A New Kind of Righteousness

Background

Before we get into it I want you to ask yourself a question.

In what ways do I attempt to glorify God? Ask yourself that question and think about how you initially respond to that question in your head. What you think encompasses glorifying God. Now keep that question in your mind as we continue through God’s Word today.

Jesus had started his sermon by giving His disciples a picture of a new kind of a kingdom. A kingdom that welcomes those who have a right understanding of their sin, who desire a relationship with God, and who live in a way that loves their neighbor.

And the words of Jesus will look at today are the end of his introduction before He starts to get down to the rules of the kingdom. Jesus started with the Beatitudes where He told them who are the righteous, He told them the consequence of being righteous, and now He will them what it means to be righteous.

At this point you might be saying “Austin…I have no idea what the word righteousness means. People keep saying it, and I just pretend to know what it means but I really have no idea.”

Righteousness is a legal term, one who is “proved” right, or one who is just. It is our standing before God in context of our character. And what Jesus will do, and has done, is define for us what it means to be righteous. What we will see Jesus will do in our passage today is He will tell us that righteousness is a call to outward obedience and action but inward motivation. That is what this “new kind of righteousness” is. As we will see, the Pharisees will define righteousness as just an outward obedience. Do the right things, follow the law, and you will enter the kingdom of heaven. While some may want it to not be about what you do, but your heart “being in the right place”. But Jesus says, no, to be righteous means both the inward and the outward. In the Beatitudes Jesus started with the inward. The poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Then He went to the outward. The merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because of their righteousness.

And so before Jesus starts to apply what this righteousness looks like He gives His definition.

Righteousness is a call to outward action but inward motivation.

Righteousness means responsibility to proclaim the kingdom and faithfulness to God’s commands.

Righteousness means outward action

Jesus uses two illustrations. Salt and light.

And these are situated after the warning to believers that they will suffer for the sake of righteousness. From this flow the call to be salt and light. Jesus points to His listeners “YOU are the salt, YOU are the light”. They are the ones who will be persecuted if they follow Him. He is calling them to invite others to enjoy the kingdom of God and to glorify Him. That just because they may fear what may come, they must also be prepared to be those who go into an unbelieving world.

The first is salt. He calls us the “salt of the earth”. What does that mean?

Well there are two important uses of salt that will help us to see what Jesus is getting at by using this illustration.

Salt is a preservative

Now in our context we don’t usually consider this the first use of salt. We think of salt first for how it gives flavor. But the first thing they would have thought of is how they used it on meat so that it prevented decay, how it would be used in wounds to help it from getting infected, and how it was used as a purifying agent. This is why in the Old Testament, in covenants, it was used to initiate a covenant. To show how it would be preserved going forward.

Numbers 18:19 ““I give to you and to your sons and daughters all the holy contributions that the Israelites present to the Lord as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord for you as well as your offspring.””

2 Chronicles 13:5 “Don’t you know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”

What Jesus is telling them is that they are to be ones who prevent the moral decay that is going on in the world, that they are to be the ones who act in a way that is consistent with the kingdom of God. But in order for salt to be used for the purpose it has to be contact with that thing with which it wants to prevent decay.

Jesus is calling them to intentionally interact with the unbelieving world so that they might make a difference. To be the merciful, to be the peacemakers, to force the world to see that they are different and to be willing to seek change even when it means persecution. That they must saturate the world with the glory of God so that they may glorify Him.

It can be easy for us to just let the decay happen, to say “the world is evil and corrupt” and to complain about it without ever seeking to change it. This means not compromising when it is easy to compromise. Decay happens slowly, it works its way slowly through us until it has taken over our hearts, we may not even recognize it. And if that happens Jesus says it would have been better for us to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. What He is saying is “what good is salt if it can’t do what it is intended to do.” Jesus literal words are “if the salt should lose its taste, how can the earth be salted?”

I read this story in one commentary by a man named Craig Keener and I thought it was a good summary of this.

