Then come the salt and light verses. Being salt and light is less about the force of our personalities, and more about the force of God's personality, if God has freedom to transform us into His likeness.

5:17-20 is a kind of hinge for the sermon, Jesus says that He hasn't come to earth to abolish the laws of God or lower the standards. In fact, he came to fulfill them. How? By embodying the best of them and covering our indebtedness in light of them.

Then comes the shocker. "Unless your righteousness exceeds/surpasses that of the Pharisees or teacher of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

How can that be? The crowd must have murmured. "On the surface, this simply isn't doable. Why? Because on the surface, these people had it down! No one could surpass them. Then Jesus went on to basically say this: righteousness isn't simply about the surface externals and righteous appearances. It isn't even only about behavior. Real righteousness is an inside out job, requiring heart transformation that lives its way out. Anyone can fake righteousness by modifying a few behaviors and putting on certain appearances. But Jesus wants more. Better and more authentic disciples; learners, followers, apprentices who are, day by day, taking on His character. This is how he explains it.

As for anger, you've heard it said "You shall not kill." Fine. But are you angry? Do you insult others? If so, you need an inside out revolution.

As for conflict, you bring your gifts and think that appeases God, while your relationships are in turmoil. First, give attention to relationships. Then bring your money. Get things settled, in the account that really matters, else you might even lose your money!

As for adultery, it's not just about whether you do the dirty deed. Is your wandering eye demeaning your heart and devaluing other people? Get some inside work done.

And on divorce. Men could be so dismissive in that culture, and women had no rights. Don't do it. Don't treat that covenant lightly. Without dire reasons, be true to that covenant.

As for oaths, you shouldn't have to sweat them. Be a person of your word. Let your "yes" be yes.

As for revenge, don't seek it. If someone forces you to do something, blow them away by doing more than demanded. That takes some serious strength and maturity at the core of our being.

So does loving enemies. What's the big deal about loving people who love you? Anyone can do that. It's a rare and true, even Christ like person who can love people who hate them. Who can love in response to hatred? Again, Jesus is calling for a seriously deep cut at character transformation, not just skin deep religion.

Chapter 6 continues on the same theme, but with a new style. As for giving, to the needy, don't make a clamor about it. Do it with dignity and discretion.

As for prayer, don't fluff it up to sound spiritual. Pray from the heart. Not trite babble, but real substance. And if we're going to ask forgiveness, we better be ready to forgive, or we just don't have a clue about God's mercy and grace, and might not even be under it. Is it possible that if I'm unwilling to give it, well then maybe I just don't believe in it. And that is scary.

As for the other spiritual disciplines, like fasting, don't groan and grip as if you're some kind of martyr. God knows what you are doing and that's enough.

And as for money, if your heart is tied to it, you are in grave danger.

If we want a real measure of how much we love God, our approach to money is a pretty good gage.

So far, we see Jesus using dire language. There are very important truths and Jesus is emphatic – dire in his warnings and admonitions.

In chapter 23, we go from dire to ire. Jesus is really ripping on people who should know better than to have a thin religion of behaviors and appearances only. These are the folks that Jesus says we must exceed or surpass in righteousness. They are the antithesis of the Sermon on the Mount.

What are their foibles?

1.  They don't practice what they preach

2.  They burden others with heaped on guilt and shame and moral constraint, and see themselves as squeaky clean, In other words, "other people's" sins are way worse than mine."

3.  Self aggrandizement. Fancy titles. Special parking spots. Seats of honor. Pride, pride, pride.

4.  Shutting others out of the Kingdom. These people love to point out that others don't pass muster and must surely be too sinful to be forgiven by God.

5.  Reproducing bad religion. Teaching others this narrow and critical kind of religion.

6.  Putting money and wealth over justice, mercy and faithfulness.

7.  Nitpicking. "Strangling a gnat and swallowing a camel."

8.  Appearances, appearances, appearances.

9.  Imagining ourselves faultless where others have failed. "If I'd been alive when the prophets spoke, I would never have rejected them." Right. In essence, that kind of religion has never heard the proverb about walking in another person's moccasins.

Wrap it all up and this is the essence of it. There is nothing in all of the gospel that Jesus rails against like

HYPOCRISY AND JUDGING OTHERS

Read 7:1-5

Yes, Christianity is a team sport. And yes, I want my siblings to succeed. And yes, if I love them, I will warn them, challenge them, urge them to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, but id I think for a minute that I'm better than they are, I am so clueless.

Jesus is suggesting that it's easier to get to heaven if we're humble and willing to be transformed from the inside out, than if it looks like we have it all put together and know how to look religious.

But there's more.

Even this inside out thing looks daunting. And I know I fight the process and am hardly clean and pure from the inside out. What to do with me? How do I become righteous?

Out best shot at real righteousness is Jesus himself. Knowing Him, loving Him, believing in Him opens up a way to everlasting life that is hilariously simple; almost.

Paul isn't ashamed of this gospel, and says in Romans 1:17 that "it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes . . . a righteousness that is by faith."

In Romans 4:24, Paul writes that "God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

Peter puts it this way. "Christ died for since, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."

Peter and Paul still say "Now in the light of the free pass you've been given, live well – let God make you completely new. In light of all His grace and goodness, aren't we compelled to live God's way, in gratitude at least, and using our joy and freedom well?"

Please say yes. In freedom, say yes. With joy and gratitude, say yes to God's loving course of transformation – making us more like Him and more effective in rejuvenating His causes.

That, finally, is what it's about. We've been forgiven, covered in the righteousness of Jesus like a divine makeover, and even adopted as His children. Now, are we going to let Abba Father raise us up like His very own to prove His goodness and reflect His love?