RIGHTEOUSNESS
[p. 505] RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matthew 3: 13 - 15; Matthew 5: 6, 20; Matthew 6: 33
I have in mind to speak about righteousness and I have selected Matthew to read from because he speaks of it more fully than do any of the other evangelists; indeed he speaks more of it than do all of the others put together. One reason for this is undoubtedly that Matthew is what I might call the ecclesiastical evangelist. Ecclesiastical, or assembly, difficulties are usually the most difficult, occasioning cloudiness, the enemy being set against the assembly, or more accurately — against Christ and the assembly. So that we have the word, “the controversy of Zion”, Isaiah 34: 8. So that in the main the conflict is in relation to the assembly now, and Matthew affords us a great instrument of righteousness, a great weapon, I may say of righteousness, “the breastplate of righteousness”, Ephesians 6:14. Without it our conflict must go dead against us, we shall come in for irretrievable defeat. And so Matthew begins with great personalities; they are not mentioned simply as by themselves, but because they are in the line of Christ. They begin with Abraham; it is very apt indeed that it should be so, that Abraham the righteous should head this list of Matthew 1: “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham” (verse 1). The personages are usually written prefaced with the article, as if they were known personages; that is, known not in the history of the world — though it has its great personages — but in the history of the testimony of God. No dignity is of any value outside of that. Matthew gives us a wonderful list of personages, of personalities, and the element of righteousness runs down in these personalities, beginning, as I said, with Abraham, the righteous. He was accounted righteous: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Galatians 3: 6); that is, he had righteousness directly from God on God’s principle, that is, the principle of faith. Now Matthew brings in Joseph, the Lord’s reputed father, as an example, for usually Scripture in dealing with a great subject exemplifies it in some person. There are many persons in Matthew who are exemplified as righteous; indeed, it is he who tells us about righteous blood. There is a good deal made about blood today by certain classes, but righteous blood is blood of some account. Abel’s blood is called “righteous blood” by the Lord Jesus in Matthew. Joseph is addressed by an angel in a dream as the son of David after he had just been designated as a righteous man. He was righteous in relation to a most delicate matter, which I might classify as an assembly matter. Issues that come up in Scripture are not always crystal-like on the outside. They are to the anointed eye, but not always to those of others, And so Joseph had a delicate matter on hand, a matter that was not outwardly clear, the most important matter conceivable to a righteous man, as to how to deal with it. He pondered the matter. In an assembly crisis, dear brethren, matters have to be pondered. They come up from time to time, and they never will cease to come up while the assembly is here. They require delicate handling. Here, it is a question of Christ and the assembly. We are not to be too hasty in dealing with assembly matters, we are to ponder them, and that is what Joseph did here. In the pondering he had time for the exercise of his own righteous senses and sensibilities, but God had time, too. Let us give God time. He deserves time. He made time, He was the first to use it, and certainly He should be allowed to have it in helping us in [p. 507] assembly matters. So that while Joseph is pondering he has a dream in which he is directed what to do, and he does it. He is a righteous man. A righteous man is never wilful, and a wilful man is never righteous. Joseph was a righteous man, and he was a subject man. Matthew makes more of him than Luke does; he fits in with Matthew’s line of thought, the line the Spirit of God gave him in the presentation of the truth. He sets him in the front page, as it were, as an example for us. A man who is righteous ponders things: “But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety”, Proverbs 11: 14. Everything in this case had to be weighed carefully from all sides and that is what Joseph did; he pondered the matter, and then the angel appeared and spoke to him and told him what to do. He did it, and he became the custodian of the precious Babe. “Take to thee the little child and his mother, and flee into Egypt”, he is told, Matthew 2: 13. He was the custodian at the time when the Lord needed him. As custodians under God, as we pursue His way, we shall become entrusted with things, dear brethren, in the assembly, because there is great need of custodianship in the assembly. One has often said that there are many more preachers and teachers than elders and deacons. It is not the service of the preacher to be a custodian of the truth, an elder is entrusted with that; I mean that he is the custodian of the saints; he has to take care of the assembly. Joseph was entrusted with the most precious charge with which any one ever was entrusted, and he faithfully kept it. Now that is a good prelude to what I have to say.
