Matt. 5:20 “ For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
On many occasions Jesus astounded his disciples by the unusual things that He told them to do. Once when they were tired and disgusted with a long and unsuccessful fishing trip, He sent them out again, telling them to launch out into the deep and let down their nets. On another occasion He pointed out the Pharisees, considered the most prigly (sic) religious people in the land, and said “Your righteousness must exceed these.” Again He startled them out of self-satisfied smugness by asking “What do ye more than others?” To the disciples He once said “Ye are not of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
This conception of the Christian calling as something unusual continued in the early Church. When the first missionaries came to Thessalonica they were greeted with the cry, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.” The early Church was called “ecclesia,” meaning literally a group called out from the world.
Christians are not supposed to be ordinary people, conforming to the order of the world. In these days we need this assurance, for the sharp edge of Christ's teaching is often dulled by the desire to comply with current customs. We must learn anew to be brave nonconformists, daring all criticism if we are sure of our ground.
Christians are God's own people, so spoken of in Paul's letter to Titus, where it says “Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” How that word “peculiar” stands out in our consciousness!
Peter adds fuel to the fire. He says “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a hold nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God.”
Followers of Jesus Christ, Peter goes on to say, are God's chosen people, who has inherited all promises made to Israel . Christ is the cornerstone on which this new nation is built, a cornerstone that becomes a stumbling block to those who do not have faith in Christ, but which is a precious rock of salvation to us.
So we Christians are peculiar! But lest any misconstrue, peculiar in this sense does not mean eccentric or erratic. It means one's own, as God's own people, a people separated or set apart. Some sects seem to take the word in its customary modern interpretation, and base their Christianity on the wearing of odd clothing, or the use of strange forms of speech, or the attempt to live abnormal or wayward lives. These methods are not in the true spirit of the Gospel. There is no harm in conforming to custom, style and habits as long as they do not separate us from God. From one generation to another social customs change. Eating habits, dress, even moral ideas are far different today from what they were only fifty years ago. Such change is natural and to be expected. Our grandchildren may be horrified by some of the things that we accept as everyday customs.
Even church life changes. In the days of Abraham Lincoln a church which he occasionally attended had a rule which may well have kept him from further intimacy with its membership rolls. It read “Any member failing three times to attend church meetings without a just cause shall give offense and they themselves are liable to be reproved as the church may think proper.” Suppose we heard that rule read from our pulpits on, let's say, next Easter Sunday!
Amid all the changes of the passing generations, Christians stand out as peculiar people, who live extra-ordinary lives. Let me point out five ways in which we Christians differ from the rest of the world today.
We differ in our attitude toward God. The world outside of the Christian Church either disregards God, or disarms Him by deeming Him an impersonal, cosmic influence, shackled by His own laws. The Christian knows God as His heavenly Father, a loving and kind friend. No incident of life occurs without His knowledge. His power can help in time of sickness, or provide rescue from danger. The Christian, knowing this love and power that belongs to God, keeps in constant touch with Him by means of prayer. It amazes him to notice how many people never pray, and never take advantage of the flow of power that comes from conversation with God. The Christian's knowledge and faith in God's loving kindness and readiness to help in time of need gives him a source of strength and security which the rest of the world never knows.
Christians are different, too, in their attitude toward life. The world regards life as a sort of game, in which some undefined victory can be won. Cheating or unfair advantage is all right in this game, provided you're not caught. By this standard, if a man pays his bills, keeps out of jail, doesn't get drunk too often, restrains himself from stealing his neighbor's wife or destroying property, then he's a good man and is living a good life! How utterly trivial and weak such a conception is when compared with a Christian's! But the chances are in this nation of ours where less than half of the population is enrolled in any church, that the man next door or the one across the street is an adherent of just this kind of wish-washy philosophy.
