Righteousness: Rightly Aligned to God’s Ways
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Greg Waybright
- Matthew 5:20
- Life Aligned - Lenten 2020
- 37 mins 52 secs
- Views: 1325
Questions for Reflection
Questions for Reflection
Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 12 and Matthew 5:19-20, 48
- What was the threat against King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles, and how did he respond? How can his posture and actions guide us when we don’t know how to live rightly?
- Does Matthew 5:19-20, 48 sound like good news or bad news? When you hear Jesus’ words, do you feel overwhelmed with an impossible task of perfection, or encouraged with a vision of right living? Or maybe a little of both?
- In Matthew 5, what does Jesus mean when he says that our righteousness should “surpass” (vs. 20) that of the Pharisees, who strictly obeyed every word? What does it mean to be righteous as a follower of Jesus?
- The Pharisees were careful to obey every word in the Law, but they still missed the mark. What are some spiritual practices (going to church, reading your Bible, giving, serving, prayer, etc. . . . ) that have lost their meaning and have become a bit rote, dry, or inauthentic for you lately? How can you invite God to breathe life into your spiritual practices to enable you to be more fully Aligned with God’s Kingdom?
Devotional
Read Matthew 5:20, Matthew 5:48
Dr. Condoleezza Rice tells the story of, when she was Provost at Stanford University, being asked to play the piano at a local Baptist church. Having grown up Presbyterian, she had often played piano at church. However, she had never been to a Baptist church service. After agreeing to be the pianist at the church, Dr. Rice called her mother, knowing she had played for Baptist churches. Dr. Rice told her, “I have no idea what I’m doing when I play at that church. They break into songs – any song, any key, any time – and expect me to accompany them. What should I do?”
Her mother’s counsel was this: “Honey, just play confidently in the key of C and, soon, they’ll all come back to you.” And, Dr. Rice said, “It was true. I played in C, the foundational key in music, and people came together.” Then, she added, “Perhaps God plays in C, and that’s why we always seem to find our way back to him, sometimes in spite of ourselves.”
Art by Gwen Cram
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is Jesus’ longest teaching about how the God in whose image we have been created would have us to live. Groups like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had set up elaborate rules and laws that had to be kept perfectly. Jesus knew that no one could keep all those laws, including the teachers who taught them. Instead, he taught that our lives are to be aligned with the only one who is truly right in every way, i.e., our Creator God.
Jesus (and Jesus alone) would live that perfectly right life, give his life in the place of sinners, defeat sin and death through his resurrection, and begin a work of total restoration and renewal in all who follow him by faith. Until his work in us is done, we are to keep our eyes fixed on him (Heb 12:1-2) and our ears attuned to the God whose presence through his Spirit and Word will be playing in the key of C until we are perfectly complete as our Father in heaven is.
Reflect: How is your life “out of tune” with God’s Kingdom?
Pray: LORD, help me to become more aligned to your will. Guide me to see the ways my life is out of sync with your purpose and calling, and mold me in your likeness.
Greg Waybright
Executive Office
Read Luke 6:6-11
The ideological clash between Jesus and Pharisees has never been more apparent than in their interpretation of the Sabbath laws. For Jesus, the underlying principle of “rest” is what made the Sabbath a holy-day. But for his opponents, holiness was imputed to the day by following a complex ritual of abstention.
On one such Sabbath day Jesus’ gaze fell on the withered hand of a crippled man. Even when the sacred scroll is unrolled in the synagogue, His eyes were fixed on a person in desperate need. The Pharisees and the Scribes, on the other hand, were “watching him closely,” to see when Jesus made the next wrong move. What you are looking at reveals what your obsession is: Jesus’ opponents were obsessed with the meticulous observance of the law, but for Him, the priority was always the person.
This is what we hear in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus turns the Jewish idea of righteousness upside down and redefines it in terms of personal relationship. Righteousness is not about doing the right thing; it is about entering into a right relationship with God, which in turn produces right relationships with our fellow beings. While the Mosaic Law focused on action, the Sermon on the Mount drilled deep down and questioned the attitude behind the action.
The Pharisees and the Scribes were the guardians of the tradition and the interpreters of the Law. Apart from the 613 mitzvoth embedded in the written Torah, they also drafted an oral Torah (Mishna) that included another series of petty rules and regulations. Jesus taught that the (Sabbath) Law was made for man, but the Pharisees thought it was the other way around. This is the sad irony we glean from this story: often what is made for our good brings out the bad in us.
Reflect: When you think about your faith, where is your focus? Right action, or right relationship with God?
