2005-09-18 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Matthew 5:17-20

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Even from the dawn of time, the problem with God's creation has been the matter of priority.

Isaiah recorded the beginning of the problem (Isaiah 14:13-14). For some reason, Lucifer said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Lucifer didn't have to say these things out loud, for the Lord knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

In the Garden of Eden, our friend Eve was seduced by this same thinking. Even though she knew better, she couldn't resist the enemy within her when the serpent told her, "God knows that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5).

The enemy within us, not the little cartoon one sitting on our shoulders and whispering in our ear, but our own devilish pride desires self-righteousness, and all that entails.

Jesus said in verse 3, "Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Then in verse 20, He tells us that the kingdom of heaven is only for those who have righteousness greater than the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus saved His hardest words for the scribes and Pharisees, and you know why? They thought they were better than everybody else. They weren't "poor in spirit." The outside of the cup was clean, but their priorities were all mixed up on the inside. When Jesus says, "whosoever shall do and teach (the commandments), the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, He put the "do" before the "teach." Jesus sees greatness in those who practice what they preach. If they tell you what you should do, they'd better have their own priorities in order, a clean inside of their cup. The scribes and Pharisees weren't there yet, and I confess to you today that I'm not there yet. Woe to this hypocrite!

Woe to me, yes, but at the same time I can see good news in verse 20, even though it may be bad news to many church doctrines today. Self-righteousness, being a "good person", doing "good deeds", has the power to make us feel good, but no power to open up the kingdom of heaven. The good news is that the righteousness of Jesus opens up the kingdom of heaven, and every one of us can receive His righteousness.

Romans 5:17-19

17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

If we look anywhere other than Jesus for righteousness, then we're looking in the wrong place. Even Jesus, when someone addressed Him as "Good Master," His response was, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one, that is, God (Luke 18:19). If we ever think we can stand on our own righteousness, we'd better look down and see how shaky it is.

Jesus came to fulfil, to fill-full the law, because He loves us and He knows that we can't fulfil the law's demands. For the rest of chapter 5, He's going to explain why that is; Jesus is going to teach us the Old Testament, and it may be a glimpse into the wonderful things that the two disciples walking to Emmaus heard. In the rest of this chapter, Jesus will show us the spirit behind the law, and show that the traditions passed down by the rabbis don't carry the same authority. Before this chapter ends, I think He says, "You have heard that it has been said, but..." about six times. It's no wonder these religious rulers wanted Him done away with. Even from this, the very beginnings of His ministry, He was calling them hypocrites in a back-handed way. For the rest of this chapter, Jesus will call into question the traditions passed down by the rabbis, but He gives us here this very strong testimony to the inspiration behind the actual Old Testament scriptures. Not one jot or tittle of the text will pass away because it is God's word. Let's get back to the Old Testament for a little while, and let's see the source of all righteousness. Let's see just how bankrupt our spirits are, let's get the priority right, and let's receive the richness of His Spirit.