The Glory Of Christ’s Righteousness

In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.    Isaiah 54:14-17

The Righteousness (義)

 

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:32-33

Everyone wants a good life; with one’s needs of life well met: a good home, good food on the table, family members are all well-taken care of, healthy and strong, living to a ripe old age; Good prosperity, promotion or bountiful harvest bringing in great fortunes and comforts. The only problem is that when we started chasing all these things, we get anxious and worried; missing the real important thing in life; the abundant life itself.

God, the Father knows these are things we need and are legitimate, we don’t need to retreat to a mountain for meditation, cutting all family ties and live frugally eating grass. Our God is really concern about having our needs met, like a good father would. He like us to have all these things. In fact, He wants all these things added – given to us. The key here is the way for these things to be given to us; by seeking His kingdom and His righteousness; not by our own effort toiling and seeking after for ourselves.

But what is righteousness?

The Chinese traditional character for righteousness is 義 (pronounced as yì). It is composed of the character 羊 (sheep/lamb/ram/goat) at top and the character 我 (I, me, myself) at bottom. So the interpretation of the ideograms of this character 義 (righteousness) is having a sheep above myself.  By itself, even to the Chinese, it doesn’t make much sense, but through the lens of the bible, then it made perfect sense. Biblical, the lamb here points to when God provided the sacrificial ram for Abraham replacing Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19) and as exclaimed by John the Baptist: ““Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” referring to Jesus Christ (John 1:29-3).

You see, the righteousness God wants is not the “me – me – me” attitude; it is not about one’s self-effort or even of one’s self-achievements. At the very foundation, it is not about climbing the religious stairway up to heaven by one’s own sacrifices or works. The real righteousness is a gift! (Romans 5:17)   He is the Lamb of God, the Son, Who having achieved every law, standard and requirement of God, then sacrificed Himself on behalf of us, for us. And if we look up and place the Lamb above ourselves, taking up His offer of salvation, then God-the Father counts that as righteousness!

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.   Romans 3:21-22

That’s how we are righteous through Jesus Christ! To put it simply, righteousness is enthroning Jesus Christ-the Lamb of God above oneself, to magnify the sacrifice of Christ on the cross over any works of one’s self. And all the rest of the blessings will be added and given to you…

 

Come with Me and Rest

 

 

Jesus said, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”   Mark 6:31

Believe it or not, I saw these words flashed across me while passing the ever busy City Hall. No, I did not exactly have a supernatural encounter; (cue lightning and thunder). It was a lot less dramatic than that; in fact it was just a humble and somewhat weathered banner in front of St Andrew’s Cathedral that kept me pondering and then gratefully noting. Then again, such was never the works of coincidence.

Simple words, but of profound significance.

In context, Jesus sent out His twelve disciples, giving them authority over evil spirits, preaching to the people for repentance, driving out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healing them, Mark 6:7-13. Obviously, the people kept coming.

Many a times, when it comes to God’s work, we want to go all out and just do it for His honor; we want to help people open their eyes to the Light, help them get anointed, get their healing and to be freed from their bondage. To proclaim His victory, we want to spread the Good News far and wide; and for Christ to be magnified and glorified.

In our relationship with God, we want to worship Him with all we have, we want to learn all about Him, we want to ingest the entire Bible to know Him more, we want to praise and thank Him from the very bottom of our hearts, and then some more. Our entire being and very existence is designed just for that!

 

But sometimes, God just want us to come with Him to a quiet place and well, … rest; not doing anything, just calm plain relaxation with Him. To enjoy Him solely in a tranquil and still moment of soothing nothingness…     To bathe in the warm cosy comfort of peace, confidence and rest; brought forth to us by His righteousness and His grace that will last throughout eternity. Now that’s restful…

 

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.     Isaiah 32:17-18

Faith Supplements: Good Works

We all know what health supplements, or dietary supplements are. They are additional preparations intended to provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fatty acids or amino acids, that are missing or are not consumed in sufficient quantity in a person’s diet. The whole intention is to provide a better overall health benefits and quality of life that otherwise is difficult or tedious to obtain in the daily lives of people.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.   2 Peter 1:3-7

Now, we know that there are faith supplements too. But the supplementary sources are not to be confused with the main source, in this case, God Himself. Supplements are suppose to work as a supporting secondary role, not replacing the primary. People don’t skip their main meals and take only dietary supplements; they don’t last very long that way.

God has given us a renewed and beautiful life, one that is free and godly. We have inherited great and marvelous promises, one that can enable us to share His divine nature. It is a gift, paid by blood – when Jesus Christ died on that cross. That, is our main source of divine power God has given us, that our sins are rememebered no more but instead His righteousness is attributed on us.

 

Peter encouraged us to response by supplmenting our faith with good works. To further dissect, it  is firstly a reponse; that is, a secondary action in reference to a first action, by God. Secondly, it is a total provision by God that we are able to.

Supplements are good, but don’t replace your mains with supplements.

Weed Wickedness

Sometimes you just have to wonder why is there so much suffering and pain caused by the wickedness of the world. People with no regard for empathy, justice or moral, no concern of anything other than their own selfish greed. To make things worse, there is no way of redress in sight.  Where is God in all these? In all His wisdom and power, why doesn’t He do anything?

Then again, we just have to admit we are none wiser.

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

” ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

” ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”   Matthew 13:24-29

The wickedness of the world will ripen to the point of the harvest. More importantly, the righteousness will also mature at the same time. Wickedness and righteousness will both grow side by side of each other until the time when the Lord returns.

The darkest days of the wickedness will also be the finest hour of the righteousness.

Children of Light

Living as Children of Light

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.   Ephesians 5:7-10

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  

Ephesians 5:19-21