Passive Righteousness
In our community group we are studying "The Gospel Centered Life" by Bob Thune and Will Walker. It is a short 9-lesson study that is intended to help us understand how the gospel shapes every aspect of our life. Each lesson of it is self contained and requires little work outside of the small group setting.
I find myself extremely challenged by this week's lesson "Believing the Gospel." It primarily speaks of passive righteousness which is:
"the biblical truth that God has not only forgiven our sin, but also credited to us Jesus' positive righteousness."
Martin Luther writes "It is called passive righteousness because we do not have to labor for it...It is not righteousness that we work for, but righteousness we receive by faith. This passive righteousness is a mystery that someone who does not know Jesus cannot understand. In fact, Christians do not completely understand it and rarely take advantage of it in their daily lives...The person who wanders away from "passive" righteousness has no other choice but to live by "works" righteousness. If he does not depend on the work of Christ, he must depend on his own work..."
The whole concept of passive righteousness completely boggles my mind! The fact that we have to do NOTHING to be righteous. By default we are nowhere even close... and it is because of Christ that we are made righteous... not by what we do, but by what HE has done. It's so crazy that we continue to live as though we have to earn God's favor. The world teaches us that we have to "earn" everything - popularity, status, worth, acceptance... so we base our lives by our works. Even as Christians we do this... always "trying to be better..."
"We must cling to the gospel promise that God is pleased with us because he is pleased with Jesus."
In my head I know all of this stuff... but I find myself thinking, can God really be pleased with me as I am?! I'm a sinner... and unworthy - how is that even possible?! The truth is, it's not... but in Jesus - it is! That's what He did on the cross! I am learning that what He did on the cross was so much BIGGER than my little brain can fathom. It wasn't just to "take my sins so i can go to heaven." I now bear his righteousness! I cant wrap my brain around it!!
"When we embrace the gospel in this way, seeing our sin is not scary or embarrassing. It actually leads to worship because Jesus has died for all of it, and it is liberating because WE ARE NO LONGER DEFINED BY IT! Our righteousness is in Christ. The good news of the gospel is not that God makes much of us, but that God frees us to make much of Jesus!"
I feel like I'm quoting almost the entire lesson - but this stuff is too good not to share!
"We live like orphans instead of sons and daughters. Rather than resting in God's fatherly love, we try to gain his favor by living up to his expectations (or our mistaken view of them). We live life on a treadmill, trying to "be good Christians" so that God will approve of us. .. Jesus righteousness has been credit to us apart from works (Rom4:4-8). WE DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING TO SECURE GOD'S LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE; JESUS HAS SECURED IT FOR US."
"At the root of all our visible sins lies the invisible struggle for righteousness and identity....as we realize our tendencies towards pretending & performing - our attempts to build our own righteousness and identity - we must repent of sin and believe anew in the promise of the gospel!"
Woa. Just let that sink in...
I find myself extremely challenged by this week's lesson "Believing the Gospel." It primarily speaks of passive righteousness which is:
"the biblical truth that God has not only forgiven our sin, but also credited to us Jesus' positive righteousness."
Martin Luther writes "It is called passive righteousness because we do not have to labor for it...It is not righteousness that we work for, but righteousness we receive by faith. This passive righteousness is a mystery that someone who does not know Jesus cannot understand. In fact, Christians do not completely understand it and rarely take advantage of it in their daily lives...The person who wanders away from "passive" righteousness has no other choice but to live by "works" righteousness. If he does not depend on the work of Christ, he must depend on his own work..."
The whole concept of passive righteousness completely boggles my mind! The fact that we have to do NOTHING to be righteous. By default we are nowhere even close... and it is because of Christ that we are made righteous... not by what we do, but by what HE has done. It's so crazy that we continue to live as though we have to earn God's favor. The world teaches us that we have to "earn" everything - popularity, status, worth, acceptance... so we base our lives by our works. Even as Christians we do this... always "trying to be better..."
"We must cling to the gospel promise that God is pleased with us because he is pleased with Jesus."
In my head I know all of this stuff... but I find myself thinking, can God really be pleased with me as I am?! I'm a sinner... and unworthy - how is that even possible?! The truth is, it's not... but in Jesus - it is! That's what He did on the cross! I am learning that what He did on the cross was so much BIGGER than my little brain can fathom. It wasn't just to "take my sins so i can go to heaven." I now bear his righteousness! I cant wrap my brain around it!!
"When we embrace the gospel in this way, seeing our sin is not scary or embarrassing. It actually leads to worship because Jesus has died for all of it, and it is liberating because WE ARE NO LONGER DEFINED BY IT! Our righteousness is in Christ. The good news of the gospel is not that God makes much of us, but that God frees us to make much of Jesus!"
I feel like I'm quoting almost the entire lesson - but this stuff is too good not to share!
"We live like orphans instead of sons and daughters. Rather than resting in God's fatherly love, we try to gain his favor by living up to his expectations (or our mistaken view of them). We live life on a treadmill, trying to "be good Christians" so that God will approve of us. .. Jesus righteousness has been credit to us apart from works (Rom4:4-8). WE DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING TO SECURE GOD'S LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE; JESUS HAS SECURED IT FOR US."
"At the root of all our visible sins lies the invisible struggle for righteousness and identity....as we realize our tendencies towards pretending & performing - our attempts to build our own righteousness and identity - we must repent of sin and believe anew in the promise of the gospel!"
Woa. Just let that sink in...
Love this! I need this reminder daily!
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