Members Made Righteous
Clarify, Unify, Glorify in Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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ME (A hook):
ME (A hook):
Everyone here knows what karaoke is, right?
Where you take a really good song,
And people do poor imitations of that song.
Well, I was thinking about the passage we are in this morning,
Matthew 5-7.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
I had considered just opening it up and reading the sermon verbatim.
Because really,
This morning, I am preaching a sermon,
About the greatest sermon ever preached.
So, instead of karaoke,
It feels like…sermon-oke?
Yes, I just made that word up.
But my point is that if you want the real deal,
Read all of Matthew 5-7.
Or listen to it on audio.
My goal is not to necessarily dig into every detail of Jesus’ sermon.
Instead, I hope to give an overview of this three-chapter-long sermon.
And since our focus this year is still Clarify to Unify to Glorify,
And we are seeking to clarify biblical membership as we go through Matthew.
My goal is to highlight how Jesus teaches that His Members are Made Righteous.
Slide
So, our outline first asks the question,
How Can We Be Righteous?
To which there are only two options:
Be Perfect Like Jesus
Or Believe in Jesus.
WE (Why does this matter to us?):
WE (Why does this matter to us?):
Slide
My assumption is that most,
If not all of us,
Would say we want to be a good person.
Some of you might already think you are a good person,
Others might not.
But if we all would say we want to be good people,
Naturally, we would want to know how we can be good people?
Spoiler alert,
We can’t!
None of us can!
And since that is the case,
It makes sense for Jesus to simply summarize majority of His sermon with one simple statement,
Humans are evil.
But He doesn’t,
At least, not until He is almost done preaching.
Instead, He dedicates His first teaching in Matthew,
A very long teaching,
To God’s standard of being a good person,
Teaching how we can be righteous.
Understanding this,
Affects the way we approach the sermon on the mount.
Because there have been a variety of interpretations of it.
Some say that this is a literal interpretation meant only for the super-monk-like Christians to fully apply.
Others, like Martin Luther,
Say it is meant to be this legalistic heightening of the OT law,
Strictly for the purpose of bringing us to repentance.
What does that mean?
So, instead of taking Jesus’ sermon literally,
We would then understand that Jesus is more concerned about your heart than your actions.
Which is true,
But it does not mean Jesus is not concerned with our actions.
Or He would not have dedicate so much teaching to what righteous living looks like.
So, Jesus’ focus is on and inward-outward righteousness.
Because we cannot be made righteous the other way around.
Christ’s sermon confronts us with God’s standard of perfect righteousness.
It is worth noting,
Jesus’ sermon is directed to His disciples.
Vs. 1 makes it clear that the disciples came to Jesus.
They were the target of His sermon,
Not the unbelievers.
And the reason they came,
Is because they wanted to know,
How can we be made righteous?
Only by an inward-outward miracle of God.
Yet, Jesus preaches an entire sermon about being perfect,
As if it were possible for us who are evil to accomplish.
But Jesus does this.
Because it compels us toward the grace and mercy of God.
GOD (Teach the Text):
GOD (Teach the Text):
One other side note in vs. 1,
Jesus sat down to teach His sermon on the mount,
So, I got my stool again,
That way I can teach like Jesus did.
Slide
But let’s take most of our time this morning,
To skim through Jesus’ sermon,
Where He teaches that one way to be righteous is to be perfect like Jesus.
And buckle up,
Because we are gonna be moving!
Starting in ch. 5,
When it comes to teaching or public speaking,
They always say to start with a good hook.
Something that will get the attention of your listeners,
Engage them with what you are about to teach.
And that is what Jesus does here.
His hook is what we call the beatitudes.
And how does this get their attention?
Because he has a crowd of people who are poor in spirit, mourners, meek,
Who hunger and thirst for righteousness and are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
Jesus is talking to those who are aware of their spiritual need,
Those who depend on God instead of their own spiritual goodness.
