten Commandments), were all about respect for God, respect for others and respect for oneself. On the other hand, the Mishnah are all about placing respect on the law, even at the detriment of people. So, when Jesus said,

Matthew 5:17–18 NIV

17 “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. 18 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.

He was talking about the true law of God, not these man-made rules that the Pharisees prided themselves on. These Pharisees and scribes would quit all else to dedicate themselves to these rules but essentially, the rules had become their god at the expense of God/people.

It is important to understand that the laws that the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking, were these scribal laws. Jesus never disobeyed a law of the OT. So, in clear conscience, Jesus can say He came to fulfill the law.

Now, I hope you have a better understanding of “The Law” as it was understood by Jesus compared with the Pharisees and, and why there was so much conflict between them. So, let us move to...

B. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)

As we look at these Beatitudes, let me remind you that these are being taught to Jesus inner circle. The beatitudes are not a new teaching. Instead, they are clarification of what righteousness is. For years, the Pharisees have preached that righteousness is holding fast to the law and living it out in all you do. They are focused on outward practices.

Jesus is teaching that righteousness is not an action one takes to follow a rule. Righteousness is right living because your heart is focused on the right thing, that being God and love. If we love God and love our felling human beings, we will conduct ourselves more righteously.

In sharing these beatitudes, Jesus is describing is what God’s Kingdom is like. How it differs from the kingdoms of men.

We need to understand that these are not replacing the Old Testament teachings but they are building on them. Jesus is showing how God’s expectations go farther than what Judaism has taught them.

A great example is demonstrated in Matthew 5:21.

Matthew 5:21 NIV

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

Jesus is referring to the sixth commandment given in Exodus 20. He wants them to understand that righteousness goes further than a rule not to murder. It is about the attitude of the heart.

Matthew 5:22 NIV

22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Jesus is not saying that the Old Commandment is wrong, but that it requires more than what is seen on the surface. Jesus is taking the OT law and building upon it to demonstrate true righteousness. It comes not by our outward actions alone but our outward actions are dictated by our true heart passions. A man who treats his fellow man with respect and does not linger on anger, will never be tempted to commit murder. It only makes sense, right?

The Pharisees had no love for their fellowmen. They were too busy trying to display their own importance and righteousness. They felt by observing the various traditions, feasts, and ordinances of the law, all the law, both God and their own assumptions, they proved themselves righteous. However, righteousness is more motivated from the heart and they had no heart righteousness.

The Pharisee based their eternal disposition on achievement through their relationship to Abraham and their ability to demonstrate through outward practices what they felt their just rewards. In other words, they felt they could earn a place in heaven.

Jesus, and later Paul, had much to say on this. Men can do nothing to achieve a place in heaven. We are unable on our own to produce the kind of righteousness required.

To help them understand, Jesus gives them a preview of true righteousness. Many think that the beatitudes are something we are to strive to obtain here. The truth is, they are far above what we achieve in our sin nature. God’s word and the OT teaching was always meant to help us see that we are so far short of true righteousness, that we can never get there on our own. Only through the work of Jesus can we hope to obtain that kind of righteousness.

When Jesus spoke these beatitudes in Aramaic, they would not have heard, “Blessed are the poor in spirit...”, instead, it would sound like, “O the blessedness of the poor in spirit...”. He is pointing to what it will be like in God’s Kingdom. There we will experience true and complete righteousness.

So, with this said, let us look at the beatitudes. Matthew 5:3-12

Matthew 5:3–12 NIV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Poor:

This is not the kind of poor that causes pain; hunger, disease, distress. But it is being completely reliant on God. We do not concern ourselves with achieving money or things because we are taken care of by God.

2. Mourn:

Is not over the death of a loved one, but over the pain we have caused God and ourselves through our sin. It is confessing and being truly repentant.

3. Meek:

Humble enough to submit to God.

4. Hunger & Thirst:

Having a true desire for God and doing what is right. In other words, God is all the food and water you need.

5. Merciful:

Understanding people under their skin and caring about their needs. Not just satisfying a need by trying to help the base problem creating the need.

