June 2002
This month I want to consider the
word righteousness. If someone with a
static faith would define righteousness, it would be something like: “When God
looks at us through the blood of Christ, he does not see our sin, but Christ’s
righteousness.” However, if someone with
a dynamic faith would define it, it would sound like: “When we are born again
by the Spirit, the Spirit so transforms our lives that we will conduct
ourselves rightly in all areas of our life- so to be Christ-like.” Static faith believes in Biblical truths; a
dynamic faith appropriates God’s promises into our lives. Our faith determines our definition, either
limiting God’s grace to a more positional stance, or empowering us to grow to
new heights of realism. The Christian
faith is a dynamic faith, it doesn't stop at the cross
but embraces the power of the resurrection:
So then, just as you
received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in
the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col.2:6-7)
Christians
have been taught to believe that Christ died and therefore receive eternal
life. We must go beyond receiving Christ
by faith; we must continue to live by faith.
The Bible teaches 3x:
"The righteous
will live by faith." (Ro.1:17; Ga.3:11; He.10:38)
True
Christians do not merely receive life by faith; they live by faith. But what is faith:
Now faith is
being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see. (He.11:1)
Faith
and doubt are opposite. If faith says
victory, doubt
says defeat. If faith says “it will
rain”, doubt says “it will be sunny”.
Faith and doubt are receptacle: we could say
doubt is:
Now doubt is
being sure of what we fear for and
certain of what we do not see.
Faith
and doubt are based on who we believe: if we believe God we will doubt Satan. If we believe Satan we will doubt God. Who are you going to believe: the father of
lies (Jn.8:44) or the Father who cannot lie (He.6:18; Ti.1:2)? For both faith and doubt deal with that which
we do not have:
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no
hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? But if we hope for what
we do not yet have, we wait for it
patiently. (Ro.8:24-25)
The
righteous will live by faith because even though they do not see the
righteousness which God has promised, they believe that God will do as he
promised. For righteousness comes from
God and is by faith:
Php.3:8-9 I consider
them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and
is by faith.
Satan
tempts us to doubt whether God will transform our lives, telling us that if we
are going to live a righteous life we are going to have to do it on own. However God tells us:
You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by
faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.
(Ga.5:4-5)
Our
righteousness comes from God and is received by us as we wait in faith. If we become impatient and try striving on
our own to attain some level of legalistic morality, then we really do not
understand the Gospel:
For in the gospel
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that
is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." (Ro.1:17)
This
was not only the gospel which the apostles had preached,
it was the gospel they lived among the people:
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who
believed. (1Th.2:10)
Therefore
the gospel is good news because God is promising to do in man what man could
not attain by himself.
The
Old Testament is an example of people who try to achieve a level of
righteousness by their own will.
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not
pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but
The
law was never meant to transform our lives to a level of righteousness that God
would find acceptable:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who
are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held
accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his
sight by observing the law; rather, through
the law we become conscious of sin. (Ro.3:10-20)
No
one achieved righteousness by the law, because the purpose of the law was to make
them aware that we could not achieve righteousness on our own, and to look to
God for the righteousness he promised:
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through
the law, Christ died for nothing!
(Ga.2:21)
Some would like to
reduce righteousness to how God views us through the blood of Christ; however,
this is not the case, as righteousness is the integrity that one displays in
all areas of his life:
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in
God’s sight, but it is those who obey
the law who will be declared righteous. (Ro 2:13)
Since
For I can testify about them that they
are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since
they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for
everyone who believes. (Ro.10:2-4)
Paul
was zealous for God. He committed his
life totally to God, and yet God was not pleased with his life:
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the
eighth day, of the people of
Some sought to attain a level of rightness by their own
effort. In doing so they denied how
wicked they really were, denying the fact that it was impossible for them to
become righteous in God’s by what they did.
Others recognized their failings. While admitting their own unworthiness, they looked
to God in faith to make their lives right with him through the sacrifices he
commanded:
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring
received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by
faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where
there is no law there is no transgression.
Therefore, the promise comes by
faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s
offspring— not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.
