You Shall Be Holy | Sunday, April 24, 2022

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Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty, so much stronger? King of Glory, King above all kings. Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder and leaves us breathless in awe and wonder? King of Glory, King above all kings.

This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place, that you would bear my cross, that you would lay down your life, that I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.

Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? King of Glory, the King of Glory. Who rules the nations with truth and justice? Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. King of Glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bear my cross. That you would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.

I absolutely love when something happens in the news or in the culture that serves as the perfect setup for what we're going to be talking about when we go through the Scriptures here on a Sunday morning at Cross Connection Church. I shared with the church several weeks ago that we would be beginning a new series this week, the week following Easter, called Unmasking Jesus.

There is a good chance that you saw in the news this last week that a federal judge in Florida overturned the CDC's mask mandates for airlines. This overturning of the mask mandate was met with some fairly interesting responses. The White House wasn't very happy about it. In fact, I read in the news this last week that they are going to be trying to appeal the decision in a higher court.

A number of people I saw on Twitter and other social media platforms were very unhappy with the decision, while many others were quite pleased. From what I could see, the airlines and those who work for the airlines, as well as the vast majority of travelers this last week, seemed very happy about the decision.

I saw more than a few videos online over the last several days of people cheering and rejoicing when they were able to take off their masks on the airlines. With the unmasking of the airlines being in the news this week, I really don't think I could have planned it better to begin a series called Unmasking Jesus if I had tried. It's kind of like the perfect setup for this. It seems all the more applicable this week than it did just three weeks ago, which is kind of funny because if you think about it and go back three years, there wouldn't have been much sense to the title Unmasking Jesus whatsoever. I mean, it wouldn't have made any sense at all.

But it does today, a little bit after more than two years of "two weeks to slow the spread," social distancing, and masks in just about every place. The primary place where masks were last to be gone is within airlines. I think that's about the last place where you really see a lot of them. But that's kind of beside the point of what we're going to be talking about today. What does unmasking Jesus mean? What is that all about?

Well, I want to do my best to try and set up what it is that we're going to be looking at this week and over the next several weeks in this small mini-series called Unmasking Jesus. The Gospel of John, you know, the Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel of John opens with these words in John chapter one, verse one: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."

Skipping down to verse 14, it says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." I think those are some of the most beautiful words in all of literature.

Now, spoiler alert: the Word, if you look at John chapter one, verses one through five, and we see the Word there, capitalized W-O-R-D, is Jesus. The Word was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was and is God. The Word was active in creation. The Word was the creator.

The Word was life, and the Word was the origin of all life. All life that exists comes from the Word because the Word is life. In John's Gospel, specifically in John chapter one, verses one through four, the Word is personified as a he. This he, this Word, was incomprehensible to creation. Though he was before creation, though he made creation, and though he is that from which all life springs, that which is alive in this creation could not comprehend the Word.

In a sense, he, the Word, was separate, distinct, and invisible, existing outside of time and space in what we would call eternity. We have the Word existing, the Word making all these things, the Word that is life, and the Word that is the light of men— that which men seek for.

Then, a number of verses later, down in verse 14 of John chapter one, John returns to the Word. After briefly leaving this idea, he comes back and states that the Word became flesh. What does that mean? It means that that which was incomprehensible, that which was invisible and outside of time, was manifest. It became comprehensible; he became visible.

After the Word became visible, what happened? John says in verse 14, "And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." I think these are some of the most beautiful words in all of literature. Not only are they beautiful words, but they are also filled with great theological depth. These words are essential in our understanding of the doctrine of the Incarnation.

Now, what is the doctrine of the Incarnation? It is exactly what we read in those words in John chapter one. The Word of God, the logos of God, which is a he and not an it, is the Word of God that created all things at the beginning. He came into his creation so that his creation could see and behold the fullness of his glory and comprehend the greatness of his grace and truth. That is the Incarnation.

The Latin word "incarnatio" or "incarnare" literally means to become flesh. The Incarnation, therefore, signifies that God became flesh; He became a man. This is an essential teaching within Christianity and has been since the very beginning. If we go back to the New Testament and the early church fathers, we see that the apostles, who are the writers of the New Testament and the teachers of that time, believed in this doctrine of the Incarnation. For literally 20 centuries, Christians have held this belief that God became a man. This is essential to what we believe and how we live.

