The Righteousness of God 12/9/18 pm

The Righteousness of God

The Second Sunday

Mary's Candle A Mother Who Needed a Savior

Advent is celebrated on the four Sundays preceding Christmas, and each colored candle represents one element of the Christmas story, with the fifth, white candle representing Jesus Christ.

Focus

This Sunday we add the pink candle to the Prophets' Candle to remind us of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was the virgin of the House of David, chosen by God to bear the Messiah. But even Mary understood that she, like everyone else, had sinned and needed a Savior.

Read

SCRIPTURE READING #1: —Mary calls God her savior because she was trusting Him to save her from the eternal consequences of her sin, just as we need to.

NIV And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

SCRIPTURE READING #2: ; —Sin is a turning away from God either through rebellion or indifference. says that "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." A description of it is in vs. 10-18. As you listen to these verses, privately consider where you have fallen short of God's expectations.

NIV As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

SCRIPTURE READING #3: —Anyone can receive this righteousness from God at any time by placing faith in Jesus' payment for their sins.

NIV But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,

Pray

Use Mary's prayer in as a guide for your own prayer. Praise Him for His work in history and for His provision of a savior.

SING

"Silent Night," "Away In A Manger," and "What Child Is This?"

Mike, Mary Katherine and Reagan, please read the “FOCUS” paragraph, the bolded introduction and the scripture of each section. After all the scripture has been read, light the appropriate candle and if you are comfortable doing so end with a prayer. (The prayer is not required).

Personal Recognition of the need

Romans 3:20 NIV

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.

No one will be declared:

in the sight: face to face

Righteous: to be justified v. — to be or become judicially vindicated as having complied with the requirements of the law (of God).

Conscious : Talking about personal recognition. personal recognition n. — coming to understand something clearly and distinctly or as true and valid; often with a personal acquaintance that necessitates a positive or negative reaction.

personal recognition n. — coming to understand something clearly and distinctly or as true and valid; often with a personal acquaintance that necessitates a positive or negative reaction.

The State of Righteousness - The law is a testament to God’s Righteousness

Romans 3:21 NIV

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

Romans 3

righteousness (state) n. — a status of legal rectitude that satisfies the moral requirements of God’s character.

Human anger doesn’t produce the righteousness God desires.

James 1:19-

James 1:19–27 NIV

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

Moral filth: a state of discredit and shame of moral imperfections.

concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior. Ethics is in view.

Filth: a state of moral defilement or corruption - moral uncleaness

Evil: wickedness, baseness, depravity, wickedness, vice - the opposite of all virtue and therefore lacking in social value

Regard one another according to the righteousness of God.

2 Cor 5:16-

2 Corinthians 5:16–21 NIV

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.