Raising the Bar on Righteousness

Series: Preacher: Date: November 5, 2006 Scripture Reference: Matthew 5:17-26

When I was in high school I was a member of the track team. My event was the 180 yard low hurdles, back in the olden days when distance was measured in yards instead of meters. Once my event was done, I would often head over to watch the high jumpers and the pole-vaulters because I admired the unique skill it took to compete in these events. I revered these athletes because it was obvious that to be a good high jumper or pole-vaulter, you had to be able to control every muscle in your body independently, consciously moving each limb in coordinated succession to get your body over that bar literally one piece at a time.

If I remember correctly, each athlete gets three shots at each height. Once they make it, the bar is raised a few inches and again they had three jumps to clear that next level. During the course of a meet the bar would be raised again and again and again until everyone was eliminated except of course the winner but he wouldn’t stop there. No, he would keep trying to get over the bar at higher and higher levels until he was unable to do so. Ironically these are the only events I know of where even the winners end in failure.

Now, I don’t know about the polevault, but if my internet research is correct, the world high jump record today stands at 2.45 meters or 8 ft ½ inch. That’s the greatest height anyone has ever cleared with his or her body in that event. And the person who “set the bar” at that height is Javier Sotomayer. He did it in 1993 and it hasn’t been done since. His record is now the standard by which all high jumps are measured.

I share all this because today, as we continue our study of the Sermon On The Mount, we come to a text in which Jesus talks about some world record holders in His day. I’m not referring to Palestinian jumpers or vaulters, but rather to the Scribes and Pharisees. You see, when it came to setting the record for righteous living they were considered to be the Javier Sotomayers of their day. Back then no one would even think of challenging them. These guys were almost universally respected for their disciplined attention to the written laws of God. To the people of that day theirs was the standard of righteousness against which everyone else was judged.

Now, you and I tend to have a negative opinion of the scribes and the Pharisees because we’ve studied Scripture and we know they were the “bad guys” in the early days of Christianity. We know they were the people who were always criticizing Jesus, the guys who eventually got Him arrested, tried in a puppet court, and crucified on a Roman cross. But we need to understand that prior to Jesus’ coming, for the most part the Scribes and the Pharisees were very highly thought of. Most people thought of them as the good guys. In fact years later even Paul boasted that he had been a Pharisee when he stood up before Herod Agrippa to plead his case (Acts 26:5). Paul knew that this earned him the respect of Herod. Back then, to be a Pharisee was definitely a praiseworthy thing indeed and the Scribes were also honored. People thought if anyone is good enough to get into Heaven, surely it’s these guys. These two groups were thought of as the religious elite, the “bar setters” when it came to righteous living.

But in this sermon of sermons Jesus challenged this commonly held belief. As He stood on that mountainside our Lord raised the righteousness bar. He said that to get into heaven you have to be more righteous than these “righteous world record holders.” Take your Bibles and turn to the 5th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Follow along as I read verses 17-20 and you’ll see what I mean. Jesus says,

17 “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.

18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

19 Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, this last sentence must have shocked the people listening that day. I’m sure there was a lot of jaw dropping when our Lord said these words. People must have thought, “No way, that’s impossible!” I mean, according to their way of thinking His statement would be like our going to the next Summer Olympic high jump competition and watching as the officials took the bar that was set at 8ft ½ inch and raised it to 20 feet and said, “Okay, this is the new qualifying height. Jumpers have to clear this in order to compete.” We would say, “No way! That’s impossible! Even Javier can’t clear the bar at that height!” It would be like saying, “Unless you win more golf tournaments than Tiger Woods” or “Unless you make more money than Bill Gates” or “Unless you sell more stuff than Wall Mart ” you will never get past the pearly gates. Those people sitting there must have thought, “What is He talking about? No one can be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees! Jesus is changing the rules here! He’s throwing out the old law and talking about something entirely different.”

