“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are calling us to be people of righteousness in a world, where unrighteousness is the norm. We often are in murky and grey situations in life. In this situation, Lord Jesus, You have kept us to be people of righteousness and demonstrate Your character to the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
Acts 1:18-20 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. (19) And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) (20) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’
The problem for Judas was his greed or love for money. Peter refers to this sin as the wages of iniquity or the wages of unrighteousness. II Peter 2:15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; God has called us to be people of righteousness in a world that is full of unrighteousness. This is the stand-out quality that must be seen in us as His people. We must be known as people of righteousness. Is that how we are known today? Is that how you are known today? These are the issues that we must set right before God. We are people of righteousness because God is righteous and we are His image bearers. Jeremiah 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord our righteousness”. When we yield to Him and live out His righteousness then our communities, societies and nations will be saved and we will dwell in safety. When we see the chaos in our societies and nations, we know where the problem lies. People have abandoned righteousness before God.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Righteousness is an integral part of God’s kingdom. (Romans 14:17). Therefore, we are people, who are seeking God’s righteousness in each situation. It is the Holy Spirit, who will guide and show us the righteousness of God at every turn in life. The Holy Spirit also empowers and enables us to bring the righteousness of God into its application. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Righteousness will not be available easily. What will be easily available is unrighteousness. We must commit ourselves to seek for God’s righteousness.
When we consider righteousness, we must always keep in mind that we cannot be righteous before God by our effort. It is Jesus who has given us His righteousness and we stand before God as righteous because we are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. II Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Righteousness has already been given to us in Jesus and therefore we bring forth righteousness in our every daily life knowing that we are already considered righteous before God. This is where the Jews struggle since for the Jews, righteousness is by the keeping of the Law. The Bible tells us that by the keeping of the Law no one can be made righteous before God. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
This continues to be a hindrance for the Jews to come to faith in Jesus. Romans 10:3-4 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. (4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Apostle Paul makes it clear to us that the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus. We appropriate for ourselves the righteousness of Jesus, by faith. Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (17) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” The righteousness that we have by faith is not intellectual knowledge but a practical reality. We live out righteousness by faith in our everyday challenges of life. James 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Zechariah and Elizabeth, as a couple, are a beautiful example for us of applied righteousness. Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. We are those who manifest the truth. We commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. This is not possible by the flesh. It is possible only in a life that is carried by the Holy Spirit. II Corinthians 4:2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
“We exercise the righteousness of God in our daily lives, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit”