Righteousness is one of those words you hear in church and it can sound like you need a special decoder ring to understand it. You do not. Righteousness is just a church word for the right way to live.
And here is the thing. The question is not whether you want that. We all want to be a good person. Nobody woke up this morning and said, “It is evil villain day. I cannot wait to go do some crime.” We woke up hoping today would be a good day and that we would live right. Deep down we just want to know that we are okay.
So the question is not whether you want righteousness. The question is where you are getting your definition of it.
Because when Jesus says seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, that means we do not get to make up our own. You can try if you want to. But we cannot get righteousness from somebody else, and we cannot get it from a scorecard we are keeping on our own life.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 (NIV)
Notice He did not say blessed are those who have figured it out. Aren’t you glad He did not say blessed are those who have it all together? He said blessed are the ones who are pursuing it. Who want it. And if you pursue, you will be filled.
Where Righteousness Comes From
Romans 3 is one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Romans 3:20 (NIV)
That was huge, because the law was all God’s people had to make them righteous. Break something in it and a whole process of sacrifice was required to get back into right standing with God.
But look at what Paul says the law was actually doing. It is not what we do that makes us righteous in God’s eyes. It is that we become aware of our sin, and more importantly, aware of our need for a Savior. Because if it were left to me, my sin price is too high for me to pay. The death penalty is too high.
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-24 (NIV)
The law showed us we could not live up to God’s standard. Then apart from the law, righteousness shows up from somewhere else. Not somewhere else. Someone else.
And look at that word freely. That is a price point.
Surpassing the Pharisees
Jesus told His disciples that unless their righteousness surpassed that of the Pharisees, they would not enter the kingdom of heaven.
We use Pharisee as an insult now, but if you understand the history, these were the best guys. They spent their lives dedicated to the Torah. They were the most committed, the most disciplined, the ones who took God the most seriously. And they could not see God when He was standing right in front of them.
So Jesus looks at a ragtag group of fishermen and tax collectors and tells them they will surpass all of that. He was not telling them to become more knowledgeable or more theologically sophisticated. He was saying the Pharisees are sourcing their righteousness from the wrong place. They were getting it from themselves instead of from God.
He was not saying try harder. He was saying find a different source.
The Scoreboard
I am a man who is used to pressure. I have had some high stress jobs and been in some high stress situations. But nothing has ever been like the stress of running the scoreboard at a Little League baseball game.
You sit in front of this box in a little house and you have to keep up with the runs and the innings and all of it. It is a lot. I was not good at it, and the parents in the stands let me know exactly how bad I was. They were savage. Relentless. I am not judging by outward appearance, I am just speaking to the inward heart, but I do not think those people were saved.
But there was one moment that was actually a lot of fun.
Andrew got up to bat. He was about eight. He took a swing and hit a double, and we were thrilled. He gets to second, and the outfielder scrambling for the ball overthrows the second baseman. Now it is on. The third base coach is waving him, go, go, go. Andrew is running to third. The other team is smart, so they throw home to protect the plate. And they overthrow the catcher.
Andrew comes charging down that third base line. The catcher is scrambling, dirt flying everywhere. He gets the ball, he is running, and time slowed way down. I could already see the ESPN highlight. Andrew crossed the plate before the ball did.
Inside the park home run at eight years old. And I hit that button and said, “Plus one, baby. Let’s go.” All of a sudden I know exactly what I am doing up here.
Here is the thing about that story. There was pressure in the scorekeeping because the score had to be right. I had to follow the rules of the game perfectly, and it had to be timely, and if I got it wrong there were people in my ear about it. I could not be wrong.
A lot of us think about our relationship with God in exactly those terms. We are up in the scorekeeper booth. Oh, that was good. Oh, that was not.
Now, Scripture does tell us to examine ourselves. We are to test ourselves and let God search our hearts. David prayed that very prayer, and it is a healthy thing.
The problem with the Pharisees was not that they measured. It was what they measured, how they measured it, and who was doing the measuring.
Three Signs You Are Building Your Own Scorecard
You measure who you are not, instead of who you are becoming.
Some of you grew up in church and heard a preacher say, “I do not smoke, I do not chew, and I do not go with girls that do.” It is sage advice from the old Baptist preacher, I guess. But that is a whole lot of no in one sentence.
Some of you have a whole lot more no in your life than yes, and you are missing the faith steps God is asking you to take to get into your purpose.
Or maybe you have said, “At least I am not as bad as my coworker. At least I am not as bad as the person who left that comment on Facebook. At least I am not like my parents.” And then at some point in life every word out of your mouth sounds exactly like your parents. I do not know how to work that one out.
Jesus knew we would try to keep score, so He told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who walked into the temple and had completely different encounters with God. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
That is passive aggressive praying, if you did not catch it. And he walked out having missed his opportunity entirely.
You get more comfortable with rules than with relationship.
Rules are not bad. We have laws. We have commandments. We have things Christ tells us to do.
The problem is that rules are comfortable, because rules are predictable. Relationships are not.
I could follow the rules of being a great husband and do all of it flawlessly, and if my heart is not in the relationship, I have still got it wrong. I am focused on rules instead of the person.
Rules also let you stay in control. And if you are going to be submitted to God, you cannot be in the driver’s seat, because God is after your heart. You can do all the right things on a Sunday and not think about Him again until next week. You can check every box on the list and miss the heart of God entirely.
Jesus said the Pharisees tithed their spices and neglected justice and mercy and faithfulness. He said they should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. The tithe was good. But they were getting the rules right and the relationship wrong.
You are quicker to correct than to comfort.
We need this one, because it is everywhere right now. This is not just a church problem. Everybody is judging everybody. People will hold something against somebody and then broadcast it to everyone except the person it is about. Nobody would admit that is what they do, but look at how often we participate.
We are rich in correction and poor in comfort. We are happy to fix somebody or set them straight. But actually coming alongside them, showing empathy, offering comfort? People are missing that everywhere.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:3 (NIV)
A plank is larger than a speck of sawdust. I just want to make sure we are theologically accurate here.
We have way bigger issues than the people we are judging.
The scariest thing about the Pharisees is not that they were wrong. It is that they were sincere. They genuinely believed they were seeking God. They had the systems and the charts and the scorecard, and in their own minds they were crushing it. And Jesus looked at them and said, “You have missed it.”
1. Receive the Righteousness You Could Never Earn
This is not something you can earn. It is free, and it happened at the cross.
Jesus paid the price, but saying He went to the cross to take your sin is an oversimplification. He also went so He could give you His righteousness, directly.
God made him 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)
What a trade. He took yours, which was never going to work, and gave you His, which gives you eternal life.
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)
I remember both of my graduations. You get handed a cap and gown. That robe was not mine. I did not make it. It did not come from me. But I got it and it became mine, and it signified that I was not the way I was before.
You and I came to God like the prodigal son, in filthy rags. I do not know about you, but mine were real filthy. And when you said yes to Jesus, God did not hand you a checklist. He put a robe on you.
And the robe does not come off.
Sinning does not make you unrighteous again. Stumbling does not mean you have to go earn it back. Do not go back into scorecard territory. Falling short of the glory of God does not erase your righteousness, because your righteousness was never yours to begin with. It is His, and He gave it to you.
So when you sin, it is not proof God has given up on you. It is a reminder of how much you still need Him.
I watch this happen all the time. Genuine people following Jesus mess up, have a setback, and start running from God. I have done it too, so I am not judging. It is the Garden of Eden all over again, covering ourselves up. It is the prodigal staying gone because it has been too long and gotten too bad.
That is exactly backward. When you sin, run to Him, not from Him.
2. Wear It
The thing about a robe you have been given is that you still have to put it on.
When Andrew played Little League they gave him a jersey. And when he had that jersey on, he walked into that ballpark like, “Number seven is here, about to hit another inside the park home run today.” Because he knew who he was. He knew what team he was on. He knew where to go. That jersey organized everything.
Righteousness works the same way. You have to wear it. You have to identify with Christ and know who you are in Him. You did not earn it, you did not sew it, you did not make it, and you do not even have to maintain it. Just wake up and put it on, because every day is game day.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. Ephesians 6:14 (NIV)
Paul is telling us there is a spiritual reality we live in, and there is darkness in it, and we need a defense. A breastplate protects the most vital organs. Our law enforcement officers wear them. Military personnel wear them. It shields your heart.
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17 (NIV)
You are not trying to earn this. You are trying to live it, and let what is inside come out of you.
3. Carry It Into a Broken World
Receiving it is where it starts. Wearing it is knowing who you are. But it is not only for you.
This is not a public spectacle the way the Pharisees ran theirs. This is a beautiful opportunity to share. Kingdom people do not just have it and wear it. We take it into broken places. We find the person who is hurting, the person who has messed up, and we tell them what Jesus has done for us.
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)
In the Hebrew Bible, righteousness and justice are so intertwined they are almost not separate things. Because to be righteous is to make things right. And the righteousness of Christ makes things right all around you.
As I pursue it, my marriage gets better. I love my kids more. I lead this church better. Things just get better.
Righteousness is not only personal. It shows up in how you treat your spouse, how you parent your kids, how you handle money, and how you talk to your neighbor. And I know some of you have the crazy neighbor. I once had a neighbor who would not let me cut my grass without a two hour conversation every single time. He was a special man. We still talk. He is eighty six now.
It is wonderful to come to church. We want you engaged here, because there is life here, and we want you planted somewhere you can flourish and find how God has gifted you. That is not a have to. It is a get to.
But some of us have made a checklist out of even that. We are keeping score. Look what I did.
And God is saying, “Thank you. That is good. I just wanted your heart.”