Pew 2 You
1-17-16
Pastor Tom Weaver
Living From Righteousness, Not For Righteousness
Highlights:
1.) Righteousness is justification, right or just, purity of heart, holy, being and doing right. God’s character is the source of all righteousness. Pastor Tom referred to it as right standing with God.
2.) Righteousness is a good thing, but the motive behind righteousness should be examined. The Pharisees were seeking to earn right standing with God by their own righteous works. They didn’t see their need for a savior.
3.) The Holy Spirit’s job is to help us understand the things freely given to us from God. God knew this would be hard for us to understand so He sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and coach.
Discussion Questions:
1.) What illustration from the message today spoke to you the most and why?
2.) We are righteous by receiving the work Jesus did on the cross. How does the fact that you are righteous, regardless of your actions, affect you?
3.) Since you have been made righteous by the work of grace, what are you doing to learn about that gift of righteousness that you have been given?
Key Scriptures:
When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”
Romans 4:4-8 NLT
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum? ” When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Matthew 9:10-13 NLT
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Colossians 1:21-22 NLT
And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:12 NLT
Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
Ephesians 4:22-24 NLT