Righteousness is a Gift, Not God's Right Way of Doing Things

 

I just left a church that I had been attending for two years. It was really tough for me, but I had to do it. I am not a big fan of breaking up with a church that I have been attending for a considerable length of time. I was even privileged enough to share a testimony in the church and preach a sermon.

However, I finally had to leave. The pastor was really set in his ways on the matter of righteousness, i.e. that righteousness has to do with doing things God's Way, living God's Way.

That kind of thinking just brings us back under law.

Under the Old Covenant, yes indeed righteousness was something that we had to do, something that we had to attain in our efforts:

"That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." (Deuteronomy 16:20)

Literally, "Righteousness, Righteousness you will pursue" or "Absolute righteousness you pursue."

Under the Old Covenant, you have to pursue it. You need to capture it. You need to attain it.

And yet, how was Abraham made righteous?

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

God's original plan has always been that we would just believe on Him, and receive from Him!

In fact, consider some of the key prophesies about the New Covenant in Isaiah:

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54:14)

and then

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17)

Notice in the first verse "In righteousness you shall be established." The verse is in the passive construction, implying that righteousness is done to us. We do not "do righteousness."

Four verse later, Isaiah prophesies: "There righteousness is of me, says the Lord." Our righteousness comes from Him, not from us! It's not our righteousness through our efforts, but we receive it as something from Him!

Consider also the promises declared in the Psalms:

"To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness." (Psalm 31:1)

We are saved, set free through His righteousness, not our own!

Now, many people will counter: "But Jesus said 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness'!"

Yes, indeed Jesus declared that we should seek God's righteousness, not our own. However, that was not the first time that Jesus mentioned righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

Again, we see "be filled," a passive construction which shows that we receive the action instead of achieving the action.

Righteousness is given to us, not achieved by us.

And there's more throughout the New Testament to affirm this New Covenant revelation. Paul preached in Antioch:

"38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:38-39)

We are granted forgiveness of sins, we are justified from all things through Jesus! Not through Moses, not through keeping Moses' law, not through our self-effort, but through what Jesus did at the Cross.

Paul affirms this revelation to the Corinthians, as well:

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We don't do righteousness: we BECOME righteousness, and we become the righteousness of God in Christ!

The New Covenant is all about how we are justified by what Jesus did, not by what we do.

If pastors are still preaching righteousness as "His right way of doing things," they are bringing people back under law, under self-effort, under the Old Covenant. And I do not want to frustrate the grace of God!

"4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4)

Just in case there lingers any further confusion on the matter, Paul writes to the Romans:

"17For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

By one person, Jesus Christ, we:

1. receive

2. gift of righteousness

We do not achieve the works or the salary of righteousness. It is a gift, one which we receive and keep receiving, in fact! Paul could not make it more clear.

And yet ... and yet ...

I hear one outspoken preacher after another continue to say, as a matter of forced habit: "Righteousness, or His right way of doing things."

That is wrong! That is error! We need to stand up to this error big time!

And why does this matter? Why does this hit home for me, specifically?

When I meditated on His righteousness as my righteousness, a gift that I receive and keep receiving from Him, I rest in the knowledge that no matter what is happening around me, I will never be condemned. I can rest assured that no matter how many times I fail, or if I fall, my righteousness, my right standing before God does not change!

"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." (Proverbs 24:16)

A just man is not defined or changed or loses his rightousness because he falls. It's as simple as that.

We need that revelation so that we can keep receiving His grace, His favor in our lives. I cannot tell you how many trials I have faced in my life, and how easily I would have been overcome and overwhelmed by those challenges, if I had been reduced to believing the lie that I am righteous based on what I do.

Because of the GIFT of righteousness, I know that I will never be condemned, I will never be rejected, I will never be separated from my Loving Father. That kind of assurance turns wastrels and failures into winners and warriors, men and women who have nothing to fear, but everything to gain when they come boldly before the throne of grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

What Pleases God: Believing in Him, and Coming to Him

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

This morning, I was meditating on a very powerful question, and a very powerful truth.

"How can I please God?"

Why? Because He so pleases me! He has ravished my heart in a way that is just unprecedented in my Christian walk.

"Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck." (Songs 4:9)

Before, I did not think that He was present unless I was thinking about Him, manifesting Him through my efforts, my thought-life. Such a drain, such a burden that was for me!'

