The Disciple's Righteousness

Vignette

Narrator: Today in the Coffee shop, Celestial Bean, Hank has returned.  He came today expecting to be interrupted, but there was no one today, the shop seemed to be empty.

Hank:  (Looking around the shop)  Finally, I picked a day that it isn’t busy. [sound relieved] Now I will be able to listen to the book and soak it all in.

(looking at his phone)  I was busy last week...so where did I leave off?  Oh yes, last week was about being Salt and light.  It was quite illuminating.  (chuckles to himself at his own joke)  The next chapter is The Disciple’s Righteousness.  This should be an easy chapter, after all, I keep all of God’s laws.  (He puts in the  earbuds and begins to listen)

 Recording:

This chapter we will be discussing Matthew 5:17-48  To begin let’s read the passage:

“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 say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Hank: (pausing the recording)  My righteousness should exceed the Pharisees?? [looks around] Nope, no Pharisees here...so I am good to go...[draws a check mark in the air] Righteousness exceeded....check (restarts  the recording)

Recording

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Hank: (pausing the recording) What?? anger is equal to murder in God’s eyes?  That seems rather....harsh. When Bob interrupts me all the time, that makes me angry...so have I just murdered him?  

Recording:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Hank: (Stopping the recording in amazement) What??  Now Jesus is getting personal.  Like, my thoughts are mine and nobody else's business.  Thoughts and actions go hand in hand? [shakes his head] Yeah but that's way too tough...no body can meet that requirement.  What does God really want from me? (resumes recording and leaves the coffee shop)

Introduction

What does God really want from me?

Have you ever thought that about yourself?

Has some point in your journey of Getting to know God, while being transformed into the image of Christ, you have asked yourself the question of what does that mean for me?

Today’s text will be answering some of those questions.

The title of today’s message is

The Disciple’s Righteousness.

What does it mean to be righteous.

Is it a set of rules for us to live by,

one author puts it this way

Sermon on the Mount Live the Story

probably the single most important virtue of the Sermon on the Mount. Righteousness, once again, is a term describing behaviors and conditions that reflect doing God’s will

Righteousness

right living.

Some have taken it so far in describing righteousness as doing the right thing.

Folks these verses we are going to look at, could in fact be covered in six different sermons.

I wrestled with these verses all week.

They have been on my mind, my heart, my prayers, and focus.

If you have meet with me, or talked with me this week, you may have noticed I have been a bit distracted.

Should I say, distracted from conversation with you, with others,

These verses and the presentation of these verses and application of these verses have been my primary focus this week.

I tell you this as to let you know, I haven’t entered them lightly.

I have gone over and over these verses, read commentaries, books and the like on these verses in order to present them to you

The disciples of christ

Present them in a way that will be clear, direct and will lead you to a better understanding of the truth that Jesus presented to the people as he spoke to his disciples.

To be honest, some of these words this morning, I hope, will get you to dig deeper as you learn the righteousness Jesus ask of you.

Christ is speaking to each one of us through his words as we discover how we are to be as disciples of Christ.

With all of that, Let’s pray

Scripture

This morning, we will be reading the scripture in stages.

I encourage you to have the scripture handy. We will be looking at the verses found in Mathew 5:17-48

Let’s read the first section

Matthew 5:17–18 ESV

“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 say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

The View of the Law

What is your view of the Old Testament?

Some have said the law, the prophets, the prophecies are old. Outdated. Of no use.

They are in the past,

The New Testament is our new focus.

After all, it’s all about Jesus is it not?

Are we not living in an age of Grace?

Let me tell you this:

“The Law that God had truly given to Israel was, until the coming of the Messiah, the most precious possession of human being on earth. That Law consisted of fundamental teachings such as the Ten Commandments, the “Hear o Israel...” of Deut 6:4-5 and various other elaborations and applications of them by the Jewish prophets up to John the Baptizer.”

-The Divine Conspiracy p 147

Have you ever been working in a company that constantly changed the leaders of the company?

Have you had the feeling of now what is going to happen when…Let’s say, Frank or Sally are the new CEO and they have a new plan.

Have you thought, what was wrong with the old way?

Maybe you are on the other side of the coin.

You have been working at a company and they finally bring in a new leader.

You think, It’s about time, I hope this new person will bring about a new change that will be much better for the company.

I can well image the crowd following Jesus that moment. They had gathered on the hillside, sitting and listening to Jesus, and thinking that very thing.

The current religious leaders are different than this teacher. It has been hard to follow what they have been saying, Jesus, the messiah will be changing everything.

Then,

To their amazement,

Jesus utters these words.

“Do not think I have come to abolish the law”

If the change management thinkers of this world, would look on these words, they would highly endorse Jesus.

A new leaders shouldn’t come into a new position and change anything quickly.

But did you notice,

Jesus didn’t stop there

he continued.

I came to fulfill it.

Fulfill it?