6. Pure in heart:

Purity is not measured by our deeds. The true measure of purity is measured by God’s purity.

7. Peacemakers:

The idea of peacemaking is often misunderstood. It is not ignoring or turning away from conflict. It is facing conflict to produce peace with God for us as well as peace with God for others.

8. Persecuted:

This has to do with the persecution we experience because we follow God. Jesus was persecuted every day of his ministry. He was constantly being judged as he was being measured against man’s rules, not God’s.

9. Insulted:

This is similar to persecution. We are definitely seeing a lot of insult these days in our nation. The kinds of insults and accusations (false accusations as it were), will lead to persecution which is also on the rise).

These beatitudes will be perfected in us in heaven. That does not mean that we do not work at them here and now. On our own, we will not achieve these, but through Jesus Spirit living in us, we will improve in these areas here and now.

For those who truly hunger for righteousness, and who put their trust in Christ, Jesus equates us to two positive influences. He states...

C. Two Positive Traits of Believers

1. Salt (Matthew 5:13)

Matthew 5:13 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Salt is associated with three things. Purity, preservative, and flavor enhancer.

a. Purity

Our lives are to be an example of purity. That is why scripture addresses things like, not swearing, abstaining from course humor, and sexual purity. Once again, our purity is not measured my the actions of men, or even our actions, but our measured against the purity of God.

b. Preservative

Plutarch said this the best. “The meat is a dead body and part of a dead body, and will, if left to itself, go bad; but salt preserves it and keeps it fresh, and is therefore like a new soul inserted into a dead body.”

The people of this world are like a dead body walking. We are a preservative that when applied to their dead souls, can bring fresh new life. We may be the only hope some people ever have of knowing God and finding true life.

c. Flavor Enhancer

In a world that struggles with depression, lost hope, fear of tomorrow, we bring joy, hope, and a sense of well-being. We demonstrate that service to God is not gloom and doom, but peace and joy.

And last but not least Jesus says we are...

2. Light (Matthew 5:14-15)

Matthew 5:14–15 NIV

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Jesus is the light, but His light continues to shine today through us.

Lamp picture

Share story of the Jewish lamp. (Dark house, small window, floating wick in oil, lampstand (roughly shaped branch), lamp was placed under a bushel basket for safe keeping when they were out to prevent mishap and the need to relight).

We should not be ashamed of the gospel or Christ’s work in our life. We should be eager to share and allow Jesus light to shine for others to see.

Conclusion:

We do not hide our faith. Too many times I have heard people say, “Her/his faith is her/his own private concern and is no one else’s business.” However, this is not what Jesus said. We are to not put our light under a bushel. We are to let our light shine in this dark world so that others may come to know Him. There is a lack of confidence in someone when they feel they need to hide their faith. It probably means they do not have a very strong relationship or understanding of Jesus.

We really have had little to fear from letting our light shine but things are changing. However, this does not mean that we hide. More than ever we need to shine.

In the early days of Christianity, they risked loosing family, jobs, and even their lives by sharing the gospel. We have never understood that, but we are beginning to understand.

In Roman days, Christians often had to turn down jobs because they required them to construct temples to other gods, or items for worship of these gods. Social gatherings were often dedicated to gods and their meats were sacrifices they had made to their gods. So, Christians lost friends as well when they were not willing to participate.

We see some similar things happening today. A flower business is in court as the government is telling her she has to provide for gay marriages. A woman is arrested for standing a short distance away from an abortion clinic in prayer. She was not hurting anyone. In fact, it was probably mercy on her part. She probably understands the pain of such an act and is concerned for the pain these women will later suffer.

The church is being called terrorists because so many voted for Trump.

Persecution, insults, false accusations. They are all coming. But we do not hide our light. Now is the time to shine bright. Now is the time to be salt in our nation. Salt burns when applied to a wound, so we should not be surprised when people do not like it when we speak truth applying salt to their wounds. But what begins as pain, can bring healing to some willing to allow it.

Romans 3:21–24 NIV

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I am so glad it does not depend on my ability to keep the beatitudes perfectly, but on my desire to follow Jesus and trust His work in my life. And all God’s people said, “Amen!”

Pray