Child of God, you are the righteous, you are as bold as the lion. You are courageous, confident, fierce in spirit, not easily intimidated, in-charge, in control, strong (in the power of the Holy Ghost).

clothed in righteousness, I stand by the blood of Jesus

Matthew 5:20 is saying to us….Live out who you identify as and profess to be, knowing it alone is just not good enough. We should not be Christians only in our Churches or only among other believers or only on Church days. We are to be light in a dark world and seasoning for a largely godless generation.

Here is a scripture that has been on my mind for some days now; Mathew 5:20…..

“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.”
Matthew 5:20 NKJV

To understand the context of this text, see 3 prior verses…

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 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.
Matthew 5:17‭-‬19 NKJV

Summay: practice what you preach!

Why did Jesus direct this hard saying to the Scribes and Pharisees?

The Scribes and Pharisees had great influence on the Jewish people. The Scribes interpret the law, while the Pharisees teach the law. It goes without saying therefore that both the Scribes and Pharisees had good knowledge of the law.

This doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me, but somehow Jesus was never pleased with the two groups of leaders. They did not gain Jesus’s admiration at all.

Problem was; that though these people understood the law, held very extreme views on holiness and righteousness, however, they lived nothing like what they knew or taught.

Matthew 23:27-28, probably captures Jesus’s feelings towards the Pharisees…….

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23:27‭-‬28 NKJV

Jesus thought these religious leaders were inwardly corrupt and wicked but outwardly or professedly virtuous or holy. They were hypocrites; teaching one thing and living another.

Now recognize that Matthew 5:20 wasn’t addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees but to Jesus’s followers. And the Lord’s admonition to them remains valid for all His followers today…..

……Know the Word…..Teach the Word, …….Do the Word…..Live the Word.

It is not uncommon to understand Matthew 5: 20 as meaning; ‘work harder in order to achieve a higher level of righteousness than the Scribes and Pharisees’. Hence the need for us to remind ourselves that in the new covenant, righteousness is a free gift that is received by faith (Romans 5:17); we were created in righteousness (Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24), and we receive the free gift of righteousness by faith (Philippians 3:9).

Knowing that we are righteous, is one thing, living as the righteous is another (II Corinthians 7:1, I Peter 1:15‭-‬16).

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

This is what Matthew 5:20 is saying to us….Live out who you identify as and profess to be, knowing it alone is just not good enough. We should not be Christians only in our Churches or only among other believers or only on Church days. We are to be light in a dark world and seasoning for a largely godless generation.

The Scribes and Pharisees knew about righteousness (through the law), but they lived nothing like it.

We are not to be like the Scribes and Pharisees.

When we became new creations in Christ, Ephesians 4:24, says we were created with God’s nature of righteousness and holiness.

From the Bible, we learn that righteousness is not gotten through works, or by merit or achievement. In fact, the Bible describes attempts by man to become righteous as ‘filthiness’ and ‘insubordination’…