Got Righteousness?

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

I'd like to ask you a question if I may. Are you Righteous? Do you have a Righteous heart? If you've never put your trust in Christ the answer would be no. The good news is you can be Righteous, simply put your trust in Him. 

 If you are a Christian what is your response? Would you respond with one of these statements or a variation of it?

 "Well, I hope so."

 "I am trying to be."

"With the way I behave sometimes I am not so sure."

"I'm working on it."

 If so I have some Good Gospel news for you. You can know if you're Righteous. You can have absolute certainty of your standing before the Father. You can have full assurance knowing how God truly sees you. 

 First, we must know and understand what Righteousness actually is. Righteousness means to be in right standing with God. Righteousness is that state where we stand perfectly accepted and approved by Father God apart from our performance or behavior. Righteousness means we stand complete in Christ. Righteousness means we have the right and privilege to boldly stand in God Almighty's presence without any sense of shame, fear, guilt, condemnation, or inferiority. 

 Righteousness is not a work we achieve. Righteousness is not attained by continued abstinence from wrongdoing. Righteousness is not acquired by deeds done no matter how good they may be. Righteousness is not gained by following certain religious rituals such as observing the feast days or "honoring" the Sabbath day. Again Righteousness is a gift we receive not a work we achieve.

 In some circles, women won't wear makeup, cut their hair, and only wear long dresses. I am not criticizing them, but I am asking why do they do these things? To attain and maintain a place of right standing before God by their appearance. 

 If Righteousness could be achieved by our work or merit why then would Christ waste His time suffering and dying on that tree becoming a curse for you and me? If right standing with God is a work we could attain to then Christ's death was in vain. That is if we could help in any way form or fashion in achieving right standing with God, then the Cross was useless and ineffective.

I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain. Galatians 2:21 MEV

 Righteousness is not a work achieved. It is not a position that we strive enough for to finally obtain. Righteousness is not a mistake-free life. Righteousness is not a place in God that is lost and gained based upon our goodness or faithfulness. Righteousness is a permanent gift we receive when we first trust in Christ alone. Righteousness is an irrevocable gift that is rooted in Christ's work and performance and goodness never our own. 

 In summation, let's ask again, are you Righteous? If you have trusted in Christ alone you are Righteous. You are accepted and approved of God Almighty. You have received Christ's very own Righteousness and therefore are just as Righteous as Jesus. You are the Righteousness of God in Christ. 

Image by rsand24 from Pixabay 

Our inheritance in Christ: Made Equal with God

to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Acts 26:18 MEV

In recent weeks we've been studying the inheritance we have in Christ. Many are unaware we even have an inheritance in Christ. They regulate any victory or fulfilled promise till the saints finally make it to Heaven. As for the here and now, let's hope we have good insurance, a good job, and a good doctor because we are in essence stranded here in this fallen world without aid or support from Heaven. 

 When we examine our inheritance closer we see that we are not alone. We are more than equipped to live this life on Earth in triumphant victory. We have seen in this inheritance we have the gift of no condemnation, no separation, and complete acceptance with God. We have received the blessing of the Lord. 

 Today, it seems good to share a rather controversial aspect of our inheritance in Christ. That is our sonship with God. The truth that those who believe are the children of God. Paul revealed it was God's design that we become the children of God. 

 What could be controversial about the truth that we are the children of God? The religious leaders of Jesus' day knew the full implications of sonship. See their words in John 5.

 The religious leaders knew sonship implied more than just having a Father in Heaven;

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God John 5:18 NKJV (emphasis mine)

Sonship brings with it equality. This is understandable when we think of earthly fathers and their children. When we attribute this towards our Heavenly Father it rattles so many minds of Christians everywhere.

 Wait brother John are you dare to suggest we are equal with God? Before you stone me allow me to elaborate further.

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:5-7 NKJV

 Jesus when He came to earth, manifested as God in the flesh, but didn't take His equality with God, humbled Himself and came in the form of a man and served. This same mind should be in us. We have dominion and authority based on our sonship and we should serve one another in love.

 When it comes to mankind, we are all created by God, saved and unsaved. There is no one superior and no one inferior. No one based on their ethnicity or national origin is "better" than or "more equal" than anyone.

 Yet even among us humans, there are those who excel in things others do not. There are those who exceed many others' abilities in athletics, science, mathematics, creativity, and talent. Does that make the star athlete better than say minor league talent? It makes them superior in skill level but not in identity. 

 What am I saying? I am declaring in this inheritance we are made the children of God. This sonship gives us certain rights and privileges in Christ. None of this is based on our performance or doing. It's all based on the redemptive work of Christ.

 In Christ, we have been made partakers of the divine nature. God has given us His Spirit to dwell within. We are the children of God by Faith. We are not just mere sinners who have been given mercy from a Holy God. We are now the very children of God, with God Himself indwelling us in the person of the Spirit. We are not inferior, worthless beings, we are the children of God.

 Let this mind be in you. It is not robbing God of His eternal glory and truth that He alone is God Almighty, the only One worthy of all praise and adoration and worship, to take our place as sons and daughters. We are not inferior worms in the dust. Because of sonship, we can come into the presence of God freely, without shame, guilt, or any sense of inferiority or worthlessness. 

 As a son, we have the privilege and right to feast at the King's table. We have freely been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. It's not that we are bringing God down to man's level. No, God has brought us up to sit with Him in the heavenly places. 

 In summation, we are made in the image of God. We are recreated as born-again children of God, made alive in Christ. This loving Father accepts us as His own. He made us partakers of the divine nature. He made our hearts his home. He has made us new. His Spirit is within. 

 He now accepts us as His kids and we have been made joint-heirs with Christ. 

