Matthew 5:20-48 God Can See What We Are!
A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain,
‘Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.’
‘I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them.’
People have interesting ideas about what God thinks of them or how they will satisfy him but these are usually wrong.
The Danger of Self-Righteousness
Self-righteousness is one of the most dangerous conditions known to man. It lies in all of us and if allowed to be established is a fatal condition as it will result in us being separated from God for ever.
When we watch News at Ten or read the newspaper it is so easy to behave like Alf Garnett in the sit-com ‘Till Death Us Do Part’ who can see the faults in everyone else but never in himself.
Throughout the Sermon on the mount Jesus is emphasising the two main characteristics of those who belong to the Kingdom of god:
They recognise how bad they are
They believe in and follow Jesus, God’s only Son.
1. Recognise how bad we are
Look at Matthew 5:6:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Those who hunger and thirst realise they have a great need. They are starving. Their need cannot be met from within themselves, their filling will come from outside - they will ‘be filled’. Self-righteous people think others need filling more than them.
After this sermon Jesus was invited to a meal in Matthew’s home to which many ‘tax collectors and sinners’ had been invited. The Pharisees there could not understand why Jesus mixed with such tarnished, disreputable people so Jesus tells them what he has come to do:
“Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13
Clearly Jesus is talking about the self-righteous. He had talked about the need for mercy which ultimately comes from seeing that I could be in their situation, but for the grace of God. Sacrifice is what I do for God and others and even these selfless actions can make me feel good and even proud!
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7
Jesus is only relevant to those who realise how spiritually sick they are.
2. They believe in and follow Jesus, God’s only Son.
The opening theme of Jesus teaching was about himself:
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17
Jesus is God’s Messiah, His authoritative king, God’s Son. The kingdom is his. He has been given all power over the world and us and he longs for people to return to live under his authority so he can forgive them and put them right with God by forgiving their sin.. The self-righteous will never do this because they cannot see the need!
I remember a lady who came to the clinic because a barium enema had shown that she had a cancer of the transverse colon. However when we met she said her symptoms had much improved so she did not want an operation. We tried to persuade her and later the nurse tried to persuade her but she remained adamant.
“I feel alright now so I don’t need anything doing.”
Her symptoms hadn’t all gone but she felt alright. She did have to pay for this foolishness with her life later. Just as the only way to get rid of her cancer was an operation so the only way to be right with God is to accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers us. He alone is the Saviour of the world.
The Purpose of God’s Law
This is very important. The purpose of God’s Law is to show us how far short we all fall of God’s holiness.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Matthew 5:17-18
God’s law, his standard of holiness, remains. Jesus came to satisfy the requirements of the Law by becoming the ultimate sacrifice for sin that the Law demands. What a disaster it is that God’s holy standards are not a frequent theme of church sermons today. Only when people see how far short they fall from what God requires will we hunger for Jesus. Notice how Jesus emphasises the need for God’s Law to be taught:
“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19
To teach this must be the role of church leaders, and indeed for all of us who love the Lord to be teaching others what God longs for his creation to be.
Jesus now gives six examples of how people can twist the truth about how God wants people to live. It is all to do with living by God’s standards and not those of society, even if it is a religious society. The Pharisees gave the impression of being a holy group of people and doubtless many felt they were righteous, but Jesus saw through their pretence. These six sections are sandwiched between two key verses:
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
This puts the bar incredibly high. The majority of Jesus’ listeners would have been taught by the Pharisees and teachers of the law but Jesus is saying that they have missed the point, we must be perfect to be part of God’s kingdom because God is perfect! The outward righteousness of the Pharisees is nowhere good enough for God. Their system of religion, that was based on keeping the rules, allowed them to flirt with sin but at the same time appear outwardly pure. They were not overtly wicked, they did keep the letter of the law, but they flouted the principle. The Bible insists that God is pure and righteous so any in his Kingdom must be the same. If God hates sin, so should we, his people.
