Introduction
If
you were given a pen and paper and told to write a definition of “righteousness,”
what would you say? What kind of righteousness does God require of you? In
today’s sermon, we can consider this subject and even come to an answer of what
God desires.
READ Scripture- This is the
Word of God
“Do
not think” = Many believed that the Messiah would commence his own law, and put
the Mosaic law to the side. As we will see, “. . . Jesus is taking pains to
relate his teaching and place in the history of redemption to the OT
Scriptures” (Carson). He wants the people to make no mistake that He is not
doing away with the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.
“To
destroy” = The word here literally means tear
down in the sense of abolish or annul. Jesus does not contradict the Law in
any of His teachings. He did not want to destroy devotion to the OT, but to
enhance it.
“Law
or the Prophets” = This phrase means the entire Old Testament. The Jews often
referred to all of their Scriptures as either the Law and the Prophets or simply the Law. Remember the OT was the only written Scripture at that time.
We cannot fully understand the NT without the OT, and the OT can’t be properly
interpreted and applied without the NT. The OT idea brackets the body of the
Sermon on the Mount, 5:17 and 7:12.
Connective: Jesus is
making sure that His hearers know that His ministry and teaching is based on
the OT and we better honor the Hebrew Scriptures.
“To
fulfill” = Many people think that Jesus is here referring to one of two things.
First, it is often said that Jesus fulfilled the Law in that He taught it as it
was intended. Second, Many people say that Jesus fulfilled the Law in the sense
that He perfectly modeled it. Jesus, in some sense, did both of these things.
Yet, in the context of this comment, we must say that Jesus fulfilled the Law
in the sense that He was the One to whom the entire OT pointed. He brought the
Law to its intended goal, its fruition in the sense that He was the goal and the fruit. It is not so
important that He modeled that perfect righteousness the OT called for, but
that He was that righteousness. Do
you see? He is the Messiah of God. See Lk 24:27, 44; Jn 5:39
“One
jot or one tittle” = Hebrew yod, Greek iota Smallest stroke of the pen,
smallest tails of letters. I don’t give
one iota means smallest care. The
dot of an i or the cross of a t. All of the Scriptures will last for
all of time “till all is finished,” that is, accomplished. Even the OT saints
knew this, Ps 102:25-26.
“These
commandments” = I think Jesus now turns to what He is about to teach. He first
made sure that His hearers realized that what He was about to teach did not
contradict the OT, but enhanced it.
“Least
in the kingdom” = Notice that those who fail in the teachings are not cast out
of the kingdom. Yet, they are demoted in rank.
“Unless
your righteousness” = We have now come to the key to the Sermon on the Mount.
Scribes and Pharisees were the guardians of the Law. They studied it, taught
it, and applied it. The people were submissive to them because of the position
that the Pharisees held. They were the authoritative figures for the first
century Jews. They could not be disputed or questioned. In most people’s
estimation, no one was more righteous than the Pharisees and scribes! How in
the world would anyone enter the kingdom of heaven if they couldn’t? How could
the common folk enter in if their teachers couldn’t?
Conclusion
What
kind of righteousness is Jesus calling for? I think we should take the answer
to this question to its logical conclusion. Our righteousness is never enough,
even if it is better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. We
need an alien righteousness, something from outside ourselves. The Gospel
proclaims and the New Testament teaches that when we put our faith in Christ,
His righteousness is given to us.