The Righteousness of God

We look again in Philippians, and we don’t need to dwell on it. Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 and 13.

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of ‘his’ good pleasure.”

Notice the double working. God works in, we work out. If God doesn’t work in, we have nothing to work out. We’re totally dependent on what God works in. God works in two things: first, to will, and then to do His good pleasure. As a Christian, we should not always be doing that which is right against our own will.

We should naturally will to do that which is right, for it is God who imparts to us first the will to do it, and then the ability. And when you are continually doing something against your own will, you better stop and examine your relationship to God. Even if what you’re doing is right, your relationship is wrong. And so Paul says, God works in, and then we work out. Notice we’re totally God-dependent. If God doesn’t work in, we have nothing of ourselves to work out. So we are not able to do it by our own little list of rules.

And the fifth point is, and we do not need to dwell on this, God’s righteousness is progressive, not static. We grow up like children in our Father’s home. See, if you take the picture of the relationship between a father and a child, you’ve got the right picture. The father doesn’t say to the newborn baby, “Now, when you learn all the rules, I’ll accept you as a child.” Very far from it. If I know anything about fathers, and I’ve seen some, they’re just delighted with that new baby. They just can’t stay away from it. They get down in the most foolish positions and coo at it. Even grandfathers do that, too.

And there’s no question of that child not being accepted. That’s where it starts, with acceptance. And any child that doesn’t have that in its home has problems. Now, because the child is accepted, it grows up desiring to do the father’s will. And it doesn’t do it perfectly by any means. It often stumbles. It often makes mistakes. But the father never says, “Well, you’ve made too many mistakes. I’ll no longer accept you as my child.” The father just says, “Well, that was wrong. You shouldn’t have done that, but come on, we’ll start again.” And so acceptance is the basis of our righteousness in Christ. It’s not something we have to earn or work for or achieve. It’s given us through faith. And if we don’t start there, we’ll never get where God intends us to be.

Let’s look at three scriptures and we close, these dealing with the theme that the righteousness of God is progressive. I’ll read them very quickly. Ephesians 4:15.

“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things.”

The Christian life is a life of growing up into Christ. It’s not having arrived; it’s being on the way.

And then 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18:

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.”

Notice, it’s continuing, ongoing change. The change is wrought by the Holy Spirit. It’s not the result of self-effort. But it’s dependent on the revelation the Holy Spirit gives us in the mirror of God’s Word of what we can be in Christ. And as we behold the glory, we’re changed into it. And then the Holy Spirit says, “That’s fine. Now here’s a new glory. I want you to be changed into that.” We are continually being changed from glory to glory by the Lord the Spirit. There is no stopping place, no sense of having arrived, “I know it all. I’ve got it all.”

And finally, you don’t need to turn there, but Proverbs 4:18, it’s one of my favorite scriptures, says,

“The path of the just ‘is’ as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

So if we are walking in the pathway of the righteous, the light should be getting brighter every day. And if I today am living by yesterday’s light, I’m in danger of being a backslider. Amen.