Posts Tagged ‘righteousness’

Consider God’s righteousness first

Posted: December 13, 2012 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Job
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Since Job has been insisting that he is righteous, how about considering God’s righteousness first? That will put Job’s situation, as well as the false understanding of God’s retributive justice on the part of his friends, in their proper perspectives. In verse 10, Elihu asks the debaters, “

So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. He repays a man for what he has done; he brings upon him what his conduct deserves. It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.”

Yes, God must punish sin, but will do so in his own time and ways. God is sovereign.

Both righteousness and wisdom are achieved through the fear of God.

Posted: October 10, 2011 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Ecclesiastes, October
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Ecclesiastes 7:15-18  In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

WAYNE A. BRINDLE, offers an in-depth look at the passage, and asks:
Righteousness vs WickedIs he suggesting that since personal righteousness is no guarantee of long life or happiness (7:15), the reader should become “amoral,” steering a middle course between right and wrong? Or is he warning against becoming “too goody-goody or too impossibly naughty”?
Many people would have one of two types of reaction:
  1. They might decide that if they could reach perfection in character and knowledge, their problems would be solved;
  2. they might decide that God is unfair and simply devote themselves to immorality and foolish living as the best they can get out of life.
Qoheleth warns them against both of these options, since both of them lead to disaster. The best life, he says, depends on the fear of God.

 Following the negative admonitions of 7:16-17, Qoheleth now describes positively a “good” in life. Though neither righteousness nor wisdom can guarantee prosperity or unlock the mystery of the future, they are nevertheless good and necessary. It is good to hold on to righteousness, and not to let go of wisdom. Both wickedness and foolishness lead to disaster. Both righteousness and wisdom are achieved through the fear of God. It is through trust in, and obedience to, God that righteousness and wisdom can actually be balanced and made worthwhile.

Whitefield: An unapplied Christ is no Christ at all.

Posted: October 10, 2011 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Jeremiah, October
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Jeremiah 23:5-6 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

George Whitefield  (1714-1770)

Can you say, the Lord our righteousness?

I say, the Lord OUR righteousness.

For entertaining this doctrine in your heads, without receiving the Lord Jesus Christ savingly by a lively faith into your hearts, will but increase your damnation. As I have often told you, so I tell you again, an unapplied Christ is no Christ at all. Can you then, with believing Thomas, cry our, “My Lord and my God?” Is Christ your sanctification, as well as your outward righteousness? For the word righteousness, in the text, not only implies Christ’s personal righteousness imputed to us, but also holiness wrought in us. These two, God has joined together. He never did, he never dies, he never will put them asunder. If you are justified by the blood, you are also sanctified by the Spirit of our Lord. Can you then in this sense say, The Lord our righteousness? Were you ever made to abhor yourselves for your actual and original sins, and to loathe your own righteousness; for, as the prophet beautifully expresses it, “your righteousness is as filthy rags? Were you ever made to see and admire the all-sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness, and excited by the Spirit of God to hunger and thirst after it? Could you ever say, my soul is athirst for Christ, yea, even for the righteousness of Christ? O when shall I come to appear before the presence of my God in the righteousness of Christ! Nothing but Christ! Nothing but Christ! Give me Christ, O god, and I am satisfied! My soul shall praise thee for ever.

Are you counting on your good deeds to outweigh your bad deeds?

Posted: December 8, 2010 by Pam Larson in December, Devotionals/Commentaries, Job
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Let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!  Job 31:6

Job is willing to have his life actions be placed on a scale….and not just any scale, in the balances of God.  God’s balance is a just balance.   Job is confident that if he comes out on the short end,  he is willing to be judged accordingly. But Job knows that he has tried to do good and his life reflected that.

I know many people who feel if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds then they will be accepted by God. Even Orthodox Jews see it this way. As the day of Atonement approaches, they try to do lots of good deeds to balance out the bad they have done throughout the year. They hope they will be accepted by God. But that is not God’s standard. In Leviticus 17:11 we read “‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’” And that has not changed, it only has been completed in the work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. So how does a Jewish person really get right with God?  They can’t offer sacrifices any more, because there is no Temple any more.

Hebrews 9:13-15 says “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

We don’t stand a chance without Jesus!  His righteousness is given to us.   “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21) Then when we are place on the scale, we will have NOTHING to worry about!

“too goody-goody or too impossibly naughty”?

Posted: October 10, 2010 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Ecclesiastes, October
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Ecclesiastes 7:15-18  In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WICKEDNESS IN ECCLESIASTES 7:15-18

Brindle asks:  
 

 

 

Righteousness vs WickedIs he suggesting that since personal righteousness is no guarantee of long life or happiness (7:15), the reader should become “amoral,” steering a middle course between right and wrong? Or is he warning against becoming “too goody-goody or too impossibly naughty”?
 

 

 What, then, is the conclusion of the matter? (1) The expressions “excessively righteous” and “make yourself overly wise” are best understood as an exaggerated striving and seeking after perfection and super-wisdom. Qoheleth’s point is that these things are not really of value; he had discovered that himself-both experientially and through observation. (2) Vss. 16 and 17, therefore, have a very close relationship to vs. 15. As DeHaan and Vander Lugt suggest, if the principle that righteousness brings prosperity does not always hold (7:14-15), and if wisdom cannot really discover everything that man needs to know for his life (6:10-7:14), many people would have one of two types of reaction: (a) They might decide that if they could reach perfection in character and knowledge, their problems would be solved; or (b) they might decide that God is unfair and simply devote themselves to immorality and foolish living as the best they can get out of life. Qoheleth warns them against both of these options, since both of them lead to disaster. The best life, he says, depends on the fear of God.

 Following the negative admonitions of 7:16-17, Qoheleth now describes positively a “good” in life. Though neither righteousness nor wisdom can guarantee prosperity or unlock the mystery of the future, they are nevertheless good and necessary. It is good to hold on to righteousness, and not to let go of wisdom. Both wickedness and foolishness lead to disaster. Both righteousness and wisdom are achieved through the fear of God. It is through trust in, and obedience to, God that righteousness and wisdom can actually be balanced and made worthwhile. 

 

 In Eccl 7:15-18, Qoheleth discusses the problem of the value and balance of righteousness and wisdom. He has concluded that human wisdom cannot really explain all of life nor the future (6:10-7:14), and that even the principle that righteousness brings’prosperity has many exceptions (7:14-15). Thus, he notes in 7:15 that some righteous people die in spite of their righteousness, and some wicked people live long lives in spite of their wickedness. How would a concerned human react to this admission of reality? Many would tend to overreact either toward striving harder, or toward ending all efforts and slipping into identity with those who do not know God. Qoheleth offers some helpful counsel: Do not strive for exaggerated righteousness or try to make yourself the wisest person on earth, for these are not really worthwhile goals; and in the end, such striving will ruin your life. Likewise, do not turn to immorality or act like a fool, since God’s principles do still operate and you will put yourself in danger of premature death. God is still in control. What then of righteousness and wisdom? What good are they? Qoheleth answers that they are both of great benefit. Grasp them both. If you learn to fear God  (which is the important thing), you will come out right in both areas.

See also, today’s commentary on Jeremiah 23:6 “Nothing But Christ OUR Righteousness”