Righteous!
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Object:
Perhaps some of you are old enough to remember one of the most popular musical groups of the mid 1960s, The Righteous Brothers. Remember "Unchained Melody"? I remember once hearing an interview with one of the Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley, when he described the significance of their name. Normally when we think of the word "righteous," we think of impeccable behavior and sterling moral character. But their name was not so much about their morality as it was about the quality of their music. In the '60s (and I suspect that in some ways it is not much different today), "righteous" was also a kind of exclamation that people used to express their approval and admiration of someone else. You were, "righteous, brother!" if you were cool. Someone once heard the music of this group and exclaimed, "That was righteous, brother!" That referred not to their moral character but to the quality of their music. It was good music. It was music they could be proud of -- and the name stuck.
If you are righteous, that means you are somebody. You can stand tall and upright. You have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. You have now no reason to cower or stoop or flee to the back of the room or hide at the end of the line. You are not a nobody. You are a somebody. You have done yourself well. You can be proud. You are ... righteous!
All of us want to be righteous. We go through life in search of it. We never seem to be able to satisfy our hunger for it. We look for it in our career, in our family, in our marriage, in the approval of our friends, neighbors, and from anyone who is significant in our lives. When we have it, it makes our day. The problem is that we seem to feel it about ourselves so seldom and, when we do, the feeling is so fleeting.
"Righteous" is an important word in Saint Paul's vocabulary. It appears all over the place in his letter to the Romans. He always seems to be talking about "righteousness." Today's reading is taken from the most important part of this most important of all the letters that Paul wrote. At the heart and center of this passage is Paul's talk about "the righteousness of God."
What is "the righteousness of God"? Not all that unlike our acclamation of "Righteous, brother!" the righteousness of God is what sets God apart. It is what makes God unique. It is at the heart and center of God's character. It is that for which God most wants to be known. If someone says to us, "Righteous, brother!" we stand tall. We have been recognized and complimented for what we are. Likewise, the righteousness of God is that for which God wants to be complimented and praised.
So often what has shaped our understanding of God's righteousness, what sets God apart and makes God unique, has been based more on Greek philosophy and human speculation than what the Bible actually has to say about God. We think that what makes God righteous is that God is everything we are not. We use all those Greek "omni's" to describe it. We are weak, God is strong, omnipotent. We are of limited intelligence. God knows everything, omniscient. We are stuck in one place. God is everywhere, omnipresent. We are mortal. God never dies, immortal. We are temporal. God is eternal. We are imperfect. God is perfect. We are sinful. God is holy. And the list goes on and on. They are all part of what makes God so "righteous!"
We human beings long to have the same sort of righteousness. Ever since that tragic fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, we spend our lives continually in search of righteousness. We want to be righteous, to be like God, to be able to stand tall, to be confident, to know that we count and that our lives matter. Saint Augustine puts it well when he says that every human heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. Our idolatrous search for someone or something we can finally put our trust in is part of this restless and relentless search for righteousness.
Martin Luther spent much of his early life in this restless and relentless search for the righteousness of God. He rigorously followed all the prescribed programs of the church that were designed to get him the righteousness of God. He worked harder than anyone else to get right with God and be at peace with himself. He was never able to achieve it. He always fell short. He never was able to do enough and be sure that he was righteous. He refused to accept the rationalizations of anyone. His conscience would not let him rest because he knew that he was still falling short. The righteousness of God always remained out of his reach. He was never quite able to possess it.
After a while, he began to wonder what God was doing to him. God seemed to be cruel and demanding. At times, Luther sounded like that great observer of modern American life, Woody Allen, who many years later commented on the emptiness, tragedy, and suffering of life by saying that "God must be an underachiever." In the same way Luther began to wonder if God wasn't some fickle monster who took great delight in seeing him take one step forward only to fall two steps backward. Mention "the righteousness of God" and Luther would cower in fear.