He is talking to those who mourn,
Specifically, those who mourn over sin and evil,
Over our failure to give proper glory to God.
He is talking to those who are meek,
Who have this posture of humility and submission to God.
The same type of meekness that Jesus modeled,
As One who describes Himself as gentle in heart later in Matthew.
So, Jesus starts His sermon by rattling off all these character traits that His audience identifies with.
Right away,
Jesus has their attention.
Because He is telling them all that they are blessed.
Which is important,
Because they need to know this before Jesus teaches His standard of perfect righteousness.
Which they will be made painfully aware of how far they fall short.
These descriptions extend to us today.
If you are poor in spirit, mourn, or are meek,
Jesus is saying you are blessed.
And He is not just talking about being emotionally happy.
He is talking about our spiritual well-being.
He is starting a sermon about being perfect,
On how we who are evil,
Are approved by God.
Slide
As Psalm 1:1-3 says,
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
So, being blessed according to Christ,
Means we are made righteous.
And He says,
If we really want this righteousness,
If we hunger and thirst for it,
We will get it.
Slide
So, He transitions from this opening hook in vs. 12,
Saying to rejoice and be glad,
Even when you are persecuted.
He says,
Look to God’s prophets from before us.
They were persecuted as well.
But they are now enjoying their reward in heaven.
Likewise, Jesus says,
You will enjoy your reward in heaven.
Slide
In vs. 13-16,
Jesus transitions to a parable,
Which again,
Shows that Jesus is speaking to His disciples.
Because He says,
“You are the salt of the earth,
You are the light of the world.”
Jesus would not say this to unbelievers.
He is saying this to His members.
But what does He mean that you are salt of the earth?
Salt was used as a preservative in ancient contexts.
And similarly to the way we use it today,
It made food taste good!
But think of the part of the world they are in.
The Dead Sea caused significant salt deposits.
But rain would come and wash out its saltiness,
Then they were left with all this worthless salt.
So, Jesus is pressing into this very relatable experience for His audience to understand.
Imagine dumping an entire container of salt on your fries,
And it made no difference.
What would be the point of that salt?
There is none.
You would just throw it away,
Because it is worthless.
That is what Jesus is saying is the equivalent of members who are unrighteous.
Very quickly,
The tone of His sermon shifts from,
Blessed are you...
To worthless are you.
He communicates the same idea saying we are the light of the world.
This is how we know His sermon is not just figurative.
He wants us to live righteously,
So, that we shine His light into a dark and evil world.
Why?
He says to glorify us for all the good things we do, right?
WRONG!
He says to give glory to God in heaven!
Slide
Now that Jesus has drawn us in by saying we are blessed,
Then set the stage for how living unrighteously makes us worthless,
He transitions to the meat of His sermon in vs. 17.
He makes several OT allusions throughout His sermon,
So, He makes it clear from the start,
He is not here to abolish God’s Word,
He has come to fulfill it!
And everything He teaches in His sermon supports this.
What He teaches,
He lives.
He is describing His perfect righteousness,
Which fulfills the law.
It does not alter,
It does not replace,
It does not remove God’s Word.
He is teaching how He is accomplishing what He is teaching,
Through His obedience.
And He is introducing how God’s Word has always pointed to Him.
And in Him will be the full manifestation of God’s Kingdom.
Slide
Then, in vs. 20, Jesus teaches how this is all about righteousness.
But His point seems…confusing at first.
He seems to be complimenting the scribes and Pharisees,
But we will soon find out,
He’s not!
But He is pointing to their strict observance of the law,
And says that our righteousness must be even greater than that to get into heaven.
As Jesus will say later,
Our righteousness must be perfect like His.
The outward actions have led the scribes and Pharisees to believe they are righteous enough for heaven.
But we soon find out,
Their heart is far from righteous.
They missed the intent of the law,
And have even obscured the law,
Accommodating it and compromising it,
To conform it to their lives.
