5:20For 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.
Wow! Can any of us measure up to that? The scribes and Pharisees spent their entire lives studying and interpreting scripture. Many of the transcripts we have today can be traced back to these men. They were dedicated men. How could our righteousness ever surpass that?
Enter Jesus. Unlike these religious leaders, His authority did not come from some leading rabbi. In those days when a teacher of the law wanted to make a point, he would say, "As Rabbi Hallel once said... Therefore..." But Jesus didn't quote rabbis. He would even say, "You have heard that it was said,... but I say...." Jesus did not have to quote another authority because He was the authority. He was God in human form.
Jesus is the only person ever to walk the earth who lived a perfectly righteous life. Yet he broke a number of the "laws" the Pharisees had created in their quest for righteousness. He never once broke a true law of God. The pharisees had twisted and perverted the real message that the law was given for. Jesus fulfilled the real meaning of the law perfectly.
Jesus said, "I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17 NLT). The word "fulfill" used in this verse could be translated "to carry it out, to make it full, to get to the heart of it." He lived by the law. He obeyed it explicitly. He did everything the law pointed to.
Jesus exposed the artificial outward righteousness of the Pharisees while He had the perfectness of a righteous heart. The Pharisees were interested in the actions instead of the motives. They cared about the details instead of the principles. They focused on doing rather than being.
In Jeremiah 17:10, God said, "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (NKJV). God is still looking on the heart today.
By our own standards, as we try to be righteous people, we will fail.
Isa 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
We must realize that all our doings and details and actions are as nothing. Compared to God's moral standard our best is still an incomprehensibly pathetic attempt.
That is why our promise of heaven lies in the following passage of scripture.
Romans 4:23-25
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
That's it folks. Christ. Our doings, and our actions, and our details should flow out of a loving obedience to Christ, not out of a sense of rules or duty. There are no rules we can make up that can come close to righteousness.
Let us thank God today that Christ is risen and that we can take on His perfect righteousness in God's eyes as we strive to be loyal followers of Him to keep His commandments and to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
10 comments:
Kristi:
Yeah, our posts do kinda go together. :) It's definitely a worthy topic.
For the answer to your question about this weekend see this post. :)
See ya there!
Well said, Luke. You have such a precise and clear way of putting things. I appreciate your thoughts.
It's so true that we often try to make our own standards, but to no avail. They are not even comparable... it would do us good to remember that we are here not only FOR Christ, but BECAUSE OF Christ.
Have a good day!
T
No Josh, I'm not saying that. I appreciate your posts.
I wouldn't fight Josh. I love Josh. Josh and I bonded in the Gerst's basment instead of playing b-ball till two in the morning. :)
My comment said Josh and I bonded INSTEAD of playing b-ball. I don't know whether Josh normally plays basketball or not.
hey just so's you know...you have 2 links to tyler scotts blog!
Luke, I have a question for you. Do you check all those blogs you have listed every day? I know you placed them in a list for convenience for those who want access to a library of blogs, but just curious... cuz if you really read ALL of them every day... then wow.
T
!OFF TOPIC!
Let me break things down for you Luke. Bush ask for 60 billion for new orleans rebuilding efforts. He refuses to raise taxes, and wants to cut more programs(remember who is doing all the cutting next time your city has a budget cut, it's always easier to blame the little guys in the state and county). Remember how I said the dollar is like the nations credit rating? How much money do you think this sleeze ball Bush is gonna ask for,.. for Texas his home state. Even if it is not ravaged like New Orleans. This is the main reason sited for Gold going on a rampage of late. Deficits are excellerating at an exponential rate. 4 Trillion dollars now. I can't wait for the hammer to drop on the dollar. Any day now. Were only half way though hurricane season. I'm waiting for the lights to start going out since most of electricity is generetaed by natural gas. Enough with my rambling. I think I've proved myself to be a profit. You christians made your bed. Now lay in it. God Bless George Bush.
One more thing. I saw on CNBC the other day how the Traders in the Bond pits in Chicago don't even believe the 4.9% unemployment rate. Yes you are being lied too. Also they have been holding back the dead body count in New Orleans to under 1000. Yea right. So it doesn't over shadow 9/11. You Christians disgust me. WHen ignorance reins life is lost. Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. -Plato
You guys dont disgust me. I'm just disgusted period. I take it back ok. THere.
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