Righteousness in God’s kingdom

“The history of Christianity is the history of christians trying to evade living out the sermon on the mount and avoid living out its plain meaning”

MASKING UPDATE

Many of you have probably already heard that the county of Sacramento has changed its masking order to only require indoor masking for the unvaccinated.

This means that the county, while it is still recommending masking, is allowing the vaccinated to not wear a mask indoors.

As a church, we have always followed what the county has done.  So, we are recommending that you look at the county health guidelines and decide how this impacts you, biased on your situation.

In the past we have not checked vaccination status and we are not planning on doing this in the future, we are simply asking that you make an effort to follow the Sacramento County Guidelines.

Our children’s department will continue to follow masking protocols like the local schools in the Sacramento County School District.

We also want to call on REC people to respect one another through all of this.  We want to encourage you to be empathetic to other people’s situations.

We don't want you to feel pressured to not wear a mask, many people have very valid reasons to wear a mask, no one will judge you here.

In the same way, no one  will judge you if you don't wear a mask.

We know that this change may make some people who are at risk more concerned to come in person, so we have provided K95 masks for those of you who desire them.  These masks do a much better job of protecting the person who is wearing the mask.

We will continue to monitor the county and state guidelines and if there are any future changes you will hear it from the stage.

Intro

Welcome to week 3 of the Sermon on the Mount

This is one of the greatest and most consequential sermons ever given.

And all of it centers on the Gospel. The Gospel as defined by Jesus of the availability of God’s rule and reign to ordinary people in ordinary life.

So when Jesus comes and says “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Jesus is making this huge claim

jesus is saying. Hey your life is organized around building your kingdom...

So Repent

And reorganize your life around me.

And when you do…When your life becomes about following Jesus then Jesus is pleased, he is very happy to extend his kingdom rule through you...

Because of God’s relationship with you…He gives you a responsibility to represent him to the world.

So this is the way that Jesus starts out his most impotrant sermon...

Re-organize your life around Jesus…That is what it looks like to follow Jesus in practical terms.

Then last week we talked about this list that Jesus gave called the Beatitudes. These are lists of blessings…Who is blessed in God’s kingdom

And it was such a rich list...

The spiritually poor,

The meek

the mourners

The merciful the peacemakers

Those who are pure in heart

And then Jesus gives this huge claim that its these people who are the salt of the earth…It is these people that are the light of the world

And here’s the deal. Jesus knows that he is about to rub people the wrong way…Even those Beatitudes..>Calling all the people who might have been social rejects the light of the world...

Ok thats a bit strange…Because there were religious leaders and pharisees who were like the good guys of Israel.

They were the ones that society thought of as the light of the world…the good guys

So then we get to this next section:

Matthew 5:17-20

The New International Version Chapter 5

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.

Understanding the Law

So we have to understand that right at verse 17 here Jesus says something that is super radical

Matthew 5:17

The New International Version Chapter 5

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.

First and foremost The Law and the Prophets absolutely dominate 1st century life in Israel.

The Law is called the Torah, this is just a short handed way of saying it

It is what everyone would have been talking about all the time

Here is a way to think about it…we all have movie references in our head or TV references that are there…Now just replace all of those with Old Testament stories and this is simply what everyone would have been talking about

So because the Torah absolutely dominates all of life in Israel…So there would have been some concern...

What is this guy coming to do to our Torah? is he trying to change the law?

Also we have to understand that the Torah is God’s nature revealed…The Rabbis would spend a lot of time talking about what we know about God’s nature as a result of the Torah…So Jesus is starting out his ministry talking about this because it is on everyone

The Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible is made up of books of the law and the prophets...

In Jesus’ day before there was any New Testament scripture when people said lets -read the scriptures they were talking about the law and the prophets

So Jesus is saying that he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament

Its almost as if Jesus is saying that the Old Testament is a unified story that leads to Jesus

And not only that, Jesus will continue saying that though out his ministry.

On the Road to Emmaus Luke records this

Luke 24:27

The New International Version Chapter 24

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Later when Jesus appears to his disciples he says this

Luke 24:44

The New International Version Chapter 24

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Jesus says though the New Testament over and over again that he is the one that the Bible is talking about

all of Scripture is pointing and screaming look at Jesus!

Jesus claims right up front that he is the fulfillment of the law and prophets, right up front he is giving this massive clue about who he really is

Jesus is the nature of God with flesh on

So when Jesus said that he has come to fufill the law and the prophets...people would have gasped...

There probably would have been some talk like…Could this be the guy? Could this be the messiah?

then he further shocks them

Matthew 5:18

The New International Version Chapter 5

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.

What is this claim that Jesus is making? Because he said before he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament and now he is saying stuff needs to be accomplished…what is that about?

So did Jesus abolish any of the Old Testament? No but he did make complete one element of it...

I mean do we sacrifice doves and pidgins any more?

Do we come to church with the family goat and a huge knife?

Because on the cross Jesus uttered...”it is finished”His death was a once and for all death

It satisfied the wrath of God

It brought an end to the sacrificial system

So when Jesus says nothing is going to pass away until everything is finished...

In one sense: Jesus finished the blood atonement sacrificial system on the cross but in another sense he took all of the commandments and heightened them and made them even more impotrant.

I mean when Jesus was asked what the most impotrant commandments were…He didn’t say, oh those are old news.

No, the opposite, he summed them all up in two. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Some people get the idea that because of Jesus the whole Old Testament is obsolete…That all we have to do is look at Jesus and nothing else...