God in Christ is revealing Himself in all of His fullness to us, which is incredibly important. Before Christ came into the world, it was impossible for us to fully behold God's glory. In the Old Testament, which comprises the first 39 books of the Bible under the Old Covenant, there was, if you will, a veil that made it impossible to fully behold God's glory. Even as God tried to reveal Himself to the people He called to be His own, the Jewish people, there was still a veil. He was not able to be fully disclosed to them.

The Apostle Paul, in one of his letters in 2 Corinthians, tells us that this veil, which existed under the Old Covenant, is removed in Jesus. He states in 2 Corinthians 3, "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of that which was passing away." He explains that their minds were blinded. "For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."

Now, "the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Paul continues, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

What is Paul talking about in 2 Corinthians 3 when he mentions Moses and the children of Israel?

What is going on with the veil mentioned in the Bible? What is all this about? Well, here’s a quick history lesson. Let's take a detour back to the Old Testament book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible. In the 34th chapter of Exodus, Moses has an encounter with God, and God reveals some aspect of His glory to Moses.

Moses is not able to see the fullness of God's glory there in Exodus chapter 34 because God tells him that no one can stand in His glory or see His glory and live. So, God makes a provision for Moses to be hidden behind the cleft of a rock. God's presence appears there where Moses is, and then He leaves. Moses is able to see something of the residual afterglow of God's glory. What Moses saw was so glorious and awesome that the book of Exodus tells us in chapter 34 that Moses' face was somehow altered or transformed by coming into contact with the glory of God.

Moses' face was so transformed that he put a veil on his face because the children of Israel were apparently freaked out by how his appearance had changed. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that part of the reason Moses put the veil on his face was not just to hide the glory from the people, but to conceal the fact that this transformation was fleeting, temporary, and going away.

I know that sounds really strange, but that whole historical situation with Moses, the children of Israel, the veil, and the glory of God in Exodus chapter 34 is not really my focus. So, why do I bring this up? Because, as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he takes that event from the book of Exodus and brings it into the New Covenant, the New Testament.

Paul makes it very clear that apart from Christ Jesus, we cannot behold the fullness of the glory of God—not completely. Jesus is the revealing of the glory of God; He is the unmasking of the greatness of God's glory. Paul states in this passage that the veil is taken away in Christ. He says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

Just as by the Spirit of the Lord, what does all of that mean? Well, this is what I think it means. When we behold the unmasked glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, as John says in John chapter 1, verse 14, he is the image of the invisible God. That's actually from Hebrews chapter 1. In Him, we behold the fullness of the glory of God.

When we behold the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, in the same way that Moses was altered and transformed in his appearance in Exodus chapter 34, we are transformed by His glory into glory, from glory to glory, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. In Christ, this transformation is not temporary as it was with Moses.

Now, this idea of us being transformed from glory to glory by the presence of God, or beholding God, is what early Christians in the first four centuries of Christianity would call theosis. This isn't really something that Christians talk a lot about in Protestant circles, especially here in the United States, where we are largely a Protestant Christian nation. However, this idea of theosis has been core to Christianity for a very long time.

If you read the early church fathers—those individuals who brought forth the great teachings on the Scriptures after the apostles, in the second, third, and fourth centuries—you will see this concept of theosis frequently. For instance, in one of John's letters, 1 John chapter 3, we read in verse 2: "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. So right there in those verses, 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3, we see this concept of theosis, of us being transformed. When we see Him, when He is revealed to us, we shall be like Him. There is a transformation that is going to take place. We shall see Him as He is. We find this in 1 Thessalonians 4 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This concept is scattered throughout the Scriptures.

There is going to be a transformation, a deification, a theosis that is going to take place. I realize this is a hard concept for many of us to wrap our minds around, but the teaching of the church for 2,000 years has basically been this: The Word, with a capital W, became as we are. When I refer to the Word, I mean the passage from John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. The Word became as we are so that through Him we might become as He is.

Jesus came so that we could behold God's glory with an unmasked face and so that we could be transformed from glory to greater glory by the Spirit of God working in us through Him, because He is the one who dispatches or gives the Spirit to us. In 1 John chapter 3, John says that everyone who has this hope—this hope of transformation, or what you might call glorification or theosis, whatever term you prefer—has a certainty that this will come sometime in the future. That person purifies themselves just as God is pure.

