THE RIGHT RIGHTEOUSNESS

Introduction

-{Matthew 5}

-Several studies have demonstrated that good posture leads to good health, and poor posture leads to bad. For example, poor posture can cause headaches. Your head weighing about 20 pounds, when hanging forward, strains the muscles that hold the neck vertebrae together. Poor posture can contribute to lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome. It can even affect blood pressure and heart rate.

~One of the visual words that the Bible uses to describe a person that is living rightly for the Lord is uprightness (a synonym for righteousness—being upright, living upright). Just as good physical posture contributes to health, so a good spiritual posture—a righteous lifestyle—brings health to our spirit, soul, and body.

-However, if you are to be upright, you need to follow the right righteousness. There are many substitutes making the claim that this or that particular form of righteousness is what pleases God. But they don’t follow what God Himself describes as right.

-Christ had to confront this with the religious leaders of the day. Although going through religious motions, they were not following a righteousness that pleased God. So, Jesus wanted to clarify this for His disciples.

-What Jesus teaches is to pursue the righteousness that is describe by God’s Word which was lived by and taught by Jesus Himself. May we pursue the right righteousness as God gives us IN Scripture and THROUGH Jesus Christ.

-Although we will concentrate on just v. 20 today, I want to read the surrounding context:

Matthew 5:17–20 LSB

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

-{pray}

-Jesus is teaching His disciples about Kingdom values in the Sermon on the Mount. He just denied the accusation that He was abolishing the Old Testament through His teachings. Instead, He is fulfilling them. As the One who fulfills Scripture, He is in a unique position to authoritatively interpret Scripture rightly—including what it means to be righteous and to live righteously. And there are several lessons that we can learn from what Christ says about righteousness. First, Jesus talks about:

1) The expectation of God’s righteousness

-Jesus reminds us that if we are going to claim to be one of God’s people, that living righteously is assumed. We are told later in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:48 LSB

48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

-We are told several times in Scripture something similar:

Leviticus 20:7 LSB

7 ‘Therefore, you shall set yourselves apart as holy and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God.

-There is an expectation that God’s people would live differently and separately from the rest of the world, reflecting God’s character in their lifestyle. God’s people are to be upright—righteous according to God’s standards. A definition of righteousness might be:

Dictionary of Everyday Theology and Culture Everyday Definition

Righteousness is the state of being right or morally justified in thoughts, words, and actions

-Of course, God alone is the One who defines what is right or moral. But there is an expectation of righteous living. This goes against the extreme of some who claim to supposedly be part of God’s people, but they also claim that it doesn’t matter how you live. They believe that you can do whatever you want and you’re still in good standing with God. However, a lack of righteous living demonstrates that you’ve never known God at all.

-However, you also have to be careful of the opposite extreme where you believe that you can live so righteously that you deserve God’s favor. No human is able to live righteously enough to merit anything from God. God’s hand is not forced in any way by supposed righteous living.

-And yet, in between the extremes is the truth that righteous living is an expectation. But we have to find that sweet spot of what it actually means to live righteously before God. And Jesus is trying to define that for us in this verse. But before we get to the right righteousness, we need to see a picture of the wrong righteousness. So, we look at our second lesson from this verse, which is:

2) The converse of God’s righteousness

-Something that is converse to something is the opposite of what it is supposed to be. It is something that is skewed, twisted—we might say wonky. When something is converse, it is just off. For whatever is right, the converse is the wrong. And Jesus warns against the converse.

-So, He points to the scribes and Pharisees. Scribes were experts in the law—interpreting it, teaching it. They might be similar to what we would consider scholars or academics. The Pharisees were a Jewish religious party known for their very conservative beliefs and way of living. Their name might come from a word meaning “separate” because they made sure to separate themselves from anything that could be construed as impious.

