what could Jesus possibly mean by His statement that "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, [that] you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (matthew 5:20)?"for I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (matthew 5:17-20).
we try to live rightly by attending church, serving in the ministry, giving tithes and offerings, doing charitable works, doing devotions, reading the Bible, and praying regularly. isn't that enough?
the pharisees and the teachers of the law also did these things, and they did them unto perfection. but Jesus says that "your righteousness [must] EXCEED that of the Pharisees . . . [for you] to enter God's kingdom" (matthew 5:20).
clearly Jesus is using a different standard altogether in measuring righteousness. on the day of judgment, we will all stand before Him and He will judge our "righteousness" according to these two questions:
did we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? and . . .
and did we love our neighbors as ourselves?
everything we have said and done and thought and felt will be judged according to these two commandments.
we can see now how the actions of bible reading, praying, attending church, charitable works, giving, serving, all the most sincere motives and good intentions actually count for very little,
if they are not done because we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. that is God's standard of righteousness, and the only one that counts.
righteousness, then, is not about the "right outward actions", but about a right relationship with God. righteousness is about relationships in the end.
we all know this from our own lives. if you are in conflict with someone, and he or she does the "right outward action" of apology, but you know that they are not really sorry, then there really is no reconciliation, and therefore, no relationship.
sure, the "right outward actions" have been done, but they really count for nothing, because the relationship has not been restored. no number of apologies, no number of "right outward actions" make things right.
but if the person is genuinely sorry, then the right outward actions will naturally result. in the same way, if we are in a right relationship with God, then all the "right outward actions", like prayer and bible-reading take care of themselves.
the problem with us, like the pharisees, is that we try to fulfill our own standard of righteousness by the "right outward actions". we may be meeting our own standard of righteousness, but not God's.
how to have the right relationship with God, the "righteousness" that will surpass that of the pharisees? well, we hear about it all the time. righteousness is by faith in Jesus Christ.
in other words, we put our trust in Jesus's righteousness and not our own. whatever we do will never be enough, anyway, and could never possibly satisfy the requirement of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
the only Person who ever loved God perfectly was Jesus Christ. only His righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and it is only through faith in Him that our righteousness will as well. only through His righteousness will we ever "enter the kingdom of heaven" (verse 20).
4 comments:
I am so guilty of just trying to go through the motions of what I think I should do but you are so right that all the outward actions are meaningless and its what is inside and driving you to do these things that matter. Thanks for a really insightful post on today's passage Dulla!
There is this constant battle with my heart motive and my actions. There's always this alterior motive, or something I want to personally gain from it. May it be praise or something tangible; it's always for my own benefit/gain rather than for God.
This is a great reminder that I must always check my motive an my heart.
...so, let's see, our righteousness has got to be better than the pharisees to go to heaven but our righteousness is never going to be perfect and all the good deeds aren't good enough... but by God's accounting Jesus is the only one that counts. righteousness is really about the right relationship with God... and righteousness is by faith in Jesus Christ. conclusion, Jesus is the only way to Heaven! thanks darla, i think i got it...
It would be ideal if our outward acts of goodness matches an inward righteousness but I know it's just not the case. Slowly over the years, I have come to terms with this reality and in the process, I've let this truth discourage me and impede me from doing many acts of "goodness" because of the disparity I knew existed between the acts of righteousness and true righteousness within. My conscious itself accuses me of being a hypocrite or a failure. It reminds me that whatever tasks may be at hand that my heart is not in the right place. Out of many examples is the issue of prayer. At times I pray because I know I must and I ought to. My heart is not in it and my faith is weak but I do it because I think it'll clear my conscious. But MORE often I DON'T pray because I know my heart is not in it and my faith is weak. And so, in both cases there is fruitlessness. But through God's word, I've learned that though I lack a righteous heart and righteous desires and though I fail and fall short on my side of our relationship, God is still God. We all fall short in our righteousness before God, but I hope it will not discourage you from serving God. We can never in our lifetime reach perfect righteousness with our outward acts but I hope it doesn't discourage you from continuing to keep up with the outward practices in Christianity. I've learned and hope to experience this truth in a greater way in the years to come that "in my weakness, He is strong". And now, when there is something good that can be done, I don't want to hesitate because of the measurement of my righteousness falling short. For I know His righteousness will cover me. And though my faith is weak and my heart is out of place, I know God can still use me. I want God to still use me.
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