It is easy for us to be critical of the Pharisees but the important question is ‘How pure are we?’ A recent study has shown that Christians today can also put up a semblance of godliness when all is not well. A report was released in 2024 by 'Barna' and 'Pure Desire', a ministry for people with pornography addictions, which found that 61 percent of American Christians, who had attended services within the previous month, say they view porn at least occasionally. This was up from 55 per cent in Barna’s 2015 survey on the topic. More women are viewing porn than in the past (44% versus 39% nine before). Church pastors also reported a personal history of using pornography (67% versus 57% nine years ago). Nearly one in five pastors say they currently struggle with porn. The report said,
“Porn consumption is no longer confined to a specific demographic or subculture. It touches all segments of society (from young to old) with no regard to gender, social status or religious beliefs.”
Yet pornography is ‘virtual prostitution’ and Christians must not toy with sin. We must beware of a form of phoney righteousness which ticks the boxes but really ignores perfection. It is so easy for us to say,
‘We have the cross of Jesus as our insurance so we don’t need to bother about sinning.’
God hates all sin and has called a people to himself to be righteous.
Six examples of how people sin
Each of these six examples Jesus gives is introduced with the words, ‘You have heard it was said’ followed by an Old Testament passage. This was how the Pharisees taught, they did use the words of Scripture but they managed to demean the holiness of God.
Isaiah had a vision of God that affected his whole life, and this understanding is what Jesus says was missing in his day:
“I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:1-5
Isn’t this vision what we need to see today? Until people see how great and how holy the Lord God really is, people will tend to try to satisfy him with their religion and good works. The Pharisees had their 613 rules which, if kept, they thought should satisfy God. Jesus is saying that all our efforts fall woefully short of God’s perfection.
Jesus shows the emptiness of these rules. He stresses that nothing less than perfection can satisfy God, Isaiah saw this and came to the conclusion:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
The six examples are:
Murder. v.21-26 God sees that anger is just as bad as murder
Adultery. v.27-30. God sees what we are thinking about people of the opposite sex
Divorce. v.31-32. God wants marriages between one man and one woman to be worked at
Oaths. v.33-37 God hates all lies, he is a God of truth
Retribution. v.38-42 God sees when we are treated badly by others but wants us to show his grace
Enemies v. 43-47. God wants loving others, even our enemies to be the norm
Superficial righteousness is not what God is after, our heavenly Father is pure so we must be too. This section ends with:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
When God spoke to the ninety-nine year old Abraham, he had the same message.
“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” Genesis 17:1
Abraham was to be blameless because he was to walk before God, the God who is, ‘El Shaddai’, God Almighty. Nothing has changed for God’s people!
The Fulfilment of God’s Law
Jesus said something that seems strange just before he explained how we should understand the purpose of God’s law
““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Matthew 5:17
What did he mean by this? It must mean that Jesus has completed their purpose, embodies their requirements, and accomplishes all prophetic predictions. He has brought the Scriptures to their intended goal and in this sense he has fulfilled them.
Understanding fulfilled by Jesus
We have seen that Jesus brought new light to understanding the Law. The Law was meant to show our need for forgiveness and could never be the way of satisfying God. It is tragic that there are many today who think they have achieved an acceptable standard. They are the self-righteous. The Bible scholar, Don Carson, has said,
“Just as the Beatitudes make ‘poverty of spirit’ a necessary condition for entry into the kingdom, so Matthew 5-7 end up by demanding a kind of righteousness which must have left Jesus’ hearers gasping in dismay and conscious of their own spiritual bankruptcy. You cannot meditate long on Matthew 5-7 and remain unashamed. The Sermon on the Mount remains a crushing blow to self-righteousness.”
The New Testament teaches us that the Law is like a mirror, it shows us what we are really like and should lead us back to God seeking his mercy. James, the brother of Jesus wrote:
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James 1:23-25:
Just as a mirror shows up the dirt or flaws, the law reveals areas where we fall short of God’s standard. Paul explains that the law functions as a diagnostic tool, not as a cleaning agent.
