| |
September 23, 2007
|
Relationship
|
Pastor Brian Shimer
|
|
"Righteousness? What is that?"
Matthew 6: 19-34
Much of what we say in church could be termed Christianese -- we have our own peculiar vocabulary which may or may not mean something to us but is not readily understood by folk who are new to faith or to the life of the church. One of the many words which fall into that category is this word today, the word: "Righteousness"
I am nearly certain some of you could give me a definition of this word. Anyone want to wager a guess? Suppose I was a newcomer and just came up to you and said, "That hymn we just sang talked about righteousness - what is that?" How would you respond?
Anyone?
Perhaps you would say something like, "Well, I have a sense of what it means but I cannot put it into words" which is entirely possible. Although one teacher told me if I cannot say what I have a sense about, then perhaps I do not have a very clear sense about something at all.
Certainly this is not a word found in newspapers nor heard in the evening news. People are not talking about how righteous this or that person is. The implication is that those who have committed crimes are unrighteous, but that word is not applied to them.
If you break the word apart it has in it the word: 'Right' Which is why we assume this word has something to do with doing what is 'right' or somehow being 'right'. And that approaches the idea -- but this term means far more than just "doing" or "acting" right in this circumstance or that.
-
In this message preached by Jesus recorded in the book of Matthew called the 'sermon on the mount" because of where Jesus was preaching it, he mentions righteousness several times. First in what we call the beatitudes, referring to the first 13 verses in the fifth chapter, that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled, and that those who are persecuted for righteousness sake will rejoice.
The idea and hungering and thirsting for something equates that thing with a basic need. We hunger and thirst for that which fills, for that which satisfies. Generally we speak of hungering and thirsting after food and drink. We have basic needs for food and water and if these are not met we will be hungering and thirsting.
So, with these words, is Jesus equating Righteousness with a basic need - a basic requirement for happiness for life? Indeed, is righteousness a more basic need than having our physical needs filled?
If so, perhaps it would be worth our while to clarify what this thing righteousness is, for if it is this which truly satisfies, if it is this which brings joy even in the midst of persecution, we had best identify it.
Next in this message Jesus contrasts our righteousness with that of the Scribes and the Pharisees - our righteousness is to surpass that of theirs.
So, in our journey toward an understanding of this word, what was "their righteousness"?
If you look at Jesus' complaints about the religious leaders of his day it centered around the fact that they kept everything in their lives looking great on the outside while within were filled with greed and corruption. They wore the best clothes, kept all the laws perfectly even practicing tithing down to their spices carefully measuring out a tenth of everything in their possessions, yet, they had missed something which Jesus says was even more important.
You can listen to what Jesus said to them in the 23rd chapter of Matthew where in the
23rd verse he says: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."
In the book of John chapter 5 it is recorded that he said to them in the 39th and 40th verses, "You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
Again they hold to exterior practices. They look good to those around them. In the sixth chapter of Matthew Jesus says they practice praying and giving in public so that everyone can see their good works, a practice that Jesus does not applaud.
If our righteousness is to surpass theirs then it seems that "our right behavior," if that is the beginning of a definition, must go beyond what our lives look like on the outside.
-
Indeed in Jesus' sermon he lifts up a life that goes beyond the external
keeping of law as if that fulfills it to the spirit behind the commandment, saying, "you have heard that it was said,… but I say to you…" With each of the commandments he strengthens the command, he strengthens the call to obedience calling the people to keep not the letter only but the spirit of the law - to bring the heart into that obedience.
So if our righteousness is to surpass the Pharisees - and they looked like they were perfect when in actuality they were far from it, then our righteousness must mean more than right behavior.
It is something we are to hunger and thirst for, something that can be "filled" in our lives. It is something that can cause us to be persecuted so must somehow also be expressed in how we live. It is something we are to seek - as Jesus says in the end of chapter 6 we are to seek first "God's Kingdom and His righteousness" so that we can have fulfilled all the needs we have in life.
