August 11, 2012

• God’s Gift of Righteousness

  I posted this up at my Facebook just now.  Thought I would share it here.  Been struggling with old sins lately and hating that I fall.  And yet I know that God forgives me and pushes me forward — because the righteousness I have is not based on what I do, but rather simply on resting on the finished work of Christ who did everything I could not.

  Here’s what I posted at Facebook:

  Abraham: Man of faith, liar, manipulator, fearful under pressure.  Loved by God.
  David: Man of faith, polygamist, adulterer, murderer.  Loved by God.
  Solomon: Man of faith, extreme polygamist (like father like son…), idolator, weak.  Loved by God
  Samson: Man of faith, arrogant, proud, murderer, sly, conniving.  Loved by God.
  Peter: Man of faith, weak, fearful, often found with own foot in mouth.  Loved by God.

  Scripture doesn’t always paint a rosy picture of the heroes of faith.  Only Daniel and Enoch come off clean without a single sin shown.

  And here am I, tested, tried and often failing…. sorrowed over my constant sin… and yet… Loved by God.

  How does it all make sense????

  Only
  By
  Faith.

  Romans 5:17 — For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

  Righteousness is nothing I do — it’s a gift I don’t deserve.

  A Gift…. I don’t…. deserve.

  When does the struggle not to sin cease?  Only when death releases us from this body.

  So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  (Romans 7:21-25)
  

  Paul shows us here that the struggle is common to all men.  Even when we find delight in God’s law, we still see the sinful nature working to subvert the good we know.  For some, the battle leads to depression as they would try to conceive of Christianity as something that would “Free them” from their sinful impulses.  The history of the church is littered with the wreckage of movements claiming to have found some form of freedom FROM SIN that they claim means they would never sin again after conversion.  They’ve been called “Holiness movements” or “piety movements” or more presently “Let go, Let God” mysticism.  These always end in frustration for the individual —- because none of us is free from the taint of sin.

  I did a post last year wherein I looked at what “Holiness” was not.  (Link here)  The conclusion there was that only God can call something, someone or some place “Holy”…. and in Christ he’s done just that.  We are “Holy sinners”  Not at all meaning we can freely sin, but that we comprehend the gravity of our sin, and grieve deeply over it.

  Going back a paragraph — many folk in the history of the church wanted freedom from the pressure of sin and the guilt that followed after.  What they conceived of in Christianity was some way to escape the “sins common to all men” (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Yet look to the conclusion of this passage of Romans.

  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.  (Romans 8:1-4)

  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:9-10)

  This passage doesn’t paint a picture of us never sinning — instead it shows the true grace of God in calling us righteous…. when we don’t deserve it.  It is not a righteousness we earn — look back to the passage I used on Facebook.

  Romans 5:17 — For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

  Let me put this clearly and tie it all up.  Read 1 John with me for a moment.

  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:5-7)
  

  Ok, God is pure, holy, and righteous.  Jesus blood cleanses us from ALL sin.  Look deeper.

  If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
  

  God is faithful — when we confess our sins, he forgives us and through Christ purifies us.

  My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  (1 John 2:1a)
  

  Here is John’s purpose statement.  He writes this to us so that we will not sin.  But that is not the entire verse, it is only half.  Here’s the rest of that verse.

  But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense —Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  (1 John 2:1b)
  

  John writes that we will not sin, but he knows human nature and knows we’re prone to fall, fail and then to beat ourselves up for those failures.  He encourages us.  Our sins are forgiven.  Jesus stands as our defending attorney in Heaven.

  David — sinned.  and was loved by God.
  Solomon — sinned.  and was still loved by God.
  Samson — sinned.  and was still loved by God.
  Peter — cried out that he did not even know Jesus… in a moment of pressure he caved…. and yet… Jesus still came to him and in the greatest act of Divine lovingkindness said:  Peter, I’ve not given up on you.  I still love you.

  And that same Jesus that said those words to Peter then, says them to us today. 

  Righteousness has nothing to do with how I act — it has everything to do with what Jesus did.  My own righteousness is nothing more than dirty, filthy disgusting used tampons….  (That is a literal rendering of the Hebrew terms in Isaiah 64:6)  and useless in making me “holy” or “righteous” or “pure”.

  ---

  Father, I have sinned, failing you and turning my back on your law.  It is my deepest shame and sorrow.  My flesh has nothing good in it, nothing.  And yet for all that you still call me your child and still love me none-the-less.  I have no room to boast of a single thing my hands have done.  I have not one unclean thought I can point to as me being “righteous” or “good.”  I throw myself upon your mercy as displayed in Christ on the Cross and claim no righteousness but that which is Christ’s.

  Lord, help us all see how utterly depraved we are.  Help us to see that in us no good thing grows.  And help us, all of us, Lord, to turn to Jesus for the free gift of grace, the free gift of righteousness, the true gift of salvation that you offer in him.

  My soul is weary with sorrow;
      strengthen me according to your word.
  Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
      preserve my life according to your word.
  Direct my footsteps according to your word;
      let no sin rule over me.
  I have strayed like a lost sheep.
      Seek your servant,
      for I have not forgotten your commands.  (Psalm 119:28, 37, 133, 176)

  Amen.

  • 1:39 pm
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