There is a work that God is doing in us, but there is also a role we play in this whole transformation process, which is an amazing thing to consider. When I reflect on these ideas, my earnest expectation and hope, as a follower and disciple of Christ, is that in and by Christ, as I behold Him and His glory, I am being transformed and purified by the Spirit of the Lord.

Ultimately, there will come a day when I move from this life into the next, where I will see Him, and when I see Him, I shall be like Him. In that moment, He will transform this lowly body. Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 that the Lord will transform this lowly body so that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself. This is the idea of theosis, a phenomenal concept presented to us in the Scriptures.

So then, what is the point of this series, "Unmasking Jesus"? Over the next four weeks, including today, this series is meant to help us see Him as He is, as the Word is manifested in the words of Scripture.

The title from John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, reveals the Word to us in the words of Scripture. We want to see Him as He is. Why? So that we may better behold His glory, follow Him more faithfully, become more like Him, and reflect and represent Him better to the world.

Think about these things for just a moment. We want to behold the Lord in His Word as He has revealed Himself to us. We want to behold the Lord so that we may better behold His glory, follow Him more faithfully, become more like Him, and reflect and represent Him better to the world.

Now, how are we going to do that? We will look at some of the teachings of Christ and some of the words of the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God, and I think these teachings are often misunderstood. Not only do people misunderstand them, but they also get them wrong. Hopefully, as we see these words with a bit more clarity, as they are meant to be seen and understood, my hope is that we will begin to be even more transformed.

This is the goal. God desires to transform us. He desires to transform you and me. When you become a follower of Christ, what we would call a disciple of Jesus, an obedient follower of Jesus, God's desire is to transform you. He wants to make you more like Him. Paul says in Romans chapter 8 that He predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son, to the likeness of His Son. That's what He wants to do in my life and in yours.

How does that transformation take place? One of the ways it occurs is as we behold His glory; we become more like Him. That's what the Scriptures say. As we behold His glory, we become more like Him. I believe that this is really important.

At this moment, here we are at the end of April 2022. Our culture, the world we live in, needs to see the transforming power of Christ at work in our lives. As Christians, if you're a follower of Jesus, the world around us needs to see the transforming power of God at work in us. It needs to be evident to us. We need to see this transformation taking place, and it also needs to be apparent and evident not only to us.

But to all of those around us, those that we interact with on a regular basis, it needs to be seen by them that we have been altered by the presence of Christ in our lives. The transformation in us should not be veiled as it was with Moses. It needs to be clear. It needs to be seen by those that we live with, those that we live next door to, those that we work with, those that we are related to, and those that we hang out with on a regular basis. It needs to be evident that the power of Christ is changing and transforming us, such that we are not conformed to this world, but we begin to be conformed more and more into the image and likeness of Christ.

So, how are we going to do that? What teaching of Christ are we going to be looking at? We are going to examine one of the great passages of the Gospel, which seems to contain the greatest hits, if you will, of Jesus' teaching. We find that passage in both the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. However, we will focus on the Gospel of Matthew, specifically chapters 5, 6, and 7. This passage is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.

At the outset, I want to say that I believe there was a moment in the Gospel, as Matthew records it, where Jesus was on a hilltop, on a mountain near the Sea of Galilee, delivering this message. However, while I affirm that the Sermon on the Mount was a message given at a specific time, it is also worth noting that the teachings contained in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and also in Luke chapter 6, were not just delivered at one place and time. This might sound a bit strange, but the teachings recorded in these chapters seem to be the messages that Jesus would share with his disciples in various locations as he traveled around Galilee during the early portion of his ministry.

In a sense, the message recorded in this passage, the Sermon on the Mount, is akin to Jesus' stump speech. A stump speech is the speech that a politician gives everywhere they go; it is essentially the same speech with maybe minor changes here and there, but the core of the message remains consistent. Therefore, I believe the Sermon on the Mount contains the message that Jesus would share repeatedly.