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Romans 8:16-17 NKJV

 We are joint-heirs with Christ. This means how God sees Jesus is how He sees us. How He loves Jesus is how He loves us. How much Jesus is in right standing with the Father is how much we are. We are not inferior but in equal standing with Jesus. We have equality with God because of Jesus, celebrate it. 

Image by Ryan Morrison from Pixabay

Our Inheritance in Christ: The Blessing

 

to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Acts 26:18 MEV

 We're continuing in our study of our inheritance in Christ. Did you know child of God that you have an inheritance? When Christ died and rose again He procured perfect redemption and gave us an inheritance that can't be done away with. The enemy cannot contest this will. It's ours because of Jesus!

 We've seen through this inheritance we have received the gift of no condemnation, in this inheritance we receive the benefit of no separation, there is nothing that can separate the believer from God. We saw last time how we are accepted, highly favored, and honored because of Jesus' work. 

 Today, it seemed good to focus on one major aspect of our inheritance in Christ. In Christ, we have received the blessing of the Lord. So often, we struggle and strive to receive what God has already provided. We listen to ministries who put clauses and conditions on what God has already provided. We work hard trying to earn what can only be freely received.

 Hear the Good News, in Christ you are already blessed.

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ. Ephesians 1:3 TLB

 Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. Ephesians 1:3 GNT

 Some of the religious traditional detractors will suggest because Paul said spiritual blessings then he must only mean spiritual things like forgiveness of sins but never provision or healing or deliverance. Not so, what Paul is saying is that all the blessings we ever need are first in the spiritual realm. We lay hold on our inheritance by putting a demand on the supply by believing with our heart, our spiritual man. 

 We know this because we don't always feel forgiven or Righteous. We don't always even look Righteous. Yet we know inwardly we are the very Righteousness of God in Christ. That blessing is spiritual then manifests in the natural as we mature in Christ. Our life begins to match who we are already inwardly. So these blessings begin in the spiritual realm and later manifest in the natural as we believe.

 So are you suggesting we don't do anything to receive the blessing? That there isn't anything we can do to increase the blessing in our life? No, I didn't suggest it I just agree with God who said it through His Apostles.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2 Peter 1:3 KJV

Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 TPT

We see here we already have all we need for life and godliness. For life is everything we will ever need in this natural world and godliness means we are already equipped for victorious living spiritually. Note we don't have to do anything but believe for them to manifest. 

 Now Peter did mention knowledge. That is the knowledge of what is ours through our inheritance in Christ. Traditional religion keeps us ignorant of all that's ours in Christ. Legalistic, law, and Grace mixing ministries either knowingly or unknowingly keeps us striving, struggling, and attempting to earn what we already have in Christ by our doing, our behavior, or our giving.

 Remember law and Grace mixture is any attempt to earn or achieve or merit what only Grace gives. It's trying to gain what is only freely received. What Christ procured and purchased on the Cross in the Finished Work is only received by Grace through Faith never on any actions on our part.

 Many fall into the error of mixture because they don't grasp what it truly means to be Righteous. Righteousness is divine acceptance, approval, and perfect right standing before the Father. We who believed received His perfect Righteousness in the great exchange. We are now as Righteous as Jesus. Righteousness is a gift we receive by Faith alone. It is not a work we achieve. 

 When it comes to material blessings many want to link provision with our giving and even with the practice of tithing. I have written extensively on tithing in the past you can find those links in the archive section of this blog. Let me briefly address this issue.

 If we look at Acts 15, we can clearly see this issue addressed and settled. Some misguided believers wanted to mix the Old with the New. They wanted to mix Law and Grace. They desired that believers keep the Law of Moses. This would include tithing. The Gentiles were never given the Law, so how could they have known anything about tithing?

 What did the Apostles conclude? They declared in a letter, some are requiring you to keep the Mosaic Law, but we gave no such command. There we have it. We as believers are not commanded to keep the Law. That would include tithing. Some would say but tithing was before the Law, well so was circumcision as a sign of following Jehovah and we aren't commanding that today.

 Apart from the tithe, still, others want to focus on our giving. They teach that Paul taught in 2 Corinthians that our giving is our seed and we sow it to become more blessed. Is this true? 

 This idea is rooted in the seed-faith message. This teaching infiltrated many charismatic and word of faith ministries. Instead of simply believing God's Word and speaking it (this truth I still strongly affirm), the focus became what you gave and how much you gave and how often you gave. 

 Placing stipulations on the blessing such as giving and doing turns the Goodness of God into a works and performance-rooted system of earning and achieving. The blessing then becomes a wage earned and not a gift of Grace. 

 Teaching that all our actions and our giving are seeds sown gets us reverting to some form of karma like existence. Where the Love of God doesn't guide our actions but the desire for a better future and for more and more good to come our way. It also produces fear and gets us back to Law, "do good get good do bad get bad."

 Paul likened giving as a seed in 2 Corinthians 9 only in the sense that as the whole body of believers give (he was addressing a specific church), the gift would multiply to those who received it. In other words, my gift of $50 given with the right motive to be a blessing is good but adding that to the amount the body will give is multiplication. In essence that one gift is like planting a single apple tree, but that gift coupled with others is like planting many apple trees.

 We are blessed because of what Jesus did. We look to Jesus' work never our own. Our blessings come from Christ alone never us. If the blessing comes from us and our doing then we have a place to boast, "look at what my giving, doing, and behavior produced."This replaces Grace and inheritance to a wage earned.

 In summation, in Christ, because of Christ alone and our trust in Him, we are blessed. The blessing is not determined or stipulated upon us by our doings but by Jesus Christ alone. Trust in Him and not your doing, your giving, or your behavior. Christ determined the blessing, He earned it and gave it to us, freely receive it. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay