What is righteousness?

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
~Matthew 5:20

There are many kinds of righteousness revealed to us in the bible. Jesus Christ spoke about the righteousness of the Pharisees. The righteousness of the Pharisees is hypocritical. It is pretentious religious righteousness; eye service – the kind you do only when folks are watching you. It is mere pretense, and that’s not what God has asked you to pursue.

Unfortunately, that’s what we see in the church these days. When people come to church, they pretend. And that is why I don’t’ believe in the congregational church anymore; I believe in the home church. I believe in having church in your house, because it’s very hard to fool your spouse or your children. You can’t fool your father in the house. After three days, he’ll catch you; you can’t fake things for long.

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
~Matthew 23: 27

A lot of folks are righteous as long as they’re around Christians, but the moment they’re outside the church, they become something else. That’s hypocritical. It’s not genuine. It’s not from the heart.

There’s another kind of righteousness – the righteousness of man.

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
~Isaiah 64: 6

God said that human righteousness is like filthy rags before Him, so you should not pursue that kind. This kind is found in unbelievers – moralistic righteousness devoid of the life of Christ. When somebody doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ, is not born again, is not baptized in the name of Jesus, but is morally upright, it’s called the righteousness of man.

Examine your life today, and make sure that you are not walking in false righteousness.

Memory Verse:
Matthew 23: 27
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Prayer:
Father, please deliver me from every form of false righteousness. May I walk in the true righteousness that comes from you, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.