Isaiah 58 : 1 –
9a 1 Corinthians 2 : 1 –
12 Matthew 5 : 13 – 20
“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” That sounds like a formidable challenge from Jesus – and so
I’ve given this sermon the title: ‘What does it mean to be righteous?’
Jesus says that you have to be righteous in
order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
I am going to assume that it is the ambition of each one of here this
morning to enter the kingdom of heaven – that blessed realm where God dwells
and reigns in glory; and for whose coming we express our longing every time we
say the Lord’s Prayer – ‘Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is
in heaven.’ Whatever else may be commanding my attention from moment to moment,
deep in my heart I know I want above all else to be part of God’s kingdom. I
hope it’s the same for you. As I may well have said before to many of you, I
remember so well visiting a man who was dying, and indeed was ready to die, and
he said to me: “I am so much looking forward to seeing God.” Search your soul
and somewhere I believe in all people there is that deep-seated longing, whether
recognised or not.
Here, Jesus tells us quite explicitly that –
if we want to enter God’s kingdom – then our righteousness must exceed that of
the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
Now we know from the Gospels that no-one
could have been more meticulous in keeping the letter of God’s Law as set out
in the Old Testament than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. And Jesus
has just said that he has not come to abolish that Law but to fulfil it, and
that anyone who breaks even the least of those laws is effectively endangering
his chances of being part of God’s Kingdom. It’s clear that we have to do
better than these expert law keepers, who know the Old Testament Laws with all
their multiple rules and regulations, inside out. It sounds like a ‘tough call’ doesn’t it?
But wait a minute....don’t we seem to
remember that Jesus himself was constantly being criticised by those Pharisees
for breaking the law? He healed people on the Sabbath, and that was apparently
against the law, because it was ‘work’ and the Sabbath Day must be kept free of
any kind of work. It was the same when Jesus’ disciples were observed eating
food without first performing ceremonial hand-washing, and plucking ears of
corn on the Sabbath, and then being strongly defended by Jesus. What, then, can Jesus mean?
There can be no better explanation than we
find in our reading today from Isaiah Chapter 58, where God’s
anger boils over at those who keep the outward letter of the law, while
their lifestyle shows that they are wilfully ignoring its intentions. See
verses 3 – 5.
It becomes even clearer what God means by keeping his
commandments in the following verses 6 and 7....Jesus has expressed this
active and practical lifestyle that pleases God in the opening verses of the
Sermon on the Mount from which today’s Gospel comes - (the first 12 verses of
Matthew chapter 5)...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled; blessed are the merciful; blessed are the
peacemakers....
Jesus taught us that all the commandments can
be summed up in two great commands: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and mind and soul and strength’. And ‘You shall love your neighbour
as yourself’.
Now we need here to note that Jesus is not
saying that outward observance is wrong in itself. Indeed – rightly understood
- it is health-giving. For example we have been given what we call the ‘means
of grace’ – scripture, prayer, sacrament, gathering together for mutual
support, encouragement and challenge as we come to church and join in small
groups. Making every use of the facilities God has given us is our duty, it is
our joy, it is our health – the spiritual equivalent of eating, sleeping and
exercise. There is nothing wrong with dutiful obedience, even when we don’t
feel like it. It sustains our spiritual lives, helps us to grow in faith and
maturity, and maintains godly discipline. BUT the outward and necessary
discipline must be matched by the inward intention and moral imperative.
In other words, it must be accompanied by a
lifestyle that matches our words and our religious profession. “Man looks at
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. (1 Samuel 16:7).
We can come at it from another angle when we
think about Jesus’ teaching in Mark 7:15. “Nothing outside a man
can make him unclean by going into him. Rather it is what comes out of a man
that makes him unclean. And he goes on in verse 21: “For from within,
out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,
murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and
folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’.
So the basic commandments stand, as Jesus
says – he has not come to abolish them. But – as the passage that follows shows
very clearly – they are not simply rituals to be gone through by rote, let
alone (as with the Pharisees) according to hundreds of ridiculously detailed
instructions. The commandments embody a whole (and indeed holistic) way of life
that fills everything we are, and think and do and say. God is looking at your
heart, not at the minutiae of the way you pray or read your Bible or any
special actions you perform as you come to Holy Communion.
The next point in this Gospel reading that we
need to pay attention to is that Jesus tells us that he has come to fulfil
the law. In him we see God himself acting out the perfect life and bringing
all the commandments to fulfilment. If we want to know what it means to live
according to God’s commandments, we must look at the life of Jesus. And that
means to live life as it is meant to be lived. To live life to the full and
most satisfying. All of God’s creative purpose is exemplified in Jesus who
fulfils everything that God and we most desire.
But, of course, for us that immediately
throws up a massive problem. However hard we try, we simply cannot live up to
that standard. So - does that mean exclusion from God’s Kingdom? To answer that
we have to look again that this word ‘righteousness’. What does us mean
for us to achieve ‘righteousness’?
It seems that the Pharisees – in all their
meticulous attempts to keep the letter of God’s Law and so achieve
righteousness – had forgotten the forefather to whom they all looked back –
Abraham. In Genesis chapter 15: 6 they would have read: “Abram believed
the Lord, and the Lord credited to him as righteousness.”
The righteousness of which Jesus is speaking
means a right relationship with God. And for that, Jesus in the way, the
truth and the life. Of course we are not able to live up to God’s perfect law.
But Jesus died on the cross to win forgiveness for all our shortcomings and
sins, and so bring us into a new relationship with God as his beloved children.
We achieve a greater righteousness than the Pharisees and teachers of the law –
not by trying harder – but (like Abraham) through our faith.
We place our trust in Jesus and It is his
righteousness which clothes us and gives us a right relationship with God.
Once we have grasped this wonderful –
fundamental - truth that lies at the
very heart of the Christian faith, two things follow:
First, we are empowered to live good lives, not
in order to win our way into God’s Kingdom, but as a joyful response to
a salvation already ours as a free gift. We are no longer trying to impress God
– a ridiculous idea if ever there was one. Rather, we know we are accepted
through faith in Jesus, now his beloved children, living by grace, and our
lives are our response to what - in his
love - he has done for is in Jesus.
Second, we are empowered
to fulfil the earlier part of today’s Gospel from the Sermon on the Mount, and
become the salt of the earth and light to the world. We become people who – in
the power of the Holy Spirit – can now make a difference.
As we come to Communion this morning, let us,
first of all, rejoice that we are members of the Kingdom of heaven, not
by trying harder and harder like the Pharisees in a hopeless task, but through
personal faith in Jesus Christ, his cross and his resurrection. And, second,
let us pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and his guidance, as to how
we can now become salt and light in a world where there is so much decay and
darkness. You may think you have little
to offer. Actually, it’s very exciting, fulfilling and indeed astonishing, to discover
what you can do in the power of God and through faith in Jesus. Over
many years in church life I have been just thrilled to see so many people who
thought they had nothing much to offer, step into roles they would never have
imagined, and discover a whole new life, just because they had put their trust
in Christ, and listened to the call of the Holy Spirit. Your life-giving
righteousness will far exceed the legalistic attempts of the Pharisees and
teachers of the law, and you will be fulfilled beyond anything they might have
dreamt of. Step out in faith – and - Prepare to be amazed!
Discussion Starters
1.What does it mean
to be more righteous than the Pharisees and teachers of the law?
2.What does it mean
to be salt and light to the world? Practically, how can we do this?
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