So again, what is righteousness that we can hunger for it, thirst for it, have it satisfied and seek for God's righteousness and find it? What is it?
In the OT the first man designated as righteous is Noah in Genesis 6:1, who there is described as blameless among the people of his time.
So, in Genesis 6, Righteousness equals blamelessness
But blamelessness is not a wholly interior reality - for it was Noah's actions combined with his heart which caught God's attention.
Later in that same book Abraham is said by God to be righteous because he believed God's promise to him and 25 years later, God tests to see if he will express this righteousness in obedience when God asks Abraham to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
In James chapter 2 we read that Abraham's faith was made complete by what he did.
In the book of Psalms the contrast between the righteous and the wicked is seen both in their actions and in God's action toward them: God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.
In fact as I read through the Psalms I find that in Psalm 5 the righteous are those who take REFUGE in God, in Psalm 32 the righteous are those who TRUST in HIM, in Psalm 33 the righteous are those who fear God and place their HOPE in Him. In psalm 112 they are those who DELIGHT in God and in Psalm 103 the righteous are those who KEEP HIS COVENANT AND DO WHAT HE COMMANDS.
These words both express an interior and exterior reality - not just right behavior but a right heart, a right relationship with God.
Indeed throughout the OT and into the New Testament, I find that righteousness is the fruit of relationship. The very thing missing from the Pharisees enactment of faith was faith - they had made their religious practice wholly devoid of God, there was no longer a relationship with God in their expression of religious life. This made their righteousness only an exterior show rather than something that expressed an interior life of faith.
It is this reality which caused the Patriarch Judah to declare that Tamar was more righteous than he when she pursued the right course of action even when he was going to refuse to do so. She did so out of a desire to honor God first even if to do so endangered her own life.
This is why the prostitute Rahab was declared righteous for she expressed her faith and trust in the God of Israel when she hid the spies who had snuck into Jericho rather than turning them over to the leaders of the city. Her actions expressed her fear of the living God and trust in Him, even though she was by trade a prostitute!
Both Tamar and Rahab are women mentioned in the geneaology of Jesus. They were righteous and both pursued that righteousness which is only by faith expressed through action.
- How do we grasp this idea and incorporate it into our lives - how do we test how righteous we are? I find the best way is to use another term here to replace righteousness and that is the term "upright" - the idea of standing erect, of living in open relationship with God.
I find this a helpful term for it gives me a picture -- am I hiding anything? For if hiding something, I am no longer upright, but bent over hiding whatever that thing is.
In our lives we are either walking uprightly - we are openly trusting God, living in relationship to Him, blameless not because we never sin but because we confess the sins we do commit. This is how we can "never go on sinning" by confessing those places we stumble and fall.
We are either upright or we are bent.
The Pharisees were actually men bent toward power, toward wealth, toward the applause of people - seeking to please the public-they were bent toward sin while wearing their fine robes so that they would look as if they were better than they were.
Jesus said of them that they washed the outside of the cup while the inside was full of greed and corruption.
We are easily bent toward the things of this world, toward replacing our hunger for righteousness - our hunger to become more and more like Jesus - with a hunger for things, for toys, for clothes, for the latest gadgets. We get bent like the Pharisees toward the people around us, toward getting applause, toward gaining power over others.
The righteousness of God - the uprightness and beauty of God - is something granted us in Jesus - Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Jesus became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.
This is why we seek, why we hunger, why we thirst for His righteousness for we are meant to be made righteous - wholly living dynamically in living relationship to God day by day - experiencing the leading of the Holy Spirit and obeying His promptings moment by moment to express that relationship with God in relationship to people around us. This is not something we achieve or pretend to have, but it is something we can experience.
Perhaps this is why we hunger and thirst for it - for God has intended to make us wholly like His Son. Knowing this somehow deep within us we pursue it.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness, for they will be filled."
|
|
|