Untitled Sermon

Prayer

The Righteousness of God

We’re in week three of the season of Lent, asking the question of what it means to be Good News People, what it means to be people whose lives are centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ, rooted in his amazing sacrifice for us, dying on the cross for our sins and rising to new life. Which is exactly what we covered in week one, when we looked at the basics of the good news, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection and the life it offers us.

Last week we looked at what really differentiates gospel, what God is doing through Jesus Christ, as opposed to what he did in the old covenant, and really what makes what we believe different from any other religion. That difference is grace. God’s unconditional love given to us through Jesus.

This week we’re going to talk about righteousness, what the good news has to do with righteousness (and therefore, what righteousness means for us as good news people). Paul lays this out in the beginning of his letter to the church at Rome, where he’s setting the tone for what he’s going to talk about in his letter to the Romans, this is Romans 1:16-17 -

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

So Paul makes two things clear about the good news, and why he’s not ashamed, why he’s not afraid or hesitant to share it with anyone and everyone. First, the gospel, this message - has power. Life-saving power. Heart-healing power. Through the gospel we are saved, all by the power of God. Second, it’s for everyone, Jew, Gentile, male, female, young old, black, white, brown - doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, the good news is for you.

Then this - for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, from beginning to end. What the heck does that mean? For that matter, what does righteousness mean - we see this word a lot in the Bible, what is it, really? So, first, I want to break it down what righteousness means in short, then go into greater detail about why it matters.

What is righteousness? Easiest way to think of righteousness is through the word “right”. Righteousness is right living, you live the right way. You are in right relationship with others. Which is simply another way of saying what we say all the time here - righteousness is a word that captures the two great commandments, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

When you love in these ways, you are engaged in right relationship, in right living, with God and with others. You are being good, truly good. Goodness not just on the outside, outward behavior, but from the heart, true inner goodness. We treasure the Lord above everyone and everything else, with all that we are. We are for the good of our neighbors. We act out of compassion, kindness, justice - toward others. We don’t diminish or neglect or condemn them.

Paul is saying that in the gospel, in what God has done for us through Jesus (dying for our sins, rising to new life), God’s righteousness is revealed. Paul is saying that you can see how good God is. In the gospel God shows that he loves us, that he engages us rightly, that he is truly just.

Then Paul makes another claim here that’s essential - this righteousness of God, this true goodness, we attain by faith. Paul is saying that we become like God, we, too, become righteous, not by our own effort, not by trying, but by trust in Jesus. And that’s from the beginning to the end, from first to last, as Paul says.

So we’re going to take some time to dig more into Paul’s letter to the Romans as Paul lays this out in greater detail. That the gospel is about righteousness, right living, being in right relationship, is about God’s righteousness (he’s the one who’s truly good), how we ourselves become righteous.

Righteousness through Faith

Romans 3:9-20 - What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 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 God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

So I want to take this in three parts here, what Paul is writing. First is what I hope is blatantly clear, the primary point that Paul is making (and he’s not holding back here) - No one is good. No one. Not you. Not me. Not your sweet grandmother. “There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.” There’s no if, ands or buts here.

Then in the next few verses - by the way, Paul is pulling quotes from numerous Bible passages - six times from the Psalms, one from the book of Isaiah. This truth that no one is good is throughout the Bible. Next few verses he uses all this imagery that involves body parts - throats, lips, mouths, tongues, feet, eyes. It’s a way of saying that sin has a hold on us, we live in the flesh, it holds sway over how we think, how we treat others - how we speak to them, our orientation towards God - we don’t fear him properly, instead, we fear other things more.

Then in the last several verses, 19-20, Paul speak about how the law, the Torah, the commandments, serve as an indictment. That if you live under the law - meaning, if you’re trying to live in obedience to the law, what’s going to happen is when you are held to account, when how you actually lived is held up to the standard of the law - it won’t get well for you. You’ll have no defense - that’s what he means when he says “so that every mouth may be silenced.” It’s like when you get in trouble and you get called out, and you don’t know what to say - because there’s nothing to say.

There’s a story in John 8 where a woman caught in the act of adultery is brought by the religious leader before Jesus to test him, asking whether or not she should be stoned to death, as the law dictates. What does Jesus do? He tells the crowd that the person without sin is the one who can throw the first stone at her. In that moment, they are held to account. If any of them picks up a rock and throws it, he’s essential saying, I’m without sin. So, what do they do? One by one, they drop their stones and walk away - beginning with the older ones (they’re a little wiser) - walk away in silence. Jesus is calling them out - you think you’re so good, so morally superior? Let’s see how you stand up to the law. Not well, as it turns out.

We need to take this seriously, because the whole reason Jesus came to us, reason he became human and suffered and died for us - was because of this truth: there is no one righteous, not even one. We are incapable of being righteous, of being truly good, on our own. We need a savior. We need someone to rescue us from the hold sin has on us.

On a personal level it’s important to consider what his means for us, for me. What it means is that my life, my heart, my thinking - it’s all thoroughly tainted by sin. Sinful habits are deeply ingrained in me, habits have been nurtured and practiced over many, many years. Why the lyrics of the song, “Lord, I need you” ring so true: Lord, I need you, how I need you. Every hour I need you. My one defense, my righteousness, O God, how I need you.”

It’s also important to consider what this means for how we interact with others - to remember that they are in the same boat. We should expect others to be broken, sinful, selfish, morally flawed, to make foolish decisions - just like us, they are under the grip of sin. I’m not trying to excuse their behavior (or our) behavior - after all, we will all be held to account by God for our sin (which, is again, why we need Jesus, the good news). And that behavior can be - and it - incredibly harmful to others and to themselves.

