Raising the Righteousness Bar
INTRODUCTION.
In High school, did you ever try to do the high jump.
You know, where you try to jump over that bar. And if you make it they
raise it a few inches and encourage you to jump even higher until you
can’t make it over anymore. The world high jump record is 2.45 meters
(that’s 8 feet ½ inch). That’s the greatest height anyone has ever
cleared with their body. One person has did it once in 1993 & no has
done it again. It is the standard by which all great jumps are
measured. If a jump doesn’t meet or exceed that height, it falls short
of being the best that was ever done.
The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were almost
universally respected for their righteous and vigorous attention to the
laws of God. They were, in a sense the, “world record holders at law
keeping.” Their righteousness was by many considered the standard by
which everyone else was judged. They just seem so religious as well.
But if you’ve read the NT you know that
Jesus had something to say about their righteousness as He spoke to on
the sermon on the Mt..
In Matt 5:20 He said,
“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.”
The average Joe there must have been shocked, even stunned at
what Jesus had to say there. The Pharisees and teachers were the most
religious people they knew, and yet Jesus was telling them that their righteousness must surpass that of those scholars. Surpass means to go beyond, sometimes even way beyond.
So in essence Jesus said, ‘If you want
to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, your righteousness must, must exceed
that of the Pharisees, maybe even by a lot.’ Or, ‘Those guys you may
think are the most religious simply are not near good enough for God.
What you see in them all as being good, is flawed and full of holes.
What looks like perfection is actually broken to the Father. You have to
go beyond what they are doing.’
I imagine the people wondered, ‘What more can I do? I’m just a simple
guy. It’s just not possible to do more than they are doing?’ But Jesus
looked at the Pharisees and teachers of the Law and said, “What they’re doing is not good enough” And so what was Jesus doing? In a sense He was raising the righteousness bar. So what did He mean by saying all this? Well, the Pharisees identified 613 rules in the OT Scriptures 248 commands to do something and 365 prohibitions. They aspired to keep them flawlessly. If anyone would be considered
really, really righteous, you’d have to figure it would be them.
And yet, Jesus still raised the bar. Their kind of righteousness wasn’t good enough.
In the following verses Jesus lets them, and us know up front that He
did not come to change or abolish God’s Law that the Pharisees and
teachers were trying to follow, but rather He tells the people that He came
to fulfill it, or obey it completely. And He did! And He is the only
one who has ever fulfilled perfectly to this day. You see the problem was, the Pharisees and teachers may have understood the letter of the law, but where they were flawed was in the fact that they did not understand the spirit of those laws, nor did they have an intimate relationship with the One who gave those laws.
In the following verses in Matthew 5
Jesus tries to points out and illustrate what God really wanted and
expects of them, and us. For example:
- In vs. 21-26, Jesus talks about anger.(READ)
21
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not
murder,and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will
be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister,
‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’
will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there
remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
25
“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.
Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may
hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the
officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Now a Pharisee would never dream of pulling the trigger of a gun to kill someone – there was a rule against that, ‘Thou shall not kill’ -
but they’d still be happy to destroy a person’s dignity with their
words. Or, ruin and hurt an individual in some other way, possible using
another to do the dirty work. For example: They used Romans to do
their dirty work and kill Jesus…. But there on the mount, what did
Jesus teach the people? Yes the letter of says ‘Do not Murder,’ but the
spirit of it goes much deeper and speaks about the relationship we
should have with one another, that we should do our best to push aside
those hostile feelings and resolve our differences in a peaceful manner.
God the Father doesn’t want His children fighting and killing one
another, rather He wants to see the spirit of peace to prevail.
- In vs. 27-30, Jesus talks about adultery. (READ)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it
away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And
if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole
body to go into hell.”
Many of those early Jews would never have
an affair and neither would we – Why, because God has a rule against
that. But Jesus addressed something deeper and personal that shows the
very Spirit of that law. Yes God does not want you to go behind your
spouse and commit adultery, but neither does He want you to get carried
away with, and lust after, and commit adultery with, and cheat on your
spouse in your mind. In doing so your mind is divided
and so too is you allegiance to your spouse. (He lets us know that we
need eliminate whatever may be causing us to lust like that.. literally
cut it out of your life, or else) (Joseph ran) Unfortunately we don’t have the time to
look at all the examples he gives in this text, but do you see what
Jesus is stressing here? It’s not the just the law that’s important,
rather it’s the heart and the principles behind the law that God is
interested in us following. The Pharisees knew the rules, but they really didn’t know God. In their attempt to be letter perfect, they didn’t seem to care about spirit or principles that
stood behind God’s rules. Later in Matt. 23 Jesus will slam these
Pharisees and teachers and call them phonies and hypocrites.
25”Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean
the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and
self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are
like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the
inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
And so Jesus was telling His disciples, and I believe us as well, ‘Don’t act like these guys.’ And so He raised the righteousness bar. You may think that those Pharisees almost
sound a little comical. Who could be that committed to studying God’s
Law and then miss what God really wanted? It’s funny until we realize we
may be doing some of the same things: Claiming to be a Christian and then acting or thinking just as bad and sometimes worst that our non-Christian friends.
- We know Jesus said that the
greatest command is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and
being. But how does that reflect in our life? Or in our attitudes? How
does that reflect in our worship, our service to Him, or in our giving?
