The Way Of Righteousness Series

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).