6th Sunday after the Epiphany 2/13/11 Matthew 5: 21-37
6th Sunday after the Epiphany
2/13/11
Text: Matthew 5:21-37
Today’s Gospel reading is perfect for the day before Valentine’s Day, for our relationship with God is a matter of the heart, not the romantic valentine heart, but the spiritual heart that makes us his. In our Gospel text for today which is part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is responding to people who felt a right relationship with God consisted of rules and behavior. That is why before this part of his sermon Jesus told them, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He needed to let them know that there was not according to their standards a chance that they would be with God in heaven.
You see the scribes and Pharisees were the most outwardly righteous of all the people. They, by this time, had passed over 600 more laws to make sure they did not break the Ten Commandments. According to popular thought they thus stood righteous before God.
Jesus in this part of the Sermon on the Mount is telling us that there is more than just outwardly keeping the Law. What he is saying is that while the outward keeping of the Law is important it is the keeping of the commandments in the heart that is critical in pleasing him.
In this part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is addressing three of the Ten Commandments that while being outwardly obeyed by the scribes and Pharisees were inwardly being broken.
Concerning the 5th Commandment the scribes and Pharisees, just as people today have done reduced the commandment to the obvious, “Do not murder.” something they and we could keep quite easily. But Jesus tells us that the core of this commandment lies not in outward action, but in what takes place in our heart. We have not killed anyone, but we have not loved others as God loves. We have become angry with others. We have insulted others. We have used signs and gestures. We have held grudges. We have thought of others as fools when they don’t agree with us. We thus stand guilty, for it is a matter of the heart.
Jesus then speaks of keeping the 6th Commandment. Jewish society just as ours is today was very lax on the sanctity of marriage. Divorce was very easy to get. Jesus says that the 6th Commandment is not simply a matter of the outward acts of extramarital sex. It is about sins of the heart; those times when we have sinful thoughts and wandering eyes, lust, and emotional ties to someone other than our spouse.
Concerning the 8th Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” the Pharisees by this time had developed an elaborate code determining that some oaths you really had to keep, while others you could let slide. Their purpose was to allow deceit, while outwardly giving a solemn outward appearance when they made their oath. Any lie is sinful, whether it’s given the pretense of an oath or not. Taking an oath can’t make a deceiving heart pure.
We must be more righteous than just outwardly keeping the Law. True righteousness must be in the heart, for when the heart is pure it will never produce selfish anger, insults, grudges, lust, divorce, lies.
We all know that we have not fared very well inwardly keeping those commandments or any of the others for that matter. We are born sinful and can’t help ourselves. Our heart generates selfish thoughts, our temper flashes and words slip out cutting people to the quick. Our eyes are open and temptations just jump right in. Surely God can’t hold us responsible for something we can’t help. It just doesn’t seem very fair for God to demand perfection from someone who can’t be perfect.
The truth of it is though that God does hold us responsible. He goes so far to say that we should cut off the hand and pluck out the eye if they are causing us to sin. He isn’t saying to literally blind our maim ourselves. But he is saying that he takes sin seriously and that we need to accept responsibility for our thoughts and actions. He is saying to stop making excuses for our bad thoughts and behavior.
Our hearts need to be repaired and the only one that can repair them is Christ. The blood of Christ, that same blood we receive in the Lord’s Supper makes our heart righteous.
In the verse right before our Gospel reading for this morning he says that you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Through his blood you are more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Sins, big outward ones and small inward ones of the heart are all washed away. Jesus’ blood has paid for every murderous thought and every harsh word, every affair and divorce, and every lustful look, every lie, and every promise that we broke.
Though our hearts are corrupt, God because of Jesus’ blood has declared us righteous. Our sins are forgiven. Christ’s blood has purified our hearts. He has made alive what was dead giving us eternal life.
And in giving us eternal life we have received the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts. And in that transformation a new heart, a new spirit is created in us. This new heart is righteous and pure even though it is living right alongside what remains of our old sinful heart. The joyous news is that this new righteous and pure heart is constantly communing with God thus enabling our hearts to produce pure thoughts and actions.
Our sinful nature continues to sin even while the new purified and righteous heart truly loves our neighbor, honors our spouse, and treat others with honesty and integrity. It all comes from the righteousness of Christ, a gift freely given to us. For in Christ you are the person God made you to be.
Now that we are Christ’s we don’t want to live like the old person anymore. That life has been nothing more than a vicious circle that has gotten us nowhere. No more excuses, no more finger pointing, no more thinking that we are better than others, all those outwardly righteous acts that we have done to make ourselves look good to others while inwardly thinking evil thoughts. It is time to give up all that stuff that has kept us from being all that God wants us to be, for in Christ we are a new people. Amen
In a few minutes we will partake of Christ’s very body and blood for forgiveness, salvation, and everlasting life. Father make us what we receive. Amen.