“Until my conversion in 1975 I professed to be an atheist in part because I looked at the roughly 85 percent of my fellow U.S. citizens who claimed to be Christians and could not see that their faith genuinely affected their lives. I reasoned that if even Christians did not believe in Jesus’ teachings, why should I? My excuse for unbelief—and the excuse of many other secularists I knew—continued until God’s Spirit confronted me with the reality that the truth of Christ does not rise or fall on the claims of his professed followers, but on Jesus himself. The faith of nominal Christians may appeal to non-Christians who can use it to justify their own unbelief, but such “Christians” will have no part in God’s kingdom. Instead they will be thrown out and trampled (5:13)...Just as tasteless salt lacks value to the person who uses it, so does a professed disciple without genuine commitment prove valueless for the work of the kingdom.”

Another way we could say it is, “are you bothered by how the world acts and what the world believes? What are you doing to stop it? How are you affecting it? Or is the world leading you to decay instead?”

Salt enhances flavor

Now this is how we use salt. We put it on everything! I already know that I use too much salt. But why do we love salt? Because unlike other seasonings that create a new taste in our food, which we often enjoy, salt just enhances the flavor that is already there. It doesn’t create something new.

I love a good steak. Medium rare, still a little red in the middle. But you know if it is a good steak. Like a nice, rib-eye…my mouth is already watering. You don’t part garlic seasoning, you don’t put chili powder! What do you put? Just a little salt and pepper. Why?! Because the salt is just going to enhance the already incredible flavor of the rib-eye…and now I have lost everyone to their thoughts about lunch. Already, get back to me!

So what Jesus is showing them is that they are to be the ones that enhance the good flavor of the world God has created. Each of us have strengths and gifts. No matter the person. But those in Christ are to enhance the world around them. To not just be sort of generous, but incredibly generous. To not be sort of merciful, but overflowing with mercy.

God made us in His image, that means everywhere we go we carry the image of God with us. But because of sin that image has been marred, we have lost some of our ability to act according to that image. But for us to be the salt of the earth is to enhance the image of God that is in us in a way that the unbelieving world is able to see God through us. Jesus will say that in verse 16 that our light shines so that they “may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.”

This bring us to the second example Jesus uses, that of light.

Light removes fear

Jesus uses two analogies in context of light. First, a “city situated on a hill”. He reminds us that a city on a hill is unable to be hidden when there are lights on. It will be seen from miles and miles away. And as the disciples are listening to Jesus they would certainly be reminded about the city of Jerusalem. A city that for Israelites was a reminder of God’s protection of His people, a place of safety and security.

And if they are that light, there is no one they can be hidden, if they are living with a kingdom mindset then it will be abundantly evident where and who they are.

Light gives guidance

Jesus then uses the example of a lamp in a house. Why do you have lights in your house? So you don’t trip and fall as you walk around. It helps you to get where you are going, it helps you to see clearly so that you can accomplish a task.

And after Jesus gives these two examples Jesus tells them that they should let their line shine. So that the world may “see their good works.”

What we see here is what the Westminster Catechism says “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to praise Him forever.”

Jesus is telling them those who live for the kingdom of heaven are those who act in a way that make others safe and who help lead people to God. Who point a light to Him.

Our good works are the way we treat others, how we invest our time, how we use our resources. That when people see us, when they see our actions, that it is readily apparent that there is something different about us. We aren’t like the world, we can’t be hidden.

Philippians 2:12-15 “Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world,”

1 Peter 2:11-15 “Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits. Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.”

God calls us to shine our light, not dim it! How do we dim it? When in situations where we could let our light shine and be open about our faith and what we believe, because it feels uncomfortable, we act like we are "cool" with what others are doing and might even dip into it ourselves so that we don't seem weird. Remember what Brad showed us last week. To be a Christians means that we will seem odd to the world, they will not receive us. But sometimes we wear a badge of honor that the cool kids of the world like us, that we have a spot at the poker table. Sometimes these activities are light dimmers to those we are in contact with. This doesn't mean we try and make every situation awkward, but we shouldn't be fearful about what we believe or how that will be portrayed to others. We also dim our light when we ignore godliness in our day-to-day lives because it would interfere with the things that we would like to do and our priorities. Our Christian-ness is not something that we hope people don’t find out about it, it should be something we are trying to make clear.

But there is one more part to both salt and light that I think will also help us to understand it.

