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Sermon for Trinity 6
Exodus 20:1-17 + Romans 6:3-11 + Matthew 5:20-26
Just how good do you have to be to get to heaven? Some religions teach that it doesn’t matter how good you are; everyone goes to heaven, eventually. Some religions teach that your good deeds have to outnumber your bad deeds. Some religions teach that, as long as you don’t do anything really horrible like kill someone or commit adultery, you’ll get to heaven. Some religions teach that you have to work really, really hard at doing good, but you still won’t know until you’re standing before the gates of heaven whether or not you did enough for God to let you in.
What does God’s Word say? Just how good—just how righteous do you have to be to get to heaven? Jesus tells us in the Gospel. Take the best people, the most righteous people you can think of—like the scribes and Pharisees were in Jesus’ day, and then realize that you have to be more righteous than they are. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
God’s Law requires righteousness. God’s Law is demanding and unforgiving. We call them the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. “You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” And then the Law concludes, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
And the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought, “Yes. We do those things.” And Jesus says, “Do you, now?” What did God mean when He said, “You shall not murder”? He meant more than not killing your neighbor. Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. The righteousness that the Law requires is not just external, but also internal. It demands love in the heart just as much as it demands love in our actions. It demands selflessness and utter devotion to your neighbor’s well-being, both to your friends as well as to your enemies.
Or, Jesus goes on, Whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. “Raca” was one of those Hebrew words that Jewish society had outlawed. Manmade law often outlaws certain forms of public expression. There are certain things you just couldn’t say to someone. Certain profanities, certain slurs. Think of how much trouble people get in today for using racial slurs. Yep. That’ll get you in trouble. You’ll be in danger of public shunning and maybe worse. But Jesus says that saying something much less serious to someone, like, “You fool!” puts you in danger of hell fire. Yes, “hell fire.” Jesus’ words. It’s not just the big sins that condemn a person to hell. It’s the littlest sins, the ones that the world doesn’t even classify as sins. A little gossip. Foul language. Dirty jokes. Clothing that reveals too much—puts you in danger of hell fire.
Ah, but then someone says, “Oh, I guess I sinned. I’d better bring God an offering. I’d better do something good for God to make up for it.” Jesus slams the door on that, too. If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. In other words, don’t imagine that you can serve God while you’re sinning against your neighbor. Get rid of all sin in your thoughts, words, and deeds. Then come worship God.
This is the righteousness that God’s law demands. This is the righteousness that the Ten Commandments command. They show you how to lead a holy life. But in doing so, they reveal to you how unholy you are—how unholy all of us are.
But recognizing sin doesn’t get you into heaven. Even confessing sin doesn’t get you into heaven. Being righteous is the only thing that gets you into heaven. But you’re unrighteous. So there’s no hope for you, unless God makes you into something you aren’t.
That’s the Gospel. That’s why you’re here today, isn’t it? Because you have heard and believed that Christ came to be what you weren’t—righteous. And in Holy Baptism, Christ gave you something that wasn’t yours—His righteousness. And in bringing you to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit has made you into something new, a new creation. Christ is the end of the law for all who believe.
God’s law can’t forgive sins. It demands sinlessness. Period. Only in Christ God can and does forgive sins, because Jesus paid the penalty for your unrighteousness. God is gracious to you for Christ’s sake. He earned a pardon for all people by shedding His precious blood on the cross. And God, in His mercy, for Christ’s sake, has determined to pass over your sins and to count faith in Christ for righteousness instead.
You still have to be righteous to get to heaven. But in the Gospel, God reveals that He bestows righteousness as a gift by counting righteousness to all who trust in Christ for mercy. You need righteousness. You need forgiveness. (It’s really two ways of saying the same thing.) Where do you get it? You get it here in God’s house, from the Word of Christ, through the minister of Christ. You get it here, in Holy Baptism. You get it here in the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood where you eat and drink the body and blood of the Righteous One. Here are the Keys that open the gates of heaven to you. How can sin condemn you, when the Righteous One gives you His own body and blood that cancel out sin and wipe it out before God? How can any guilt remain when the Word of Christ forgives it?
In fact, this is the reason why Christians are willing to set aside Sunday mornings if at all possible, and in some cases, are willing to drive two hours, three hours, four hours or more to come to church where the means of grace are administered. Because they are sinners who lack righteousness, and because here is righteousness, being given to you by the Holy Spirit. Here is the righteousness that does make a person worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven. And it has nothing to do with your goodness. It has all to do with the goodness of Christ who covers you with Himself.
Now, for the believer in Christ, who is righteous before God by faith alone, there is yet another kind of righteousness of which we speak, and it’s important. It is the righteousness that proceeds from faith. It’s not perfect. It’s not complete in this life. But it is real, and the Holy Spirit is serious about producing it in Christians. Without faith, Scripture says, it is impossible to please God. Unbelievers, who are not righteous by faith, cannot do a single work to please God, or that He counts as good. But faith in Christ makes a person pleasing to God, in such a way that believers can actually do good works—works that God accepts and considers good. This “new obedience,” as we call it, doesn’t earn God’s favor. Instead it flows from God’s favor. This new obedience doesn’t contribute to your justification. It flows from your justification by faith.
And so we study God’s commandments, and memorize them, and meditate on them. We learn the Small Catechism as it explains the commandments so simply and eloquently. And then we pray for God’s help, so that all our life may be holy, so that we may walk in His commandments and live a life of love and thankfulness to God for His mercy in Christ. Good works are necessary, not for salvation, but because it is God’s will that those who bear His name, branded on them in Holy Baptism, should live a holy life, even as our Father is holy. That is daily goal and purpose of every Christian, because we have tasted the goodness of our God, who gave His Son into death in to order to make righteous people out of unrighteous people, that we may live without fear and without guilt, sheltered from God’s righteous wrath by the righteousness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