Joseph has a great cloud of witnesses behind him in the first chapter, a cloud of witnesses not present or living, but persons who attested the great principle of righteousness in their service here below, whether as kings or judges or whatever they might [p. 508] have been, or fathers like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Joseph, son of David”, that is how the angel addresses him, an honourable title; he was a carpenter by trade, but that is not Matthew’s line, a great person worthy of the gospel in which he is found. And so he is entrusted with the greatest charge that any one ever had. Next in greatness to the charge as to Christ is the charge of the assembly, and the elders are to take care of the assembly. So that we do well to lay ourselves open, brothers and sisters, to be elders and deacons or deaconesses, to take care of things; because there is great exposure abroad, the enemy going about like a roaring lion devouring whom he may, and the elder is to stand between the object of the devil and the devil, to stand between, just as David did when he took charge of the lamb and saved it from the lion. He was more like an elder than a king at first. His haughty brother says, “With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?” He had left them with a keeper. So I refer to this as most important in Matthew’s gospel in view of the assembly, that there should be persons like Joseph who ponder things. His dreams show that heaven reveals its mind and directs what is to be done, and he does it, and this qualifies him for greater things. He obtained for himself “a good degree, and much boldness in faith which is in Christ Jesus”, 1 Timothy 3: 13.
Well now, coming to my first scripture, this is the Lord Himself, as you might expect. We are to get the clue from Him in its fulness. He came to John; He came from Galilee, He did not come by way of Jerusalem. Of course it would have been a long round-about way, but He could have done it and come through Jerusalem with a certain dignity. But He came from Galilee to John, in a lowly attitude, to be baptised of him. John, a righteous man, says, “I have need to be baptised of thee”, but the Lord [p. 509] says, so to speak, We, you and I, must study this question of righteousness. Let us do it; why not do it? “For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. What an order! What an obligation! John did not shrink from it. We are told later by the Lord Himself that he came in the way of it. There is such a thing as the way of righteousness and John came in that way. Let us see to it that we are on that way; not simply to ask for fellowship, as we say, but to enter on that way. The word ‘way’ in Acts is a symbol of Christianity; it is the divine way. John came in that way; the Lord Jesus came in that way too. He came to John, because it is a question of divine appointment and John had an appointment. He was a baptist. John says, “I have need to be baptised of thee”, which was true as regards personalities, but the Lord says, You are to do the baptising now. Let us not shrink from anything that is appointed to us, for God makes appointments that sometimes surprise us, and the point is to be ready. God’s eye runs to and fro among the brethren. He has so many offices to be filled. One wonders how Washington and London can get through with all their appointments, but think of heaven and all that is in the hand of Christ! Think of the whole world that we have never compassed and never will. And then the worlds: heaven is occupied day and night with those worlds as well as with ours. What are we conversant with? The saints, and then the myriads of humanity? Heaven is engaged with all. It is engaged with the nations, with matters of national importance, with armies and navies: all are the objects of heaven’s interest. Think of what is going on up there! So that God has a great many offices to fill. I am not speaking now of ourselves being up there but down here. The greatest personages at the moment are those who are engaged in the assembly service. That is, we [p. 510] are looking at things as servants, and heaven is full of vacancies, if you will allow me to use that simple expression; heaven’s eye is upon us and sometimes puts us into positions we are not equal to. Not that we should be unequal to such appointments, for if heaven makes an appointment it will work out. Be in line for such, for that way is the way of righteousness. Be in the way of it. Heaven is looking at the way of righteousness. John came that way; he was spoken of in connection with it long before he was born. So the Lord brings in that great principle here: “For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. Let us not put it aside. It becometh us wherever we are.
Now I go on to chapter 5 where the Lord sits Himself down on the mountain to lay out principles; for that is what these three chapters are, chapters 5, 6 and 7 of this gospel; they are chapters of principles; they are the Lord’s unfolding of Himself. It is the mountain of righteousness, this first mountain in Matthew, and I shall read the verse that tells us from the Lord’s lips that “Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled”. Think of a man filled with righteousness! The suggestion is that you have an appetite; food goes down easily with an appetite. When it becomes a matter of hunger and thirst, how ravenous the person is! But ravenous for what? For the greatest thing — righteousness. Let it get into the very inwards, dear brethren. If it is hungered for and thirsted for, you will be filled. The idea is, there is an appetite sufficiently keen to swallow it down, so that you are filled. That is one of the first principles of this great chapter of principles, of these three great chapters of principles by Matthew.