Pray: LORD, thank you for keeping your eyes on your Heavenly Father, even through the cross. Would you redirect our gaze, taking our focus away from rule keeping and enthrall us instead with your love and grace. Deepen our intimacy with you, and refine us in your image.
Mathew John
Outreach Ministries
Read Amos 5.21 - 24
Sometimes words slide by, sometimes words are like super-glue; they make contact and you are stuck with them. I was a Freshman in High School when I heard lyrics by an artist named Dr. John and the words have been stuck with me since:
“I’d been in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time,
I’d have said the right thing, but I must have used the wrong line,
I been in the right trip, but I must have used the wrong car.”
Have you ever known you were doing the right thing, a thing you were expected to do or place you were expected to show up to, but in fact, you were just wrong?
The People of God were given the Law by God to shape their personal and their civil lives, but it had a deeper function…to point them to the Holy One. But instead of allowing the Law to direct them to God, they turned to religiousness as the answer, making the priority the Law itself.
Amos was a prophetic messenger whose calling was to communicate God’s dissatisfaction and judgment, declaring the need for Israel to repent. Israel knew where to be and when to keep religious requirements, they used religious language and did religious things, but did so without understanding the very nature of their purposes… aligning them more closely and intimately with God. They may have sincerely thought they were in sync with God’s leading, but in fact, the religiosity they were using was superficial and pragmatic at best, and hypocritical and deceptive at worse. To paraphrase the good Doctor: they were not in the right spiritual place and they definitely didn’t know what the right time was.
Reflect: Are there practices in your relationship with God that have become so routine, that the meaning has been lost and you are longing for freshness and depth to return?
Pray: As we continue our Lenten Journey to the cross and as we remember Jesus’ words that the Law and the Prophets are summed up in “Love God and Love Others” (Matt 22:34-40), identify an area where you have lost God’s perspective or heart behind a spiritual activity and ask God to renew your spirit, bringing you into deeper alignment with His purposes and callings.
Scott White
Outreach Ministries
Lectio Divina
Week 1:
Matthew 5:17-20
Read: Read the passage once—slowly, gently—listening for one word or phrase that jumps out at you. Savor that word, repeating it (either out loud or in your head), listening for the “still, small voice” of God.
Reflect: Read the passage again, and this time ask: How is my life touched by this word? What does this word have to do with my life? What emotions do I feel as I hear this word? Sit in silence, meditating on how God’s word is speaking to your context.
Respond: Read the passage again, and this time ask: What is my response to God based on what I have heard?
Rest: Read it one more time and simply rest in the words of God.
Sermon Notes - English
Life Aligned: Righteousness -- Rightly Aligned to God’s Ways
2 Chronicles 20:12 & Matthew 5:20,43-48
I want to begin with a verse that has come to mean a lot to me these past few months:
“O God, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you (King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron 20:12).”
Have you ever prayed that prayer? I have -- often. And, I’ve been praying it a lot over the past months.
What led to King Jehoshaphat of Judah praying that prayer almost 3,000 years ago was this: “Some men of Judah came and told the king, ‘A great multitude of armies is coming against you and are at your border (2 Chron 20:1).’” So, Jehoshaphat prayed – and what he prayed was, “O God, we do not know what to do” – so this is what we’ll do – “lift up our eyes and keep them on you.”
That verse has become important to me because it concisely tells me what the first step is that I should take any time I don’t know what to do next in my life, i.e., I should fix my eyes on the Lord and allow that gaze to align my life with him.
Let’s face it – That’s is not usually our first reaction when we don’t know what to do. My first thought usually is to try to take control and solve the problem myself – or to grow frustrated and ask my church friends to pray that God will take the problem away – immediately!! But, I have become increasingly certain that what Jehoshaphat did when he did not know what to do is the first thing that all followers of Jesus should do when we don’t know what to do.
Life Aligned Series
That point brings me to the series Pastor Jeff and our pastoral team have planned for Lent 2020 here at LAC. They’ve called it, Life Aligned. Each message in this series will be drawn from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount recorded in Mt 5-7. Jeff gave me the assignment to begin this series by showing you the profound way that Jesus put together the first half of his sermon, Mt 5:17-48. In it, Jesus taught us how, once we become his followers, we are to make decisions that are in alignment with his character, his ways, and his commands. What Jesus said is so different from the way people in our world usually live. He told us to align each part of our lives by keeping our eyes on the Lord. His concluding words in ch. 5 are these: “Be perfect as God is perfect.”
Let me show you how Jesus taught us to align our lives with the character of God in his sermon:
#1: Jesus taught us what not to do – “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:20).”
Notice the word “righteousness”. It means to be right: All brokenness healed. All filth cleaned up. All sins are forgiven. All relationships reconciled. The word Jesus used is often translated “justice” in the Bible, meaning, all wrongs are made right.
The Pharisees thought they could make themselves right – and they worked very hard at it. They went back to the Law of God found in the five Books of Moses (aka, the Torah) and pulled out all the rules and standards they found there. And, they worked very, very hard to keep them perfectly. In the eyes of the people in their culture, they were the most “righteous” people of all. So, it must have been shocking for people to hear Jesus say, “Your righteousness has to surpass the Pharisees’ or you won’t even enter into the kingdom of God!” Whew! That must have made them feel hopeless. If the Pharisees weren’t good enough, how could they be?
But, even the Pharisees knew they could not keep God’s Law perfectly on their own. So, what happened over many centuries was that the teachers of the Law minimized what God had called for in the Torah to the degree that they could say they kept all the laws. Jesus spoke into that in Mt 5:21-47. For example, Jesus pointed out that God’s intent was that human beings made in God’s image are not do harm to any other human beings --- for all people are made in God’s image. But, the Pharisees minimized God’s Law and said it only ruled out homicide. Then, they could say, “Well, I’ve never murdered anyone. So, I’m still right with God.”
Or in vv. 27-32, Jesus taught that God wanted people to live sexually pure lives and have faithful relationships in marriage. But, the Pharisees minimized that to one area of adultery so that they could say, “I’ve never had sex with another man’s wife so I’m OK.” One more example: In vv. 33-37, Jesus taught that God wanted people always to speak the truth. But the Pharisees reduced that to say that people only have to speak truthfully when they take an oath in heaven’s name, So, the Pharisees could say, “OK, I may tell some white lies but I’ve never lied under oath so I’m righteous!”
Jesus took up six areas of daily life in the Sermon on the Mount in order to teach us how to live well, i.e., to live as God made us to live. That’s what we’ll be focusing on this season of Lent 2020. Today, I’ll simply say that, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared that when God gave the Law to Moses, he surely wasn’t saying it is OK for his people to live abusive, sex-obsessed and dishonest lives and then say self-righteously, “Well, I haven’t done the really bad things that some people do, so I’m right with God.” Sadly, in spite of Jesus’s clear words in the Sermon on the Mount, many religious people have lived that way anyway. Have you ever heard the old chant, “I don’t drink and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do.”
Jesus declared that this is not how we who follow him should live our lives. We should never be like the Pharisee who, in Luke 18 said (putting it into our world’s words), “I’m thankful that I’m not like those sinners in Hollywood making those awful movies -- or those kids in our public schools who listen to that horrid rap music.” That way of thinking is self-righteousness. Know this: Human self-righteousness will always fall short of the righteousness of God. In Mt 5:21, Jesus taught us that our righteousness has to go beyond that.
#2: Jesus taught us what to do -- Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48).
The point of this verse is that we, who have been made in the image of God, are to live lives that are consistent with God’s ways and with God’s character. Be assured that Jesus was not saying in this sermon that God’s laws are bad or are to be ignored. Just as importantly, Jesus was not saying we need to keep the commands even more perfectly than the Pharisees did in order to merit God’s favor. No, he knew that we could not do that – not without God’s intervention into our lives to forgive us of our failures and give a new power by which to live our lives. Jesus knew that he had come both to bear the punishment necessary for our sins and to leave us his Holy Spirit to empower us.
In this sermon, Jesus let us know that the life God wants us to live is one that reflects the ways and the heart of God. He showed us how the commands of God in the OT were to be rightly understood. They are calling us to lives free from revenge and anger-filled abuse. God’s laws, according to Jesus call us to faithfulness and purity – to honesty and trustworthiness – to love for all people, even your enemies. This is the way God is. This is the way Jesus wants us to be as his people.
This message of being aligned with God and his ways through keeping our eyes fixed on him is consistent with so many things in our daily lives that we are familiar with. I’ve sometimes had cars in which the headlights are out of alignment. Motor Trend Magazine says that, when you have that problem, you have to drive the car up close to a plain wall, shine the lights straight onto it, and then align them so that they’re straight.
Or -- in almost all organizations and businesses, people speak of the importance of all the people working there being aligned. Without fail, they tell us that alignment comes when everyone is going in the direction of a shared vision
Jesus told us in his Sermon on the Mount to keep our eyes on our perfect God and begin to align our lives with his commands, his ways, and his character.
#3: Jesus taught us what a life aligned with God looks like in daily life – “You have heard that it was said…, But I tell you… (Mt 5:21,27-28,31-32,33-34,38-39,43-44).
