On Practicing Righteousness

August 27, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
This is what Jesus said: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1 NASB). In other words, self-righteousness, the kind we typically practice before men to be seen by them, the kind the scribes and Pharisees practiced in an effort to please God, regardless of how “self-righteous” it might be, is nothing but puffed-up flesh, whose end is death—eternal death.
As you remember, this passage immediately follows that portion of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” where he dealt with the practice of righteousness. Listen to what He said in that sermon: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 NASB). If you had been among the crowd of people who heard that sermon, you would have immediately concluded that no one, not even the scribes and Pharisees, would ever enter the kingdom of heaven. You would have also missed Jesus’ point—completely.
They knew that they could not best the scribes and Pharisees, when it came to righteousness, which, certainly, precluded them as candidates for the kingdom of heaven, and they also heard that, even the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not good enough [unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees], which, also, eliminated them as candidates. We know that the scribes and Pharisees worked very hard to keep the Law, and for good reason—doing so was (in their minds) their “ticket to ride.” Paul even made this claim about himself, as a Pharisee: “. . . as to the righteousness which is in the Law, [I was] found blameless” (Philippians 3:6b NASB). As you can see, according to Jesus, the entire lot of them flunked His test! I wonder, though, how many of them caught His drift, and realized their need for a Redeemer, a Savior, One who could do for them, what they could never do for themselves? When your goal is to reach the wrong standard, you are in deep trouble!
In my opinion, Jesus made it very clear that self-righteousness, the righteousness which is found in the Law, is, simply, unrighteousness. To be sure, the scribes and Pharisees had a very different opinion (which is why the wanted to kill Him!), as they sincerely believed that this “righteousness” was, indeed, ultimate righteousness. They truly believed that, when the Messiah returned, they would meet Him and pass the test of righteousness with flying (pun intended, well maybe not!) colors.
Unfortunately (to use the words of Jesus, from this same sermon), the light that was in them was darkness and, consequently, the darkness was great. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matthew 6:23b NASB). Hmmmm-
From what I have been able to see, attempts at self-righteousness still prevail, even today. Sadly, the church continues today to preach the message of the scribes and Pharisee, of Jesus’ day. Jesus’ message, however, is the same: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 NASB).
SUGGESTION: RUN TO JESUS, AS FAST AS YOU CAN! TAKE HIS YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF HIM, FOR HIS YOKE IS EASY AND HIS BURDEN IS LIGHT! [Compare that to the message of the scribes and Pharisees!]
By the way, please “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven”