Sermon - Trinity VI 2021 - Matthew 5:17-26

Moses Descends from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, Ferdinand Bol, 1662

            “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does it mean to be righteous? That’s the question we’ll be answering today. Many people, including the scribes and Pharisees and most people in our day, view righteousness merely in terms of outward civil righteousness; doing the right things in the eyes of the world. But Jesus goes a step further, and explains that righteousness is not just a matter of outward actions, but ultimately is an inward spiritual matter of the heart.

The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was an outward civil righteousness. Now, to be clear, it’s not necessarily wrong to be outwardly righteous. This outward civil righteousness is a part of natural law written on the hearts of all mankind. It’s common sense, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Don’t hurt people, sleep around, or steal stuff and things will go much better for you in life. That’s outward civil righteousness.

Following God’s law outwardly in our lives is a good thing. We still have God’s law today. Jesus did not do away with God’s law, and He makes that abundantly clear in His sermon on the mount, as we heard today! “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.”

So we still do have God’s law and we should still follow it. That’s a good thing. The problem with the scribes and Pharisees, just as it is today, is that they made their outward civil righteousness the only kind of righteousness that mattered. They meticulously went through God’s word and identified 613 laws of Moses which they were to follow. That’s all well and good; it’s good to care about God’s word and study it thoroughly. But the scribes and Pharisees went a step too far. They introduced new laws, not found in the Bible, called the Mishnah. These new man-made laws they held up higher than God’s law, and a person was considered righteous if they followed the Mishnah.

The Mishnah is where they had rules about having to wash their hands before they ate or about how many steps they could take on the Sabbath. These weren’t biblical changeless laws from God, they were changing laws from man. Do you see what they did? They created their own set of laws in order to define what it meant for them to be righteous.

This same type of thing goes on still today. This isn’t when Christians try to follow God’s law, try to follow the Bible and believe what the Bible says. But being a Pharisee is when you ignore what God actually said, and create new laws that make you appear righteous in the eyes of the world. An obvious example in the church is saying that drinking alcohol is sinful, when the Bible never says that, and actually portrays alcohol in a generally positive light, and only condemns drunkenness as sin. 

In response to the outward civil righteousness, Jesus teaches what it means to be righteous in a way that matters. He teaches inward spiritual righteousness. He teaches this first using the example of the 5th commandment: You shall not murder.

When most people hear that commandment, they have no problem with it! That’s an easy one! I’ve never murdered anyone, so I’m righteous! Check that one off the list! But Jesus goes onto teach that there’s more to the 5th commandment than just outward civil righteousness. It’s not enough to just not murder. “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Keeping the 5th commandment isn’t just a matter of civil righteousness, it’s not just a matter of what we do or don’t do with our hands. It’s just as important with what we do with our hearts. Wishing the other person dead or with bad luck merits eternal death. Angry gestures, such as snide looks or rolling the eyes, is worthy of severe punishment. Speaking evil of the other person and maligning their reputation is worthy of the fires of hell.

(As a parenthetical aside, it would be wise to note that there is an exception here. God the Father and the Son are both at times angry and dole out punishment. Not all anger is sin, namely anger within your vocation and station in life is necessary at times. A ruler needs to be angry and punish the thieves and murderers, a parent needs to be angry and punish an unruly child, a preacher needs to be angry and condemn a false teaching, a husband needs to be angry and fight against the intruder. However, caution must be taken that spite and personal vendettas are not mistaken for righteous anger.)

Anyways, back to where we were; keeping the 5th commandment also means reconciling with the other person. “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.” Instead of letting that animosity and enmity remain in your heart, go and reconcile the situation with the other. If you’ve sinned against them, confess it and plead for their forgiveness. Don’t just sweep the issue under the rug, don’t go to bed with anger dwelling in your heart, but deal with the problem in a loving, repentant, and forgiving manner.

If you refuse to reconcile the sin within your heart, Jesus gives a stark warning. “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.” See, this spiritual inward righteousness is more important than the outward righteousness. Just because outwardly you look righteous and beautiful, doesn’t mean you’re that way inwardly. Perhaps like the Pharisees, you’re little more than a whitewashed tomb, clean and sparkly on the outside, but filled with dead things inside.

If you’re anything like me, it’s very hard to hear these words of Jesus and not squirm. The outward civil righteousness is hard enough; it’s hard enough just to follow the law in an outward manner. But for me to follow the law inwardly in my heart? It feels impossible! Because apart from Christ it is impossible.

The inward spiritual righteousness which God demands of us is simply not possible by our own merits. It is for this reason that Christ came to fulfill the law, both outwardly and inwardly, on our behalf. God’s law is not done away with, we still must follow it, it still applies to us today. Nevertheless, we’re not righteous because we follow the law, rather, we’re righteous because Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. 

“ 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. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Because Christ fulfilled the law and was crucified as a payment for sin, and because His fulfillment of the law and crucifixion are applied to you through baptism, Christ’s righteousness is your righteousness. You have spiritual inward righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, and therefore, you are righteous. This is not a result of you outwardly performing any sort of civil work, but it is purely the result of Christ applying His work to you.

So once again, in answer to our initial question: What does it mean to be righteous? In the eyes of the world it means to be outwardly civilly righteous. That’s a necessary thing for us Christians too. But in the eyes of God it also means to be inwardly and spiritually righteous. This righteousness of the heart is a fruit of Christ’s work in us through His atoning sacrifice. Through faith in Christ, due in no part to our own works, God declares us righteous.