2/13/11
Text: Matthew 5:21-37
Today’s Gospel reading is perfect for the day before Valentine’s Day, for our relationship with God is a matter of the heart, not the romantic valentine heart, but the spiritual heart that makes us his. In our Gospel text for today which is part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is responding to people who felt a right relationship with God consisted of rules and behavior. That is why before this part of his sermon Jesus told them, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” He needed to let them know that there was not according to their standards a chance that they would be with God in heaven.
You see the scribes and Pharisees were the most outwardly righteous of all the people. They, by this time, had passed over 600 more laws to make sure they did not break the Ten Commandments. According to popular thought they thus stood righteous before God.
Jesus in this part of the Sermon on the Mount is telling us that there is more than just outwardly keeping the Law. What he is saying is that while the outward keeping of the Law is important it is the keeping of the commandments in the heart that is critical in pleasing him.
In this part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is addressing three of the Ten Commandments that while being outwardly obeyed by the scribes and Pharisees were inwardly being broken.
Concerning the 5th Commandment the scribes and Pharisees, just as people today have done reduced the commandment to the obvious, “Do not murder.” something they and we could keep quite easily. But Jesus tells us that the core of this commandment lies not in outward action, but in what takes place in our heart. We have not killed anyone, but we have not loved others as God loves. We have become angry with others. We have insulted others. We have used signs and gestures. We have held grudges. We have thought of others as fools when they don’t agree with us. We thus stand guilty, for it is a matter of the heart.
Jesus then speaks of keeping the 6th Commandment. Jewish society just as ours is today was very lax on the sanctity of marriage. Divorce was very easy to get. Jesus says that the 6th Commandment is not simply a matter of the outward acts of extramarital sex. It is about sins of the heart; those times when we have sinful thoughts and wandering eyes, lust, and emotional ties to someone other than our spouse.
Concerning the 8th Commandment “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” the Pharisees by this time had developed an elaborate code determining that some oaths you really had to keep, while others you could let slide. Their purpose was to allow deceit, while outwardly giving a solemn outward appearance when they made their oath. Any lie is sinful, whether it’s given the pretense of an oath or not. Taking an oath can’t make a deceiving heart pure.
We must be more righteous than just outwardly keeping the Law. True righteousness must be in the heart, for when the heart is pure it will never produce selfish anger, insults, grudges, lust, divorce, lies.
We all know that we have not fared very well inwardly keeping those commandments or any of the others for that matter. We are born sinful and can’t help ourselves. Our heart generates selfish thoughts, our temper flashes and words slip out cutting people to the quick. Our eyes are open and temptations just jump right in. Surely God can’t hold us responsible for something we can’t help. It just doesn’t seem very fair for God to demand perfection from someone who can’t be perfect.
The truth of it is though that God does hold us responsible. He goes so far to say that we should cut off the hand and pluck out the eye if they are causing us to sin. He isn’t saying to literally blind our maim ourselves. But he is saying that he takes sin seriously and that we need to accept responsibility for our thoughts and actions. He is saying to stop making excuses for our bad thoughts and behavior.
Our hearts need to be repaired and the only one that can repair them is Christ. The blood of Christ, that same blood we receive in the Lord’s Supper makes our heart righteous.
In the verse right before our Gospel reading for this morning he says that you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Through his blood you are more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. Sins, big outward ones and small inward ones of the heart are all washed away. Jesus’ blood has paid for every murderous thought and every harsh word, every affair and divorce, and every lustful look, every lie, and every promise that we broke.
Though our hearts are corrupt, God because of Jesus’ blood has declared us righteous. Our sins are forgiven. Christ’s blood has purified our hearts. He has made alive what was dead giving us eternal life.
And in giving us eternal life we have received the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts. And in that transformation a new heart, a new spirit is created in us. This new heart is righteous and pure even though it is living right alongside what remains of our old sinful heart. The joyous news is that this new righteous and pure heart is constantly communing with God thus enabling our hearts to produce pure thoughts and actions.
Our sinful nature continues to sin even while the new purified and righteous heart truly loves our neighbor, honors our spouse, and treat others with honesty and integrity. It all comes from the righteousness of Christ, a gift freely given to us. For in Christ you are the person God made you to be.
Now that we are Christ’s we don’t want to live like the old person anymore. That life has been nothing more than a vicious circle that has gotten us nowhere. No more excuses, no more finger pointing, no more thinking that we are better than others, all those outwardly righteous acts that we have done to make ourselves look good to others while inwardly thinking evil thoughts. It is time to give up all that stuff that has kept us from being all that God wants us to be, for in Christ we are a new people. Amen
In a few minutes we will partake of Christ’s very body and blood for forgiveness, salvation, and everlasting life. Father make us what we receive. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:17 PM
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