WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000
Today we're talking about the Lord, our righteousness.

2
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:09.000
Now, I don't know about you, but every now and again I look in the mirror.

3
00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000
And when I look in the mirror, what I see looking back at me is not overly righteous.

4
00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:28.000
There's a standard of righteousness that I would love to be at somewhere up here. And there's the standard of righteousness I see in the mirror, which isn't quite that.

5
00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:40.000
Anyone else have a similar problem or is your mirror a little distorted and it gives you this wonderful image and you just look at it and go, oh, isn't that just so wonderful?

6
00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:48.000
See, righteousness is a term that unfortunately isn't used a lot in the modern church.

7
00:00:48.000 --> 00:01:04.000
Instead, what people want to talk about is, I came to Jesus, I got saved, I'm awesome, let's move on and let's not talk about all of those things that I'm not quite as good at as I would like to be.

8
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000
I know, a little uncomfortable, isn't it, when you say things like that.

9
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.000
But that's the reality.

10
00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:26.000
See, Jesus and Paul spent a whole lot of time in all of their teaching talking to Christians and going, you know what, you're serving Jesus, you're doing a good job, but you could do a little better.

11
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:31.000
Maybe you could consider this, maybe you could consider that.

12
00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:37.000
And because so many preachers don't want to upset anybody, we don't say a whole lot of that sort of thing.

13
00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:54.000
But it's good for us every now and again just to hold the mirror up, just to have a little bit of a look and just to go, yeah, yeah, I'm doing okay in this and in this. Yep. Perhaps I could do a little bit more work.

14
00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:00.000
Our verse talks a little bit about being angry and not sinning.

15
00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000
Who has problems with being angry and not sinning?

16
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:07.000
You know, I can do the being angry bit really easily.

17
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:21.000
The not sinning part takes a whole lot of self control because when people make me angry, I would like to express to them exactly how they did it and what they should do with it.

18
00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:26.000
Talks about not stealing, don't have a problem with that one. Not lying, pretty good at that.

19
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:36.000
Being sensitive to the needs of others that be on that one, Forgiving.

20
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.000
What about arguing?

21
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:45.000
Who's nice and contentious and likes to point out things and go, you said this and you haven't done it yet.

22
00:02:45.000 --> 00:03:14.000
Who's seen the little joke that goes around that sort of says, you don't have to remind me when I said, I will do it, I'll do it every six months is Too often, because us men know, you know, when we said, we'll do it, we will get around to it. You see, the challenge is we as Christians want to live this life up here. Because we all know people outside the church look at us and go, is that what the church is like?

23
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.000
And we want to try and present the very best picture that we possibly can.

24
00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:25.000
And we know our humanity means that that picture is not always what we would love it to be.

25
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:39.000
This is the great challenge we have for churches, that it's filled with imperfect people that just every now and again, very rarely, but just every now and again get on each other's nerves.

26
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:52.000
And I'm sure none of you have ever had a problem with anyone else in this building. You've all got on perfectly well and related brilliantly to each other, and you'll keep doing that forevermore.

27
00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:56.000
However, in most churches, that's not the case.

28
00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:05.000
So I know that despite our best efforts, we don't live the same way that God would love us to live.

29
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.000
We don't fully reflect God's sense of justice.

30
00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:17.000
We don't fully reflect God's goodness. We don't fully reflect God's truth. And we would love to, wouldn't we?

31
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.000
That would be our desire.

32
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:44.000
So the first step in us getting our heads around, if these are the standard, is just to reflect a little bit on what is that standard. So I'm just going to read a couple of little verses about God and how God is just. How God is good, how God is truth. We'll start with the truth. 1 Isaiah 45, 19.

33
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:57.000
I have not spoken in secret from somewhere in a land of darkness. I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain. I, the Lord, speak the truth.

34
00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:01.000
I declare what is right.

35
00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:05.000
Now, who is really, really good at being honest?

36
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000
Me.

37
00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:08.000
Excellent.

38
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:18.000
Who is good at being honest at inappropriate times?

39
00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:26.000
Because sometimes there's a being too honest, sometimes there's telling truths that don't need to be told.

40
00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:40.000
And God is really, really kind and gentle. But he tells us the things that we need to know. Who's ever read verses and struggled to go, how does this verse align with this verse?

