RIGHTEOUSNESS
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matt 5:6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied"
AT THE RATE OUR NATION IS DECAYING, WE SHALL HAVE TO CHANGE OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL FROM AN EAGLE TO A VULTURE.
- Vance Havner
RIGHTEOUSNESS — holy and upright living, in accordance with God’s standard.
Righteousness is a moral concept.
The word “righteousness” comes from a root word that means “straightness.”
It refers to a state that conforms to an authoritative standard.
God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Rom. 9:14).
Therefore, the righteousness of human beings is defined in terms of God’s Righteousness.
GOD NEVER ALTERS THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO FIT MAN, HE CHANGES THE MAN TO FIT THE ROBE
We cannot be righteous in the sight of God on our own merits
• Therefore, people must have God’s righteousness imputed to them.
• The cross of Jesus is a public demonstration of God’s righteousness. God accounts or transfers the righteousness of Christ to those who trust in Him (Rom. 4:3–22; Gal. 3:6;
"Imputation" - an Important Word to Understand
God does "impart" to us gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we have them and they are in us growing and they are ours. But all of that gracious impartation through the Spirit is built on an even more firm foundation, namely, imputation - the work of God outside of us: God's own righteousness, not imparted to us, but imputed to us. Credited to us, as Romans 4:6 and 11 say.
"Imputation" - an Important Word to Understand
• In JUSTIFICATION Christ's righteousness is imputed to us;
• in sanctification Christ's righteousness is imparted to us,
Few people have ever been more concerned with righteousness than were the Jews of Jesus’ day, and few who have been that concerned have ever missed it so completely
The only kind of righteousness Jewish leaders knew was in outward conformity and obedience to the ceremonial law.
Jesus expected more than that from his followers. “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20).
Then Jesus proceeded to show how it must exceed, to show what he meant by righteous living.
Righteous living, Jesus taught, begins in the heart.
It springs from inner attitudes which are of more importance to God than the outward actions.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27–28).
The first measure of any action, then, is the motive behind it, what prompted it, the attitude underlying it.
True righteousness allows for no insincerity or double-mindedness.
To Jesus there was always one standard by which he judged everything:
Is this the will of God for me?
No personal convenience, no selfish whim or fancy, no thought of the effect on his own comfort, but only whether it was pleasing to the Father.
The righteousness that Jesus taught is also expressed in the way we treat other people, the way we order our lives day by day.
“Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
Just as a tree can be identified by the fruit it bears, so a follower of Jesus will be known by the life he lives.
A righteousness of God must claim the whole person.
It is not only how a man acts on the day of worship that is important, but how he acts every day of every week.
The righteousness Jesus taught is so complete and so thoroughgoing that it involves a completely new person
The goodness of Jesus is much more than that which can be attained by human effort.
It is more than ethical conduct.
Jesus came not to make men simply “good” but to open the door for them to “become sons of God.”
Righteousness finds ways to serve.
The Levite and the priest may not have been guilty of breaking the law, but they fell short of the righteousness of God.
The rich man at whose gate lay Lazarus is not berated for anything except that his righteousness was not strong enough or deep enough to stir him to benevolent action.
The unprofitable servant who was cast into outer darkness was condemned only for hiding his talent in the earth; he did nothing to improve that which his master had entrusted to his care.
It is evident, then, that we cannot reduce righteous living to certain deeds or words or actions.
It involves the whole person all the time.
That person must be constantly growing, reaching, achieving the higher and the better.
REWARDS OF RIGHTEOUSINESS
Ps 23:3 NIV
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Hosea 10:12 NIV
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.
Matt 6:33 NIV
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Psalm 1:3-6
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
2 Tim. 4:7-8 A crown of righteousness
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness ..."
