Righteousness That Exceeds…

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And what He isn’t saying is that the standard of righteousness has changed. God is perfectly righteous and does not change. And His righteous standard, His Moral Law, is rooted in His righteous character. And since God doesn’t change neither does His Moral Law. And since He and His Moral Law do not change, the Moral Law is the standard that’s over all of humanity in every covenant. In the Old and New Covenant, the standard of righteousness is God, and thus His Moral Law. That’s even true of ancient Israel under the Mosaic Law, because both the Ceremonial and Judicial Law find their root in the Moral Law.^[1] The Moral Law is always the ultimate standard of righteousness because ultimately God is the standard of righteousness, and His Law is rooted in His nature and character. Therefore, Jesus is not changing the standard of righteousness in Matthew 5:20.

In context, Jesus has just went through the Beatitudes and the Similitudes, and in both He shows that true Christians are not merely those who will one day enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are those who already have it and are already in it (though not yet in the fullness to come in glory). True Christians are those who have been brought out of darkness into the light, out of death into life, given new pure hearts that know Jesus, love Jesus, and delight to live for Jesus. True Christians have already been and are still being transformed from the inside out; and that transformation began with being born again into God’s family and crying out in faith for God to save us. And in that moment, we were totally justified because our faith united us to Jesus and His perfect life, death, and resurrection, counting us totally forgiven and totally righteous in Christ. As Jesus lays out in Matthew 5:17-18, He perfectly fulfilled the Law, and in so doing He upholds God’s righteous standard for God’s people and takes the curse and the wrath due God’s people for breaking God’s righteous standard upon Himself. And by faith in Jesus’ perfect life, wrath absorbing death, and death defeating resurrection, we are saved from our sin and counted righteous.

With all of this in mind, it might seem like this is merely what Jesus is referring to when He says that the righteousness of His New Covenant Kingdom people must exceed the scribes and Pharisees. I mean, Christ is the only one to truly uphold the Moral Law, so He must mean we must have His perfect righteousness if we are to enter the Kingdom. And that’s true; but that’s not all He’s saying. Again, in context here Jesus is talking about keeping commandments and living in obedience to God’s Law. So, while it’s true that we must be clothed with Jesus’ perfect righteousness by faith to enter the Kingdom, here He’s also saying that even practically our righteousness must exceed the scribes and Pharisees, the functional legalists of that day. But how? Are we simply to try harder and do better than they did? Is that what makes our righteousness exceed those guys? No!

As I alluded to earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount thus far, Jesus has been telling us that the Holy Spirit removes our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh, regenerating us, granting us repentance and faith, and empowering us to truly hear God’s Word and heed God’s Word. In other words, we are now obedient from the heart. We aren’t just good rule followers, we actually love and treasure Christ in such a way that we joyfully obey; we are so filled with the joy of the Lord that we are able to rejoice and be glad come what may, and thus stand out and shine out in a world full of darkness and decay. The scribes and Pharisees were good at putting on a show, but their hearts were far from the Lord. Our hearts belong to the Lord, and our practical righteousness flows from our new heart. And this is the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees—righteousness that flows from the inside out by God’s amazing grace; righteousness that comes from the heart for God’s glory. This is why Jesus goes into the Law after verse 20, showing that it isn’t enough to merely outwardly obey, but that we must obey from the heart—don’t commit murder, but don’t be angry with your brother in your heart. Don’t commit adultery, but don’t lust in your heart either, etc… Jesus wants our heart, and He wants wholehearted obedience.

Now, consider what the heart is biblically. Typically, when the Bible speaks of the heart it’s speaking of the core of who we are. The heart is the center of our affections and will. It’s what drives us in everything we are and everything we do. And you see, I believe this is a part of the greater context here as well. Just before the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 5:17). And in part, what He meant was that the Kingdom was at hand because the King—Jesus—was at hand. Jesus is the King of the Kingdom. And His people are those who have entered His Kingdom and are living, from the heart, under the rule and reign of His Kingship. And if we are truly doing that from the heart—the core of who we are, the center of our affections and will, the very thing that drives everything we are and do—then we are to live for King Jesus in every sphere of life. 

The Dutch Reformed theologian, Abraham Kuyper, once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” And you see, this is a part of what it means for our righteousness to exceed the scribes and Pharisees. We don’t merely live for Jesus on Sunday morning. We don’t merely put on religious shows and live like hypocrites. In every sphere of life: our thoughts, our words, our actions, our families, our friendships, our jobs, our education, our hobbies, our politics, and of course corporate worship, and everything else… everything about us is to be joyfully, from the heart, brought under the Lordship of Christ. Our whole life is to be an act of worshipful obedience. Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven do not compartmentalize their lives; our lives belong to the King, and they are to be lived for the glory of the King. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Because we have been brought under the grace of God’s gospel we can now joyfully live under the standard of God’s Law. But doing so means living for the glory of God’s Son in all of life. As many others have put it, “It’s all of Christ for all of life.” In every area of life, from personal and private to public and communal, we are to live for Jesus. There are no neutral areas or safe zones. We have real enemies that wage war against us in every area of our lives. Therefore, we must fight. And we must not be content to merely stand our ground, but we must push forward and take ground for the Kingdom. And when we stand out and shine out as salt and light, from the heart, we wage war against the darkness. 

Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18). Notice, gates are defensive weapons. We’re not on the defense, hell is. Jesus assumes His church is advancing and taking ground. And that’s what we do. As we live for the glory of God in every area of life, every act of faithfulness is waging war against the very gates of hell. Not only when we evangelize and make disciples, but even when we battle lust in our own hearts, even when we fight to be content in Christ, even when we seek to do the dishes, change diapers, or work at all we do for God’s glory… when we eat or drink or do whatever we do for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31)… in every thought, word, or act of faithfulness we are pushing back the darkness and essentially taking a battering ram to the gates of hell, and taking ground for the Kingdom. 

No doubt, we will fall short, and we have fallen short of our calling more times than we know. And while we must not be content with falling short, we must not faint or falter either. Christ is our perfect righteousness. Jesus never fell short, and not only gives us His perfect record but pays for our broken one. Grace abounds! But, if grace abounds do we sin all the more? May it never be (Romans 6:1)! On the contrary, we uphold the Law (Romans 3:31). If we fall, we get back up and continue to fight. We keep pressing forward and keep seeking to take the ground for the King. When you’re tempted, and you begin to find ways to justify your sin, thinking that it won’t hurt anyone, or no one will know, remember, your King knows, and your enemy knows. And in that moment, you are either taking ground or giving it away. So, take the ground. 

Remember who your King is. Remember how glorious and great your Lord and Savior, King Jesus is. And remember who you are as a child of God, as a citizen of His Kingdom. And fight sin and pursue holiness. Live for the glory of Jesus in every area of your life. Because there is not one single area of your life over which Jesus does not cry, Mine! And because that’s true, there’s not a single area of your life that does not matter. Every part of it, every thought, word, or deed, no matter how ordinary or extraordinary, is to be done faithfully for the glory of our King. That’s how our righteousness exceeds the scribes and Pharisees. And that’s how we find joy and contentment in everything, come what may. As the puritan Charles Simeon put it, “Enjoy God in everything and enjoy everything in God.” That’s how we glorify our King. That’s how we stand out and shine out in a world of darkness and decay. And that’s how our righteousness exceeds the scribes and Pharisees.

^[1] The Ceremonial Law (sacrifices, temple ordinances, etc.) is fulfilled in Christ. But it isn’t that we ignore all of that and don’t follow it at all, but that we follow it in Christ. Christ is our sacrifice. Christ and His Church are the temple. The Lord’s Supper is our holy feast, etc. The Judicial Law (the hundreds of commandments for ancient Israel in the Land) have also found their fulfilment in Christ. Christ came from Israel and was rejected by Israel and condemned under their Law, thus they served their purpose for the gospel and ceased to be God’s theocracy in the world. But again, it isn’t that we ignore the Judicial Law and don’t follow it at all, but that we follow it in Christ. We look for the general equity or moral principles that carry over and obey them. All of the Law is rooted in God’s Moral Law and therefore has purpose for us all. 

Author: Nick Esch