Ten Key Words (cont.) – Righteousness

I want to continue my posts on Ten Key Words for Christian Living by looking at the second of those words, righteousness. I am using the word in its judicial sense, namely our right standing with God. I am speaking of positional righteousness more than practical righteousness, even though the two are closely related. I think that the word righteousness is key for the Christian because we need to be frequently reminded of who we are in Christ.

Ours is an alien righteousness – it is not inherent to us since “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Is. 64:6). We lack what we must have but it is ours in Christ. Righteousness naturally follows faith because it is by faith that we receive the righteousness of Christ (Philippians 3:8-9).

It is not the intention of this post to give a full-blown treatise on the doctrine of imputation, but rather to focus on its practical application in our lives. I have long believed that we have failed in the church in a very practical area of discipleship. We spend more time teaching new believers what they should do rather than grounding them in who they are. Consequently, the first time these new believers inevitably stumble they become paralyzed and withdrawn believing that they are somehow second-class citizens of heaven. Nothing gives us joy, courage and boldness like knowing that we are counted righteous in Christ. We are accepted by God, not because of what we have done, but because of the redemption accomplished by His Son.

The imputation of Christ’s righteousness is not a doctrine to be debated but an identity to be cherished. Step out boldly each day knowing that Christ is our righteousness and each day God is bringing our behavior in line with our identity.

Ten Key Words – Faith

A couple of days ago I began a series on “Ten Key Words for Christian Living.” The first of those words is faith. For the Christian, faith has a different definition than most would use. For the Christian, faith is not a blind leap in the dark or a hope against all hope that things will turn out well against all better judgment. For the Christian faith is grounded in the rock-solid, unchanging promises of our creator and redeemer.

The Bible reminds us that faith is an essential element of our lives. We know that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Faith is the means of our justification (Gal. 2:16; Rom 1:17), and the power behind our sanctification (Gal. 2:20). Christians, above all, are to be people of faith. However, faith can become an abstraction if we don’t stop and take time to think about what it really means. Our idea of faith can degenerate into the same sort of concept that the world has of faith. Consider this definition of faith given by John Piper:

Here we can see clearly what faith is. Faith is the assurance that what God will make of you, as Christ is formed in your life, is vastly to be preferred over what you can make of yourself. Faith is the confidence that the demonstration of Christ’s work in your life is more wonderful than all the praise you could get for yourself by being a self-made man—or woman. Faith is a happy resting in the all-sufficiency of what Christ did on the cross, what he is doing now in our heart, and what he promises to do for us for ever.

The first part of that definition is particularly powerful to me. Faith being the assurance that what Christ will make of me is vastly to be preferred over what I can make of myself. That understanding of faith takes total surrender. It means that whatever comes my way is part of God’s good and perfect plan to conform me to the image of His Son. There are times that everything in me seems to scream against this Christ-conforming work. I think that there are easier ways or shortcuts to sanctification, but God knows me so much better than I know myself. Piper makes me see how small my faith really is at times. If we would have the kind of faith that pleases God it means that we must rest in his sovereign control over our lives. We are “works in progress” and God knows the plans he has for us. Let’s put down our self-centered agendas and faithfully rest in our sovereign savior.

The Musings of an Insomniac

I occasionally battle insomnia and some time ago I found myself lying in bed, staring at the indigo blue background of the alarm clock and wishing desperately that I could get to sleep. I have come to rather piously believe that these are times that God has given me to pray or meditate on his Word. My wife is convinced that they are the result of a late afternoon Starbucks Venti Extra-Bold. I prefer my explanation to hers.

On this particular night, I began to think about very practical ways that I could remind myself of how I was supposed to live as a Christian throughout the day. Then I thought about how I could help others do the same. I find that even when we are having our daily devotions and prayer times, the relentless pressures of daily life sometimes turn our minds far from spiritual matters. As someone once quipped, “The problem with daily life is that it is so daily.” What if there were some simple words we could memorize and then attach some appropriate verses so that we would be constantly reminded of who we are in Christ and what it means to live as “strangers and aliens” (1 Peter 2:11) in this world. I wanted to keep the list manageable and finally decided on what I thought were 10 key words for Christian living. Here is my list:

1. Faith
2. Righteousness
3. Purity
4. Holiness
5. Courage
6. Integrity
7. Love
8. Diligence
9. Joy
10. Obedience

These words are in no particular order, but I believe each is an essential element of Christian living. Some of these words are intended to include other concepts, but a list of ten words ought to be easily memorized by anyone. I am curious what you think. Is there something I have missed? Would you change any of these? I hope to post on each one in the upcoming weeks and would be interested to hear your thoughts.