Righteous Fruit

Be good…Do right. This was what I remember being told by my mama and daddy when I left their home and went out into the great big world at the age of eighteen. Old enough to know right from wrong and too young to know very much at all. So just before I boarded a bus that would take me to the big city of Raleigh NC, my mama gave me her counsel which was primarily concerned with behaving myself. Being good in her opinion consisted mainly of not doing wrong things. My daddy knew that understanding how to do right came from responding rightly to authority. I was leaving home to join the military. And for anyone with a flawed understanding of how authority works, the drill instructors in basic training had a memorable way of teaching. I remember that my daddy told me that if I was told to dig a ditch, dig the ditch straight and dig it right. When I got on the bus, I was silently hoping that the ditch wouldn’t be too deep or too long. Their blessing was summed up in the words Be good…Do right.
There is a difference between blessing and cursing. The last word in the Old Testament canon is the word curse. Theologically speaking, when Jesus began to preach the word of the Lord, He spoke words of blessing to a people who were living under the curse of sin. Matthew’s Gospel gives us some of the recorded content of a sermon that the Lord Jesus preached. He had begun to preach that men should repent and believe the gospel. His sermon begins with telling God’s people where their blessing is found and what the gospel is all about. It is God’s good news for man’s bad condition.
The passage we consider today is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Some have said that it is the New Testament’s comparison to the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. The similarities are striking where a voice of authority gives God’s people a standard to live rightly before God. Some have said that just as Moses gave the Law on a mountain, the Lord Jesus also gave the Law from the mountain. In past ages, this kind of thinking has contributed to the erroneous mindset that the New Testament is the Christian believer’s set of rules and the Old Testament doesn’t apply anymore. In other words, for the believer in Christ, this is our formula as to how to be good and do right. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount is the Christian’s to do list as it applies to our being able to access the Kingdom of God.
In one way this is an accurate view. Jesus says so Himself. There is a standard that is given that grants us access into God’s Kingdom and God’s Presence. It is the same standard that the Old Testament Law of Moses presented to the People of God. This standard is called righteousness that results in perfection. So in this way, the Sermon on the Mount communicates a standard. But this standard exceeds the Law and the righteousness that the keepers of the Law believed they could attain. Righteousness is the subject of our message entitled Righteous Fruit. Listen for this concept of righteousness to come through as Jesus speaks to the multitudes on the mountain. Hear the Word of the Lord prepare our hearts at Mount Olivet to Become Fruit Bearing Disciples in a Kingdom Culture, learning to bear the righteous fruit of the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:1-20)

Followers of Christ were to be very different than what people were used to seeing. It is significant that Matthew records the preaching of Jesus as He began His public ministry in much the same way that John had been preaching. Repent…the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. This tells me that something needed to be different than what people saw in other people who believed they were following God. There was a new thing happening in the religious community. Jesus called common men who left their lives and their lifestyles to follow Him. People were being healed from every kind of disease and afflictions. Demon-possessed people were set free of their spiritual bondage and the gospel, or good news, of the Kingdom of God was being proclaimed. A New King was in place. Jesus had battled with the devil in the wilderness and established a beachhead in the invasion. He was attracting a vast following. Religious practitioners were taking notice. And one day on a Judean hillside He gave to all those who would listen the key to surviving this spiritual engagement. He taught them about the one thing they could not live without if they were to live for God and with God. They must learn to excel in righteousness. The disciple, or follower, or learner, of Christ was to be very different from any other student of religious teaching. The righteousness of men needed to be standardized. Righteousness needed to be defined. Jesus gave the definition of righteousness for disciples of all ages.
Righteousness is God-centered. The word righteousness comes from a root word that means straightness. It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard. The central element in found in righteousness is the intention to be and do right. For Pharisees in the days of Jesus righteousness came to be a matter of externals and the inner intent was often lost sight of altogether. Righteousness is an attribute of God and also a desire to be godly in character. Godly goodness is at the core of true righteousness. One preacher defines it as gospel goodness as opposed to religious righteousness. The fruit of a Kingdom Culture grows from the inside out.

For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

I. KINGDOM CULTURE DISCIPLES DESIRE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT IS DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Hunger and thirst are manifested by a desire to live and not die. Any living thing may have to be taught to eat and drink…but they will not have to be taught how to hunger and thirst. They instinctively know that they must eat and drink. Without these two desires being fulfilled living creatures will perish.
This gives me great hope when I desire to study God’s word. Here is where the righteousness of God is found. When I have an overwhelming desire to seek God’s righteousness I can know that I am not the source of that desire. Like something growing in me that needs to be fed, the righteousness that is of God has been planted deep within me. The more it grows, the more like Christ I want to be. I am blessed when I desire God because this desire will be filled. When I hunger and thirst for God’s word that is good news for me.
It should give me cause for alarm when I don’t desire to study God’s word, hear it preached or taught, or be with the community of God’s people. A doctor will often ask the patient about their appetite to diagnose some sort of malady. The doctor seeks to find a remedy for a problematic condition. When someone has no desire to eat or drink, these are like warning lights on a dashboard of a car. Something is wrong with a Kingdom Culture Disciple who thinks that he or she is pursuing the righteousness of God and does not have a desire to pray to the Lord or spend time with His word or worship with His people. What is most alarming is when I am doing all these things mechanically…without the want-to. It is past alarming and most deadly and dangerous to my life when I do not even realize that I lack the desire for the righteousness of God.