So, they do not realize that they need God and His grace!
Jesus’ point is to restore the true nature of God’s law.
He brings up this outward righteousness and says its still not enough.
God’s standard is total, radical, and perfect righteousness!
So, Jesus teaches and even deeper obedience to God’s law.
And inward-outward obedience.
But He does this,
By entertaining our thought that we can be perfect,
Teaching the depth of what true perfect righteousness is.
Slide
So, He begins this pattern in vs. 21 saying,
“You have heard that it was said.”
As a way to point to either God’s Word,
Or the traditions of the scribes and Pharisees.
And He begins to rapid-fire address topics.
Anger,
And verbally abusing a brother or sister,
Saying to them Raca,
A Hebrew curse translated to,
You fool!,
Is on the same level as murder.
Jesus says anger and verbal abuse sends a person to Gehenna,
The hell of fire.
Jesus is talking about eternal damnation.
The word He uses, Gehenna,
Refers to a place called the valley of Hinnom.
It was a trash dump outside of Jerusalem,
Where a fire just burned constantly.
But in the OT,
It became notorious because the Hebrew Kings, Ahaz and Manasseh,
Sacrificed their sons as a burnt offering to a falls god.
Later, Jeremiah called it the Valley of Slaughter.
Because it was a symbol of God’s judgment.
Slide
So, instead of treating a fellow member this way,
Jesus commands His members to be reconciled in vs. 23-24.
But not only with one another.
In vs. 25-26,
He shifts to address a larger societal conflict.
In this case,
A legal conflict.
So, Jesus wants His members to work for reconciliation in all areas of life.
The Apostle Paul later says it this way in Romans 12,
If at all possible, live peaceably with all.
Because any anger is unrighteous,
Even if it is not outwardly shown.
Slide
From anger,
Jesus moves onto lust.
Where He introduces this idea I have heard others call radical amputation.
He says we should tear out eyes,
Or cut off limbs that cause us to sin.
He is not teaching about literal self-mutilation.
He is communicating the importance of guarding our hearts and minds from lust.
He does not want us to just avoid the physical act of adultery,
He says we must avoid a lustful heart,
And destroy anything that fosters that lust.
Because any lust is unrighteous,
Even if it is not acted upon.
Slide
Next, Jesus moves onto divorce.
Malachi 2 teaches that God hates divorce.
Which is true,
Because divorce is unrighteous.
It is the breaking of a covenant.
But Jesus’ point here is that divorce doesn’t happen when a legal document is signed.
Divorce happens when one or both individuals break the covenant.
So, divorce is unrighteous,
Even if a paper is not signed.
Slide
Jesus continues with oaths,
Plainly stating in vs. 34 not to take an oath.
But wait a minute,
Jesus submits to an oath in Matt. 26:63.
God is said to take an oath to encourage us in Heb. 6:17.
And the Apostle Paul invoked God as His witness in Romans 1:9,
Which is an act of oath-taking.
So, if Jesus is taking an absolute stance against oaths,
Why does He and His people take oaths?
Think again on what this sermon is about,
He said our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees.
They would require legal oaths to make something binding.
But that meant,
They did not have to be honest or truthful,
When they did not take an oath.
So, Jesus is saying He demands integrity from His members.
We are to essentially always live under oath.
So, being dishonest or lacking integrity is unrighteous,
Even if we never take an oath.
Slide
Next, Jesus brings up vengeance.
Quoting multiple OT passages that say,
“An eye for an eye.”
The intent of this law is that the punishment should fit the crime.
The point is to prohibit a greater revenge,
But to also limit different penalties for different social classes.
By this time,
People adopted this law as grounds for personal revenge.
So, Jesus contradicts this tradition,
Saying,
“Do not resist the one who is evil.”
He does not want us to seek revenge.
Instead, He says, if you get slapped on the right cheek,
Turn to that person the other cheek also.
