Paul’s Secrethttps://pixabay.com/photo-1646765/
by Kameel Majdali
By
Paul the Apostle is one of the top
5 most influential
people who ever lived. He turned the world
upside down. In this
series, we are exploring ‘Paul’s secret’
of how to change the
world. That secret is found in Philippians
3:7-12.
In our first part, we learned
Principle One: Don’t let your
natural gifts get in the way of God’s
grace. Be willing to
surrender them all to God in order to live
by grace and truth (John
1:14,17). While natural gifts are a form
of grace, a person who is
infused with God’s grace will accomplish
far, far more.
Principle Two:
And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith —
Philippians 3:9
The second secret of a world-
changer is found in the above
verse, which leads to Principle Two: Make
sure it is Christ’s
righteousness, not your own, that is found
in you. If you want to
partner with God to change the world, you
will be far more
effective living in His righteousness.
Yes, God can and does use
the unrighteous, but the most powerful
vessels are those who are
righteous in Him.
Definition of Righteous:
Righteousness matters. It is the key to
God’s kingdom and the good
things He offers. Jesus made it plain: For
I say unto you, That
except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case
enter into the kingdom
of heaven - Matthew 5:20. What is this
righteousness that makes the
difference between heaven and hell?
‘Righteousness’ comes from the
Greek word dikaiosyne
(δικαιοσύνη) and ‘righteous’ from dikaios
(δίκαιος). Their
essential meaning is to be ‘upright,
faultless, virtuous,
guiltless, acceptable and approved of
God.’
Righteousness applies to God and
people. The Lord is
righteous in many ways, not the least of
which is that His actions
and nature are in agreement. His people
need to be the same. Put
another way, to be righteous means two
things:
1. Right-standing before God;
2. Right actions on behalf of God.
Benefits of Righteousness:
The Bible promises great benefits to the
righteous:
• God blesses and protects the righteous
(Psalm 5:12);
• God watches after them and hears their
cry (Psalm 34:15);
• God delivers them out of all their
troubles (34:17);
• They are never forsaken (Psalm 37:25);
• They shall never be moved (Psalm 55:22);
• They are rewarded (Psalm 58:11);
• They are glad (Psalm 64:10; 68:3);
• They shall flourish like a palm tree and
grow like a cedar in
Lebanon (Psalm 92:12);
• Their desire shall be granted (Proverbs
10:24);
• They enjoy an everlasting foundation
(Proverbs 10:25);
• They are kept safe in the Name of the
Lord (Proverbs 18:10);
• They shall shine forth in the kingdom of
their Father (Matthew
13:43);
• His fervent effectual prayers avail much
(James 5:16);
• They have eternal life (Matthew 25:46);
Yet there is a dilemma. Our
righteousness is not good
enough. We learned that Pharisees
righteousness fell short of entry
into the kingdom of heaven. From an earthy
point-of-view, they
would have been considered very
‘righteous;’ however, Jesus makes
it plain that from a heavenly view, they
were not. How about the
rest of us? Isaiah 64:6 says ‘But we are
all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags.’
Source of righteousness:
If unrighteousness brings condemnation,
how can we obtain true
righteousness that brings justification
and salvation? That gets us
into God’s kingdom? That enables us to
change the world?
Thankfully, it comes from our
Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is
righteous (I John 2:1). Through His
atoning death on the cross, the
Righteous One died in the place of the
unrighteous. When we accept,
by repentance and faith, the free gift of
the gospel of Christ, we
upload to Him our sins and
unrighteousness; Jesus downloads to us
His holiness and righteousness. This
divine exchange gives us the
wonderful gift of justification: meaning
we are declare ‘not
guilty’ and ‘righteous.’
Now that you are made righteous
through faith in Christ and
the gospel, you are positioned to be a
changed person and an agent
of change in the world. In our next
article, we will learn
Principle Three of how to be a world-
changer. To be continued.
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