What is Righteousness?
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8
“What is righteousness?”
I was asked this question several years ago by a young woman who had recently come to know the Lord. The initial answer was easy. In an attempt to keep it simple for her I said something like, “Being right with God.” The further explanation dealt with Christ’s righteousness imputed to us when we place our faith in Him.
Much more recently I have been digging into some of the Bible’s teaching about righteousness and more specifically, “the fruits of righteousness.” What I failed to point out to that young woman years ago is that if we are righteous others will see it.
In the sermon on the Mount Jesus was warning His followers about false teachers. In Matthew 7:15-16 He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
This would seem to say that even people who are preaching can’t be judged only by what they say. They will make their righteousness evident in the way they live. If we were to look at all the times God’s Word talks about the fruits of righteousness we would realize that this is not a call to live in sinless perfection but to live with a goal of bearing fruit for God in everything we do. A false teacher may count how many people make professions of some kind of faith from their teaching but they are found out by seeking their own gain seen in the way they live.
These principles of bearing fruit are just as important for the average, everyday Christian. Because we have no righteousness of our own according to Romans 3:10, we are completely dependent on Jesus for our righteousness. We cannot win the favor of God without His righteousness covering our sin.
John 15:16 makes it clear that Jesus chooses us and then sends us out to bear fruit for Him. He said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.”
We are sent to bear fruit and our prayers will be answered if we do. Too many of us want the answered prayer without the fruit. We want the fruit without the commitment, the abiding, in Christ. Earlier in John 15 Jesus says that unless we are abiding in in Him we cannot bear fruit. Just as a branch can’t bear fruit all by itself, we cannot bear fruit unless we are in the Vine. Everything that grows has some source of energy for growth. In Christians, our righteous fruit is fed by our abiding faith in Jesus Christ.
A woman recently talked to me about how she felt that she was not a good witness for Christ in her place of work nor even in her own home. In fact, she was wondering if she even had spiritual gifts so she could bear fruit. When I asked about those things that would indicate she was “abiding in Christ”, she was speechless. She did not have time to be in God’s word every day. She was not able to “work in” a time to pray.
She “knew” the failure to practice these essential disciplines of faith would thwart her efforts to serve God. She just never imagined that they would keep her from bearing fruit for Him. She was expecting fruit but has been separated from the nourishment of the Vine. This is impossible. In John 15:5 Jesus says, “ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Though I might still try to keep my answer to the question, “what is righteousness?” simple for a new believer, I now understand that there has to be more explanation of the fruit that comes from righteousness. Others will know us by our fruit. Though the fruit of good works cannot earn us salvation, they may earn us the opportunity to speak to someone else about the salvation the Lord has gifted to us. Hopefully, that opportunity will bear more fruit!
Wishing you all a fruitful 2013!