Righteousness through Faith

 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 

—Romans 10:1-4

Paul concludes chapter 9 of Romans agonizing for his friends who strive for righteousness through the law yet fail to receive it because righteousness is through faith. While his friends are zealous for God, they do not commune with Him. Paul begins chapter 10 praying that their zeal for God might be enlightened by faith in Christ Jesus, that they will gain salvation through Him, and that they will submit to Him.

As I read the passage this morning, the second and third verses jumped off the page. “I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:2-3). Zeal for God does not necessarily equate to faith, nor lead to relationship with Him – it is possible to be zealous for God while attempting to earn favor with Him through our conduct.  

While Paul wrote in the first century describing his Jewish friends, I wonder how many Christians his words describe today. Are we religious but not enlightened? Do we faithfully adhere to acts associated with religious life without truly believing in, trusting and faithfully surrendering to Christ Jesus? Are we good at doing church but failing in our relationship with Christ Jesus and failing to love others?

Apart from Christ, we each deserve condemnation. We can never be good enough to earn God’s grace, so God foretells through the prophet Jeremiah His new covenant,

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34 

And when Peter spoke to the crowd in Jerusalem shortly after healing a man, he said,

And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you….  When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”  Acts 3:16 & 26

Jesus came ushering in the new covenant, a covenant of transformed hearts. Jesus came to “bless you by turning each of you” from the world, from a life separated from God, towards God. Turning from the world towards God is the message of repentance, it is the message of the Kingdom of God, it is the message of Christ Jesus.

We each begin by recognizing our brokenness, our helplessness, the filthy condition of our lives, and we surrender to Him, and through His blessing, through God’s holy grace, we receive Him, we receive His holy transformation, we receive His faith, we receive His love, allowing us to receive the new commandment given by Christ Jesus – the command to love one another as He loves us. We cannot do it on our own, we are only able through His power, His love, His life dwelling within us.

And as counterintuitive as it sounds, we gain power through surrender, which reminds me of Paul’s prayer for his friends in Ephesus:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.  Ephesians 1:17-19

So why do we continue trying to earn God’s favor? Why do we continue to see God as a holy score keeper, maintaining a ledger of our good and bad deeds for eternity? God says, “For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).  God is gracious, merciful, kind and forgiving.

Do you find yourself trying to earn favor with God or possibly bargain with Him? Do you ever think that God should be happy with you because you have done so many things for Him, like going to church, leading a Bible study, posting Bible verses on social media, serving people in need or by showing others common decency, kindness or compassion? Have you ever thought about all the acts of righteousness you have performed and think that God owes you? Perhaps as you pray, you think that God should certainly answer your prayer because you have done so many righteous acts that you deserve it? Or perhaps you have earned it?

We are lowly humans, living in this sinful realm, separated from God and Christ Jesus is the only path to God. Righteousness is through faith in Christ Jesus, nothing else (see Romans 3:22). We can never earn it. We can never establish our own righteousness. Our redemption, our atonement, our reconciliation with God was purchased by Christ Jesus through His blood on the cross. He is the way, the truth and the life – there is no other.

May God’s glory shine upon you, may His Holy Spirit transform you in a new and refreshed way, may He enlighten the eyes of your spirit, and may the love of Jesus Christ flow through you in such a way that the world knows you are His disciple. Amen.