If God came to you and said, “I want you to uproot your family, leave your job, sell your house, move to a place where you know no one, have no support/friend network, and start over,” how would you feel? I think many of us, me included, would think, “Uh…that voice I heard is not God. I’m good here,” and ignore it.
The Apostle Paul writes about this in Romans chapters 3 and 4, and what he says will help us understand how to have the true righteousness that Jesus refers to in Matthew 5, verse 20, which we learned about in the previous post. There Jesus says that if we want to enter God’s Kingdom, we need a true righteousness, not the false righteousness of the so-called righteous elite. Now in Romans 3 and 4, Paul gives us a very practical illustration about how to have that true righteousness.
In Romans chapter 3, verses 9-18, Paul quotes numerous teachings from the Old Testament which basically all affirm the idea that no one is inherently righteous or right before God. Because of that, he writes in verse 20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
So the law helps us know we are not righteous. The law points out our sinfulness. That might sound grim, but there is hope! As Paul writes in verses 21-26:
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
What Paul is saying here is so hopeful. Though we are not inherently righteous, we can have access to true righteousness. We can be made right with God because of what Jesus did through his perfect life, and through his death and resurrection. Jesus was righteous for us, and we can receive his righteousness into our lives by faith.
But what is the faith that receives Christ’s righteousness into our lives? Paul helps us understand that faith when he describes Abraham’s faith in Romans 4:3, “What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”
Abraham believed God. Abraham had a kind of faith that gave him access to true righteousness. What kind of faith did Abraham have? Remember Abraham’s story? In Genesis 12, we read that God came to Abraham and basically said, “I know you and your wife are really old, way past childbearing years, but follow me to a new land, and there I will make your family into a great nation through whom all people in the world will be blessed.”
Like I said above, if I heard a voice telling me to uproot my life, I don’t think I would believe it was God speaking. Not Abraham though. He followed God. In other words, Abraham shows his belief to be true belief by his actions. Paul describes this starting in Romans 4, verses 18-22,
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’”
Abraham’s unwavering faith meant that he actually obeyed God, even when it seemed too difficult or even ridiculous. That is true faith that demonstrates righteousness that goes beyond the Pharisees. That is evidence of a genuine change deep within.
Jesus is saying that true righteousness is not aiming to fulfill religious duties outwardly, but instead true righteousness means our inner life, our hearts and mind will be changed so that we live the way Jesus calls us to live. Consider what Jesus calls us to. He calls us to give sacrificial kindness to someone who hurt us. He calls us to swallow our pride and help in an area of repetitive sin. He calls us to acknowledge him in the pain even when we don’t understand what is going on.
What do you do in those moments? What do you do when he asks you to change something life to be more in line with his heart?
Evaluate your life. Do you have true righteousness?
Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 