All have sinned – Romans 3:23 – but we cannot by our own strength be righteous before God – Isaiah 64:6 – because they are like filthy rags before Him. Our Adamic nature makes it impossible for us to be righteous apart from God – Romans 9:30.

So, what does the topic mean? Dimension and dynamics of righteousness has to do with the different angles or measurements of righteousness and the action or activities associated with it. Jesus made us to understand that our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees – Matthew 5:20 – which was steeped in self-righteousness due to their knowledge of the law, their obedience to the oral tradition of the Jews and the Mosaic law, and their ability to measure up even the minutest details of the law, like tithes of herbs like mint etc. – Matthew 23:23-24.

In today’s world, a lot of people are more concerned with the doctrines and traditions of the Church they attend than what the Word of God is saying – Matthew 15:1-9 and Mark 7:1-13. Just as Jesus was angry with the Pharisees because their oral traditions were more important to them than the Word of God, how much more we who are under grace are upsetting God by adhering to dead traditions, doctrines and laws that are devoid of life, do not bring us closer to God and cause us to know God less, become self-righteous and hypocritical.

A classic example of self-righteousness as exhibited by the Pharisees is seen in Luke 18:9-14. A Pharisee and a Publican went into the temple to pray. Whilst the Pharisee was extolling his own good works and debunking the so called “evils” of others before God, the Publican saw himself as he really was and as human beings really are: sinners and unable to be clean apart from God. The Publican was the one justified before God and God expects us to realise our hopelessness without Him.

What are the manifestations of the righteousness of the Pharisees?

1) “Do as I say, not as I do” – Matthew 23:1-4 – The Pharisees put yokes and heavy burdens on others which they themselves cannot and will not carry. As Christians, we should not put expectations on people that we ourselves are not willing to meet. Calling Jesus “Lord lord” doesn’t mean anything if we are disobedient to God`s will – Matthew 7:21 – It is the doers of the Word that are justified. We might fill ourselves with God`s Word, quote it, speak it but if we don’t obey it, we are self-righteous – Romans 2:13 and James 1:22. Don`t do things to get man`s applause and don’t work in eye-service to be seen by others – Matthew 23:5-7 and Matthew 6:1-8.

2) Those who neglect some aspects of God`s Law – Matthew 23:23-24. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for majoring on minor issues. We cannot pick and choose the aspects of the Word of God to accept and obey and those to ignore or push aside.

3) They are lovers of money – what you love, you cannot easily give out but what you do not love, you can easily give out. Those who love money cannot give to God or others. 1 Timothy 6:9-10 – The love of money is the root of all evil and can become a snare to those who love it. The Bible clearly states that we cannot serve God and Mammon – Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13. Pharisees are only after what they can gain to feed their own desires – Philippians 3:18-19 – and they do not care about those who are in lack – James 2:14-17. Pharisees are worldly and think that they are better than others because of their wealth and status. I John 2:15-17 warns against worldliness. The standards of the world are not of God. A worldly person can never be righteous. The lust of the things of the world can cause one to become self-righteous. When we depend on the righteousness of God, pursue after righteousness by having a living relationship with Christ, obey the Word of God by being separated from the world; we will give glory to God with our lives as He has always intended.

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In Matthew 13:3-8, our Lord Jesus refers to the Word of God as seeds for sowing, and our hearts as soil under different conditions: some hearts are stony, hard to penetrate and lacking root; others are thorny, barbed with the lusts of this world; but some hearts are good and fertile soil, cleared of rubbish and ready to receive the Word of God (hence breaking up your fallow ground). In Matthew 13:24-30, he goes further to teach us that it is not only God that sows His Word into our hearts – Satan, too, is always out to sow evil seeds into our hearts when we’re not alert: seeds of doubt and unforgiveness in our relationships, seeds of lustful and unclean thoughts, seeds of malice and malignance. In fact, Jesus says that all that we say and do is rooted in our hearts (Matthew 12:34-35; 15:18-20). That is why Proverbs 4:23 instructs us to “keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”

It takes a regenerated heart to obey the voice of God and fulfil His commandments (Romans 2:28-29). It takes a mature heart to handle the abundant blessings that God has ordained for each and every one of us and to not forget Him along the way (Deuteronomy 8:16-18). Even in the area of spiritual warfare, the need for our hearts to be aright in the sight of God cannot be emphasised enough. As soldiers of Jesus Christ, according to 2 Timothy 2:3-4, we cannot afford to engage in prayer warfare based on our emotions, on carnal anger, on hatred, on anxiety or fear. Our emotions are carnal. However, the fight we fight is not carnal, but spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:12). Like soldiers in the natural sense, warring based on our emotions can leave us to be dangerously exposed to demonic reprisals. Even worse, like natural soldiers, continual warring with a heart that is spiritually immature and that has not been touched by God can at long last leave one to be spiritually traumatised. That will never be your portion in Jesus’ name.