But Jesus himself says look back at the Old Testament…its all talking about me

and he takes the sacrificial system and he completes it with his own death on the cross

But we also have to understand that because Jesus is God’s nature revealed…He follows the Torah...

We must understand that Jesus does not deviate from the law. He is a very observant Jew. But he knows the law better than anyone else because he is the law.

Matthew 5:19

The New International Version Chapter 5

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.

With this verse it just becomes very practical.

Parents: How do you teach your values?

You live them out. Of course you repeat them to your kids…But you live them out

It it impotrant to sit down and teach your kids the Bible…But they wont really learn it until you live it out.

We did a Baby dedication today and the verses we read are all about parenting…Why?

Because its not as if we dedicate a child today and magically, that child grows up to be an outstanding citizen, a great christian man and a spiritual leader...

No the act of dedication means that as parents we vow to reveal to our kids a faith that is radical.

Jesus is saying here and don’t miss this that when you give a pass to yourself on following the Bible…Then what you are doing is giving a pass to en entire generation.

When you pick and choose what verses apply and what works for you then what you are doing is passing that kind of faith down to your kids and your grand kids.

I read a quote that punched me in the gut as a dad and as a pastor: Because I have a teenager in my house

“If teenagers lack an articulate faith, maybe it’s because the faith that we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation. Maybe teenagers’ inability to talk about religion is not because the church inspires a faith too deep for words, but because the God story we tell is too tame to merit more than a superficial vocabulary.”

-Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian

Church I think this is what Jesus is saying here

My life is a sermon, what am I preaching?

Is your faith too tame to merit more that a superficial vocabulary?

When your kids look at your life…They are watching a sermon lived out…what are you preaching

Now its harder for me because I stand up here and then I have 3 little accountability partners at home who are freely wiling to point out where my sermons and my life don’t match up...

Parents, if your life preaching a radical faith or a tame faith? Is your life leading your kids to Jesus?

And not just parents...

Those of you who are teachers, lawyers, caregivers, police officers: when your life reveals the ethics of Jesus then it makes people pay attention…You are teaching in everything you do...

What is your life preaching to this world?

Matthew 5:20

The New International Version Chapter 5

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.

There is so much here but first lets just try and take this at face value:

In Jesus day The teachers of the Law or the Torah & Pharisees were like untouchable

These were the best of the best people of your society

It would be like if Billy Graham got up to preach and then I stood up and said…Hey you know that Kingdom of heaven I have been proclaiming?

Yeah you cant get in unless you are a better person than Billy Graham

You cant enter the kingdom unless your righteousness surpasses that of Martin Luther…Unless your better than John Wesley…You are not in unless you are more righteous than William Tyndale

Unless you are better than William Booth of the Salvation army…Then your not getting in

Jesus was clearly using them as the example as the most righteous people in society

And later on Jesus would expose how even their attempts at righteousness WAS ALL FOR SHOW

Jesus would expose their false religiosity

But what is Jesus saying:

What Jesus is saying is that God is looking for something different from mere meticulous attention to detail of the law

Because lets face it our best efforts are just never good enough

Maybe you are here and growing up your church your parents and your community was strict and although they would have talked about grace you learned more about works righteousness

this is the idea that you always have to be doing more good…You have to keep yourself from evil

-You can’t go to the movies because thats where the devil lives

-You cant play cards because you might accidentally end up gambling

-You cant go dancing because you might get pregnant

-You grew up with this more strict observance of religious rituals

But the reality is that while it is good to keep yourself from evil and as the bible says, being polluted from this world

All of that will not entitle you into the kingdom of God you can not earn your way into it

To be sure, in your life with God, it takes effort…you have to work out your salvation

Dallas Willard once said and this is a fill in:

Grace is opposed to earning not effort

Effort in the kingdom of God is impotrant

But you can not get in by your own righteousness

The Bible says to work out your salvation…In other words…Put some effort behind your walk with God…Read your Bible..repent…reorganize your life around Jesus…This all takes effort

But whenever I read this…That our lives have to surpass the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees…I think of this clip out of Malcom in the Middle

And let me set this up for a second…The whole family forgets their mom’s birthday…That is Lois…And They find her at the batting cages just crushing the ball she is so mad… They are going to try and bring her home and apologize and this happens

Video Clip (2:30)

Its just so funny...

But I just imagine Jesus saying: Your life has to be better than the scribes and pharisees

And the honest to goodness answer is that is just never going to happen.

In all of my best effort you or I will never be as good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven...

It is all an act of unmerited grace

But I want to go back to the beginning of our text today because what Jesus said is that his coming actually fulfills the law and the prophets...

and what does he mean by that...

In fact what do the prophets say about the time of God coming

Ezekiel 36:24-27

The New International Version Chapter 36

24 “ ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezekiel looks forward to the day that entering God’s kingdom isn’t about keeping the law...

Its about having a relationship with Jesus that enables you to keep the law

Its about having a relationship with Jesus that changes the desires of your heart and makes you new!

Maybe your here today and you are just not sure where you stand with God and here is what I want to tell you...

Grace begins for you the moment that you admit that your good will never be good enough and that you need him to change your heart.

This is where grace begins…When you look at Jesus and say…I’m just never going to be good enough...

My righteousness will never be good enough

I need your righteousness

Challenge

So the way I want us to see the sermon on the Mount is that when God’s kingdom is extended through you

The way you begin that journey is by standing before God and admitting that you just don’t have it in you

that you need him to give you a new heart

that you need God to transform your desires

that you need to re-organize your life around Jesus