Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

We live in a world where competition is a master motive.

When the news reach Russia in 1945 that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Stalin ordered secret scientists to find a way to catch up to the U.S. Andrei Sakharov was only 24 years old then, but his brilliant mind was fired by the challenge of the competition.

So much so that he helped Russia leap frog ahead by developing the hydrogen bomb months before the United States.

Then when Russia surprised the world with Sputnik, and beat the U. S. into space, American scientists reacted with such a competitive spirit that they quickly thrust the U. S. into the lead, and on to be the first to reach the moon.

Is it really love, or is it competition that makes the world go round?

One of the reasons we look to the Olympics with anticipation is because man is a competitive creature.

Will Durant in The Lessons of History writes, "So the first biological lesson of history is that life is competitive."

Even cooperation, he goes on to say, is a tool of competition.

We cooperate with our group, be it family, club, church, nation, or race, in order to strengthen our group in its competition with others.

It is human nature to want their group to be the best.

Everybody enjoys the opportunity of saying, we are number one, top dog, high man on the totem, king of the hill, and champions.

I have been in enough church league sports to know that one of the things that being saved doesn't change is the competitive spirit.

Christians love competition as much as anyone, and they love to come out on top as often as they can.

Some of the largest Sunday Schools in our country got that way by well organized contests where the competitive spirit was used to motivate people to come and bring others.

Christians are challenged by competition.

They love to win and set records.

They love to win prizes, and gain honor and status.

All of this carries some risk, of course, for one can get so caught up in competition that winning is everything, and other values are lost.

The story is told of three churches that sat on three of the four corners at one intersection.

It was a hot Sunday morning, and the windows were open in each church.

The Methodist began their service by singing Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?

The Presbyterians then began to sing No Not One, No Not One.

Finally, the Baptist began with O That Will Be Glory For Me.

It is like the Pastor of a small church which was not growing.

He thanked God that none of the other churches were growing either.

The competitive spirit can be dangerous and divisive as well as delightful.

Dr. Milburn describes how people use to act in the days of river travel.

"If another boat came in sight, you find yourself becoming anxious that she shall not pass you.

If she gains upon your craft, all your fears about the danger of racing are laid aside.

And with your fellow passengers, male and female, you are urging the captain to do his best....Side by side the boats go thundering along, and so completely has the thought of winning taken possession of you, that you would almost as soon be blown up as beaten."

This is the same competitive spirit that leads so many youth to be killed or injured in racing.

Competition can become so strong that it drives out all fear of danger, and this can be good or bad depending on the situation.

The fact is, there is no escape from competition.

You might just as well try to eliminate the trivial from life as to try and eliminate competition.

Jesus, in this great sermon to His followers, uses the language of competition.

He begins this sermon with the beatitudes which are promises of prizes.

Christian life can be tough, but it is worth it, for there will be great rewards for those who take the risks and endure the rigors of it.

Then Jesus, like a coach before a big game, gives His team a pep talk to motivate them to do their best.

"There is a job to do, and you have got to do it.

The salt has got to be active, and the light has to shine.

The opponents are tough, and Jesus says, you can't afford fumbles and penalties.

Don't neglect the least of the rules of the game.

Go out there and be great."

Then in verse 20 He sets the standard for His team.

He says, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Paraphrased, He is saying, "Unless you guys play better than your opponents you won't make it to the Super Bowl."

Now you may not like the football analogy, but choose your own sport or arena of competition to illustrate what Jesus is saying.

You can't escape it.

He is using competitive language like least, great, and exceed.

Jesus is saying that He wants His followers to be winners, and that means being better than the religious leaders of Israel.

That is competition, and the whole thrust of this chapter is competition.

Jesus says, here is the old standard, but you are to do better than that.

The Christian is to set new records, and leave the Old Testament saints in the dust when it comes to fulfilling the law.

The Old Testament saints loved their neighbors, but you are to go one better, and love your enemies.

The challenge of Jesus to Judaism is matched by another challenge by the Gentile world at the close of this chapter.

Jesus says, if you love those who love you, that is no better than what tax collectors can do, and even Gentiles can't compete on that low level of love.

Jesus says, the Christian is to do more, and rise above Judaism and the natural religions of the world.

It is, an anything you can do I can do better challenge, that the Christian is to rise to.

Now its not too much of a threat to Christians to compete with tax collectors and pagans.

It seems like this is a fairly easy challenge, but when Jesus says we are to exceed the Pharisees, and be better than them, and the Scribes, in righteousness, it is a scary challenge, because they are real pros and formidable foes.

The more you know of these guys the Christian team has to beat, the more you realize the story of David and Goliath is a never ending conflict.

Jesus is asking amateurs to be superior to the pros, and this sounds like more than any coach ought to expect.

Competition can be demoralizing when the non-gifted are pitted against the gifted.

Most Christian would feel inadequate compared with the Scribes and Pharisees.

One of Rossini's pupils composed a funeral march commemorating the death of Lundwig von Beethoven.

He took it to his master who listened attentively to the uninspired work played falteringly by the amateur.

He said, "The circumstances would have been more favorable if you had died, and Beethoven had composed the march."

The amateur can't be expected to compete with the pro.

Yet, Jesus does not just expect Christian to be in the race with the Scribes and Pharisees, He expects Christians to beat them.

In fact, He says you don't even qualify to enter the race unless you can beat them.

This is a very discouraging demand if we think Jesus is saying that we have to beat them at their own game.

This would be like expecting David to beat Goliath in Saul's armor.

It wouldn't work.

There is no way Christians could be more righteous than the Scribes and Pharisees on the level of what they called righteousness.

They obeyed more rules in a day than most Christians would in a year.

When Jesus says we must exceed them He is talking about a totally different quality of righteousness where even the amateur can surpass the pro.

It is not only possible, it is easy when we understand the difference between their righteousness and Christian righteousness.

Not understanding this distinction could lead you to feel like the two cows standing in the field when a milk truck came down the road.

On the side of the truck it said, MILK-PASTAURIZED AND HOMOGINIZED.

The one cow looked at the other and said, "It's not use, we just can't compete with them trucks."

We know there is a radical distinction between the cows and the truck.

One is a creator of milk, and the other is only a carrier.

So it is with the righteousness that the Christian is to produce that exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Christian righteousness is to fulfill the law, and, thus, the purpose of the creator of the law.

The competition does not do that.

They are only carriers of the law and tradition.

C. S. Lewis wrote, "Nothing gives one a more spuriously good conscience than keeping rules, even if there has been a total absence of all real charity and faith."

To better grasp this distinction we need to study the contrast between the two kinds of righteousness.

We need to grasp the strategy of our opponents if we expect to counter it with a superior strategy.

So let's examine first-

I. THE OPPOSITION GAME PLAN.

Their strategy is really quite simple.

It is the oldest and most popular strategy of history.

It is the religion of the rule book, also known as legalism.

All you have to do to be righteous is to keep the rules.

If you don't break any rules you can't suffer any penalties, and so you are bound to be a winner.

This is appealing to human nature.

It leads to a sense of security.

You know where you are at, and you are in control of your own destiny it seems, and once you get into the rut, life is predictable and carefree.