The Righteousness Of Scribes And Pharisees
The Righteousness Of The Kingdom Of Heaven
Focusing On “Doing” Never Works
Focusing On “Being” Truly Works
Restore To Love, Truth, Peace, And Liberty
A few years ago, I made a troubling observation about Christians: although the training to operate in the Kingdom of God has become readily available worldwide, many Christians are still not walking in Liberty. They may lay hands on the sick causing the blind see and the deaf hear, but their circumstances, their past, and the issues of their hearts can easily disturb their peace. They have yet to walk in the measure and the statue of the fullness of Christ.
In other words, they can operate in the gifts of the Spirit, but they have yet been able to truly manifest the fruit of the Spirit. Their traditional churches may have taught them that the fruit of Spirit in is about a to-do laundry list, a form of godliness. And if they fix their outward behaviors enough, maybe these will finally fix the inside.
I am not saying it’s bad that people are getting healed or touched by the Kingdom of God. I believe that the signs and wonders will follow those who believe. And it’s certainly glorious when the Kingdom comes! In fact, I have developed various effective trainings for gifts of the Spirit with my disciples. I admire the pioneers who dare to step out from their traditional church to pursue His Kingdom and bring His Kingdom on Earth.
However, many of these workmen’s mindsets are still influenced by the performance based mentality of Religion; they judge themselves by their performances, behaviors, and doing. And they are letting the results define them.
If they heal today, they are a healer. If they cannot heal, they are not. Or if someone’s healing results is greater than another’s, one is more of a healer than the other. If things are going well, they are peaceful. If things are tough, then are not peaceful. They are moved by the storms and waves of their lives or past.
I believe the His Kingdom refers to the gifts of the Spirit; His Righteousness refers to the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit is that “I AM.” And who they think they are (their self-image, their spirit) will reflect on their gifts and their fruits of their Spirit.
I believe Jesus refers to His Kingdom, our power and authority, as the new wine; His Righteousness, our mindset and identity, as the wineskin.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. (Luke 5:37-28)
In other words, merely having the new wine (the gifts of spirit, His Kingdom) without the renewed mindset (the fruits of spirit, His Righteousness) will not stand. We must go inward to fix the issues of our heart and renew our mindset in order to hold the pressure of having the ability to operate the Kingdom. Only then, can His Kingdom and His Righteousness be built into the full measure and statue of the fullness of Christ.
So what’s stopping these faithful Christians from walking into the fullness of Christ? It’s because they are struggling with the same issue with which Paul used to struggle. They are vigorously pursuing the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees by ‘Doing,’ instead of Jesus’ righteousness by ‘Being’ which exceeds them.
The Righteousness Of Scribes and Pharisees
Paul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, discussed the dilemma of only focusing on ‘doing':
“For the good that I would do, I do not do; but the evil I would not do, that I practice. Now if I do what I would not do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” (Romans 7:19-20)
In another words, focusing on “doing’ what’s right was not working out for him. And ultimately the ‘sin’ (who Paul thought he was) prevailed. Focusing on doing only brought him more condemnation and confusion. It creates negative cycles and snares. The more you ‘try’ to do good, the worse it gets.
He went into more details:
“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Roman 7:20)
Pharisees were all about “Doing”: They read and memorized Scriptures daily. They prayed everyday and fasted often. They fulfilled good deeds like feeding the poor. They went to religious congregations weekly. They obeyed all the rules and regulations of their religion. Most of them didn’t commit adultery or murder.
By any church's standards today, they’d be considered good and faithful church servants. They would be qualified to be leaders and deacons – TODAY!
The Righteousness Of The Kingdom Of Heaven
So the question is, what is the righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees?
You must learn what’s the righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees first. Their righteousness is all about doing! However, if you observe Jesus, He’s all about ‘being”!
I am the Resurrection and the Life!
I am the Light of the world!
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
I am the God, who heals thee!
I am that “I AM”!
Notice, He ‘is’ first, before He does. He doesn’t ‘do’ raising the dead, to become the Resurrection. He doesn’t ‘do’ healing, to become the Healer. He doesn’t ‘do’ lovely things, to become Love.
He is the Resurrection and Life first, and then He ‘does’ raising the dead. He is the Healer first, and then He ‘does’ healing the sick. He is Love first, and then He ‘does’ love.
In another words, the righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven, is about ‘being.’ It’s about whom you choose to be: The Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Focusing On “Doing” Never Works
Doing “lovely” things will not restore you to “Love.” “Doing” itself never really works. “Doing” is simply the fruit, the outward manifestation of our heart. It is silly to try to force bitter fruit to become sweet, isn't it?
The reason you have undesirable ‘behaviors’ (doing), is because you have thought that you ‘are’ bad in some ways (being). You may have tried to cover it by denial, by doing good things, or by craving others’ approvals. Nevertheless, whatever you think you are, so are you. There is no escape. There is no exception.
You may not have committed adultery. You may not have murdered your brothers. You may have obeyed all the rules and regulations since childhood. Nevertheless, does Jesus really count these, or does he look at the heart (being)?
Let me tell you this, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means becoming the righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven. For our Father is a spirit, and He is seeking those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth. And who you are in spirit is what really counts.
Focusing On “Being” Truly Works
So, to fix a tree that produces undesirable fruit, you must go straight to the root. It makes no sense to force a bitter tree to produce sweet fruit. It makes no sense to force anyone to do forms of Godliness, but deny the power of “Being.”
There is a difference between “Doing” and “Being.” “Being” is the root, the spirit, and the inward man of who you think you are. So, “doing” is the outward visible fruit of your spirit.
So go to your spirit, inwardly. Go to adjust who you really think you are. God has graciously given you the free will to choose.
We must be comfortable with our identity being Love, Truth, Liberty and Love, having all these terms of God, as our names.
Your level of comfort with this is a good measure of how much you have accepted your true identity.
Video: The Righteousness that Exceeds the Righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees
Back to Main Menu
No comments:
Post a Comment