Measuring Up
Romans 9:30 - 10:21
What is your righteousness built on? How are you measuring it? If God were to ask why He should give you eternal life, what would you say?
There are a lot of good, moral people out there. Yes, there's a lot of people that are not living the way God designed us to live, but every indicator says they are a minority. 20% of people admit to cheating in their relationship. 12% of the population regularly consume pornography. Less than 10% suffers from alcoholism or other substance abuse. Unmarried couples comprise 7%. Less than 1% of the population live in a same-sex relationship.
If a behavior can be measured, it is significant. There is no question on that. But look at the flip side of these numbers. If 20% have cheated in their relationship, that means 80% have not. If 10% suffer from substance abuse, then 90% do not. If less than 1% are in a same-sex romantic relationship, well, you do the math. The point is the majority are living what would be considered a righteous, moral life. They are being kind to those around them, they are keeping their bodies under control, they agree that it is wrong to lie, to cheat on their spouse, to murder someone, to steal. And if asked what would happen to them when they die, if they believe that there is life after death, the vast majority will look back on their goodness and provide that evidence to back up their claim to their stake in Paradise.
Paul describes a different kind of righteousness, not based on the law, but based in faith. In Romans 10:6-7, he describes the mindset of the one whose righteousness is by faith. "Who will ascend into heaven," he asks, or "Who will descend into the deep?" What will we do to earn heaven, and thus make Jesus' sacrifice incomplete or insufficient? What will we do prove its sufficiency, as if His resurrection was not proof enough? Those who base their righteousness in the law will live by the law, but the one who bases his righteousness in Jesus will live by Him, who promised to give us true life.
Even as followers of Jesus, we can fall into the trap of a law-based righteousness. We have a tendency to look at all the good things we are doing, how we are living, and compare ourselves against the moral minority to measure our righteousness. We look down on the sinners of the world, the outcasts, and see how different we are from them as a marker of how much better we are. We then get into a mindset of getting them to behave like us -- "if only they would get married, if only they would quit drinking, if only they would have the same morals we have, everything would be alright." We even look to our own lives and say, "If I want to be truly righteous, I have to give more, pray more, read more, participate more." Here's the problem, though. If we spent every waking hour in prayer and Bible reading, and gave every cent we had, would we be any more righteous?
If Jesus is our righteousness, how can we add anything to that? In what way is His righteousness insufficient for our justification before the throne of God? There is nothing that we can do to earn our place in heaven. Nothing that we can add to the work Jesus Himself proclaimed "finished" from the cross. Is there a place for righteous, moral living? Absolutely! Not as a duty or an obligation, but as the result of a changed heart and changed desires from our rebirth. How can we measure our righteousness? We can't, because it is not ours. Jesus died to give His righteousness, which far surpasses that of the most moral or devoutly religious person, to us. As the hymnist wrote:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Father, what a wonderful thing you have given us -- hope that is built on Jesus alone! Thank you for your righteousness, which we could never attain no matter how good of a life we live. Only by faith in Jesus' work can we be made whole. How will others know unless we share with them this marvelous news? Oh, Father, give us wisdom and drive to bring this to a world that is relying on themselves, to let them know that there is a more perfect way! In Jesus' name, amen.