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.

Matthew 5:20

The flesh profits nothing, it is the Spirit that gives life.  For there is no work, no deed, nor anything else that God would regard as righteous, but only such as those that come from Himself.  For, there is none that is righteous, that is, in their flesh in themselves, that could ever perform any good thing, for all have turned aside and gone after their own way.

What righteousness could we do?  We can hear, we can obey, and we can follow.  Those good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do, we do, and because it is by faith, God counts it as righteousness.

They are pure works, so long as they are in, by, and only of Him.  Though they are performed by our hands, they are His deeds, and therefore, so long as they are fully surrendered to Him, those parts of the deeds are flawless.

[H]e that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Galatians 6:8 (portion)

Jesus spoke, and the world was created.  Jesus spoke, and men followed Him.  Jesus speaks, and we hear Him.

What is done out of a relationship with Him is of worth.  What responds to His voice, hears His call, and follows Him is worth something in heaven.  He, the author, calls us, and counts us faithful in His stead.  He, the originator, calls us into His deeds, His perfection, and His works.

No work or ministry performed outside of that can ever equal God’s requirement, except the ones that act according to His Word, both the written and the freshly spoken.

His Words, His life, His Spirit within us.

As we, like Him, see what the Father is doing, and as we follow and obey.

For in Him is a righteousness that surpasses all others.  In His Life, we find a light that enlightens every dark place.  For it is in the serving, worshiping, and adoration of Him, that His Spirit quickens to us the way that we should go.

And, as we gather, it is not the outward forms that have any merit before Him, for to elevate a form, or to promote a program is to raise an idol to worship.  But, the true service, the true order before Him is the order of the heart, it is the relating to Him and functioning in and to and through Him, out of the New Heart,  in which He is pleased.

This is the righteousness Jesus spoke of.  Not a work man must perform, but, as He said elsewhere, we will not enter the Kingdom unless we do the will of Him who sent us!  And, how might we do that, unless, by some agency, we see the Father as Jesus saw Him, hear Him as He heard Him, and follow as He did.  Whether we are aware or not, as Peter was not even aware that He had heard from the Father when He did until Jesus pointed it out (Matthew 16:17).

This is the Kingdom that Jesus pointed to, and Paul attested to it.

 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Romans 8:14

All other forms, all other attempts to please God, if they replace the simple relating to Him, our Father, are carnal, humanistic, and vain.  They no more please God than silver and gold, they simply are the material.  But, when we come into one accord before Him, as we enter into worship and engage His heart, His is the glory, the Kingdom, and the power, forever and ever.

Life in the Spirit is sown, it is anointed, and it is given.  It is sown daily, moment by moment, reaping a harvest of eternal life, building and forming the Christ within and purifying our souls through obeying the truth.  It is anointed, as He pours out His Spirit without limit upon the people without mixture.  And, it is given, given as a drink offering, poured out upon the sacrifice and service coming from other’s faith.  Even as God so loved that He gave, so He gives us, so that whether it is through comfort or distress, it is for another’s good.

Yet, were is any boasting?  It is only those deeds done through His Spirit that have any merit, and as we yield to Him, give way to Him, and enable Him, we not only do the miraculous (Matthew 16:17), but become partakers of His very nature of divinity (2 Peter 1:4, Psalm 82:6, John 10:34).

For surely, He is a good Father, restoring fellowship to those cast away, and seeking the lost and the broken.

Only In Him is there strength for the weary, and Only In Him is there healing for the broken.

No other way would keep you, and no other life would sustain.

It was relatively easy for Israelites to leave Egypt, to leave their oppressors and leave their bondage, but then came the Jordan, and they were asked to walk not away from struggle, but into it.  They were no longer leaving the hardships for escape, they were being asked to leave their relative peace and calm for armed conflict, instigated aggression, and full-on war, and they looked at the bad report, instead of the Word, and shrank back from the battle.

While the battle was already determined by the Lord, they still had to strap on their swords and fight.  Though the spirit of the people before them was broken, the men of Israel were asked to man up to the task at hand, yet only two would.

For the fruit of the ten spies, they shrank and fell, and all the people came with them.

It is easy to go half-way with Jesus, but who will give Him His due, and purposely go forth at His call?  Who will heed His every command, both to the wilderness, and to the fight.  They are both there, and they are both valid, but He rewards those who diligently pursue Him.

It is relatively easy hear a few things from God and do them to a measure.  But, who would surrender their whole life to His Spirit, so that He is all they have, so that He is all they do, so that He is all they live.  That man, while a slave in the flesh, would never be matched in the Spirit.  Surely, it is only the life laid down, fully surrendered, that is most useful in the Kingdom.

Others may come, and may even see more of what seems like fruit, but it is the sacrifice of a life that honors God, and He demands it from us all.  To the degree that we see, to the degree that we find, we must walk His walk, and live His life.  If we do all we can with what we have, we have given all, and, like the widow with only two mites, we gave of our living, and not merely of our excess.  Though the world may not recognize it, it is His, and from His throne, He sees the eyes of men.