Think about that for a moment.
Most people are right-handed,
So, most people would slap with their right hand.
Turn to the person next to you,
And PRETEND,
To slap them.
Which cheek would you be slapping?
The left cheek.
So, if you are getting slapped on the right cheek,
That means you are getting a backhand to the face!
Which is already an insult on top of an injury.
But Jesus is saying,
When that happens,
Turn and let them slap the other cheek as well.
Slide
This introduces an idea that He reiterates over the next few verses.
In vs. 40,
He says if someone sues you for one article of clothing,
Give them even more than what they are suing you for.
In vs. 41,
He says, if you are forced to go one mile,
Go an additional mile.
Historical context helps shed light on His point here.
Under the Roman Empire,
It was not uncommon for a Roman soldier to coerce a person to serve them as a guide,
Or a carrier.
Sometimes, a soldier would force a person to do this.
The idea that Jesus is getting at,
Is true freedom voluntarily goes farther than demanded,
Rather than begrudgingly completing the service,
Or seeking revenge.
This applies to when you are slapped,
When you are sued,
And as vs. 42 says,
When beggars and borrowers as you for something as well!
Jesus says, help them!
Anything short,
Is unrighteous,
Even if you don’t seek vengeance.
Slide
Vs. 43 is an example of a tradition.
The OT does not say to hate your enemy.
But scribes and Pharisees taught that only fellow Jews could be considered “neighbors.”
So, Jesus is teaching that the true intent of the law reaches even to our enemies.
Love your neighbor,
And love your enemy.
Care for them,
Have empathy for them,
Pray for them.
Anything less is unrighteous,
Even if we don’t hate them.
Slide
Jesus summarizes this section of teaching with God’s standard of righteousness,
Perfection.
Perfect righteousness is what Christ expects of His members.
Because He Himself is perfect.
He has perfect love and perfect grace.
He is perfectly righteous,
And perfectly holy.
Jesus hasn’t even gotten halfway through His sermon yet,
And already it should be clear,
This standard of perfection is not attainable.
Yet, Christ is clear that righteousness must be our goal,
We are still called to be salt and light!
So, living in this tension,
Is living as a member of Christ’s body.
Slide
Paul expresses this perfectly in Phil. 3:12-13,
Saying,
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Slide
Jesus’ teaching on what perfect righteousness is would already seemed to be enough.
But He is not done.
He does shift, however, at the start of ch. 6,
To teaching how His members grow in righteousness by submitting to God out of love for Him.
His members do not practice this phony public righteousness for personal glory.
Slide
Jesus calls these people hypocrites.
These are people who claim to have a relationship with God,
Who claim to love righteousness,
But are actually self-seeking,
And are unknowingly deceived.
Hypocrites put on masks,
They pretend to be something they are not.
Specifically, they pretend to be righteous.
Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees for this.
Elsewhere, the Bible describes hypocrites as godless and polluted with crimes.
So, Jesus’ point is that pretending to be perfect like Him,
Will not get you into heaven,
The only reward you will get,
Is the temporary attention you will get in this world.
Slide
Jesus applies this same warning against hypocritical praying.
God is not impressed by a large quantity of words in our prayers.
Longer prayers are not more valuable in any way.
So, Jesus says,
Don’t pray like this.
Slide
Instead,
He says in vs. 9,
Pray like this.
Then, He goes on to pray the Lord’s prayer in vs. 9-13.
He prays this prayer as an example for His members to model our prayers after.
It is a brief prayer that begins with glorifying God,
Before asking for any human needs.
Slide
Part of the prayer is to ask God to forgive us of our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
Jesus is talking about spiritual debts here.
And He teaches immediately after the prayer,
That members forgive as a response to God’s forgiveness of us.
If you do not forgive others,
Jesus is saying that you cannot claim God’s forgiveness for yourself.
He explicitly says if you forgive others,
God forgives you.
If you do not forgive,
Neither will God forgive.