He is the father of us all. (Ro.4:13-16)
It
was by believing God that somehow the sacrifices he required would make them
righteous in his sight. Yet it was not
the sacrifices themselves that made them righteous- it was to whom the
sacrifices pointed:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many
were made sinners, so also through the
obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Ro.5:19)
It
was only after Christ died that they could be partakers of a life that is truly
life- eternity with God
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been
promised. God had planned something
better for us so that only together with
us would they be made perfect. (He.11:39-40)
Therefore,
few in
As it is written: "I have made you
a father of many nations." He is our father in
the sight of God, in whom he believed— the
God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they
were. (Ro.4:17)
The lesson that we must learn from
the Old Testament is, if we think our lives are good
enough for Christ, we really are not ready to receive Christ. However if we recognize our unworthiness-
sinners, then we can accept Christ.
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mk.2:17)
If
we think that we are righteous, then we really do not understand our need for
Christ:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1Jn.1:8)
Christ
did not save us because we were righteous, but to make us righteous- we needed
to be saved because we were eternally lost in sin:
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. He saved us
through the washing of rebirth and
renewal by the Holy Spirit, (Ti.3:5)
Hence,
before Christ, we were unrighteous and needed Him- the righteous one- to die
for our sins:
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (1Pe.3:18)
His
death did more then pay our penalty: he died so that
we could live righteous lives.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God. (2Co.5:21)
Some
have been taught that we do not live righteously; God merely views us as
righteous. However we read:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for
righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1Pe.2:24)
Jesus
did not merely change the way God looks us, he changed who we are- a new
creation:
You were taught,
with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is
being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness
and holiness. (Eph.4:22-24)
Before Christ, we
were controlled by our sinful nature. Now
we are controlled by the Holy Spirit who transforms our lives, even though we
do not live by the law, we surpassed everything the law required:
For what the law was
powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met
in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Ro.8:3-4)
You
are either a slave to sin by your sinful nature or a slave which obeys the
Spirit:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to
obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey— whether you are slaves to sin, which
leads to death, or to obedience, which
leads to righteousness? (Ro.6:16)
It
is only after being set free from sin by Christ that the Spirit causes us to be
enslaved to righteousness:
You have been set
free from sin and have become slaves
to righteousness. (Ro.6:18)
Before
Christ we were free from righteousness and the sinful nature caused us to be
slaves to sin:
When you were
slaves to sin, you were free from the
control of righteousness. (Ro.6:20)
In
this way, we do not live by law, which says, "Do this and live!" Rather we believe that God has done what his
word has promised, that we are a new creation through the Holy Spirit. Consequently our faith says, "You have
received life, now walk in it!"
For the
Our
righteousness is not achieved by our effort; rather it achieved through the
indwelling of Christ’s Spirit within us.
It is because of him
that you are in Christ Jesus, who has
become for us wisdom from God— that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him
who boasts boast in the Lord."(1Co.1:30-31)
Many Christians
believe that Christ came to save us from hell; this is truth but not a complete
truth. He came to save us from our sin, and
to purify us from our wickedness, of which the penalty is only a small part:
For the grace of God
that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It
teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope— the
glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to
purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Ti.2:11-14)
Christ
died to redeem us from all wickedness.
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed
with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and,
"Everyone who confesses the name of
the Lord must turn away from
wickedness." (2Ti.2:19)
If
we persist in wickedness rather then doing what is right, we are not born of
the Spirit:
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
(1Jn.2:29)
We
cannot claim to be righteous if we do not do what is right; nor can we claim to
be born again:
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is
righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil,
because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of
God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
No one who is born of God will
continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on
sinning, because he has been born of God. (1Jn.3:7-9)
If
you do what is sinful, you are a child of the devil; however, if you do what is
right, you are born of God:
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness
have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between
Christ and Belial? What does a believer
have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the
Many
claim to be in Christ as they return to the wicked habits of their past. Take heed, God is not mocked:
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome,
they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It
would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that
was passed on to them. Of them the
proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow
that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." (2Pe.2:20-21)
The point is that a
static faith that accepts the facts as truth is not enough. For if we believe in God, that he will do as
he promised, and we respond by committing ourselves to him: we will be
changed. If our life is void of the
dynamic faith, which consists of believing in God and solely relying on him,
God will not be pleased:
For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will
come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back, I will not be
pleased with him." But we are
not of those who shrink back and are
destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (He.10:37-39)
Many
Christians shrink back from a dynamic faith that induces people to live
according to God's will. For this reason Christ asks:
However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Lk.18:8)
Therefore,
are we going to try to attain some level of righteousness on our own, or are we
going to rely on Him who has promised, daily seeking his grace that will enable
us to live righteous lives now on earth?
Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled. (Mt.5:6)