Between v. 21 in which Jesus said our righteousness has to be greater than the rules-centered and self-empowered way of life of the Pharisees and v. 48 calling us to a God-centered and Spirit-empowered way of life, Jesus showed us what this new way of life looks like in practice. Notice this: Jesus clearly said that both the Pharisees and Jesus’s followers share a commitment to obeying God’s commands. However, there is a huge difference in how and why these two groups were to do what God calls people to do. The Pharisees sought to do things that established their own righteousness and merited eternal life. Jesus-followers receive God’s salvation by grace through faith in Jesus and, out of gratitude for that grace, want to do whatever God calls us to do.
So, let me summarize for you how I think we move from a self-focused and self-empowered way of life toward a God-focused and Spirit-empowered way of life. I’ve put together an acrostic to help you see how you might grow in obedience to God’s commands. I’ll call it Becoming a God-aligned DOER. Using those four letters, let me show you components of it that I find helpful, i.e., Discover – Own – Eye – Refresh.
Component 1: Discover -- Continuously learn about who God is through the study of Scripture, especially the life of Jesus, and the Bible teaching within your church family.
You cannot apply to your life what you do not know. You cannot live what you have not learned. From Gen 1:1 on, God has revealed himself in Scripture. So, start with Genesis 1-2 and make note of what God makes known about himself. And, you may also want to spend time early on looking at the time God told Moses who he is and what he is like in Exo 34:6-7. When people like Jehoshaphat said, “O God, our eyes are on you,” that was often the first passage they remembered – and then applied it to whatever situation they were in.
Let me show you what God said in that passage: “I am the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin – yet not leaving the guilty unpunished… (Exo 34:6-7).”
Do you see what God declares about himself? On one hand, he is holy and just and therefore makes sure all wrongs are punished and made right. But, on the other, he is gracious, merciful and compassionate – and will forgive those who come to him in repentance and faith. This is one of the thrilling parts of being a Christian, i.e., you get to keep discovering more and more about our God who is even greater than anything you might grasp with you mind while, at the same time, loves you with an everlasting love. He is both Creator and Abba.
The alignment of our lives with God starts with this: Discovering more and more about God.
Component 2: Own – Own up to the fact that you cannot make yourself right with God on your own.
The biggest obstacle to us allowing our lives to be changed and aligned to God is our own stubbornness and pride. This was, of course, the main problem the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law had, i.e., they thought they were already achieving this perfect life – or, at least, they tried to convince everybody that they were.
This year, I have been going through a wonderful devotional by Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies, with a group of men I love. Tripp wrote, “What you need to avoid is your delusions of strength.”
Or, to put it another way – a way I sometimes spoke of it while at a university: When you’re a senior, it’s hard to be a sophomore again! Any of you high school or college students know that’s true. A senior doesn’t want to give up living off-campus and go back to the dorms. A senior doesn’t want the lack of respect you feel like you received when you were an underclassman. The point I’m making now has really been convicting me personally over the last few months because I know I have to do constant checks on my heart to see whether my pride is getting in the way of me simply being what God wants me to be and doing whatever God wants me to do. When you’re a president, you find it hard to be a student again. When you’re a Sr. Pastor, it’s hard to be a Pastor at Large!
The Pharisees didn’t want to admit they couldn’t become righteous on their own. They worked hard to try to prove to everyone that they were righteous. But, I believe all of us here today know, deep down, that we have fallen short of God’s standard. I’m saying this to you: You need to own that. You and I need to sing daily that song by Travis Cottrell that we sang earlier:
“What love could remember no wrongs we have done; Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum.
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore. Our sins they are many; His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins they are many; his mercy is more.”
When you lift your eyes to see him, you see that he his holy and you are not. You need to own that. Then, you will also see that Jesus has found a way to make you right with God. “Our sins they are many; his mercy is more.” Own that. Own the fact that your only hope for salvation is God’s mercy.
Component 3: Eye – Slow down and lift your eyes toward God by remembering who he is, what he is like and what he has promised to do.
This 3rd component is the beginning of a personal application of components 1and 2. You’ve owned the fact that you have areas of your life that need forgiveness and change and that you cannot do this in your own strength. But you know forgives, loves you and is ready to come into your life and be with you. You confess what is inside you and you look up to the Lord in prayer. This is what the Apostle Peter failed to do in Mt 14 when he was on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm – he took his eyes off the Lord. This is what the Hebrews writer told us to do in Heb 12:1-2, “Run with perseverance the race marked out for you, fixing your eyes on Jesus”. And, this is what Jehoshaphat did when he had enemy armies at his border, “I don’t know what to do, O God, so my eyes are on you!”
