Matthew 5:19-20- Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, 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.
- For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Church, who or what is the determining standard of our moral beliefs, attitude, behavior and choices in life as we strive to establish a healthy home life and public life?
How do we determine our rightness or that someone or something is right, fit, equitable to serve and address the needs in our society, country, our families, marriages, cultures, economy, citizenship and community health/ safety and wellbeing, etc?
What entity in our society is right, fitting or sound to determine the right course of action to address the needs of the people? There’s countless disagreements about what is best for our households, communities, country, economy, concerning taxation, healthcare, foreign policy, abortion, gay rights, trade, education, cost of food and fuel, etc. Which entity is more sound or reliable to address these complex concerns for the welfare of the whole country or world?
Shouldn’t it be the “kingdom of God, His Son’s church?”
Which issue is most important out of all these matters to God and to man?
Is our educational institutions, experience, CEO’s/ business owners, Investors, what society needs to adhere to?
What about religious entities and their leaders?
Is the White House, Congress, Senate, Supreme Court, House of Representatives, or Governors, the answer so far?
Are them who are called out of the world to Christ, representing or addressing what the kingdom of Heaven’s interest and intentions are that relates to all of these matters?
Church, as Jesus is your “Teacher, your Savior, your King and Head, Who sends us into the world to proclaim Him and make disciples of Him like ourselves, are we enough?
Are we leading the world to the righteousness of Christ Jesus or are we being led by man’s resolves on how to address the concerns that people in this world have about their desired quality of life or rather what real life is supposed to be?
Is there another leader other than Christ that we should adhere to for direction in this life?
Is there anyone else that the Christian should try to imitate other than Christ in this life? Is there anyone or entity that we should support as equal to or more than Jesus and His Kingdom?
Why are these questions important?
It’s because we as everyday people make comparisons between things and issues on the basis of some viewpoint, appearance of something, due to how we identify who our allegiance is to and how that shapes our opinions.
Depending on what our opinions or views are founded, each of us may be inclined to support or oppose, vote, sit at the table of an entity as representative of a nation, group or cause.
If people’s views, ideals, accomplishments, decisions, in these positions are compared to others of the same frail disposition on the opposite side, how does this situation improve the overall good for humanity?
While these entities fight against each other on the basis of polls, research, surveys, experiments, that never goes far enough to know the true state of who is being represented, the kingdom of God should take the position of reaching the hearts of the lost or any people of any demographics by the demonstrated and proclaimed kingdom word of God that is in Christ beyond those approaches.
If somebody does a good thing only on the basis that the individual did good to them is that not conditional goodness?
If someone loves you only to receive love or benefits or praise for loving you is that not conditional or transactional love?
What if someone claims to care about your needs, has the ability to help, but does nothing to help you address them, do you feel regarded as a neighbor? Jesus is addressing an error among the people that is demonstrated by the Scribes, the Pharisees who are the Jewish Rabbi’s of the day.
The Scribes similar to (Jurisconsults), are considered as experts who added their formal opinions to the Mosaic Law to the detriment of its true religious meaning and application. Now, the Pharisees, a Jewish sect, became religious separatists who emphasized oral traditions, sought for distinction and honor by external rites and outward forms of piety, instead of genuine piety (Mt. 23). They prided themselves on their good deeds, and believed that individuals would be rewarded or punished according to their performance alone.
They opposed Roman dominion and stoutly upheld the Theocracy and their country’s cause, which can be known as (nationalism) in our day etc.
They were well regarded by the common people of the day.
What Jesus was addressing concerning the crowd was an erroneous Rabbinic, Scribed, and/or Pharisaic mentality in their religious understanding and application concerning what Moses taught from God’s OT law, which is holy.
Why is the matter of righteousness and right living so important in human society? Could it be that there are strong possibilities that humans are in the habit of judging matters between individuals, each other or entities according to relative importance rather than what is absolute fact?
How humans treat each other is going to be subject to what is acceptable within one’s own mind, that is, whether or not we regulate our thinking, behavior and choices, according to “our personal truth, someone else’s truth, carnal accomplishments in this world or absolute truth, which is, the gospel.” By the way, relative truth is another way of saying “my or someone else’s opinion.” Who or what should rightfully determine what and who is right in moral, ethical and religious life?
In the beginning of this chapter Jesus has just demonstrated, overcoming the tests of the Devil, and displays in miraculous fashion , the power of the Good news of the kingdom of God and its nearness in the Person of Christ presence on earth while choosing his first disciples in Mt. 4.
As He sought a place to teach His disciples the crowds grew, Mt. 5.
When He saw the crowds He went up the side of a mountain plain to sit and teach the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of God to the crowds.
There wasn’t any microphones so, you could conclude that the mountain side provided acoustics to amplify the sound of His voice.
He began to speak to the crowds who have perhaps been receiving instructions from the Scribes, Rabbi’s and Pharisees.
Jesus, Who is King, spoke to the audience concerning kingdom blessedness.
This scene of Jesus on the mount of Beatitude is a reminder of the scene of Moses on Mt. Sinai in the OT.
