You can’t become righteous by trying to become righteous

One of the things Rabbi Yeshua said to His talmidim was that they had to be more righteous than those chasidim who were at that time held in the highest regard for their righteousness.

“For I say to you, If your righteousness is not greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never go into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:20

Now, most of the time when we read about Yeshua’s comments regarding this bunch, they don’t come off as sounding very righteous, but I believe that in this instance (and in some others) He was not speaking of them quite that way. I believe that at this point he was referring to the highest attainable standard.

But they had to do better than that.

He was trying to get them to understand that the only way to succeed was going to be by the new covenant He had come to ratify with His own blood (in a little while). And because through that new covenant, He would inscribe His very Torah in their hearts, their very being.

But this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, declares YHWH, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Yermeyahu 31:33 [31:32]

Now of course, all you learned theologians out there (you’re still out there, aren’t you?) know that books and books and books have been written on this, and I don’t plan to write a new one.

But I would like to point out that, although Christians are always saying that this is why our covenant is better than their covenant, we don’t seem to be any better at walking in it. Do we?

But all is not lost. We do need to keep this covenant, and all the Torah of God, before our eyes continually, and endure the exhortations of our elders to not just throw in the towel, saying what’s the use.

Having said all this, I want to insert here an exhortation from an elder named Oswald Chambers, who wrote quite a few piercing admonitions about 100 years ago. (I’ve put a link in my blogroll to a source where you can read him.)

In his entry for July 24, in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest, he wrote:

His Nature and Our Motives

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations — He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature — He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

Inside out for Jesus

Don’t even think that I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to fulfill.

What I hear a lot of the time from well-meaning Christians about that verse in Matthew is that Jesus fulfilled Torah (which is true, although they flinch a little when you say “Torah” rather than “the law”), but then they seem to sidetrack that by saying, in effect, that because he fulfilled the law, we now don’t have to, or something like that. He did it, so it’s taken care of, and we can move on to the next thing, such as being good Christians, whatever they think that means. Ask three different Christians what that means, and you’ll get at least five different answers. But — hello! — Jesus is telling us in this whole chapter what it takes to be “good Christians;” what constitutes being the salt and light. And it’s keeping every “jot and tittle” of the law.

Heaven and earth may disappear. But I promise you that not even a period or comma will ever disappear from the Law. Everything written in it must happen. If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. But if you obey and teach others its commands, you will have an important place in the kingdom. You must obey God’s commands better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obey them. If you don’t, I promise you that you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. [Olam Haba]

He then goes on to give a few more details about what it means to keep the mitzvot better than the most religious people around – and it all boils down to what’s going on in the heart. He has a lot to say in several places about doing the commandments by starting from the inside out – that it just plain doesn’t work when you try to do it any other way.

But, how can we do that, even? Can a leopard change its spots? Aren’t we like, bad inside, and can’t change that?

Well, yes we are, until we submit to God’s purpose in changing us, completely, on the inside, so that we can then be changed progressively from the inside out. This is what being “born again” means. It’s not a catchy phrase meaning “now I’m a Christian.” It’s a whole new, brand new start in life.

The prophet Ezekiel wrote “And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you: I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you, causing you to be guided by my rules, and you will keep my commandments and do them.”

Now, notice how many times God says “I will” in that verse. “I will… I will… I will.” Folks, we can’t do it, but he will. The apostle Paul gets a bad rap in a lot of places, but this holds true, if you can grasp it: “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.”

But, there’s an “if” here, as there nearly always is. We have to submit to God’s will in this, and he says in the verse right before that, “at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord!‘”

This is to do the work of God: to have faith in him whom God has sent.

Or as the prophet Isaiah said: “I invite the whole world to turn to me and be saved. I alone am God! No others are real. I have made a solemn promise, one that won’t be broken: Everyone will bow down and worship me. They will admit that I alone can bring about justice. Everyone who is angry with me will be terribly ashamed and will turn to me. I, the LORD, will give victory and great honor to the people of Israel.”

God says, “I invite.” He doesn’t force us. I’m not here, and neither is he, to twist your arm into believing that Jesus Christ, Mashiach Yeshua ha-Natzeri, is Hashem revealed in human form. It’s your choice, my friend, whether to accept this, or not.