We’re in the series, “Made to Count, Am I Living a Life that Matters?” and so far we’ve seen that FELLOWSHIP and LOVE are integral parts of making our lives matter.
If we want to live in a way that brings both recognition to God and significance and meaning and joy to our lives we need FELLOWSHIP with Christ and His followers, and we must practice a life of LOVE. Not just LOVE for our selves. But love for others and especially LOVE for God.
Today we add a third word to our list of key concepts that make life worthwhile: RIGHTEOUSNESS.
RIGHTEOUSNESS has to do with being “right,” or “just.” A person who is RIGHTEOUS is a person who is right with God and acts justly because of it. So this word has to do with our standing in the eyes of God, but it also has to do with how we behave.
When we obtain a right standing before God because of our faith in Christ, then it shows up in how we live. Once we become RIGHTEOUS we live RIGHTEOUSLY.
Don’t get uptight and inwardly defensive about this word just because it’s been abused. It’s a great concept. Often when preachers talk about RIGHTEOUSNESS a lot of people think we’re talking about a list of man-made rules. Or that we’re talking about something that takes the joy out of our lives.
One minister said, “The church, by and large, has had a poor track record of encouraging freedom. She has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes, that she has made us like ill-taught piano students: we play our songs, but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch.” (Robert Capon)
That’s a pretty insightful comment. And I hope that I never leave the impression that God wants us to walk on eggshells when it comes to RIGHTEOUSNESS. This word is not about having the fun smothered out of your life. It’s actually about being set free to truly enjoy life! It’s not about "refusing" joy it’s about "infusing" joy into your existence!
It’s like our first two words for chapters one and two of First John. Our first word was fellowship, talked about in chapter one of First John. A lot of people think, “Oh no, I have to become a part of a church fellowship and that’s going to crimp my style.” The truth is, church fellowship can crimp your style if you go about it in the wrong way. But if you have the proper kind of fellowship with God and His church your life becomes more meaningful.
Last week in First John chapter two the key word in that chapter was love. The culture around us advertises the idea that we need to love ourselves above everything else and that, when we do, we’ll be living a life that matters; we’ll be extremely satisfied. But the truth is, when we put God on that first level of love, then love others, then love our selves the right way – that is when we will be living a life that matters.
I hope you’re beginning to see a pattern.
Now John comes to the theme of RIGHTEOUSNESS in chapter three. Our key verse is 1 John 3:7.
"Let no one deceive and lead you astray. He who practices righteousness [who is upright, conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, living a consistently conscientious life] is righteous, even as He is righteous." 1 John 3:7(Amp)
We’re investigating the word RIGHTEOUS because RIGHTEOUSNESS is another integral part to living a life that matters. If we want to enjoy life to the capacity that God created us to enjoy it, if we’re going to experience the fullness of His joy, then we’re going to have to experience Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS so that we can live RIGHTEOUS lives. We’re going to need to live lives where we conform “to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action.” We’re going to need to live “a consistently conscientious life.”
RIGHTEOUSNESS is not only misunderstood today. In the First Century when John wrote his letter, people also got confused about it, and how it had anything to do with living a meaningful life. So we’re going to see today how John clears up those misunderstandings.
So what is the connection between RIGHTEOUSNESS and living a life that matters?
When we make a faith commitment to Christ we inherit a set of truly remarkable benefits, and are the kind of blessings that truly make life count!
The third chapter of 1 John begins with an incredible statement that is followed by a listing of these perks.
Here’s the incredible statement in verse one:
"See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him." 1 John 3:1 (NLT)
Last week in chapter two we saw that we’re not supposed to love the world’s ways. What are the world’s ways? “Wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important.” 1 John 2:16 (Msg)
Of ‘The Four Levels of Love’ this was the only one we were to have nothing to do with. “Don’t love the world’s ways.” 1 John 2:15 (Msg) Then here in the third chapter John says, “The people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.”
Every one of us is in one of two groups. Either we know God or we don’t know Him. Those of us who know God now have this incredible relationship with Him! What is that relationship? “He calls us his children, and that is what we are!”
The reason RIGHTEOUSNESS is so vitally important is because without it we can’t know God, we can’t be His children. And if we’re not His children then we can’t enjoy the wonderful advantages of being His children.
John mentions just some of the perks of being God’s children in this chapter and that’s what we want to look at today. How does being God’s children make our lives matter? How does having Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS and living out that RIGHTEOUSNES in our lives, make our lives more worthwhile?