One day he read today's reading and saw something there that he had never seen before. It changed his life forever. It changed the life of the church forever. He called it his "tower experience." It was what some have called "his evangelical breakthrough." He suddenly realized that the "righteousness of God" was not an intimidating demand but a gracious gift, not a threatening accusation but a merciful offer. The "righteousness of God" expressed not the anger of a God who was disappointed in him and his failures but the love of a God who embraced him even though he did not deserve it. It was not bad news but good news. The righteousness of God, that which set God apart and made God utterly unique, was not just all those "omni's" that scared the daylights out of Luther. What set God apart was God's determination to love the world, to make these incredible promises, and then keep them.
God loves the world like no one else. The Bible is the history of the God who time and time again made promises to love the world and then kept them. In other words, what is at the heart of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is a God who makes promises to love his people and then keeps them no matter what. God is righteous because God is always faithful to those promises. God promises a wandering, old, and childless nomad by the name of Abraham a child, a land, and through them the opportunity to bless all of humanity. God repeatedly makes and keeps promises to that scoundrel and stinker, Jacob, even though he is a liar and cheat. God hears the cries of his people in Egypt and delivers them from bondage, even though they did not deserve it. God promises a kingdom that will last forever to David, even though he was an adulterer and murderer. Through the prophets God continually made and kept promises to a stubborn and rebellious people. Time and time God was gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, even though his people did not deserve it. He was a righteous God. He kept his word. There was nothing of which God had to be ashamed or embarrassed. There was no duplicity or fudging on the truth. God was righteous and faithful to his promises.
Then, when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, Jesus of Nazareth. In him, once again the righteousness of God was manifest and revealed for all to see. Watch Jesus and you see the righteousness of God in action. Jesus is "the friend of sinners." He welcomes and befriends sinners and outcasts and does it in the name of God. Therefore, he, too, is numbered among sinners and becomes as one of them. He is also guilty under the very law of God. Therefore, he must die as a sinner, cursed, a criminal, on a cross reserved for the worst sort of law breakers.
This is all part of God's marvelous plan to keep his promise. This is all part of God's plan to show his righteousness and love to the world. God decides to love the world by taking upon himself in his very own Son the sin, suffering, pain, and judgment that we all deserve. Someone must pay for all this sin and evil. God out of his great love decides to pay for it himself. We don't have to pay. God pays through the blood of his own Son, Jesus. We don't have to atone for our sin. God atones for us through Jesus and his death. It is as if God chooses to pay the debt and suffer the consequences that we deserve. God "bites his tongue." God "bites the bullet" for us so that we might be free from the curse of sin and the power of God's own judgment on that sin. Why? Because the righteousness of God is love. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead and it was clear that Jesus was right all along. God's righteousness is not that you get what you deserve. God's righteousness is that you get what you don't deserve. You get loved.
Wow! Luther called it the "sweet swap." God exchanges the death of his own Son for our life. God gives us his righteousness, his love, and life. In return we give him our sin, shame, and embarrassment. Suddenly, we discover that we get to stand tall, no longer embarrassed, hiding in the back of the room where no one can see us. We are righteous. We know who we are. We are proud, upright, and honest about who we are. We are the apple of God's eye. We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Paul declares, "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed by the law." When Luther finally realized this, it changed his whole life. He realized that his pursuit of righteousness had come to an end. What he thought God had demanded of him, he now realizes God has given him through the promise of Christ and proclamation of Jesus' story. The question that had plagued him his whole life, "What do I have to do to be righteous before God?" was now answered. The answer was shocking. The answer was, "Nothing!" He didn't have to do anything because Jesus had done it for him. All he needed to do was believe it, trust it, and have faith in it. He got to believe it. The righteousness of God was revealed in Christ. That righteousness he didn't have to earn. He only needed to receive it as a gift, to trust and believe that it was for him.
He trusted the promise and the righteousness of God was his. It changed his life. He no longer had to cower in guilt and fear. He could stand tall and upright because he was "righteous, brother!" The restlessness of his heart had ended. The hunger at last had been satisfied. He now was at peace and at rest, free to spend his life in service of others.
