Theme: Matthew 5: 13-20
I am no mechanic. Yet sometimes I try to fix my car. Maybe it’s about saving some money. Or maybe it’s just a guy thing. I’ve learned what my limits are. But there was a time when I would get started fixing something and wished I hadn’t. I’d take something apart and just couldn’t get it back together. Hours went by. The sun goes down. A sweet voice comes from inside. How’re you doing, honey? Got it right yet? So it might not be wise ask your pastor to help fix your car.
Got it right yet? Well somehow I usually managed to get it right. But there is something we can’t get right no matter how hard we try. Our relationship with God. On our own, we’re like me out in the garage. My life, my relationship I can’t seem to get it right. I can’t seem to get it righteous.
But someone has for us. He comes to us today in our gospel lesson. He helps us to understand where to turn and where not to turn. And he helps us to understand what we are in Him.
Got It Right Yet?
I. Dead end righteousness-Mine
II. Saving righteousness-Jesus’
III. Bright shining righteousness for others
We’re at the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just shared the beatitudes. Now he begins to paint a detailed picture of God’s will for our lives. Without a doubt Jesus holds the bar very high. He helps us to see the kind of righteousness that God calls for. It’s not just about what I do with my hands. It’s about what goes on in here, my heart. It’s not just about what we shouldn’t do. It’s also about the kind of love we owe to even our enemies. Got it right yet?
Of course, someone might think. Well I know I have sinned. Everyone does. But not as bad as some. I think I’m a pretty good person.
Let’s think about that. Imagine I baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for you this morning. I used a family recipe that everyone loves. I’m going put those cookies out after church. But oh, by the way, somehow the cookies got some dog poop in them. But it’s not very much. They’re still pretty good. Would you eat my cookies? Would you even take a small bite?
Pretty good. Pretty righteous. We might say that about our lives. We’d be wrong. Still we might be tempted to think it. There’s just a little sin mixed in. But on the whole, I’m alright.
That’s not what Jesus says here: 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same 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.
Bible teachers disagree about what Jesus means when he says: least in the kingdom of heaven. But there’s no question what Jesus says to us about righteousness. And it must have shocked these people. Unless your righteousness surpasses the Pharisees and teachers of the law? They sure looked righteous to these people and yet Jesus says you need to be even more righteous.
Think about that. Think about our lives. You wouldn’t eat my cookies with dog poop. We should not expect the Lord to accept a life with the dog poop of our sin. That’s dead end righteousness- mine. Got it right yet?
Not if we listened to the Pharisees. Not if we listen to this world’s religion. What is that? Be a good person and God will accept you. The problem is, the deadly problem is: there is no good person. There is no one righteous, not even one. Got it right yet? Let’s get it right now. For our Dead end righteousness won’t do. We need something else- Saving righteousness which comes from Jesus.
Every now and then your hear about it. Some demanding organization dumbs down their standards to accommodate more people. They change the rules. Over the years I’ve heard about Fire departments doing it. Of late, the US Marines.
There were those who accused Jesus of doing something like that when it came to our life under God. In a way, those religious leaders were right. You see, over the years the Rabbis had taken God’s Word, the Law and added layer after layer of rules and regulations they told the people they had to keep to please God. They got so caught up in their rules that they lost sight of what God intended. Jesus said. Their teachings are but rules taught by men (Matthew 14:9) Yet when it came to his Father’s will, the commands of God’s Law, when it came to what God had said in his word: Jesus said this vs 17. 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.
If you’ve been waiting for some good news, here it is. Jesus came to fulfill – to fulfill the Old Testament in a couple of ways. Both very good. Just imagine I set up a big row of empty jars. Each one of them represents a promise that God made about the Messiah, the Christ our Savior. One jar tells us he would be born in Bethlehem. Another jar says that he would be Immanuel, God with us. Another points to his suffering that would bring us peace with God. And still another points to his resurrection and his glory. Imagine I set up all those jars and many more. All the things God promised in his Word about the Messiah. Now picture all those empty jars full. For every promise, every prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and that is very good news.
But let’s not forget the other way he fulfilled God’s Word. Think about what Paul wrote to the Galatians: When the time had fully come God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law. (Gal 4:4) When the Son of God came in human flesh, he humbled himself to live under God’s law. And every day of his life he obeyed God’s law. He feared, loved and trusted in his Father above all things. He fulfilled the law in every way.
And why is that so important? He lived that righteous life for you and me. He lived it in our place, for us who have broken God’s commands in more ways than we can ever count. He fulfilled God’s law in his life and then he offered that perfect life on a cross to set us free. To set us free from our guilt and make it possible for us to live as children of God. And that dear friends is saving righteousness- Jesus’ Saving righteousness that comes to us through faith in Him as a gift of God’s love. Got it right yet?
I pray so. Because if you do, if this saving righteousness of Jesus lives in your heart, then these words of Jesus are for you. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. In Christ, you have and you will be a bright shining righteousness for others.
Jesus starts with salt. You are the salt of the earth. I realize that some of us have to watch our salt intake but salt is good. Through the years salt has been used to preserve meat from spoiling and making people sick. And of course, salt is used to make our food taste better. I can’t eat eggs without it. Well however we take Jesus’ words, he is saying that you, his people, bring something good to this world. That is God’s intention. And as long as we are his people with faith in our hearts that is going to be the case. That wherever we go our world, our place of work, our family, our town is somehow better off. You are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of the world. When Jesus says that he is implying something about this world and many of the people around us. They live in darkness. That darkness is pretty evident when you go to a police briefing like I do sometimes. When you hear about the things that people do to each other and to themselves. When you hear about an actor who had so much going for him found dead with a needle stuck in his arm. There is so much darkness in this world, a darkness that clings to hearts and souls and always ends in a hopeless death. A darkness that once claimed you and me but now by the grace of God no more.
You are the light of the world. You are a light because you have Jesus in your heart. The apostle John wrote: In Him was life and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4) Now that light lives in your heart. This bright shining righteousness that is yours by faith. This bright shining righteousness that makes you more the kind of people God wants us to be. And as Jesus teaches us here, it can’t help but shine in our lives. Just like a city on a hill can’t be hidden.
Let it shine, Jesus says. Let your light so shine. Let it shine in the good things you do for others. Let it shine as you faithfully go about your work. In the quiet acts of kindness for others when so many are all caught up with themselves. Let that light shine as you share the reason for its brightness. You have Jesus in your heart who has given you peace with God and an awesome hope kept in heaven for you.
Got it right yet? Got it right yet? Thanks be to God. How blessed we are in Jesus. Amen.