As he was traveling around Galilee, or wherever he was going, it's the core body of what it is that he would teach. I say that this was not a single message delivered at a single time in a single place necessarily because Matthew says that this message took place on a mountain, as we will see in Matthew 5, verse 1, near the Sea of Galilee. However, Luke's record of a similar message states that it was given in a plain—not a plane that flies in the sky, but a field in a plain.

So the question would be, is this the Sermon on the Mount or is this the Sermon on the Plain? I think the answer is yes. This is the great distillation, if you will, of Jesus' teaching for his followers. This is the message that he would give to his disciples. When he spoke to the multitudes, Jesus primarily spoke in parables. We find that in Matthew chapter 13; whenever Jesus was talking to the multitudes, he would speak in parables.

There were people who heard the parables of Jesus, and they would come and inquire. They wanted more and would ask questions about the parables, and he would answer their questions about the stories he told. But what did he teach? What was the teaching of Jesus? I believe that the Sermon on the Mount, or the Sermon on the Plain, found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and Luke chapter 6, is the distillation of Jesus' teaching for his disciples.

This message is very important—very important for the way that God wants to work in us and transform us. He wants to transform you as a follower, a disciple of Jesus, through his word as we find it. This is not just true everywhere in the Scriptures, but especially in this passage called the Sermon on the Mount.

I also think that this important passage contains some teaching that we can sometimes overlook or misunderstand. We, as Christians, can fail to take it to heart or to put it into practice in our lives. All that to say, if we are going to behold with unveiled or unmasked face the glory of the Lord and be transformed into the same image so that we become more like Christ, then we need to better understand and apply the teaching that we find here in the Gospels, especially in the Sermon on the Mount.

Now, it's worth noting that I think I could spend several months preaching through Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. In fact, I have done so in the past.

I taught a Bible college class many years ago on the Sermon on the Mount and took more than three months going through Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 very slowly. For this series that we're going through called Unmasking Jesus, I'm only going to spend four weeks in this text, looking at some things that I think are important for us for such a time as this.

For us as Christians living in Southern California, in the United States, or in the Western world in the early part of the 21st century, I believe there are some teachings here—many teachings, in fact—but there are specific things that I think will be important for us. The purpose of our study in this section is that we, with unmasked faces, want to consider and behold Christ's teaching so that we might become more like Him. That is the goal.

I cannot emphasize enough how important this is for us as Christians living in this culture at this point in time. It is critical that our culture sees Christlikeness manifested in those who call themselves Christians. There needs to be a uniqueness, a distinctness to those who are followers of Christ. I am not sure that we are seeing it at this moment. In fact, I would go so far as to say that, in many ways, it is absent; Christians are not clearly distinct and separated from others in the culture.

When I say distinct and separated, I do not mean that we hide away from the culture. Rather, even in the midst of the culture, it should be evident that we are in the world but not of the world. It should be clear that we are different in the way we conduct ourselves.

In 2022, Christians are often no less partisan than non-Christians. Many times, we are no less abrasive and angry than those outside the church. We do not appear to be any more gracious, kind, merciful, loving, honest, patient, or self-controlled. I think that, too often, we Christians do not look all that much different from many people who are not believers. This is really not good; it is horribly bad.

I am not saying this as a condemnation upon you or other Christians. I say this as something that I would speak to myself.

It needs to be evident that I am different in the way that I live in this world and that I am manifesting those things that are connected to the character of Christ and the Spirit. Things like love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and so forth. I think that it is because of this very reality that we, as Christians and followers of Jesus, can sometimes not be unique or different enough from the rest of the people around us.

It is for this very reason that Jesus, 2,000 years ago, pulled his followers, his disciples, aside to teach them, as he does in this message that we are going to look at. We read this in Matthew chapter 5, the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. It says, "And seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. And then he opened his mouth and taught them."

Now, notice at the outset of Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapter 5, verse 1, it says, "And seeing the multitudes." This message that he is giving is in response to him seeing the multitudes. In another passage, I believe it's Matthew chapter 9, it says, "When Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; they were scattered."

So, Jesus is moved with compassion as he sees the lostness of the multitudes. What is Jesus' response when he sees the multitudes who are lost and scattered? I think you would agree that as we look around our culture today, the multitudes are lost and scattered. They are seeking things that are not helping them, and they are like sheep without a shepherd, just as Jesus saw 2,000 years ago.

