March 21, 2010 — Fifth Sunday in Lent
“The Two Kinds of Righteousness“ — Pastor Lassman
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
My Fellow Redeemed in Christ,
The Bible often speaks about “righteousness.” “Righteousness” is closely related to “goodness”. A good person does good things. A righteous person does righteous things...things that are “right.” But who sets the standard for good and evil, right and wrong? Do people do this? Or does God? Yes. But the right and wrong established by people is true only in so far as it agrees with right and wrong as established by God. Why? Because only God is good. Only God is righteous. Only God is holy and without sin. So then let’s begin this sermon with two questions: question number one: true or false? You are not perfectly righteous. Question number two: true or false? You are perfectly righteous. The answers? Both are true. You are not perfectly righteous and perfectly righteous at the same time. Who says? God. And if you do not understand why both are true you do not yet have a full understanding of your Christian faith. So let’s
listen to Paul this morning as he explains “The Two Kinds of Righteousness.”
I. The first kind of righteousness, the righteousness that is not perfect, comes from trying to be a good person.
A. This is the only kind of righteousness that the world knows and understands. Everyone knows that people are a mixture of good and bad. And so if people are more good than bad we usually call them good. Until recently, Tiger Woods was considered a good man, but his reputation and image have been severely damaged by not just one but by numerous affairs against his wife. But God doesn’t’ look at goodness, righteousness as a mixture of good and bad. From God’s standpoint being righteous is like being pregnant. You are either pregnant or you are not. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. And so it is with God and righteousness. We are either righteous or we are not. Why is this? Well, because God expects us to be like him. And God is not a mixture of good and bad. He is good. He is righteous. He is holy and without sin. And this is the way God made Adam and Eve: remember? They were good; they were holy; they were righteous. They had no sin. They were made in the
“image of God.” and just one little sin changed all of this. Adam and Eve were no longer righteous...and they lost the Garden of Eden.
B. And this is true even for Christians who trust in Jesus as their Savior as Paul says in our text: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law....” Our lives are never good enough to satisfy God; our lives are still a mixture of good and bad. Unfortunately there have always been Christians who do not understand this and mislead people by telling them that Christians don’t sin. Years ago in one of my congregations in Canada I had a young women with a Pentecostal background go through my adult information class; and she told me that she went days without sinning. How can a person say such a thing? Only if they really don’t understand sin. For this young woman said the exact opposite of what Paul said of himself: “not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect....” Are we perfectly righteous and holy and good before God on basis of how we live? No, we are not just as we confessed this morning: “We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.” No, we are not perfectly righteous. This is the bad news of God’s law. We will never be righteous before God on the basis of how we live for this is what damns us to hell as we confessed: “We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment.” So Paul writes in Romans: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”(3:2, ESV)
II. But, as Christians we know the that there is another kind of righteousness...a righteousness that is not our own doing, a righteousness that is given to us as a gift from God. We know the righteousness of the Gospel.
A. Just as Paul says: “But [I have the righteousness] that which comes from God that depends on faith....” Paul is talking about the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is good; he is righteous, he is holy; he is sinless. And this righteousness of Jesus Christ is given to us as a gift through faith in him. Because of Jesus Christ God considers you righteous in his sight, holy in his sight, sinless in his sight. This is the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. You see then there are two kinds of righteousness: your righteousness which is not good enough; and the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is. On the judgment day you will not stand before God with your own righteousness...that would be pretty scary. How many sins could God point out? How many sins would he have to punish? No, you will not stand before God with your own righteousness. You will stand before God with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is why you don’t have to be afraid of the judgment day. You are covered with the righteous of Jesus....Just as Paul writes in Romans: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (3:21, ESV) Isn’t this wonderful?! This is why the Gospel is good news. Because of this righteousness we have peace with God, a clear conscience, and the hope of eternal life. And it’s all given to us as a gift as Paul again says in Romans: “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (3:21, ESV) “The Gift of Righteousness.” Do you understand then why Paul was so thankful for Jesus Christ? “...I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him...”
and so it is with us. Nothing in all of life is as important as knowing about this gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ. It’s the most important and precious gift we have.
B. Does this mean, then, that we don’t care how we live? Someone might ask: “Well, if you are already righteous in God’s sight because of Jesus Christ, then why try to live a righteous life?” This question is just a different version of “well, if your sins are all forgiven why not sin all you want?” Why? Because this wonderful gift of God’s righteousness has changed us. Because of Jesus Christ we love God. We want to keep God’s law. We want to live for him. In Jesus Christ we want to live the kind of life that God has given us as a gift: a righteous life. How could it be otherwise? Wanting to live for God is simply one way that we show are thanks and praise to God for his wonderful gift of righteousness. In view of such a wonderful gift ...how can we not want to live for him? So Paul says: “I press on...forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” “Forgetting what lies behind”...that’s forgiveness. Our sins are forgiven. Don’t keep feeling guilty about them. They are forgiven. So Paul says: “I press on”.....Each day we try to live a life that is pleasing to God, not to become righteous. No, each day we try to live a life that is pleasing to God because in Jesus Christ we are already righteous.
Conclusion: Why was Jesus so important to Paul? Because he knew about the two kinds of righteousness. And so do we. God does not accept our own righteousness. We are sinners. God expects us to be perfect and holy like him and we are not. And because of this we deserve only his “present and eternal punishment.” But thanks be to God! In his love and mercy he has given us the perfect righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ! We are forgiven! We are holy! We are sinless! We are righteous! This is the gospel. And it has changed us. And because it has changed us we want to live for him; we want to be what God has made us in his son: righteous. Amen.