It was the annual summer family reunion. Alex had looked forward to it all year, the opportunity to get together with his cousins and uncles and aunts. This summer was no different. The extended members of his family came flocking in from all over the country for a great weekend. He especially looked forward to swimming with his older cousins, Jimmy and Peter. He so looked up to them. He thought they were so cool. He almost worshiped the ground on which they walked.
It was Saturday afternoon of the big reunion weekend. All the cousins, including Jimmy and Peter, were planning a big excursion to the local swimming hole. Alex was excited. This was his opportunity to hang out with the big kids. He had his swimming trunks and towel all ready to go.
It was time to leave and there was a mad rush to fill all the cars and station wagons that were going to carry all the cousins out to swimming hole. Somehow in the rush and confusion, all the vehicles were quickly filled. Alex first went to one car. No room. He rushed to another. Sorry. All the seats were filled. He started to panic and ran to the last station wagon. It was filled with teenagers, one who had just got his driver's license. It was Jimmy.
"Jimmy! Jimmy! It's me. Alex! Let me in," he shouted.
Jimmy was too preoccupied with the girls to pay him any attention. Teenagers!
"Hey, Jimmy! Open the door. I want to go."
No one seemed to hear or see him. Everyone was talking and laughing and having a great time. The engines started. The cars began to roll. Alex started to yell and then scream, "Hey, what about me? I want to go swimming, too!"
Suddenly, Jimmy turned and looked at Alex. He spewed out words that slammed into Alex with the force of a vicious punch to the stomach. "Hey, kid. Sorry. You're too slow ... and too little. Better luck next time."
And off the caravan sped leaving Alex alone with his disappointment and tears. He had looked forward to this event at the reunion for months. Now it all slipped away so quickly. He wanted to crawl under a rock. He wanted to run away and die. He wished he had never come. How could Jimmy do this to him?
Then he heard a familiar voice call out his name. "Hey, Alex, what's wrong?"
He recognized the voice. It was his Uncle Herbert. He didn't want to talk to Uncle Herbert now, not like this. He felt ashamed and embarrassed, left behind like this. He wanted to pretend that he didn't hear him. He wanted to run and hide. Not now.
"Hey, Alex, did they leave you behind? Did they all go swimming and leave you here?"
Alex sniffled and quickly wiped away his tears. He didn't want Uncle Herbert to know that his feelings had been hurt. After all, he was six years old. He was a big boy now. He didn't want to let anyone know that he was this vulnerable. He didn't want to appear soft and girlish. That was the worst thing any boy in his family could admit.
"Hey, Alex, I understand. I know how you feel. When I was your age my brothers and their buddies used to do things like that all the time to me. It is too bad that they are so inconsiderate."
Alex knew that Uncle Herbert was different. Unlike so many of the men in his family, he seemed to understand people. He sensed when people's feelings were hurt. He always found a way to say the right thing at the right time. Alex felt better.
Uncle Herbert put his arm around Alex. That arm felt so strong and so good. "Hey, Alex. I have an idea. Do you like to watch the trains come in at the railroad station?"
Sniffling, with his voice a little broken, Alex spoke quietly but eagerly, "Yes, I do. But I can never seem to get anyone to take me down there."
"Well, how about you and me, Alex? How about you and me hang out this afternoon down at the station and watch the trains come in? How about it, Alex? Just you and me?"
Alex was transformed. "Really, Uncle Herbert? Just you and me?"
"Yup, just you and me," affirmed the uncle.
"Oh, that would be so cool!" exclaimed Alex. "But what will Jimmy and Peter think?"
"Oh, Alex, let's not worry about them. This afternoon is our time together. Let's go take in the trains."
That was music to Alex's ears. A huge smile graced his face. He straightened up, stood tall, and proudly grasped the hand of his new buddy. He thought of how cool this would be and how all of his cousins would be so jealous of him. Oh, if they could only see him now! He now felt like a big guy, a big shot. He turned to Uncle Herbert and tried to think of something that would express his gratitude and let his uncle know just how cool he thought he was.
"Uncle Herbert, you know, you are so ... righteous!"
Uncle Herbert quickly turned to Alex and said, "So are you!"
