Theme Verse: Ephesians 6:10-18
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.
What is Righteousness, What does Paul mean by the “Breastplate of Righteousness”:
- Define righteousness in biblical terms. Righteousness means to act in a morally correct manner, correct by divine declaration (taken from the life application study bible). In other words, righteousness can be defined as being right with God – by faith and by action (this can be found in James 2:14-25)
- In olden times, soldiers would use the breastplate of their armor to protect their vital organs, the front and back, but particularly the heart
- What Paul meant by breastplate of righteousness is that, the breastplate is used to protect the upper body but more importantly to protect our hearts. He is warning us to guard our hearts because that is where Satan can easily attack us if we are not careful and if our hearts are not guarded by scripture.
- Satan can play tricks on us; he can attack our emotions, our trust, and self-worth. In other words, we need to guard our hearts with scripture so that we can stand firm in His truth.
God’s Righteousness: Credits to – Bible.org
- What do you think righteousness is or means?
- What is God’s definition of righteousness?
- Let’s look at other verses to understand what righteousness means: (taken from the Life Application Study Bible)
- Genesis 15:6 – yes, Abraham did demonstrate his faith through actions, but it was because he believed rather than his actions that made Abram right with God. However, our outward actions like attending church, Sunday school, prayer, and good deeds will not necessarily make us right with God. We need to believe and have that faith that he is who he says he is
• Romans 4:11 – what does this verse say about righteousness? Abraham found favor in God because of his faith alone. The focus of our faith and belief in God should be in Christ alone and his actions rather than relying on our own actions and our own strength
• The righteousness of God is one of the most prominent or most important attributes and characteristics of God in the scriptures
• The words ‘right’ and ‘just’ has to do with God’s actions, meaning that God’s righteousness and justice is a natural way of expressing His holiness. this means that He is assuring us of His actions and that they are in “perfect agreement with His holy nature” (taken from the NIV Study Bible)
• A quote I found about the righteousness that I think describes what righteousness means is by Richard Strauss. He states, “Righteousness, in relation to men, is their conformity to a standard. Unlike men, God is not subject to anything outside of Himself”
• Through scripture, we can say that God acts consistently according to His own character and that the righteousness of God is evident in this way, through scripture he shows how he is consistently revealing to us his character and who he really is
- God alone defines what righteous means, basically he sets the standard for what righteousness means
- Hebrews 11
• After reading Hebrews together, over and over again, we see that the bible characters were quote verse 3: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
During worship, we always sing: “We live by faith and not by sight”, Do we really? Do we inherit both the believing part and the doing part?
Faith and Deeds:
• Before we read, James 2:14-25: What is faith to you? And what is deed to you? Do the two traits naturally mesh together or are they successful on their own?
• After reading, are your definition of faith and deeds still the same? Or different? Why?
James 2:14-25 (New International Version)
Faith and Deeds
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[a]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[b] and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
• Where do you think righteousness fits-in in this passage?
• What is meant by faith and works?
• In verse 17, it states that faith if not accompanied by actions is dead
• What was the righteous choice Abraham made in this situation? How did Abraham obtain righteousness from God? (let’s look at an example from Genesis 22 when Abraham was tested by God) (In this passage Hebrews 11, what were some of the righteous choices these people made in the situations they face?)
• How can we obtain righteousness from God?
• First of all…let’s break it down [credits to the NIV Study Bible]
- Verse 14 = James here is not telling us that a person is only saved through works and not by their faith. Rather, he is stating that man will be justified and (declared righteous before God) by faith alone and not by just faith alone. Genuine faith is faith that produces good deeds, and faith found in Christ is salvation
• Verse 15-16 = James is writing about faith in action, but in V. 17 “faith without actions is dead”
• V. 21 = may seem contradicting in the idea that people are saved by faith and not by good deeds. Really here, James is saying that righteous actions is evidence of a faith that is genuine
• Abraham’s righteousness was given to him by God because he stood before God on the basis of faith. If you read the chapters before, he heard God’s call and he obediently stepped out in faith. Because Abraham believed in God, it was through his faith that righteousness was credited to him, not by works. (Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3) He believed in God and by that act of faith alone, he received righteousness from God. Abraham was made right with God by faith and not by works
• For instance, in Genesis 22 God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his only son, whom you love to the altar as a burnt offering. In Galatians 5:6 states, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” and so again, genuine faith is faith that saves and produces good deeds
• Verse 12 Abraham acted in obedience towards God, Abraham trusted that God has a purpose and he acted out of obedience (in these very verses you can see that faith without actions is dead) but because he had faith in God, it was made complete
• James 2:14-25 summarizes how faith and righteousness are intertwined, and how righteousness is both an action and something you must believe
2 Factors of God’s Righteousness:
• The story does not end here by us being faithful and do deeds…
• Read Genesis 22:9-18
• After reading this, we can see that because we obey Him faithfully, we are made righteous AND we get a prize, not a tiny prize but quote“17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [a] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
- In reading these passages and studying Abraham, I found 2 key factors that highlighted the importance of how God has demonstrated his righteousness and how we should live out our life in a righteous way like Abraham did: [taken from the Life Application Study Bible]
• 1) Our righteousness with God can be revealed by understanding that genuine faith needs to come from producing good deeds through actions and believing
AND
• 2) Our righteousness with God can be revealed by trusting in God’s promises, that it is through active obedience from which our faith can be seen as genuine
• Deut. 6:25 states, “And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness”
• This is God’s promise to us, we need to trust in God’s promises and His provisions for us because he expects our obedience
Conclusion:
• From the beginning of the term we talked about our theme verse which is found in Ephesians 6:10-18 Putting on the “Armor of God”
• We learned tonight about what Righteousness means in biblical terms and what Paul meant by breastplate of righteousness
• Next we learned about the righteousness of God and how to be righteous in His presence
• We talked about how righteousness is defined by God and that he sets the standard for what righteousness means
• Next we looked in scripture, specifically James 2:14-25 of the significance of righteousness relates to being justified by faith
• By looking at different translations of the verse, we were able to break down and understand that genuine faith is faith that saves and produces good deeds, because faith without action is dead
• Finally, the 2 key factors of God’s righteousness is 1) God reveals his righteousness by stating that true faith comes from good deeds, but the deeds do not justify us; and 2) God revels his righteousness by stating that faith brings us salvation, where active obedience demonstrates that our faith is genuine
Reflective Questions:
1) What do you think it means to live righteously in your day to day life? – whether it be at school, at home, etc.
2) What do you think is the fine line between being self-righteous and genuinely righteous in God’s presence
3) Have there been any major decisions made recently that may have compromised the act of being righteous?
While we live out our lives righteously, God demonstrates His righteousness to us, what GOOD NEWS!
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