REAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
"And be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." -
Philippians 3:9
You
don't hear many sermons about righteousness these days. You may hear sermons about family, money or
prayer, but very few about righteousness.
Righteousness is the act by which God declares us right or just before
Him. While many emphasize fitness,
family or finances, the most important topic to address is the subject of
righteousness.
How
can God be righteous and at the same time declare a sinful man to be
righteous? The answer to that question
is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, God's Son, came to earth. Jesus was a righteous man.
He lived a righteous life. On
the cross, the righteous Son of God received the punishment that we
deserved. Because of the sacrificial
death of Christ, His righteous has been imputed (or given) to those who
believe.
Prior
to meeting Jesus Christ, Paul was not a righteous man. He was a wicked, murderous man. Yet when he met Jesus, Paul became a
righteous man. How did this
happen? Paul became righteous because
the righteousness of Christ was placed to his account. That is why Paul would write, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith."
Paul
wrote, "And be found in him..."
The only way to become a righteous person is to be in Christ. This relational position makes all the
difference. Notice that his position in
Christ did not make Paul a perfect person.
Instead he wrote, "... not having mine own righteousness, which is
of the law..." Paul had no righteousness
of his own. Neither do I. You don't either. Instead, Paul wrote, "but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Through faith in Christ, the gift of
righteousness was given to him. Yet it
was the righteousness of Christ that was given to him.
Now,
having His righteousness, we have a new nature with new desires. We have a desire for righteousness. Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness."
Notice that we don't seek our righteousness, but His. Furthermore, Jesus promised, "Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be
filled." Also, James wrote, "The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
These
days, pagans like to ridicule some church-attending neighbors as being
"self-righteous hypocrites."
Certainly there are self-righteous hypocrites who attend church. But the fact remains that there are no
righteous people apart from personal faith in Jesus.
If
you examine my own life, you'd know immediately that I am not perfect. In fact, I'll be the first to admit that,
apart from Jesus, there's nothing good in me.
Do I make mistakes? Of course I
do. Do I sin? Yes, but I'm always driven to my knees in repentance when I
do. I have no righteousness of my
own. Any time I feel proud or
self-righteous, the Lord brings me down to the ground in humility. He reminds me that I am nothing. The old song rings true for me:
"My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness."
When
you look at me, you may see my mistakes and failures. However, when God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of His
dear Son. Not my righteousness, but
His. That's all that really matters. He has declared me righteous,
not because I've done anything to deserve it.
Instead, His righteousness was given to me through faith in His Son.