To be the salt and light means we are on mission as the church

When we think of evangelism we often think of personal evangelism. Us going out, individually, and sharing the Gospel with someone. This is certainly part of evangelism and certainly part of what Jesus is saying when it comes to being a Christian. But to consider it from only that perspective would be to only consider it from our American individualism mindset. At this time people are not defined by who they are as an individual but who they are within a community, within a family, within a people group. When Jesus says “you are the salt of the earth…the light of the world” he isn’t using a singular usage of that word but plural usage. Saying “you as a people are the salt and light of the earth. Think about it, if you put one piece of salt on food, are you going to taste it? If you have one candle lit within a whole city can it be seen from outside the city? What we see here is that the whole church, collectively, is missional in its identity in which we as believers join in that mission. We want people to see we are the light because our church is the light and we want people to see that Jesus is the light because of our church.

Mark add this part of Jesus saying in His Gospel.

Mark 9:50 “Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.””

This is why unity in the church is necessary for the mission of the church. For it to be tasteful it needs to work together, in needs to work in unison. For the light to be seen, the light needs to be in the same place. It is essential that we don’t just act personally as a Christian, but that we act corporately as a church.

A few weeks ago when we gathered together and discussed “What Comes After?” one of the things that I loved is how much the things we talked about were ways to impact the community. Caring for the poor, for the sick, for the struggling families, for the students who don’t have support. But we can’t just say that those are priorities, we need to do it!

What I pray is that people come flocking to New Beginnings because there is something different about that church. They care for people, they are active in their community, they have compassion on people.

But as Jesus will continue to show us, it can’t just be our actions, it also needs to be our heart that is motivated to love God.

Righteousness means inward motivation

As Jesus continues to talk He wants to clarify something. Because up until this point those who are hearing Him might be saying “Is Jesus getting rid of the law of Moses? Is this a completely new kingdom? Is this a new type of righteousness? These would all be fair questions to ask, because this is one of the more hotly debated texts, and ideas in the New Testament. What laws from the OT are we supposed to follow and which ones are we not? Many fall on different aspects of that question. Some Christian traditions meet on Saturday rather than Sunday, they follow strictly the laws in the OT like the kosher laws. Other Christian groups are very opposite, they think more about what they believe the OT intended and use more freedom in their everyday expression of being a Christian. And you know, the title of this sermon is “A New Kind of Righteousness” but I don’t know if that is a perfect characterization of it, even though I made that title myself. I think it is better to say “A Fulfilled Righteousness”. Because what Jesus is saying isn’t anything new really. In fact, what Jesus criticizes the Scribes and Pharisees for, and what He is saying here, is that the problem has been a lack of complete understanding of the Old Testament. They have chosen some parts to follow while ignoring other parts. Because the central point of the law is not the law itself but what it is connected to. God’s Covenant with His people.

The law was part of God’s covenant with His people that He used in order to redeem them. And the prophets are the people God used in order to help the people to understand the nature of the law and bring them back to faithfulness to God’s covenant. But saying “the law and the prophets” is really a way of saying the entirety of the law. So when Jesus says He came to “fulfill” the law He is really discussing His role in God’s plan of redemption throughout the history of His people and how the culmination of this plan is coming together through Him. Jesus is making clear that God’s covenant will continue, but it is a question of “how will it function?”

And so that is what Jesus tells His disciples here. That He didn’t come to abolish but to fulfill. But then He tells them, not a single part of the law will be abolished until all things are accomplished.

Have you ever seen pee-wee football? Or Tee ball? Or kids soccer? If you have you know, first of all, it is a madhouse, it is really just a bunch of kids running around. The rules are in place, run the ball, catch it, tackle the kid with the ball. Now when you get to high school the rules that you learned have not been abolished, in fact they have been fulfilled. Because what was taught to you previously was so that one day you may understand the fulness of the rules of the game. And now that is all making sense.

Jesus is saying "I'm coming to put the full picture together, what you have been taught from the beginning will make greater sense now because what has been said is not being removed but in fact it is moving towards greater significance".

Even though His disciples don’t know what He is talking about, Jesus is already discussing His second coming when there will be final judgment, when the old will be gone and the new shall come. But even though they don’t understand that aspect of what He is saying, what is clear is that for their purposes the law and the prophets are not going anywhere, in fact He is showing the fulness what should have been clear from the beginning.

