You are “a righteousness”

(Note excerpts from Grace Rain Program #124 – 12th August 2017)

Oh how we need the Grace of God in this season. We are living in a time of great upheaval and fear. Right here in this nation, the almost daily outbreak of gun violence is a cause of great concern. We need to be aware that even in the midst of these conditions, we can be stabilized in Christ. In the wider world,

    Romans 14:17 (KJV) – For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

The word of God tells us here that the Kingdom of God is not about what we put on our plate on a daily basis. Instead it gives us the primary ingredients for living a life of Grace; righteousness, peace and joy.

Righteousness – As we saw last week, our righteousness is not something we earn for good works. It is a gift from God which must be accepted. We cannot afford to be unsure of our position in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

• For our sake – Jesus didn’t come here to die because He had nothing better to do. He did it because of love for us!
• Jesus didn’t know sin, in the same way that we didn’t know righteousness. He became sin, so that could become righteousness. It is important to know we become righteousness and not just righteous. Literally we are a new breed of being called A Righteousness. Just like an Akita is a dog and remains a dog whether you shave off all of his hair, learns to mimic a horse and begins to bray; he remains an Akita, he remains a dog.
• Righteous – (adjective) speaking of conduct or a person – the state of being morally right/justifiable
• Righteouness (noun) – the quality of being morally right/justifiable
• All of this means that our positioning or state of being has changed into being morally right in God’s eyes. This informs our behavior, not the other way around.