The next one is comparative righteousness. The Lord says to His disciples, “For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness surpass that of the [p. 511] scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of the heavens” (verse 20). This is comparative righteousness. We are often far too general in dealing with the things of God. Sometimes generalities are right: Scripture affords us examples of generalising things; but it also affords us examples of the principles of gradation. That is to say, in dealing with persons we have to learn to grade them. There are numbers 1, 2, 3, 4; that is a principle with God, the principle of grading. Now it is a question of righteousness and the Lord is dealing with His disciples. They are going to take His place here, and He is going to heaven. Matthew supposes that the Lord stays down here in some sort of way. Of course you cannot set aside Luke, for Luke tells us that the Lord went to heaven. In fact, if you look at Luke you would think that the Lord went up to heaven immediately after He was raised. The urgency is that that Man should be up there, the Centre of things administratively; that is how Luke presents Him. Matthew does not, Matthew is speaking, as we might say, as to the Lord’s presence mystically. Do not be afraid of that word, because Matthew deals with the word ‘mystery’. We have to use words in a balanced way, and the word ‘mystery’ has a great place in Matthew; therefore we have the idea of mysticism, but only in a very limited degree. How is the Lord here according to Matthew? “And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age” (chapter 28: 20). It must be true; it is true to certain persons; it is true to persons who understand mystery. Why should we not understand mystery? Well, if we do not, we shall not understand this verse. For in it heaven and earth are brought very near; in fact they are here in Christ. So that He says, “I am with you all the days”. I ask myself, Did I find the Lord today down here? But, you say, He is [p. 512] up there. Certainly; but He is down here. And if He were not, where should we be? What would happen to us? We should be swallowed up in the furnace of war and politics, society, and business. We could not keep ourselves balanced. Paul says, “But the Lord stood with me, and gave me power”, 2 Timothy 4: 17. That was not in heaven: He “stood with me”.
So here it is a question of the scribes and Pharisees. They are people to whom Matthew alludes frequently. He is dealing with Judaism, his standpoint is what is Jewish, and the church coming in to take its place. The church taking the place of Israel is not arbitrary; it is a matter of superiority, a thing that must be. Judaism was simply put out by the superiority of the assembly. Well, the Lord says, if you are going to be in that you must be a little more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. I am speaking now for the moment of grading things, and the Lord says, If you do not exceed them in righteousness you have no part in the kingdom of heaven, and of course that shuts you out of the assembly. I cannot attend the care meeting if I am not righteous, but not only that, if I am not more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. I must compare myself with others. It is not true that anything will do for the assembly or for the care meeting. God is particular, and He says, Look at these persons and grade yourselves. Certainly as regards the scribes and Pharisees they are out of the matter, and if you are like them, then you have no part in the kingdom of heaven, that is administration; you cannot attend the care meeting.
The third scripture is in chapter 6: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (verse 33). Here we are dealing with the highest thought, with God’s righteousness. This brings up another [p. 513] thing: not only the thought of righteousness, the quality of righteousness, but persons who are called righteous. The Lord says that “he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s reward”, Matthew 10: 41. So that if I am moving about with a letter of commendation, seeking to be received among the brethren, it is a question of whether I am a righteous man. It is not just anybody being received. God has a great regard for righteousness, and if I am moving about it is a question of my being righteous. This great country affords much opportunity for travel, but very few righteous men. So the great conversation takes place between Abraham the righteous and Jehovah as to this matter of righteous men. They were together and the two angels went on. It was a question of Abraham and Jehovah. That was something that came into Abraham’s experience of great importance. Jehovah would link Abraham on with Himself and say, I and you. That is God’s gracious way of dealing with us. How delightful it is after a long journey to meet a righteous man at the station; not just anybody, but a righteous man! And so God was on a journey. The angels went on, but Jehovah tarried with Abraham. How remarkable that was! And Abraham knew — he was conversant with what was current. All righteous men, all really righteous men are conversant with what is divinely current; not with what men are doing, but what God is doing, and God is doing things all the time. Every righteous man wants to be in the current of God’s mind and Abraham would say, I know where You are going, You are going down to Sodom. He was; He says, I am going down to see if the city is just as bad as it seems to be, for the cry of it has come up to Me. Think how righteous God was. You do not accept everything you hear; God says, The cry of [p. 514] it has come up to Me and I want to see if it is so. Is it just so? These things are intended to make us worshipful, that God is so simple and gracious. That was the righteous thing for God to do. But Abraham said, so to speak, I want to have an interview with God; and God is open for that with all righteous people. So Abraham says to Jehovah, Suppose there are fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom? Well, Jehovah says, I will spare the city for those fifty. That is what God is.