The Law was written not as a stop gap until Jesus Came, It was to be a part of Him and he came to fulfill the law.

To make it perfect, completed.

Stott writes,

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. Christ and the Law (17, 18)

People are still asking today, though in different ways, about the relation between Jesus and Moses, the New Testament and the Old. Since Jesus grasped the nettle and declared himself plainly on the issue, we should not be shy of following suit. He had come (notice in passing his awareness that he had come into the world on a mission) neither to abolish the law and the prophets, setting them aside or abrogating them, nor even just to endorse them in a dead and literalistic way, but to fulfil them.

You see the law contains

Doctrinal Teaching

Prophecy

Ethical precepts

Jesus came to fulfill them and to declare the radical demands of the righteousness of God.

Jesus moves forward and directs his comments to his disciples.

Matthew 5:19–20 ESV

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

A couple of things you will need to notice in these verses.

First, Jesus moves their understanding of the law from the Law given to the nation of Israel to the phrase Kingdom of Heaven.

It’s moving from what was

to now what is.

The sermon on the mount is all about living in the Kingdom, Belonging in the kingdom and how to be in the kingdom.

Therefore, Jesus said.

Positive & Negative

Negative- relax or tell others to relax the words, you will be called least

Positive- Follow and do them and teach them, you will be great.

so if your listening this morning to Jesus’ words, the Law is something we must follow. To obey, to be our moral guide as we are being transformed into the image of Christ.

Jones writes,

“the danger here is to try to make ourselves Christian by adding something new, instead of the very nature which it is within, being renewed in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.”

It’s not like the merit badge you would have received as a child in completing a task.

It’s not something we hold onto and flaunt before others. In doing this, they become filthy rags.

Remember Jesus stated that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharasees

Righteousness is not something we do, but what we have declared by God. It’s a change of our heart. Inward.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 5

Our righteousness, then—if it is to contrast with the outward and formal righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees—must be inward, vital, spiritual. Some, indeed, of the scribes and Pharisees themselves might have the very righteousness here demanded; but our Lord is speaking, not of persons, but of the system they represented and taught.

Law is not an opposite of Grace, rather it is the grace that allows us to fulfill the Law.

I can just image the looks of the people who had just heard Jesus words.

They had viewed, had been told, that righteousness is what you do, now Jesus just confronted this understand.

Jesus saw there troubled look, so he began a discourse on six areas of the heart.

The six “You have heard”

Jesus now takes them through a list of right living in the new kingdom.

This idea spread throughout the remaining verses are all about the character of the inner life.

Namely, if we are being transformed into the image of Christ, our inward life should be examples of Christ’s words.

Christ ushered in a new way of thinking vs acting.

Dallas Willard wrote,

“It is the inner life of the soul that we must aim to transform, and then behavior will naturally and easily follow. But not the reverse,. A special term is used in the New Testament to mark the character of the inner life when it should be. This is the term dikaiosune.”

Willard, p 144

We must look at the next six applications of these actions as such.

Jesus began to point out things that were considered righteous, or the right way of living and acting. It was an outward expression.

He then draws their attention to an inward expression or expectation.

Jesus begins each section with the phrase, You have heard that it was said.

You see the law was put into place, but many had taken the law, made rules and judgments and actions to fit the law or problem.

Each one Jesus spoke lead to the next.

Like the beatitudes, there is a sense of order in explanation.

To be honest, there is so much in these verses that each one could and by far should be in a sermon in of itself.

We will look at each one of these in a general sense and the concept Jesus was giving to the people.

Anger

Matthew 5:21–26 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

You shall not murder is describing how we are not to act towards another person who we have a disagreement with.

Jesus takes this statement and takes us deeper.

Anger is that emotion all of us face from time to time when our will is thwarted or interfered with.

It’s a natural response and could be argued vital for our life.

If you look in other parts of the bible, we are told, In your anger, do not sin.

Anger is not the issue, rather our heart’s response to the emotion.

“Anger indulged, instead of simply waved off, always has in it an element of self-righteous and vanity.

Jesus is once again drilling deeper stating that Judgement comes in our response.

The response is wrong, not the emotion.

Has this happened to you. Your driving down the road and a reckless driver drives in front of you endangering your path.

If this continues to happen, and it does, the emotion turns into action. If left unchecked, and we have all seen or heard of road rage.

It’s our heart, that needs checked. What we do when with that emotion, is a matter of the heart.

Jesus is equating the wrong action, is equal to that of murder, not because of the degree of offence, rather with our actions, we are willfully intending to bring about hurt to another.

I honestly experienced this. In college, my roomate and I had made a promise to one another, the time came to fulfill the promise, and he failed. I was angry, hurt.

My response was to do various things to him to “get back at him” as the year progressed, our friendship deteriorated. It could even be stated that that quality friendship was killed.