- When asked Jesus said that the 2nd greatest command was to love our neighbor as our self, and later He upgraded by saying,
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
But how does that reflect, or play out in our lives, and attitudes?(at Home, at Work, in your car in traffic?) We’ve all heard stories or seen how ‘so called Christians’
act just as phony and hypocritical as those Pharisees and teachers of
the Law; in how we judge, and make fun of other people, in how we treat
others, in how we dabble in things we shouldn’t which stain our purity
and integrity. And so outsiders Christianity because of them. You don’t
believe me go to the internet and google Christian hypocrites, you’ll be
shocked. In a sense, I believe we all fall short. I know do. But I also believe Jesus in a loving way is saying here, ‘Don’t settle for those hypocritical standards’. And so He raises up the righteousness bar for us and says, ‘now shoot for this I know you can do it.’ Just calling yourself a Christian and obeying a set of rules is not enough. ’He said ‘Unless you surpass that superficial phony kind of religion, you are not going to enter the Kingdom of heaven.’ Isn’t that what he said in that text?
Let me give you few ways to help
you reach those new heights and truly become more righteous before God,
even more than the Pharisees of yesteryear and today:
#1. I really believe that one thing
that will help us to become righteous in God’s sights is to focus more
on becoming a lover of God, than a keeper of rules
The Pharisees seemed more
interested in keeping the rulebook than building a relationship with
and learning to love God Himself. It doesn’t seem like they took the
time to understand God and the heart of what He really wanted. The laws
seem more important than the very principles that were behind them.
Matt. 23:23
How do you think you would feel if your
kids were only concerned about doing their best to keep the rules of
your household and doing their chores, but then never pursued or wanted
to have a personal relationship with you. I believe that’s another reason why Jesus
came; to open our eyes so we can see past the rules to the One that
rules all. The Jews would not even mouth God’s name, but Jesus taught
His disciple to address Him as, “Our Father who art in heaven” , and
even “abba, Father” or dad. Yes Jesus wanted His disciple to honor our
Father in Heaven, but to honor Him by giving Him our heart and our love.
And if we love Him like that, then obeying God will not come out of a
feeling of obligation, but rather doing what God wants will be a natural
byproduct of that love.. So we nee to nurture a relationship with
our Lord. Court Him, spend time with Him, talk to Him in prayer, ask Him
for help in this matter, do everything you can do to develop this
relationship.
#2. Step out of the spotlight
When it comes to our religion we shouldn’t be looking around for
approval or recognition from others. Remember what Jesus said in
Matthew 6:1, He said,
“Be
careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by
them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
(It’s not about you or me and being a braggy show-off Christian.) As a
matter of fact He even said when it come to doing good, don’t even let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing. It’s not about standing up and saying, ”Look at me I am a Christian,” before others! But rather it’s about REALLY loving your Father in Heaven and then ,
‘Letting your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’ (not you) ☺
We need to remember, people may see what we do, but God knows our heart and why we do it!
#3. Go to God’s word. Not like the Pharisees, but Read it, study it, meditate on it, digest it. It his message to you and me. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and early Christians,
“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:16-17 God has given us what we need to know and understand Him!
#4. Find those who seem to sincerely love God and His word, spend time them and learn from their example. The wisest man who ever lived wrote,
“As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 We’ll never be too old to learn from another.
In Philippians 4, Paul told those early Christians
“ 8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such
things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from
me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.” He’s saying, ‘folks, learn from my good example!’
Even the best high jumper needed a Coach.
#5. And last of all and most
importantly, the one thing I believe that will make us righteous in
God’s sights is to receive His righteous Gift… Jesus
No matter what we do in and of ourselves, without and His cleansing blood we will never be right before God. As a matter of fact the prophet Isaiah
compared our righteousness to filthy rags – that was just a polite way
of saying, our righteousness is like used toilet paper. That’s how
much our own righteousness is worth. Why, because not one of us is 100%
righteous and pure. (Isa. 64:6)
Even the Apostle Paul wrote to Roman church saying,
“21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23
but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
In Romans 3:21-22f he wrote:
“But
now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made
known…This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to
all who believe.”
In Philippians 3:8 he wrote
“…not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God
and is by faith.”
When we accept Jesus in our life, God gives us His righteousness. Jesus makes us right in God’ sight.
That’s why Jesus died on the cross for you and me. Because of His
incredible love and mercy, He being perfect, died for you and me who are
imperfect.
The Bible in Romans 8:3-4 tells us that God
sent Jesus to die for us so that in Him the righteous requirements of
the law might be fully met in us.
In Col. 2:10f Paul writes,
“10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.(and then he tells us how) 11
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful
nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the
circumcision done by Christ,(so he said that Christ performed this cutting away or circumcision on us. When?) 12
having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your
faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you] alive (or declared righteous) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14
having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was
against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to
the cross.
When we truly love God with all our heart
and mind and being we’ll want to please Him because we love Him and He
will help us reach new heights with His help, with His spirit, and by
His grace.
Closing:
Jesus let us know that God’s rules
are important. They were Important to Him and should be important to
us. But more important than following rules, and standing up and
declaring ourselves to be a Christian, is our personal relationship to
Him.
My Challenge for you this week is the very
challenge that Jesus put before us all in this lesson to surpass the
false righteousness of the phonies of this age, and become GENUINE
disciples of our Lord Jesus, one who is in love with Him.
