Last week we focused on Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 6:14 where he said, “Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth.” He was saying, that as Christians our lives need to be encompassed with God’s incarnate truth, Jesus Christ; and we also need to be immersed in God’s inspired truth, the Bible or the Word of Truth.
Today, we want to explore what he meant in the same verse when he wrote “Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we read, “But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, Who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
When we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, His righteousness is credited to us. In essence, we are clothed with His righteousness. When God looks at us, He does not see our sin. Rather, He sees us dressed with the righteousness of our Savior. That is positioned righteousness. We have a responsibility to live out practical righteousness. Our lives should be characterized by honesty, integrity, and purity. We should be upright and authentic. We should not tolerate sin of any kind. We may sin, but the moment we do, we need to confess it and repent of it and receive God’s forgiveness. I love 1 John 2:1-2, where the Apostle wrote – “My little children, if anyone sins, we have an Advocate, with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the whole world.
The word “propitiation” does not appear often in the New Testament, but it is a very significant word. It refers to the atoning sacrifice of Christ for our sins. By His death on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sins … past, present, and future. We are shielded from God’s wrath because He was satisfied with and accepted Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.
I think what David Jeremiah wrote is important to our subject —
“We’re in a battle, and our enemy is on the attack. We need to resist him. Satan can’t stand the hymns of the faith, so sing. He can’t overcome the prayers of the saints, so pray. He can’t defeat the Lord Jesus Christ, so claim the power of Christ’s blood. He can’t overthrow the truth, so quote the Scriptures. He can’t vanquish the joy of the LORD, so rejoice. He can’t divest God’s grace, so use the shield of faith.”
If we are not clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we have very little defense against Satan’s accusations. Without righteousness, we will not be able to withstand Satan’s tactics.
The breastplate protects the heart and true righteousness happens when we really surrender our lives to Christ and let Him live in and through us. When we are born again and become spiritually alive, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. He is there to develop the Christ Life in us. In 1 Peter 2:9-10, we read, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim (display, show forth, exhibit) the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
When we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, our goal will be the same as His, when He said in John 8:28-29, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself; but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things. And, He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
In Matthew 6:21 we read “Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.” Is Christ the treasure of your heart? Is it your passion to always do things that please Him? Righteousness has to do with ‘rightness’. It is a growing desire fostered by the Holy Spirit to be right with God in every area of your life.
Let’s go back to the early part of Ephesians 6:5-8 where Paul wrote – “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the LORD, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the LORD, whether he is a slave or free.”
Dear ones, let’s be sure that our lives are characterized by rightness with God produced by the Spirit of Christ in us.
For His Glory,
Pastor Leonard
