"Baby Gifts (1): Righteousness, not Ruin"
Is 61:1-11 Dec. 8/02
Wreck and Ruin: Isaiah's Setting - and Ours (Is.61:1-4)
This is a season when we decorate up our homes, complete with lights and garlands, wreaths and trees. Yet underneath the trimmings, often all is not well. Even the nicest looking homes and most "together" families can be secretly coping with ruin. Financially, bills mount up, credit card balances swell - and that's without taking into account lottery ticket purchases or money wasted gambling. Relationships can be in tatters: people go to parties more interested in meeting others who appeal to them than in being with their own mate. Families hurt, often without showing it: news of a young man committing suicide, a young woman taking an extended stay at a psychiatric hospital flag emotional problems that usually aren't talked about.
The good news about Jesus though is that He offers righteousness in place of our ruins. Because we have a Saviour whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, we can be freed from self-destructive patterns through trusting in Him. We can be re-connected with our Heavenly Father and discover lasting meaning and purpose for our life.
Chuck Colson tells how several factors contributed to the ruin of one young woman, landing her in prison - yet how God's grace reached her there. "When Melissa was a young girl, she was confused by religion. To her, it seemed to be only a list of rules and regulations used to manipulate others. It's easy to understand why Melissa would have felt that way. Physically and emotionally abusive, her father drank heavily and cheated on Melissa's mother. To control his family he often shouted 'honour thy father' as he smacked his daughter over and over with his belt. Melissa says, 'I never knew why I was being punished; I tried to be so good.'
"Early on, Melissa fled the abusiveness of home by getting married. She tried to build a good life and acceptance for herself by being 'perfect', but after repeated failures she began drinking, just like her father had. She and her husband divorced. In 6 years, Melissa was arrested 3 times for drunk driving. 'I was so confused, afraid, and angry with myself!' she exclaims. 'All that went through my head was, 'Oh God! Dad was right. I'm no good! I'm no good!'"
We'll come back to Melissa's story a little later. But note for now the effect of sin and abuse on her life: she is quite ruined, hopeless. That must have been how the people of Israel felt not long after the time of the prophet Isaiah. In 722 BC the Assyrians invaded and took the northern kingdom exile. Then in 586 BC the Babylonians captured Jerusalem, defeated the southern kingdom, and exiled its people. The temple, the palace, and all other fine buildings in the capital were burned and torn to the ground. The protective wall was demolished. Ruin had befallen the nation. Why? The prophets had warned from the time of Amos on that God would judge the nation for its rebellion and sin. Rich people oppressed and took advantage of the poor. The Jews had been adopting the customs of their heathen neighbours, including the licentious worship associated with the Baal fertility cult and the worship of Molech which required human sacrifice. It was a sad time for the nation.
But God offered the people hope through Isaiah's prophecies, even as they moaned amongst the ruins of their land, or taken captive in far-away Babylon. These chapters of Isaiah (61-63) predict a Messiah who will save the people from their despair; sometimes it's not clear whether the writings refer to just the Messiah Himself or also the people who believe in Him. Jesus clearly states in Luke 4(21) that some of this came true as He Himself read it aloud from the scroll at the synagogue in Nazareth. Three times in Is.61 "righteousness" is mentioned, it seems to be key in the process of restoring those who've experienced ruin. "they will be called oaks of righteousness...He has...arrayed my in a robe of righteousness...the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations." (61:3,10f)
Righteousness: Gift, Essence, and Fruit
Recognizing Righteousness: What's it look like?
"Righteousness" is not a common term on the street today. What is it? Would we recognize it if we saw it in action? Jesus must have thought righteousness was pretty important, for He said, "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20) And the Pharisees were looked up to and generally regarded as the most pious, religious folks of Jesus' day! So what's the Lord mean be righteousness that "surpasses" theirs?
The apostle Paul, suffering in prison for his faith near the end of his life, was sustained by the hope of a reward having to do with righteousness. He said, "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day..." (2 Timothy 4:8) If it's a principal part of a Christian's eternal reward, it would be nice to understand more about it!
One aspect of righteousness that appears in the Old Testament relates to obedience. Moses said, "if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness." (Deuteronomy 6:25) Certainly the Old Testament does spell out "do's" and "don'ts" as far as expectations for God's people are concerned. Isaiah 35(15-17) promises a reward for a righteous person: "He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil— this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar."