-The scribes and Pharisees would have been considered the religious conservatives of the day. And Jesus says that unless someone’s righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, they will not ever in God’s Kingdom. And the wording in the original language for surpasses or exceeds isn’t talking about just a little more. It’s not a picture of a horse race where a horse might win by a nose. Jesus is not saying that if your righteousness can barely eek by these guys you’re good for heaven. No, the wording refers to far surpass anything else. You don’t win by a nose, you win by at least a mile or further.

-So, Jesus is saying that unless your righteousness far, exceedingly, goes way beyond that of these religious conservatives, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And someone in Jesus’s day would have been a bit shocked because by all appearances there was no way to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. They followed the laws, and they made more rules to create a shield around the law to make sure it was followed. And so people read this and might freak out because these guys were supposedly the poster children of righteousness.

-But Jesus wasn’t saying you need more quantity of righteousness than these guys; rather, you needed a different kind of righteousness. Jesus is saying that there was something wrong with their righteousness—it was the converse of what God actually wanted. So, what was wrong with their righteousness?

-Interestingly enough, later in Matthew (chapter 23) Jesus has a confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees, saying woe to them and calling them hypocrites. And what Jesus confronts them about tells us why their supposed righteousness was the wrong righteousness. We don’t have time to read the verse, but let me give you a summary of what Jesus said as given by one author:

Handbook of Bible Prayers 1. A Focus on Words, Not Deeds (vv 1–4)

1. A focus on words, not deeds (vv 1–4)

The Pharisees were quick to tell others what to do, but slow in doing it themselves or helping others to do it. ... for they felt that words made them seem so spiritual (e.g.

-So, therein lies the issues with the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees. They loved to claim to be righteous, they loved to be seen as righteous, but in the eyes of God (before whom it is most important) they were not righteous. But, if the scribes and Pharisees didn’t do things right, how can we? We need to understand what righteousness God desires. So, this leads to the third lesson which is:

3) The principles for God’s righteousness

-Again, the righteousness that surpasses the scribes and the Pharisees is not a righteousness that is more in quantity—as if you could do more than them. With all their rules and regulations that they kept meticulously it would be impossible to do more than them. Instead, it needs to be of a different kind—a right quality. The kind of righteousness that God always intended to be followed according to His Word, but the scribes and Pharisees missed the boat the entire time. So, what is this righteousness?

-Honestly, it is the righteousness that Christ describes for us in the Sermon on the Mount. As Jesus teaches the values of the Kingdom, He is teaching the righteousness that God looks for—the type of lifestyle that is the right righteousness; the real thing—not that of scribes and Pharisees, but true, honest, real.

-So, first, it is a righteousness of character. It is not just a matter of conforming your behavior to follow certain outward patterns. It is first transforming the inside, the heart, and then that new inside shines through to the outside. That is the intent of what Paul said:

Romans 12:2 LSB

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.

-Your heart and mind are changed on the inside, and the new mind and heart transform your living on the outside. You take on a certain character, and that character guides your living. Consider what Jesus taught with the beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon. These are attitudes and attributes. They’re not a list of do’s and don’ts. Cultivate poorness of spirit which makes you humble and dependent on God. Mourn for your sin which will lead you to repentance. Be meek and lowly and you will live humbly before God and others. Hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, that what He says is right would be lived and proclaimed and advanced. Have a heart of mercy that looks upon the needs of others. Be pure in heart, having an undivided loyalty to God. So on and so forth. Develop character on the inside, and the rest takes care of itself.

-As parents, we want our children to act right—especially when they’re in public because their behavior reflects on us. But external pressure to act a certain way only goes so far. But if we build up our children’s character, then they also know the why for the behavior and then it’s about internal integrity which then demonstrates itself through action.

-Next, the righteousness that surpasses the religious leaders of Jesus’ day is a righteousness that glorifies God rather than glorifying self. After the beatitudes, Jesus says that we are to be salt and light so others may see these character attributes in us and through us, and in turn they glorify God in heaven. That was a big critique that Jesus had for the Pharisees and scribes—everything they did was to put on a show so people thought they were the religious goats—Greatest of All Time. It was about them receiving the praise and honor. In fact, later in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks against doing things in order to be seen like these guys do.

