Title: God-Initiated Righteousness (Matthew 5:17-20)
[Matthew 5:17-20]
[17] ♠ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, for I have not come to abolish it, but to complete it [18] ♠ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one jot of the law will pass away, but it will be fulfilled [19] ♠Therefore, whoever forsakes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others in the same way will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
There are many things to be careful about while living your life of faith, one of them is sharing. People are much easier to divide and harder to put together. So we're used to sharing. It divides the world and the church. The world is the world, and the church is the church. That is why we often see the church as separate, as if it were a temple in the world. The word “church” itself is “ekklesia,” which means called out of the world. But what God wants is the church in the world. He wants to take on the role of God's spokesperson in the world as a channel through which God's heart is delivered to the world.
It is also easy for us to divide the Old and New Testaments. Distinguish between the God of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament.
Some heretics divide the God of the Old Testament and Jesus of the New Testament into completely different gods, expressing God’s wrath and annihilation as a fearful person who embraces and cares for Jesus. However, God is always the Triune God, from eternity to eternity. He is the one who acted together in the Old Testament, acted together in the New Testament, and is with us even now. Thus, the Old Testament is completed through the New Testament, and the New Testament is supplemented through the Old Testament. The Bible itself is so harmonious, not divided.
Another thing that is easy to share is the law and grace. We can see this well in Paul's epistles. It should be noted that Paul's powerful accusation of the law and the emphasis on grace at that time was because the law was perverted among the Jews. Because the law itself was misunderstood as if it had power and was misused to receive salvation through it, the law and grace were divided. The law was given by God. It is the word of God. It was given after God made a covenant with the Israelites on Mount Sinai. He did not say that only those who gave the law first and passed it can become my people, but it was the norm that gave them a relationship with them first and gave them to live like this in order to become my people. It became a problem because it took the place of God over time. God gave the law to the people of Israel by grace.
The chapter with the most verses in the Bible is Psalm 119. It is about God's commandments, His statutes, His decrees, and His laws. The very word of God touched the heart of the psalmist so much that he praised God with many verses and praised the perfection of the word and his precepts. Jesus is also very clear about this. We hope to confirm two facts through today's text.
First, Jesus does not divide the Old and New Testaments, but completes the Old Testament.
He is the one who completes and fulfills the Word of God. Verse 17 says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it.”
They say the law or the prophets, but the law mainly refers to the Pentateuch, and the prophets refer to the writings of the prophets. Jesus is the One who came to fulfill what was said in the Law and the Prophets. Everything from Genesis to Malachi is focused on the salvation that God will accomplish, and Jesus is at the center of that focus. The savior whom the Old Testament prophets dimly looked upon is Jesus. Because it is Jesus Christ who fulfills all the words of the Old Testament, He does not abolish the Word of God, but keeps it more thoroughly and faithfully. What is God's word that you have received in your life? You must have received God's word through a promise. Because God lives, you must have received it in prayer. We often forget that Jesus is the one who fulfilled those words and try to fulfill them ourselves. It should also apply in our personal lives that Jesus perfected the Law and the Prophets. It is Jesus Christ, not me, who will fulfill all the promises God has made to us.
The desires of your heart and the basis and source of the promises you have received must be the Word of God. And it must be Jesus Christ who fulfills that promise. Therefore, you become a channel of grace, a channel of promises, a channel of blessings, and the evidence of the existence of God. I hope you live this life. It is that God, who is faithful to his promises, comes to our personal lives with the same faithfulness and works with his faithfulness. Too often we are so accustomed to our visible life and our faith that we fail to see the invisible living and intervening Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of all promises. However, as Jesus lived and fulfilled all the words of the Old Testament, He will faithfully fulfill all the words of God given to you. He will complete, guide, and perfect us all to the fullness of the full measure of Christ.
Also, in verse 18, [Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of the law will surely pass away, but every one of them will be fulfilled.] It is the promise of fulfilling every prophecy of the Old Testament.
Second, put on the righteousness that comes from God.
Verse 20 says, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
This does not mean that we should be more thoroughly righteous than the Pharisees or scribes. This is the same structure as telling the rich young man to do well in keeping all the commandments, but go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor. This also seems to demand another righteousness from him. By the way, you should not stay here and go a little further and think. If we listen to these words as a call to action, we are speaking grace with our mouths, still emphasizing our faith, and boasting and longing for our great faith and striving to achieve it. The righteousness that Jesus speaks of is not mine, but God's righteousness. Romans 3:22-24 says, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes, there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, who is in Christ Jesus. being justified freely by the grace of God through redemption].
When we believe in Jesus through grace, God gives us the righteousness of God. It is not that we become righteous by keeping the law in our own strength, but that we are justified by putting on the righteousness of God, which God has given us by grace, so that we bear righteous fruit by the power that works in us. It is wrong to say that you believe in God, to neglect God, to emphasize only my belief, and to emphasize only the determination that I will achieve it. God-initiated righteousness abounds in us through Jesus Christ. Only then can we be more righteous than the Pharisees or the scribes. This is the message given to the rich young man. It's not about showing the righteousness of giving up your possessions, it's about acknowledging that you can't do it, giving up on yourself and accepting God as the most precious thing. Then the righteousness of God will be established in you, and you will be able to do more than sell all your possessions and give to the poor.
Don't turn our belief into another act. We are justified because of our faith. More precisely, because of what we believe in. Do not focus on the act of believing in yourself, but pay attention to and focus on what you believe in. How did you decide to spend 2007? As I said at this time last year, when the new year comes, I make a lot of resolutions, reducing my cigarette consumption by 1/3. However, the Tobacco and Ginseng Corporation of Korea is not concerned at all. Because in a month or two it sells many times more than it was consumed before. The same goes for your determination to do something through your determination. What you can do is confess that I really can't do anything, but God can do anything. I hope you do that this year.
“God, I will completely empty myself this year, so please work within me.”
The fulfillment of the law and the fulfillment of all the words of the Old Testament, Jesus will fulfill the words of hope given to us and will fulfill them in us. In conclusion, read Ephesians 2:8-10.
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. who has received this, which God prepared beforehand, that we might walk in it.]