Righteousness Exalts A Nation

In declaring the top priorities for godly living, our Lord said: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33). When Jesus said, "Seek first," the word first does not describe an initial step in a numerical sequence. Rather, the force of the term is to emphasize priority of importance. Our top priority is to seek God's kingdom and God's righteousness.

If we embark on a search for righteousness, where do we go to find it? How do we determine what it looks like? What is righteousness?

In one glorious sense we need not search beyond Christ, for He is our righteousness. It is by the transfer of His righteousness to our account that we are made acceptable to God. But that righteousness is to take hold within us as we grow in conformity to Christ. Our righteousness is to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, who majored in their efforts to achieve it. Indeed, the main business of our lives is growth in righteousness.

If we want to know what righteousness looks like, we direct our attention to the law of God, as given to us in the Ten Commandments. To be sure, our Savior has redeemed us from the curse of the law. We are no longer pressed down, groaning under its burden. We are not saved by the law, but by grace.

Yet we are not to throw the law of God into the trash bin as though it has no value to us. The law still serves as a perfect revelation of true righteousness. It has several important ongoing benefits for us. Those benefits were grasped and embraced with affection by the saints of the Old Testament. Psalm 1 celebrates the impact on the life of a man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. He becomes like a fruit-bearing tree that is planted by living waters.

Later the Psalmist exalts the law and cries out in religious affection: "O, how I love your law!" (Psalm 119:97). If we desire righteousness, we must not only consult the law or study the law; we must fall in love with the law.

The first benefit of the law is its function for us as a mirror. The mirror has two sides. The first side the mirror reflects for our eyes is the majesty of the holiness of God. The law is God's law, and it is rooted in His own character. His law lifts the veil for us and reveals the perfection of His character. It shines forth in His glory, displaying His purity.

But the mirror has another side. Not only does it show us God's perfect holiness, but when we peer into it, we see our own imperfections. When we behold God, the true standard of righteousness, the authentic unmasks the counterfeit, and our own unrighteousness is plain to us.

There is a monumental benefit, however, that flows out of the realization of our own unrighteousness. When the law reveals our need, it also drives us to the only One who can meet that need. As the apostle Paul declares, the law serves as a schoolmaster to drive us to Christ. In this sense the law is not the enemy of Christ or His gospel. Rather, the law impels us to the gospel.

As Christians we still struggle against the residual elements of the flesh. We are a work in progress as we grow in grace and righteousness. In this process we see two other important benefits of the law.

The first is that the law exercises restraint upon us. When we are assaulted by temptations and enticed by the lure of sin, our consciences are quickened by the clarity of God's commands. We hear the words, "Thou shall not. . .", and they check our impulses. We are the children of God. But we are strong-willed children who need clear guidelines from our heavenly Father.

Finally, the law reveals to us what is pleasing to God. Any servant who loves his master wants to please him. We ask, "What do You want me to do, Lord?" His law reveals what is pleasing to Him.

Though many of the Old Testament regulations such as those involving diet and ceremonies have been fulfilled and set aside, God has not discarded those laws that reveal what behavior pleases or displeases Him. It still pleases God that we have no other gods before Him. It still pleases God that we flee from all forms of idolatry and that we not take His name in vain. The Lord has not discarded His prohibitions of murder, adultery and stealing. He still requires that we honor our parents and refrain from false witness and covetousness. These standards of righteousness endure for all generations.

Unless we become righteous, we cannot expect our nation to have the kind of righteousness that will exalt it. The Ten Commandments may be removed from our courthouses, but they cannot be removed from our consciences. Whatever separation between church and state there may be, we must pray that separation will not extend to a separation between the state and God. Both the church and the state must be subject to Him and His law, or we will perish as a nation.