This address is a deeper spiritual understanding of blessedness concerning the giving of the Law. Jesus expounds on teachings concerning a Heavenly Kingdom attitude in worship life.
He didn’t come to put the OT Law to an end, but to fill it by completely obeying the whole covenant to fulfill and show Himself to be the End of the ceremonial system and the fulfillment of the moral obligation obeyed in heart, (Mt 5:17; Romans 10:4).
He became the object of grace and mercy that we must place our trust in.
After He has addressed the people who have been receiving from the religious authorities concerning the traditions of religion, Jesus taught them how to discern the
Reign and Rule of God in heart and life, (Mt. 5:3-11).
His teachings revealed who the kingdom of Heaven is and who it is not. In summary, the Pharisees accused Jesus of rendering the Law vain, but instead He demonstrated and taught the true moral meaning of God’s commandments.
In view of this, Jesus commands his audience not to start the mental action of supposing that He came to “deprive of force, the morals of the Pentateuch (Law) and teachings set forth by the OT Prophets,” (Mt. 5:17).
Instead, He put an end to the Law as a means of salvation, but offered it for “every one that believes” regardless of nationality, socioeconomic status, gender, etc. (Romans 10:11-13). Christ wrote, “finished” on the Law as a means of grace.
The Law was temporary and is eternal, in that the ceremony of it was just a shadow, but the heart converted to right moral thinking and behavior before God was the real goal.
No person could keep it perfectly until the Man, Christ did so. Now that He filled the goal of the Law, the focus is on the moral Law lived in Christ by the believer, which is apprehended by faith in Christ life lived by God’s moral standards, not by works of the flesh or merit (Ro. 10:4).
God doesn’t want man to erroneously think that he or she can reach His righteousness on their own accord because, to do so would also introduce the practice of glorifying self apart from God as their Lord and above other people.
Self righteousness develops when people are partial in handling God’s word or in ignorance of accountability to God’s instructions altogether.
Paul was deeply concerned that his Jewish audience had zeal without transcendent and divine truth of what God arranged as acceptable to Himself, (Ro. 10:1).
Christ made it clear that the moral commands of God would not become invalid, but would be fully met by us who are in Him. To this point, Jesus says in (Mt. 5:18)
“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass away from the law till all is fulfilled.”
Not an iota “smallest Greek vowel” or “a stroke over an abbreviated word.“ God’s law is transcendent. Every detail related to the cause of God’s law would be observed and carried out by Him. Jesus responds with a “solemn declaration” to introduce His own words, giving strength and authority to the fact that what He says concerning the Law of God and Prophetic teachings being trustworthy, will happen as stated.
No one can change or alter any aspect of what God has said due to what they feel is more or less important.
They added or subtracted due to their traditions, opinions or legal interpretations concerning it, to become an expert learner of it just to answer questions or to be honored by people for ceremonial deeds done, rather than obeying God’s moral law.
So, because of this (v19) “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these Commandments, and teaches men so, 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.”
Jesus responds with a warning to those who are present, forbidding them not to start “breaking,” that is, “ depriving, doing away with, abolishing , making void” within themselves (their mind) by regarding some of the total of God’s ordinances as insignificant or trivial of authority. Stop being partial against parts of God’s law and instructions of His covenant to you!
If they were to adhere to classifying the commands of God according to rabbinic interpretations and “teaches (didasko),
meaning, of those who order, in the legal sense, to observe some ordinances, some opinions and obey some precepts, in the practice of altering the spoken and written commands of God. This practice is partial covenanting due to a partial conviction of following man’s religious opinions and some of God’s law. Don’t negate any part of God’s word.
Christ says, of them that do such and influence others to follow their orders, should be regarded as unimportant to the kingdom of God.
But to them that apply the instructions to themselves should be regarded as eminent and qualified to teach others to follow their example.
If we’re honest, this statement describes the condition of every one of us as violators of God’s whole law, whether we consider ourselves churched or not. To some degree, we allow other peoples words to become our “ordinances, opinions or precepts,” in certain circumstances to override the words of Jesus Who is the Eminent One that didn’t violate God’s law. In other words, reverence for covenant directions was being negated and replaced by human tradition.
The rabbis who were the Scribes and the Pharisees sought to establish their own righteousness, being in ignorance of God’s entire law, (Romans 10:3).
At times we participate in developing our views about life, culture, government, politics, economy, business and services, from listening to the reasoning of people in these positions and deciding without experienced knowledge, who we think is trustworthy in accordance with our limited impression of their character.
We put our trust of some level, into who we’ve chosen and gotten behind as a representative of what we believe or feel is the best possible answer or method to address the concerns facing our society, while we ourselves are suppose to be and do the work of the kingdom of God on earth wherever we are, (Mt. 6:33).
We are seekers of God rather than man! God wants us to desire and seek after His righteous rule before we endeavor after anyone or anything else (Matthew 6:8-10). We’re supposed to strive for gospel activities that promotes His ruling righteousness on earth as it is done in Heaven!
