Fifth Sunday After Epiphany (A) 2020

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 5:17-20
Theme: Righteousness Fulfilled


Dear followers of the Saviour,

The entire Bible is about Jesus. Today He says He came to fulfill, not abolish, the Law and the prophets. The Law and the Prophets is essentially shorthand for the entire Old Testament. Jesus didn’t spring on the scene unannounced. Centuries of clear and careful testimony predicted His coming. God has His prohibitions, and He has His promises; declarations of forgiveness and salvation. All of God’s covenants come to clarity and completion in Christ.

Of course, His decrees are immediately contentious to sinners. And it can be no other way. Remember though, the laws of God are not arbitrary. They are summed up in the Ten Commandments. These are boundaries of love for our safety and well-being. We are finite creatures that need fixed parameters. We cannot thrive outside of our limitations. Just as we’re not naturally equipped to breathe underwater or float safely in outer space, so too, we’re not designed to live outside the bounds of God’s holy will.

And yet, we do. The primary reason people don’t follow God’s will is because of sin. But what does that mean? Is sin just some generic force that makes people ignorant of, or adverse to the truth of God? No, sin is the reality of being in violation God’s will. Both cause and affect are part of the equation. On the surface of it, the violation of God’s will is easily expressed. People may think His commands are simply wrong, saying for instance, - “I don’t believe being faithful in marriage is in my best interest”, or, “I shouldn’t have to obey authority”, or, “I don’t think a few ‘white lies’ ever hurt anyone.” The unbelieving person, of course, can only be expected to follow God’s commands insofar as they coincide with civil law. Some of the most important ones do. Yet other civil laws that coincide with God’s law are in dispute, and some have been repudiated or completely ignored.

Still, it’s against the law in most societies to murder or physically injure someone, to steal, and to commit perjury. Therefore, obedience to authority is also enforced by many civil laws. So, the motivation to follow civil law (for unbelievers) is fear of punishment or hope of reward. Behavior, in this situation, is ultimately driven by self-interest. The unbeliever may experience guilt for transgressing God’s will but not be self-aware the Holy Spirit is convicting the conscience.

Apart from faith, apart from the Holy Spirit, no one can obey God’s law from a proper motive, let alone a pure one. The motivation of the heart is not changed by coercion, it is changed by the Spirit. That happens when, and only when, we receive the gospel, as we do in the spoken word (particularly absolution), in holy baptism, and in receiving the Lord’s Supper. Through these means God changes people’s hearts, minds, and wills.

Believer’s, then, are given the desire to follow God’s will. Faith necessarily initiates new motivations. It doesn’t mean self-serving impulses are eradicated, far from it, but it does mean a genuine struggle now exists. We are living in that struggle all the time. It’s a struggle that involves more than human effort or initiative. The agenda of Satan clashes with the presence of the Spirit. Remember, the devil’s schemes are not abstract. They are not impersonal. We don’t have the luxury of sitting back thinking the devil is only interested in some cosmic, but disconnected plan to wrest power away from God.

Satan’s focused sphere of activity is the life of each individual believer. His war with the kingdom of light is lost, but he still seeks to win the conflict with individual warriors. His efforts are focused on creating deserters. He dangles the carrot of instant gratification while trying to shield our eyes from God’s eternal reward. And Satan will coddle you. Don’t think he won’t. He’ll happily emerge you in a world of self-absorption.

The primary reason Christians fail to follow God’s will is that they are overcome in the struggle. Temptation is too powerful. In times of pressure we might give in. Remember, faith doesn’t mean the motives of believers are always pure, they certainly are not. There’s no end to the way we try to rationalize our actions and justify ourselves. When we’re giving into temptation, often our first inclination is to minimize or excuse it. We’re typically more saintly in our own eyes than we are in reality. And we like to extend the idea of minimalization to the law itself. We try to lower the bar. But as Jesus said, that’s not the solution to our failure.

Jesus truly was (and is) saintly. He didn’t lower the standard, He met it. Only He could do it. Apart from Christ the law is only an intolerable burden. Jesus said, “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.”1 What is this righteousness? It sounds pretty important!

Jesus didn’t mean that the scribes and Pharisees didn’t make genuine and even heroic efforts to be pious and godly. He meant that they were pursing righteousness apart from Him and that could only end in failure. They thought they were pursuing holiness according to the Law and the Prophets, but remember, Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. He had freed them, just as He has freed us from the burden of currying the favour of God. But they couldn’t see it.

Jesus Christ did not come to bind consciences, but to liberate them. He didn’t come to burden us with regulations, but to free us for service. He didn’t come to control or micromanage us; He came to equip us. Most importantly, He didn’t come to string us along with threats of punishments for failing to reach perfection while still prodding us toward that possibility. He is the favour of God for us. He is the perfect image of the Father. He is the sacrifice. Our true righteousness is Jesus. He declares believers to be innocent by grace, through faith. The Scripture says, “In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'”2 This is true not in name, but in reality. The death and resurrection of Jesus reconciles believers to the Father in heaven.

(It might seem like a stretch to tie in this righteousness with our celebration of Harvest Thanksgiving. But the Scriptures themselves use such language to describe God’s blessings.
“You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it.”3 And again, “Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you.”4)

Dear friends, regardless of what challenges are before you at this moment; whether you’re fearful about your health, at wits end regarding a certain relationship, struggling just to get through an average day, or even on the very brink of collapse, pause and let this truth sink into your ears: God declares you righteous in Christ. His verdict cannot be nullified. Its legitimacy cannot be overturned. Jesus hung on the tree until He breathed His last so that the divine decree would not be a matter of words, but of power.

His resurrection from death was the proof of His triumph. And we celebrate that victory every Sunday, yes, even every day. You weren’t baptised as a symbolic gesture to add a sense of religious decorum to your history. Baptism is not an act of hollow piety. You were baptised into the life of Him whose power created and subdued the cosmos. You’re baptized into the name of Him who has the authority to forgive your sins and lead you through the gates of heaven. Jesus doesn’t leave anything unfinished. Your worries, cares, anxieties and concerns may all be very real, but they are temporary. The Scripture says we can be “confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”5 Jesus doesn’t abolish any biblical decrees. He abolishes the power of sin. He’s done that for you. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
9 February 2020
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Matthew 5:20 2 Jeremiah 23:6
3 Isaiah 45:8 4 Hosea 10:12
5 Philippians 1:6