41
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:46.000
And questioned, how is the consistency through the Bible? How does that work?

42
00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:51.000
And yet we have this overlying principle that God tells the truth.

43
00:05:51.000 --> 00:06:06.000
So we know that if there's inconsistency, it's inconsistency in how we have read, how we have translated it, the various doctrines we formed around it that make it appear that something is wrong.

44
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.000
Because we know God is True.

45
00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:18.000
Now, I don't know about how you've traveled with your journey in Christianity, but I've had problems from time to time.

46
00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:28.000
I used to go to the potter's house. I used to be a pastor in the potter's house. And they taught me all sorts of things that were not quite as correct as they should have been.

47
00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:43.000
And it took years for me to work out that what they had taught me and how they had said, you interpret this verse was not actually how 99% of all the other Christians on the planet interpreted that verse.

48
00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:50.000
And I had to work through and figure out actually what that means is this.

49
00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:03.000
And as I slowly did that, I. I started to realize that the problems I saw and the inconsistencies I saw were all about me, not about God.

50
00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.000
That can be a challenge.

51
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:09.000
God is just.

52
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:14.000
You might struggle with God's justice sometimes and exactly what that means.

53
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:26.000
Deuteronomy 32. 4 says, he is a rock. His works are perfect, and all his ways are just. Anyone ever sing a song about that? Yeah.

54
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:34.000
A faithful God who does no wrong. Upright and just is he.

55
00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:48.000
Some people look at where we're going and how God does justice, and they question, is God really just, you know, how do people get away with this and God's not doing something about it?

56
00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.000
How does that take place and God's not fixing it?

57
00:07:52.000 --> 00:08:00.000
Will the justice at the end, when we all stand before God in the great judgment, will that be fair?

58
00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000
Have you ever wondered that, or is it just me?

59
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:10.000
I have wondered these things. I have thought about them and pondered them and gone.

60
00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:21.000
But what I know and have come to accept is, is that when I step back and I see the big picture, God will be seen to be totally just.

61
00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:29.000
And when we look at how things have all played out, we will go, that was perfectly fair and appropriate.

62
00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:36.000
The problem we have with it right now is that we have a limited perspective.

63
00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:41.000
All I can see is my point of view.

64
00:08:41.000 --> 00:09:03.000
I can't see it how you see it. I can't see it how the person over there sees it. I can't see what's going on in that person's heart right there. And I can't properly understand why this person did that thing, because somehow to them, it made sense at the time.

65
00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:10.000
We have a challenge with justice because of that.

66
00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:16.000
Likewise, we have a challenge with God's goodness, don't we?

67
00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:30.000
We know God is good, but we look at the stuff around us and we go, but if God was good, why did that look, if I'm preaching just to Me, that's fine.

68
00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:35.000
But I suspect other people have had this challenge and have asked this question.

69
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:48.000
James 1:17 says, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

70
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:55.000
God is good and gives us good things and pours out blessings upon us and helps us.

71
00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:02.000
But I have been at points where I've gone, but God, if you're so good, why did you do this?

72
00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:07.000
And I reckon most of us have been through there somewhere.

73
00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:13.000
And the common thread all the way through that is all my perspective.

74
00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.000
Because I know God is good. I know God is just.

75
00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:24.000
I know God is true. But my perspective of that is sometimes very, very questionable.

76
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:32.000
How I have read some verses is not what any good Bible student would read them as.

77
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.000
Perhaps I'm not a good Bible student.

78
00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:45.000
Perhaps I'm just a little bit twisted by my own sinfulness, my own wants, my own needs.

79
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:53.000
See, the great problem we have is we have desires and needs within us that we need to meet.

80
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.000
I don't know about you, but I like eating each day.

81
00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:01.000
It's a habit I've formed, and I want to keep doing it.

82
00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:11.000
The problem is that eating can easily move over one step into a thing called gluttony.

83
00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:15.000
None of you would have a problem if I ate breakfast, I hope.

84
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:27.000
But if I ate all the breakfast that I could possibly eat while five people sat there hungry and I shared nothing, you'd have a problem with that, wouldn't you?

85
00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.000
So there's nothing wrong with my desire to eat.

86
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:35.000
But if I put that above other things, there's an issue.

87
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:50.000
James 1:12 says this. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

88
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:58.000
When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

89
00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:05.000
But each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

90
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.000
And after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

91
00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:13.000
Sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.

