I have been involved lately in a few conversations that have had to do with what I call “the righteousness of righteousness.” Now I realize that sounds strange, so let me briefly explain. What those conversations ultimately were about is the lengths to which people go in standing upon their own right-ness. It is a common thing for humanity to not only desire to be right, and to not only believe we are right, but also to ensure both the evangelization and the protection of our rightness. But as the people of God we are not primarily “right,” but “righteous.” And, to boot, that righteousness that we claim does not originate with us—far from it. Rather, we are made righteous by a loving and gracious God who, through the work of his Son, has granted us righteousness. As Paul stated so clearly in 1 Co 1, Christ became righteousness to us. In other words, Jesus Christ is and always has been our righteousness. Period.
When we as God’s people fail to see this, we almost always end up acting in ways that make us indistinguishable from the world. We demand our way, and we react to what is going on around us in the exact same ways that non-believers do. As a result, we end up presenting to those around us a poor picture of what it means to be a person of Christ. We need always to remember that we are different. We are distinct. We are called out. Our hope and trust lay beyond this world.
This week and next I am preaching a series on this very idea. Today we discuss several things that “We need to . . “ do, or be, or think. Next week we get to finish the sentence.
Have a great, great day.
–Ricky