Another prophet, Ezekiel, offers this description of a person who wants to live righteously: "Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or lie with a woman during her period. He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. He does not lend at usury or take excessive interest. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man. He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign LORD." (Ezekiel 18:5-9)
But there's more to righteousness than just checking off a list of rules. It's true that under the old covenant, righteousness was connected with obeying God's commands. The Pharisees took this to mean that if you kept all your i's dotted and t's crossed, spiritually speaking - and they carefully itemized the Torah into 637 separate commands so they wouldn't miss one - then that would earn you Brownie points with the Lord. As a result they became intolerably legalistic. By contrast, Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee at prayer boasted to himself, "I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." The tax collector stood at a distance; he wouldn't even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Jesus concluded, "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified [ie made righteous, put right] before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:12-14) Legalism becomes a ladder of human effort by which we try to exalt ourselves before God, yet our clumsy home-made righteousness doesn't reach past the roof much less to the sky.
How do we get it? by Works?
Compared to God's holiness, we sin-bent and selfishness-infected creatures just can't manufacture righteousness, no matter how hard we try. The grim conclusion reached by the Psalmist is, "All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Ps.14:3) What does Isaiah compare our "righteous deeds" to? "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6) Into this gloominess though another prophet shone a ray of light when led by the Holy Spirit he interjected, "but the righteous will live by his faith" (Hab.2:4). Being right with God is a matter of relationship, not grudging actions. Paul saw the beauty of this coming true in the spread of the good news about Jesus that was radically changing people's lives from the inside out, as he says in Rom.1:17: "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
In Is.61 the "good news" preached binds up the brokenhearted, frees captives, releases prisoners, comforts mourners, and provides for those grieving. Messiah (Christ) bestows "a crown of beauty instead of ashes...a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." That is how "they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour" (61:3). If it were by our own effort, we'd have something to boast about, but because it's God's free gift, that displays His splendour instead of accenting our supposed deserving of it. It is the Sovereign Lord who makes "righteousness and praise spring up", who clothes us in "garments of salvation" and arrays us "in a robe of righteousness" (61:10f). That's why Jesus came - not for the cradle but the cross, not to be admired but expired - on behalf of your sins and mine.
Righteousness is a gift we receive by trusting the crucified and risen Lord who offers it to us. Hosea urged, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12). It begins with fearing God, humbling ourselves before Him, honouring what He's done for us. Malachi prophesied, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings..." (Malachi 4:2)
We are "put right" or made acceptable and aligned with God by submitting to His message, trusting Jesus was really who He claimed to be - Saviour and Lord. Paul said "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
(Romans 5:1). God sent His Son as a sin offering "in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the [flesh] but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:4) Christ Jesus "has become for us wisdom from God— that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). God did it, not us! "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Have you ever been vacuuming or using an extension cord and tried to pull it just a little too far? Know how the plug pulls out of the socket and has that quarter-turn of the prong, bent-out-of-shape look? It's still a plug; it was built, designed, meant for union with the socket. But there's no way you can possibly get it back in the socket without doing some serious reconstructive work to bend it back into shape! So as humans we are born "bent", originally designed for communion with God but totally incapable of being joined to him in our current fallen state. Jesus is the one who can bend us back, re-form us, give us new birth into the original plan by the power of the cross. Paul says through believing God's message about Christ we "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." (Colossians 3:10) It's by faith, not our achievement. This is where we come back to righteousness as obedience: genuine faith has follow-through, it forces you to take up your cross daily. James notes, "Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" (James 2:21-24). Abraham showed his faith was real by acting on what God had revealed to Him - in our case, the Gospel.
Alignment of the Heart (61:10)
Righteousness is fundamentally an alignment of your heart with God's heart, just as a plug needs to be straight in line with the socket before it can tap into the power. Isaiah says in v.10, "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God." Our problem is we're sidetracked into delighting in other things, not God. What's distracting your heart from delighting in the Lord? Ps.15(2) says the person "who does what is righteous...speaks the truth from his heart". Ps.24(4f), who will receive blessing and vindication (showing to be righteous) from God? "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false." Part of the reason the Lord's Day is important is as a test of our willingness to put off what our human nature delights in doing. Is.58(12-14) says, "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
Obedience accompanies righteousness because once our heart gets on God's wavelength, we will enjoy carrying out God's purposes. Jesus talked about how obedience results from desiring God when He said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." (John 14:23f)
Our short-sighted desires meant that we "used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness," as Paul puts it; then adds, "so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness." (Romans 6:19f) A heart given over to the wrong desires is in spiritual slavery, in chains. Christ offers freedom through desiring Him. "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:22)
Give your heart to the One who designed it with a "God-shaped vacuum" only He can truly fulfill. When we receive Jesus and ask Him to take control of our lives, He gives us new birth and will accompany us spiritually from then on. He Himself motivates us in righteous ways by living inside us. John writes about it this way: "See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father...If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him ...He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous ...No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." (1 John 2:24,29; 3:7,9f)
True Security: Restoration that Spills Over (61:4)
Once connected to Almighty God through faith in Jesus, we receive the Spirit's power to begin His healing, restorative work in our setting. Is.61:4 promises, "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." God's rebuilding, renewing work in our lives brings true security. Isaiah says, "Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. 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 32:16-18) And in another place: "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard...Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings." (Isaiah 58:8,12)
Remember Melissa, whom we left in jail feeling ruined? Chuck Colson adds, "But God used Melissa's time in jail for His glory. After Melissa had been in jail nearly 3 months, another prisoner asked her to come along to a Prison Fellowship Bible study. That invitation was to change her life forever. Melissa says, 'I can't say I'm sorry about being arrested, because I met someone who has changed my life -- God!' Melissa surrendered her life to Christ, and every week attended the Bible study led by a Prison Fellowship volunteer. Now, instead of turning to depression, perfectionism, or alcohol in times of trouble, Melissa has a new outlet for her pain - one that brings healing, not death. Melissa says, 'I can't believe I feel this way! A couple of months ago I would have crawled into my bed all day, cried, felt sorry for myself, and get angry at God because my life was so bad. Now I get up, face the day happy and loved because I know that God is not going to give me more than I can handle. I know I'm not alone any longer."
