The promised kingdom we enter though Christ is to be a kingdom modeled on our Father’s righteous character (Med.#15). As daughters and ‘sons of the kingdom’ (Med.#17) we are to rule with him in ‘relational righteousness’, with our Father and with each other; and for this we need a new, ‘mature’ approach to righteousness. In the above text, Jesus suggests there are also two immature ways to approach righteous relationship with God and with people in response to the Good News.

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law had identified 248 commands in the Bible, as well as 365 prohibitions in the Scriptures; and they had ‘bolstered’ these ‘with 1,521 emendations’[iii]. Many church people also approach righteousness as a system of rituals, disciplines and rules taught by their leaders. In their attempt to please God, or to avoid displeasing him in this way, such people usually end up becoming focused on sin—on avoiding it, managing it, or at least identifying what is or is not sinful. But this approach actually hinders relational righteousness with God, for it keeps us focused on ourselves and on our own performance—usually in comparison to other people!

This approach also leads us to focus on the obvious sins that we do not commit—like murder and adultery. But then we ignore the invisible sinful steps we may be taking in our hearts ‘towards’ visibly committing these sins—like angry words and covetous thoughts. And, like the Pharisees and scribes, we end up adding more rules to qualify what is sinful, and then use these to keep up the appearance of being righteous. I may have divorced her but at least I did it in a legal way. I may have been unloving, but he’s an ‘evil person’ and not really my ‘neighbor’. Following a system of ‘sin management’ usually only leads us towards self-justification and religious pride.

But it can also lead to a perpetual feeling of unworthiness. People who get tired of trying to ‘keep up appearances’ like this often accept a ‘second-class’ position in the Church; or they leave the church, tired of submitting to the religious abuse of leaders who shame them and try to scare the sin out of them. Others conclude that God’s standards are simply too high for ordinary people. Only Jesus can live up to it. And these people migrate to churches where the Sermon on the Mount is no more than a noble set of moral principles that have replaced the Law.

Jesus' message for all these people is this: ‘A sin-focused approach to righteousness will never get you into the kingdom.’ Why?—because you are still thinking like an underage child. The Gospel is not only about forgiveness of sins but about coming of age in Christ—as adult sons and daughters of the Father (Med.#4 & Med.#8).

Okay. If it's about becoming an adult, let's just throw away the Law. In Christ we are free at last! Hold on, says Jesus, not so fast. Yes. If you focus on your freedom and teach others to disregard the commands you don’t like, you are acting like an immature teenager. Though inside the kingdom, you won't amount to much in it.

Mature adults, however, recognize that their own hearts are the problem, not the Law! What both the ‘systems-people’ and the ‘anti-rules-people’ forget is that even in the Old Testament God’s laws are rooted in heart attitudes. The only problem with the Law is that, by itself, it is ‘weak’, even though it is ‘good’ (Rom.8:3; 7:12-23).

Jesus, however, presents a third way of pursuing righteousness—a new ‘mature’ way of walking in relational righteousness (Gr.dikaiosunee)[ii] with the Father—one in which we continue to grow to full ‘maturity’. Trying to keep the Law cannot make anyone ‘mature’ [Gr. e-teleiosen] (Heb.7:19). Yet if we focus on knowing the Father through Jesus, we can ‘become’ his adult ‘sons’ with power in the Spirit to ‘be mature just as he is mature’. And when we focus on becoming like our Dad, we stop focusing on how we are managing sin better than our ‘sinful neighbors’—like the tax-collecting, enemy-collaborators, and the Hellenistic ‘ones (who have become) conformed to the nations’ [Gr. ethnikoi], who in the religious system of Jesus' day were no longer seen as ‘brother and sister’ Jews.

When we turn to Jesus and receive the Spirit, there is joy in heaven and we ‘come of age’ into a new relationship with God as our Papa (Med.#4, Med.#20). And his word to us shows that he likes us: ‘You are my son, (my daughter), I’m well pleased with you’ (Med.#26; Med.#32). When we finally grasp this truth, we stop worrying about displeasing him and think instead about how to please him and how, in the power of his Holy Spirit, we can be more mature like him.

His Spirit will also help you to see our Father's character in everything. In the way the sun comes up every morning, and in the way the rain continues to nourish the earth, you will see his compassion for evil people as well as for good ones. And you will see his character in Jesus—in the way he forgives his enemies, and prays for his abusers. You will also see how ready he is to forgive you when you live a lifestyle of repentance by quickly confessing your own failings. As ‘mature ones’ [Gr. teleioi]—adult sons and daughters—in Christ, we recognize we are not yet fully 'mature' [te-teleiomai] (Med.#56). Yet our confidence in our Father’s love motivates us to seek the Holy Spirit’s help to remove every obstacle that keeps us from becoming ‘mature’ like our Dad. For we know that by walking with our Father like Jesus did, we too will be 'transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory' (Med.#32). This is what true ‘maturity’ in righteousness looks like. This is the ‘mature’ approach to relational righteousness that Jesus taught.

[i] The whole Scripture Passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses, pp.63-65.

[ii] Greek dikaio-sunee = ‘righteous-with’ or ‘relational righteousness’ with God, or with people, or with both (See note [ii], Med.#11).

[iii] Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan 1995, p.132.