In the same way the "righteousness of God" revealed in Jesus Christ picks us up. In spite of our sins and shames and because of Jesus Christ, we don't need to flee the probing eyes of others. No, trusting this assurance we can stand tall. We can wipe away the tears. There is no need to slouch. We can have a smile on our face and a sense of peace in our hearts. Like Alex and Herbert, we are righteous! Amen.
If you are righteous, that means you are somebody. You can stand tall and upright. You have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. You have now no reason to cower or stoop or flee to the back of the room or hide at the end of the line. You are not a nobody. You are a somebody. You have done yourself well. You can be proud. You are ... righteous!
All of us want to be righteous. We go through life in search of it. We never seem to be able to satisfy our hunger for it. We look for it in our career, in our family, in our marriage, in the approval of our friends, neighbors, and from anyone who is significant in our lives. When we have it, it makes our day. The problem is that we seem to feel it about ourselves so seldom and, when we do, the feeling is so fleeting.
"Righteous" is an important word in Saint Paul's vocabulary. It appears all over the place in his letter to the Romans. He always seems to be talking about "righteousness." Today's reading is taken from the most important part of this most important of all the letters that Paul wrote. At the heart and center of this passage is Paul's talk about "the righteousness of God."
What is "the righteousness of God"? Not all that unlike our acclamation of "Righteous, brother!" the righteousness of God is what sets God apart. It is what makes God unique. It is at the heart and center of God's character. It is that for which God most wants to be known. If someone says to us, "Righteous, brother!" we stand tall. We have been recognized and complimented for what we are. Likewise, the righteousness of God is that for which God wants to be complimented and praised.
So often what has shaped our understanding of God's righteousness, what sets God apart and makes God unique, has been based more on Greek philosophy and human speculation than what the Bible actually has to say about God. We think that what makes God righteous is that God is everything we are not. We use all those Greek "omni's" to describe it. We are weak, God is strong, omnipotent. We are of limited intelligence. God knows everything, omniscient. We are stuck in one place. God is everywhere, omnipresent. We are mortal. God never dies, immortal. We are temporal. God is eternal. We are imperfect. God is perfect. We are sinful. God is holy. And the list goes on and on. They are all part of what makes God so "righteous!"
We human beings long to have the same sort of righteousness. Ever since that tragic fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, we spend our lives continually in search of righteousness. We want to be righteous, to be like God, to be able to stand tall, to be confident, to know that we count and that our lives matter. Saint Augustine puts it well when he says that every human heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. Our idolatrous search for someone or something we can finally put our trust in is part of this restless and relentless search for righteousness.
Martin Luther spent much of his early life in this restless and relentless search for the righteousness of God. He rigorously followed all the prescribed programs of the church that were designed to get him the righteousness of God. He worked harder than anyone else to get right with God and be at peace with himself. He was never able to achieve it. He always fell short. He never was able to do enough and be sure that he was righteous. He refused to accept the rationalizations of anyone. His conscience would not let him rest because he knew that he was still falling short. The righteousness of God always remained out of his reach. He was never quite able to possess it.
After a while, he began to wonder what God was doing to him. God seemed to be cruel and demanding. At times, Luther sounded like that great observer of modern American life, Woody Allen, who many years later commented on the emptiness, tragedy, and suffering of life by saying that "God must be an underachiever." In the same way Luther began to wonder if God wasn't some fickle monster who took great delight in seeing him take one step forward only to fall two steps backward. Mention "the righteousness of God" and Luther would cower in fear.
One day he read today's reading and saw something there that he had never seen before. It changed his life forever. It changed the life of the church forever. He called it his "tower experience." It was what some have called "his evangelical breakthrough." He suddenly realized that the "righteousness of God" was not an intimidating demand but a gracious gift, not a threatening accusation but a merciful offer. The "righteousness of God" expressed not the anger of a God who was disappointed in him and his failures but the love of a God who embraced him even though he did not deserve it. It was not bad news but good news. The righteousness of God, that which set God apart and made God utterly unique, was not just all those "omni's" that scared the daylights out of Luther. What set God apart was God's determination to love the world, to make these incredible promises, and then keep them.