Fruit of the "Oaks of Righteousness"
When the plug's in the socket, the power flows. If religion is real in our lives - if we're well and truly connected with the living God who made all things and wants to reach a fallen world - things are going to start happening that provide opportunities for God's goodness to be expressed by the channel of our righteousness. Paul prays that the Philippians (1:11) may be "filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ— to the glory and praise of God." What's in you is going to have an overflow. Jesus observed, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." (Matthew 12:35) Isaiah 61 says "you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God...For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations." (61:6,11) God's not growing you simply for His own enjoyment, but so you can be His messenger, Christ's feet and hands, touching others who are hurting. One way is sharing the news. Prov.11(30) says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." Evangelism is the best investment you can make - what else are you going to be able to take to heaven?! Reconciliation in relationships is important, too. James (3:18) tells us, "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."
The Breastplate of Righteousness: Bulletproof!
With Isaiah, we rejoice that God "has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." That's what Christmas is really about, Jesus the universe's Lord coming and wearing diapers (so to speak) in exchange so that we might be adorned with heavenly clothes, "as a bride adorns herself with her jewels" (61:10). Thus in terms of spiritual warfare in Eph.6(14) we are to stand firm "with the breastplate of righteousness in place".
In September 1977 in Moline Illinois, Terry Schafer had an idea for a special Christmas gift she wanted to purchase for her husband David. Finding it one day in a store, she asked the price: $127.50. On her husband's policeman's salary it seemed too much to afford. But she said to the shopkeeper, "Though we don't know each other, perhaps you would allow me to put it on hold. I can pay a little now, and then about the end of October, I'll come back and pay you more. And, I promise you, by the time you have it gift-wrapped before Christmas, I'll pay the last amount." The shopkeeper, sensing her trustworthiness, smiled and said, "I'll tell you what. Since your husband is a police officer (as she had just talked about that), I have every reason to trust you. Why don't you just give me the first payment? I'll gift wrap it and let you take it with you today." She was elated. She walked out with this wonderful gift she was so anxious to give him.
And like a lot of us, she wasn't able to keep the secret. So that night as David unwrapped the gift, Terry stood there beaming. He was thrilled at her thoughtfulness and covered her with hugs and kisses. Neither one of them realized, however, how significant that simple gift was. As a matter of fact, in the not-too-distant future, it would be the difference between David's life and death.
On Oct.1 that same year, Patrolman David Schafer was working the night shift and got a call on his police radio. A drugstore robbery was in progress. Racing to the scene, he arrived just in time to observe the suspect getting into his car, starting the engine, and speeding away. Quickly David switched on his siren and began the pursuit. Three blocks later the getaway vehicle suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. The suspect was still seated behind the wheel of his car as David cautiously approached. When he got about 3 feet from the driver's door, it flew open and the suspect fired an automatic pistol once, sending a .45-caligre slug toward David's stomach.
At 7 o'clock the next morning, Terry answered the door of the Schafer's home. Carefully and calmly, the police officer explained David had been shot while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect. As the officer detailed what happened to David, he had good news and bad news. When she listened to the story, Terry Schafer was thinking how glad she was she didn't wait until Christmas to give her gift, how glad she was the shopkeeper had been willing to let her pay for it later. Otherwise, David Schafer, shot at point-blank range with a devastatingly deadly .45-calibre pistol, would surely have died. But the good news was that he was still alive and in the hospital -- not with a gunshot wound but with a deep bruise in his abdomen. Christmas had come early that year because David had with him the gift of life his wife could not wait to give: his brand-new bulletproof vest.
And that's why Christ came, to give us a vest of righteousness, to pay the price with His blood, that He might protect us with a shield that sin could never penetrate! Let's pray.