I. As God’s children, Christ has taken our sins away [upon Himself.] 1 John 3:4-7
This is the first way that Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS makes our lives matter. God takes away the sins of His children.
Think of all of the negative ways that our sins impact our lives – guilt… shame… and judgment. When we come to Christ He takes our sins away by taking them upon Himself – and – He also takes away the negative impact that sin has on our lives. Our guilt is gone, our shame is gone, and God’s judgment upon our sin is gone!
Evangelist Rich Wilkerson held a large crusade in Washington State. Many hundreds came forward to express their faith commitments to Christ, too many for Rich to meet individually. A few weeks after the crusade, he received a letter from a young college girl:
“Dear Mr. Wilkerson, I attended you crusade in Seattle a few weeks ago. It’s my first year of college and a group of my friends invited me to come to your crusade. I agreed, reluctantly, but I was desperate. The preceding four years before college were the worst years of my life and I was willing to try anything that might help. My nightmare started when I turned fourteen. That was the year my uncle moved into our home. Shortly after he moved in, he would sneak into my bedroom and sexually abuse me. He threatened to hurt me if I told anyone, so I endured the abuse, saying nothing, anxiously awaiting my first year of college when I would be out of the house.
“By the time I entered college, I was a mess. My first year was a disaster. I slept with any guy who would have me, drank and drugged myself into forgetfulness almost every night, but I would still be awakened by nightmares. When I came to your crusade, I was at the breaking point, and when you asked us to come forward to meet Jesus, I almost ran to the front.
On the five-hour drive home, I fell asleep. I dreamed I was asleep in my college dorm room when I was awakened by my uncle once again. I wanted to scream for help or get out of the bed and run, but I could do neither. He kept asking me to come to him, and I could not resist. I could feel myself giving up and coming to him once again, when suddenly the door to my dorm room opened again. It was Jesus with his arms wide open, beckoning me to come to him. I jumped out of bed and ran past my uncle into the arms of Jesus. I woke up with all the girls in the car looking at me because I was crying, saying out loud, “I’m free! I’m free! I’m really free!” (Rich Wilkerson, “Straight Answers to Tough Questions About Sex”, pages 213-217)
When we trust Christ we are free! The Scriptures explain what happens.
4Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect--being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will).
5You know that He appeared in visible form and became Man to take away [upon Himself] sins, and in Him there is no sin [essentially and forever].
6No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him--deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him [recognized, perceived, or understood Him, or has had an experiential acquaintance with Him].
7Let no one deceive and lead you astray. He who practices righteousness [who is upright, conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, living a consistently conscientious life] is righteous, even as He is righteous. 1 John 3:4-7(Amp)
When we come to Christ by faith, trusting in His death for us on the cross as perfect payment for our sin, we no longer practice a sinful lifestyle. Yes, sometimes we sin. But the Greek language used in the original text clearly states, as the Amplified Bible from which we just read indicates, that it is the practice of a sinful lifestyle that indicates we don’t have true fellowship with Christ, the sinless One. Although we can’t live sinlessly, WE CAN LIVE CONSISTENTLY. We can lead a RIGHTEOUS lifestyle because of the RIGHTEOUSNESS of Christ we have inherited from Him.
John goes on to say this.
"Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God." 1 John 3:9 (NLT)
And...
"By this it is made clear who take their nature from God and are His children and who take their nature from the devil and are his children: no one who does not practice RIGHTEOUSNESS [who does not conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action] is of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother (his fellow believer in Christ)." 1 John 3:10 (Amp)
And...
"All who keep His commandments [who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay and] abide in Him, and He in them. [They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.] And by this we know and understand and have the proof that He [really] lives and makes His home in us: by the [Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us." 1 John 3:24 (Amp)
When John wrote these words his readers had been battling one of the first major heresies of the church, Gnosticism. These elitist and snooty false teachers thought they had more knowledge than others had and anyone who acquired enough knowledge could find true spirituality on their own. That’s why the Greek word for knowledge, “gnosis,” is used for the root word of their belief system, “Gnosticism.”
Their major ploy was to try and pull the wool over people’s eyes by saying that the only way to be RIGHTEOUS was to distinguish the physical from the spiritual. They taught that sin exists in the physical world but not in the spiritual world. Amazingly, belief systems like Gnosticism are making a comeback today.
The Gnostics basically said that the sin that we commit with our physical bodies didn’t matter since sin wasn’t “spiritual.” This is ridiculous to begin with because everything is spiritual - but it was also ruinous for people’s lives. When we treat sin like it doesn’t matter (when we act like it doesn’t matter whether or not we lead RIGHTEOUS lifestyles) we hinder ourselves from enjoying all of the wonderful things in life God created us and gave us the capacity to enjoy. God had good plans for our lives!
