DEVOTIONAL
This weekend we went over two pieces of the armor, who remembers what they were? That is right the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of the gospel of peace.
This weekend we learned that the word righteousness means “to be made right with God” or “to be in right standing” it means the relationship between you and God is solid, it’s stable, there is nothing messing it up.
Now if you know the Bible you know that something did come into the world that messed up our standing with God, and that was sin. Sin created a divide, it marred our relationship with God. It’s like a stain on a white shirt that you just can’t get out. So you might be wondering, how we can put on righteousness when we still sin. How can my shirt be clean when it still has that stain? When I know I don’t meet the standards of being in right standing with God.
Matthew 5:48 Jesus literally says "You must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect"
I don’t know about you, but I know I don’t meet that standard. It is overwhelming to think about. I can get so caught up in shame and guilt as a follower of Jesus and I think you do the same thing. We are trying so hard to make sure we are perfect, to avoid sin, to earn our right standing with God. And we never can. We always mess up and when we fall short it feels soul crushing, doesn’t it? I bet we all know what it feels like to be haunted by the shame from our sin.
If that’s you. If you are constantly worried about living up to God’s standards and having it all together. If you are constantly feeling guilty and ashamed of your mistakes and letting that stop you from pursuing God. My friend you are forgetting that as a Christian you have already been made righteous.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
When Jesus got on that cross. He took on the weight of your sin. He paid the cost, And when we accepted that. When we say I believe Christ died for me, I accept the forgiveness of my sins and I am going to make him the Lord of my life. We take on his righteousness. So as a Christian when God looks down at you, he doesn’t see all your mistakes. He doesn’t see sin. He doesn’t see a failure. He sees the righteousness of Jesus. He sees that you have been made new.
So as a follower of Jesus our goal is not simply to avoid sin. If you spend your whole life trying to be perfect and avoid messing up. You are still going to mess up and you are going to be so overwhelmed by shame every time you do.
That’s why a better goal is to live more like Jesus. The question isn’t how do I live perfectly? How do I live like Jesus?
How do I live like the righteous person God already sees when He looks at me. When that is our focus there is so much freedom from shame. When we mess up we just get back up again the next day and say “God I messed up please forgive me and help me to look more like Jesus today than I did yesterday” If that becomes your daily prayer and you really live by it, I promise you will look back on your life and you will be amazed by the work God did in you. You will look more like Jesus, every single day.
The cool thing about the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of the gospel of peace is that they go hand in hand.
We learned this weekend that the soldiers wore sandals with cleats coming out of the bottom. These ensured that the soldier was always stable. Wherever they stood.
When we know that our righteousness is secure. When you know for a fact that Jesus Christ died for your sins and you have been forgiven. You can have peace. You can be secure, no matter what happens in this life. No matter what lies or fears the devil wants to throw at you. You’ll have that stability like the Roman soldier.
When I say stability I don’t mean that everything in your life is easy and nothing goes wrong. I mean that in the midst of the craziest situations that you may walk through, you are not falling. You are stable, you are at peace. Because you have put on the shoes of the gospel of peace.
The last thing the devil wants you to have is that kind of peace. So he does everything in his power to take it away from us. He spreads lies to make us feel less than, he uses fear to make us question our standing with God, he uses shame to keep us in our sin. He is doing everything he can to make you forget that you have already been set free. He wants you to forget that you have already been made righteous. That is why everyday we have to remember, we have to put on our armor and remind ourselves that God has already made us new and we can be at peace in every circumstance because we know our God is on the throne.
GAME: DEATH WINK
DIRECTIONS:
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS
1. In your own words explain righteousness.
2. Is righteousness something that we are born with, something we have to earn, or something we receive? Explain your answer.
3. As Christians we often try to be perfect and look like we have it all together. What are some dangers of trying to live that way?
4. How do we shift our mindset from trying to be perfect to just trying to be more like Jesus everyday? Why is it important for us to do that?
5. What are some things from the life of Jesus that we should want to follow as Christians?
6, What tools does the devil use to take our peace away?
7. How can we combat those lies and hold onto the peace that comes from our right standing with God?
MOVING FORWARD
It often feels like we need to earn our right standing with God but according to 2 Corinthians 5:21 we have already been made righteous. As a group, commit to memorizing that verse this week so you can always have that reminder that you are not defined by your sin but God has made you righteous and He wants to help you look more like Jesus everyday.
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