92
00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.000
I say again, desire is not bad.

93
00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:24.000
But desire taken to the wrong place can become evil and can lead us to bad decisions.

94
00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.000
Nothing wrong with having money, is there?

95
00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:40.000
But if I take that money and make it my goal and I become greedy and I use that to exclude others, then that's a problem.

96
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000
Nothing wrong with wanting a good bed to sleep in.

97
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:50.000
But if I own all the beds and make everybody else sleep outside, that's a problem.

98
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:56.000
See the desires we have are not evil in and of themselves.

99
00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.000
It's when we express them in poor ways.

100
00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:06.000
And being human like we are, I think we all struggle with keeping them in the right line, don't we?

101
00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:13.000
You know, we'd love to just be perfect and keep it right here, but we don't.

102
00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:22.000
And this isn't a problem just for us here or a problem back when Jesus was walking. It was a problem right through history.

103
00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:37.000
Ever since Adam and Eve, humans have had this challenge of trying to keep their desires and stuff in the right places and not go too far in the wrong direction.

104
00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:43.000
Remember King David, how he was called a good king?

105
00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:50.000
And we hold him up and go, yes, he's a man after God's own heart. A great example.

106
00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:02.000
Who can remember some of the slightly less good examples of David, Uriah, and Bathsheba maybe come to mind and some of the other things that happened in his life.

107
00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:18.000
See, the Bible tells all of these stories of people that desired after God, that sought after God, that stumbled, that fell, that made all of these mistakes. And God says, well done, my good and faithful servant.

108
00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.000
Who finds that a bit of a contradiction.

109
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:30.000
The reason it's a contradiction is because the Lord is our righteousness.

110
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:44.000
He freely gives us his mantle to wear and says, hey, you're righteous not because of who you are, but because of who I make you.

111
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:51.000
You come to me and I give you this, and you are deemed righteous.

112
00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:52.000
Wow.

113
00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:55.000
I. I love that exchange.

114
00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:00.000
I love that idea.

115
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000
Jeremiah 33, 15, 16.

116
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:11.000
In those days, and at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout from David's line.

117
00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.000
He will do what is just and right in the land.

118
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:21.000
In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.

119
00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:28.000
This is the name that it will be called, the Lord, our righteous Savior.

120
00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:34.000
And the understanding that God is our righteousness, that's the foundation of our Christianity, isn't it?

121
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:42.000
That we don't survive based on how great we are. We survive because of how great Jesus is.

122
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:54.000
And this amazing divine exchange where Jesus took the price of our sin on him and gave us his righteousness.

123
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000
I reckon we got the better end of that deal.

124
00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.000
I really do.

125
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:21.000
But the challenge for many of us is living in that and accepting when we look in the mirror, that, yes, we're imperfect, that yes, we stumble, yes, we fall, but God still loves us. And that's fine, because I don't know about you, I look at some of the things I do and I go, it's not fine.

126
00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:37.000
And I struggle with them because Sin has two levels of impact. There's the level that's up with God, that causes distance and challenge in our relationship with God, and then there's the outward level.

127
00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:43.000
Because when I sin, it doesn't just impact me, it impacts the people around me.

128
00:16:43.000 --> 00:17:02.000
And God's righteousness is really awesome when it comes to my relationship with God, that God has stepped in and healed that and given me access to the throne room. I can pray and God will hear me and all of those wonderful benefits that come from a right relationship with God.

129
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:08.000
But that righteousness of God doesn't really help me.

130
00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:18.000
When my wife is angry with me, I can't just go to her and say, jesus forgave me. What's your problem?

131
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:23.000
That's not going to help, is it?

132
00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:34.000
There's a fair chance that if I did that, what was a scale 2 problem becomes a scale 10 problem.

133
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:44.000
How we handle those sideways things comes down to, are we listening to God?

134
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:59.000
Because when I read the New Testament, I read Paul, and I read Jesus saying a lot of things about, live together in unity, forgive one another, be compassionate to each other.

135
00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:03.000
And why does he keep saying those things?

136
00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.000
Cause we keep treading on each other's toes.

137
00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000
Because we're really good at doing that, aren't we?

138
00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:21.000
And guess what's going to happen? In about six to eight weeks time, you're going to have an interim pastor.