“. . . through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
He refers to the Law as a ‘ministry of death’ or ‘condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7-9) that reveals the need for a greater ministry, one of grace.
Covenant fulfilled by Jesus
Some of Jesus' critics claimed He was teaching people to ignore the law of Mose.
“When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.’” Matthew 12:2
These hostile religious leaders began to falsely say he was teaching a new or different law from what God gave to the nation of Israel and he was eventually accused of blasphemy, primarily because he claimed to be the God’s son.
"“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”At this, they picked up stones to stone him.” John 8:58–59
"Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Matthew 26:63–65
Jesus counters the lie that He is calling for the law of Moses to be ‘abolished.’ He tells those listening that he has no intention to discard the law or the Prophets. The book of Hebrews explains how God always intended the old covenant to lead to a new covenant:
“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:
“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah." Hebrews 8:6–8
This transition was not to eradicate what God has spoken, but to complete its intended purpose. As the God who gave the law to Moses and gave the prophecies to the prophets, Jesus would have no desire to wipe out those messages. Instead, Jesus declares that He has come ‘to fulfil’ them.
Everything in the Jewish Scriptures, that we now call the Old Testament. has been pointing forward to the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah. The law described a life of perfect, sinless righteousness, which no Israelite had been able to fulfil. When Jesus arrived, he was the first and last to accomplish this.
Sacrifices fulfilled by Jesus
In addition, the sacrificial system given to Israel by God in the law required the killing of animals, blood sacrifices, to pay for human sin. They were symbolic, effective only temporarily, and only until new sins were committed, when more blood had to be spilled. Jesus, though, as the perfect, sinless human sacrifice for sin fulfilled the need for that blood sacrifice once and for all.
"Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Hebrews 10:11–14
Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus
Matthew also demonstrates throughout his book how Jesus' life fulfilled one prophecy about the Messiah after another. Jesus did not discard the words of these prophets; He fulfilled them with every word and action of His life.
Application
We can imagine the shock of those listening to Jesus on that mountain but Matthew wrote this to help us understand Jesus’ message. We can go to church, recite the creeds and liturgy, join in the worship songs and look like good Christians. We can see the imperfections in others but the question we are asked is ‘Are you really followers of Jesus?’ Jesus says to good religious people:
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20
The religious give the appearance but have no heart for pleasing God. Look at Jesus’ examples:
Not actually murdered but is there hatred in my heart?
Not actually committed adultery but have I lusted in my imagination?
Not actually divorced but have I loved my spouse as I ought?
Have I lied and forgotten that God’s currency is truth?
Do I insist on my rights?
Jesus was willing to suffer rather than go against what is right. There is no limit to God’s love, he even sent his Son into this world to die for us who have rebelled against him.
Our tendency is to trifle with sin but Jesus warns us that there are dire consequences if we fail to learn about the danger we are in and turn to him for help. To those who look down on others God says
“And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Matthew 5:22
To those who succumb to sexual temptations God says:
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:29
Jesus repeats this warning in case people do not take him seriously
“It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Matthew 5:30
This is serious teaching, my eternal destiny is at stake. The issue is which family do I belong to. There are only two choices:
The Kingdom of God and His Son where we live to please him out of gratefulness for the salvation he has won for us.
The Kingdom of this world which will lead to God’s judgment, condemnation and hell.
Our society is profoundly self-righteous. The majority think:
“I know I’m not perfect but I am a decent enough person and better than many. I hope god will accept me in the end. After all, I have never knowingly done anyone any harm.”
The symptoms of being self-righteous are all to easy to see. When we hear the news or read a paper are we pleased that we are not like them? Isaiah began his book with a description of what God saw when he looked at his people:
“Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”
Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.” Isaiah 1:1-5
The Sermon on the Mount is not an essay on ethics but a wake-up call to those who have failed to understand what God made us for.
BVP