Jesus is moved with compassion when he sees the multitudes. What does he do? His response is to focus on his followers, to focus on his disciples. This is important because the desire of Christ is to reach and minister to the multitudes, to the whole world. However, the ministry to the multitudes happens as Jesus works in and through his disciples.

Jesus works through us to reach those people in this world. The proper way to reach the multitudes is to teach his disciples so that the disciples would become more like him and be able to reach and minister to the multitudes. Let me be clear: you, Christian, if you're a Christian, are God's plan A to reach the world, and there is no plan B.

I want to say that again. You are God's plan A to reach your neighbor, to reach your brother or sister, your mom or dad, your cousin, to reach your coworker, and to reach the person you stand next to when you're watching your kids' Little League game. You are God's plan A to reach those people, and there is no plan B. We must become more like Him so that many more multitudes might behold Him in us. We are plan A, and there is no plan B.

As we continue in Matthew 5, verse 1, we read, "And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain. And when He was seated, His disciples came to Him. And then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" Notice that verse 3 opens with the word "blessed." Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, opens a section here in the Sermon on the Mount that is referred to as the Beatitudes.

The word "Beatitudes" can be a bit challenging for us. When we hear it, we often think of two words: "be" and "attitudes." This can cause us to pause for a moment. I remember that years ago, when I first heard the word "Beatitude," I misunderstood its meaning. The two words "be" and "attitudes" make us think of something we need to be or do. However, the word "Beatitudes" has nothing to do with "be" and "attitudes." Beatitude is one word, and it speaks of a state of blessedness.

You could literally translate the opening words of Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, where it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," as "Oh, how happy are the poor in spirit," which is a strange thing to consider. Christians have a vision of a future in which we experience the fullness of God's blessing. This vision, where we experience the fullness of God's blessing in His presence, is what Christians for many centuries have referred to as the beatific vision.

So, the Beatitudes represent a state of being blessed, and the beatific vision gives us a glimpse of being in the fullness of His blessing. I believe that the realization of that future blessed state is found in and through Jesus Christ as we walk through and apply His teaching. As we take to heart the Word of God and behold the Lord through His Word, He, by His Word, by His Spirit, and by His grace, transforms us.

So that we begin to experience the fullness of this blessing. We will not experience the entirety of that blessing until we are in His presence. The Scriptures say in Psalm 16, "In His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand, pleasures forevermore." That's when we have the fullness of that blessing. However, we begin to see it come into our lives as we are transformed, as we behold the Lord in His Word, and as God works by His Spirit in our lives.

All of this realization begins with a proper recognition. As Jesus says here in Matthew 5, verse 3, we begin to lay hold of these things only as we recognize our poverty of spirit. Notice what He says there: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What is the entry point into experiencing this blessedness that we have in Christ? We have to come to a place where we recognize the poverty of our spirit.

Then He goes on in the very next beatitude, in verse 4: "Blessed are those who mourn." As we realize and recognize our poorness of spirit, it brings us to a place of mourning as we grieve over our lostness. "Blessed are those who mourn." The very next one talks about, "Blessed are the meek." As we are in that place of grieving our lostness, we are humbled by the weight of our sin. To be meek is to have a proper perspective of who you are. Meekness is a humble view of oneself.

So, we realize our poverty of spirit. We mourn over our lostness, which brings humility and meekness into our lives. Then, as we have that humility and meekness, we begin, as it says in the very next verse, the very next beatitude, in verse 6: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness." Only then do we begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is at this point that God begins to work in us His righteousness, fashioning in us mercy, purity, and peace by the Spirit, by His grace.

That's what we see in the beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, verses 7, 8, and 9. God is doing all of these things. The religious leaders of Jesus' day taught that righteousness was found in the keeping of rituals, rules, and regulations. They believed that if you kept the law and all the traditions, then you would be righteous. If you did all the proper things in the proper way at the proper times, then you would be right. But Jesus says in this very passage, in Matthew chapter 5, to skip down to verse 20.

He's speaking about the religious leaders, and he says this in Matthew chapter 5, verse 20: "For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

I think when Jesus' disciples heard this message, whether it was on the mountain by Galilee or in the plain, they would have found those words incredibly high and hard to reach. Most of the fishermen, tax collectors, farmers, and zealots that Jesus was speaking to among his followers likely felt overwhelmed. The scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus' day were the most religious and apparently righteous people. They did all the right things at all the right times in all the right ways, so the people thought, "Those are the righteous ones."

Jesus was speaking to the common people, including those who knew they were sinners. He addressed tax collectors, prostitutes, and all kinds of individuals with issues and problems. He said that their righteousness needed to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, or they would not see the kingdom of God. They would not experience that beatific vision or the fullness of blessing. I'm sure the disciples, upon hearing this, thought, "That's impossible. I can't possibly do that."

Jesus emphasized that their righteousness needed to be greater than that. So how is that even possible? You begin to experience the blessedness of righteousness as you realize your poverty of spirit, humbly mourn over your lostness, and then hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not your own. This is a righteousness that is given to you in and by Christ, a holy and completely perfect righteousness that is not your own.

This is what I need. I need to be clothed in a righteousness that is not my own, one that is given to me by Christ. This is what we find in Christ through salvation. This is exactly what the prophet Isaiah spoke of 2,700 years ago, 700 years before Jesus. Isaiah looked forward to a righteousness being given, imputed, and imparted to us. He writes this in Isaiah 61, verse 10.

So let me try to bring this full circle around here.

I, and you, if you're a follower of Jesus, am called to be righteous. Righteousness is being right before a holy God. The scribes and the Pharisees thought that they became right before a holy God by keeping rules, regulations, rituals, and all those sorts of things. They believed that if they just kept the laws in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place, then they would be right before God.

I am called to be righteous, but righteousness is being right and whole before a holy God. This means that righteousness is rightly walking before Him and following His commandments in a perfect way. However, I have no righteousness in and of myself. Therefore, I need to be clothed in His righteousness, just like Isaiah was looking forward to.

What keeps me from being clothed in His righteousness? I think the greatest hindrance to standing in Christ's righteousness is my own self-righteousness. The scribes and the Pharisees were exceedingly self-righteous. They would never have confessed their need or hungered and thirsted for righteousness from God.

The first thing that needs to happen is that I need to recognize and confess my poverty of spirit. I need to acknowledge that I am unrighteous. I must humbly mourn over my lostness and my unrighteousness. I need to hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is not my own so that I might be filled.

This is exactly what one of the Pharisees, a Pharisee named Saul, who became a Christian named Paul, experienced. He writes about it in his New Testament letter to the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter 3. He confesses that concerning the law, he was righteous, a Pharisee, and blameless. Then he writes in Philippians chapter 3, verse 7: "But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I count them as rubbish, trash, so that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."

We begin to become more like Him as we recognize our unrighteousness and receive His gift of righteousness.

And this, I believe, is a continual, repeated process for the Christian as we live out our life and follow after Christ. I don't have time to go in depth today because I'm running out of time now through all of Matthew chapter 5. However, I believe that Jesus, in this chapter, reveals the weight of the law, which highlights the depth of my lostness.

At every stage, when we see the weight of the law and the depth of our lostness, it should bring us back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3—a place of experiencing a poverty of spirit. In verse 4, we mourn over our lostness. In verse 5, we experience a meekness or a humble attitude towards our sin. In verse 6, we hunger and thirst after His righteousness. Then, God imparts to us or gives us His righteousness so that we can stand in His righteousness and begin to walk in righteousness.

We realize our poverty of spirit and our lack of righteousness. We humbly mourn over it. We hunger and thirst after righteousness. Then, God gives us His righteousness and begins to transform us from the inside out. This is the continual process for the Christian, a process that we call sanctification. This process moves us towards glorification or theosis. God wants to transform us.

So, what happens? We discover in Matthew chapter 5, through the teaching of Jesus, that anger is just as wicked as murder, as stated in verses 21 through 26. When we realize that anger is just as bad as murder, we understand that even if we have never murdered anyone—though I hope that you haven't—we have probably been angry with someone without cause. We have, in a sense, murdered them in our hearts, as we sometimes say.

Jesus points out that anger is akin to the sin of murder, and I am wholly guilty of that. This means I am totally unrighteous; I am no better than a murderer. At that place, I am brought back to Matthew 5, verse 3, where I am poor in spirit. I recognize my unrighteousness and mourn over it. I confess it and repent of it, experiencing humility there. Then, I hunger and thirst for righteousness. I cry out to God, saying, "God, forgive me and give me Your righteousness. Help me to walk in a way that honors and glorifies You."

