My Way or God's Way
Most of us accept that the people in authority have the right to set the standards. Parents do this for their children. Teachers evaluate their student’s work and judge its adequacy. Coaches hold tryouts to decide who gets on the team. Directors use auditions to decide who joins the cast. In the workplace, employers decide what is to be done and how it is to be done. Those who make the greatest investment, have the greatest responsibility, and have most at stake, draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable - whether we’re talking about behaviour, performance, or productivity.
In the spiritual realm, this One is God. It would be nice to think that because God will accept anyone, that He does so with no strings attached, no standard to be met, no specific way prescribed. That is not the case. First of all, God will accept only those who meet His conditions. Peter challenged his listeners with these words: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out...” (Acts 3:19) It’s true that God accepts anyone... anyone who repents (that is changes his or her attitude, mind and actions) and begins to look to God as the one great authority in life.
This is necessary because that is exactly who God is. Paul wrote of the fact that each one of us shall give account of him or herself to God. (Romans 14:12) Recognizing that God has this place is the first step in getting our lives in order. Once we begin to see God correctly, we’ll want to know His criteria for acceptance. God has only one standard - righteousness.
Righteousness is simply being as you ought to be. Paul challenged his readers with this question: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1Corinthians 6:9). Phrased positively and as a statement, Paul is simply saying only the righteous will inherit the kingdom of God.
Jesus gave some clear teaching along the same lines. He said, “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) When Jesus spoke those words, His audience knew who the Pharisees were and all about their standard of righteousness. Simply stated: The Pharisees were as righteous as humanly possible. They were zealous to understand and apply all of the Scriptures they had at the time. They were strict observers of the law. They were scrupulous about morality.
Yet, in spite of this, Jesus said that their righteousness was not sufficient to qualify them for a place in the kingdom of God. Did Jesus not know that they were the most righteous people alive during His time? Of course. Was Jesus serious about their very best efforts at being as they ought to be falling short? Totally serious. Then who can be saved?
The answer to that question is the key to the whole question of righteousness. Jesus taught that human righteousness - even the very best effort - is insufficient to connect us with God. Human righteous might be good enough to provoke some “oos and ahs” from others, but it doesn’t impress God. But that doesn’t mean that God is writing it off. On the contrary, in His compassion toward us - people who just can’t be as we ought to be without help - drove Him to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that we can have a relationship with Him.
When Jesus died on the cross, He accomplished two things. He wiped out all of our unrighteousness and at the same time gave us His righteousness. He was perfectly who God intended Him to be and He credits that to us - making us who we ought to be, in Him. God doesn’t give us the option of coming to Him our own way. My way or God’s way? I’m not taking chances. He is God. He opens the way. I’ll walk in it.
Ron Hughes
© July 2007
