Righteousness from Christ

Chuckle: “Children aren’t happy with nothing to ignore, And that’s what parents were created for.” --Ogden Nash

Quote: “The essence of repentance is that we cannot be repentant until we confront our own self-righteousness with God's righteousness." --Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, DD

God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

You may think you are a good person and take pride in the fact that you can't be accused of a terrible crime and that you have a good reputation in your community. Being the prideful human beings that we are, we have a tendency to pat ourselves on the back for being a good parent, a good grandparent, a good friend, a good neighbor, etc. Often, inherent in such an attitude is "look what I have done." We want to take the credit for any and all good resulting from our lives. We want to say we "pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps" and made the world a better place because we were here.

I don't suppose there is anything wrong with feeling satisfaction from our living a good moral life as long as we don't depend upon our "good" life to make us right with God. Without Christ, your "good" moral life may bring happiness to the lives of others; but it will never bring you into a saving relationship with God. You are still a sinner in need of a Savior. That brings me to the subject of righteousness according to God. As used in the New Testament, the Bible Dictionary describes "righteousness" from God's point of view: "The gracious gift of God to men whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into right relationship with God. The person who trusts in Christ becomes the righteousness of God in Him."

It is the righteousness of Christ, not our own, that makes us right with God. When we place our trust in Christ, we make an exchange. He takes our sins and, in return, makes us right with God -- gives us His righteousness. In the secular world, bartering only works when two people exchange goods and services which are perceived to be of equal value. But God, in His love and mercy, offers to trade His righteousness for our sin -- something of immeasurable value for something totally worthless. As Christians, we must let God's Word remind us constantly that, outside of Christ, "There is no one who is righteous; not even one" (Romans 3:10 NIV).

Every sin of every person who ever lived, or will live, was placed on Christ. By His sacrifice, His righteousness was made available to all who place their faith in Him. We receive His righteousness the moment we became Christians. Therefore, any righteousness we have is not our own but the righteousness of Christ which has been imputed to us -- credited to our account.

"The Chinese character for 'righteousness' is most interesting. It is composed of two separate characters -- one standing for a lamb, the other for me. When 'lamb' is placed directly above 'me,' a new character -- 'righteousness' is formed. This is a helpful picture of the grace of God. Between me, the sinner, and God, the Holy One, there is interposed by faith the Lamb of God. By virtue of His sacrifice, He has received me on the ground of faith, and I have become righteous in His sight." –Illustrations for Biblical Preaching; Edited by Michael P. Green 

Love, Jerry & Dotse