Component 3 -- Get to a quiet place, slow down, get your focus off yourself and turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Step 4: Refresh – Consciously, intentionally renew your commitment to God. Tell him your life is now fully in his hands so you will go wherever he wants you to go and do what he wants you to do.
Let’s return to the Jehoshaphat story. When King Jehoshaphat lifted his eyes to the Lord, he had enemy armies at his border. But, after gazing on the Lord, he called a praise service even before the victory was won!
There is a principle here, i.e., that intentionally trusting God in the midst of trials can refresh and strengthen your faith. When you truly believe that God is at work in all things – even the trials of this world, your life can be characterized by praise instead of by worry and doubt.
When trials come, you have to decide whether your relationship with God is real or not -- and whether the God you profess to know is worthy of trust. When times are tough, you have to choose whether you will try to take control of the situation yourself, get angry with God and walk away from your faith, or trust God anew.
Do you know the story of the catfish and the codfish? Just over a century ago, codfish were in culinary demand because of their wonderful taste and flakiness. But it was hard to get them to market. When they were frozen, they lost their freshness. So, they tried shipping the fish live by turning railroad cars into huge saltwater aquariums. But, when the codfish arrived they were alive but when they were prepared they were still mushy and tasteless.
Then, someone discovered that catfish are natural enemies of codfish. So, they decided that when the codfish were put in the tanks, they would place a few catfish in with them. Those catfish chased the cod fish all the way across the country to the west coast. After shipping them that way, when the codfish was prepared, they were as flaky and flavorful as they were when they were first caught. You see, the catfish kept the cod moving and from becoming stale.
Do you have any catfish in your life today? Any uncertainties that render you unable to know what’s next? Any sins in your life that you cannot find the strength within to let go of? Do you have any challenges that seem too hard to navigate? Any troubles that seem too hard to bear? I know that it’s hard to keep your eyes on God when it feels like all hell is breaking through in your life. But, when that is your situation, learn to turn your eyes to God. He is greater than your problems. He’ll even use the problem to keep you alive in your faith.