There was a type of religious man in the days of Jesus whose standard of goodness was all written down in black and white. If he obeyed certain rules and observed certain fasts he was living up to the best that God could demand, according to his way of thinking. One of these individuals went up to the temple to pray, one day, and said “O God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men. I give tithes of all I possess. I fast twice in the week.” He was so proud of his rule-keeping righteousness that he just had to tell God about it. But Jesus, saddened at this kind of outward and hypocritical religion, said “Except your righteousness shall exceed that of these Pharisees….”
The Christian attitude toward life is guided by the good of mankind, the welfare of his fellow men, and the proper humility before God. Life becomes a game, too, but it is a game played toward a standard of perfection that insists on constant improvement. If some method of measurement were to reveal that one year our attainment was 70% of perfection, the aim of next year would necessarily be 75%. The goal is ever increasing, and there is constant striving for improvement, continual dissatisfaction, continual advancement. How different from the smug contentment of those who are convinced by their own puny standards that they are living the best of all possible lives!
Another obvious difference lies in the attitude toward material things. The world says money and power are all-important. The Christian admits the value of a just reward for labor, but places first the Kingdom of God —spiritual safety. When this is in its proper position of priority, all other things fall into their places without question.
A fourth difference between Christian living and wordly living lies in the attitude expressed toward others. The world says “push yourself ahead, get what you can out of others, love your friends and hate your enemies.” when criticized for the selfishness of this attitude, the world defends itself with a show of ignorance about the very existence of others, and asks comically, “Who is my neighbor?”
The Christian knows all mankind as neighbors, all deserving of the utmost consideration regardless of position, race, distance, or any other factor. Love is needed for our enemies even more than for our friends, and kindness and good will are the standards of treatment for all men. Giving, rather than getting, is the supreme satisfaction in life. “Do good to all men” is the password into the camp of the Christians.
A final and very evident difference between the world and the Christian lies in the attitude shown toward death. The world grieves and wails when the end of earthly life comes. It is a loss, a defeat, a dishonor. Human strength has been belittled and mourns, and makes a great show of burials and stone monuments, in a brave but bootless effort to escape oblivion.
The Christian hears the hopeful promise of the Bible, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” He hears the joyous message of the Saviour , “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise …in my Father's House…let not your heart be troubled.”
By this standard death is the entrance into a larger life, a fuller existence, a better world. The early Christians amazed their pagan neighbors, for at a funeral they sang and rejoiced. Nothing like that had ever been seen before in all the world. Nothing could better emphasize the cleavage between the world and God's peculiar people.
These five differences in attitude are not complete. They merely serve to point out why Christians must be unusual people who live extraordinary lives. Christianity never was intended to conform to the world. It was aimed at turning the world upside down. We must accept the epithet of peculiarity. Our religion is one of dissatisfaction, or originality, or striving toward perfection, of constant hope, of upheaval. It is not at home in the world. Its best expression is in unworldliness .
Victor Hugo in “Les Miserables ” tells the story of Bishop Welcome, who in his new diocese was to live in a sixty-room mansion. Across the street from the Bishop's palace was a tiny six-room hospital. One day the Bishop crossed the street and greeted the superintendent of the hospital
“How many patients do you have? he asked.
“Twenty-six, your Excellency” was the reply.
“In six rooms?”
“Yes, we are rather crowded.”
“It is clear that some mistake has been made,” the Bishop then said. “Our houses have been mixed up. You have my house and I have yours. Move your patients across the street as soon as possible in order that I may occupy my house.”
So the sick people were moved into the sixty-room mansion and the Bishop transferred his belongings to the little one-story hospital.
The people in the town were amazed. “He doesn't act like a Bishop,” they said.
Perhaps they were right, but he acted like a Christian. His goodness was original. Just so, we all need to blaze new trails of service with our good inclinations. The Christian life is most likely to be the extraordinary life!
Who is the best doctor in your town? Or the best lawyer? Or the best teacher? Or the best preacher? Or the best public official? Isn't it the one who shares most generously? And who is the best Christian you know? Isn't it the one who serves most unselfishly?
That brings us right back where we started, with the question Jesus addressed to His followers. “What are you doing more than others do? For he who gives will receive, and he who loses his life will find it.”