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Matthew 5:17-20; 6:1-8—To Be or To Look Righteous? Exceeding the
Righteousness For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.—Matthew 5:20 David Stein The preaching of Jesus was a breath of fresh air to the masses who heard him. The traditions of the scribes and Pharisees consisted of legalisms which distorted the true spirit of the Mosaic Law and fed the pride and position of those teachers of Israel. By contrast, Jesus spoke with a simplicity and purity that attracted his listeners. His spirit was so different than that of the teachers of the time. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the teachers in that they neglected justice, truth, purity and holiness of heart: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23,24). As we meditate upon Jesus’ teaching here, we understand that our efforts to live a righteous life must take in not only the letter of the law, but much more importantly the spirit behind it. Our Christian walk must be based upon the principles of justice and love. Until that becomes our personal constitution, we cannot “exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.” We should be careful here to understand the division between our acceptability to God based on the righteousness of Jesus and the daily application of righteousness in our lives. Truly, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Our righteous standing before God as a legal matter is entirely due to the covering of Christ’s righteousness. So what Jesus was addressing was not the legal requirement, but rather the standard of personal behavior, personal righteousness, which we must develop once we have a consecrated relationship with God. Consequently, we must do a periodic examination of ourselves and ask the question Jesus raised: “Does our righteousness exceed that of the ancient Pharisees?” “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Righteousness is based on justice. But love becomes the motivating factor in trying to live a righteous life. Just as “God is love,” so too, we must exude love in every aspect of our lives if we are to grow in righteousness. The word philanthropy literally means “lover of man (mankind).” Our behavior toward one another and toward our fellow man must reflect this quality. Jehovah God sets the divine example in this himself! “For God so loved the world [of mankind], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The Pharisees loved rituals and habits. They confused ceremony with substance and had such a perverted view of these things that the lives and needs of others, specifically those they were supposed to be ministering to, counted for little or nothing! They lost the spirit of love in their hearts. How else can we account for their seething hatred when Jesus would perform one of his miracles to help a poor soul? Our perspective should be like our Lord’s. How can we better serve our God and others around us? We should apprehend God’s laws from the highest perspective. Jesus taught that while the law said “thou shalt not murder” we needed to have a higher perspective; namely, that we should not even contemplate the hurt of another in our hearts! To harbor hate for another or to slander the name of another should be the equivalent of murder in the Christian standard. Even more, the Christian level of righteous behavior goes beyond avoiding the hurt of another. We go beyond simply providing justice. Our righteous behavior mandates that we have mercy and compassion for others, providing good deeds toward all. Our righteousness means we are on the lookout for opportunity to render good toward others every chance we get. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). In this world, it is no longer common to find people who sincerely care about others. The norm is selfishness and self-centeredness. So Christians who have a sincere interest in others stand out as unusual. While we are not interested in drawing attention to ourselves, we can, nevertheless, use our concern for others to glorify our Creator. We give credit to the truth and to our God for anything that we do that blesses others. This is righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees made a show of their “righteousness.” They performed in public places to get the attention of others. Some had gotten so far away from a proper humility, they actually thanked God they were not like others! “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11,12). Are we tempted to think, “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not like those of this denomination or that? or like other brethren who think they know it all?” It takes a great deal of humility to be self-effacing, yet this is the standard we must attain if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven. We should not be calling attention to ourselves, our accomplishments or our talents. Doing such self-promoting demonstrates more the spirit of the Pharisee than it does the spirit of God. Rather, we should be content to know that God knows what we have done in his service and not have a need for others to know. We should let any praise come from others or from God and not from ourselves. This is the standard of righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. One of the highest standards of righteous behavior comes to our attention when we consider how we are to view our enemies. It is a natural thing to want to defend ourselves and to take away the threat of our enemies. But Jesus taught us a different behavior pattern with respect to our enemies: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44,45). This teaching is truly revolutionary because it runs so contrary to instinctive behavior. It requires a complete and thorough changing of perspective and a great deal of faith. For the Pharisees, an enemy was to be vanquished, removed, and annihilated! And this is exactly what they did to Jesus. But Jesus showed that, in a very real way, we were to have no enemies. Rather, we were to see everyone, even those who hate us, as children of Adam for whom Jesus died! As such, all of these will be redeemed and restored to life on earth. Furthermore, they will eventually become OUR CHILDREN! So we choose to see these “enemies” not as the snarling, hateful creatures they may be at the moment, but rather as the loving, kind, restored human beings they will become in the kingdom. This is the standard of righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees. Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees for hypocrisy. The Greek word for hypocrite is Strong’s #5273—hupocrites—which literally means an “actor.” An actor is someone who is playing a role, acting in a certain manner which does not at all reflect the personality and character of the actual person. How well this described the scribes and Pharisees who “acted” one way in public to create a specific impression of how righteous and godly they were, while their authentic character was anything but. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”—Matthew 23:25-28 How consistent is our character with our behavior? Are we preaching one thing when we are with fellow members of the body of Christ, and then do something quite different when we are away from them? Our consistency in behavior when we are with brethren and when we are in private is a measure of our progress in the narrow way. While we all have weaknesses of the flesh and inevitably do or say things at odds with our consecration values, what we are talking about is our general course. Are our brethren seeing us the way we want them to see us or the way we actually are? Would our brethren be surprised if they saw our actions on the job, or on the road, or at home or with those not in the truth? Only we can answer that question. But if we find a difference in our behavior between when we are with the Church of God and when we are away from it, then we are not overcoming the flesh! This is an area that requires great prayer and commitment. We must put on Christ in all areas of our life. We must not have the inconsistency of the Pharisees. Rather, our characters need to be crystallized in the image of Jesus. We must be loving and pure and not simply act loving and pure. If we find we need to make progress along these lines, we have wonderful promises: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). God can create within us the new heart fully dedicated to growing into Christ—if we cooperate. This is a requirement to make our calling and election sure. And it is the standard of righteousness which exceeds that of the Pharisees. A challenge of today comes as we consider the great blessing we have of the truth. Jesus has provided a great feast of spiritual food—truths which have cast out the errors of the dark ages and delivered us into a great light! But having the truth can engender a pride and tempt us to look down on others who have not been as blessed. Paul warned us: “Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1, NASB). This wonderful knowledge of God and his plan has been given to us to sanctify us. And it will if we are humble and remember we are undeserved recipients of God’s grace. We are not to look down on others who have not the blessings of knowledge. Rather, we are to humbly acknowledge that God has given us a gift with which to bless others. Pride of knowledge was the downfall of the Pharisees and many others since then. Let the knowledge of the truth sanctify us, make us more humble, and continue to consider others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). Only in this way can our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees. Jesus concluded his sermon on this segment of his subject, saying: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The Greek word teleios translated perfect means “complete.” The idea is that, as we study God and Jesus, we will grow in an understanding of their perfect characters. This study, along with the application of the truths we come to see, will assist us in becoming complete in our putting on of Christ. Every thought and motive must be evaluated and brought into captivity in obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). And it requires constant vigilance to “stand” fast in the grace of God. But with Jesus assisting and the spirit of God giving us strength, we can overcome and please our heavenly Father. Consequently, let each of us study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15) and fight the fight of faith so that our righteousness will indeed exceed that of the Pharisees. Let us resist the temptation to pray, “I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as other Christians” (Luke 18:11, paraphrased). |