by Craig McKellar
On Wednesday I put out a short video clip with words along these lines: “Hi to you all on this Odyssey, this long adventurous journey with challenges. Some passages of Scripture seem to be more significant because of the season we find ourselves in. I have read the Sermon on the Mount hundreds of times but sections like Jesus telling us not to be anxious about we will eat, drink and wear and not to worry about tomorrow, seem to hold more significance in a season like we find ourselves in at present.
But Jesus doesn’t just say we should rather sing joyful songs like, “Don’t worry, be happy.” No, he says “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Now I have some sense of what the kingdom of God entails but what does “and his righteousness” mean? It can’t mean the type of righteousness He freely gives us in exchange for our sin. It doesn’t fit this context (the righteousness by which we are declared justified before God, righteous in His eyes, is a gift and therefore purely by God’s grace, it is not earned but freely given-not something to ‘seek’ but rather receive.). I will post a blog on Friday explaining what it means-because God really wants us to get it at a time like this.”
So, here we go:
Righteousness and Christ
I love bread! Most types of bread but sourdough is my favourite - not easy to find during lockdown. I think with praying the Lord’s Prayer every time I wash my hands (well, most times), God sent this guy who bakes sourdough at the end of our road. A two-minute walk and I have a warm, fresh loaf in my hands! I couldn’t imagine going forty days without any bread. We’ve just passed 40 days of lockdown - now imagine for these past 40 days you had fasted. We struggled for just 1 day during a ‘Day devoted to God’! Let’s remind ourselves what it was like for Jesus:
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:1-4 (ESV); Bold emphasis is my own.
Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, the only Bible he knew at that time was what we now call the Old Testament (the New Testament was yet to be written). He tells us that God’s Word has significance for us-all of it. Sometimes we mistakenly think the Old Testament is irrelevant because we “are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). But the real problem was sin, and that’s why Israel kept failing in trying to uphold God’s covenant regulations. There was nothing inherently wrong with the Law, it was after all given by God. The Law was given after the covenant with Abraham and after Israel was freed from Egypt. It was a way that God’s people could live with a Holy God in their midst. Provision for sacrifices had to be made because man’s sinful nature meant he would keep messing up. And so we no longer have to follow the civil or ceremonious parts of the Law because they foreshadowed and pointed to Christ, our ultimate sacrifice who has fulfilled the Law (Matt. 5:17-19). But to understand the gospel in its fullness, requires we understand God’s heartbeat in the Old Testament because “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). This is Paul describing the gospel that he preached in Corinth. Augustine made this now famous statement regarding our Bibles: “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” It shows how the Old Testament provides the backdrop to God’s redemptive plan and prepares His people ahead of time for the coming Messiah.
Christianity is not just about the Cross but Jesus’ entire life on earth and His life subsequently. The Cross is vital and central to understanding the Gospel, but we also need to see that everything about Jesus has significance for you and me. Where he was born and into which family-line he came from is significant because the prophets spoke of Someone who would fulfil God’s promises, right down to the town of Bethlehem and the royal line of David. His Resurrection is significant, otherwise He would have just been an incredible man. His Ascension is important because He is now our Advocate in heaven, our High Priest who understands our weaknesses, making intercession for you and me. But how He lived His life is equally significant because, again, He fulfils what Israel could not do (and really you and I can’t apart from a spiritual rebirth and Holy Spirit empowering). That’s why we need to understand “and his righteousness,” by looking back to see God’s heart in the life of Israel.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). This whole portion of Scripture really starts at verse 19 because we have a “Therefore” in verse 25. Jesus is saying we have a choice as to what will demand our heart’s attention: “treasures on earth” or “treasures in heaven” (6:19-20). Seek is to actively pursue something with intent, first means that it not only assumes priority in time but that it should always be paramount, unrivalled, cardinal, supreme and pre-eminent. Matthew wants his readers to know that Jesus is their long-awaited King and we are to “give our first allegiance to him as king, righteousness is the way of life which results from this decision” (NBC, 21st Century edition).
