Did you ever get an F in school? I did when I was a freshman in high school because I wanted to play more than study. Thus, at the end of an eight-week term I wound up with an F in biology, F as in Flynn. My parents were furious and promised dire retribution if I didn’t bring that grade up to a C.
My mother sat me down and made me virtually memorize the textbook. It seemed impossible, but when we got into it I found out that I could do it. I did it, and as a result I aced the final and came out with a C for the semester, much to my relief and the satisfaction of my parents.
Now let me ask you another question: Did you ever get straight A’s? I know of one girl who went through college and never got a grade lower than an A. Pretty good, huh? However, did you know that you can actually flunk out with straight A’s? Matthew 5:20 tells us that we can. Listen to what it says: "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." This text presents us with a sobering thought: human goodness is not good enough for God.
Now who were these Pharisees? We talked about them on this broadcast a few weeks ago, but now I want to look at them from a different angle. The word itself means separatist. The Pharisees were a group of men who had separated themselves from the rest of the Jews and formed a code of observance that was more rigid than the law itself.
Their rules went far beyond anything in the OT Scriptures. For example, in one of Christ’s parables he talks about a Pharisee who fasted twice a week. However, the law only required one fast a month. Thus, they became paragons of virtue and famous for their holiness. The average person would say, "I could never match that in a million years."
Yet Christ said that we would have to do better than what the Pharisees did. Wow! How can we do that?
Now who were the teachers of the law? These men were experts in the Torah and played a vital role in the education of people. Since most could no longer read Hebrew, this meant that they depended on the lawyers to teach them the law and its meaning. The thinking of the best of these teachers became a part of Jewish tradition, which was the official Jewish interpretation of the Torah. The Jews saw these men as the successors to the Old Testament prophets.
The teachers of the law, or scribes as the King James Version calls them, and Pharisees had added up the things that God wanted them to do. They taught that the law contained 248 things to do and 365 things not to do. Their goal was to fulfill all of these requirements.
How can we ever exceed this? In the Dead Sea Scrolls one of the key figures is the Teacher of Righteousness, and as a result of his teaching the Essene community were even more radical than the Pharisees.
Yet Christ directed his most scathing criticisms toward these kind of people. In Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight." Luke 11:39 says: "Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.’"
They practiced what some would call Hollywood holiness. Remember the film, The Omega Code? Last October it made it to the top ten. While taking $8 million to produce, it took in $11 million in just two months. Now this is not to malign the character of the actors or the producers, but the fact remains that while on the scene the actors were playing a part, following the script. My point is that when you do in real life what the actors did on the screen, you are practicing Hollywood holiness because you are acting, following a script instead of really doing it.
Another illustration of this is the Christian computer games that some love to play. For example, War in Heaven is a game where you are either the angelic host or the evil angels. Saints of Virtue is a game where you travel into the human heart and fight the evil passions of the soul. This may all be well and good, but the point is that it is a game and not the real thing. This is Hollywood holiness.
Christ says that you and I are only capable of external righteousness while God requires a change of heart. The Phillips translation of Matthew 5:20 says: "For I tell you that your goodness must be a far better thing than the goodness of the scribes and Pharisees before you can set foot in the kingdom of heaven at all."
One Christian author puts it this way: "You can pile human goodness upon human goodness upon human goodness; you can refine and perfect it and polish it, but no matter how hard you try you fall short of God’s standard." The Living Bible translation of Romans 3:20 says: "Now do you see it? No one can ever be made right in God’s sight by doing what the law commands. For the more we know of God’s laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren’t obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners."
So what is the remedy? Philippians 3:8-9 says: "What is more, I consider everything a loss . . . I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."
Thus, God gives us in a moment what we could never obtain in a million years. When that happens, everything changes. Let me illustrate this point. Have you ever heard of the Lotus Effect? The lotus is a beautiful blossom with dazzling whiteness. It is the national flower of India, the sacred flower of Hinduism, and prominent in Buddhism. It begins its life in the mud of a pond, shoots up through the muck and scum, and blossoms with a dazzling white flower.
How does it stay so clean in such an environment? Dr. Welhelm Barthlott of the University of Bonn began to study the phenomenon, and he discovered what he calls the Lotus Effect. The key is surface roughness. For example, imagine a board full of nails. If a piece of paper should float down onto the nails, it will not stick; in fact, a drop of water flowing down the nails will dislodge the paper.
This is how the lotus blossom stays clean. If dirt particles should lodge on the petals, the morning dew will sweep them away without even getting the petals wet. By the same analogy, when we clothe ourselves with the righteousness of Christ, it takes and changes our spiritual epidermis so that the filth rolls off because it can’t stick.
The other day I came across a statement that illustrates the change of heart that Christ makes. This is a statement written by someone regarding the disposition of his body. It is a powerful statement illustrating what the thinking of a Christian should be, and I would like to read it to you.
"At a certain moment, a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped. When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my "deathbed." Call it my "bed of life," and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
"Give my sight to someone who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of another. Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. Give my blood to the teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her windows.
"Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow. If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all my prejudice against my other humans. Give my sins to the Devil. Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever." Now isn’t that good news?