I say this so that we see them more as Jesus sees them (as he sees us) - with compassion. People in need of mercy, people who are broken, lost - who need Jesus, need to be rescued by him.

One of the things we see over and over again in the gospels, is how the worst of sinners were drawn to Jesus. The moral outcasts - tax collectors, prostitutes (woman caught in adultery). Think about how remarkable that is - Jesus was sinless, he was perfectly righteous - and yet he loved so well, offered such grace in how he interacted with others, that the worst of sinners were drawn to him. Jesus never demanded that they get their moral act together before they came to him - the exact opposite - he wanted them to come to them so he could save them, heal them, make them new. And then teach them the way of righteousness.

So easy for us to see others more like the Pharisees - which is to say, to see the moral failures of others, to see how they fail to meet the standards by which we think they should be living by. Labels that so quickly come to mind - lazy...complainer...fake...dirty...the list goes on. Of course, it may be that those things may be true of those people. But can we see them as Jesus does? Can we see them as those whom God created in his image, for himself, that he loves so much that he sent his one and only Son to die on their behalf? After all, aren’t we in exactly the same situation? There is no one righteous, not one.

Romans 3:21-26, But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Paul is making the point that we are made right with God, not by the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Note in this passage that Paul says that righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, doesn’t matter who you are. Righteousness, right living, right relationship, is a gift. We don’t make ourselves righteous (that would be self-righteousness). We share in the righteousness of Jesus, he gives his to us.

This is huge! Think about what this is saying - you and I are made righteous through Jesus Christ. It’s this beautiful transaction, and it’s all to our benefit. Jesus takes our sin, he bears it, he pays the cost (sacrifice to atonement Paul talks about here). This is what the cross is all about, Jesus dying for our sins.

And in return, through faith, we are given righteousness. We are put in right relationship with God. We are made good, clean. This is an amazing gift, it’s why the gospel is good news. After all, we want to be good. Why else would we work so hard to ensure that people see us that way? Here God says to us, I will make you good, righteous, through my son, Jesus Christ. That’s what we want to depend on - the gift of God’s righteousness, not our own righteousness.

In this passage Paul says that God’s presenting Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, that this demonstrates his righteousness. What he means here it that it would have been unrighteous, unjust, for God to leave sins unpunished. Wrongdoing demands proper consequences. Sin always harms (both others and ourselves). There’s always a cost - cost that needs to be paid. So God reveals his righteousness by meeting the just demands of the law by punishing sin in Jesus and at the same time offering us the gift of righteousness, we can be restored to right relationship with God. Through the cross God shows both his justice and his mercy.

So, what does this all mean, what does it mean for us to be good news people, people who have been given the gift of God’s righteousness?

First it means that I am already righteous. God has given me the gift of righteousness. Since I’m coming from a place that I’ve already been made righteous, gift given by God through Jesus, I’m not trying to earn it, make it happen. But here’s the thing, you may be thinking - and you’d be correct, I don’t feel that righteous. I’m well aware of how far I fall short.

Here’s where we get what we see often in the Bible, this idea of the already and the not yet. It’s the idea that the things are already true, they’ve happened, and yet they are not complete. Jesus is already king, seated on the right hand of the throne of God, but not everything is under his reign. It’s true with righteousness as well - I have already been made righteous, in right relationship with God, and yet, I’m still growing into that righteousness. But we start with truth that God has already given us the righteousness of Jesus, it is given to us as our own. So, you and I share in the righteousness of God.

Second part leads to where we always finish our time of teaching - idea of spiritual disciplines, how do we put into practice what Jesus is teaching us? Second part is that we are to grow into that righteousness. Actually engage in right living, be in right relationship with God and others.

And this is critical, we don’t pursue righteousness in our own efforts (we try hard to be good) but by faith. Remember Romans 1:17, righteousness is by faith, from first to last, beginning to end. Keep coming to Jesus to grow in righteousness - he’s the one who makes us righteous. So, what does that look like? It involves three basic elements of what it means to be a follower of Jesus - we go to be with Jesus, in order to become like Jesus (righteous), and to do what Jesus did.

We go to Jesus - this is the faith part, I’m not doing this on my own, rather I go to be with Jesus because I need him, I go with an openness, an attitude of surrender, humility, my will given over to his. I go to be with him.

Go to be with Jesus in order to join with Jesus in what he’s doing in me - this is so critical, because as we talked about, sin is deeply ingrained in us. Those sinful patterns of thinking, habits of acting out, we’ve had years of practice in them - it’s going to take a lot of continual, gradual, engagement in spiritual disciplines, train our souls to think and be different. You can’t just break a bad habit, it requires intentional effort, move into a new one. Whole idea of spiritual formation, we go to be with Jesus in order to become like Jesus and do what Jesus did.

This morning I want to start there - We’re going to talk in greater detail about this at our CFC Lunch & Learning on April 13, but I want to commend to you spiritual discipline of solitude, of spending time alone with Jesus, especially in a posture of listening. Remove all distractions (get that cell phone away!) so you can be present to Jesus. Begin with remembering that he is present. Thank him for his presence.

Come with a posture of openness - you might hold your hands open (our body posture matters). Then ask Jesus, what work are you doing in me? In my marriage? In my work? In my family? In my heart? And then, be still before Jesus. Posture of faith - trust that God speaks, and will speak to you.

Know that a thousand thoughts will go through your mind - they always do. Part of the practice is to keep bringing yourself present to Jesus, often a short phrase is helpful here (Jesus, I come. Holy Spirit). Every day this week, spend a few minutes in this posture, coming to be with Jesus, to be attentive to what he’s doing in you, as you seek to become like him, to grow in righteousness.

Prayer (Time to Respond)