Matthew 5:20: For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

We take a subject of "rewarding righteousness" from Matthew chapters 5-7. The message taught by the Lord Jesus to His disciples in these chapters is actually to the church. The righteousness demanded by the Lord here is defined in terms of the commandments. This is a measure of how much we follow the commandments of the Lord. So this is a measurable and visible righteousness. Even the scribes and Pharisees had a certain measure of righteousness in accordance with their following the commandments. But the righteousness required by the Lord from the church is far greater than that.

The righteousness we receive when we believe in the Lord Jesus is the gift of initial salvation (Romans 3:21). This gift of righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ coming into our spirit as the foundation of our Christian life (1 Corinthians 3:11). Only after we receive this gift of righteousness, we fear God and seek His fellowship by reading the word of God and praying. However this is less visible to others. This can be seen only by our close contacts and the believers.

The rewarding righteousness demanded by the Lord in Matthew chapters 5-7 is the super structure which comes from and is built on the foundation of the gift of righteousness. This is the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith in Christ (Philippians 3:9). This is the light visible to the world. Even though one or a few attributes of the rewarding righteousness are visible at the time of our new birth, the fuller expression of this righteousness is received only by a continuous fellowship with the Lord and His children. When the Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth, the people who lived in darkness saw a great light. He is the sun of righteousness. We the church are the moon of righteousness called to be the light of the world. Just as the moon cannot give light by itself, the church cannot give light to the world without abiding in Christ the sun of righteousness.

Why should we care about such a great righteousness? The Lord was not joking when He said, if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. So righteousness is a matter of life and death. Every believer who doesn’t take this matter seriously will not receive the reward of entering into the kingdom of heaven.

One may say, "What if I don’t enter into the kingdom of heaven?" All those who do not participate in the first resurrection and do not enter the kingdom of heaven will have to face the judgement. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:15 that the salvation of a servant of God who fails to receive the reward will be "as through fire." What then will be the status of salvation of the people he worked on? We also read in 2 Peter 1:9. "For whoever lacks these qualities is so near sighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." James 2:14 reads, "what good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?"

So the Lord has asked us to ‘seek’ this righteousness (Matthew 6:33), not for the sake of receiving the earthly blessings which are just the side benefits but for the sake of our salvation. He has also promised that those who seek will find. How can we seek this righteousness? To seek anything, we first need to set our minds on that. So the first step is to set our minds on the things of the Spirit by meditating on the truth (the New Testament) with prayer. This is how we can receive the enlightenment of the Lord in our spirits. With this, we go to the next step – Call upon the name of the Lord. This is not just saying, "Lord Jesus" several times. This is an intimate fellowship with the Lord with the enlightenment we received from His word by praising, giving thanks and prayer. When we abide in His word like this, the rich Lord will fill us with the riches of His righteousness. When His people so filled, fellowship and work together as one body, the light of God will radiate through them to the people around them.

Please write to info@kingdomgospelfellowship.com if you need further fellowship regarding this.