God loves the world like no one else. The Bible is the history of the God who time and time again made promises to love the world and then kept them. In other words, what is at the heart of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is a God who makes promises to love his people and then keeps them no matter what. God is righteous because God is always faithful to those promises. God promises a wandering, old, and childless nomad by the name of Abraham a child, a land, and through them the opportunity to bless all of humanity. God repeatedly makes and keeps promises to that scoundrel and stinker, Jacob, even though he is a liar and cheat. God hears the cries of his people in Egypt and delivers them from bondage, even though they did not deserve it. God promises a kingdom that will last forever to David, even though he was an adulterer and murderer. Through the prophets God continually made and kept promises to a stubborn and rebellious people. Time and time God was gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, even though his people did not deserve it. He was a righteous God. He kept his word. There was nothing of which God had to be ashamed or embarrassed. There was no duplicity or fudging on the truth. God was righteous and faithful to his promises.
Then, when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, Jesus of Nazareth. In him, once again the righteousness of God was manifest and revealed for all to see. Watch Jesus and you see the righteousness of God in action. Jesus is "the friend of sinners." He welcomes and befriends sinners and outcasts and does it in the name of God. Therefore, he, too, is numbered among sinners and becomes as one of them. He is also guilty under the very law of God. Therefore, he must die as a sinner, cursed, a criminal, on a cross reserved for the worst sort of law breakers.
This is all part of God's marvelous plan to keep his promise. This is all part of God's plan to show his righteousness and love to the world. God decides to love the world by taking upon himself in his very own Son the sin, suffering, pain, and judgment that we all deserve. Someone must pay for all this sin and evil. God out of his great love decides to pay for it himself. We don't have to pay. God pays through the blood of his own Son, Jesus. We don't have to atone for our sin. God atones for us through Jesus and his death. It is as if God chooses to pay the debt and suffer the consequences that we deserve. God "bites his tongue." God "bites the bullet" for us so that we might be free from the curse of sin and the power of God's own judgment on that sin. Why? Because the righteousness of God is love. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead and it was clear that Jesus was right all along. God's righteousness is not that you get what you deserve. God's righteousness is that you get what you don't deserve. You get loved.
Wow! Luther called it the "sweet swap." God exchanges the death of his own Son for our life. God gives us his righteousness, his love, and life. In return we give him our sin, shame, and embarrassment. Suddenly, we discover that we get to stand tall, no longer embarrassed, hiding in the back of the room where no one can see us. We are righteous. We know who we are. We are proud, upright, and honest about who we are. We are the apple of God's eye. We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Paul declares, "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed by the law." When Luther finally realized this, it changed his whole life. He realized that his pursuit of righteousness had come to an end. What he thought God had demanded of him, he now realizes God has given him through the promise of Christ and proclamation of Jesus' story. The question that had plagued him his whole life, "What do I have to do to be righteous before God?" was now answered. The answer was shocking. The answer was, "Nothing!" He didn't have to do anything because Jesus had done it for him. All he needed to do was believe it, trust it, and have faith in it. He got to believe it. The righteousness of God was revealed in Christ. That righteousness he didn't have to earn. He only needed to receive it as a gift, to trust and believe that it was for him.
He trusted the promise and the righteousness of God was his. It changed his life. He no longer had to cower in guilt and fear. He could stand tall and upright because he was "righteous, brother!" The restlessness of his heart had ended. The hunger at last had been satisfied. He now was at peace and at rest, free to spend his life in service of others.
It was the annual summer family reunion. Alex had looked forward to it all year, the opportunity to get together with his cousins and uncles and aunts. This summer was no different. The extended members of his family came flocking in from all over the country for a great weekend. He especially looked forward to swimming with his older cousins, Jimmy and Peter. He so looked up to them. He thought they were so cool. He almost worshiped the ground on which they walked.
It was Saturday afternoon of the big reunion weekend. All the cousins, including Jimmy and Peter, were planning a big excursion to the local swimming hole. Alex was excited. This was his opportunity to hang out with the big kids. He had his swimming trunks and towel all ready to go.