Today, we need to sit down and ask ourselves, “What type of heart do I really have?” If we ask God to reveal what is in our hearts and search deeply within ourselves, we would be surprised to see what is lurking inside. God wants us to “rend our hearts, and not our garments, and turn unto the Lord our God” (Joel 2:12-13). Now, more than ever is the time for us to be sincere, open and honest to God. Whether we are young or old in the Lord, we need to ask God to transform our hearts. With a pure heart will we eventually see God (Matthew 5:8), and with a clean heart may we have confidence before the judgment seat of Christ (1 John 3:20-21; 4:17). Even so, having changed hearts is not the final bus stop: we must maintain our hearts and DILIGENTLY GUARD them AT ALL TIMES. Why? Well, Saul, a man whose heart was touched by God (1 Samuel 10:9), later backslid, turning from God due to his own negligence (1 Samuel 15:13-24). Therefore, we need to ask God to touch our hearts DAILY and resist the devil’s attempts to sow evil seeds in them by refusing to dwell on anger, unforgiveness, or any evil thought. We need to ask God for His mercy and touch on a daily basis, and for Him to remove every emotional burden from us when we go into prayer warfare. We need to meditate on the Word of God, sing and listen to songs of praise and worship, and hear good counsel when matters arise. Such and such are sure ways to help you keep your heart.

Let God expose unto you every evil seed that the enemy may have planted in your heart. Let our Lord Jesus Christ touch, cleanse, and regenerate your heart, that you may ever know Him, worship Him, and obey Him in spirit and in truth. Let our Lord Jesus also grant unto you the grace to keep your heart every day of your life, as you interact with people, as you pray, and as you prosper, even as your soul prospers (3 John 2). Above all, Satan shall never find any place in your heart, but your heart shall ever be the dwelling place of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, in the mighty name of Jesus.

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We Christians seem to have a lot of tendencies. We tend to remember the time, the place, and the pew of when we first confessed Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, but we also tend to forget about the first principles of our faith: how to love one another and follow the commandments of God. We tend to make our sowing, almsgiving, and work in the house of God the pinnacle of our Christianity, which are of course good things, but we also tend to forget that our relationship with God is what is most important to Him and should be to us too. We tend to pray, or even go into fasting, with a genuine desire for God’s intervention in our lives and situations, but we often overlook an important aspect of our lives: the aspect that can either propel or hinder our answered prayers, that can beautify or belittle our good works before God, and that is ever before the eyes of the Lord. We Christians are good at offering our praise, our worship, our time, our tithes, and our sacrifices, but it’s high time that we offer up unto the Lord OUR HEARTS. Whether we are seasoned Christians or newly born again, we cannot afford to be near to God with our lips yet afar with our hearts. We are in the end times. We cannot afford to risk our eternity with Christ because of stony hearts. As Hosea 10:12 says, “break up your fallow ground, for it’s time to seek the Lord…”

“… Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” – Hosea 10:12.

We often mistake our work for God and our relationship with God as one and the same, when in fact, they are two separate things. Using our relationships with people as an analogy, you may be doing things for them without actually knowing (or wanting to know) them in depth. In fact, you may not be doing those things from the heart, but only to fulfill your own interests or get something in return. However, when you have a close relationship with someone, it goes beyond what you do for them: you reach a level of intimacy with that person, and attain a desire to spend quality time with them. So also is the case with God. God wants us to know him beyond the works and beyond the blessings, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. The key to us developing a stronger relationship with God is through the REGENERATION OF OUR HEARTS, where through a changed heart we can indeed worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). No wonder why to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)!

Like being born again, the regeneration of the heart is a definite moment when God touches you, removes your stony heart, and replaces it with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26). Such a heart is tender, willing to hear and obey His voice, and a fertile ground for the Word of God to prosper. It is only with a heart of flesh that we can truly forgive AND forget. Really, we Christians ought to have regenerated hearts to be truly born again (Romans 10:10). The heart is arguably the most spiritual aspect of our bodies, which links the body, soul, and spirit together. As Ezekiel 11:19 shows, the heart is the seat of our relationship with God. Indeed, it is only through a regenerated heart that we can worship God in spirit and in truth, and fulfil His commandments (Romans 2:28-29). This explains why God is so interested in our hearts. But, for what God is interested in, so is the enemy…

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