First week of Lent - March 8, 2006

Pentecost 3 June 1, 2008– = Romans – Right-enough

=         &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bullhead City

Dr. Earl J. Pierce

Grace, mercy and peace - - -

As I mentioned last week, we wi= ll be journeying through Romans this summer. Today, the Word of the Lord takes= us to Romans three, where we go to some depths with the word Righteousnss.

Romans 3:21–28

²¹But now the righteousness of God has been manife= sted apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it= 212; ²²the righteousness of G= od through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³for all have sinned an= d fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Chr= ist Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward a= s a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed = over former sins. ²⁶= It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he mi= ght be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

      27Then what becomes of o= ur boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

In the Gospel for today Jesus w= arns us to beware of false prophets. Boy, oh, boy, when it comes to that word “righteousness” we can come up with false prophets by the boat-load. Flip around the cable dial and see how many you can find? Read t= he letters to the editor in the paper, especially when someone gets on a rant about religion in Bullhead. Even on the national news, when they bring in expert religious commentary, you’ll hear all kinds of variations on righteousness.

          Just this week I was surfing around Amazon.Com, looking at books. One that caugh= t my eye was by a very popular author in the emerging church market – that’s those who think they really have it together for today’s young people. This author is in his 50’s and his degree is in English. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with an English degree, it’s just that it doesn’t really make one well founded in theol= ogy. Be that as it may, what drew my attention to this book was that it is a bra= nd new 19.95 hard back book, that I could have today for just 6.99. Humm. It g= ot my attention and my curiousity, so I read on. In the publisher’s notes about the book, I came across this line – “McLaren starts with = the assumption that the church may not have accurately understood Jesus's "secret message" (hidden "as a treasure one must seek in ord= er to find").” Now, most good Lutherans will recognize this biblical quote as from the parable of the treasure hidden in the field, and most Lutherans, with or without a theology degree will see that it is not God wh= o is the treasure in the field as this author suggests, but us. And we are not t= he ones looking for the treasure, but Jesus is the one looking for us – = more about this later this summer.

          But, I use that as an example of how easy it is to completely flip a concept from Gospel to law or make law into the Gospel. This is so true with the word “righteousness” or just “righteous”, or just the wo= rd just for that matter.

          For those of us who really didn’t have a strong religious upbringing, our introduction to the word “righteous” may have come through the radio. I know it did for me. – listen –

          Yup – righteous, as in Righteous Brothers – did they get the name f= rom Romans? No, here’s how:

        &= nbsp; “Bobby: Well we got our name working in a little club in Orange County, California.= We were doin a lot of rhythm and blues at the time. And the longer we worked together (we had a five piece band at the time) we started doing more and m= ore duets. On this one particular evening we several guys came in. ( We had a l= ot of Marines come in...) On this one particular evening there were several bl= ack Marines in there and when Bill and I finished doing a duet, one of them yel= led out "That's righteous brothers". Later on after we dropped the na= me The Paramours, we started thinking about a name and I don't know which one = of us it was but one of us said "how about The Righteous Brothers'?.... A= nd there it is.”

And, there it is. Righteous = 211; a slang term for what? Good, cool, hot, with it? How would you say “righteous” in this context today?

          Or could we say right – enough, along the lines of good-enough.

          But, is that what Paul is talking about in our word for today? Perhaps, God is pretty cool, with it, and all the rest. But, I don’t think we can exp= ect Paul to break out in a rendition of “You’ve lost that lovinR= 17; feeling” anytime soon. No, he had something else in mind. =

          And that something else is different than just being right-enough, although many people think about this word in that way. If I am just right-enough, I will= be acceptable. If I am just right-enough and can get by. If I am just right-enough, my spouse, girl-friend, boy-friend will not leave. If I am ju= st right-enough, God just might let me sneak in the side-door to heaven. =

          And even our English definition of the word can lead us to that conclusion. Webster’s says that righteous is “acting in accord with divine = or moral law.” So, we end up thinking that our righteousness, our right-enough position before God comes from our “acting in accord with divine or moral law.” How often? Now and then? Once in a while? Most = of the time? All of the time? How often do we have to be righteous to be right-enough? Certainly, God does not expect us to be as righteous as he is, does he? He’s God after all. He is righteous. In fact He is righteous= ness itself.

