<\/p>\n
One of the greatest challenges confronting believers today is to communicate the message of Christ in terms that everyday people can understand. Words like \u201cRighteousness\u201d (Rom. 1:17) have become unrecognizable to many in our culture, and even to many in the church.<\/p>\n
Yet it\u2019s hard to talk about the gospel\u2014and virtually impossible to understand Romans\u2014without coming to terms with the word \u201crighteousness\u201d (Greek, dikaiosuna). In fact, the New Testament uses the term in one form or another no less than 228 times, at least 40 in Romans. What, then, does \u201crighteousness\u201d mean and how does the gospel reveal \u201cthe righteousness of God\u201d (v. 17)?<\/p>\n
The word \u201crighteous\u201d goes back to a base, reg, meaning \u201cmove in a straight line.\u201d Thus, \u201crighteous\u201d (rightwise) means \u201cin the straight (or right) way.\u201d Used with reference to morality, \u201crighteous\u201d means living or acting in the right way.<\/p>\n
But what is the \u201cright\u201d way? In our society, people commonly say that everyone must determine what is right for oneself. However, Scripture offers a different standard\u2014indeed, the ultimate standard of rightness or \u201crighteousness,\u201d God Himself. God\u2019s character reveals what is absolutely right. He is the measure of moral right and wrong.<\/p>\n
He is also the source of right living. It\u2019s important to understand that righteousness involves more than just determining whether or not one has lived up to the perfect standard that God sets. The fact is, no one has except Jesus (Rom. 3:23; 5:18\u201321). Thus, in a legal sense, all of us stand guilty before God. We are all \u201cunrighteous.\u201d We have all \u201csinned\u201d (literally, \u201cmissed the mark\u201d).<\/p>\n
But the message of Romans is that God has done and is doing everything that needs to be done to restore things to the way He originally intended\u2014to the right way. For example, He dealt with sin through Jesus\u2019 death on the cross (5:6\u201311), and He transfers the righteousness of Christ to those who trust in Him (5:1\u20132). As believers, we can enjoy a restored relationship with God.<\/p>\n
That means that we can begin to live with righteousness, that is, in a way that pleases God and fulfills His purposes for us. We can do that because He gives us the ability to do it (8:1\u201317). Rather than trying to \u201cprove\u201d ourselves good enough for Him or live up to impossible moral standards, we can relate to Him in love, expecting Him to help us as we make choices about how to live.<\/p>\n
The gospel, then, is \u201cgood news\u201d because it reveals God\u2019s right way. It tells us that He is a good God who, in love and mercy, has done something about the wrong way that the world has taken. How have you responded to that good news of God\u2019s righteousness?<\/p>\n
The Word in Life Study Bible, New Testament Edition, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville; 1993), pp. 538-539.<\/p>\n
We Are Made Righteous<\/b><\/p>\n
Righteousness is an attribute of moral purity belonging to God alone (John 17:25). It is He alone who is truly righteous. No one in the world is righteous in the eyes of the Lord, that is, except the Christian. We are counted righteous in the eyes of God when we receive Jesus by faith (Phil. 3:9). Our righteousness is based on what Jesus did on the cross. The righteousness that was Christ\u2019s is counted to us. We, then, are seen as righteous in the eyes of God. Though we are actually worthy of damnation, we are made righteous (Is. 61:10) by Jesus\u2019 sacrifice on the cross. As a result, will spend eternity in the presence of the holy, pure, loving, kind, gentle, and righteous God. Our righteousness.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Right Standing<\/b><\/p>\n
Right standing, specifically before God. Among the Greeks, righteousness was an ethical virtue. Among the Hebrews it was a legal concept; the righteous man was the one who got the verdict of acceptability when tried at the bar of God\u2019s justice. Christ\u2019s death took away our sins and made it possible for sinners to have \u201cthe righteousness of God,\u201d i.e., right standing before God (Rom. 1:16\u201317; 3:22; 5:17). That gift of righteousness is to be followed by upright living (Rom. 6:13\u201314).<\/p>\n
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL; 1984), p. 356<\/p>\n
Blessed are Those Who Hunger And Thirst for <\/p>\n
In the Antarctic summer of 1908\u20131909, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished. Altogether, they trekked 127 days.<\/p>\n
On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart Of The Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food\u2014elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating.<\/p>\n
Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said, \u201cBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS.\u201d We can understand Shackleton\u2019s obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the greatest challenges confronting believers today is to communicate the message of Christ in terms that everyday people can understand. Words like \u201cRighteousness\u201d (Rom. 1:17) have become unrecognizable to many in our culture, and even to many in the church. Yet it\u2019s hard to talk about the gospel\u2014and virtually impossible to understand Romans\u2014without … Continue reading “Righteousness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}