II. KINGDOM CULTURE DISCIPLES WILL SUFFER FOR THIS RIGHTEOUS DESIRE.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Enemies to righteousness are enemies of Christ. Have you ever been around religious people and they discourage you? Religious people who think themselves to be righteous can be some of the most miserable people to be around. And it seems as though they live to spread that misery. Religious pretenders cannot be like Christ if they do not have His righteousness. It is an impossibility. So to make themselves feel better they usually make others feel worse. A Christian is a little Christ. Sometimes when a little Christ, a follower that is authentic, is spotted in the religious community, some of the hypocrites, the ones who are acting, determine to make the little Christ seem smaller, so they can seem bigger. Practicing religion without authentic righteousness is detrimental to Christianity. Hypocrisy is the enemy of reality. Have you ever heard of people in a workplace that were only there for the paycheck? They spend more time trying to figure out how to get out of work than to get work done and watch the clock rather than watch out for the owner’s interests? Let a diligent worker who comes there to serve the boss and serve others as unto the LORD, and express joy in the fact that they have a job in these days and sparks begin to fly. The real thing always makes the fake thing look pretty shabby. Persecution of righteous people by the religious community is a given when one pursues real righteousness.
Ritually religious people never do anything unless it’s about them. When Jesus began to expose the motives of the religious practitioners, the war was on. When these people were called to explain why they did what they did, they often could not answer. Because the motive of the heart was revealed. When a person practices religion with impure motives it is always about self worship and manipulating God. When we fall away from the Lord because following Jesus has become uncomfortable or inconvenient, it reveals the true condition of our heart. Spiritual fruit grows from the inside out. What’s showing is what’s growing!

III. TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS BEARS GOOD FRUIT IN EVERY CULTURE.

You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world…

Salt is a preservative and light illuminates. Jesus is telling His followers that they are to make a difference in the world. Their purpose is to engage the world and its decay and darkness with the righteousness of Christ. Christians cannot afford to hide within their culture when the culture around them decaying and dying in the dark.
Sometimes a little salt can make a lot of difference. Consider the roasted corn at the state fair. I love the one close to the Village of Yesteryear. It’s one of the high points of our fair engagement every year. But I cannot leave that place with my corn unless I put some salt on it. After I’m finished, I never say, That sure was great salt! But I always say, That sure was great corn! The purpose of the salt is to enhance whatever it comes in contact with. A little salt goes a long way. Are you a salty Christian? Do others see you enjoying Christ? Do people see you tasting and seeing that the Lord is good?
Sometimes a little light can make a lot of difference. I must correct something that I said last week about the first sermon I preached here was a trial sermon about Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul. It is true that it was the first sermon but the trial sermon, the one preached before the church voted to issue a call, was one from this passage of scripture. The sermon was called Torchlight or Porchlight Disciples. The premise was that we are called to be lights of the world. To carry a torchlight would be the understanding of Jesus’ day. But in our day we have porchlights…that only shine so far outside of our house. A torchlight or a flashlight goes out into the culture and shines forth. I tell you this as a matter of personal examination. I have ministered in your midst for over three years now. This week I have asked myself this question…have I been a torchlight or porchlight disciple during this time? Am I becoming a Kingdom Culture Disciple or content to be a Temple Culture Practitioner? What am I doing with the light that has been allotted? What am I doing with the salt that has been proportioned? How does my righteousness compare with that of the Pharisees?

IV. SURPASSING RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REQUIRED FOR KINGDOM CULTURE INHABITORS BECAUSE OF THEIR INHERITANCE.

Years ago I worked with a man who came to be known as It ain’t enough. My friend had lost his wallet. It contained his driver’s license and some other forms of identification, a couple of credit cards, personal pictures and such. A couple of days later he received a phone call from a man who asked him if he had lost his pocketbook. When my friend said that he had, the man asked if he was offering a reward. When my friend said yes, he would pay fifty dollars, the man on the other end of the line said, Well, it ain’t enough, and hung up! Many times after that we would look at my friend and say to him, It ain’t enough! But my friend was not nearly as shocked as these folks on the hillside that day when they heard Jesus speak about the Pharisees and scribes. Surely these folks were righteous enough…at least if you had asked them they would have told you so! From then on, many of the people would look upon those religious folks in much the same way, remembering…it ain’t enough!

For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees were the models of religious practioners. And it wasn’t enough. If the Pharisees and scribes could not get into the kingdom, where was the hope for anyone? Was anyone ever good enough? Surpassing righteousness is that which goes beyond and exceeds our expectations of what righteousness has always been shown around us. So the question of that day and this day becomes, if man cannot achieve the righteousness of God, if our good behavior does not achieve true righteousness, then how can a man enter the Kingdom of God? In John 3, Jesus told one particular man…Nicodemus…a Pharisee, you must be born again. The gospel is the good news that God has done for us in Christ what we are helpless to do for ourselves.
The sacrificial system in the Old Testament and the cross of Jesus in the New Testament shows man’s need for righteousness. The people of God must become the children of God. We do not make that happen. God does. The fruit of the Christian is the righteousness of Christ. It is growing there because it grows where the Spirit of God abides. Righteousness begins with knowing Christ…Jehovah…our righteousness.
When receive the nature of Christ only then can we begin to manifest His righteousness as our inheritance. The reason we can live there is that we have inherited that privilege. It is a birthright and we belong there because we belong to the King. If we are privileged to live in the Kingdom we will be related to the King. It is not enough to know about Him. We must know Him and be known by Him. God, our Father.
The cross of Jesus is a public demonstration of God’s righteousness. Christ died for the scribe and the Pharisee…most of them did not believe that. He, who knew no sin, He who was the righteousness of God…became sin for them. God judged their sin on the cross because their self-righteous behavior was just not enough. Yours and mine are not either. He who knew no sin became sin for you and for me so we could become the righteousness of God. Do you know that? Do you believe that? Do you trust that when Jesus spoke these words that He spoke God’s word because He is God? Do you believe God means what He says? Or do you think your good works makes you good enough for God? Well, it ain’t enough. Trust Christ…Repent…Believe the Gospel. Be blessed.