Raising The Righteousness Bar by Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=530

Raising The Righteousness Bar

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 simples 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 phony’s 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 2^nd 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 showoff 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.

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