Sermon for Trinity 6, July 19, 2020
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
(EHV) Matthew 5:20–26 20“Indeed I tell you that
unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the
law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 21“You have heard that it was said
to people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be subject
to judgment.’ 22But I tell
you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject
to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will have to answer to
the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ will be in danger of hell fire. 23“So
if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and there you remember that
your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in
front of the altar and go. First be
reconciled to your brother. Then come
and offer your gift. 25“If
someone accuses you, reach an agreement with him quickly, while you are with
him on the way. Otherwise your accuser
may bring you to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and
you will be thrown into prison. 26Amen
I tell you: You will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Enter
heaven by Christ’s righteousness.
Dear
brothers and sisters of the Righteous Son,
How good is good enough?
Is it good enough to be eighty percent right in our interactions with
our fellow man? Eighty percent will give
you an average grade in school, but is that good enough in God’s eyes. If you cook a meal, will you be happy if two
thirds of your family like it and eat it with gladness? One more than fifty percent of the vote will
win most elections, but is being good 51 percent of the time enough for parents
to be happy with their children? More to
the point, does fifty-one percent of the vote mean anything on the day when the
only vote that counts is the judgment of the holy Son of God? How good is good enough? That is the one of the questions Jesus answers
in this chapter of Matthew’s gospel. His
answer teaches us that we can only Enter heaven by
Christ’s righteousness.
Jesus said,
“Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” When you read through this sermon Jesus was
preaching, you can almost feel the incredulous gasp that went through the crowd
when Jesus spoke these words. In the
eyes of the Jewish crowds, the Pharisees and experts in the law were “the best
of the best of the best, with honors, sir.” (with apologies to Will Smith in the
film, Men in Black). When Jesus told
the people surrounding Him that to enter heaven you have to be better than
those who had reputations of being stellar at keeping the law, most of the
people had to wonder, who could ever live up to that?
Now, it
is common in our day for most people to have a high opinion of themselves and
their own works. Yet, we likely don’t
rise any higher than the Pharisees. They
staked their reputations and their hope of salvation on keeping God’s law. They were so meticulous in this that they
made up numerous extra regulations and rules just to make sure they were
keeping God happy—much like our law codes keep expanding because people simply
don’t live up to God’s laws.
Yet, God
was not happy with the Pharisees, and on our own merits, He will never be happy
with us, because our righteousness never measures up to the holiness our Creator
demands. Jesus ended this chapter by reminding
God’s people to “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew
5:48) That is the standard God uses to
judge—not okay—not close enough—not almost perfect—only perfect will do, and
that requirement should put us all on our knees pleading for mercy.
The rest
of this text helps explain the kind of perfection God requires. Most people wishfully assume that being
pretty good should be enough. Even many
murderer’s mothers have tried to explain away the crimes by telling the judge about
how good her son was to her. However, Jesus
clearly teaches that God expects everyone to be perfect not just in avoiding
evil deeds, but perfect in our thoughts, words, and desires as well. Hating a brother is murder in God’s
eyes. Belittling a neighbor makes one
just as guilty and just as worthy of capital punishment.
That last
statement might shock us, even as it hints at the gracious love of God. Every person on earth has earned death because
of sin, whether willful and inadvertent.
The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) At the same time, the fact that we are
allowed to live on this earth, for a time, is testimony that God seeks to be
merciful. Peter wrote, “The Lord is
not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness. Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not
wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter
3:9) That’s why Jesus told His followers
to seek reconciliation with those they have hurt.
Some
people might react to this sermon by asking what does it mean for us now? They may be unwilling to worry about entering
heaven, someday, because life here on earth seems so bad now. Certainly, Jesus’ instruction is useful for a
peaceful life in the here and now, and we should reconcile with those we have
hurt. We should restore whatever we may have
stolen, damaged, or destroyed. However, we
usually find that some hurts are too big for us to repair. Fences can’t always be mended. We can’t make the dead live again. Destroyed reputations may be hard to rebuild
because we just can’t always know who is holding on to the false
information. Like thistle seeds blowing
in the wind, our mistakes and misdeeds may travel far.
Likewise,
because God cares for all people, every time we have hurt someone, or caused
any harm or offense, we have also offended the Lord. Whenever we do not love others as we love
ourselves, or even if we do not rightly take care of our own welfare, we are
offending our Creator. Therefore, even
as it is wise to reconcile with the people around us who we may have hurt or
offended, and not to put our future in the hands of a judge who may not care
about us, we all need to be reconciled with God before He makes the final
declaration of our guilt or innocence, because at the end of this life, every
person will face the holy, divine Judge.
Then, how good will be good enough?
Into this
pit of despair came a Friend who was ready to do whatever was necessary to save
us from an eternal prison of torture, pain, and exile from God’s love. God’s own Son entered this world by taking on
human flesh to live in perfect harmony with His heavenly Father’s will in our
place. The Man, Christ Jesus, obeyed
every command God had laid down for His people.
Jesus obeyed every law the lawful authorities had placed over the
land. Jesus humbled Himself before God
and people. There was not one moment in
Jesus’ earthly life when the Father in heaven could not say, “This is my
Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with
him.” (Matthew 3:17) Then finally,
in perfect harmony with God’s will, Jesus went willingly before the judgment of
sinful men to lay down His holy life to pay the penalty for the sins of the whole
world, yours and mine included.
Jesus
told the people, “If someone accuses you, reach an agreement with him
quickly, while you are with him on the way.
Otherwise your accuser may bring you to the judge, and the judge may
hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen I tell you: You will never get out until
you have paid the last penny.” On
another occasion, Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear the
one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew
10:28) The point is that we must be
reconciled with God before our lives end and the judgment is pronounced.
Our
epistle reading, today, speaks about baptism and reconciliation with God. Our sermon theme says, Enter
heaven by Christ’s righteousness. What
I am trying to tell you in my disjointed way is that we all need Jesus’
holiness put on us before we face Him on Judgment Day or our own personal
judgment day of death. In the here and
now, we need the love of God to cover us so that our misdeeds won’t keep us
away from God forever. That really is
the message of the Bible—that we all are sinners who deserve nothing but God’s
wrath and punishment, but in love for us, God sent His Son to be our
salvation.
Furthermore,
God leaves nothing to chance. Jesus
lived the perfectly holy life God demands before we may stand in His presence,
and God the Father credits that perfect life to us in exchange for Jesus
carrying our sins to the cross. “This
is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to
be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) St. Paul tells us also, “God made him, who
did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) And, as we heard from St. Paul in our epistle
reading, “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death…We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so
that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we
too would also walk in a new life. For
if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly
also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans
6:3-5) Thus, we Enter heaven by
Christ’s righteousness.
Dear
friends, God shows the world His love, today, through the message of the Bible,
through the washing and word of Baptism, through the proclamation of
forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake, and through the supper by which He richly
restores to us the forgiveness of sins won for us on the cross by the offering
of Jesus’ precious body and blood.
In a way,
it’s all pretty simple: being judged on our own merits sends us to hell
forever, but by grace, God gives us the righteousness of the Son who gave His
all so that we might live forever. Heed
Jesus’ call to repentance. Trust in the
sacrifice He made for you. Rejoice at
His resurrection from the grave to life everlasting and Enter heaven by
Christ’s righteousness. Amen.
The peace
of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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