The Bible consistently tells us that God uses times of trials to do his “perfecting work” – to help us to grow in our faith. So, when times of difficulty, failure or uncertainty come, I’m learning to view them as catfish that the Lord can use to keep me fresh in my love for him and for people. I have a few catfish in my life right now. They’re keeping me from being complacent about things. They keep pushing me back to God. For I know, that when they come, I shouldn’t just run wildly and in no direction. I need to set my gaze toward the Lord and get my life realigned with him.
We will come back to these kinds of issues in the rest of this series. So, today, I’ll end like I began, i.e., by urging you to learn to pray, “O God, I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you,” Then tell the Lord, “I will walk toward you, O God, until your victory is complete -- until I, all God’s people, and everything in creation, are aligned with your ways and are perfect as you, O Lord, are perfect.
Sermon Notes - Chinese (中文)
矯正生命軌跡：公義—向著神的路矯正
歷代志下20：12; 馬太福音5：20，43-48
我以近幾個月來對我有豐富意義的一節經文開始今天的講道：“我們的神啊，我們也不知道怎樣行，我們的眼目單仰望你 (約沙法王於曆下20:12)。”
你曾做過這樣的禱告嗎？我做過、而且經常做；過去幾個月來更是如此。
3千年前的猶大王約沙法這樣禱告的背景是：“摩押人和亞捫人，又有米烏尼人，一同來攻擊約沙法。” 所以約沙法禱告時說，“我們的神啊，我們也不知道怎樣行”—今天，我們也如此做— “我們的眼目單仰望你。”
這節經文清晰準確地告訴我，當人生下一步不知何去何從時我當怎樣做，即，我的眼目當單仰望他，向著神的路矯正我的生命軌跡。
讓我們直面這一點—通常，當我們不知如何行時這並非我們的第一反應。我的第一反應往往是靠自己控制並解決問題—或在不知所措中讓我教會的朋友們禱告，請神拿走問題—立即拿走！！但我越來越確知：約沙法在不知所措中的做法才是所有跟從耶穌的人理所應當的選擇。
生命矯正系列
以上所講的這一點帶我回到傑夫牧師和我們教牧團隊2020大齋期的計畫，主題是“生命矯正”。這一期主題的每次講道都是取材于馬太福音5-7章中耶穌的登山寶訓。傑夫要我以馬太福音5：17-18中耶穌佈道的前半部分為基礎作為開篇證道。耶穌在這一部分教導我們，作為他的門徒當如何對準他的性情，他的道路，他的命令來做決定。耶穌的講論與世界的方法真是大相徑庭。他告誡我們要使我們生活的每一方面都定睛於神。他在第五章的總結中說：“你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣。”
讓我來給大家看看耶穌在他的講道中教導我們該如何對準他的性情來矯正我們的生活：
#1: 耶穌教導我們不要做什麼 – “我告訴你們：你們的義若不勝於文士和法利賽人的義，斷不能進天國 (太 5:20)。”
請注意“義”這個字，意思是“要做對”：一切破碎被治癒。一切污穢被潔淨。一切罪被赦免。一切關係要和好。耶穌用的這一個字在聖經其他地方也常被譯作“公正”，意即，一切錯誤被糾正。
法利賽人認為他們靠自己可以做對—並為此兢兢業業。他們會回到上帝的律法書摩西五經（妥拉）中找尋所有相關的律法規條和準則。並竭盡全力持守每一條。從他們的文化角度看，人們會認為他們是最“義”的人。因此，當人們聽到耶穌說“你們的義若不勝於法利賽人的義，就斷不能進天國”這句話時是何等訝異！甚至會讓他們感到絕望---如果連法利賽人都不夠好，他們更該情何以堪呢？
然而，就是法利賽人自己也承認他們無法守全律法。因此，幾個世紀以來文士們只好將妥拉中上帝律法的標準降低到他們自稱都守住了的地步，就如耶穌在馬太福音5：21-47所說的。例如，耶穌指出，上帝按著他的形象所造的人本不該傷害他人—因為所有人都是按神的形象造的，但是，法利賽人卻將此降格為不可殺人。所以他們可以說“看，我從來沒殺過人，在上帝面前我還是個好人呀。”
