Here is the ultimate question that no one should reject although we all at times ignore it and the question that no one can avoid forever: “Is my life as a human being meaningful?”
One of the most pervasive worldviews prevailing in our culture especially among younger generations is not as well-known as theism or atheism or relativism, or humanism, but nihilism. It comes from the Latin nihil which means nothing. It literally means nothing, that is nothing in existence has real meaning or purpose. It is not a new way of thinking or a recently developed worldview. Shakespeare famously summarized the nihilistic answer to the question “What is life?” in his play Macbeth: “Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” You can understand Macbeth’s pessimism after his wife has died, the enemy armies are marching toward him and he experiences the absurdity of his life and concludes that his life has no purpose or value—no meaning.
Thus the quest for a MEANING FULL Life. Already in this series you have discovered that long before Shakespeare’s King Macbeth, King Solomon wrestled with this ultimate question. Solomon was not a nihilist or a pessimist but a realist wrestling with the harsh realities of life through the lenses of faith in God. What you have also discovered is that the key to meaning in every area that Solomon searched for meaning is Jesus Christ.
The book of Ecclesiastes began with these words: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) In stark contrast the Gospel of John began with these words, “In the beginning was the Word (the Reason, the Meaning), and the Word (the Reason, the Meaning) was with God, and the Word (the Reason, the Meaning) was God. . . . The Word (the Reason, the Meaning) became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14). John concluded that Jesus is the Source for the MEANING FULL LIFE and unpacks that premise in his gospel. That is certainly true when it comes to today’s topic of righteousness.
When I was working with Jon and Jay several weeks ago to develop discussion questions for your Small Groups, I remember thinking, “Of all the topics, this one on righteousness is really hard for me to wrap my mind around.” So, when Jon was asked to speak for the 200th anniversary celebration of the Berlin Christian Church where he served before coming to Lakeside and he asked me to step into the series today. Of course this is our topic. So welcome inside my muddled mind.
There was a time that righteousness was highly regarded; it was held as a respected trait for nations and individuals. In fact in Proverbs 14:34 Solomon said, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34) That is not only true of nations but also individuals. Righteousness is preferred over sin.
But here is what Solomon has to say on this subject in Ecclesiastes 3:16–17: 16 I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness. 17 I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.” (Ecclesiastes 3:16–17)
Isn’t that what we still observe and what we are still long for? Instead of judgment and justice or righteousness we see wickedness. What we see “under the sun—in the futility and meaninglessness of life lived only for self and the moment, without gratitude to or regard for God and his ways is rampant injustice—man’s inhumanity to man. We long for the day when justice will prevail and wickedness will be wiped from the face of the earth! We long to be treated fairly and for all to receive the justice they deserve.
Where does that longing come from? Jon introduced this idea last week when he unpacked Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) C.S. Lewis explained the implications of our unsatisfied longings better than anyone else. In his classic, Mere Christianity he wrote, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” He wrote in one of his novels, Till We Have Faces, “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing … to find the place where all the beauty came from.” In his collection of addresses, The Weight of Glory, Lewis described this longing as “the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” What we are searching for, especially this elusive righteousness, calls us to look beyond this world. Solomon called that eternity—that longing has been set in every human heart.
What Solomon is ultimately saying here is that pursuing righteousness or wickedness will have consequences, eternal consequences. That fact has largely been lost not only in our culture but even within the Christian community. Rather than seeking righteousness we often settle for sin.
The problem of injustice is magnified when “the place of justice” is unjust. Phil Ryken in his commentary on Ecclesiastes called Why Everything Matters observed, “The problem here is that even ‘the place of justice’ is unjust. The very place where we most expect and most need to receive justice turns out to be a place of unfairness. Even the court system is corrupt. This is not merely a frustration, like some of the other problems we read about in Ecclesiastes, but a manifestation of genuine evil. Innocent people are convicted for crimes they never committed. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood. Just as frequently, other people get away with murder. They have the money to hire better lawyers, or else they hide behind the structure of a large corporation to take advantage of people who are less fortunate.” That scenario describes the experience many have with injustice.
