Posts tagged ‘righteousness’
The Missing Key
Jesus lived to fear the Lord. Verse 3 of Isaiah 11 tells us this very truth: “And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord (ESV).” Much of Isaiah 11 is ultimately referring to the time when Jesus returns to this earth and establishes His Millennial Kingdom. However, when Jesus lived His earthly life several thousand years ago, He did this exact same thing. He judged not by what He saw outwardly, but by what He saw inwardly in people. This was the result of His delight in the fear of the Lord. This fear blessed Him with a resultant righteousness and godly knowledge. Do you want that?
Our Standing and Progress in the Faith: Justification
So what does this result in for the Christian? We know that God declares us righteous because we are justified in Him. We are justified not on our own merit but solely because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. God did it. We did nothing. We only came to exercise faith in what Jesus accomplished and then only when God “woke” us to that truth (John 6:44; cf also 14:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Can People Be Good?
There is an implied question between verses 23 and 24 with the use of the word “for.” Why did Barnabas do what he did? Because “…he was a good man…” (v. 24). Barnabas was a “good” man according to the Scriptures. But wait, I thought God said that all have sinned and fallen short of His glory and that our righteousness is filthy? Yes, God has said that and it is true.
Job’s Enlightenment
When we suffer because of our relationship with Christ, we are to consider ourselves blessed. This is extremely difficult for most of us because we continue to harbor the erroneous idea that if God is for us, then He will bless us and that is often seen in material blessings. The upshot of Job is that our blessings that count the most are the ones procured in the spiritual realm. These are the ones that moth, rust, or thief cannot take away. Satan is often allowed by God to “sift” us but only for God’s purposes.
Christ, Our Righteousness, Part 14
I think we see this in the Prodigal Son. It seems clear that he literally and with vigor walked away from his father. It is clear that he completely misunderstood his father’s love, seeing it as something it was not. His pride, stubbornness, and sinful attitude kept him from seeing the truth about his father. The Prodigal deliberately broke off fellowship with his father because of the wrong views he harbored about his father. It took the problems of life to begin to move him back toward his father, but even there, he got it wrong. It was only the starting point.
Christ, Our Righteousness, Part 12
In some ways, Luke’s narrative of the ten lepers highlights different reactions to being saved (and we’ll talk more about this in an upcoming article in this series). They gain salvation but never really stop to consider the fellowship aspect of it. Like the nine lepers, they are overjoyed to have salvation and they continue to go their way, paying little to no attention to the One who provided it. Is it any wonder their joy (and potential fellowship with God), dissipates and sometimes disappears altogether?
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