又或者在27-32節中，耶穌教導說上帝要人在性生活上聖潔，在婚姻中彼此忠實。但法利賽人卻只強調不可姦淫的一個方面，說，“我從未和其他男人的妻子行淫，所以我還可以呀。” 耶穌在33-37節中另一個例子中講到上帝要人講誠實話，但法利賽人卻將其簡化為當人們指天發誓時要誠實；因此他們可以說，“沒問題的，我只是講些白話而已，起誓時從無謊言，所以我還是義的呀！”
耶穌在登山寶訓的講道中，提及了我們日常生活的六個領域來教導人們過美好生活，正如上帝造人當初所要的那樣， 也正是我們在2020大齋期的重點強調。今天我想簡單地指出，耶穌藉登山寶訓宣告，上帝賜律法給摩西，要人們知道那種欺淩，淫穢，不誠實以及自義的生活是不能接受的；人無法說“我並沒像許多其他人那樣做真正的壞事，所以我在上帝面前是沒問題的。” 可悲的是，儘管耶穌在登山寶訓中說得已經很清楚了，不少宗教人士們仍是如此行。你聽過一首老歌唱的嗎？“我不喝酒不吸毒，不像有人泡姑娘。”
耶穌宣告說，我們這些跟從他的人不該這樣生活。我們不該像路加福音18章中的法利賽人那樣說（用世俗的話講），“我感謝你，我不像那些好萊塢的罪人製作可怕的電影—或者公立學校的男孩子們聽那種可怕的說唱。” 這是一種自義的想法。要知道：人類的自義永遠虧欠神的義。耶穌在馬太福音5：21節中說，我們的義該超越這些。
#2: 耶穌教導我們要做什麼 -- “你們要完全，像你們的天父完全一樣 (太5:48) 。”
這一節經文的要點在於，有神形象的我們，在生活上應該與上帝的性情和他的方式一致。要知道，耶穌在這篇講道中並沒有說神的律法是不好的、沒用的。同樣，耶穌也沒說我們應該比法利賽人做到更完美的律法要求才能討神喜悅。不是的，他知道我們做不到—除非上帝介入我們的生命，帶來饒恕並賜新的能力過新生活。耶穌知道他來既是為我們的罪承擔咒詛，也是要賜聖靈加力量給我們的。
耶穌藉這篇講道要我們知道，上帝賜我們的生命1）要反映出神的心意和方式；2）要我們能正確理解舊約中神的命令，並呼召我們遠離報復、怒氣、辱駡。耶穌要我們明白上帝的律法呼召我們做信實，純潔的人—誠實可信—愛所有人，甚至愛你的仇敵。這就是神的方式，是耶穌要他百姓所走的路。
定睛於神好矯正我們生活的信心實在和日常生活中許多事物息息相關。有好幾次我的車燈大燈需要矯正。這是一個例子: 機動車雜誌上說，你的大燈出了問題的話，需要將車靠近一堵牆，直射大燈於牆上，將大燈光線矯直
幾乎所有的機構和企業，也都談到員工們需要矯正的重要性。毫無疑問，當萬眾一心、有同一意向時就是所謂的矯正了。
耶穌在登山寶訓中告誡我們要定睛于完美的上帝，按照他的命令，他的方式和他的性情矯正我們的生活。
#3: 耶穌教導我們如何才是按照神的標準矯正日常生活– “你們聽見有吩咐古人的話說。。。只是我告訴你們。。(太 5:21,27-28,31-32,33-34,38-39,43-44)”
耶穌藉著21節說，我們的義要大過法利賽人的規條中心和自我鼓勁的義，這與48節那裡呼召我們過以上帝為中心，靠聖靈加能力的生活方式，都向我們顯明了這種新生活在實踐中的具體樣式。請注意：耶穌在這裡清楚指出法利賽人和耶穌的門徒同樣都當順服神的命令。然而，這兩群人在具體實踐方面存在著巨大差異。法利賽人是尋求建立自己的義來得到永生，而耶穌的門徒們是因信耶穌接受了上帝恩典的救恩，出於對恩典的感激，想要做上帝呼召我們去做的事。
讓我在這裡為你們小結一下，我們是如何從自我關注和自我鼓勁的生活方式轉向上帝為中心和聖靈加能力的生活方式的。我會使用藏頭體（第一個字母組合）的表達方式，希望在順服上帝心意方面，對大家有所幫助，即，“成為對準上帝心意矯正的實踐者（DOER）”。這四個字母分別表達的意思是，發現（Discover）--坦承（Own）--舉目（Eye）--更新（Refresh）, i.e., Discover – Own – Eye – Refresh.
要素1：發現（Discover）--通過聖經不斷學認識上帝是誰, 特別是耶穌的生平，領受教會大家庭中的教導
你是無法實踐你所不知道的事情的；你沒學過的東西也活不出來。從創世記1章1節開始，上帝就通過聖經啟示他自己。你也可以在學習創世記1-2章時寫筆記，記下上帝關於他自己的啟示。你也許還想多花些時間學學出埃及記34：6-7中關於上帝是怎樣的神。約沙法的禱告：“我們的神啊，我們的眼目單仰望你”，很可能對一些人來說，就是他們背下來並應用在他們的處境中的第一節聖經。
我和你一起看看上帝在這節經文中所說的：“耶和華，耶和華，是有憐憫有恩典的神，不輕易發怒，並有豐盛的慈愛和誠實。 7為千萬人存留慈愛，赦免罪孽、過犯和罪惡；萬不以有罪的為無罪（出34：6-7）。”
你看到上帝宣告自己是誰了嗎？一方面，他是聖潔公義的神，必會使罪惡得到懲罰，得以糾正。另一方面，他又是恩典的神，有憐憫有恩典—必赦免凡憑信心來到他面前悔改的人。這就是做基督徒最扣人心弦的部分，即，你會不斷發現上帝總是比你以往所認知的更偉大；與此同時，他又是以永遠的愛愛你的那位。他既是創造主又是阿爸父。
定睛於上帝矯正你的生活是這樣開始的：越來越多地發現上帝。
要素2：坦白—坦承你無法靠自己在上帝面前做對的事
攔阻我們的生命被改變、被矯正的最大障礙就是我們的剛硬和驕傲。這當然也是法利賽人和文士們的主要問題，他們以為自己已臻于完美—或至少想說服他人相信他們已近乎完美了。
今年我和一群親愛的弟兄們一起讀完了保羅·特裡普的靈修書“新晨憐憫”，特裡普在其中寫到，“你要逃避對能力的幻想。”
或換一種說法，也是我在大學時常說的：當你讀到大四時，很難再回去做大二生！高中生和大學生都明白這意思。高年級生才不願意放棄遠離校園的生活重返學校宿舍呢；高年級生可不願再體驗那種低年級生不被尊重的感受。我在這裡想說的要點，也是近幾個月來對我個人非常重要的一點，我們要不斷地檢查我的心，看看我們的驕傲是否攔阻了自己成為上帝要我們成為的那種人或要我們做的那些事。當你做了主席，你會發現就很難再回去做學生了；當你做了主任牧師，就很難回去做助理牧師了!