But Jesus didn’t say that did He? No, in fact He affirmed the written law of God. Look at verses 17 and 18 again, where our Lord 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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

So, Jesus didn’t change the rules. He didn’t say, “Throw out the Bible.” In fact, He said that in God’s book even the smallest stroke of a pen is authoritative. In His sermon Jesus reaffirmed that God’s written Word is indeed the guideline for anyone who would live a righteous life and it is!

I’m reminded of what Warren Weirsbe says about the Bible. He says, “The Bible teaches us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right.” The Pharisees problem was they either ignored or misconstrued God’s written law and in so doing they came up with their own very flawed brand of righteousness, a brand of righteousness that set the bar way too low. Let’s look briefly at their two main errors, the two main flaws when it came to their attempts at righteous living.

(1) First, their version of righteousness was self glorifying rather than God glorifying.

As far as the Pharisees and Scribes were concerned, righteousness was all about their own accomplishments. These Jewish religious leaders had pridefully identified 613 rules in the Old Testament: 248 commands to do something and 365 commands to not do something. For example, when God said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” they came up with a plethora of their own guidelines, man made laws that told precisely what one could do on the Sabbath and still keep this law, and what one could not do. Their rules said you could move about on the Sabbath but only a certain distance; you could eat, but not cook. My favorite was a rule that said a woman could not look in a mirror on the Sabbath because if she did she might be tempted to pull out a gray hair and that would be shearing work a no-no! These guys delighted in their endless list of do’s and don’ts! Apparently they never met a law they didn’t like.

And the reason they loved laws wasn’t because they loved God. No it was because in their mind obeying all these laws made them look good. It gave them status in the community. In Luke 18:9 14 Jesus confronted this flaw in their thinking. Follow along as I read.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men robbers, evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ [God, I take pride in the fact that, as You well know, I have been able to keep all 613 laws! Am I good or what!]

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ [God anything good that is in my life is because of You. On my own, I’m nothing.]

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Do you see this flaw in their thinking? Jesus rebuked this prayer of the self-righteous Pharisee, a prayer that showed how self absorbed he was, one in which he bragged about his accomplishment. And Jesus complimented the prayer of a man who knew he was nothing but a sinner, absolutely dependent on God’s grace.

We need to be careful when we slip into self-righteousness, because the fact is we can never be righteous enough on our own. Even our best attempts fall far short of the “bar” that God has set. This week I came across the following bit of prose that illustrates this point.

“If you can start the day without caffeine; if you can get going without pep pills; if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains; if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles; if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it; if you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time; if you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when through no fault of yours something goes wrong; if you can take criticism and blame without resentment; if you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him; if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend; if you can face the world without lies and deceit; if you can conquer tension without medical help; if you can relax without liquor; if you can sleep without the aid of drugs; if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics; then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.”

As this prose cleverly illustrates in many ways dogs are more righteous than we are! Is that humbling or what?! Friends, the purpose of the law was to not to show us how good we are, but to show us how bad we are and how good God is. The purpose of the law is to show how absolutely dependent we are on God’s grace. Self-righteousness is a crock! People who glory in their own goodness are fools! The law can’t save us! Only Jesus can and that’s why He came. As Paul put it in Romans 8:3, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met ”

Now, of course we are to obey the laws of God. Life works best when we live according to the principles and precepts of this handbook for life that our “Manufacturer” has so lovingly provided. But we can’t “jump” the righteousness bar on our own. We are deluded fools if we think we can, because each of us no matter how good we may think we are is absolutely dependent on the grace of God.

A second flaw in the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees was this

(2) It was based on the external rather than the internal.

Their version of the law focused on looking good on the outside. 1 Samuel 16:7 refers to this flawed way of thinking when it says,

“Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart.”