In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus addresses the erroneous applications that were added to the Mosaic commandments on morality taught by the Scribes and Pharisees, in
His statement “You have heard that it was said of old.” He teaches them the righteous character of His kingdom.
In Matthew 6:1-34;7:1-12, Jesus addresses their erring and hypocritical religious practices. His words “Do not do”and “when you do,” are indicative of practice. He instructs them on the practice of kingdom righteousness, and then, the “choice of the kingdom,” that is instructive by his phrasing of “Enter by, Beware of, Not everyone who, whoever hears and,” in (Mt. 7:13-27).
There is a character, a practice and a choice that the Christ of the kingdom of God leads us in Him, to live and demonstrate in public life. In other words, Jesus is the only One Who is Great in the Kingdom of God. He is the only One Who kept the whole Law and taught it correctly Mt. 5:19. Jesus is the Universal Teacher of His kingdom.
The Universal Teacher says in (Mt. 5:20), “that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So, what is Jesus saying that the hearers and followers have to exceed past concerning the Scribes and Pharisees?
Isn’t He calling followers away from “counterfeit righteousness”? Human righteousness that is based on human ignorance of divine things and ceremonial law performance, self-exaltation, which can lead one to self-lordship, (Romans 10:3-13)? If someone one on the basis of law performance can reach God’s throne to bring Christ to earth to be sacrificial substitute and atonement for man, and then, enter the bottomless pit or realm of the dead to resurrect Christ, then that would mean that on the basis of this they would be lord of themselves.
He is instructing His kingdom to “be present in abundance, to abound, to far surpass,” the external observance, formal opinions, separatism, nationalism, religious distinction and honor due to external rites emphasis of God’s law. A religion that is filled with man’s traditions and political practices is what we must excel past to be God’s eternal kingdom on earth and in society to address this world through faith in the Son.
This is “relative righteousness” and “transactional righteousness,” that is, God is thought of being under contract to give rewards for performing religious duties. This is “counterfeit human righteousness” in this world.
Church, are we listening and adhering to Christ, Who is Eminent as the Universal Teacher and King of His kingdom or being influenced to become spiritually ignorant again?
Remember, living life under the reign of Jesus Christ makes us “greater now,” to represent His kingdom character, practices and choices in the matters of life in this world, this country, starting with this community where we live. Our righteousness as God’s kingdom is to be “preeminent in rank, importance or excellence.” We must “stand out “ to surpass man’s cause at any capacity, as those who seek to fulfill God’s will in this world.
True righteousness before God is when His people conforms by faith to Him through His Son who broke no commandment.
We have and are being transformed to become “people who are such as we ought to be,” relationally and spiritually to God and to man morally, ethically, and socially.
In rejecting or not knowing what God in Christ approves, no one can develop character, practice morality, make life choices from a disposition of faith in God through Christ.
A human righteousness or a righteousness apart from God does not exist before God.
There is no human that can be sinned against, but Christ.
Without the righteousness that leads to acknowledging Jesus as their and our Savior and devoting ourselves to Him we can’t enter a state of representing the reign and rule of Christ in life and proclamation in this world (Romans 1:16-17;10:4-10).
Christ must be to us the Universal Reigning King.
There should be no one else above Him in or around our lives that we listen to and follow in Character, in practice and in choices we make concerning what is acceptable to God.
No one, meaning your parents, your spouse, your children, your brothers and sisters, your friends, your neighbors, strangers, employer or coworkers, politicians, government, CEO’s, also schools, science, news, social media, etc.
Listen and compare them to Christ and not to other sinners who have fallen short before God.
So, are we greater because we adhere to the whole counsel of God through Christ or do we add our own opinions, human interpretations and subtracts to our understanding of how we are to represent Him in this world.
Who are you? Who are we?
Are we the same or set apart by Christ? Each of us must answer this question daily. How do I answer this? By comparing myself and everyone else to the life, character, disposition, words, choices, practices, of the Eminent Teacher and King Jesus Who was baptized by John the Baptist, kept His Father’s Word in the wilderness temptations (Mt. 4:1-11), Who first proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom of God (Mt. 4:12-17), He called His first disciples (Mt. 4:18-22), He taught, preached, healed many diseases, cast out demons, etc (Mt. 4:23-24).
Jesus is greater than the Scribes and the Pharisees. No one can be greater than Him in holy and moral understanding of kingdom covenant character, practices and choices demonstrated by His faith. All of His accomplished works speak for Who He was then and now among us. So now, in view of the revelation of Jesus, if we are the Church, who are the kingdom of God/Heaven, then we don’t interpret and categorize parts of God’s law, gospel, doctrine, counsel, warnings, instructions, etc. to fit what is considered acceptable to man. “Do not prioritize any of God’s words into greater or lesser categories.” To do such invites relative justifications that align with our mental priorities based on negating parts of God’s direction. We are to seek His truth and receive His word that identifies us as His Kingdom. Remember, being partial in adhering to the whole content of God’s word leads to being partial against God and His instructions on being a neighbor to our fellow humans.