法利賽人不願承認他們靠自己做不了義人；他們竭盡全力證明他們是義人。然而，我相信今天在座的各位，你們在內心深處都承認我們都虧欠了神的標準。我要說：你得坦承這一點！你我都需要每天唱我們剛唱過的那首Travis Cottrell的詩歌：
“愛已忘記那些過犯；全知的他不再計算。
將它們投入無邊無底的深淵。我們的罪雖多，他的恩典更多。
勝過黑暗，在每一個早晨。我們的罪雖多，他的恩典更多。”
當你舉目望他，你看見他是聖潔的，而你不是。你要坦承這一點。接著，你也會看到耶穌有辦法讓你在上帝面前做對的事。“我們的罪雖多，他的恩典更多。” 承認這一點吧！承認你得救的唯一盼望只在乎上帝的憐憫。
要素3：舉目—慢下來，舉目望主，記得他是誰，他是怎樣的以及他應許要做的
這第三要素是前兩個要素的個人性應用的開始。到此為止，你已經坦承你生命中某些領域需要被赦免，需要改變，而靠你自己的力量你無能為力；你也知道愛與饒恕已經準備好進入你的生命幫助你。你要為裡面的罪悔改，藉著禱告仰望主幫助。這正是馬太福音14章記載的使徒彼得在加利利湖暴風雨中失敗的原因—他將眼目轉離了主；正是希伯來書作者在12：1-2中告訴我們的，“奔那擺在我們前頭的路程， 仰望為我們信心創始成終的耶穌”； 也正是約沙法王在強敵壓境時所說的，“我們的神啊，我們也不知道怎樣行，我們的眼目單仰望你。”
要素3—找一處安靜的地方，放慢下來，將你的注意力轉離自己，定睛仰望耶穌
第四步：更新 – 有意識，專注地更新你對上帝的委身。將你的生命完全交托在他手中，甘心樂意做凡他所吩咐的。
讓我們再回到約沙法的故事。強敵壓境之時約沙法王舉目仰望主；在定睛主之後，開戰得勝之前，他召集了感恩聚會！
這裡有一個原則，在試煉中有意識地信靠上帝可以更新、增添信心。當你真心相信上帝在萬事中工作—即便是今世的試煉中，讚美就會取代憂慮、疑惑充滿你的生命。
當試煉來臨，你必須對自己與上帝的關係是真是假—你宣稱所認識的上帝是否可靠做出一個決定；當困難來臨，你要選擇是努力控制環境自己處理，對上帝生氣，遠離信心，還是信靠上帝來更新自己呢？
你聽說過貓魚和鱈魚的故事嗎？大約一個世紀前，鱈魚就因其美味和入口即化被列入食譜，但卻不易真正進入市場，原來它們冰凍後會失去鮮味。於是人們試圖用火車車廂做成咸水養魚箱來運送活鱈魚，但問題是當鱈魚到達目的地時雖是活的，做熟卻仍軟爛無味。
後來，有些人發現貓魚是鱈魚的天敵。於是人們決定把幾條貓魚放進鱈魚水箱。 在火車橫貫美國，抵達西海岸的一路上貓魚瘋狂地追逐鱈魚。自運送方式改變後，鱈魚做出來的味道就和它們在老家時一模一樣了。你看，貓魚一路襲擊，使鱈魚味道鮮美如初。
- 你今天的生活中有貓魚嗎？有沒有不確定的因素導致你不知下一步該怎麼做嗎？有什麼罪是你力所不能及去對付的嗎？有什麼挑戰大到無法駕馭嗎？有什麼麻煩無法承受嗎？我知道，當你感到整個地獄都要闖進你的生活時很難定睛於神仰望他，但是當你身處此境地，請轉眼仰望上帝---他遠大過你的難處；他甚至會使用這些麻煩使你的信心保持鮮活。
聖經不斷告訴我們，上帝會使用試煉做成他喜悅的工作—幫助我們在信心中成長。因此，在困難，失敗，不確定因素面前，我們要學著把它們看做上帝使用的貓魚，讓我們對他人的愛能保持新鮮活潑。我現在的生活中就有幾條貓魚。它們幫助我不會對生活感到洋洋得意。它們不斷將我推向上帝。我知道；當它們攻擊我時，我不能無頭蒼蠅般亂跑亂撞；我需要定睛於主，向著他矯正我的生活。
我們會在接下來的系列講道中不斷回到這些問題中。讓我以開始的經文結束今天的講道，請各位禱告說，“我們的神啊，我們也不知道怎樣行，我們的眼目單仰望你” ；也告訴主說，“主啊，我要向著你前行，直到你完全得勝—直到我和你所有的百姓以及一切的被造物，都按你的方式被矯正，像你一樣完全，主啊，你就是那位完全者。”