Do You Think You are Righteous?

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In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1 to 7:27 Jesus teaches us how we should live in the Kingdom. Some commentators have referred to it as the Manifesto of the King. Others have called it the life of a disciple in the Kingdom of the King.

To be clear it is not just about how we will live in the Kingdom of heaven but it also applies to how we should live in God’s Kingdom here on the earth. As we read through the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus is very clear about how we should conduct our lives. But – unfortunately we fail more than we succeed. Failure to follow God’s standard of behaviour is an obvious consequence of our sinful nature. As Paul says in Romans 3:23; “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” The standard Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount.

After Jesus had finished teaching and preaching – Matthew says at 7:28-29; “…the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.” Yes – the authority of a King who can give orders and enforce compliance - a King who takes care of his people and the land.

In the King James Version God says in Genesis 1:26; “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Dominion means absolute sovereign authority - absolute sovereign authority.

Dominion authority was the kind of authority European monarchs were suppose to exercise over their subjects and their lands. They believed it was authority delegated to them by God. The King or Queen was expected to take care of the people and the land. Clearly God did not intend for them to abuse their power (but we know many did). They were to use their authority to do good.

Dominion authority is the kind of authority Jesus has – it is absolute sovereign authority over people and everything else – that is all that is seen and unseen.

Right after the Sermon on the Mount Jesus travels about the countryside demonstrating his Kingship authority and power over diseases - like when healed a man with leprosy and the Centurion’s paralyzed servant and many others. And his authority and power over demons when he commanded a legion of demons to leave a man they had possessed. He sent them packing into a herd of pigs. Power over nature when he calmed the storm as he and the Disciples were in a storm-tossed boat on the Sea of Galilee. And his authority to call Disciples like Matthew and the others and followers like you and me.

Some who respond to the call of Jesus will follow him no matter the cost or the consequences. Even to the point of death - as historically what happened to most of the Disciples and early followers.

Plus - And – this is very important – Jesus has the authority and power and (thankfully for us) the desire to forgive sin. The sin that infects each and every one of us.

Matthew records an incident where Jesus heals a paralyzed man and says to him; “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” To the spiritually blind and hard-hearted religious leaders – such a statement is blaspheme because only God can forgive sin. Instead of searching through their knowledge of the Old Testament or common sense through observation - to know who Jesus is - they simply see him as acting like God. Blaspheming God was a very serious offence under Jewish law. Recognizing the evil in their hearts he tells them; “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

It should have been obvious to those religious leadres that Jesus was more than just an itinerant preacher. Only God can heal people the way Jesus did. So when he says he is the Son of Man who has authority to forgive sin – he is telling them that - he is God. The proof of his claim is in the kind of healing that only God can do. But sadly most of them and most people on the earth will never and can never understand Jesus for who he is.

Then as Jesus is still going about the countryside, he meets Matthew - the tax collector. Jesus simply says to him “Follow me” and “Matthew got up and followed him.” He didn’t give any delaying excuses like – Let me finish the days work or let me go ask the boss for some time off – or any other less important thing than to follow Jesus. Like Matthew the call some people receive is to the right person at the right time in their life. It’s like a perfect match. For whatever was going on in Matthews head and spirit - these are the right words to hear at the right time.

And I thought about how many less important things there are in our lives. Things that keep us from getting up and following Jesus – more than we do. They are not bad things – family – job – personal commitments – public works of service - plus not all of us are field workers for the Kingdom. We’re just people who want to get through life without too many heartaches. But sometime I think we are tethered to our lives more than we might otherwise be. Sometime I ask myself – can I do more and – am I willing to do more.

Now it seems to me that Matthew had one of those spiritual AH-Ha moments when he saw something that drew him into the presence of Jesus. Although the impact of that call would not fully affect him until after the resurrection.

Now I’ve noticed that some of what Jesus says in the Scriptures are comments or observations while other things he says are like a command from a King. There is no ubiquity in his commands. The call to Matthew is a command. Jesus says; “Follow me.” Jesus spoke with authority. Matthew – along with the prompting of the Holy Spirit - probably sensed the authority in Jesus’s words and got up and followed.

Sharing a meal was an important part of Jewish social traditions. So it was natural that Matthew held a dinner for his new friend - Jesus and the four disciples (Peter – Andrew – James - John). Also – Matthew invites his fellow tax collectors and some others. All these tax collectors and others the religious leaders sinners. Y’know people who would be like you and me. They asked Jesus’s Disciples; “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” We might think they were being pompous or self-righteous – which seems true. But they believed they were protection their traditions as they interpret the Old Testament laws. However - Jesus saw right through their hard hearts and says; “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” They aren’t showing any mercy to their fellow Jews to whom they were suppose to be their loving compassionate shepherds.

Now in the NIV translation we read this morning Jesus says at v:13; “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” But what I like about other translations is that sometime a particular verse is clearer.

So in the NLT v:13 reads; “For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” The emphasis in the NLT is more personal and specific. I have known and I’m sure each of us has know someone who thinks they are self righteous and good and claims to always do the right thing.

Some years ago - I watched an interview of a prominent US politician. The interviewer asked this politician if he had ever done anything sinful. The politician thought for a few moments and answered with something like he didn’t believe he had or he didn’t think so. It was the kind of interview that really stuck in my head. No hint of humility.

Have you ever asked someone what they have to do to get into heaven? If you have - you probably got the same kind of answer as I did. The answer was usually something like “to be good”. A nice answer but then you have to ask them what it means to be good – to put a definition to their claim of being good. The problem with trying to define good – is that it is very subjective individually and subjective to cultural views to a place and time.

In Matthew’s gospel the dinner follows the incident where Jesus says to the Jewish religious leaders; “…the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” The religious leaders who questioned Jesus’s having a meal with tax collectors and sinners are probably the same Jewish religious leaders who accused Jesus of blaspheming God. They were the one’s Jesus referred to as believing they were righteous. They believed they had the right religious training and the right religious pedigree therefore they believed they were righteous.

It seems clear to me that most of the religious leaders (except maybe Nicodemus - Joseph of Arimathea and some others) – and a lot of people over the centuries are in the same spiritual condition of thinking they are righteous or “good”.

But what about the other half of Jesus statement “…those who know they are sinners.”

Show of hands.

Hear is what David said about our natural state in Psalm 51: 3-5:

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

From the time we are conceived in our mother’s womb that seed of sin has been passed on through each generation. We know we are sinners! And we needed to be saved from the curse of our sin and the consequence of sin - death.

So – praise Go and praise Jesus – because God gave up his one and only Son to save us and Jesus gave up his life to save us. There was no other way.

We cannot save ourselves. It is impossible – it is not in our DNA – it is not part of who we are.

We cannot pass Go and we cannot enter the Kingdom of God the Father without Jesus. It is very clear to me and should be clear to every Christian that the only way to the Kingdom of the Father in heaven is through faith in Jesus as LORD and Saviour. --It is not because you think you are righteous or you think you are “Good”.

It is faith in Jesus that we have access to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says so in John 14: 2-6;

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Pretty clear.

Hear some of what Paul says;

Romans 4: 16; “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace…” Paul speaks of the promise of righteousness as when righteousness was credited to Abraham simply because Abraham believed God.

And again Paul says in Ephesians 2:8; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—”

What a precious gift we have - that notwithstanding that we know our sinful nature it is through faith in Jesus our doctor of salvation that we are saved.

Earlier I said that for some who follow Jesus there is a real cost. Look at Matthew – what did he give up? A solid career with possible advancement – wealth and power – maybe a family and maybe a home.

Remember that Jesus has dominion authority over everyone. The authority to decide life or death. 

Eternal life in paradise or eternal death in hell. Every person who has lived – is living or is yet to be born will be judged by Jesus. We affirm this every time we say the Creeds; “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Amen

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