But Jesus goes even further "not even the smallest part of the law is being removed and will not be removed until the kingdom arrives in its fulness."

Then Jesus tells them “whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus is telling them, “whatever you consider to be the least significant command”, even if that one you break and downplay, well you won’t get into the kingdom of heaven. But you must be careful to follow each and every command, no matter how unimportant you may consider it.

James 2:10 is almost a commentary on this saying from Jesus. “For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.”

Jesus is telling them, “you can’t ignore a part of it and still think you are right with God. Just because I am fulfilling it doesn’t mean you can pick and choose which parts you want to follow and which ones we don’t.”

Don’t we do this? We choose which commands we want to obey and which ones we don’t? And the ones we don’t want to follow we just throw away as no big deal. Maybe you thinking as long as no one is hurt lying is okay. Maybe you don’t mind coveting what other people have, what the problem with desiring more than what I have? It’s not like I will ever get it! Maybe honoring the Sabbath doesn’t mean much to you, “I mean, do we really need to come every week?” Whatever it is, if you break the least of these and then you teach others to disregard it as well, well then you will be called least.

But as Jesus continues He also wants it to be clear that righteousness is not just about rule following. And that is what He says next. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”

The Scribes and Pharisees were the super religious. They were the ones who follow the law to a T. They were the ones who taught others what they were supposed to do, and in many cases they also made things up so that it made it easier for them and harder on others. But they were the highest standard of law following that those listening to Jesus could imagine. They were the ones who influenced public policy, they had credibility among everyone.

So in essence, what Jesus is saying is “if your standard of righteousness is just following the law you are going to fall short.” Why? Because this is the wrong one to seek to enter the kingdom of God. It isn’t just rule following. What Jesus is actually calling us to is much greater than JUST rule following. Nor should we be like them in interpreting it the way that we see fit in order on making it more difficult for others to uphold this standard of righteousness.

Luke 16:14-17 “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at him. And he told them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.”

What Jesus says here is good news for us! Because by this standard we would never get into the kingdom of heaven, because they couldn’t either!

The good news is that the "the poor in spirit will enter the kingdom of heaven", "those who mourn will be comforted", "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled". Jesus brings us back to the Beatitudes where we see the heart that desires God is more important than the external ability to "obey" commands. But at the same time the one who hungers and thirst for righteousness and mourn over their sin will obey the commands of Jesus. And what Jesus is saying is what was also said in the Old Testament! Psalm 52 tells us “you do not want a sacrifice or I would give it, you are not pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humble heart, O God.”

Jesus will show us next week how what he calls us to, in many ways, is more than what the Scribes and Pharisees sought.

And it all comes back to verse 19 where Jesus says that you must teach others to do the same.

To reach the world your righteousness must be both inward and outward

What Jesus is also telling them is, if they are to the be the salt and light, they CANT be like the Scribes and Pharisees.

I read to you James 2:10 earlier, but lets read 11-13 as well.

James 2:10-13 “For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Matthew 23:23 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”

Jesus routinely criticizes the religious elite for setting too high a standard for the common people that none could attain as a way of calling sinful anyone that was below them. This is not salt and light, this isn't "love thy neighbor".

Churches have done this for a long time. Brad used the example last week of having conversations with people about the topics of homosexuality or abortion and being willing to face the consequences of those conversations. But there is a Pharisaical way of having that conversation and there is salt and light. The Pharisaical is the Westborough Baptist people holding signs saying "gay people are going to hell". The Pharisaical is telling someone who had an abortion that they murdered a child.

It’s what churches have done telling people they need to dress a certain a certain way when they walk through the door. It is thinking a new Christian should have no confusion about what they are supposed to do.

But the ones that first recognize their own humility towards God, who first mourn over their own sin, who first are broken and have no where else to go but to the grace of God who called them to His kingdom from their brokenness. Righteousness is not "calling it as a see it" or "this country is going down the drain". Righteousness is "YOU are the salt, YOU are the light. Do you want the world to look like the kingdom of heaven? Then you BE the kingdom of heaven to the world so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." Persecution isn't starting a fight on social media, or pushing the hot button topics to get people fired up, or refusing compassion towards those different than us. True persecution is showing love and grace and mercy yet still being rejected.

Romans 15:4-9 “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice. Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God. For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name.”