Topic: Let the Righteous Do What is Right
Our doing right is God working in and through us
God our Father sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit to give us the want and the power to do right.
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 NASB
It is because of God that you are in union with the Messiah Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1, 30 ISV
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:8-11 ESV
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 NASB
Paul introduces the following prayer by telling us he kneels before our Father in heaven who builds His family. The very words, family and patriotism are derived from the Greek word “pater.” Pater is translated Father and “patria” as family. Paul says our Pater in heaven is the Pater from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named patria. Then he prays that our Father’s Spirit will strength us with power, Christ will live in our hearts by faith and we will be built up in love. Then he blesses our Father for His power working in us. That is a powerful prayer we can pray for ourselves and one another.
For this reason I kneel before the ‘Father’ from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth gets the name of ‘family’ and ask Him, as He is rich in glory, to give you this; that His Spirit will inwardly strengthen you with power, Christ will live in your hearts by faith, and you will be firmly rooted and built up in love, so that you and all the holy people can grasp how broad and long and high and deep love is, and know how Christ loves us—more than we can know–and so you will be filled with all that is in God. Now to Him who by the power working in us can do far, far more than anything we ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all ages forever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21 AAT
In order for God to work in and through us, we must voluntarily partake of the Spirit and participate in the leading of the Spirit (Ro 8). As we do, the vast resources of God’s power work in us who believe. Thus God empowers us to live in His kingdom that is and is to come.
As the Spirit helps us get to know Messiah Jesus better, we become more and more like Him. By sharing His noble life with us, He helps spend our lives being useful and productive in God’s service. We often ignore or otherwise quench His promptings, but they keep coming up from deep within from the Holy Spirit to our spirit.
Partakers of the diving nature
According to God’s plan, we become increasingly useful and productive as we partake of the divine nature and mature in the character traits undergirding harmonious relationships. In the following Scripture, Peter exhorts us to partake eagerly and to look forward to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the inheritance kept for us in heaven (1 Pe 1:4). We can encourage one another and grow to know God better, in accord with this Word from Peter.
Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to the people who by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ were given a faith as precious as ours: As you know God and our Lord Jesus, may you enjoy more and more of His grace and peace.
By His glory and excellence He once gave us very great and precious promises and now has called us. When we got to know Him, His divine power gave us everything for life and godliness, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that lust brought into the world. In view of that, try very hard to supply to your faith moral excellence, in your moral excellence knowledge, in your knowledge self control, in your self control endurance, in your endurance godliness, in your godliness brotherly kindness, in your brotherly kindness love. If you have these and they grow more and more, they keep you from being useless and unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone doesn’t have these, he’s blind, shortsighted, and has forgotten that his old sins were washed away.
Be all the more eager, then, fellow Christians, to make sure you’re God’s called and chosen ones. If you do this, you will never fail. Then with rich gifts you will be welcomed into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:1-11 AAT
God’s grace teaching us
Paul exhorts us to be taught by God’s grace to live sensible, honest, and godly lives in the present age.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:11-14 KJV
Growing up in Christ
The
primary purposes of those God has gifted to lead is to equip us to do
the work of ministry and to build up the body of the Messiah until all
of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son,
and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of
development in the Messiah. Until we grow up in all ways in Christ,
their work is not completed.
And it is he (the Messiah) who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray. Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one with the Messiah, in whom the whole body is united and held together by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part does its job, the body builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:11-16 ISV
We are not to be worldly. Rather, we are to put off our old carnal self, be renewed in the spirit of our minds and put on our new self. As we saw earlier, God has made us new creatures, created in Christ. So, Paul encourages us:
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV
Our noble purpose
God created us in Christ Jesus and given us noble purpose – to do good works and walk in them. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10 KJV). That’s God’s New Covenant genesis and plan for His heirs. We feel the tug of divine love prompting us to share God’s kindness, righteousness, and justice. This life flow of the Vine motivates and empowers us to bear much fruit. The righteousness, peace and joy of the Spirit of our Messiah wells up within us. His nature and His power helps us love and be loved in word and in deed. In John 15; Jesus tells us He helps us be fruitful branches of the Vine – faithful, humble, kind, courteous, hospitable, forgiving, and helpful – life sharing fruit bearers. Thus, we supernaturally, naturally do the good works of the kingdom and walk in them.
Each of us can more fully live this noble lifestyle, bearing fruit that doesn’t pass away. This capability and privilege is given to all that have been given faith in Messiah Jesus – all believers, all saints, including you and me. In the economy of the kingdom, informal good works prompted by the love God pours into our hearts are ordained ministry of the first order.
Right now, we do minister to God and one another in society, in fellowship, in family, in our neighborhoods and at work. Anytime we do anything motivated by His love; we are doing the work of service He has called us to do. Let us put more of what God has given us to use for the common good as we are exhorted in the following Word. If you can do it, do it.
As God gave me His gift of love/charis for every one of you, I tell you, don’t think too highly of yourselves, but take a sane view of yourselves, everyone according to the amount of faith God gave you. We have many parts in one body, and these parts don’t all do the same thing. In the same way, many as we are, we are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. We have gifts /charisma that are different according to what His love gave us.
If you can speak God’s Word/prophesy do it according to the faith you have.
If you can serve/minister, then serve.
If you can teach, teach.
If you can encourage, encourage.
If you share/give, be generous.
If you manage anything, do it eagerly.
If you help people in need, do it cheerfully.
Love sincerely. Hate evil; cling to what is good. Love one another tenderly as fellow Christians. Outdo one another in showing respect. Don’t be backward in zeal. Glow with the Spirit. Serve the Lord. Romans 12:3-11
A prayer and blessing for ourselves and one another
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14 ESV
An exhortation
God calls us into His kingdom and glory. The kingdom is the eternal inheritance God our Father gives us. Right now, the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). At the culmination of God’s plan, He will give us full possession of the promised inheritance. He will make a new heaven and a new earth and live with us and we will live in this glorious kingdom that is to come in our glorified bodies and we will relate in the harmony of heaven on the new earth (Rev 21& 22).
We were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 AAT
I look forward to the day Jesus our King will say to you and me and billions of Christians:
Come, you who have been blessed by my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, because I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.
Then the righteous will say to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you something to eat, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or see you naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?
The king will answer them, “I tell all of you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” Mathew 25:34-40 ISV