Now, God’s forgiveness is contingent upon whether or not you forgive others.
Rather, the point is that those who have received God’s forgiveness,
Respond by forgiving others.
Slide
Jesus shifts from the spiritual discipline of prayer,
To the spiritual discipline of fasting in vs. 16-18.
But His point is the same.
Jesus says don’t look all gloomy,
Scrunching your face,
Saying,
“OHHHH! I’m soooo hungry!
Because I am fasting!”
This is what hypocrites do.
And the oohs and ahhs they receive for this is the only reward they get.
Instead, Jesus says,
Anoint your head and wash your face.
In other words,
Clean yourself up and don’t make it look like your fasting.
Slide
Next, Jesus explains why rewards in this world aren’t worth it.
Because they all get destroyed by moths and rust!
Living in upstate NY,
We are well-acquainted with rust.
The exhaust pipe fell of my car this past week from rust!
It is a reminder that every earthly reward is subject to decay, corrosion, rot, or loss.
Even the reward of people’s praises does not last.
So, Jesus prohibits us from holding onto and keeping treasures on earth.
Instead, He commands us to lay up treasures in heaven.
Don’t be a hypocrite,
Be righteous!
Slide
In vs. 22-23,
Jesus gives a short little teaching on how to let righteousness in.
Teaching that a good eye will look to God,
Who will fill that person with the light of His will.
But a bad eye looks to the treasures on earth,
Filling that person with the darkness of greed and selfishness.
Your whole life is determined by what your eye lets in.
That is why we must look to Jesus and His rewards!
Slide
Then, Jesus returns to teaching about His standard of righteousness.
Saying that even anxiety and worry is unrighteous.
I think this standard is especially hard for us.
We can agree with being angry and lusting and lying and holding grudges and being hypocrites.
But anxiety and worry?
We are sympathetic to these things.
Which, is not bad,
Jesus was sympathetic toward anxiety and worry.
But He still says here that it is unrighteous.
So, even if we got through all those things we would agree are unrighteous,
And still think we might be righteous.
Jesus says our anxiety and worry still reveals that we are not perfect.
And He is not talking about worrying over silly things.
No, He is talking about worrying over the necessities of life.
So, how does He make His point?
He points to some birds,
And says,
“Look at these birds.”
Do they just kick back and relax,
Sit in their nests,
And wait with open beaks for God to drop food in their mouths?
No!
But Jesus’ point is that they do not worry about what their future holds.
The reason anxiety and worry is unrighteous,
Is because it demonstrates a lack of trust in God’s awareness of your situation,
Or His ability to care for you.
So, I would encourage you.
Take a moment this week to look at some birds,
And meditate on this passage.
Maybe do it in a moment when you feel anxious or worried.
If birds don’t do it for you,
Jesus teaches the same things about flowers of the field.
Consider the lilies,
He says.
They don’t worry about the future,
They don’t toil or spin.
So, if not birds,
Look at a field full of flowers this week when you are feeling worried or anxious.
Slide
And meditate on what Jesus says,
His Kingdom,
And His righteousness that comes with His Kingdom.
He tells us to make God’s sovereign rule,
And a right relationship with Him as the highest priority in our lives!
Worrying about life,
Jesus says,
Is inconsistent with this priority.
Anxiety and worry distracts from the true goals of life.
God says He will meet all the needs of Christ’s members.
So, Jesus prohibits anxiety one final time in 34.
Slide
Jesus continues teaching about discipleship in ch. 7,
Beginning with a clear condemnation of judging others.
Judging others fails to exercise the forgiveness Jesus taught about earlier.
And it is not as if we can never give criticism.
But Jesus explains that when we give a criticism,
We must first take the log out of our own eye.
So, we give criticism with gentleness and humility,
That first recognizes one’s own faults.
This type of criticism can be helpful.
It is different from sheer judgment.
