"The Righteous Life - God's Gift"

Scripture: James 1:16-28

This morning, we begin a 5 week series from James regarding the Lord’s call to live a righteous life. So, you may be wondering, what exactly is a righteous life? Is it as simple as being good? Or does it require that we adhere to every single one of the commandments that we find in Scripture? Or is it something completely different than either of these? What does scripture tell us about righteousness?
In Matthew 25:34-46, Jesus calls us to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the destitute, to care for the sick, and to visit the prisoner, and those who do this, he refers to as the “righteous”. And when we don’t respond to this call, he says that we will go to eternal punishment. Not an especially good alternative!
In Luke 1:5-7, we are told that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both “righteous” in the sight of God, because they lived blamelessly in accordance with the Lord’s commandments.
And in Mark 2:15-17, Jesus says that he has come to call sinners, and not the righteous.

But aren’t we all sinners and unworthy to stand in the holy presence of God? Yes! And since we are sinners, by Jesus’ own words, we cannot be righteous - right? Absolutely! But by faith in Jesus Christ, we become worthy, and we become righteous by faith in his righteousness. So it would appear that we are righteous, not by following the Law, not by being “good”, but by following Jesus and doing all that he teaches us.

It appears that righteousness is not quite the same as perfection (thank you Jesus!), but it does require that we live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, following his example and adhering to his word. So with that as our basis, let’s see what James would tell us about the righteous life.

Read James 1:16-18

God has given us free will, or the opportunity to choose between the many options that we are confronted with every day. This, however, is not to imply that all of the choices we make have equal weight or equal “rightness”, but that we have the responsibility of choosing between God’s way and the ways of earth. Our human tendency will always be to choose the easiest and most pleasurable way, but this will not, invariably, be God’s way.
James tells us that the Father is unchanging, so his ways will always be the same throughout the ages. So if the Lord is unchanging, what do you think that means for our future as sinners? God may be unchanging, but he is still the God of change - for us. He will help us change from sinfulness to righteousness.

The last verse in this section gives us several words to help us understand this calling.
First, James writes that we receive “birth” through the “word of truth”. This birth is the second birth, or new birth that comes when we are “born again” (John 3:1-8), it is the birth that comes by faith in Christ Jesus who is the Word of Truth. This is fairly easy to grasp, but James doesn’t stop there.
The second part of his thought is that this new birth is offered so that we might become “First Fruits” for all of creation. “First Fruits” is the offering that is made in gratitude for all that the Lord has given us, as well as all that is yet to come. For us, the first fruit is our tithe, which comes right off the top of all we have received - our finances, or our time, or our abilities – we are to tithe on all that the Lord has given. First Fruits, therefore, become the representative for all the rest, or to put it another way, the faithful, the righteous, are the celebration of God’s goodness.

So, perhaps the first aspect of righteousness is that, by faith in Jesus, we become representatives for the rest of creation, as we stand before the throne of God.

Read James 1:19-21

Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Some folks, ones that you may even know, tend to speak a lot faster than they listen, if you know what I mean! And their anger can crop up at a moment’s notice! James would have us know that these are not the attributes of a righteous person, and he also says that we are to rid ourselves of all the rest of our immoral acts and all that they can bring about in our lives.
In Matthew 15:16-20, the Lord gives us an interesting list of things that come from an “unclean”, or immoral, heart. His list includes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. If these acts sound familiar, they should, because this is a listing, slightly reworded, of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
And when we rid ourselves of this spiritual filth, we begin to have space to begin accepting God’s word for our lives. Now it is interesting that James doesn’t say that we are to “receive” God’s word – he actually writes “accept the word planted in you”. God’s word already exists in us, and we only have to accept it, and study it, and begin living it to gain the righteous nature.

Read James 1:22-25

Don’t just listen to the word of God – do what it says! This is, we will see, the theme of James entire letter – that we aren’t to simply know God’s will, but that we must begin living it every day. Otherwise, he tells us, we will be deceiving, not God, but ourselves.
I suspect that there are even a number of folks in the Church today who read their Bible daily, and have done so for years, but for some reason, have decided that certain teachings of Jesus don’t make a lot of sense to them, that they don’t quite fit with their lifestyle, so they have chosen to ignore them. The Word of God in Christ Jesus is before them, but they choose to “deceive” themselves by deciding that it must be incorrect teaching.

This attitude is why people outside the church believe that we are all “hypocrites” – that we are “two faced”! We espouse belief in Jesus Christ, and yet we don’t live the life that he calls us to live. And I hate to say it, but they are right! But the flesh changes slowly, and even though we may desire to be a true follower of Jesus, it takes time, it takes a tremendous effort, to become that kind of person.
But we keep on trying, we stay the course, we persevere, and by the grace of God, one day we will succeed in putting all of those “unclean” things behind us.

Read James 1:26-27

And our brother James isn’t done yet! Now it’s the words we speak that get us into trouble! But I guess that this goes right along with the previous call to “Speak slowly and listen much faster”! And we all have to admit that he is right – how many times do hurtful words spring out of our mouths before we consider the impact that they may have on someone else?
And still we consider ourselves to be “religious”! But the question isn’t whether we think we are faithful or not – it’s what God knows about us!

The righteous life can only have one definition, my friends, and it isn’t ours. God is the example of righteousness in all that he has done, all that he has taught, all that he has given.
Our High and Exalted God became a humble servant for the lowly. And so must we.
He surrendered all glory for himself so he could bring glory to those who could never attain it on their own. And so must we.
He suffered humiliation, and personal attacks, and betrayal and denial from not only his oppressors, but also from his closest friends, so that we might be comforted when we are persecuted. And so must we.
He was accused and convicted and executed as the most vile of all criminals, so that true criminals might find forgiveness. And so must we.
And he accepted our sin and the rightful punishment for it, so that we might have eternal life with him instead of eternal death in solitary confinement.
And you may have noticed that it is all about what God has done for us, and not what we have earned or deserve.

The righteous life isn’t an easy one to live. It’s work! It’s hard work! It requires a commitment beyond anything we have ever known! But as we will read next week, faith without Godly work is just as dead as good works is without faith. These next few weeks will challenge us in all that we live and all that we do, that we might live a life that not only goes against every human instinct, but is the very one that we all must desire to live if we are to bring glory to God.