He is actively loving us, and in fact our Loving Father has been loving us when we weren't even paying attention!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

and

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

and also

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)

And of course:

"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

God our Father sees us just like Jesus, for we are in Christ (Ephesians 1:6) and Christ is in us!(Colossians 1:27)

I could not help sharing how much He loves us - how much He loves me!

So, I am so brimming over with His love, I ask "God, how can I please you?"

Then Hebrews 11:6 came to mind.

"Without faith, it is impossible to please God."

We have to have faith -- We have to believe in Him:

"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:29)

Now, we need to believe that He exists.

We also need to believe that God is a rewarder. Indeed, He wants to provide more good to those who diligently seek Him.

What does that mean? I struggled with that phrase for a long time. Was I supposed to "look for God"? I mean, is He not everywhere, and ever-present? Does He not comfort us with "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"? (Hebrews 13:5)

There is another verse which talks about seeking God's face, too:

"When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (Psalm 27:8)

What does "seek His face" mean? Many commentaries render this Hebraism to mean "Seek His presence." Well, waht is that supposed to mean? Once again, is He not ever-present, ever-available?

Then I read the New Living Translation of Psalm 27:8:

"8My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”

And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.”

"Seek His Face" means "pray to Him", or "come talk to Him."

God rewards us when we come to Him, when we pray to Him, when we talk to Him!

That is exactly what God was looking for when He had created Adam and Eve to begin with! He wanted us to come to Him, to fellowship with Him, to depend on Him!

In Hebrews 11;6, we read "He that cometh to Him ..."

In this verse "come" is literally "proserchomai". Here is the full exposition on this Greek word:

proserchomai: to approach, to draw near

Original Word: προσέρχομαι

Part of Speech: Verb

Transliteration: proserchomai

Phonetic Spelling: (pros-er'-khom-ahee)

Definition: to approach, to draw near

Usage: I come up to, come to, come near (to), approach, consent (to).

This verse made me think of Genesis 45:4, in which Joseph invites his brothers "Draw near to me."

But this verb "draw near" ("Nagash" in Hebrew) appears sooner than that in the Old Testament:

"And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" (Genesis 18:23)

In the first mention of "Draw near", Abraham comes to God asking Him to spare the righteous in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Notice that Abraham believes that God exists, and that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him. God answered Abraham's prayers every time he asked.

Would that Abraham had asked "If there is ONE righteous, will you spare the city for that one?"

At any rate, what pleases God?

That we believe He exists, and that we come to Him! That we ask from Him, that we come to Him, toalk to Him, call on Him in time of need!

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 14:6)

God wants us to come to Him.

God wants us to depend on Him.

That's what pleases Him -- Not what we can do for Him, but that we let Him do for us!

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear -- More About What That Means

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I used to read this passage with a sense of judgment sometimes.

There were times when I was still afraid, or in which I would feel fear.

I then began to think: "I am not loving enough. What do I do to change this?"

The sense of fear was so great, and I wanted to do whatever I could to get rid of it.

The more that I learned that the New Covenant, the Gospel is about God's love for us, not our love for God, I began to realize that this perfect Love is not ours, but God's.

And yet still ... there were times when I felt great fear, and I didn't understand why.

The answer to this problem is found in the previous verse:

"Herein is our love made perfect (lit. love perfected among us), that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

How is love perfected? That God sees us in His Son, that we have the same standing as Jesus, God's own Beloved Son? We are just like Jesus before our Heavenly Father!

We are Beloved, we are not shamed!

He does not see our sin, our struggles. He is not put off nor does He put us away if we fail.

We are accepted in the Beloved! (Ephesians 1:6)

This part was harder for me to settle in, or at least harder than I realized.

I had believed that I had to fix my feelings, get rid of my fears, not have bad thoughts so that I could come before God. If I was fearful, then I feared all the more that His presence, His life would not flow through me or in me. That lie created so much bondage in my life.

But now I realize that God the Father's love for me is perfect, because the work has been perfected at the Cross, and this work's perfection culminates in ... I am like Jesus to God my Father. He sees His Son when He looks at me!

That is love perfected, and when we understand that, all traces of fear are cast away. We know that He, our loving Father, our Daddy God, is on our side, and we never have to wonder if He has something sinister or untoward planned for us.

Furthermore, when I have a sense of fear or anger, or when I am struggling with something else, I know that I can come boldly to Him and seek His help, His mercy and grace, in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

As soon as anyone of us understands that God will never condemn us for our sins against (Isaiah 54:9; Romans 8:1), we need never fear God again. We need never fear His wrath, His punishment, because He is now our Father, and all our sins have been put away forever!