Righteousness: Living “There” Here

By his words and deeds, Jesus’ life was both an invitation and an introduction to what life under God’s rule would be like.  He invited all people to trust in him, to give their lives to him and to live in such a way that what was already happening there, in heaven, would through their lives begin to happen, here, on earth.  He taught his disciples even to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”   

Jesus was killed by those who loved this world the way it is in its fallen state.  But in his resurrection he demonstrated his ultimate power over death.  He poured out his very Spirit on all who would trust in him and he promised that all who would live for him now, would someday be with him forever in the new Kingdom when it comes in its fullness.

Someday, the Bible says, Jesus will return again.  He will come to finish the drama, to bring heaven and earth together.  In the book of Revelation at the end of the Bible, there is a picture of how the world will be again one day.  It says,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Rev 21:1-4)

In Jesus, God brought his reign and rule from the end of time (“there”) to us (“here’).  And he invites us to enter into his kingdom and begin to live in it here and now.  And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus begins to teach us HOW to do it, a way of living that is described as “righteousness.”

In the Bible, righteousness is best understood not as perfection, but as “right-relatedness.”  That is, to fulfill the expectations of a relationship.  For the good Jew of Jesus’ day, that meant that you were to be loyal to other Jews and fulfill the relational expectations demanded you to treat other members of your nation rightly.  (Indeed, this was the heart of the question “Who is my neighbor?” that led to the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25ff).  But Jesus reframes “righteousness” as conformity to God’s intentions for all the world to be united with him. 

Righteousness is no longer tied to national or cultural expectations, but living aligned to the expectations of the Kingdom.  To live in the Kingdom of Heaven means being part of God’s plan to establish the righteousness of the Kingdom on earth, starting by our living in right-relationship with God and with other people.

In the Bible, we learn that the “righteous” live by faith (Hebrews 10:38), and that righteousness begins with dependence on God and his work in our lives (Romans 5:19).  But true righteousness, is living out the new relationship we have been offered by God as our King then demonstrate God’s righteousness through our rightly-relating to others as his Kingdom people.

Think about what it will be like when God’s righteous reign and rule permeate all of creation.  Think of the way that the Bible describes it:  the lion will lay down with the lamb.  There will be no more wars.  No more injustice, no more deceit.  People will live in peace and harmony, fulfilling their commitments and loving each other the way God loves us. 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled,” Jesus said.  Congratulations if you came to me to because you hunger and thirst for the world to be reconciled and made right again. For this is the essence of my Kingdom.

Being a follower of Jesus, a disciple, a believer means living out the “righteousness” of the Kingdom: Every thing you will do “There”--by the power of the Spirit living inside you-- beginning doing here.

Comments

[kevin]

I was right with you until you defined righteousness as right-relatedness. In some contexts it may mean that, I suppose, but not in the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus is giving moral directives. He is saying, "Live this way not that way. Do it this way, not like the Pharisees do it." When Jesus says that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven, He is not speaking of right-relatedness per se, still less of a righteousness through faith. He is saying the very thing which is anathema to modern evangelicals. Jesus is saying that unless you are better people than the Pharisees, unless you possess a greater actual righteousness (as opposed to forensic righteousness), highter virtue, if you will, unless you possess greater genuine holiness than the Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Dare I translate it this way, "Unless your performance is more true to my Kingdom Way than that the Pharisees, you will not enter My Kingdom in the end."

Yes, salvation is all of Grace. And yes, faith alone is the initial ground of justification. But if the one does not come to possess Kingdom virtue, says Jesus, that one will be shut out of the Kingdom of God in the end.

Grace, faith, obedience.

Deny any one of them and you've lost authentic Christianity. Mess there order up and you've lost it, too.

Evangelicalism denies the necessity of #3 for salvation and therefore is false Christianity.

Just ask Jesus.

MT 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

[brad]

Tod,
On the here and there concept. I like to start sermons every once and awhile by asking, "What will your life and experience be like when you 'get to heaven'?". Then. I list some of the benefits of heaven, peace, freedom from sin, joy, right relationships, intimacy with Jesus. Then I simply say, "The kingdom of heaven is within reach, repent and believe the Gospel".

So amen!! God bless you in your preaching of the kingdom and may many 'get it'.