It was time to leave and there was a mad rush to fill all the cars and station wagons that were going to carry all the cousins out to swimming hole. Somehow in the rush and confusion, all the vehicles were quickly filled. Alex first went to one car. No room. He rushed to another. Sorry. All the seats were filled. He started to panic and ran to the last station wagon. It was filled with teenagers, one who had just got his driver's license. It was Jimmy.
"Jimmy! Jimmy! It's me. Alex! Let me in," he shouted.
Jimmy was too preoccupied with the girls to pay him any attention. Teenagers!
"Hey, Jimmy! Open the door. I want to go."
No one seemed to hear or see him. Everyone was talking and laughing and having a great time. The engines started. The cars began to roll. Alex started to yell and then scream, "Hey, what about me? I want to go swimming, too!"
Suddenly, Jimmy turned and looked at Alex. He spewed out words that slammed into Alex with the force of a vicious punch to the stomach. "Hey, kid. Sorry. You're too slow ... and too little. Better luck next time."
And off the caravan sped leaving Alex alone with his disappointment and tears. He had looked forward to this event at the reunion for months. Now it all slipped away so quickly. He wanted to crawl under a rock. He wanted to run away and die. He wished he had never come. How could Jimmy do this to him?
Then he heard a familiar voice call out his name. "Hey, Alex, what's wrong?"
He recognized the voice. It was his Uncle Herbert. He didn't want to talk to Uncle Herbert now, not like this. He felt ashamed and embarrassed, left behind like this. He wanted to pretend that he didn't hear him. He wanted to run and hide. Not now.
"Hey, Alex, did they leave you behind? Did they all go swimming and leave you here?"
Alex sniffled and quickly wiped away his tears. He didn't want Uncle Herbert to know that his feelings had been hurt. After all, he was six years old. He was a big boy now. He didn't want to let anyone know that he was this vulnerable. He didn't want to appear soft and girlish. That was the worst thing any boy in his family could admit.
"Hey, Alex, I understand. I know how you feel. When I was your age my brothers and their buddies used to do things like that all the time to me. It is too bad that they are so inconsiderate."
Alex knew that Uncle Herbert was different. Unlike so many of the men in his family, he seemed to understand people. He sensed when people's feelings were hurt. He always found a way to say the right thing at the right time. Alex felt better.
Uncle Herbert put his arm around Alex. That arm felt so strong and so good. "Hey, Alex. I have an idea. Do you like to watch the trains come in at the railroad station?"
Sniffling, with his voice a little broken, Alex spoke quietly but eagerly, "Yes, I do. But I can never seem to get anyone to take me down there."
"Well, how about you and me, Alex? How about you and me hang out this afternoon down at the station and watch the trains come in? How about it, Alex? Just you and me?"
Alex was transformed. "Really, Uncle Herbert? Just you and me?"
"Yup, just you and me," affirmed the uncle.
"Oh, that would be so cool!" exclaimed Alex. "But what will Jimmy and Peter think?"
"Oh, Alex, let's not worry about them. This afternoon is our time together. Let's go take in the trains."
That was music to Alex's ears. A huge smile graced his face. He straightened up, stood tall, and proudly grasped the hand of his new buddy. He thought of how cool this would be and how all of his cousins would be so jealous of him. Oh, if they could only see him now! He now felt like a big guy, a big shot. He turned to Uncle Herbert and tried to think of something that would express his gratitude and let his uncle know just how cool he thought he was.
"Uncle Herbert, you know, you are so ... righteous!"
Uncle Herbert quickly turned to Alex and said, "So are you!"
In the same way the "righteousness of God" revealed in Jesus Christ picks us up. In spite of our sins and shames and because of Jesus Christ, we don't need to flee the probing eyes of others. No, trusting this assurance we can stand tall. We can wipe away the tears. There is no need to slouch. We can have a smile on our face and a sense of peace in our hearts. Like Alex and Herbert, we are righteous! Amen.
