CRIPPLED OR POWERFUL IN THE END?

CRIPPLED OR POWERFUL IN THE END?

Matt. 5:20 “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

By the lifestyles of many in the church today, I feel they have bought into too much of the thinking that this world perceives Christ and His church. Their moral and ethical focus is startling for many on the side who know what Christ meant by what He said here in His manifesto. We are headed for His kingdom and this is the Leader of that entity and what He said was absolutely necessary for ones entrance.

In the first claim our Lord declared the ultimate ethical purpose of His presence in the world. This statement is found at the commencement of a brief paragraph, which closes with these words, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of heaven."

It is of utmost importance that we should recognize that this is Christ's first word as to the purpose of His mission in the world. The evangelical presentation of the Gospel has led some astray from this, or has made them unmindful of it. The first purpose, the ultimate purpose, the passion of His heart, was

1. The establishment of the law of God.

2. And the creation in men of a character of holiness which should is­sue in a conduct of righteousness.

The ultimate purpose of the mission of Christ is thus revealed to be ethical; and that according to this word of Jesus, and the whole of His teaching harmonizes with it, He did not come into this world to persuade God to excuse men who are moral failures.

He came into the world to 1. establish the law, 2. to make it honorable; 3. to stand in the midst of human history as the severest of all moral teachers, embodying the highest ideal of law, and at all costs 4. insisting upon obedience, thereto.

In that ultimate triumph of Christ, when He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, and in those who have been ransomed and redeemed shall find the fulfillment of His highest purpose, He will not lead into the larger life a great host of men and women crippled and in­capable, without spiritual power, and defective in moral character.

When His work is done in His own, He will present them to His Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, absolutely perfect, with the perfection of His own holiness of character and righteousness of conduct (Jude 24). I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. The master-passion of the heart of Christ was ethical, holy, righteous; and the very, first word in which He made any statement concerning His mission in the world was a word, in which He insisted upon this fact. This is not to say we are under law, but law is our friend, and reveals the truest definition of the word love. Grace helps us to have enough time to figure things out, not keep doing them. For love acts a certain way according to Christ. It does some things and doesn't do others. His Book teaches us both so we discover how we can make no errors.

There are people calling themselves Christian that need to do a lot of rethinking as Saul of Tarsus did while in Arabia.