139
00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.000
And guess what's going to happen?

140
00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:28.000
He's going to act in ways that annoy you.

141
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000
He will say things that frustrate you.

142
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:38.000
He will probably do some good things as well. And you'll probably go, yay, that's really great. I'm glad he's like that.

143
00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:43.000
But he's also going to be not you.

144
00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:49.000
And the very fact that he's not you means there will be some tension.

145
00:18:49.000 --> 00:19:07.000
And you'll have to use this thing of grace and forgiveness and mercy and walking together with one another, just like you do to everybody else in this church that from time to time may do something that annoys you.

146
00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:18.000
It can be hard and it can be difficult because sometimes what people do goes deep and it hurts deeply.

147
00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.000
It's really easy to brush off.

148
00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.000
They forgot my name.

149
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:31.000
It's harder to brush off. They've called me by the wrong name five times.

150
00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:37.000
It's harder to brush off some things than others.

151
00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:44.000
And I don't know about you, but sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves.

152
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:58.000
Because I have this standard up here and I know I live here, and sometimes when I do that, I get really, really, really Annoyed with myself.

153
00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.000
You mightn't. I don't know.

154
00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:10.000
1 John 4:16, 19 says, and we know and rely on the love of God has for us.

155
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.000
God is love.

156
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:18.000
Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them.

157
00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:24.000
This is how love is made complete among us, so that we have confidence on the day of judgment.

158
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.000
In this world, we are like Jesus.

159
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.000
There is no fear in love.

160
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:37.000
But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment.

161
00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:40.000
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

162
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.000
We love because he first loved us.

163
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:59.000
When we understand how loved we are, how precious we are in God's light, it helps us to see everybody else as precious.

164
00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:09.000
When we understand how loved we are by God, it helps us to be able to love others.

165
00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:19.000
So often when we look at sin, we get so caught up in it that we forget that God can see it too and loves us.

166
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:33.000
That God can see all the fallings and the issues and the stuff and just goes, it's okay, I've got you.

167
00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:41.000
When we understand God's love, the fear of rejection, the fear of failure can disappear.

168
00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:48.000
Because no longer do we have to strive to succeed. No longer do we have to strive to prove ourselves.

169
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:54.000
We can simply walk and go, God has got me.

170
00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:02.000
And we can simply do the best we can and know that God carries the rest.

171
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:09.000
And I don't know about you, but that's a relief to me.

172
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:13.000
Because I need that cover.

173
00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:20.000
I need to know I'm okay.

174
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000
I need to know that I am seen to go back a few weeks.

175
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.000
I need to know that God provides for me.

176
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:45.000
And I need to know that God is my righteousness because those things keep me stable, those things keep me trusting, and those things keep me walking forward.

177
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:51.000
And I hope these few little sermons have been a blessing to you.

178
00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:03.000
And I hope they help you know that God has got you, that God has seen you, does see you, that God has provided for you.

179
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:10.000
And that God is your righteousness and covers the gap and keeps walking with you.

180
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.000
Let's pray together.

181
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.000
Father, I thank youk.

182
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:37.000
I thank youk that before the foundation of the earth, you saw us and you'd loved us and you'd cared for us and you'd said in plans that boggle our minds. It really does.

183
00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:44.000
But I just thank you that you have redeemed us and shown us your love.

184
00:23:44.000 --> 00:24:06.000
Help us to walk in it, help us to see ourselves as we really are, to be honest about our shortcomings, to work on those, and to give it the proper balance between your love and your grace and our need to show the world that a fair reflection of who youo are.

185
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:13.000
Help us when we struggle with youh truth and you'd goodness.

186
00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:16.000
Help us, Lord.

187
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:20.000
Because every now and again we get these things wrong.

188
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.000
Every now and again we struggle with justice.

189
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:30.000
Help us when we do open our eyes.

190
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:36.000
Help us to see things beyond ourselves.

191
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.000
Father, fill us with your love.

192
00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:41.000
Fill us with your spirit.

193
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.000
Fill us with your power.

194
00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:52.000
And as we look ahead to what you are doing in this church and through this church, we thank you for that.

195
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:58.000
And we so look forward to what you're doing and the doors you're opening.

196
00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.000
Lord, you are awesome.

197
00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:04.000
We just praise you in Jesus name.

198
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000
Amen.