-But the righteousness that Jesus desires from us is a righteousness where God gets the praise and honor. We don’t want people looking at us and then being focused on us. We want people to see us and say: HE / SHE SERVES A GREAT GOD. Our lives are merely the mirror that reflects God’s glory so then He shines, not we ourselves.

-We also note that the right righteousness is one that is based on the Word of God, not the inventions of man. In verse 17-19 Jesus says that He did not come to abolish the law and prophets. He did not come to blow up the Scriptures. He came to fulfill. Jesus confirms the importance and authority of God’s Word. It is the written guide God gave to us so that we know Him and His works and His ways. And so, it’s what tells us what is right righteousness and what is converse to that, with the appeal that we would choose to live in uprightness. The scribes and Pharisees were more concerned about the rules that they themselves had made, but these rules actually subverted God’s Word instead of upholding it.

-And this actually leads to what follows our verse today: going from v. 21 on through the rest of the chapter, where Jesus teaches the real meaning behind the law and commandments and words. To a point, the scribes and Pharisees obeyed the law. However, they also used their manmade rules to find loopholes around it so they could still do what they wanted to do. And so Jesus says that true righteousness is not merely following the letter of the law, but also its heart and intent.

-So, in what follows, Jesus in essence is saying: this is how your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. And so over the next many weeks we will hear Jesus say: YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID...BUT I SAY TO YOU.… Jesus gives the intent.

-So, the principles of God’s righteousness, the right righteousness, is one of developing character, emphasizing what goes on in the heart which then influences the behavior that comes out. It glorifies God, not self. It is based on the Word and its real intent, not manmade rules meant to find loopholes. Then there is one final lesson we need to touch upon:

4) The gift of Christ’s righteousness

-What we learn from the rest of Scripture is that because of the sinful nature that is found in all of humanity, none of us has any inherent righteousness, and even with the best of intentions we are unable to perfectly live out the principles of God’s righteousness. Our character might improve over time, and yet we still do not fulfill this righteous lifestyle. Not that we don’t try, but we also don’t go into despair when we fall short.

-There was only One who lived out God’s true righteousness perfectly, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the only righteous One. And He died on the cross to pay the penalty for those of us who did not meet the standard—which is all of us. But the Bible tells us something amazing. For those who repent and believe that Jesus is God the Son, died on the cross, and rose again, there is a great exchange that takes place. Our sin was placed on Jesus on the cross and died with Him there. And then Jesus gave us His righteousness. And through Jesus we stand before God with a right standing as if we had perfectly lived out His righteousness—even though we didn’t.

-Jesus is the only One who truly has a righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees. And when we repent and believe in Him we are gifted that righteousness.

-You see, the scribes and Pharisees represent many of the religious people even of our day. They try to establish their own righteousness. They want God to see what they did and what they accomplished and how they should be rewarded for their righteousness. It is all about self-righteousness. And it falls short. The right righteousness is Christ righteousness.

Conclusion

-And then when you have Christ righteousness, you are given the Holy Spirit who empowers you to live out the right righteousness. Never perfectly, but gladly. We just need to cultivate that right righteousness once we have Christ.

-Think about a gardener who carefully tends to his plants, ensuring they receive just the right amount of water and sunlight. Believing in Jesus is like receiving the garden, and for righteous living to grow it requires attention to the garden. True biblical righteousness requires intention.... It involves daily pruning of our sinful tendencies and nurturing our spiritual growth.... Righteousness takes effort and dedication, and it flourishes in an environment cultivated by a steadfast heart and mind towards God.

-Christian, come to the altar and pray that God would cultivate this right righteousness in you.

-But if you have never trusted in Jesus, you have no righteousness and never will until Christ gives you His. Believe on Him today...