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Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. [1]

~Jesus (Matthew 5:17-20)

At work, we have lots of rules and regulations. If our company has been around long enough, we have volumes of them. Our leaders at work are rule makers, rule enforcers and rule followers. They want to see us comply. Sometimes, however, they do not follow the rules they have made up.

Jesus has given us a roadmap to navigate it all. Mercy, for example, will triumph over 100 pages of HR policies. Jesus challenges us, in our faith at work, to live on a higher level than the elite rule makers and their enforcement arms.

What is righteousness in the context of our work environment? We can start with this definition from Wayne Grudem:

Righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right  .[2]

When we hear Jesus talk about our righteousness, it means we act in accordance what is right from God’s perspective. We must be at a higher level than the HR policy details. Our job at work is to reflect the righteousness of God. How will we exceed the righteousness of our corporate elites? Here are some starting points from Jesus.

  • Be poor in spirit
  • Mourn
  • Be humble
  • Hunger and thirst for righteousness
  • Be merciful.
  • Focus on being pure in heart
  • Be a peacemaker

That should be enough for our day at work!

[1] New American Standard Bible. (2020). (Matthew 5:17–20). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[2] Grudem, W. (2020). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition, p. 243). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic.