Sermon - Trinity VI 2020 - Matthew 5:17-26

Sometimes Jesus says things that I’d rather He just not say, for example, today He said: “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. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore 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. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus is right, as much as we might hate to say it. To be righteous in God’s sight requires perfect obedience to His law. If we have any hope of entering heaven, then we must keep His divine holy law.

But I guess that doesn’t sound too bad, right? That sounds doable. We just read the ten commandments, and I can keep those pretty easily. Fifth commandment, “thou shalt not murder,” well I’ve never killed anyone and I’m sure most you probably haven’t murdered anyone either, so we can check that one off the list. I think I deserve to go to heaven because I’m a pretty good guy.

That’s precisely the way the scribes and pharisees thought about it as well. I’ve kept the law, therefore I’m a good person and I deserve to go to heaven. The scribes and pharisees had created for themselves a law which they could keep, based upon God’s law, so that they could declare themselves righteous. 

In some ways we ourselves do this same thing today. We simplify God’s law to such an extent that it becomes doable. For example the 5th and 6th commandments, you shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery, on the face of it are easy enough to keep. 

But it’s not enough to just make face with God to get into heaven. Rather, as Jesus clarifies for us (and He’s really just reiterating what’s already written in the Old Testament), God’s law must also and primarily be kept in one’s heart. So the 5th commandment isn’t just “you shall not murder” but it’s “you shall not be angry with others or provoke others to anger, you shall not even call someone a fool” or you will be liable to the fires of hell. The 6th commandment isn’t just “you shall not commit adultery” but it’s “you shall not look at another with lustful intent in your heart.”

Keeping God’s law is more than just keeping it superficially and making face, but it’s keeping perfect obedience with it even within your heart. Jesus is not lying, the only way into heaven is if you keep God’s law perfectly, without relaxing even the most seemingly minor point. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll realize that this is an impossibility for you. No matter how hard you try you will still fail to keep God’s law perfectly in your heart.

But that doesn’t change the fact that you must keep the law in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus isn’t lying when He says: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Since that’s an impossibility for us, how is it that we will enter heaven and have our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and pharisees? The answer: We must seek our righteousness in Christ.

St. Paul writes: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” That is to say, Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us. The righteousness of Christ has been ascribed to us through faith, through the confidence and trust that Jesus has fulfilled the law for us on our behalf, so that Christ’s righteousness is now our righteousness. 

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? … We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

This means that you really and truly are righteous, both inwardly and outwardly, on account of Christ! Your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees. Their righteousness is only external, but your righteousness permeates your whole being. Such that it’s not only you who live, but Christ who lives in you. You are now righteous. You are a new creation. “We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

You are living a new life, through Christ, right now. I don’t mean this in some weird goofy new agey type of way, but that you’re a new person because Christ lives in you. This means that you now delight in God’s law, you see it as a good thing because it’s God’s will for your life and the order for this world; therefore you desire to do it, both inwardly and outwardly.

When you hear the ten commandments, you don’t only think about how you’ve sinned, but you also think about how you might keep these commandments. For example, Jesus talks about the 5th commandment today, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” 

Similarly, today, if we’re to keep the 5th commandment Christ would teach us to be reconciled with one another. He puts the responsibility squarely on our shoulders to be the first to go and make amends. As this new creation, within whom Christ lives, if you’re angry with someone or they’re angry with you, don’t delay but go quickly to make amends with them. Don’t put it off another day, but go and see them, make it right. Confess your sin to them and plead for their forgiveness. If they’ve sinned against you, forgive them without delay! Afterall, consider how great our offenses are against God, and how He so rapidly forgives us. If Christ has so forgiven us our wretched sins against Him, then we can definitely forgive one another each other’s minor sins against us.

The same is true and can be applied to each of the commandments and all of God’s law. If you see that you’re living in such a way that doesn’t please God, then you need to fix it right away. Don’t delay or consider it to be unimportant. Because it really does matter and if you, as a new and righteous person, refuse to confess your error and try to do right, the results may be disastrous! 

Our reading ends on a convicting note of law: “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” Jesus is talking here about hell. If you refuse to confess your sins and try to do better, and you delay to fix this during your life, the Lord will judge you as an unrighteous sinner and cast you into hell from which you will never escape. Don’t delay; fix this while you still can.

Because ultimately, as strictly as we must adhere to God’s holy law, God very generously provides a way of escape from this sin. If the burden of our sin is too great, then Christ’s forgiveness is greater still. If we can still sin again and again in this life, even after conversion, that means Christ can still forgive us again and again in this life. As many times as you might fall into sin and require God’s grace, He is there to forgive you. As easy as it is for us to sin, God paid a great price when He was sacrificed for you, so that just as easily as you sin, He readily forgives your sins.

None of the Law has been abolished, rather it’s been fulfilled, by Christ, on your behalf. Christ is your righteousness, which has been imputed to you out of God’s great love. You are righteous so that you may enter the kingdom of heaven.