Is My Righteousness External and Inadequate?

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20

Billy Graham once asked youngsters in a youth assembly, "How do you get to Heaven?" and they said, "By being good." He then asked a youth sitting in front, "How good do you have to be?" He said, "Very good." He again said, "How good is very good?" And the youth replied, "It's very, very good."

Jesus came along teaching, and His teaching was extremely paradoxical. His teaching was radical, and very different from that of the teachers of that day - the rabbis, the leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes - it was very different. The Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes were always dealing with the external, whereas Jesus was always talking about the internal.

By saying, in verse 20, that true righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, He is simply saying, "The scribes and Pharisees have not lived up to the Old Testament standard. It isn't a new standard; they haven't even lived up to the old one." So, in these marvelous verses, Jesus assures us that He is totally committed to the Old Testament, totally committed to it correctly interpreted, totally committed to it down to the very letters (verse 18). He is totally committed to it so that obeying it is blessing and disobeying it is cursing (verse 19).

This is one of those sayings of Jesus that must have astounded His hearers. The scribes and the Pharisees were generally considered to be the most religious people in their society, and yet Jesus shockingly indicated here that these men were not great in the Kingdom of Heaven like everyone assumed, but that in fact they would not even enter it!  He said that the righteousness of His hearers had to surpass that of these men, or they would not enter heaven.  This must have occasioned some soul-searching among Jesus’ hearers. It should among us as well.

What was it about the righteousness of these men, who were very practiced in their religion, that it would not save them?

First, it was a self-righteousness:  In Luke 18 Jesus said that one of the Pharisees went up to the temple and prayed and thanked God: “that I am not like other people…”.  He considered himself to be very good.  His righteousness was based on his own efforts.

The righteousness of the Pharisees was also a legalistic righteousness: based on their keeping of the Law. That Pharisee in Luke 18 went on to say “I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all I get.” By the way, the Old Testament required one fast a year, so to fast twice a week would be about 103 times more than you needed to.

Because of these things, Jesus pronounced their righteousness as inadequate. He said it would not save them; that those with that kind of righteousness “will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Surely this pronouncement made many of Jesus’ 1st-century hearers think. It should make us think today as well!  What kind of righteousness do we possess?  If it is based on our own self-efforts and legalism (how moral we can be; how faithful in church attendance, how generous in giving, etc.) then our own righteousness is also inadequate, and like the scribes and Pharisees, we too will never see heaven. But if it is based entirely on “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (Romans 3:22) then we do possess a righteousness greater than that of the scribes and the Pharisees, and we can have the confidence that we will indeed see the Kingdom of Heaven!

Dear friends this Lenten Season let us examine our hearts to see if our righteousness is external, partial and self-centred.

May the Lord help us. God Bless you