A strong foundation is the basis for everything, and our spiritual lives are no different. As Christians, the first foundation that we must understand is the foundation of righteousness. When we begin to understand how this operates in our life, multiple blessings will come our way. But this does not happen automatically—as free moral agents, we must decide for ourself whether or not to accept all that God has made available to us. We can either choose self-righteousness, or God’s righteousness.
Christ is our foundation, and the One Who gives us all good gifts.
When we are in Christ, we have His wisdom. We also have righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 1:30, 31).
This is not the result of our lifestyle or intelligence, but because we are in Him.
If the foundation is destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3).
Spiritually, if we let religion and the world’s philosophies destroy our foundation of righteousness, the whole house will collapse.
God’s grace given to us makes us wise builders. One person lays the foundation, another builds. There is no better foundation than Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10, 11).
When we build our life on this foundation, we will be truly secure and unshakeable when life’s challenges show up.
We need not be ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God bringing salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).
The Gospel is the Good News and the grace of Christ.
Spiritually, we must be mature enough to know that Jesus is the Rock under our feet. All we need is His grace, not our own works.
Jesus asked His disciples Who they thought He was, and Simon Peter answered correctly. This knowledge of His true identity came straight from the Father. Jesus said the church will be built on Him, the Rock (Matthew 16:13-18).
When we have the same revelation knowledge Simon Peter had, we are empowered.
Jesus brings us the gift of righteousness and abundant grace. This lets us reign in life (Romans 5:17).
This is made possible through His Word, which makes us the righteousness of God.
Some Christians who ought to be teachers need to be re-taught the basics. Spiritually, these are the ones who need milk, not meat, because they are unskillful in righteousness (Hebrews 5:12, 13).
The Word of righteousness brings spiritual maturity to babes in Christ.
When Isaac grew and matured enough, he was weaned. Then Sarah cast out Hagar, the bondwoman, and Ishmael, her son (Genesis 21:8-10).
This Old Testament passage is a shadow of the grace described in the New Testament.
Symbolically, Abraham represented faith, Sarah represented the covenant of grace, and Isaac represented the fruit of grace. Hagar represented the Law of Moses, and Ishmael represented self-effort and the fruit of the Law.
God has given us divine authority, and as Believers we need to know what we are capable of doing. We are the righteousness of God, and we must remember that. Under His grace, our capabilities lie not in what we do, but in what Jesus has already done. This grace is the opposite of what the Old Testament focused on, which was self-righteousness based on works. Because of Jesus, blessings have been made available, and we need only to receive them by faith.
Our spiritual maturity provides new and deeper insight into what Jesus has given us.
Some who teach need to be taught again, because they need spiritual milk and not meat. Anyone needing spiritual milk is still a babe in Christ (Hebrews 5:12, 13).
This is evidenced by a lack of understanding of their righteousness in Christ. They need to be weaned from milk.
Jesus became sin for us, so that we could be made the righteousness of God through Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
On our own, we could never perform enough righteous deeds to achieve this status.
A holy lifestyle does not make us holy. Our holiness is only through Jesus, and it is manifested through our lifestyle.
The three definitions of righteousness include right-standing before God, standing before Him as if we have never sinned, and standing before Him without guilt, shame, fear, or inferiority.
Jesus did not just cover up our sins, He completely took them away (John 1:29).
The blood of animals in the Old Testament merely covered up the people’s sins.
We are made righteous through our faith, not our efforts.
Not even Abraham was justified through his own works. He was made righteous when he believed God. This is God’s grace. Because of our righteousness, God does not count sin against us (Romans 4:1-8).
This is made possible through Jesus’ blood.
The most righteous people discussed in the Bible are Adam before he sinned, Jesus, and us when we are in Christ.
Even before the foundation of the world, God chose us to be in Him, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1:4).
Jesus died so we could be presented blameless before the Father (Colossians 1:22).
We are all perfected through Jesus, not by our own merits (Colossians 1:28).
The law points out everything we have done wrong, and it highlights our guilt. Faith in Christ makes us the righteousness of God (Romans 3:19-22).
Scripture References
1 Corinthians 1:30, 31
Matthew 16:13-18
Psalm 11:3
Romans 5:17
1 Corinthians 3:10, 11
Hebrews 5:12, 13
Romans 1:16
Genesis 21:8-10
Hebrews 5:12, 13
Ephesians 1:4
2 Corinthians 5:21
Colossians 1:22, 28
John 1:29 Romans 3:19-22
Romans 4:1-8
http://billyburke.org/PrayerMinistryRoom/JourneyofYourPrayerRequest/tabid/142/Default.aspx
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http://walthope.wordpress.com
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