The Gospel of the Kingdom, Part 19

 

In the last installment, we looked at how a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God is a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

We saw that such a requirement is beyond human attainment, but discouragement quickly changed from despair to joy when we discovered that the One making the requirement also provides it. So that we can appreciate just how much the righteousness of Jesus Christ elevates beyond the abilities of self-righteousness, Jesus continues with more examples in His Sermon of the Mount.

The Law of Honesty.
"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'
But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne;
nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.
But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Matthew 5:33-37 (NKJV)

Some people feel that they satisfy this requirement by refusing to take an oath in a court of law. This was not the context of Jesus' point. Two thousand years ago Jews were quite ready to swear an oath as a sign of good will and fidelity. However, they placed varying values of different objects with respect to their holiness. In many minds, a whole string of oaths, sworn to objects of lesser holiness could be broken without guilt. This entire practice had made a mockery of the basic ethic of honesty. Jesus' point was this: the righteousness of the Kingdom of God requires no oath - a man's naked word should be valid. People who subscribe to Kingdom righteousness are not looking for loopholes, and their testimony is born not just by their words, but by how they live.

The Law of Love

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' Matthew 5:38-43 (NKJV)

In this evil and corrupt world, how can anyone live by this standard. Don't we have to "do unto others before they do unto you?" It would be unwise to reject Jesus' teaching here by applying the antithesis. Perhaps Jesus once again is speaking in a radical metaphor. For even Jesus did not personally apply this standard literally in his own life. When struck on the cheek during His inquisition before the high priest, he rebuked His assailant (John 18:19-23). There are some situations where on will fulfill the letter of this teaching, such as when a follower of Jesus meets persecution because he is a disciple. However, Jesus is again speaking of a righteousness which demands an attitude of the heart, not motivated by selfishness or personal rights. Its a heart attitude motivated by love, even for those who do you wrong. Complete freedom from the spirit of revenge and self-vindication, returning love for hatred, repaying kindness for evil - this is the righteousness of God's Kingdom.

Love always seeks the best for the beloved. Sometimes this must include chastisement and discipline(Hebrews 12:6), or even the administration of justice. Our problem as humans is in removing personal anger and vindication from the process and leaving it to God (and the authorities He has put in place - Romans 13:4). The supreme manifestation of this law of love is found in forgiveness. You can truly forgive only if you do it in love, and we do not - by our nature - possess such love. So once again, God supplies us with that which He demands. Read all of 1 John, compare it with Matthew 18:21-35, and draw your own conclusion.

The law of love and the Gospel of the Kingdom are one in the same. The righteousness of the Kingdom is a righteousness which only God Himself can give: perfect purity, perfect honesty, perfect love, perfect forgiveness. No one, Jew or Gentile can attain such high standards. I can only receive it by faith as a gift (grace) from God. I can love only as I have received love. I can forgive, only as I have received forgiveness. That was the man's problem in Jesus parable (Matthew 18:21-35). He had been given the gift of forgiveness, but he did not receive it as such, thinking that he could somehow earn it. Consequently, not having received it as a gift, he could not offer it as a gift. The latter was evidence of the former, thus he was turned over to the torturers.

Just as we are able to partake of the fullness of life that belongs to the Age to Come, so the righteousness of the Kingdom, which belongs to the Age to Come has been imparted to the children of the Kingdom through Christ and the holy Spirit. Praise God for that which we now have in part, for it signifies that which is to come. Stay the course and receive the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

The Gospel of the Kingdom, Part 18

There is a prerequisite to entering the Kingdom of Heaven (God) in addition to being born again (John 3:3,5); it is the requirement of righteousness. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20). A qualification for entrance into the future Kingdom is a present righteousness - that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees. What kind of righteousness is this?

It is the righteousness that results from God's reign in our lives. Through faith in Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection in our behalf, resulting in the new birth, the Kingdom of God gives us that which it demands; otherwise we could not attain it. The Scribes, as professional students of religion, and their disciples - the Pharisees - were motivated by the sole concern of achieving righteousness. A whole body of law and tradition had been developed to define right and wrong. If men should not work on the Sabbath, then what is work? They went on and on, with every matter of the Law, as if conformity to God's will is defined in all the smallest nuances of the Law. We would need to know that if salvation depended on obeying the Law, an impossible task. Yet the righteousness required of the Kingdom is greater.

Old Testament Law, rabbinic tradition, and even modern law recognize that there are different kinds of homicide, resulting in different degrees of guilt and punishment. Yet Jesus goes beyond that when He said, "...that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire" (Matthew 5:22). The oldest texts do not even qualify the anger as "being without cause." The oldest texts make it clear that Jesus was saying that anger is sin, even as murder is sin. The only difference is that anger is the baby, while murder is the full-grown monster.

Jesus went beyond the Scribe's and Pharisee's emphasis on outward actions and focused on the attitude of the heart. Most of us can say, "I've never murdered someone," but can we say (in honesty), "I've never harbored bitterness, hatred or anger toward anyone?" When we answer truthfully, Jesus then says that we are condemned before God as a sinner. You see, Kingdom righteousness says, "What you are is more important than what you do." Only God can change what someone is; only the gift of God can give what He requires.

Jesus illustrates this principle again with the "Law of Purity." The Law forbade illicit sexual relationships. If one stayed away from such relationships, by conduct they were righteous. But the standard of the Kingdom is higher, demanding that there be no lust in a person's heart. Righteousness with regards to sexual purity begins in the heart, and the proliferation of pornography, first in magazines and films, now on the Internet, has proven that time and again.

I once knew a man who struggled with these matters, and who, in ignorance, took seriously this and following verses. "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29). He literally plucked out his eye and cut off his hand. Though he suffered much pain, that did not set him free. A man with one blind eye and one amputated limb is not free from lust, for sin lodges in the heart and not in the eye or the hand. Only Christ can create in a man a new heart. The righteousness which God demands of us, He must give to us, or we are lost. As desperate as a man must be to cut off his hand, so desperate must be the sinner to search out the grace of God. Apart from the grace of God there is no salvation, only condemnation.

Be encouraged - that grace is available to anyone who would cry out for it. A way has been provided to enter into the Kingdom, both the present aspect of it, and the future. The way is Jesus! "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man can come to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)