Then, I learn in Matthew chapter 5, verses 27 through 30, that not only is anger as bad as murder.

But lusting after another person is just as wicked as adultery. Hopefully, you haven't committed adultery; some have. However, even if you haven't committed adultery, if you've lusted after someone, you are wholly unrighteous and no better than an adulterer. Me too; I'm not pointing the finger at anybody.

This brings us back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. We mourn over our sin and call out to God as we recognize our poverty of spirit. We hunger and thirst after His righteousness, and He forgives us. He gives us His righteousness and helps us to walk in a way that honors Him.

As we continue through the Sermon on the Mount, we reach Matthew chapter 5, verses 33 through 37. We realize that when I swear and don't keep my promise, that is unrighteous. This again brings me back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. I am poor in spirit, I mourn over it, and I am humbled. I cry out to God for His forgiveness and His righteousness. He gives me His righteousness and helps me to walk in a way that honors Him.

Continuing through this whole section of Scripture, we recognize that when someone does something to us that we don't like and we want to retaliate, if we do retaliate, we are unrighteous. I come back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, and I say, "God, forgive me for my unrighteousness. Give me Your righteousness and help me to walk in a way that honors You." This process, as I said, is the process of sanctification, moving towards glorification, moving towards that ultimate end of salvation, theosis, where we are with the Lord in a state of great blessedness.

God wants to work in us so that He can accomplish this work of salvation. He is working in us to will and to do what is pleasing to Him. I often share this verse here at Cross Connection Church; it's my favorite passage of Scripture. God is working in us to will and to do what is pleasing to Him, and He wants us to work out that salvation in our lives. This is the whole gig.

What is the result when we walk in these things and see them play out? Let me read to you the last section of Matthew chapter 5, and we will close with this today. After Jesus goes through the Beatitudes and shows us the weight of the law—that anger is just as bad as murder, that lust is just as bad as adultery, and that not keeping your promises falls short of God's glory—He comes down to this: Matthew chapter 5, verse 43. You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you.

Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you, that you may be sons or daughters of your Father in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Therefore, verse 48 is the key. You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Now, zero in on that very last statement from Jesus. Matthew chapter 5, verse 48 says, "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Just about every English translation of the Bible presents these words as a command, as if God is saying, "Thus saith the Lord, you shall be perfect, as God is perfect." There is a sense in which this is commanding that; it is calling us to perfection.

What is fascinating is that this is also a statement of fact. Let me try to explain what I mean by this. The opening verb in Matthew 5, verse 48, when it says, "You shall be perfect," that word "shall be" is in the future indicative tense in this passage. This may mean very little to you at first, but it is a verb indicating a future state and not just necessarily commanding it.

In essence, I think that Jesus is saying, as much as commanding that the people be perfect, He is saying, "Walk in these things. Love your enemy. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you." The result is this: you will be perfect. You shall be in the future. It indicates what you will be, what your state will be, if you do these things. Do not hate others. Love those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you. The result will be that you will be as your Father is in heaven. We reflect God's glory as we walk as He walked, as enabled by the Spirit.

From Philippians chapter 2, verse 12: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure."

I say all of this today to make this very simple point: God wants to transform you. He wants your life to be different as a follower of His. He wants your life to reflect His glory to a lost and dying world. He is seeking to transform us as we get to know Him through His Word. His Word is living and powerful; His Spirit is alive and active. God uses His Word in my life as I behold it to transform me so that I would walk in a way that is honoring and glorifying to Him.

The world around us, the culture that we live in, needs to see Christians transformed by the grace and power of Jesus. They need to see us being perfected by Him. As we do the things we saw in that passage, we love our enemies, we pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us, we do good to those who hate us, and we seek to walk in these things, asking God to do that in us. As we do this, He is transforming us. That is what He wants to do.

So, my prayer, and I hope I have been able to say it, is that there are some key things that God would use to identify in us areas that we need to cry out to Him and mourn over our fallenness. One of them is right here in this passage. We just saw in Matthew 5, verses 43 through 48: "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy," is what some people would say. But I say to you, love your enemies.

