IS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS GOOD ENOUGH?

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Philippians 3:7

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Wow!  Who were these guys?  The Scribes meticulously copied the Old Testament making sure it was absolutely correct.  This was a noble task, but they also added 100’s of their own rules and regulations to God’s law which became in their minds equal to God’s original revelation.  The Pharisees were rightly committed to strict adherence to God’s law but eventually majored on the oral traditions of the Scribes.  As the religious “police force” of Israel, their mission was to make sure everyone else was doing the same. 

In a scathing sermon in Matthew 23, Christ pronounced 8 woes upon these leaders, calling them “hypocrites” 8 times as well as “blind guides” (vs. 16), “whitewashed tombs” (vs. 27) and “serpents” (vs. 33).  Jesus had no time whatsoever for their brand of self-righteousness which He said kept people out of heaven rather than helping them get there (vs. 13).  So how can our righteousness exceed theirs when according to God breaking just one of His laws means we have broken them all (James 2:10)? 

The Apostle Paul gave his testimony in Philippians 3:4-9.  In essence he said that he was the most blameless, righteous Pharisee around and if anyone was good enough for heaven, he was!  However, he was humbled by God and came to the point of counting all his goodness as one big loss, literally a pile of rubbish, exchanging it for the excellence of Christ.  He now had the true righteousness which was through faith in Jesus.  Even though we have no inherent righteousness whatsoever (Romans 3:10-12), God is willing to impute (put on our moral account) Christ’s perfect righteousness.  God now sees us as He sees His Son!

Bob Kulp