Righteousness and the History of Israel
To understand righteousness in this context and ‘the way of life’ Jesus advocates, we can look at what was on God’s heart throughout Israel’s history. When Jesus rebukes the religious elite with “seven woes,” one of them is as follows:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Matt. 23:23 (NIV)
It is right that they tithed (“without neglecting the former”) but by neglecting the “more important matters,” they were only outwardly keeping the rules, without a relationship which should have expressed God’s heart. “Justice” is something that they needed to have “practiced.” The religious leaders would know Jesus was alluding to texts like Zechariah 7:9-10, “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart” and Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of but to do justice, and to love kindness/mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” This section in Micah starts in verse 6 by asking, “With what shall I come before the Lord…?” and gives an escalating list of sacrifices that could potentially please God, but God would have none of it without the right heart and corresponding actions. God asks Israel why they had been fasting through Zechariah (7:4-7). Sound familiar? When we did our day of fasting and read Isaiah 58, we found a similar refrain that goes something like this: I’m not interested in your worship and seeking after me if it is not accompanied by concern for those less fortunate who are among you and surrounding you.
God has called a people, starting with Abraham, to be blessed so that they could be a blessing to all the nations. He makes a covenant with Abraham, then ratifies and expands on it with king David centuries later. Sometimes Israel gets it right but mostly they continue to look to their own interests and suffer the consequences of not upholding their end of the covenant. Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, primarily in two areas: idolatry (hearts drawn after other things, replacing God as pre-eminent) and neglecting the marginalised (not doing justice and acting kindly), at no time does God renege on keeping his word. Prophet after prophet calls Israel back to own up to their covenantal obligations otherwise they will face judgment. Amos puts it this way, “Out of all the families on earth, I picked you. Therefore, because of your special calling, I’m holding you responsible for all your sins” (Amos 3:2 MSG). This verse reminds Israel of the covenant God made with Abraham. ‘The Gospel Project’ says, “Great Calling and Great Responsibility lead to Great Consequences.” Amos is a shepherd who confronts King Jeroboam in Northern Israel at a time of great military success and wealth. Amos points out that the wealthy are ignoring the poor and there is injustice in the land: the poor are being sold into debt slavery and then denied legal representation. God responds by asking, Is this how a nation that I freed from over 400 years of slavery should behave?
God continually pleads with Israel to turn back to Him wholeheartedly: “Seek me and live. Don’t fool around at those shrines of Bethel” (5:4 MSG); “So seek God and live! You don’t want to end up with nothing to show for your life but a pile of ashes” (5:6); “Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stomp righteousness into the mud. Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos star-flung with constellations by God, A world God wakes up each morning and puts to bed at night” (5:7-8); “People hate this kind of talk. Raw truth is never popular. But here it is, bluntly spoken: Because you run roughshod over the poor and take the bread right out of their mouths, you’re never going to move into the luxury homes you have built. You are never going to drink wine from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted” (5:10-11); “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you…hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate…” And then comes the familiar refrain I referred to above:
I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I wan’t nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice-oceans of it. I want fairness-rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
Amos 5:21-24 (MSG)
The ESV says, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” The Hebrew word here for righteousness means “doing what is right in the sight of God, especially with regard to conduct toward others” (ESV Study Bible footnotes) as well as “equity/fairness despite social differences.” Justice here means “concrete actions you take to correct injustice and so create righteousness.” God says they have disconnected how they treat people from their worship of him. True worship will transform their relationship with others (Gospel Project).
