Proverbs 28:1 – The righteous
In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished. Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in “The Heart of the Antarctic”, the time was spent talking about food -- elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS." We can understand Shackleton's obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness. As we begin to unpack our verse for the year I want to look at the first part and what it means to be the righteous.
The righteous are an act of grace
The first thing I want to think about is “the righteous” are an act of grace. Righteous or righteousness is a word we often use in church but it is important that we understand what we mean by it. If I am in love there has to be an object to my loving. It may be a person or a thing but I cannot be in love without being in love with something. When we talk of being righteous there always has to be something we are righteous in relation to. Righteousness is a relational quality in the same way love is. It is used in the Bible to refer to the relationship between God and man such that Jeremiah 9:24 says, “ let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD.” It is used in the Bible to refer to the relationship between man and man such that Jeremiah 22:3 says, “This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” Righteousness requires that we conform to the requirements of the relationship which in relation to God requires conformity to his will through a covenant relationship. If we understand this we can begin to understand how the righteous are an act of grace.
We know that God is righteous. Throughout the Bible he enters into covenant relationship where he always and without exception upholds his side of the covenant. God is always righteous. On the contrary, mankind always breaks his covenant with God and the Bible is a living testimony of how unfaithful God’s covenant people are and how loving and gracious God is in return. God being unfailingly righteous does not stand isolated from his other attributes. Both in Greek and in Hebrew there is not as distinct a separation as there is in the English between righteous and just. If you are righteous you will act justly. Justice requires punishment for breaking the covenant relationship. For God to act righteously he has to justly punish every violation of the relationship we were created to have with him. His holiness requires that he separates himself from us. The truth is we are powerless to act righteously towards God. Isaiah 64:6 says “and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” God has to reject us and distance himself from us. When he looks on us he sees our covenant unfaithfulness. We do not deserve to be in a relationship with Him. We are powerless to do anything about it but God was not. Because he had always been righteous, because Jesus lived a righteous life, we are offered the chance to exchange our unfaithfulness for his faithfulness.
God graciously offers us the opportunity to be righteous in relation to him by receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ made available through the cross. We may not understand the full ramifications of all the cross means but we can see the offer is an act of great grace. We can see our need. We don’t merit it, we can’t earn it, there is nothing to commend us to God, but we can receive Christ’s righteousness by acknowledging our unrighteousness and welcoming Christ’s righteousness into our lives. Once again we can stand before a holy God and he no longer needs to reject us because we stand before him covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Righteousness is a work of the Holy Spirit
The second thing I want us to look at is righteousness is a work of the Holy Spirit. Our status before God through the work of Christ on the cross is that we are righteous. That is our status. Yet our state can be a little different. Last week I suggested that if I dressed up as Bananaman I would not be Bananaman. I would not have the power or be alert for the call to action (MPEG) On the outside I can look like Bananaman, yet on the inside I am still myself. Something needs to happen to bring the two into alignment. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit within our lives is to bring our state into line with our status. This work is called sanctification.
Sanctification is the moral and spiritual transformation of the righteous believer. This is the will of God. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 says, “It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; ... For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” God’s desire is that we increasingly conform to the image of Christ and so realize and experience what it is to be in the image of God. That is to relate righteously without spot or blemish or defect in any way. Yet, as we have already observed, our noblest efforts fall far short of what is required. If we do not seek God’s help we are doomed to failure.
God’s help comes in the form of the Holy Spirit. We are told in John 16:8-11 of two of the roles of the Holy Spirit. He will convict the world of sin. The Holy Spirit helps us recognise what is wrong in our lives. Many people testify that when they became Christians they suddenly lost the desire to do certain things. For some it was getting drunk, for others it was swearing, others stopped sleeping around or moved out from their girlfriends because they sensed something was not right. It was only later that they read in the Bible that these were things that grieved God and violated their relationship with him. The Holy Spirit had convicted them that what they were doing was wrong. He also convicts us of what is right, what we are to do. Again, many testify that when they become Christians they suddenly find the desire to do the right thing. They get a moral conscience at work or at home, they want to defend the weak and vulnerable, they want to start living a noble life. It is only later when they have read their Bibles do they understand that these are things that please God and grow their relationship with God. The Holy Spirit has convicted them to act righteously. Yet we may know what is wrong and we may know what is right, yet it is still hard to make that choice The word used in John 16 to describe the Holy Spirit can be translated as “the one who comes alongside” The Holy Spirit draws alongside us and helps and encourages and empowers us to do the righteous thing. One of the things we daily need to do is welcome the Holy Spirit to draw alongside us.
Righteousness is a battle worth fighting
The last thing I want to look at is that righteousness is a battle worth fighting for. Paul sums it up so well in Romans 7:14-20. There is a battle between our Spirit that wants to do the will of God and our flesh, that is our soul and body, that is often in conflict through temptation. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Though sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit there is still a responsibility on our part to work out our righteousness. We are to determinedly work with the Holy Spirit for this is a battle worth fighting.
This is a battle worth fighting because it is pleasing to God. Romans 8:29 reminds us, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” God wants us to be increasingly found in the likeness of His son. He not only came to exchange our unrighteous status for his righteous status but to show us how to live in a successfully righteous life. What this looks like is seen from our reading in Acts 7. If you look back to chapter 6 you will see that Stephen is chosen to wait on the tables of widows. This might appear a very humble and ordinary thing to do. Yet Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit gets on with what he is asked to do. So full of the Holy Spirit is he that when he is seized for being a follower of Jesus he is described as having the appearance of an angel. In other word his relationship, or righteousness, is so close to God it has transformed his very being. The light of God has flooded into his life and transformed his person that his face radiates the glory of God. That, I think is worth fighting for.
As we return to our reading, full of the Holy Spirit, experiences what can only be described as an open heaven. There is nothing to hinder his vision of the Father and the Son in his resurrected glory. Whether it is a dream, a vision or some other form of revelation this is the kind of relationship that is worth having with God. Yet our state can hinder that relationship. When we sin we distance ourselves from God. The more we sin the more insensitive we become to the things of God and the more we restrict the Hoy Spirit prompting us to do what is right. Living under an open heaven is worth fighting for – that open communion. Yet there is one other thing that I think Stephen teaches us. He lives a life where there is no offense with God. He could have so easily reacted to God with offense, how dare God let me be stoned, yet all he was concerned about was that those that stoned him would be forgiven for their sin. It is easy to live with offense in our heart towards God, he does not come through for us in the way we want and we are hurt. We hold onto that hurt and it hinders our relationship with God for the rest of our lives. Stephen had got to that place where he could not be offended with God. That was worth fighting for as he helped him die with such grace.
