REVIEW OF LESSONS 1-23 BASED ON MT. 5:1-20
INTRODUCTION:
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
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The Axial Age’s Quest for Righteousness
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Righteousness from Perspective of SOM and the NT
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Biblical Righteousness and Form vs. Content in Mt. 5:21-48.
THE AXIAL AGE’S QUEST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
I. MANKIND’S SEARCH FOR MEANING
600-300 BCE was an axial period (a period that determines future outcomes) of human development because of the worldwide search for the meaning of life during that period.
“The German philosopher and historian Karl Jaspers has spoken of the period between 600 and 300 BCE as an ‘axial age’ in human history, when people in remote and apparently unrelated lands achieved major spiritual and intellectual breakthroughs. This was the time of Confucius and Lao-Tse in China, of Buddha in India, of Zoraster and his major disciples in Iran, of the prophets in Israel, and of the philosophers in Greece.” (The Middle East, Bernard Lewis, Pg. 28).
“The human need to know how to live is perennial … That is an unalterable part of the human condition” (Dallas Willard).
ILLUSTRATION: Use a good world map.
625 BC Zoroaster formulates Zoroastianism, religion in Persia.
Iranian religious reformer and prophet, founder of Zoroastrianism and Parsiism. Zoraster or Zarathustra was a priest in his tribal religion, with which he eventually became disillusioned. Having received a vision, he began teaching that Ahura Mazda was the highest god and alone was worthy of worship, a concept that went against the polytheism of Iranian religion. He forbade the orgiastic rites that accompanied animal sacrifice, common in his time, but preserved the ancient cult of fire worship
563-483 BC Life span of Buddha (Indian Sub-Continent)
Buddha Gautama taught the “four truths” – (1) existence is suffering; (2) desire, or thirst, is its cause; (3) the cessation of suffering is possible; and (4) the way to accomplish this is to follow Eightfold Path, which offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana.
551-479 BC Life span of Master Kung (Confucius). (China)
Scholars consider Lunyu (English – Analects) the most reliable source of the doctrine of Confucius. It covers almost all the basic ethical concepts of Confucianism—for example, ren (benevolence), junzi (the superior man), Tian (Heaven), zhong yong (doctrine of the mean), li (proper conduct), and zheng ming (rectification of names).
Confucius stuck to righteousness, saying, “Improper fortunes are just flowing clouds to me. For proper fortunes, I will do jobs such as a driver.” He was quite easy with his ideas despite his poverty. He was virtuous, always ready to help others and treated others with tolerance and honesty. To him, a benevolent person is one who loves others. He said, “Do not give others what you do not want yourself“, which is similar to the Bible teaching of “All those things which you would have men do to you, even so do you to them: because this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew7:12)
700 BC – Amos, Micah, Isaiah (Israel)
“The search for something deeper had become a serious intellectual and spiritual project in the Mediterranean world by the fifth century BC or even earlier. That search was, in fact, worldwide in scope, but nowhere did it achieve a higher result than in the great prophets of Israel, such as Amos, Micah, and Isaiah.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, pg. 145.
He who walks righteously (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil – this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him (Isaiah 33:15-16).
If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) like the waves of the sea (Isaiah 48:18).
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness (Hebrew – “tsedeq”), as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61:10).
“Suppose there is a righteous (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) man who does what is just and right (Ezek. 18:5).
You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) to the ground (Amos 5:7).
For it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) on you (Hosea 10:12).
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:24).
Sow for yourselves righteousness , (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) 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 (Hebrew – “tsedeq”) on you (Hosea 10:12).
469-322 BC – Life span of Socrates (469-399BC), Plato (429-347), and Aristotle (384-322BC)
The question all these philosophers were seeking to answer was, “How shall we then live?”
Job asks a similar question – “….. how can a mortal be righteous (“tsadaq”) before God?” (Job 9:2).
“Plato wrote The Republic. This book is really a study of the human soul and of the condition in which the soul must be in order for human beings to live well and manage to do what is right. The condition required is called, “dikaiosune” {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay} in the Republic.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, pg. 145.
“A couple of centuries after Plato – certainly beginning sometime prior to 285 BC – the Old Testament began to be translated into Greek, yielding the text we call the Septuagint. The translators needed a word for “tsedek” and “tsedawkaw.” The translators chose “dikaiosune” {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay} which is usually rendered “righteousness” in English.
Amos writes, “But let judgment roll down as water, and “tsedawkaw / diakaiosune” / righteousness as an impossible flood” (Amos 5:24).
Sow for yourselves righteousness , (Hebrew – “tsedeq” / dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay) 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 (Hebrew – “tsedeq” / dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay) on you (Hosea 10:12).
II. DEFINITION OF “DIKAIOSUNE”
“Tsedeq” in the Hebrew means “to be right, suitable.” It is a word similar to the Arabic word for “the straight way” in the first sura of the Koran and is translated as {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay} in the Septuagint.
“The best translation of dikaiosune {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}
is a paraphrase: Something like, ‘that about a person that makes him or her really right or good.’ (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, pg. 145).
Vine: In a broad sense: The state of him who is as he ought to be … the condition acceptable to God. Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, acting.
To simplify the definition we might say that {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay} dikaiosune is “true inner goodness” or “moral excellence.”
III. HIGH DEMAND “DIKAIOSUNE” VERSES IN SERMON ON MOUNT
What does all this have to do with the “Sermon on the Mount.” Well in the “Sermon on the Mount” the Greek word dikaiosune is used several times in key verses. In fact the whole idea of dikaiosune permeates the “Sermon on the Mount.” It is as if Jesus is answering in this one sermon, possibly given over several days, an answer to the question of Zoraster, Confucius, Buddha, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Job; that is: “How should we live?” or, “How can we be righteous before God?”
