God has an amazing life of adventure and purpose waiting for us all. But very few people find it. A lot of people think “I tried the God thing, but it didn't work.” The problem is that the promises of God don't happen without the practices of Jesus. AND Most people aren't taught what those practices are. OR how to live them out in a busy life in the real world. Good News! Jesus promised, “I am the Way.”
In other words, if we learn to do what Jesus did, we’ll discover the pathway to purpose THAT God has for all of us. This Lent season we will explore the 7 practices of Jesus to help you grow spiritually. Religion doesn’t lead to real life– following Jesus does. This is “The Way” is our series leading up to Easter
The followers of Jesus for the first 100 years were known as the followers of The Way - The way of Jesus. The pre-christian label was a by-product of Jesus' famous statement from John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
The problem is many people don’t understand what this means. Jesus tried to let us know how difficult it will be to stay focused in his most famous teaching when he said Matt 7:13-14.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it
This week we look at another way - The Way of Righteousness
The CHOSEN clip today is a great example of how God takes the broken and makes them right. The scene is a liberty of the director. The scriptures do not tell us all that much about the woman named Mary Magdalene. We know she was healed of seven demons by Jesus, was part of his ministry entourage, supported his work and was the first to declare his resurrection. The scene from the chosen is dripping with the power of conversion, of heart change and awe/reverence. Mary has been made right by Jesus' intervention in her life and she is responding by trying to be more righteous by participating in the religious ritual of her day. Mary may even had remembered the words of the first Psalm:
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Miriam Webster’s definition of righteousness is 1:acting in accord with divine or moral law, 2: free from guilt or sin, morally right or justifiable, a righteous decision, 3:arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality.
When we say someone is righteous or has righteousness, it's often used as a derogatory slang term. We implying they believe they are better than us. They are judging us. They are exclusive. They are hypocrites, homophobes, and fundamentalist Christian who live in a conspiracies mindset that the rest of the world is evil and they're the only good people left.
In its deeper spiritual meaning, righteousness is the quality of being right in the eyes of God.
It includes four C’s. Being right with God means our:
character (nature) - Are we becoming more like Jesus?
conscience (attitude) - Are our innermost thoughts guiding/directing us as Jesus would?
conduct (action) - Are our daily actions in line with Jesus’ example?
and command (word) - Are our words aligning with Jesus’ in ways that edify His example.
Righteousness is based upon God’s standard because He is the ultimate Lawgiver (Isaiah 33:22).
But here is the good news: righteousness (being right in God’s eyes) is not legalistic — it is not about our achievements or ability to adhere to the rules in God’s school of law. Righteousness (Being right with God) is a beautiful gift from God given to all humanity through Christ’s act of love.
The way of righteousness (Being right in God’s eyes) leads to life, not death (Proverbs 12:28) because God is the ultimate source of life. It means that righteousness belongs to God alone; therefore, as we pursue God, we indeed find His righteousness. Pursuing being right with God means putting God at the center of our lives. And here is the truth: God takes pleasure in those who pursue righteousness (being right in God’s eyes) (Proverbs 15:9, 21:3, 21:21).
Since the death and resurrection of Christ, the purpose of the law has been fulfilled, and as a result, everyone who believes in Him is made right with God (Romans 3:22, 10:4). Stated another way, righteousness (being made right with God) is the God-given quality imputed (credited) to man upon believing in Christ. The importance of pursuing should not be lost on us because getting right with God (righteousness) is commanded by both Jesus (Matthew 6:33) and Paul (1 Timothy 6:11).
Now, What does it mean to be right in God’s eyes today?
Just as in the Old Testament; God’s favor rests with those who live for His righteousness (Matthew 5:6, 10), in the New Testament it is given to those who believe in Jesus Christ (John 1:12). In our relationship with Jesus, we are forever loved by God unconditionally, just as children are forever loved by their parents unconditionally. We are accepted and justified not by our own goodness but by God's perfect love. This grace and mercy given by (or of) God means our recognition (understanding) of what has actually made us right with God will motivate us to express our gratefulness by continuously living in relationship with God so that He is recognized as the source of all our good in word and deed.
Like Mary Magdalene, when we are first redeemed or made right, we may strive for the familiar religious rituals. However, over time, we strive for more. We begin to seek out more time with Him through the scriptures as well as adding the disciplines of the faith (prayer, fasting, scripture reading, acts of service, solitude, charity, etc.). The longer we stay connected, the more practicing His ways in all our daily affairs becomes part of our routine. It’s not a chore. It becomes part of our new nature - a nature strengthened by the Holy Spirit empowered yearning for more.
However, I also believe I’d be remiss in not sharing the rest of Psalm One as a reminder to everyone that while our God’s saves, he also judges. Take a listen:
4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
God blesses those who seek Him. Jesus redeems all who are willing to trust and obey. The Holy Spirit (His spirit) continually encourages them. God wants none to be lost. However, some will choose to reject Him, His blessing and His way of life in favor of their own understanding of life. As Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:21 of the false prophets and those who believed in them
“It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them”
God is allowing them to exercise their free will to be wrong. Being right with God is a choice to repent, believe and receive the free gift or refuse, reject and remain unclaimed for eternity.
References:
Quest Bible Commentary - p.1799-1801, Warren Wiersbe Commentary - Psalm 1 p. 85-88, 2 Peter 2- p.448-449
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/what-is-righteousness.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/way-of-the-righteous.html
