by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
In Jesus’ great sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus spoke of the necessary principles of those who would be part of His kingdom. He said that if our standard of “righteousness” did not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we could by “no means enter the kingdom of heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 5:20). So, He proceeded to give examples of their lower standard versus the standard He expects of those who want to be under His rule and citizens of His kingdom. It is a high standard of righteousness. We must be committed to Jesus and His standard.<\/p>\n Of the word “righteousness,” Vine’s says it means “right-wise-ness.” That is, God’s people must be wise to do <\/b>right, wise to be <\/b>right with God, and wise to know <\/b>and employ <\/b>the principles of right living.<\/p>\n We live in a world and country that lacks wisdom regarding right principles and right living. Why? Because those principles come from a holy God who must be acknowledged and respected. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction<\/em>” (Proverbs 1:7). That respect for God is the foundation of knowing and appreciating right versus wrong. Even religious leaders are often telling people that God “accepts you as you are.” Some tell the congregation that the only requirement is “faith only” (empty of any change of behavior and moral principle). But that is a righteousness below even that of the scribes and Pharisees. Unless we adopt the principles of Jesus and His righteous standard, we are exhibiting no faith in Jesus at all. We cannot be salt or light unless our lives stand out in this dark world.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton In Jesus’ great sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus spoke of the necessary principles of those who would be part of His kingdom. He said that if our standard of “righteousness” did not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we could by “no means enter the kingdom of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-95294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-righteousness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-sermon-on-the-mount-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":0},"title":"Was the Sermon on the Mount Nailed to the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton There has not been a more fundamental question about how to rightly divide the word of truth and how to apply the scriptures than this one. At first, you might think this question is preposterous, but bear with me. There are brethren lurking in churches today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-jesus-was-born-under-the-law-argument\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":1},"title":"The “Jesus Was Born Under the Law” Argument","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton The Argument Stated: Jesus was \"born\" under the law (Galatians 4:4) and he died on the cross to \"end\" the Old Testament law of Moses (Romans 10:4; Colossians 2:14). The Argument Answered: First, while Jesus was born under the law and lived perfectly under the law,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":78796,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-or-hate\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":2},"title":"Love or Hate","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If the Law said to \"hate your enemies\" (via Matthew 5:43), and Jesus was obligated to uphold the Law, then Jesus was obligated to hate His enemies, and He would have sinned if He did not hate his enemies. No! That will not work! Jesus does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-self-righteousness\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":3},"title":"The Sin of Self-Righteousness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steven Harper Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of the first century, often because they had a too-high view of themselves. When He was at the house of Simon [a Pharisee], a woman who was known to be a sinner came in and began to wash His feet with her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/proud.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95885,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-merciful\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":4},"title":"The Merciful","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy\" (Matthew 5:7 NKJV). Obtaining mercy from God is a great blessing, but God intends to give\u00a0it only to those who believe it is worth giving to others. If we do not become merciful in our character, then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/righteousness-peace-and-joy-in-jesus-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":95294,"position":5},"title":"Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in Jesus’ Kingdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit\" (Romans 14:17). The kingdom should feature an emphasis on righteousness. Living by righteous standards is what the kingdom is about. Dietary laws of the Old Testament\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}