The Scribes and the Pharisees bought into this flawed perspective on righteousness. They went to a great deal of trouble to shine up the outside of their lives, but were unable to do anything about the true state of their hearts. Inside they were just as sinful and unacceptable to God as anyone else. In Matthew 23:37 Jesus referred to this and said to them,

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”

You know, we can make the outside look good can’t we? We are very skilled at that. But we are powerless when it comes to the inside. Think of it . We can refrain from stealing, but how many of us have never coveted something that wasn’t ours? We can worship here each Sunday, and for all intents and purposes look like we worship only, one God. But have you ever loved something more than Him? Has any thing ever taken God’s rightful place in your life? I would venture to say that none of us could say that every moment of every day our thoughts and desires are for God and God alone! One more. I would imagine most of us can honestly say we’ve never committed adultery physically but how many of us are innocent mentally? How many of us could raise our hands and say, “I’ve never thought a lustful thought about someone who wasn’t my spouse.” I mean, to a certain extent you and I can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps morally and look good look righteous on the outside, but on the inside, well, let’s just say we don’t want to go there. It’s like that one cluttered, dirty room in your house whose door you always keep shut tightly when guests are present. You don’t want anyone to see in there. And the truth is we all have those “dirty rooms” in here. Outside we may look good, but inside we fall far short of God’s righteousness “bar.” We don’t even come close.

Jesus spelled it out later in this sermon. In Matthew 5:48 He said, “Be perfect, as Your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Well even a glance at our “insides” reveals the fact that none of us are perfect!

Now at this point in His sermon, to make sure His listeners understand what He’s saying Jesus gives them a couple examples. We would say He goes from “preaching to meddling,” because He gets very personal. His Word begins to cut deep if you know what I mean, because He applies His truth at two very tender points. And this morning I want to look at His first example where He applies His standard of righteousness to the 6th commandment. We’ll study the other example next week. But for now look at verses 21 22 where our Lord says:

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Do you understand what Jesus is saying? In verse 21 He tells His hearers, and us as well, that yes, the act of murder is a sin, but there’s more to it than that. In verse 22, Jesus “fulfills this particular law” or as Hobbs puts it, “He fills it full of meaning,” by saying even hateful anger is sin. Even our inner thoughts can cause us to fall short of His righteousness bar.

The popular rock band, Creed, is known as much for it’s powerful music as they are for their passionate lyrics, lyrics that are often inspired by genuinely Christian themes. One of the songs is entitled “What if?” and its words go like this,

“I know I can’t hold the hate inside my mind
Cause what consumes your thoughts controls your life
So I’ll just ask one question What if?
What if your words could be judged like a crime?

That’s what Jesus is talking about here. In God’s the only righteous judge’s eyes hateful words spoken in anger and the thoughts that prompt them are treated like a crime. In other words, as we attempt to “high jump” over God’s law, whenever we think hatefully, whenever we speak hatefully, we knock the bar right off the standards. In this way we are breaking the spirit of the 6th commandment. The word, “raca” that appears in verse 22 has no English equivalent because it describes an attitude or a tone of voice. It was a hateful sound, a sound of contempt, that was directed at people as a way of saying, “In my mind you are nothing but a brainless idiot.” Our expression, “Duh!” is similar. And Jesus says that anyone who uses this hateful sound is guilty of sin. The word “fool” in verse 23 is the way we translate the Greek word ‘moros,’ and it’s the word from which we get our word, “moron.” But in those days moros wasn’t just used to describe a person’s mental abilities. No it was also used to describe a person’s moral character. When you used it back then, you weren’t just calling someone dumb, you were calling them evil. It was like saying, “Not only are you a liar. You’re a filthy liar.”

Well, take a few minutes to review your mental logs. Rewind and play the “security tapes” up there. Anyone ever direct derogatory sounds or words at other drivers on the beltway, or at your spouse, or at your parent when they weren’t looking? Anyone ever use hateful body language to express your feelings about the slow as molasses cash register clerk who could apparently care less about your hectic schedule? We think this kind of behavior is okay. We think this is harmless, but they’re not. It’s sinful. The point Jesus was making is that keeping the law, “you shall not murder” is basically easy. Anyone here murdered anyone? I doubt it. But don’t congratulate yourselves, because Jesus was also saying that we can get an “A” in not murdering but still flunk because of the anger we so often embrace, an anger that prompts us to entertain hateful thoughts or utter hateful words or sounds. In a very real sense, all of us are killers convicted by the Law of God.

Clarence Darrow, probably the most famous criminal lawyer of his generation, must have surely read these words of Jesus because he once said, “Everyone is a potential murderer. I have not killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction out of obituary notices.” Well, let me ask you, is anyone present this morning guilty of murder in God’s eyes? Should Al Uy get his handcuffs out and call the paddy wagon? Anyone guilty of murderous thoughts or words? Of course, all of us are at times, we all allow our anger to lead us to sin! How many of you have ever said things you wish you hadn’t said, or done things you wish you hadn’t done, because you didn’t control your anger?

I think we can all identify with the mother who stopped at a toy store to pick up a birthday gift for her son after spending three and a half hours enduring the long lines, rude clerks, and insane regulations of the Department of Motor Vehicles. She selected a baseball bat that she knew her son wanted and brought it to the cash register. The clerk asked, “Cash or charge?” The mother snapped back, “Cash!” and then apologized for her rudeness, and explained, “I’m sorry. I’m ticked because I’ve just come from spending the entire afternoon at the motor vehicle bureau.” The clerk responded, “Shall I gift wrap the bat or are you going back there?”

Well, the fact is, anger can very easily lead us to sin. It is a harmful force indeed. So often it leads us to behaviors and attitudes that are anything but righteous. The plain truth is that anger almost always breaks things. And I’m not just referring to broken noses or windows or sheet rock. No anger is capable of being far more destructive than that. Anger can break hearts; it can destroy trust; it can damage church unity; it can break up friendships, and even marriages and families. Proverbs 30:33 says, “As churning the milk produces butter and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.”

It’s no wonder that Jesus uses this particular commandment as His first example, because so often anger causes us to fall far short of His righteousness bar. And I wasn’t there of course, but I’m sure the Scribes and Pharisees broke this commandment in the thoughts and sounds and words they directed at Jesus. I bet there was a lot of “raca” sounds coming from them when our Lord walked by! If we had a nickel for every time they called Him a fool, we could pay for Phase 2! In God’s eyes they broke the 6th commandment countless times.

In verses 23-25, Jesus tells us what we should do about hateful anger. He says,

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary

In these three verses Jesus has given us three things we must do when we struggle with anger.

(1) First, admit you are angry.

Inferred in Jesus’ guidance here is the requirement that we be honest with ourselves, and acknowledge the fact that we are ticked. This may seem obvious it may seem easy, but let me ask, do you like admitting you are angry? When you get into an argument with your wife or husband and they accuse you of being angry what is your usual response? “I’m not angry!” Well, why do we say that? I think it’s because we instinctively know when anger has caused us to sin and we don’t like to confess sin do we? We don’t like to admit that we’ve lost control. We don’t like to admit there’s a problem and we just might be the source of that problem.

Well, before you can deal with the troubles that anger causes you first have to admit it. You have to fess up! You have to bring anger out in the light and expose it before you can deal with it. Remember, as 1 John 1:9 says, only if we ” confess our sins ” is God ” faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

(2) Jesus says the next thing we must do is take steps to correct the problem.

In verse 23 He says, “Go to the person!” And that’s what we must do. If you and your brother or sister are at odds, go to them and do all you can to make things right. Schedule a meeting for coffee or something, but get together and work things out. Admit your part, confess any wrong doing you have done. And before you even meet, forgive them for what they did! If you have a hard time doing that then remember that God has forgiven you! Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Do you remember what God does with our sins when we ask Him to forgive them? The Bible says He removes them as far as the east is from the west. And I want you to note this is much better than Him saying He removes them as far as the North is from the South. Let me illustrate.

  • If I start at the North Pole and go to Michigan what direction am I going? [south]
  • If I head on to Brazil what direction am I going? [south]
  • If I get to the South Pole and keep going toward Africa what direction am I going? [north]
  • But, if I start in Rockville and head to London what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I continue on to Moscow what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I fly on toward Peking what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I head out for Hawaii what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I take off for San Francisco what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I head toward Rockville what direction am I going? [east]
  • If I head off to London? [east]

Now do you get my point? Isn’t that wonderful!? If God has said He removed our sins as far as the north is from the south, they’d eventually find each other. But our Holy God (and remember, all sins are against God) when we ask for our Holy God’s forgiveness, He takes our sins and moves them as far as the east from west an infinite distance!