I think that this is so essentially important for me and you as Christians and followers of Jesus right now. You may say, "Well, I don't have any enemies." But if you look on social media, and you look in our culture, and in the news and politics, it sure seems like we have identified a lot of people who are other than us that are our enemies. Maybe they are on the other side of the political landscape, or perhaps they have a different view than you do, ideologically or religiously. Whatever it is, we have, for some reason, divided ourselves up in 2022 in a way that I haven't seen in any of the previous years of my life. We Christians need to recognize that God has called us to love our enemies.

We need to do good to those who hate us and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us. Then we shall be like our Father. As we begin to do these things, we shall be perfect, mature, and complete, just as our Father is perfect, mature, and complete. He wants to do a work of changing us. It is my prayer that God would change us as we take heart to these things.

When we read His words, "You shall love your enemies and do good to those who hate us," it may take us back to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. There we read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." We might say, "God, I have not done a very good job lately of loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, and praying for those who spitefully use and persecute me." Perhaps we mourn over it, realizing that it is wrong. We pray that God would do a work in us, and we hunger and thirst for righteousness.

On the other side of that, as He gives us His righteousness, we become merciful. There is a purity of heart, and there is a peacemaking in us that reaches out to those people. Our Lord is the Prince of Peace, and He wants us to reach out with grace, love, and peace to those who are outside of our group, bringing them the good news of the gospel.

So, God, I pray that You would work in us. Lord, reveal if there is any area of our lives that is out of step with Your character. Help us today to be poor in spirit, to acknowledge and recognize our unrighteousness, to mourn over it, and to give it to You humbly, saying, "Lord, take this. I confess it. Rid me of this." Then, Lord, we hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Clothe us with Your righteousness and help us to be merciful and pure peacemakers.

God, work in Your church. Let us stand out as a bright shining light of goodness, grace, truth, and love in the culture that we live in, because our culture needs to see it. We ask this today in Jesus' name. Amen. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the King who conquered the grave. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy.

Oh, this is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place, that you would bear my cross. You laid down your life so that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our services at Cross Connection Church Campus at 8:30 and 10:30 every Sunday. Also, if you'd like more information about Cross Connection Church, go online at LifeInConnection.com.

Hey, Cross Connection Church, we are very quickly coming into the middle of this year. It's hard to believe how quickly this year is going, but as we come into late spring and early summer, we've got a lot of things going on here at Cross Connection Church. One of those things I shared a little bit about a few weeks ago when we were in the book of Deuteronomy. We talked about how we deal with our finances as we are following the Lord faithfully.

We will be having a class on Saturday, May 14th, from 9 to noon here in the sanctuary. This completely free class is called Faith and Finances. If you would like to know why we need to think about these things, what we ought to do in thinking about our finances, and how we should practically apply that, go ahead and register for this class. All you have to do is go to the website below, LifeInConnection.com, and register for Faith and Finances. It's completely free, and I hope to see you there.

And now, over to Garrett.

Thank you, Pastor Miles. If you have been part of Cross Connection Church for a while but have not yet been baptized, and it's something you've considered, if you've made a commitment to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you'd like to outwardly confess that commitment to the world, that's what baptism is.

We want to invite you to our baptism next weekend, right after Second Service. All you have to do is show up to church and sign up on our website, Events.LifeInConnection, to let us know you're interested in being baptized. This way, we can gauge how many people are going to be there.

While we're doing baptisms, we will also have a youth barbecue fundraiser. Plan on hanging out next week after church, if you can, for a few minutes. Have some lunch with us and celebrate those who are getting baptized. There will be a joyful noise in heaven, and we want to be joyful here with those getting baptized as well.

If you are looking for ways to get plugged in and serve here at Cross Connection Church, we want to invite you to join our hospitality team. The hospitality team consists of those wonderful faces next door who hand you donuts after service. It’s a pretty simple ministry. If you can pick up a donut and hand it to people with a smile on your face, we would love to have you on the team.

Check that out at Serve.LifeInConnection.com, where you can apply. We would love to have you join us. We have some faithful volunteers moving on, and we would like to fill those spots and get more of you who are not yet plugged into serving into the blessing of serving and handing out donuts. So again, check that out at Serve.LifeInConnection.com.