The church is on a decline, and a lot of it is because we have developed a self-righteous attitude. We forget that Jesus has called us to serve our community, but we feel it is our job to police the morality of our community. The share of U.S. adults who say they generally attend religious services once a month or more has dropped slightly, from 33% in 2019 to 30% in 2022. -Pew Research The righteousness of Jesus’ followers must surpass mere “religiosity.” What Are God’s Standards For Us? 1. Value His Word Matthew 5:17  The Law or the Prophets referred to the entire Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament). The believer’s relation to God’s law involves the following: The law that Christians are responsible for keeping contains the ethical and moral principles of the OT and the teachings of Christ and the apostles. These laws reveal God’s character, desires, standards, and general purposes for all people, which still apply today.   For Christians, the law is not a system of legal commands and rules by which we can earn forgiveness and spiritual salvation  Faith in Christ is the starting point of fulfilling God’s law. His followers want to live by his laws and standards because of their faith in and love for Christ. Having been freed from slavery to sin, Christ’s followers willingly choose to submit to God’s control and to become “slaves to righteousness.” Jesus took special care to teach that, as an ongoing condition of entering the kingdom of heaven, we must do his Father’s will. We have to make the word not just something that we post on our social media, but it has to be something that changes every fiber of our being. It should be something we do more than just on Sunday morning. God’s word is our daily prescription for all we face, but it does us no good unless we use it as directed. 2. Have The Right Attitude Matthew 5:18-19  Our place in the kingdom of heaven will be determined by our attitude toward God’s law and how we influence others with his law. If we truly love God, we will not feel and act as if his commands burden us. As we learn more about the word of God, our job is to apply it to our lives. We should not see it as an obligation but something we get to do. Do you think Krystal would appreciate it if I came home, did some nice things for her, and said, “There you go, I did what I was supposed to do!” Do you think she would feel very loved? Living our lives in accordance with the laws and Commands of God will be one of the greatest blessings that we will ever experience in our lives. 3. Pursue Righteousness Matthew 5:20  Righteousness: the quality of being morally right or justifiable. The Pharisees and teachers lived by the law and still were not right with God because their “righteousness” was external only. They kept many rules, prayed, praised, fasted, read God’s Word, and attended worship services. However, they substituted the outward actions for the correct inner attitudes and true devotion to God. We must have both. This is an enormous statement. It would have shocked Jesus’ listeners because the scribes and Pharisees were considered the ultimate example of righteousness. Jesus was essentially declaring war on the false pharisaical religion. He insisted that no person could be saved by his or her righteousness. Essentially, Jesus is saying, you see all these religious giants; you must be better than them to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. The issue was that these giants were doing all those good works to make themselves look good. This is where the church has gotten off track; we do good to get people to attend church. God wants us to do good because this is what he commands us to do. God calls us to strive to be more like him, but we often strive to be like the world. What are our transformational moments? Are you spending time in The Word? Do you do what you are supposed to do because you want to? Are you striving to be more like Jesus every day?