In Christ, Your Righteousness Is Exceedingly Great

For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of the heavens (v 20).

[Prayer]

Heavenly Father, Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, died for the unrighteous and declared all of humanity righteous by shedding his blood and his resurrection. Grant us the faith to receive this gift of eternal life through your means of grace and enable us to serve You in righteousness ... in Jesus’ name.

[Introduction]

I’m going to start this by saying something you might find controversial ... America, with its multiculturalism and freedom of religion, could use more scribes and Pharisees. Why? Because if our nation had more scribes and Pharisees, this country would be a more pleasant place to live. In saying that, I am not advocating BY ANY MEANS that we become a scribe or Pharisee. I’m saying ONLY that our world would be a more pleasant place to live with more of them.

Think about it, the scribes and Pharisees were well liked. They were considered to be GOOD people. They didn’t commit crimes. They weren’t violent. They didn’t cheat. They paid their taxes. In fact, they paid extra to the temple. They gave a tenth of everything they owned to support the work of the church. And instead of taking from society, they were one of the first groups to ask ... not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

5. The scribes and Pharisees were thought to be great role models for righteous living.

(1) They didn’t have golden calves in their living room. (2) They didn’t speak the name of the Lord so that they wouldn’t misuse it. (3) They didn’t work every day. (4) They loved their family. (5) They didn’t hate. (6) They turned away from lust. (7) They didn’t take things that didn’t belong to them. (8) They told the truth and nothing but the truth. (9-10) They didn’t covet.

When they heard God say do ... they did.

When they heard God said don’t ... they didn’t.

They thought they thought they were really good at righteous living.

Then Jesus sat down on the mountain and opened his mouth to deliver his most famous sermon ... a snippet of which comprises our Gospel text. He said, unless your righteousness EXCEEDS the scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly NOT enter the kingdom of the heavens.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a serious problem.

The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees wasn’t good enough for God. The good deeds of the scribes and the Pharisees ... their good way of life ... it wasn’t good enough for God. Their piety and prayer life wasn’t good enough for God.

And neither is yours!

4. We are all sinners who sin. And that makes all of us unrighteous.

It doesn’t matter if YOU have great devotion to God, OR read the Bible and the Portals of Prayer every day. It doesn’t matter if you pay attention to the tiniest letter of scripture ... a Yod ... (a Hebrew consonant that looks like an apostrophe). It matters not if you treasure each artistic flourish of each letter of the Word of God, knowing that not even that aspect of God’s Word will pass away until all is finished on the Last Day when Jesus comes again to separate the righteous from the unrighteous. We are sinners who sin.

You do NOT become more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees because of what you do, how you live, or any decision you make. You do not become more righteous because of how often you unite yourselves with your family in the Divine Service. Jesus said, unless your righteousness EXCEEDS the scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly NOT enter the kingdom of the heavens.

Even when we redevote ourselves to God or uphold all the Law as sacred, we cannot make ourselves more righteous. Those who think that they can make themselves righteous are the hypocrites Jesus ultimately decried in Matthew 23. They are looking out ONLY for themselves.

Instead LISTEN.

3. Righteousness comes passively through hearing both the Law and the Prophets.

That leads us to repentance.

The Law ... or we should really say the Torah ... God’s instruction ... the Pentateuch ... Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy ... demands that you be holy just as the Lord your God is holy from the time of your conception in the womb. And it quickly reminds you ... as you look in the mirror, jump the curb, and fail to toe the line ... that you are not.

That should make you mourn ... just like Adam and Eve did when they lost their righteousness in the fall. That should make you mourn, just like David when Nathan called him to repentance. That should make you mourn, knowing that you and your children have been holding grudges against each other ... killing each other, just like Cain did to Abel in both speech and deed.

Jesus said, You’ve heard it said to the ancients: You will not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you all, Everyone who is wrathful with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever says to his brother, Fool!, will be liable to the assembly. And whoever says, Moron!, will be liable to the hell of fire. Therefore when you are offering your gift upon the altar of sacrifice, [and] there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar of sacrifice and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then when you come, offer your gift (vv 21-24).

This leads us right into the Gospel because that is exactly what our Gracious God did for us!

2. As the Prophets say ... notably Jeremiah ... Christ is our righteousness.

Jesus, the only man who ever has been righteous, didn’t sin against you. And when you sinned against him ... instead of waiting for you, he sought you out and reconciled himself to you. He loved doing good to those who refused to greet him. He taught us to be ministers of reconciliation, recognizing the grace being offered to each of us (Gal 2:9). He didn’t reduce the Law or ignore parts of it. Instead, he fulfilled all righteousness, treasuring the Law and the Prophets by embodying it.

As Peter teaches us in his first epistle, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pt 2:21-24).

And now he gives you new eternal life. In his resurrection from the dead, he makes you righteous, forgiven, and free!

Brothers and sisters in Christ ...

IN CHRIST, YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS THEREFORE IS EXCEEDINGLY GREAT

1. We receive his extraordinary righteousness through his means of grace.

His means begin with the cross and end in the resurrection. He has united you in this by washing away your sin in a flood of water and word, so that your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. He has clothed you in his royal robes of righteousness ... which are more glorious than those of the scribes and Pharisees. He feeds you his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, which makes you righteous.

Are we therefore to remain in sin so that grace may abound? By no means! Whoever has died to sin, how can we still live in it? ... In other words, how can we continue holding grudges? Withholding forgiveness? Withholding communion with one another?

As Paul writes in our epistle ... Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, in this way we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be [with him] in a resurrection [like his] (Rm 6:1-5).

[Conclusion]

Brothers and sisters in Christ, treasure the abundance of his gift received in faith. Continue confessing your sins and hear his absolution, returning to the abundance of baptism and the Supper. Extend forgiveness to one another out of that abundance. And let God unite you in the cross of Christ with one another.

We will therefore be free to do good things for the benefit of our neighbor ... not because they make us righteous ... but because they are good ... In Jesus’ name. Amen

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