Then, Jesus concludes this topic in vs. 6,
Teaching about discernment.
Discernment is different from judgment and criticism.
Because discernment distinguishes belief from unbelief.
And later Jesus teaches that we are able to discern by a person’s fruit.
But here,
Jesus presents discernment in a pretty blunt way.
Saying, do not give dogs what is holy,
Or don’t throw your pearls before pigs.
He is talking about preaching to people who reject the message with contempt and scorn.
Jesus says to leave them alone.
Slide
Instead, Jesus contrasts communicating with Him.
He says to ask and it will be given.
Desire righteousness,
Search for it,
And you will find it!
Specifically, in Christ.
Slide
Then, In vs. 11,
Jesus subtly slips in vs. 11 that we are evil.
Remember, He is talking to disciples here.
He is not just talking about unbelievers.
Even as members of His body,
We are still evil.
Because we are all sinners.
In contrast to God’s righteousness,
We are evil!
The good gifts that God gives,
Are the things that Jesus has been describing all throughout His sermon:
Sincerity, purity, humility, wisdom,
And above all,
Righteousness.
If we know that we need these things,
Then we will ask Him for them,
And He will give us these things!
The greatest gift He gives is the Holy Spirit.
(12)
Jesus teaches what is often called the golden rule in vs. 12.
This principle was also shared by many other ancient thinkers.
But in the negative,
“Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.”
Jesus teaches it in the positive here.
And He teaches it as a summary after this extended discussion of God’s goodness,
And His willingness to give good gifts.
(13-15)
Jesus gives one final brief wisdom teaching in vs. 13-14,
Saying the way that leads to life is hard.
He is not painting a rosy picture of the Christian life.
He does not shy away from the fact that living as a member of His body will be filled with trouble.
There are some, however,
He says in vs. 15,
Who deny this reality.
These false prophets come in sheep’s clothing,
But they are ravenous wolves.
Their message sounds attractive.
But Jesus says,
Give it time,
And their fruit will show.
They will cause controversies, division, destruction of faith,
And will even destroy themselves eventually.
Later, NT letters teach this.
Slide
For example,
1 Tim. 6:3-4 says,
If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
Jesus’ warning in vs. 15 is the start of His closing teaching on discipleship.
(21-23)
Vs. 21 is perhaps one of the most terrifying passages in the entire Bible.
Jesus says that not everyone who says to Him Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom.
In other words,
Not everyone who says they are a member is actually a member.
And by saying Lord twice,
It expresses a sense of intimacy with Jesus.
But Jesus is saying that claiming Him,
Doing good works,
Or even just feeling close to Him,
Is not what matters.
Believing in Jesus is what matters.
Genuine intimacy means you love God and are known by God.
As 1 Cor. 8:2-3 says,
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
But those who don’t truly believe in Jesus,
Will be told to depart from Him.
For they are workers of lawlessness,
Jesus says.
(24-27)
Jesus closes His teaching with one final parable about storms taking out poorly built houses.
You have to put yourself in the sandals of these disciples.
They live in ancient Palestine.
They really didn’t have storms all that often.
But when they did,
They were really violent!
Jesus’ point is that the lives of both the foolish and the wise look the same for a long time.
They seem equally secure.
But when the storms come,
Then the destruction of the fool will be great.
Thus, it is foolish to ignore the Words of Jesus!
(29)
After Jesus is done teaching,
Matthew comments how Jesus was teaching with authority,
Instead of teaching like the scribes.
Scribes would only teach what had been said by previous teachers.
Throughout His sermon,
Jesus repeatedly told His listeners,
“You have heard that it was said.”
This was often a reference to what scribes would teach.
However, Jesus would follow up this statement with the phrase,
“But I say to you...”
The scribes taught tradition,
Jesus teaches truth!
He teaches from Scripture with His own authority.
YOU (Response):
YOU (Response):
WE (Paint a picture of the future):
WE (Paint a picture of the future):