Israel fail to live up to God’s ideals and judgment must come because God is just. But He is also merciful and so promises at the end of Amos that following judgment, David’s house will be restored, all nations will be blessed and there will be peace and abundance in the land. We find God having to execute judgment against His beloved over and over through their history but always provides hope through promising deliverance (“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime,” Psalm 30:5). That is why Peter, in Acts 10:43, can say to Cornelius and his household as he presents the gospel to them, “All the prophets testify about” Jesus Christ” (The King Jesus Gospel). So, God keeps His covenant promises through Jesus fulfilling the part Israel could not. Israel couldn’t keep their side of the bargain and so God, not only keeps His side, but he also undertakes to keep their end for them! Now Jesus makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to come live within us so that we are able to work with God to be a people who “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”
The world we live in is very different outwardly to the times in which the Bible was written but we face the exact same heart issues and social concerns. God has given us a unique window of opportunity to be a blessing to others. As we come out of this period of forty days, let’s remember Jesus who went on to bring about God’s Kingdom purposes and calls us to follow in His footsteps, where he encourages us not to be duplicitous, nor anxious or worry about tomorrow “but seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…”
A Look at Recent Relief Efforts
It’s only right that we have supplied food-packs to those in our church who need at this time, as well as to some others. We have a precedent in Acts 6 for supplying relief in times of crisis. We can be grateful that Byron, Jamie and Tiffany brought in over R80,000 through their fund drives. Thank you to all who have given so generously!
But I believe you would be stirred in your heart, as I am, that there is so much more we are called to do in order to address root issues of injustice and provide opportunities for the poor to retain their dignity as fellow pilgrims on this journey. The disparities in our country, city and valley are glaringly conspicuous under lockdown. Reading Isaiah 58 reminded me once again that we are not just to help the poor but form relationships that please God. One only need read James 1:27-2:10 to hear God’s heart for church communities. When the “needy’ in Amos are bought for a “pair of sandals” (8:6), I thought of this story about Mother Theresa:
A man spent time serving with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. Once, while working at her side, he noticed her feet were badly misshapen. This troubled him, though he did not ask her about it. Later on, he asked somebody in the community about her feet. He was told that among the poor there are never enough shoes. Mother Theresa always insisted that when shoes were donated, the best pairs always be given to the most poor. She always took the worst for herself-whatever was left over. As the years passed, her feet became badly deformed. For Mother Theresa, consistent acts of compassion for the poor cost her something. Compassion always does.
There are many examples I could provide of how we should walk with the marginalised but I will leave that for further blogs because I want to challenge you to first consider what you think it looks like in your own life. Before I do that, I have included some quotes from a book we gave to everyone involved in our Mercy Ministries at one stage: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself. It helps to see that our attempts can be misguided when we don’t understand issues of poverty and dignity.
“Our relationship to the materially poor should be one in which we recognize that both of us are broken and that both of us need the blessing of reconciliation. Our perspective should be less about how we are going to fix the materially poor and more about how we can walk together, asking God to fix both of us.” (p. 79)
“…the economically rich often have…a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority in which they believe that they have achieved their wealth through their own efforts and that they have been anointed to decide what is best for low-income people whom they view as inferior to themselves.” (p. 65)
“Until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good.” (p. 64) “Although all human beings are poor in the sense that all are suffering from the effects of the fall on the four foundational relationships, it is not legitimate to conclude that there is nothing uniquely devastating about material poverty. Low-income people daily face a struggle to survive that creates feelings of helplessness, anxiety, suffocation, and desperation that are simply unparalleled in the lives of the rest of humanity…the materially poor are trapped by multiple, interconnected factors – insufficient assets, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and physical weakness.” (p. 70)
What is the goal?
“Material poverty alleviation is working to reconcile the four foundational relationships [with God, with self, with others and with Creation] so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work.” (p. 78)
“…material poverty alleviation involves more than ensuring that people have sufficient material things; rather it involves the much harder task of empowering people to earn sufficient material things through their own labor, for in so doing we move people closer to what God created them to be.” (p. 79)
I want to ask you all at this time to prayerfully ask God what His righteousness looks like and what you can do to bring about justice where you live and work.