Righteousness
About this series:
The title of our teaching series throughout 2023 is The Kingdom Of God. The essential goal is to help people understand the Bible’s teaching on the kingdom of God and raise confidence in God’s plans for his kingdom’s expansion / multiplication.
Teaching about The Kingdom Of God is a great way to address life as a church community - this is how life together under God’s reign should look like. And to address our lives in the world - demonstrating to those in our sphere of influence the reality of God and what life looks like when God is your king.
The second part of our teaching on the Kingdom is called “Kingdom Priorities.” Here we look at some familiar biblical themes, and bring an emphasis on how they are a feature of God’s kingly reign.
About this talk:
Scripture: Romans 14:17
Paul’s letters contain both theological foundations and practical implications, with many of those implications being applied specifically to the situation he is writing to. This appears to be the case in Romans 14 where he instructs his readers about not passing judgement on disputable matters, thereby maintaining unity in principles where differences in preferences might otherwise threaten to divide them.
It’s in this context that Paul’s statement about the kingdom of God is found: “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The reign of God is characterised by love and service to Christ and neighbour - “Anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (vs 18-19).
Righteousness, peace and joy are therefore the outcomes of loving, even sacrificial, decisions. But they are also, crucially, the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives. Paul gives a list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, which includes peace and joy. That list is not meant to be exhaustive, of course - it seems entirely logical to think that qualities such as courage, wisdom and (as here in Romans 14:17) righteousness are equally the work of the Holy Spirit in us - ie. “in the Holy Spirit.” This is the lifestyle (fruit) that the Spirit of God produces in the people of God.
Righteousness (Gk. dikaiosune) means:
‘Justice, justness, righteousness, righteousness of which God is the source or author, but practically: a divine righteousness’ (biblehub.com).
‘What is right, justice, the act of doing what is in agreement with God’s standards, the state of being in proper relationship with God’ (stepbible.org).
God is perfectly righteous, always and only doing what is just and right - “He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity” (Psalm 9:8); “I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight” (Jeremiah 9:24). His kingly rule is characterised by only ever doing what accords with his own standards of goodness, holiness, rightness and justice.
And by his grace he bestows a right standing on those who trust in him - “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6); “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). Those declared righteous are now in a favourable relationship with him. But that righteous standing translates to right conduct - decisions and actions that line up with God’s righteous character and standards. ‘Righteousness…refers to the “justifying” action of God in Christ and the resultant status enjoyed by believers’ (Douglas Moo).
And this gift of a righteous status logically results in living according to God’s standards of what is right, which is the emphasis here in Romans 14:17. This is what the reign of God looks like in someone’s life and, through them, to the places they function in - greater measures of righteousness.
Explain how righteousness is characteristic of the kingdom of God, as both the gift of a status and an empowered behaviour. (As is always the case in the New Testament, what God has done in / for us results in a new way of living).
Can you give some examples where you’ve seen a workplace, community, etc being characterised or transformed by righteousness?
Get down to practicalities by asking, “What does right living (according to God’s standards) look like in your set of circumstances?” Can you give some personal examples?
Audio only
