Living Unto Righteousness (Part 1)

by J.H. Johnson, Kilmarnock, Scotland | Category: Living Unto Righteousness | Mar 1989

For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: who His own self bare our sins in His body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness (1 Pet. 2:21-24).

Through faith, Christ is our righteousness. The joy of this realization caused Murray McCheyne to write:

Jehovah Tsidkenu, my treasure and boast;

Jehovah Tsidkenu! I cannot be lost!

By Thee I shall conquer, by flood and by field,

My cable and anchor, my breastplate and shield.

We rejoice in what Christ has done for us: in what He is for us. But now we have to live for Him. We have been saved to serve. We have been bought with a price and now we are to glorify God in our bodies, or as the hymn writer put it:

Just as I am, young, strong and free,

To be the best that I can be

For truth and righteousness and Thee,

Lord of my life. I come.

Righteousness and Faith

Life for God begins by faith: (Rom. 1:17), and life for God continues by faith; "My righteous one shall live by faith: and if he shrink back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Heb. 10:38). In Romans 3:20-22 faith and works of self-righteousness are contrasted. But in James, faith and works of faith (works which are the product of faith) go together: "What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but not works? can that faith save him? (Jas. 2:14). Obviously the answer is "No!" If a man truly believes in Christ there will be some evidence, or ought to be, in his life. Even the repentant thief showed his faith by the words that he spoke to his fellow robber and then to the Lord Jesus. What he said was a work of faith.

Christ our Example

The negatives in our opening scripture (1 Pet. 2:21-24) are very important. We are to cease from sin. We have been redeemed from our vain manner of life handed down from our fathers. The old sinful habits are to go. There was no guile in His mouth and there is to be none in ours. We are to speak the truth everyone with his neighbour. "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt", the salt of truth. If we are reviled, if hurtful derogatory remarks are made about us and to us let us remember the Lord - and not answer back in the same vein. Sometimes the cutting remarks come from those who should know better! If we suffer physically or mentally we must not threaten to get our own back, but commit ourselves to God, the Righteous Judge. These words are easily said, but for some of us they are very hard lessons to learn. There is one occasion each week which is of great help to each of us - the Breaking of the Bread. On that occasion we meet together to bring to remembrance the holy, righteous, gracious life of our Lord Jesus given in death for us. In appreciative thankfulness we worship, praise and thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose heart of mercy has been revealed by Him to us.

The psalmist says that men become like the objects of their worship ~s. 115:8). How important, then, that we have the right thoughts about God, about the God whom we worship, and especially about the Lord Jesus. On those occasions when Israel appeared before God to worship Him, there probably came the time when Aaron the High Priest, carried out the instruction given in Numbers 6:22-27 and (as in Leviticus 9:22) lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them from the altar of burnt offering. You remember the blessing:

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

The LORD make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up the light of His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And you remember what the Lord said the result would be - "So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them". Did it happen? Did He bless them? Of course it happened. Of course He blessed. And the godly Israelites went home with the name of Jehovah their God upon them, that is, with something of the character of Jehovah their God. They took on the likeness of the God they worshipped.

Years ago the writer heard the late C.C. Beadsworth suggest the possibility that at the end of our time of worship on a Lord's day morning our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, turns towards us and with uplifted hands pronounces a similar blessing upon us. What a marvellous probability for those who worship in spirit and truth!

J.H. Johnson, Kilmarnock, Scotland | Mar 1989
Living Unto Righteousness