Righteousness for Tomorrow

In the last few weeks a couple of people have asked me, "What is righteousness?" Their question is reasonable. After all, I spent five weeks delivering a string of sermons encouraging our congregations to embrace righteousness. While we learned a lot from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), righteousness was never defined. Neglecting to define righteousness was not an oversight. I intentionally left righteousness undefined.

Our study of the Sermon on the Mount drifted slightly from conventional interpretation. Matthew 5-7 is best understood as Jesus’ first discourse on discipleship. Our study was a bit more specific. Focusing our attention on Matthew 5:1-20, we studied these teachings of Jesus in search of words that would encourage us to embrace righteousness—an essential characteristic of discipleship. We learned that Jesus taught with divine authority (5:1-2). Comfort came to us to learn God offers the promise of blessing to those who embrace traits of righteousness (5:3-11). And, we realized that a sense of purpose (5:13-16) and a life of meaning (5:17-20) could be experienced by individuals who follow Jesus Christ towards the righteousness that glorifies God and builds the kingdom of heaven.

In a recent interview in Relevant, comedian Zack Galifianakis said, "I don’t necessarily live for the future, and I find that for those who live in the past, their best days are already over." Galifianakis may not model righteousness, but his words are applicable. We follow Jesus Christ because our hope is in him. Our best days are not in the past; our best days are yet to come. The lives we once lived do not distract us; rather, our hope is the eternal life that Jesus Christ makes available to us today—a life that will be fully realized in the future. And, so, we find encouragement in the teachings of Jesus Christ and we are motivated to embrace the righteousness that he taught knowing that he leads us to a better tomorrow where we will rest in the presence of God.

What is righteousness? Follow Jesus Christ, for righteousness can only be realized in him.