Righteousness: A Gift, Not a Work (So Stop Telling Me It's "His Way of Doing Things"!)

 This is one of the most frustrating stumbling blocks that I am hearing in the churches today.

They keep talking about righteousness as if it means "God's Way of Doing Things."

That is patently untrue. I am so tried of hearing that. I am so tired of people not paying attention to what God's Word says.

Consider this passage:

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54:14)

Could it not be any clearer? Righteousness is something that we are established in. It is not something that we do, but rather somenthing that is done to us.

Let's go back to the Father of Faith, our beloved Abraham:

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

What more do modern-day preachers need? How more clearly can God make it?

Going back to Isaiah 54, we find this verse:

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17)

Our righteousness comes from Him! We do not create it, we do not manufacture it.

And why stop there?

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Christ IS our righteousness. What else do you need to understand that righteousness is not "His way of doing things"?

How about this?!

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

That's all you need to know. 

When Jesus said to the Israelites of His day during His earthly ministry "See ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness," He was talking about the perfect standing before God, in which we are no longer condemned for our sins, but justified from all things (Acts 13:38)

Consider this passage, too:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

It's a gift! IT'S A GIFT! How much more plainly can Paul make it?!

I am done. I will not settle for any pastor or preacher who continues to push this canard that righteousness is something that we do. No! It is something that Jesus has done, that He has bestowed as a gift to all who will receive it, who will receive Him!

Stop Listening to Our Fathers--and Start Listening to The Father

 We have to get past the knowledge of our parents and go to the wisdom of God the Father.

For the longest time, I vacillated between the opinions of my mother and my father. I have only recently learned how wrong they BOTH were, on so many issues.

Unlike many people, I have no problem looking past the two options which are usually placed before us on a number of issues.

I have gotten more accustomed to recognizing that whatever ideas are presented in an either/or fashion, there is often a great way to come up with other options in the midst of them, or outside of their scope entirely.

I don't feel the need to be bitter toward my parents. I realize what they did not know about the Gospel of Grace, and what I have learned today because I have learned so much from the preaching of Pastor Joseph Prince and Pastor Bob George, among many others. So grateful for their work in restoring the Gospel of Grace, that Jesus has finished the Work and given us Himself.

Amen!

We need to seek not the wisdom of our fathers, but the Father. We need the love of the Father, not just the love of our earthly fathers. This is not to disparage the work and the witness of the men and women who raised us. 

But no matter what we are facing, not matter what we have learned, we need the love of THE Father!

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

The wisdom of our earthly fathers cannot compare with the Wisdom of the Father. In fact, let us never forget that "Christ is our wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30)

One final thought ...

I have listened to so many older men talk about their convictions and beliefs, and many of them acknowledge that their beliefs come from what their fathers told them. "I know that William F. Buckley was a racist, because my father said so, and my father would never tell a lie."

Perhaps your father did not lie to you, but what he said was not true. 

Consider also what my father used to say about lying: "My father told me not to lie, because you are too stupid to keep track of your lies."

But what does the Bible say about lying?

"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." (Ephesians 4:25)

and

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;" (Colossians 3:9)

We don't tell lies because they are not commensurate with our new nature, our new identity, our new creation as Christ's own, adopted into the Family of God.

We need to stop listening to our fathers, and start listening to the Father!