The Righteous Nature of God

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GETTING IT TOGETHER, WE HAD TO TALK ABOUT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD…!

1. John Maxwell tells of a farmer who had experienced

      several bad years. He went in to see his banker:

      “I’ve got some good news and some bad news to tell you. Which would you like to hear first?” the farmer asked.

      “Why don’t you tell me the bad news first and get it over with?” the banker replied.

      “Okay. With the bad drought and inflation and all, I won’t be able to pay anything on my mortgage this year, either on the principal or the interest.”

      “Well, that is pretty bad.”

      “It gets worse. I also won’t be able to pay anything on the loan for all that machinery I bought, not on the principal or the interest.”

      “Wow, is that ever bad!”

      “It’s worse than that. You remember I also borrowed to buy seed and fertilizer and other supplies. Well, I can’t pay anything on that either – principal or interest.”

      “That’s awful and that’s enough! Tell me what the good news is.”

      “The good news,” replied the farmer with a smile, “is that I intend to keep on doing business with you.”

B.     Sometimes this is how we deal with God in terms of our

      righteousness. We say, “God, the bad news is I’ve been

      sinning a lot, lately, and prospects for the future don’t

      look any better…but the good news is I still intend to

      continue doing business with you.”

C.     Such thinking is based on two premises: 1) God is no more

      righteous than we are presenting living and therefore it

     doesn’t matter how unrighteous we are, 2) God is far

     more righteous than we are but he doesn’t care how

     unrighteous we are. Could either of these two premises be

     correct? Let’s take a look at God’s Word and find out.

I.   OUR GOD IS A RIGHTEOUS GOD.

A.       Let me read just a few of the texts that speak to this

       question:

Righteous are you, O LORD, and your laws are right. (Psalms 119:137 NIVUS)

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. (Psalms 19:9 NIVUS)

 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice…upright men will see his face. (Psalms 11:7 NIVUS)

B.       These verses speak to three aspects of God’s

        righteousness:

1.      First, every decision God makes is good and right. So

      we can be certain that every decision God makes

      regarding us will be right.

2.      Second: every law God has spoken into existence is

      righteous law. He isn’t swayed by the color of our

      skin, the amount of wealth we possess or church we

      attend.

3.      Third: every judgement God makes is totally just. It is precisely because of this that we have developed our acute sense of fair play.

C.     And it is God’s righteousness that has the potential of revolutionizing our world (What Castro’s army fatigues was not able to achieve, God can).

II.   OUR WORLD NEEDS A RIGHTEOUS GOD.

A.        Why do we need the work of a righteous God? Because our world has become full of unrighteousness and subject to God’s wrath.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive…ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- (2 Timothy 3:1-4 NIVUS)

 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (Romans 1:18 NIVUS)

B.        Why do we need the work of a righteous God? Because God is grieved at our feeble efforts at living righteously, or even worse, our tendency to justify our unrighteousness.

1.      We deflect blame to others: When we sin we say, “Eve

      gave the fruit—what was I supposed to do?”

2.      We rationalize away our guilt: “I have to go 100 clicks in

      a 90 click zone. With all these truckers, I need to go

      with the flow to protect my wife and children.”

3.      We use comparisons: “If you think I drink a lot, you

      ought to spend an evening with Frank.”

4.      We use suppression, pushing the guilt out of our mind as

      quickly as it enters.

5.      We use distraction, filling our lives with noise and

      busyness to avoid any time for contemplation.

6.      We use escapism –a pill, a drink, a favorite food, a

     gamble, a new car, anything to keep the adrenaline flowing. 

C.       What our world needs is a righteousness revolution. What if there was a righteous revolution in Steinbach? In Manitoba? In Canada? In the world? (Be honest, would you like living in such a place?)

D.       That is why God wants to launch a righteous revolution, one that is born in the hearts of His people.

E.        What will such a righteous revolution require?.

III.             HOW WE CAN ESTABLISH GOD’S RIGHTEOUS-NESS IN OUR WORLD.

A.     By reestablishing God as the source of righteous standards.

1.      In times past people agreed that if they wished to know

      right from wrong they had to look up to God. They

      agreed that God was righteous and that His righteous

      laws ought to rule their conduct.

2.      In the nineteenth century this all changed. Three

      influential philosophers poisoned the world against God.

a)      Immanuel Kant said, “Don’t depend on God, let your mind figure out right from wrong.”

b)      Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “Don’t listen to God,

      follow your heart. It will tell you what to do.”

c)      Friederich Nietzche said: “all you have to do is

      follow your will. Decide what you want to do, how

      you want to do it, and just do it.”

3.      The product of all this was Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s will

      dictated that it was wrong for Jews to live, and he acted

      accordingly (“Every man did that which was right in

      his own eyes” – Judges 17:6)..

4.      The utter failure of making gods of our minds, our hearts

    and our will, proves that we must look to God’s

    righteous standards as the only hope for our world.

B.     By breaking the chains of unrighteousness.

1.      Many people are enslaved to unrighteousness and need to be set free (Illus. Of Lisa Krahn).

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 NIVUS)

C.     By pursuing righteous living in our own lives.

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11 NIVUS)

1.      Illus. of how Mennonites historically have tried to

      flee unrighteousness, by moving geographically, only

      to their peril. 

…train yourself to be godly. (1 Timothy 4:7 NIVUS)

2.      We as individuals must not make this mistake. Unless

      we will pursue personal spiritual growth we will never

      be able to flee from the temptations of the Evil One.  

APPLICATION

A.      Just think of the opportunity that faces all of us. The opportunity of living the remainder of our lives righteously. Why don’t you make the stretch from today till your last day a little more righteous? Why don’t you make your marriage right? Why don’t you raise your kids right? Why don’t you do your job right?

B.       Deep down in our hearts we want to righteous people, and we want to know a righteous God. Fortunately, ours is a righteous God who can be counted on to always to do the right thing. With His help we can share in that righteousness.