SUNDAY SERMON: Righteous, just as you are

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin,

OT: Isaiah 58.1-12

NT: Matthew 5.13-20

Sermons on this passage usually start at the beginning–salt of the earth, light of the world, city on a hill, all that sparkly stuff that gets your attention and makes you feel warm inside! We will get there, but I’m going to start at the end, because the end completely changes everything we think about the beginning. 

At the end, Jesus concludes by telling his followers, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“Good gracious, Miss Agnes!” as my grandpa would’ve said. The scribes and the Pharisees were supposed to be the MOST righteous people around. They were the ones who could read and write and had fancy degrees and fancy clothes and fancy titles and were thought of as being close to God. They personified righteousness in the ancient world in which these words of the Bible were written. Yet, Jesus expects the righteousness of his followers to EXCEED theirs. 

By extension, that means Jesus expects our righteousness to EXCEED that of the scribes and Pharisees, too. Good gracious, Miss Agnes! How are we supposed to do that? 

Well, let’s start with what it means to be righteous. We’ve come to assume it means purity. We’ve come to assume it means virtue. We’ve come to assume it means better than. Righteous. 

Jesus says our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes. So we’ve come to think we must be purer, more virtuous, better than the best. 

But here’s the thing. That’s not what righteousness means. Not even close. 

Righteousness in the Greek of the New Testament means “acceptable to God.” To be righteous is to be acceptable to God. It doesn’t take fancy degrees or fancy clothes or fancy titles to be righteous. It doesn’t take heroism or virtuous good deeds for all the world to see. All you have to do to be righteous, to be acceptable to God, is to be. 

You are acceptable to God, just as you are. The saint and the sinner, the rich and the poor, the fancy and the filthy. The guy with the dirty mouth and the guy with all the right words. Righteousness is being acceptable to God. 

You are righteous. You are acceptable to God. Flaws and all. This idea that you have to be pure to be acceptable to God is everywhere in our world, and it’s as old as time. We are acceptable to God just as we are, for God created us just as we are. 

Now, that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have expectations of us. God does! That’s where the beginning of today’s passage comes in. Salt of the earth. Light of the world. 

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.”

In other words, God is saying, “Go be who I created you to be! You are acceptable to me just as you are, so go be who you are! Be salty in a bland world! Be light in a dreary world! I made you for such a time as this! The world needs salt and light, just like you, right now!”  

And don’t forget the context of this message. Jesus shared it with his disciples while they were up on a mountain, separated from the crowds, just as their work together was beginning. It was a moment of quiet preparation for all that was to come. Jesus wanted to be sure his closest followers focused on being salt and light, because he knew how things were going to go. 

If you’re a city shining on a hill, people will spend every waking moment trying to tarnish you. You do your best, but they tear you down when you’re not perfect. And you’re never perfect. None of the disciples were. None of us are. The world seems built for tearing others down rather than building them up. And Jesus expects his followers to turn that upside down. Be salt! Be light! Shine for everyone to see! 

This tension between the way of the world and the way of Christ even plays out in churches. A friend of mine says there are two kinds of churches. Those based on fear and those based on service. Fear-based churches may separate themselves from the world in order to avoid sin. Those churches are popular these days, very popular.  Service-based churches get involved in the world. Those churches are not as popular. Why is that? I think it’s because our light frightens us.

As Maryanne Williamson wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.”

Being righteous isn’t some fancy or magical thing. It’s a much simpler thing. It’s in everyone. God placed the light in each of us. The righteous are acceptable to God, and God accepts us when we are who we were created to be. Not when we put on a show or a front, but when we are who God created us to be. Not when we succumb to fear, but when we step out in faith. That is righteous. 

Be salt. Be light. Be righteous, for God accepts you just as you are. Amen.