HIS Righteousness, HIS Peace, HIS Joy

We at Faith Fellowship (FF) were visited a few weeks ago by my friend Peter Mayer.  He preached a great message that Sunday AM about the realities of the Kingdom.  He told us that the Kingdom is not about the externals in our lives but the 'eternals'.  It was very encouraging.  Since that time, I have wanted to write an article about the reference he used that Sunday AM.

 

Let me quote as he did from Rom.14:17, "for the Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."  The order is important and I wanted to take the time to discuss this so that some genuine encouragement might come to my brothers and sisters.  

 

Paul first tells us as brother Mayer did that day that the Kingdom's building blocks are not natural things such as what we eat or drink.  The Kingdom does not consist of external issues or earthly events or forces.  NO NO, the Kingdom rests on far deeper & more valuable stuff than that.  If we do not understand that then we are as the 1st disciples who were looking for a political kingdom where Jesus would kick the Romans out of the occupied country and take over the Kingship & High Priesthood of Israel.  The disciples were so far off.  They failed to realize that Jesus would change the hearts of His people so that His children would follow Him willingly, living life His way with love and holiness and faithfulness and equity.  

 

Paul lists 3 items and as I said, the order is critical.  First Paul speaks of righteousness.  Hear this; one cannot BE IN GOD'S KINGDOM unless they are righteous!  In God's Kingdom, Jesus is King and HE is ALWAYS obeyed - ALWAYS!!  There are no exceptions.  But how are we to achieve that????   "There is no one righteous, not even one."  (Rom.3:10)  If people could only underdstand that it is humanly IMPOSSIBLE to attain to the level of perfect righteousness needed to attain God's Kingdom.  This is what Isaiah meant when he penned the words, "Our righteousness is as filthy rags."  Our best efforts from the most righteous people simply fall dismally short of God's righteous & perfect standard.  

 

How then do we hope to ever enter God's Kingdom?  Remember, this righteousness is in the Holy Spirit, or brought about & imparted by the Holy Spirit.  In the magnificent song titled, "The Great Exchange", the secret is revealed.  Jesus simply took my place, paid my price, and put His righteousness to my account.  That is why we sing of His love.  That is why we praise Him.  

 

Sin is an unpopular subject today, even in many Christian churches.  Speaking of sin makes people uncomfortable.  Yet, The Bible speaks of our sin often and in the most graphic of terms.  It was my sin that hung Jesus on the cross - MY SIN!  The moment we forget that, look out.  The conviction of my sin is the only prelude to a genuine conversion.  Once I know I have sinned against a righteous God, that a death sentence is hanging over me, that an eternal hell awaits me; then I can hear the comforting words that Jesus has paid for me out of His merciful love.  This makes me humble myself and appeal for His mercy.  In faith I trust His promise and His price & that humility & faith is what jesus is looking for.

 

This is why the tax collector (hated in Hebrew society) was justified by God when he humbled himslef and pleaded for mercy before God.  And the religious leader next to him who prayed and thought he was superior to the tax collector only prayed with himself and received no mercy from the Lord.  Read about it in Luke 18.  Once God pardons and puts His righteousnes to our account - ONLY THEN ARE WE RIGHTEOUS!  

 

Think of it this way.  Let's say I owe a terrible amount of money.  I have no way to pay and the pressure is mounting.  My creditor wants what is coming to him but I am way over my head.  The threat of him taking legal action against me is imminent.  Suddenly I receive a call from a trusted friend who knows of my dilemma and is wealthy enough to so something about it.  To my delight and amazment, my friend informs me that he has wired the entire amount owed to my bank.  I now know my debt is paid & the threat is gone.  Can we see that our life is amazingly lighter, freer, filled with cheer for that which was hanging over our heads, that which we could nothing about, that which would evntually destroy us has been dealt with?  This happened not because we deserved it but because our friend loved us enough to have compassion and take care of the trouble.  This is what Jesus did for us on a scale so immense that it cannot be fully fathomed.

