Trinity 6 Service
St Matthew 5:20-26
[Jesus said] “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Our hymn does a good job of explaining the issue of sin in our relationship to God. And just in case we would be inclined to start thinking about it, and considering various ways to justify ourselves (‘cause we do that), making light of our sins (comparing them to others’ sins, for instance; why should I be treated the same as someone who killed someone?—that kind of thing), the hymn writer notes what makes us sinners in the first place.
It isn’t a lapse of judgment in this or that moment of life;
it isn’t “making poor choices,” like is often said today.
In Adam We Have All Been One. The hymn writer is talking about the Bible’s doctrine called original sin. We are sinners because we have inherited what Adam was (or, what he became when he sinned). We inherited being sinners. We inherited the inability for ourselves not to be sinners, and the guilt, then, that comes from being sinners.
In pointing out to His listeners in our text, that they’re sinners (necessary if they’re going to be of a mind to be saved), Jesus uses the example of how we tend to treat one another. The hymn writer addresses this in his second verse:
We fled Thee, and in losing Thee
We lost our brother too;
Each singly sought and claimed his own;
Each man his brother slew [referring, apparently, to Cain’s killing of his brother Abel].
Slew is a form of the word slay or kill. This well-interprets Jesus’ statement in our text: everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. He’s comparing—in fact—being angry with our brother to murder. Of course, St. John speaks similarly: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). So, part of being sinners is this tendency we have to be self-serving—to claim our own, as the hymn writer says; to treat each other badly.
And when God is thinking about sin, He isn’t really putting it on a scale, like we might want to do. He isn’t saying, this sin is a really serious one; this sin doesn’t really matter very much. Sin is sin. It’s our condition as sinners that matters; not how serious (or minor) we think our sins are.
Even when it comes to Jesus’ example, we tend to think, Well, I don’t do such a bad job of treating people well. I’m
generous with my possessions. I’m
kind to my family and friends. I’m
known as a pretty nice person in my workplace, I think.
You know what? —I think I’ve got this! Jesus’ example doesn’t apply to me; just other people. And, while all of those things we said about ourselves might be true (you might have been nodding along as I read them), Jesus says in our text that even all that doesn’t cover it.
That’s He means by, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Scribes and Pharisees tended to think all of those nice things about themselves. Others thought it of them too. But Jesus is saying that as good a picture as they were presenting of themselves, it isn’t enough to make them right before God. And anyone thinking he must only live up to their standard is mistaken. In Adam We Have All Been One. Those men had inherited the same sinfulness. They were guilty like anyone else. Jesus was saying, you can’t use them as a standard; they’re in the same boat. The Psalmist writes:
Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you (143:2).
In Adam we have all been one,
One huge rebellious man;
We all have fled that evening voice
That sought us as we ran.
The solution to the issue of sin in our relationship to God can’t be to tell him He’s mistaken in how He assesses us. It can’t be to say to God, Yeah, you know, I hear what you’re saying…but I’ve been going over some things, and I think it might be necessary for you to reconsider your position on the matter. After all, on March 14, 2014, I sacrificed being to work on time so I could help a little old lady across the street. That’s kindness. In Adam we have all been one. If we are to be judged by God on who and what we are, then it’s on the basis of the sinful nature we have inherited from Adam (the sinful lives we’ve rendered too, if we’re being honest with ourselves—an episode or two of helping little old ladies across the street not withstanding).
The hymn writer, in verse 3, gets to what the answer needs to be:
But Thy strong love, it sought us still
And sent Thine only Son
That we might hear His shepherd’s voice
And, hearing Him, be one
Jesus is the answer, the solution to the issue of sin in our relationship to God. He’s the One Who loved and saved us all when we loved Him not—in the hymn writer’s words. He’s the Great Good Shepherd. He hasn’t inherited the nature we have, that demonstrates itself in unkindness and hatred. He prayed for the forgiveness of His murderers on the cross! He’s the One Who descended from His throne on high to take the place of sinners, making up for their hatred with His perfect love that caused Him even to bear the shame of the cross.
But that sinful nature we have is persistent. It keeps wanting to be a Pharisee and a scribe. We keep wanting to think of ourselves as being in a better position than most people. We want to celebrate somehow, that more of the time, or to at least a little greater extent we do what God wants instead of plowing headlong into what He doesn’t want. Jesus’ message in this text is designed to tell us, Yeah, don’t even bother with that sort of thinking. God looks at the whole world and sees sinners. And sinners are condemned in so far as their own merits are concerned. We wouldn’t ever want God to play that game with us, where we try to convince Him that, while others need His saving, we…maybe don’t. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless you are even more perfect than they try to convince the world they are, you will certainly have removed yourself from God’s kingdom, that means.
So, the hymn writer rightly concludes in the 5th verse:
Send us Thy Spirit, teach us truth;
Thou Son, O set us free
From fancied wisdom, self-sought ways,
And make us one in Thee.
Send us Thy Spirit—“Do what you’ve promised to do when we hear Your Word,” in other words. Break this spell that we’re under, that imagines our own goodness; our own fitness for your Kingdom. Let us see our need. Move us to humble ourselves before you so that Your Son can set us free. He’s our only hope. Jesus is the One whose righteousness has been placed upon us to cover our guilt. That’s our solution—not making a run at exceeding the righteousness of Pharisees and scribes; but rather, Christ.
Since He has used our unkindness to our neighbor as His example of our sin, Jesus takes it a step further, offering this advice: So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Jesus knows He’s telling them something that’s going to hit home. We have experienced disharmony with people, haven’t we? It’s one of the things about this life that clearly illustrates our situation, clearly illustrates that in Adam We Have All Been One.
We’re reminded of it in the last of Jesus’ parting words of encouragement in our text. In that portion of His illustration He mentions an accuser, and a judge, and a penalty. Not only might that be our situation in this world (depending on what direction our sins might take us), but much of that reminds us again of the issue of sin in our relationship to God. A reconciliation in that relationship could never be brought about by us coming to terms with God. We could only be reconciled with Him in Christ, Who lived perfectly in our place, and Who made payment for our sins with His innocent sacrifice. In Him your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. In Him you are fit to enter God’s kingdom. In Him there is no one to accuse you. He has taken every accusation of yours, suffered every penalty. The issue of sin in your relationship to God is forever solved in Jesus. To His Name be glory both now and forever. Amen.
Exodus 20:1-17
God spoke all these words, saying, “I am
the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from
sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.