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (dikaiosune) for they will be filled (5:6).
For I tell you that unless your righteousness (dikaiosune) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (5:20).
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (5:48).
This verse is not challenging us to be perfectly holy in all respects as God is holy. In the context the emphasis is that we are to treat our enemies as perfectly as God treats His enemies.
Other verses challenge us to pristine holiness: Peter tells us to be holy for God is holy; Jesus tells to love God with all our heart, soul and mind which certainly means aim for holiness; Paul tells us to be conformed to the image of Christ which means pristine holiness etc.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (dikaiosune), and all these things will be given to you as well (6:33).
A paraphrase of this could read: “Prioritize submitting to the reign of God while pursuing a life of {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}.”
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (7:12).
This is complete ‘other-centeredness,’ and at its core is {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}.
SO WHAT?
1. The SOM, from the standpoint of personal righteousness is the most demanding sermon in the bible.
2. The SOM answers clearly and plainly how Christians ought to be in character and in life, and what true inner goodness is.
RIGHTEOUSNESS (DIKAIOSUNE) FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOM AND THE NT
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
KEY VERSE & GOAL: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness …. (Mt. 6:33a).
MOTTO: The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Go over John Stott’s outline of SOM. Show that 5:17-20 was an introduction to a Christian’s righteousness.
CLASS ACTIVITY: Draw the chart “Biblical Righteousness in SOM and the NT” that we have been referring to for several weeks. Hint: You will need several straight lines. (Hand out the paper, rulers and pens. Give them 10-15 minutes. When completed, tape them on the whiteboard. Have someone from each table come up and explain the chart. Start with the chart that is missing some pieces and let the others add parts that are missing.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14
BIBLICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS AND FORM VS CONTENT
Biblical righteousness is more that imputed righteousness. It is also imparted and trained righteousness. But what is the unique distinctive of Biblical righteousness?
The rest of the Sermon on the Mount – 5:21-7:27 is an elaboration of Mt. 5:20 …. How a Christian’s righteousness can surpass the righteousness of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
Key Sentence: There are “Five Principles” that underlie the practical (imparted, trained) righteousness of a Christian.
In 5:21-48 Jesus gives us six illustrations and each of these illustrations reinforces the five principles that underlie all true Christian righteousness.
“I do not hesitate to suggest that our Lord was really more concerned about these common principles that He was about the particulars. In other words, He lays down certain principles and then illustrates them. Therefore, we must make certain we really grasp the principles first.” ( MLJ, 211).
He is concerned about the principles rather that the detailed examples.
So if we take the illustrations and turn them into law we are denying the very thing He was setting out to do. (MLJ, 215).
We do not want to focus on the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount as a code of ethics.
THE FIVE PRINCIPLES:
1. The spirit, not the letter of the law, [content instead of form] must take priority.
FLIP CHART: Go over the “Picture Perfect Wedding” and show that even though all may be perfect it is a total failure if the bride and groom do not love each other. Explain that the “picture perfect” part is form and that the “love” is content.
ILL: Hug my wife while reading the paper – letter without spirit.
Other synonyms for “form and content” are “letter and spirit,” “ceremony and meaning,” “outward and inward,” etc.
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (II Cor. 3:6). “It is a spiritual, not a written law” (Knox).
“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, the Spirit, not by the written code.” (Romans 2:28-29).
2. Conformity to the law is more than just actions.
3. The law contains both positive and negative values.
4. The law is to be used as a means of developing spiritual character.
Ill: The law is a beautician, personal trainer, dietician, interior decorator etc. Its goal is to edify, to beautify, to make us into the image of Christ, to make us all that God wants us to be.
5. The law is not an end in itself, but a means by which we come to know God.
The law must not be thought of as an end in itself, neither must the Sermon on the Mount. These are simply agencies which are meant to bring us into that true and living relationship with God. We must always be very careful, therefore, lest we do with the Sermon on the Mount what the Pharisees and the scribes had been doing with the old moral law. (MLJ, 219)
ILL/ACTIVITY: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in the light of the “Five Principles.” READ: Read Luke 18:9-14
1. The spirit, not the letter of the law, [content instead of form] must take priority.
In worship the Pharisee stood, went to the front, tithed and fasted. He thought of himself as not an evil man, robber or adulterer. The publican was a broken man and a humble man asking only for mercy.
2. Conformity to the law is more than just actions.
The Pharisee was convinced that actions were the key.
3. The law contains both positive as well as negative values.
The Pharisee saw the law only from the negative aspects. For the Publican, the law was positive in that it was leading him to ask for mercy.
4. The law is to be used as a means of developing spiritual character.
Was spiritual character being developed in the Pharisee or in the Publican?
5. The law is not an end in itself, but a means by which we come to know God.
For the Pharisee keeping the law was an end in itself; for the Publican / Tax Collector, the law was a means driving him to receive mercy from God. “This man [the tax collector], went home, justified before God.
SO WHAT?????
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The longing for true inner goodness and moral excellence which is Biblical practical heart righteousness has been a quest of the human race for thousands of years.
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Perfect righteousness is not attainable because of the sinfulness of man. Thus Christ came and died for us both cleansing away our sin and also imputing to us His perfect righteousness.
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We are expected to surpass the form of righteousness exhibited by the religionists of Jesus day. We do this by focusing on content and meaning instead of being satisfied with form and ceremony in regards to our personal righteousness.