We need to receive the teaching of Jesus exactly like it is written because many have diluted it or made it mean something it doesn't mean. Because they're not able to live up to God’s standard, many teachers have lowered His standard down to their level. Whenever you see something in God's Word that you haven't attained to, or which is higher than your level of life, you have two options. One option is to say, “Well, God’s Word doesn't really mean that. It means something in a general way but not exactly that.” For example, “I know that it says, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always,’ in Philippians 4:4, but it doesn't really mean ‘always.’ It means, ‘generally speaking,’ or ‘most of the time.’” Thus you have succeeded in lowering God's Word down to your carnal level, and you satisfy yourself by imagining that you're obeying it. But the spiritually-minded Christian leaves God's Word where it is and says, “I'm supposed to rejoice in the Lord 24/7,” and he acknowledges humbly, “Lord, I'm not there yet. I'm rejoicing some of the time, grumbling some of the time (or most of the time), and angry often, but I'm not rejoicing in all circumstances. I'm not giving thanks for everything like the Bible says, so I acknowledge this. Please bring me there.”

That’s the person who will reach God’s standard. The other person, who has lowered God’s standard to his level, will never attain it. One day he will wake up in eternity and discover that he disobeyed God all his life. So, it's good to leave God's Word where it is, and acknowledge that either we haven't understood it or we haven't reached there. Then there's some hope we will get there.

We must bear this in mind as we come to Matthew 5:20: “I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds/surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The righteousness of the Pharisees was a pretty high standard. They kept the Ten Commandments. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, “I kept all the commandments,” Jesus didn't question that. (Of course, they couldn't keep the Tenth Commandment, but nobody could keep that because the tenth one was inward. But they were keeping the other nine commandments, and all the Old Testament laws, which included more than 600 commandments.) The Pharisees boasted that they prayed regularly, probably three times a day, fasted twice a week, and gave tithes of all their income. So what does it mean when this verse says that your righteousness must exceed theirs?

Does it mean that you have to pray more than three times a day, fast more than twice a week, and give more than 10 percent of your income? That’s not the meaning. We always think in terms of quantity, because our mind is worldly-minded. The more worldly-minded we are, the more we think in terms of numbers, statistics, and quantity. We judge a church by the number of people there are, not by the quality of life of those people. We think Jesus said, “All men will know you are My disciples when there are 30,000 of you meeting in one church.” But that's not what He said. He told his eleven disciples, “All men will know you are my disciples when you eleven love one another.” The number of people doesn't matter. Love for one another is the primary mark of a true local church of disciples.

Jesus always emphasized quality. Today's Christianity, such as mission organizations and mega churches, emphasizes numbers. How many people are there in our church? How many places have you reached? How much is our yearly offering? These are the things they inwardly glory in. Or preachers will say: How many countries have I travelled to? How many sermons have I preached? How many books have I written? How many TV programs am I speaking on? These are the things that carnal people glory in.

Jesus always emphasized quality: quality salt and quality light. He had only eleven disciples at the end of His life. That’s not a large number, but look at the quality of their lives. Those eleven disciples turned the world upside down. Where do you find disciples like that, who have forsaken all, who have no interest in money, and things like this? It’s so rare to find even one preacher like that in the world today.

And it’s quality that Jesus was emphasizing when He said, “Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.” Quality, not in the number of activities that you engage in. It's got nothing to do with money. It's got nothing to do with praying. It's got nothing to do with fasting. It's got to do with quality of life.

Jesus goes on in the remaining verses (in fact, almost until the end of the Sermon on the Mount) explaining this one verse. We can say the majority of the Sermon on the Mount is explaining Matthew 5:20. Do you want to enter the kingdom of heaven? Then your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees. We must not lower God's standards.