The Required Righteousness – Trinity 6

The Required Righteousness

Matthew 5:17-26 T Trinity 6

INI

Good people don’t go to heaven. At least, not in the manner by which mankind measures goodness. Our heavenly trajectory isn’t dependent on our goodness. It isn’t dependent on our fulfillment of the law – whether that’s God’s holy Law set forth in the 10 commandments, or civil law. Because one can live lawfully in an outward manner, yet hate their brother. And 1 John 3:15 says, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” But also, people who are loving don’t go to heaven either. At least, not in the manner by which mankind measures love. Typically, we make exceptions with our love: this person deserves my love, but my enemies don’t.

Whether it’s by the outward obedience to the letter of the law, or by the inward dispositions of our hearts, we fail in matters of righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteous acts are like dirty rags before the Lord.

Yet, Jesus says that your righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees to get into heaven. Jesus sets a high standard for who can enter heaven. Even if you call your brother a fool, or some other term synonymous with it, you will be liable to hell. That’s murder of the heart, says Jesus. This shows how seriously Jesus takes our inner attitudes and actions.

There’s no exceptions. And Jesus expects that we teach the way of righteousness in these matters, without qualification or excuse. He says, “whoever relaxes 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 does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” God’s children don’t excuse themselves saying, “well, he called me a bad name first.” Revenge and anger aren’t the ways of righteousness

And what is righteousness? Well, it’s a relational term. It means you’re in a right relationship – whether that be with God or man. The Pharisees in their day primarily thought of righteousness in terms of being right with God. Thus, they advocated for a strict adherence to God’s Laws in the Torah, understanding righteousness as a primarily legal term. Our Old Testament reading reveals God’s Will as is taught in the Ten Commandments, which, we’ve all learned in Confirmation class. They saw God’s law as revealing God’s Will for our lives. And that’s true! It is how God wishes that we live our lives. But, he isn’t pleased with people’s sheer outward obedience to it. He wants people to die to sin. Jesus wants the Pharisees and Scribes and you and me to see righteousness as more than just checking boxes off a list. Seeing righteousness as such see’s God’s will much too narrow. It goes deeper than that. And it shows why people who are outwardly good in their behavior don’t necessarily go to heaven.

The Pharisees were good people. The lived an outwardly righteous life according to God’s law and civil law. There was a sort of moral purity to their conduct. That’s what made them well respected by all. That’s all good and dandy: but Jesus required more than good conduct to enter the kingdom of heaven. Not just perfection according to the law, but also perfection according to the law of love.

That was the sort of righteousness the Scribes and Pharisees lacked. They didn’t love. Yes, they were good people by all outward forms of righteousness. But they lacked inner righteousness. That is, a righteousness that comes about by faith. A righteousness that includes things beyond justice and outward forms of morality. The righteousness God requires changes the heart, that one might live out the virtues of compassion and mercy.

Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, is described as having this kind of righteousness. Because when he found Mary to be with child, he didn’t want to see her die. But He also thought he was wronged. So, he sought to divorce her. But quietly, so that she might not be judged publicly in shame, and possibly face death for adultery. Joseph’s actions towards Mary wasn’t motivated by revenge, but it was still justice. It was righteousness in all its forms – morality, justice, and mercy. Thanks be to God though, that the angel Gabriel set him straight about Mary.

Another example of this kind of righteousness is Jesus Himself. In John 8, a prostitute was caught in the act of fornication. To seek justice, the Pharisees gathered together to put her to death, which was the just punishment of adultery, as revealed by God in the Torah. However, Jesus says “He who has not sinned cast the first stone.” They all cast down their stones and walked away. When it was just Jesus and the woman, Jesus said to her “Go and sin no more.” Jesus’ righteousness sought morality, justice, AND mercy.

Righteousness balances all three: morality, justice, and mercy. The kind of mercy that seeks to reconcile. The Pharisees lacked that last part of righteousness, and had no interest in it. That’s why as followers of Christ, our righteousness must exceed theirs. For to be righteous in the kingdom of God, we must have all three.

Jesus gives us the perfect example of how we’re to act in righteousness. He recites the fifth commandment, you shall not murder. The Pharisees, and anyone really, could be righteous according to this commandment by the outward obedience of it. My hands haven’t taken life. My decisions have never been complicit in the taking of a life. I’ve acted in righteousness then, right?

Jesus isn’t satisfied with just that type of righteousness. He wants more. Murder comes from anger and revenge. Those feelings come from an unmerciful heart. We all experience anger and revenge. Especially when it comes to times when we insult others, or call them fools. Jesus tells us that anger leads to murder in our hearts, which makes us liable to the hell of fire.

How timely for all of us to remember this as we’re in the middle of an election year. Name calling and ad hominem attacks on this party or that party is not an act of righteousness, whether we’re correct or not. You can certainly take positions and have opinions, acting as a citizen of the state. But don’t forget what kingdom you actually are a part of. Remember who your real leader is. And who you really take direction from. Above all, God’s kingdom is the kingdom you should be striving for. So be careful with your words. Remember, true righteousness seeks to reconcile with your brother, not intentionally divide from them, lest the Lord be divided from you. The righteousness the Lord requires to be in His heavenly kingdom is different.

But if we live by the passions of the flesh and the anger of man, we will never live. What must happen to us in order for us to live according to God’s will? Our epistle from Romans 6 tells us. We must die. We must die to sin – not just the outward manifestations of sin that require us to clean up our behaviors. But also, the inward manifestations of sin that almost seem uncontrollable. How are we to die to something like that? Something that seems to pervade our existence?

We must be unified with Christ in His death and His resurrection. Become one with Him, because He has given this promise: “I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but I have come to fulfill them.”The outward and inward obedience to God’s holy, revealed Law is fulfilled only in the life of Jesus. And as a gift to mankind, He invites us to be united to Him in His perfect life of love through the gift of Holy Baptism.

And through this holy washing with water, God provides a newness of life. A new walk. A new heart. He has crucified you with Him on the cross. He has brought your body of sin to nothing that you might live according to the righteousness that He has freely given to you! We call that imputed righteousness. It’s given to you freely on His account.

Now, what do we do with this righteousness? Continue living on as before? Call my brothers fools guilt free? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Fact is, we can’t. To live to Christ means that sin shall die in us. Now, does that mean that we will never fall or have times of weakness?

Of course not. We won’t be perfect. Jesus knows that. But the righteousness He requires is given when we repent of our wrongdoings, seek reconciliation with our neighbor, and then come to Jesus to beg for His grace and mercy that we might become reconciled to Him also.

So, let us reconcile with our brothers. Seek righteousness not merely outwardly, but also inwardly. That is to say, let us seek the righteousness, which is given to us from above, which is Christ’s own righteousness. He’s here to reconcile us to God and to each other through His body and blood on the cross.

So, good people don’t go to heaven.  That’s right. Only those who repent of their sins, become one with Christ, receive His righteousness in faith, and live that faith in sincerity towards God and neighbor do.  That’s why Jesus calls us to love, forgive, and seek reconciliation, demanding more than outward obedience. While His commands are challenging, our greatest comfort lies in the righteousness Christ gives us. Through His perfect life, death, and resurrection, He fulfilled the law and imputed His righteousness to us. United with Him in faith and baptism, we are justified not by our deeds but by His sacrifice. May we be transformed by His righteousness, that our righteousness does exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, seeking the righteousness of morality, justice, AND mercy.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston