FROM THE PASTOR
righteousness
Today we hear a lot about a person’s “rights” don’t we? There are many champions of people’s rights – those who speak up for others. What are my rights? I don’t ever want to hear “You have the right to remain silent…”, hearing that would mean I’m in deep fertiliser. What comes to your mind when you think of this word? Maybe, “I was right and they were wrong?”. Or perhaps, like I noted on someone’s tee shirt the other day (which I had a good chuckle about) it said, “To Save Time, Let’s Assume I’m always right!”.
We do live in a world where people have a tendency to believe that are right in their own eyes. As humans we can accept some standards of rightness (including moral standards, which we can’t shouldn’t always think of rightness in moral terms. For example – rightness in terms of spirituality means our hearts or minds are not set on something quite right. Not in a right relationship with another person, or with God), to accept an absolute standard of righteousness, well… that’s another matter – like, truthfulness falsehood becomes relative; i.e., what’s true for me is not necessarily true for you, etc. So, similar with rightness; what you think of feel is right, may not be it for someone else.
As Christians what is our standard of rightness? And how do we measure righteousness? Simply open the Bible and find out! Before the Ten Commandments, was God’s Covenant with Abraham when he trusted in God’s promise of a future offspring. There are literally hundreds of examples where we can find out about God’s righteousness. Why is this so important? Well basically, take the ten commandments as being right - in light of these – we’re basically screwed, nailed with no way out. Due to sin (falling short / missing the mark) no one can attain God’s righteousness perfectly. God is right and what God does is always right. When someone does wrong, that person is unrighteous, and therefore comes under judgment of a righteous God. Right and wrong don’t go together. God demands righteousness, and total obedience. Of all people, Luther knew this. Luther knew that God was not only revolted by sin, but God hated sin! Luther knew that he was not right, and Luther tried everything to become right so that God would not condemn him. the more Luther tried to save himself from sins, the more hopeless and desperate he became. And so, Luther’s famous question, “How can a sinful man (sic) become righteous with God?” and this became his struggle. And its not only a great question of the reformation era – it’s pertinent right here and now. Luther found the answer in God’s word! The righteousness with God and the rightness that God demanded was not found in (hu)man at all! It was to be found in Christ and his righteousness! The words that brought peace to Luther, that also comes to you and me - from Romans 1:16, 17, St Paul wrote:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…, For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith…, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
This is Good news: the unrighteous person becomes righteous by faith – the believer, firmly taking hold of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, will stand uncondemned before God.
We Pray For:
† The church, that it may always remember that it exists for and because of Christ.
† Those who are persecuted for their faith
† Our law makers and legislators, that they may respect the law of God.
† Athletes, sports men and women, and for all who manage and control sporting events.
† Teachers and school students.
We do live in a world where people have a tendency to believe that are right in their own eyes. As humans we can accept some standards of rightness (including moral standards, which we can’t shouldn’t always think of rightness in moral terms. For example – rightness in terms of spirituality means our hearts or minds are not set on something quite right. Not in a right relationship with another person, or with God), to accept an absolute standard of righteousness, well… that’s another matter – like, truthfulness falsehood becomes relative; i.e., what’s true for me is not necessarily true for you, etc. So, similar with rightness; what you think of feel is right, may not be it for someone else.
As Christians what is our standard of rightness? And how do we measure righteousness? Simply open the Bible and find out! Before the Ten Commandments, was God’s Covenant with Abraham when he trusted in God’s promise of a future offspring. There are literally hundreds of examples where we can find out about God’s righteousness. Why is this so important? Well basically, take the ten commandments as being right - in light of these – we’re basically screwed, nailed with no way out. Due to sin (falling short / missing the mark) no one can attain God’s righteousness perfectly. God is right and what God does is always right. When someone does wrong, that person is unrighteous, and therefore comes under judgment of a righteous God. Right and wrong don’t go together. God demands righteousness, and total obedience. Of all people, Luther knew this. Luther knew that God was not only revolted by sin, but God hated sin! Luther knew that he was not right, and Luther tried everything to become right so that God would not condemn him. the more Luther tried to save himself from sins, the more hopeless and desperate he became. And so, Luther’s famous question, “How can a sinful man (sic) become righteous with God?” and this became his struggle. And its not only a great question of the reformation era – it’s pertinent right here and now. Luther found the answer in God’s word! The righteousness with God and the rightness that God demanded was not found in (hu)man at all! It was to be found in Christ and his righteousness! The words that brought peace to Luther, that also comes to you and me - from Romans 1:16, 17, St Paul wrote:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…, For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith…, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
This is Good news: the unrighteous person becomes righteous by faith – the believer, firmly taking hold of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, will stand uncondemned before God.
We Pray For:
† The church, that it may always remember that it exists for and because of Christ.
† Those who are persecuted for their faith
† Our law makers and legislators, that they may respect the law of God.
† Athletes, sports men and women, and for all who manage and control sporting events.
† Teachers and school students.