          Well, yes, he does expect perfection. His righteousness is not right-enough, it is just plain right, period. = 220;For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory = of God,”

          So, isn’t there some way we can please God? Isn’t there some way we= can show God that we are right-enough? Nope, sorry, game over, thanks for playi= ng.

          Well, what kind of God is that? It’s not the kind of God that people are looking for today. Many want a live and let live God, a let’s all get along God. A God that is all love and kindness. We have one, but, and there= is the big but, he is far more than that. That came as a shock to someone, ano= ther pastor, in fact, in a different denomination. We were talking over lunch an= d I commented that I use words like hell, and damn, and punishment from the pul= pit. Oh, he couldn’t believe that.

          You see, while we have a God who is all loving and all caring, and all righteou= s, our God likewise is just. And if God were to just throw open the doors to heaven, and say y’all come, what would that say about his justice? If someone is righteous, perfect in every way, that would include justice as w= ell. And if God were to have an off day, and say, oh, you’re right-enough,= we couldn’t say that he is righteous. No, we would say he is fickle, capricious, unpredictable. He would be a God, much like the gods of the Gre= eks and Romans, the gods of the Indies, the tribal gods of Africa. While many complain that the Judeo-Christian God is one of wrath, at the very least we = certainly know where we stand with our God. There is no doubt about that. A= LL – great big capital letters, ALL HAVE SINNED.

          So, how do we square this God of judgement with this God of love? With our Lord= and Savior Jesus Christ. In Jesus we can see how all righteousness is fulfilled, not with setting aside justice, but with exactly the opposite, fulfilling a= ll the requirements of justice. It isn’t enough to be right-enough, we h= ave to go all the way to the righteousness of God. And that takes us through th= is strange, funny little word – propitiation. “whom God put forwar= d as a propitiation by his blood.” Propitiation. What an odd word, isnR= 17;t it? Really, it’s kind of fun to say – let’s try it – propitiation. There, see? Propitiation. There, you got it. You can go to a buffet or down to Perkins after church and amaze those sitting around you. Today, our pastor was talking about propitiation. Whow, that would gather a crowd.

          So, what is it? Propitiation is the gift that is offered to satisfy the one who= has been offended by a violation of a law. In other words, it is the fine paid,= or the time served that satisfies the requirements of the law.

          So, in our case, we have offended God by violating his laws, his laws that requirement payment. And God almighty himself gives us the payment to make bail, as it were. It’s as if you are arrested for some crime, perhaps just as minor as speeding. They lock you up because your lights are out as well. The judge comes in. Now, if the judge were just to say, oh, no big de= al, go on home, where would the justice be? No, in our case, the judge comes in, hears the case, looks at the evidence, pronounces us guilty as he should, a= nd then pulls out his wallet, and pays our fine, and we go free.

          But, instead of cash, he pulls out his son, sends him to earth, to the cross, to= the grave, and accepts his blood as the propitiation, the payment for your sins, for mine. “This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his right= eousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one = who has faith in Jesus.”

          Without the death of Jesus, there is no justice. With his death, the demands of God= , of God’s law are met. And God can be the God of love and mercy. That is = what we hold onto now and forever.

        &= nbsp; And where does that leave us, we who think ourselves right-enough? It leaves us with the choice that was put before Israel in our Old Testament reading for today

- ²⁶“See, I am setting before you today a bles= sing and a curse: ²⁷the blessing, if you o= bey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, ²⁸and the curse, if you do not obey the commandmen= ts of the Lord your God, but t= urn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods t= hat you have not known.

And obeying the commands of the Lord your God is not being right-enough, it is holding on to the righteousn= ess that is yours in Jesus. In Jesus we find the righteousness of God through f= aith for all who believe. Righteou= sness is not about being right-enough, but about being right with God and to be r= ight with God is to hold onto Jesus and nothing else.

          <= /span>