It would be great to tell you that at the end of the year, there was reconciliation, but there wasn’t. In fact, it wasn’t until decades later, after realizing my sin, and confessing to another I was challenged to follow this passage and be reconciled.

I spend days finding my friend, sent the message asking forgiveness, and it was granted. It is restored, even stronger.

Kingdom disciples view responses to anger and contempt at the same level of Murder. It’s truly comes from the heart.

Matthew 5:27–30 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Lust

Jesus gets real personal in this section.

This one is easy to point fingers at one another and working from the point of actions rather than the heart.

Jesus points us to the heart.

Lustful intent.

Desiring something that isn’t ours.

Jesus is challenging those in the crowd, who by their own actions, are calling themselves better then others but remain desiring things in their heart.

Just a side note, the remedy outlined here is not in a literal sense, but figuratively.

He is getting us to look at the heart issue.

This section was getting the people to think about the action of pointing fingers at the visible outward actions yet remaining ignorant to the inward actions.

Divorce

Matthew 5:31–32 ESV

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

I must say that I spent an appropriate amount of time on this section this past week. Its a topic that is very real, painful, and complex in our world and the church today.

There is much to say on this topic, but let me settle on a few things.

1. This verse must be interpreted in the context of the other six sayings and broadly from other parts of scripture.

Jesus is speaking to an issue to people of what the action vs the heart.

The action was around how divorced happened. The man could, at the slightest inconvenience, issue a divorce to free himself of the women.

It was the hardening of the heart that led to the action. Jesus was addressing that issue and drawing the people back to the issue of the heart.

2. Jesus by no means is promoting divorce or stating it must happen in certain cases.

In fact, when asked later for clarification by the Pharisees, in Matthew 19, he takes them back to the intent of God and Marriage.

God’s ideal for marriage is permanent.

One flesh is something that when separated will bring about pain, shame, and problems.

It is built into the nature of man and women by God. Becoming one flesh cannot be changed without repercussions and because it is from God, man cannot change that order without problems. However, Jesus realizes that the sinfulness of man will appear and his ideal will and does happen.

3. The idea of committing adultery comes back to the historical events of the day.

Willard writes,

“To not marry again was a terrible prospect for the women. It meant, in nearly every case, to grow old with no children as well as with no social position, a perpetual failure as a human. but to marry was to live in a degraded sexual relationship the rest of her life, and precious few husbands would allow her to forget it. As in the phrase “adultery in the heart,” Jesus speaks of being forced into adultery to point out that degraded sexual condition that was, then if not now, sure to be the result of divorce.”

Willard pg 171

4. The final reality, simply put, is that if people had anger, contempt, and lust under control, there would be far less issues for divorce.

The response here in this passage must be interpreted with other passages. If you are struggling with this, may I encourage you to talk with me.

The issues involving divorce and remarriage are complex and most people who struggle with this are not alone. We must look at all the verses found throughout scripture to deal with terms of sin and its affect on the marriage.

Vows

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Jesus was once again talking about the oaths that were used to self promote one self.

It was the outward action of a proud heart.

As one author stated,

The essence of of swearing or making oaths is to try to use something that, though impressive, is irrelevent to the issues at hand to get to others to believe you and let you have your own way.

yes or no sayings directly from the heart, not desiring a self gain or advantage.

Injury

Matthew 5:38–42 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

pause

The main thrust of this section is retaliation or equality.

Remember when we were young young and counting out candy.

One for me, one for you! That’s fair right.

Jesus turned their lives upside down, as new residence in the Kingdom of God, the concept of fairness and equality is not one of this new Kingdom. It must change at the heart.

Let me say, this is not a passage to let others walk over us, or abuse their power or position, rather a heart issue of equality or fairness.

Here is the hear issue. When someone comes and takes something from us, and we do not retaliate with in kind, there is a notice of change. It will bring about shift in their thinking. It will also break the power of anger and desire over our lives.

Our Enemies

Matthew 5:43–48 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This last section turns the tables once more.

If we have made a heart change in the first five, honestly this last one will be easy. Love will trump all things.

Being Christ Centered in our lives and our thinking will drive us for a compassion for those who are against us.

Christ, while hanging on the cross showed great love for them by forgiving them. We too, as members of God’s Kingdom must show love to one another from the Heart of God.

Conclusion

Are you wanting to be a part of God’s Kingdom? Are you wanting to be living from the heart

When you are irritated by those around you.. develop a deep desire to be of help and remove anger and contempt for them

When you are tempted by desire … desire that which is pure

Struggling with marriage....Seek God’s design

In the area of integrity…speak words with integrity, not manipulation, truthfulness

Injured by others....seek to restore not retaliate.

Enemies..Love and bless, and pray for them.

As the worship team comes forward....

A disciple of Christ. One who is in the Kingdom of God is one who is seeking to know God, while being transformed into the image of God, empowered by the holy spirit in the context of community. May we have the heart of Christ and our actions come forth from having that heart of Christ.