Can We Live Right?
In our sermon series, NU ME we are talking about moving beyond unhealthy and unproductive patterns of behavior and onto right living. The biblical word for this positive shift is “righteousness.” Being righteous simply means we have a right standing before God that can result in right living.
The key verse for this sermon series is Romans 1:16-17: “16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 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.’” (NIV)
We don’t have to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it can fully save. The word “save” speaks of full deliverance, not just a spiritual salvation that grants us a home in heaven, but something tangible here and now that transforms us.
Paul says that in this gospel a righteousness that comes from God, himself, is revealed. The Greek word for “revealed” is apokalupto from which we get the English word “apocalypse.” It basically means “to make known,” but its larger meaning is “to make manifest” and to “bring into existence.”
In the gospel there is a righteousness that is revealed not just in the mental sense of realization and knowledge, but it is a righteousness that is revealed by manifesting itself as an actual reality in our lives. Just think about that for a moment. It is a righteousness that becomes real in our daily experiences. It eclipses everything. The righteousness of God is an apocalyptic event of God manifesting his righteousness in us!
Can this righteousness become real to us? Can we live right? Yes! We can “by faith.”
Prayer: “God may I continue to worship you, pray, read your Word, do life with fellow believers, and serve others both in the church and the world so that my faith may grow…so that your righteousness will be revealed in me!”