Corrie Ten Boom says, “God hurls our sins into the depths of the sea and puts a ‘No Fishing!’ sign there.” I like that!

Well, if you have trouble forgiving your brother, remember how God has responded to your sin. You’ll never be asked to forgive them more than God in Christ has already forgiven you!

(3) Here’s the third thing Jesus says. Do it immediately.

Don’t put it off. Don’t get out your palm pilots or your day timers and say, “Let’s see I could fit this in three weeks from Tuesday.” No, do it now.

Jesus says in essence, and this is the Mark Adams’ paraphrase, “If you’re at church and they are taking the offering and you’re about to put double your pledge to the Crossing Campaign in the plate, and you remember that anger has caused a broken relationship with your brother, stop what you are doing. Put your check back in your pocket. Right then get up. Excuse yourself as you scoot by the other people sitting there in your row. Run down the aisle and out the door. Go right then and be reconciled with your brother.”

Someone has wisely said that if this instruction of Jesus were obeyed, it would empty every church in America! And you know, it might! But that would be okay, because Jesus is saying that religious rituals won’t get you anywhere if your heart isn’t right with others. Church attendance won’t impress God. Tithing won’t impress God. Going to meetings won’t impress God. Singing in the choir won’t impress God. Working in the nursery will. No, just kidding. It won’t! Teaching Sunday school won’t impress God. Working for Habitat won’t impress God. None of these religious activities will be anything more than exercises in futility if we intentionally leave conflicts unresolved. Worship becomes a sham if we ignore disharmony with our brother. Remember as members of one body you are called to peace, and if you have unresolved relationships with another part of this body you are sinfully ignoring that call of God!

The plain truth is we must each give reconciliation a priority if we are to counter the potential negative impact of anger, because if we don’t deal with it quickly, there’s a very good chance anger will lead us to sin. This is why Paul is getting at in Ephesians 4:26 when he says, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” The longer we suppress our anger, the more easily it is for Satan to use it to trip us up.

There was once a famous snake charmer. His trick was that he taught his giant boa constrictor to wrap around him and then relax his grip and unwrap himself. He’d say “Coil!” The snake would wrap around, and around his body all the way up to his face where it would hissss! Then the snake charmer would say, “Retreat!” And on that command the snake would uncoil and slither across the floor. This became such a great trick that he went on tour. Well, one night he and the snake went on stage in front of the biggest crowd ever. Like always he said, “Coil!” and the snake coiled around him. Everyone gasped. Then he said “Retreat” but nothing happened. Again he said “retreat,” and still nothing. He kept calling, “retreat! Retreat!” and there in front of the crowd, that snake began to squeeze the snake charmer tighter and tighter until the man died. After the show backstage a man told a newspaper reporter, “I remember when he got that snake. It was just a baby. So small he could have crushed it in his hand. But he played with it and let it grow until finally it crushed him.”

Well, people, hateful anger is just as dangerous. We dare not repeat the mistake of this snake charmer. Don’t play with anger. Don’t’ embrace it. Don’t harbor it. Don’t nurse it. Don’t’ befriend it. Crush it quickly while you still can. Do it immediately, because as Dallas Willard says, “To cut the root of anger is to wither the tree of human evil.”

Let us pray.

Father God, Speak to each of us in this time of decision. Convict us of the times we have repeated the self-righteous mistakes of the Scribes and Pharisees. Show us our desperate need for Your grace. You know our hearts God. You see the insides that we hide from each other. So, if there is anger in any heart present, speak to that person. Guide them such that the devil loses his foothold and relationships can be restored. And if there is anyone broken here because of anger, touch and soothe and heal as only You can.

I ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen

This morning as we sing our closing song, God may impress on your heart the name of person you need to go to. If so, go. Quickly. Defuse anger by doing all you can to make things right. If you have other decisions that need to be made public, come and share them with me as we stand and sing, whether it is to profess your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior or to join this wonderful church family.

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