Think of what God brought into that land of Palestine on the plain of Mamre — He brought heaven down! What is up there is righteousness in the city of God. The city is pure gold, and that is what is meant, that it is unvarying in its value. You cannot depreciate righteousness in heaven. You can on earth, but not in heaven, righteousness has standard value in heaven. God says to Abraham, I am bringing it down here, and I want to know if there is any of it in Sodom. Abraham says, Suppose there are fifty righteous? That was the subject of their conversation, the question of righteous people. God says, I will spare the city for fifty. I do not know if Abraham would even have gone so far as to say that Lot was righteous, but Peter says he was. By the Spirit of God Peter says that Lot was a righteous man. That is a comfort, because it would be hard to get him into fellowship today if his case came up at the care meeting. I do not think that a man who goes to the cinema, who goes where he likes, is fit for fellowship, or that he is a righteous man. Still, Lot was a righteous man, and he had a righteous soul too, as the Spirit of God says, so we must not forget that. That is the only basis there is for recovery. If a man is not righteous in some sense, then he is hopeless. Abraham goes on, Forty-five? I will save them for forty-five. Forty? I will save them for forty.
[p. 515] Thirty? Yes, I will spare them for thirty. Twenty? Yes, for twenty. Ten? Yes, for ten. Well, that is wonderful, but Abraham is saying in his heart, Poor Lot! He would go down the list of names of his sons and daughters, and say to himself, Can I look at them as righteous? He would think, I could not have the heart to go to Jehovah and say, There is my nephew Lot and his wife and there are his daughters and sons: they are righteous. And he did not; he did not go below ten. He saw that God was getting down to the real facts of the case; God was ready for anything in regard to righteousness, and Abraham stopped. Well now, that is our position. Whom can we designate as righteous? I was speaking of going with a letter of commendation around this country hoping to be received: the point is, I am to go as a righteous man and be received in the name of a righteous man and so someone is to get the righteous man’s reward. Who will get the righteous man’s reward? The man who receives me in the name of a righteous man. Let us look into this matter and see if we cannot set ourselves up in the grace of God in practical righteousness. It involves three righteous men. The letter is addressed to a righteous man. One righteous man writes the letter, one carries it, and one receives it, and the reward comes. That is really the way things are going, and it is a wonderful way too. And so peace goes with it: “Righteousness and peace have kissed each other”, Psalm 85: 10. Righteousness and peace go together, “But the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace”, James 3: 18. So that it is a question now of the multiplication of righteousness, and that brings us to this last verse: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”. His righteousness — that is not ordinary righteousness; that is not the righteousness [p. 516] of the scribes and Pharisees, nor is it the ordinary righteousness of each of us. It is God’s. Surely there must be a standard in the quality of righteousness, and that is what the city means, it is the standard of everything in it. You cannot excel any commodity, any article, any metal in the heavenly city; there is nothing better, it is the very best in the universe. That is the principle of it as to everything, and above all as to righteousness. It is the standard of righteousness. That is what is being worked out in these visits all over the world. At the moment there is not very much crossing of the ocean, but I hope there soon will be, and then it will be a question of the carrying out of righteousness; that is, the brother who writes the letter and the brother who carries it and the brother who receives it, and then there is the reward. Where is that coming from? Putting these three together you will get the reward. That is to say, the visits to the places and the participation in the meetings bring a reward. That is God’s way.. So that you get ministry, however far away the place may be. The further a brother travels the more likely he is to be helped. It is a greater test to serve in one’s own locality than one thousand miles away, because distance lends a certain amount of glory to a man as he visits other places; but in truth righteousness is righteousness.
Thus, the idea is building up the assembly, so that it is all pure gold. Therefore, the Lord says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”, that is the administrative side; “and his righteousness”. His righteousness must be finally garnered, it is so precious. It is the standard of administration; the kingdom of the heavens is all a question of promoting this thing, so that it becomes qualitative in the assembly and quantitative too. There is plenty of it and of the finest quality. That, I think, is of the [p. 517] highest importance in our movements. As I said, it is the righteous man who is to be received. His name is honoured, his name is honoured where he is known; then some righteous man who knows him writes a letter and the man is received in his name. But he is also received by a righteous man, and the result is the reward of a righteous man, wherever he is. You might say that is a fourth, but it is a question of the kind of man. He must be there. I am speaking about righteousness, the thing itself, and how it culminates under the title of God’s righteousness and how it appears in the heavenly city which is said to be pure gold, like transparent glass. A righteous man has no dark parts; all he is doing is bearing in one direction, and that is on the assembly, so that the assembly is pure gold. There is no part dark, “and the city pure gold, like pure glass”, Revelation 21: 18. Think of that! We are moving on to that. We have just sung, “God’s righteousness with glory bright”; we are going on to that, but then we are carrying it with us. It is not that we find it there, we go with it; we develop it, we have it, we belong to it, we are walking in it, as it says, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. So that we have part in the heavenly city, in what is pure gold as transparent glass. Think of belonging to that! We belong to that already, it is being worked out now, and it is on this principle, dear brethren, that I have been speaking of it in the assembly. The current of our exercises is in that direction, that there might be righteousness in the building up of the assembly in righteousness.