“I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV)
But if we walk in darkness we can’t enjoy the benefits of God’s good plans for us. RIGHTEOUSNESS does matter. Remarkably, John’s warning for us to “Let no one deceive and lead you astray,” is extremely timely.
The teaching that sin and RIGHTEOUSNESS don’t matter is constantly echoed in our culture’s postmodernism. Postmodernism is a worldview prevalent today that expresses an increased interest in spirituality. It is often expressed in novels like The Davinci Code, movies, and Internet and magazine articles.
[“Modernism,” which preceded postmodernism, didn’t appreciate spirituality much at all. It was all about science and human reasoning. Now the pendulum in popular worldview has swung to the opposite extreme.]
To be clear, its not the increased interest in spirituality of postmodernism that is bad. [An increased interest in cultivating the spiritual is so good that that’s precisely what I want to talk to you about on Easter next Sunday. Nothing makes more sense than recognizing and cultivating our spirits! “Being Smart Spiritually,” is next Sunday’s message.] No, the problem with postmodernism is not the emphasis on spirituality. The problem is that there is not an emphasis on true spirituality and there is also a decreased interest in organized religion.
Here we must be especially careful. Jesus Himself fought against a lot of the organized religion of His day. So some organized religion is wrong-headed and wrong-hearted and does need to be discarded. Besides, our primary emphasis needs to be on RELATIONSHIP and not on RELIGION. That’s why John began his letter with the emphasis on FELLOWSHIP (chapter one.) We must have FELLOWSHIP with God and with other Christ followers – and yes, it will be organized religion – organized around RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS.
But if organized religion becomes lifeless and not centered around Christ and is not operating under the leadership of the Holy Spirit it is no longer something we should be a party to. [Re-read Christ’s messages to the seven churches of Asia in the opening chapters of Revelation for just one example.]
So then how do we reach out to our postmodern friends as we follow Christ in the 21st Century, our friends who believe in spirituality but don’t believe in the church?
We reach out to them he same way John encouraged the 1st Century Christ followers to do so.
We live a consistent life in front of them. When we do sin, we don’t excuse our sin. We confess it to God as John taught in the first chapter of his letter. We don’t act like we’re perfect. Anyone can see through that hogwash. But neither do we act like we can live any way that we please and still claim to know and love God.
We live consistent lives and the joy of having our sins taken away by Christ trumps the false spirituality that leaves people empty inside! We live our lives as exhibits of God’s wonderful grace and peace and joy! But they must be consistent lives; RIGHTEOUS lives, in order for us to experience the purpose and therefore the satisfaction for which we were created by God!
We deserve punishment for our sins. We deserve guilt and shame. We don’t deserve God’s grace and mercy. But when we become God’s children by making a faith commitment to Christ – God’s holds back what we deserve through His mercy and lavishes upon us what we don’t deserve by His grace!
That is a great perk associated with being God’s child and we need to express this to our postmodern friends who are yet to experience the freedom, the joy, the liberty and the peace of having sins taken away!
II. Secondly, as God’s children, Christ has destroyed the works of the devil for us! 1 John 3:8
The devil is the mastermind of evil. The Bible says he’s a liar, a murderer, a slanderer, a thief, and an angel of light all rolled into one. He’s a mocker and an antichrist. He’s opposes everything God says or does and anybody that says or does anything for God. Satan is the greatest enemy of God’s children.
But the good news is, because of Christ’s work the devil is beatable! But how?
8[But] he who commits sin [who practices evildoing] is of the devil [takes his character from the evil one], for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done]. 1 John 3:8 (Amp)
The devil is the king of mean but when we come to Christ by faith and become God’s children we have immediate triumph over him in Christ! He still yaps at our heels like some feisty wiener dog that thinks he’s bigger than he is – but Christ already has him whipped! John says, “The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].”
Everyone has to contend with Satan. You say, “The devil doesn’t bother me all that much.” Perhaps you need to get thicker into the battle because the Bible clearly teaches that God’s children are involved in spiritual warfare with Satan and his accomplices.
You can act like the devil’s existence is part of a spiritual fairy tale but he’s real. And the good news is that those who become God’s children have the key to success against him! We are not defenseless against this spiritual villain. God has given us spiritual armor to defend ourselves.
"Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil’s tricks." Ephesians 6:11 (CEV)
And one of several essential parts to our spiritual armor is…what?
"Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS." Ephesians 6:14 (NLT)
Our postmodern culture is correct in having an increased awareness of spirituality because there is a spiritual battle going on all the time. But no human can win in this contest without Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS. The only spirituality that can enable us to win this cosmic wrestling match is to become God’s children, thereby obtaining His RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The word Satan means, “attacker, accuser.” It’s like the election year politics we’re all currently having to live through. Candidates are accusing one another of various and sundry things. Sometimes the accusations are even true, but politicians can also just make up stuff about their opponents and it sticks.
Without Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS we’re all vulnerable to Satan’s accusatory attacks. Why? Because we’re all guilty. Satan can accuse us of sin and he would be right. We’re sinners. We’ve sinned. But when we are wearing the spiritual body armor of Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS we are impervious to his accusations. They bounce off! Satan can’t attack Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS because there are no chinks in that armor!
That is a perk of being God’s child that anyone who truly believes in spirituality ought to consider! But let’s quickly look at one more.
III. As God’s children we receive from Him whatever we ask! 1 John 3:22
This is one of many great promises in the Bible that God answers the prayers of His children! Talk about making our lives more meaningful! We have a Heavenly Father who is ready, willing and able to muster the forces and supplies of the universe in response to our requests!
But be careful about this wonderful promise. There’s one caveat. There’s one condition for answered prayer.
"And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him." 1 John 3:22 (Amp)
RIGHTEOUSNESS – following His plan for us and habitually practicing what is pleasing to Him - provides the fuel for this conditional promise of answered prayer.
We might as well try and drive our cars around town without any gas in the tanks as to expect answered prayers from God if we are not obeying His orders and practicing what is pleasing to Him. If we are not living RIGHTEOUSLY we mess up the chances of our prayers being answered.
But when our prayers are answered it adds great meaning to our lives! It produces great joy and fulfillment!
I won’t belabor this point. I’ll just rehearse a quick story of answered prayer. And it comes from an interview with the great author of numerous historical western novels, Louis L’amour. [L’amour is well known for his preciseness on historical detail.]
"The year was 1820 and Peter Richley was a grateful man. He had survived one of the strangest and most harrowing events known to mankind. The ship which he had been traveling on sank. He was rescued. By some strange twist of circumstance, however, this ship sank.
He was rescued again. But, this third ship sank likewise. He was rescued for a third time. Yet, his fourth ship of passage soon sank. And unbelievably, he was rescued for a fourth time, but this fifth ship sank as well.
It would have been laughable had it not been so serious. On the high seas, however, he floated with the serene confidence that somehow God did not want him to die. And sure enough, as if on cue, another ship came by and answered his call for help.
This ocean liner, The City of Leeds, was named after it’s British city of origin. It was bound from England to Australia and traveled the same sea-lane as Peter Richley’s downed ships. The crew of The City of Leeds hoisted Peter aboard. Dry clothing was provided to Peter. The ship’s doctor gave him a cursory exam, pronounced him fit, and then asked an unusual favor.
“There’s a lady on board who booked passage to Australia,” the doctor explained. “She’s looking for her son who disappeared years ago. She’s dying and she’s asking to see her son. She knows everybody on board and since you’re the only newcomer, would you pretend to be her son?”
Peter agreed. After all, his life had now been saved for the fifth time. He followed the doctor below deck and entered into a cabin. There on a small bed lay a frail woman with silvered-hair. She was obviously suffering from a very high fever. Deliriously, she was crying out. “Please God. Let me see my son before I die. I must see my son!”
The ship’s doctor gently pushed the young man toward the bed. Soon, however, Peter Richley began sobbing. For lying there on that bed was the reason that he couldn’t seem to die. Here was the lifeline that had kept him from drowning five times. For lying on that bed was none other than Sarah Richley—who had prayed for ten years to reconciled to her son, Peter.
The ship’s doctor stood in amazement as the young man fell down by the bed and embraced the sick woman. “I’m here mom! I’m here. It’s me!” Within days the fever had subsided and his mother awakened to find an answered prayer seated on the edge of her bed."
Do you have a prayer request for God? If you are His child and you are living according to His purposes, the Bible says you can receive whatever you ask!
The perks of being God’s child – of obtaining his RIGHTEOUSNESS and living RIGHTEOUSLY.
I. We have our sins taken away! All the guilt, all the shame, all the punishment we deserve from God – gone!
II. The works of the devil have been destroyed for us! Wearing the body armor of His RIGHTEOUSNESS the devil cannot defeat us!
III. As God’s children, living RIGHTEOUSLY, we have whatever we ask for!
