Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Jesus makes a rather startling and somewhat alarming statement in Matthew 5:20.
The scribes and Pharisees were famous for their righteousness!
They were literally obsessed with obedience to God’s law!
They calculated that the law had 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and they aspired to keep them all.
Subject: What kind of righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees?
And how in the world can a Christian have that kind of righteousness?
The Thesis (Matt 5:17-20)
Jesus is not heaping on the condemnation.
He’s not racking up the charges for a stronger guilty verdict.
The “impossible ideal” implies that these commands were intended to diagnose our disobedience rather inspire our obedience.
But that conflicts with Jesus’s own words (Matt 5:17-19).
“Grace and virtue are friends, not enemies.”
~ Dr. Jonathan Pennington
Jesus is not upping the ante.
He’s not piling on even more rules to follow.
See Matthew 11:28-30.
Jesus is showing the true intent of God’s laws and commands.
He’s revealing the purpose of the law.
Look at Matthew 5:17… Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
This doesn’t mean he came to complete them, but to fulfill their purpose.
“God sees and cares about something deeper than just the physical act of murder [or adultery, or divorce]: God sees and cares about the heart, the inner person.”
~ Dr. Jonathan Pennington
God cares about who you are as much as what you do.
Kingdom righteousness is not a righteousness of behavior management but of heart transformation.
Does God care about what you do?
Yes.
But, if all you have is behavior management without heart transformation, you’re nothing but a scribe or a Pharisee.
You can put lipstick on a pig… it’s still a pig.
Romans 2:28-29 (NLT)
For you are not a true Christian just because you were born of Christian parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of confirmation.
No, a true Christian is one whose heart is right with God.
And true confirmation is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit.
And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
Three Examples
Murder (Matt 5:21-26)
The Example
How many of you have committed murder in the past week?
Jesus is not saying that being angry with someone is the equivalent of murdering them.
The external righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees: “Don’t murder or you’ll be liable to judgment.”
The greater internal righteousness of the kingdom: “Don’t be an angry and hateful person, easily offended.
Don’t walk around with hatred in your heart and murder in your mouth because your pride has been pricked, and now you’re offended.
Love your neighbor as yourself, and when conflict arises, be the first to seek reconciliation.”
The Principle
There’s a difference between following the letter of the law and fulfilling the purpose of the law.
Illustration: There’s a difference between saying sorry and being sorry.
Adultery
The Example
Jesus reveals the law’s true purpose (Matt 5:27-28).
Again, Jesus is not equalizing all sin.
What he’s doing is pushing back on our tendency to focus on external actions and define godliness by appropriate behavior rather than a right heart.
By the way, “lustful intent” doesn’t have to be sexual desire.
“Look at how he treats his wife.
He’s such a better husband than my husband.
I wish he was my husband.”
“Jesus is not counting as clean someone who avoids only the act of adultery; he wants the heart to be clean as well, for it is not the fruit of adultery that he commands us to cast out, but its seed.”
~ St. Methodius of Olympus, ca.
304
And then he gives a bizarre instruction (Matt 5:29-30).
Don’t compromise with sin.
If your iPhone causes you to sin, smash the screen and throw it away.
For it is better that you go through life with a dumb phone and a pure heart than a smartphone and corrupted mind… My spouse is more important than my phone or my fantasy.
The Principle
There’s a difference between asking how close can I get to the line with crossing it and how close can I get to God without exploding.
Illustration: I can’t face two directions at the same time… “Above and below me, before and behind me, in every eye that sees me, Christ be all around me.”
Divorce (Matt 5:31-32)
The Principle
Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s right.
As kingdom people we live not by what is merely legal but by what is right.
The Example
Before we get distracted by an argument about divorce, remember that Jesus is teaching about a kingdom righteousness of the heart.
See Matthew 19:1-9.
Hardhearted people do not succeed in marriage.
Marriage is not easy…
Conclusion: How do we grow in kingdom righteousness?
We need a new heart and a new Spirit (Ezek 36:26-27, NLT).
We need to be taught (Matt 5:19).
We need the example of others (Matt 5:19).
We need practice.
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