Throughout the ages people have sought  ways to be righteous before God.  During Jesus’ day the Pharisees were regarded as the spiritually elite.   They had developed an elaborate system of 613 laws – 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws.  The measure of one’s spirituality had devolved into a system external laws that produced a cold, heartless, and judgmental brand of righteousness.

Jesus’ sermon on the mount challenged the Pharisees view of righteousness as Jesus pointed out that true righteousness comes from the heart.  That’s why Solomon emphasized the importance of guarding your heart,

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.  (Proverbs 4:23)

Man has a tendency to complicate what God wants to make simple.  The religious leaders realized the difficulty of keeping God’s law from the heart so they focused on externals.  They bypassed the true intent of the law and  established man made rules as the measure of one’s Godliness.  The sad truth is that we have a tendency to follow their practice.  We establish benchmarks of spirituality such as a Christian doesn’t drink, dance, or associate with people who do; but we ignore the heart attitude.

Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.  Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment and He distilled the essence of the Old Testament into two commandments,

Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:29-31)

The law was given not as a means to achieve righteousness with God but to reveal your need for a Savior.  We cannot keep God’s commandments in our own strength and emphasizing externals while ignoring the heart issues does not make one Godly but it leads to hypocrisy and spiritual pride.

The Apostle Paul wisely pointed out the function of the law,

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.  (Galatians 3:24)

The word for tutor is a compound word that literally means a leader of the child.  The tutor or guardian was responsible for the child’s moral and physical well-being.  The emphasis was not on the impartation of knowledge, but William Barclay describes the tutor’s role, “. . . to make the good pleasant to the boy.”  Now that Christ has fulfilled the law,  we no longer need a tutor,

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.  (Galatians 3:25)

Where is your focus?  Do you emphasize the external aspects of your faith seeking to look good in front of others or is your emphasis on obedience from the heart?  You are no longer under the law but under grace – live in accordance with your true identity,

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,  (Romans 6:17)

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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