But there is more. Here is what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 8:11–14: 11 Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before him. 13 However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God. 14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. (Ecclesiastes 8:11–14)
Solomon observed a natural consequence of the failure to act with justice. If bad behavior or crimes go unpunished, more bad behavior will follow. Fairness or justice is one of the deepest desires of the human heart. We hear little children say, “Hey, that’s not fair!” As we get older, we realize that unfairness is not limited to the playground but it follows us throughout our lives so that even as a senior adult, you will often hear me saying “Hey, that’s not fair!” The reality is that as members of the human race, we are members of an unjust race.
On a lark (I have never done this before) I posed the question “What does Jesus say about righteousness?” to AI (Google’s source of Artificial Intelligence). Here is what I got—no Scriptures but four summary statements:
• Righteousness is a gift from God.
Jesus taught that God forgives sins and gives righteousness to those who confess their sins. He taught that we are unable to follow the law perfectly.
• Righteousness is not based on works.
Jesus taught that righteousness is not based on anything people have done, but rather on God's work in Christ.
• Righteousness is more than just fasting and prayer.
Jesus taught that righteousness also includes giving to the poor, forgiving others, and loving.
• Righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees.
Jesus taught that righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that the Pharisees' obedience did not come from the heart.
That is not a bad start but let’s look at Jesus actual words. You may remember these words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount where He spoke this beatitude (pronouncements of blessing) in Matthew 5:6— Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6) and Matthew 5:10—Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. (Matthew 5:10)
Righteousness is to be the Christian’s persistent pursuit and may bring persecution upon the believer. But it is also the source of God’s applause, His recognition and blessing.
Then in Matthew 5:20 Jesus said— For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20) The scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day boasted of their righteousness—a self-righteousness that looked good on the outside but was hollow on the inside.
Many in this generation who reject religion in favor of relationships, sometimes settling for nothingness, miss the main facet of Christianity. It is all about a relationship—a personal relationship with a living God through His Son Jesus Christ. Jon addressed this topic so clearly last week. Righteousness means living in a right relationship with God, with other people, and with all of creation. We act with meaning full righteousness when we live justly, honestly, and faithfully according to God's instruction and by the power of God’s indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It is not something we do on our own
All of this is made possible through Jesus Christ. Here is what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30–31— 30 It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us —our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 –in order that, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31)
Again in Romans 3:26 Paul wrote—God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)
He is not only our righteousness but in Him we become righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21— He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Before followers of Jesus were called Christians they were often described in the book of Acts as followers of “the Way” (Acts 9:2, 19:9, 23, 22:4, 24:14, 24:22). Often these references are in the context of persecution and they suggest that Jesus’ followers choose the Way of truth, the Way of Life, the Way of Righteousness.
Two contemporary voices have summed up this choice to hunger and thirst after righteousness, this lifelong pursuit of righteousness which is ultimately found in Jesus, nowhere else and in nothing else. The first is John Mark Comer who concluded in his recent book, Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become Like Him. Do As He Did, “I stand (or really, walk) with a vast multitude of others around the world and down through history who have come to believe: There simply is no better way, truth, or life to be found than that of Jesus. Of the myriad of options, he’s the one I choose to follow. I’m going to end up following someone, so I choose to follow Jesus.”
Phil Wickham captures practical day-to-day expression of this idea of meaning full righteousness to be found in Jesus in his beautiful worship song, The Jesus Way:
“If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way.
If you're helpless, I will defend you
And if you're burdened, I'll share the weight
And if you're hopeless, then let me show you
There's hope in the Jesus way.
I follow Jesus; I follow Jesus
He wore my sin, I'll gladly wear His name
He is the treasure; He is the answer
Oh, I choose the Jesus way.
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I'll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way.
And I choose surrender; I choose to love
Oh, God my Savior, You'll always be enough
I choose forgiveness; I choose grace
I choose to worship, no matter what I face
I choose the Jesus way.”
That is the choice I made more than 65 years ago and I invite you to make this choice today. Let’s celebrate the meaning full righteousness that is our gift through Jesus Christ as we participate in the Lord’s Supper.