“Righteous” || What Makes a Believer? || Week 5

Welcome to Week 5 of “What Makes a Believer?”. This series is about the different characteristics of what a believer is. There are a ton of characteristics to talk about according to my Study Bible. We’re taking the time to talk about seven different characteristics that I feel can be expounded upon. I want to reiterate something:

I DO NOT HAVE A DEGREE IN ANY FORM OF THEOLOGY. I AM NOT A PASTOR. I DO NOT HAVE ANY PREACHING OR THEOLOGICAL LICENSES. I AM JUST A YOUTH AND CHILDREN’S MINISTRY LEADER THAT ENJOYS DIVING DEEPER INTO THE BIBLE. THESE ARE MY OPINIONS BASED OFF MY STUDIES, SCRIPTURES, AND PERSONAL TESTIMONY. 

I say all that even though no one has come to me and questioned what I’ve said, how I’ve said it, or that I’ve taken scripture out of context. I always want to call that out to make people aware of it before we jump into it. It’s a failsafe for me honestly.

Last week we discussed another characteristic of a believer: Loving. This week, we’re covering a more church-like characteristic. It’s called “righteous”. To be righteous means to be “morally right or justifiable”. Morals can be different from person to person, so let’s create a definition of a moral that we’ll work with. A moral is: “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness and badness of human character”. So moral deal with two specific principles: “right and wrong behavior” and “good and bad human character”. To be morally right means to have the correct principle in these two areas. I hope you do not have your own foundation on this because the last time humans started this, we dove into the biggest sin downfall known to man. I’m talking about the Genesis 3 narrative. Adam and Eve were deceived by what the snake told them, and they thought they could now determine right and wrong/good and bad on their now. You see the results of that today. So, let’s redefine the foundation of being righteous in God’s eyes. Join me in our first scripture reading today.

1st Scripture: Isaiah 60:21

Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, the first book of the major prophets in the Old Testament (or the first half of the Bible). Isaiah is the main prophet you think about when it comes to the prophets. He prophesized many different things about Jesus himself. We find ourselves in Isaiah 60 today where Isaiah is telling his audience about the future glory of Israel. Our focal verse is Isaiah 60:21, which says:

  21 Your people will all be righteous; they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot that I planted, the work of my hands to glorify myself.

Isaiah tells the Israelite people that they will become righteous and own the land forever. This was the land that God promised to Abraham. During the millennial kingdom, the will be the land of Israel like we know it today. In the eternal kingdom that we learn about in Revelation, that will be the new Jerusalem, the capital of the new creation. The ultimate mission of Israel here is to glorify God. Check out what Isaiah says a few verses later in Isaiah 61:3.

  3 To provide for Zion’s mourners, to give them a crown in place of ashes, oil of joy in place of mourning, a mantle of praise in place of discouragement. They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, planted by the Lord to glorify himself.

Isaiah is saying that the purpose of the Lord’s gift to the mourners after a long time of suffering is the glorifying God will receive. God will give the grievers the recognition needed, joy to replace the mourning, and praise to replace the discouragement. With this, the people will be known as the Oaks of Righteousness. People will recognize them because of the joy and praise that they will now have to glorify God. These are the people that are planted where God needed them to be and they are righteous as we heard earlier.

God plants us where we need to be. We may not realize it, but God needs us to be where He has called us. It’s a tough thing to decipher because we get accustomed to being where we’re at, but God plants us where He needs us to be. We are called to be the hands and feet of God’s holy work. Without a part of them running properly, then the work doesn’t get completed as needed. We’re called to glorify God in whatever we do when he plants us. How does that work you ask?

It’s not letting yourself take credit for the work that God is doing in you and through you. It’s so easy to say that “I just come by it naturally.” or “It’s just something I’ve picked up.” That gives us the credit, but God deserves the credit. People are always amazed by my various computer talents. Whether it’s managing Microsoft Office products, computer maintenance, typing speed, etc., I always seem to get some kind of compliment about it. Which I appreciate, don’t get me wrong. I used to say something like I said earlier, but I’ve since realized it’s God who has given me these gifts and talents to glorify them. Because of what I know computer-wise, I’ve been able to create my church’s newsletter for a couple years, to create engaging slides for our in-person worship services, to create an inviting social media presence, to create fun and creative videos during this time of online ministry, and more. God has blessed me with these gifts and planted me at Clio Bethany UMC so that I can show the glory of what God has been able to do. It leads me to my first point:

1st Point: Show God’s glory where you’re planted. 

Let’s switch over to the New Testament to the book of Luke. Luke was the detail-oriented doctor that was around Paul a lot of the times and got to record all these details about Jesus and the acts of healing that occurred.

2nd Scripture: Luke 1:6

We find ourselves in Luke 1, which talks about the birth of John the Baptist being prophesized. Our focal verse is Luke 1:6, which says:

  6 They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations.

The “they” referred to here is Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents. They were believers who were justified in God’s sight. Remember, to be justified means to be marked by a good or legitimate reason. Luke actually gives us that detail in this verse. They followed all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations without fault. They were righteous and devout believers in what God says.

As we learned in Isaiah, God will plant us where He needs us to be to show the glory of Him. Zechariah and Elizabeth will have a big task in showing that glory. John the Baptist was to be born to pave the way for Jesus’ ministerial works, which is what happens. We can say this was to show the glory of God because we see an echo of a foundational couple that we’re introduced to in Genesis 12 (maybe earlier, but this is the key part for this couple.)

This is very similar to Abram and Sarai (or Abraham and Sarah depending on how cultured you are :P). If you remember the promises God made to Abraham they were to make a great nation out of his family line, to have a respected name, and to have a blessing among all the nations. Abram and Sarai were kind of confused about how they could this because they were like WAY old…too old to have kids. They actually try to force God’s promise to happen by sleeping with Hagar and having Ishmael, but that wasn’t part of God’s plan. God didn’t punish them and He made sure Hagar and Ishmael were going to be okay, but they ended up having Isaac and then the story continues on.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were VERY old as well. Elizabeth had been barren too. They had their issues and doubts, just like Abram and Sarai, but they learned from their ancestors. They didn’t force the issue and try to force God’s promise on their own time. They understood their assignment. They stayed planted in their beliefs. And because they stayed planted, they got their seed from God and had John the Baptist.

What does this mean for you? It means you’re HAVING A BABY SOON!!! I’m joking…maybe…but in all seriousness, it reminds me that God had planted us in a place that we don’t quite know how we’ll grow. When you plant something, it requires daily nourishment like watering, weed pulling, fertilizing, etc. Don’t you think we need that too? Think of the Parable of Mustard Seed. Something so tiny like that is equivalent to how the kingdom of heaven operates. We’re often taught to plant the seed for someone else, but I always say we need to let them nourish it. We need to do that too! We need to water our plant in the life-giving water that Jesus offers (see the story of The Woman at Well for more context). We need to go through some pruning (see the Parable of the Vine for more context). We need to get nourished as well (see Jesus’s “I am the Bread of Life…” statement for more context. This leads me to my final point.

2nd point: Learning righteousness requires watering, pruning, and nourishment.

That brings us to the end of today’s message. I wasn’t sure how to talk about righteousness because it’s always been a very “churchy” word to me, but I think this was a very good description. We’re righteous people that are called to show God’s glory. Show glory in where your planted, but also make sure that your plant is getting the proper watering, pruning, and nourishment. I’ll see you in two weeks for part 6 of this series where we’ll talk about sincerity. Next week, we’ll break down the excitement from October.