Matthew 5 and the Gospel of Grace

Ever read Matthew 5 and get angry/discouraged? That’s the natural response when you read it right. Jesus says some incredibly difficult things: Not only is murder a sin, but anger too?! And insults?! Sure, I know adultery’s a sin, but lust is the same as adultery? You’re telling me that not only do my actions have to be completely pure, but also my “motives, aspirations, and the deep recesses of the thoughts of my mind” have to be completely pure? Yes. That’s exactly what Jesus is saying when he says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We can’t water that down. The Pharisees were some pretty serious men. But Jesus’ issue with them was that while they followed the Law presumably to the letter, their heart was not oriented toward God.  God does not desire just our begrudging obedience, but rather He desires our entire self. This is the message that Jesus conveys in his Sermon on the Mount and it’s the sentiment of the Beatitudes. Usually, the “Blessed are…” phrases are taken to be general principles for living a Christian life. The Christian reads them and thinks, “All right, I need to try to be humble and merciful and pure and a peacemaker and all that other stuff. Then I’ll be a faithful Christian.” That sounds to me like we’re still trying to earn our salvation. Paul’s clear about the source of that salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” In other words, you’ve got nothing. That’s what Jesus says in His sermon. You think you’re following the rules? Unless you can do it perfectly with no slip-ups at all, hell is your ultimate destination. Discouraging? Initially yes. And that’s where the fullness of the Gospel comes in.

Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, He was able to send the Holy Spirit. So when we read the Beatitudes, we don’t read a bunch of “principles for Christian life.” We see the person of Jesus Christ. When we truly understand that it is purely by grace we have been saved, and that the Holy Spirit that has been given to us continually conforms us to the image of Christ, the true meaning of this sermon becomes clear. As Oswald Chambers says, “The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations – it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us.” The list of Beatitudes is not a set of different rules, but rather a package deal that points to the person of Christ, and therefore the image that we are being conformed to. The same principle applies to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Have you ever noticed that that verse seems completely grammatically out of whack? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.” There’s no “and” in the Greek. In Greek and English (both Indo-European, making translation much easier) , that’s not a proper sentence. Come on, Paul, don’t you know that you just listed 9 different things? Don’t you mean “fruits” of the Spirit? Paul’s response is, “Nope. Those aren’t different at all.” You see, the singular fruit of the Spirit is each of those things and all of those things, intermingled with one another. It is not enough to love, but that love must be a good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, love. That’s not something that you work for. That’s only given as a gift from the Holy Spirit. The same goes for our justification, our sanctification, and our glorification. The message of Scripture is not “This is what you do to be saved.” The message is, “This is who God is. He sent his Son to die to save you. You, His enemy. You, who spit on His bloodied face when you sin. The faithful Triune, covenantal God loved you despite all of that. Throw yourself upon His mercy and His grace and He will bear you up. Hold nothing back. He sure didn’t.”

We are, by grace, the children of God, people! Christ perfectly obeyed. Christ perfectly submitted to the will of the Father. Christ fulfilled the Law, did everything we could not do, and perfectly satisfied the wrath of God that we deserved. By grace through faith, that awesomeness is imputed to us! Thus, “As many as received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”(John 1:12-13) So when God sees us, he sees the perfect sacrifice of His Son! That’s amazing! Praises be to our God! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his Holy name.

Let’s please our Father. Let us continually depend on, look to and worship Him every day of our lives as His Holy Spirit shapes us into the image of His Son. Only then can our view of the Law change from that of a difficult, impossible taskmaster to a delicacy sweeter than honey. Then, “Do not covet” becomes not an angry God wagging his finger, but a loving, holy God who says, “Why do you want their stuff when you can have Me?” Admonitions against lust are not the raving, nit-picky statements of a micromanaging tyrant, but rather a loving, righteous God who says, “Don’t you know that I am the source of your joy, hope, faith, and love? Turn to Me.” Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.