Matthew 5:19-20
Silence and stillness before God (2 minutes)
Scripture reading
Scripture reading:
Matthew 5:19-20
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 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.
Devotional
By faith in Christ we receive God’s forgiveness, a new heart, and the Spirit of God who can teach us how to live from the inside out. This common phrase, from the inside out is actually super important to understand. What Jesus is teaching here is that the type of righteousness God is looking for is a behaviour that comes from internal change more than outward rule keeping.
Jesus says in Matthew 23 that it’s no good just washing the outside of the dish. In other words cleaning up your behaviour when people are looking but neglecting to actually clean the inside of the dish, that is, failing to become a different person on the inside through your character and attitudes of the heart.
On another occasion in chapter 6 of Luke’s gospel Jesus says that a good tree will bear good fruit just as a bad tree will bear bad fruit. An apple tree doesn’t try to be an apple tree. It either is or is not an apple tree.
The radical teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is that after entry into the kingdom of God by faith a believer has everything they need to become the type of person who lives with a righteousness that is real. Clothed, through the gospel and the gift of the Spirit with the righteousness of Christ, followers of Jesus are already righteous. But the invitation, call and responsibility of this gifted right standing with God is… to become the sort of person on the inside (by grace) who produces the type of living on the outside which is righteous. The way of the master, the journey of Christianity is a pathway of becoming the sort of person who bears Christian fruit to the glory of God.
Question to consider
How are your habits helping or hindering you becoming on the inside who God says you are in Christ by the gospel?
Prayer
Lord God, please forgive me for trying to bolt on to the outside of my life, a form of righteousness which is performance based. I want to live in the righteousness of Christ from the inside out. Help me learn the ways of the master, the ways of the easy yoke, that over time I might do right because I am the sort of person on the inside who does right by your grace. Amen.
Conclude with silence (2 minutes)
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