 

Then the Spirit of God strives with us to sanctify (make right) our lives so that our actions live up to the free gift God gave us.  And righteousness must be 1st.  Peace comes right after righteousness.  This peace is first a sense that we are right with the Lord - that HE has forgiven us - and then His peace travels to every area of our life.  After all, If Jesus is strong enough to wash away all my sin, HE is certainly loving & powerful enough to take care of all other troubles.  This peace from God invades every relationship, every confrontation, every diasppointment, every challenge of faith.  Think back before you were Christian.  There was no resource in your life to fight back the stress & turmoil natural to humans living on this planet.  You attempted to deal with trouble by revenge, or lying, or manipulating, or denial, or drugs (alcohol or some other habit), etc.  

 

Once Jesus came in, you began to pray about things.  You have been learning over time to trust Him, to believe in His love & power, and to know that HE intends to care for you.  Now you have a inner tranquility that was not there.  This has begun even in the youngest Christian.  I know, sometimes we get so wound up we wonder if we really received His peace.  When that happens, we need to take a trip back to how we received His righteousness.  Then we will begin to experience His peace again because THE ORDER IS CRUCIAL!  First righteousness and then peace.  Peace must come from being made right with God and THANK GOD - JESUS is a master at making us right with he Father.

 

Once we realize that Jesus has done it all, HE becomes the most  important person in our lives.  We begin to want to please HIM.  When we sense we are not at peace, we must start at the beginning place, humble ourselves, allow God to evaluate where we are with HIM and freshly surrender to Jesus.  It is not that we can be born-again again.  But it is the exercise of a consistent life of repentace and faith wonderfully captured in the verse, "As you have receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him."  (Col.2:6)

 

Once the peace has begun to set in, the joy automatically follows.  Too often, we try to get the joy before the righteousness & the peace.  It doesn't work that way.  JOY MUST HAVE A REASON!  In other words, joy must have a source.  That source is Jesus or the joy will not be lasting.  It will be thin or easily upset or cast aside.  But once the joy is found in being right with God and once it is based on the experience of His lasting peace, then it becomes what the Bible calls, "the joy of the Lord" and it is the strength of the Christian.  He/she finds a underlying sense of cheerful well-being that out lasts the troubles & the sorrows.  God's promises, His steadfast love, His ever Present nearness & unflappable nature hold us in the storm & give us a future to hope in.  This future is no vain hope but the very intention of God.  So God promises a heaven plus 'a heaven to go to heaven' in.  This does not mean we are problem free, on the contrary, in some ways we can be real targets for the devil's attacks.  But what it does mean is that we experience the very words of Jesus who said to His disciples, "These things have I spoken to you that in me you may have peace.  In the world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  (Jn.16:33)  

 

When the joy seems gone, one cannot force joy back into the heart.  We must start at the beginning.  We first make sure we are right with the Lord by humbling ourselves and allowing God to be our Lord.  We re-connect with HIM knowing that Jesus loves us and has paid every price for us.  And we we admit our need & turn from our sin to Him, He is faithful to forgive & cleanse.  Once the right standing returns and sense of peace follows.  On the heals of that our joy returns but it is not our peace or joy but His peace & joy!  He has given it to us as HE gave us His righteousness.  

 

The Kingdom of God then is not meat nor drink - not external or natural things.  It is rather a righteousness that HE gives us because of His great love for us - a righteousness that HE puts to our account.  Then it is a peace that HE gives to us which 1st exists between us and God and then flows to every area of life.  Then it is a joy HE brings that is so great, it becomes a foundation for strength in all our life.  

 

When these are interupted as they sometimes can be, we must be willing to start at the starting place, humbling ourselves before the love of Jesus and trusting in His life given for us.  From this place, we can resume the holy and intended order - righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Be of good cheer my friends, because His Kingdom is eternal, it is FIXED & CANNOT BE MOVED!  GOD is a refuge for us so pour out your heart to Him and experience the full weight of His restoration and the eternals of the Kingdom of God in His Son!  Jesus keep you strong in this hour.

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