Preschool
Children, obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1).
The Lord’s Righteousness
Memory Verses
Primary
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right (Ephesians 6:1).
Junior
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52).
Background Scripture: Micah 5-7; Deuteronomy 7
Lesson Scripture: Micah 6:1-11; Deuteronomy 7:9-10
Introduction
“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). In order to understand the righteousness that is required for entrance into heaven, one must first have a revelation of his own sinfulness and that he is helpless to change his sinful state. When by faith we believe and accept that we are lost, God’s grace and mercy also reveal that Jesus died for our sins. When this revelation is grasped by faith, the result is “a broken and a contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17) that is submitted and yielded to the righteousness of God.
Key Verse
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Lesson Scripture
Micah 6:1 Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.
6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
9 The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
Studying the Lesson
The book of Micah is the sixth in the line of twelve minor prophets. In Micah 1:1, he gives us his name; his hometown, which was about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem; and the kings who reigned during his ministry.
For nearly fifty years, the kingdom of Israel and Judah had enjoyed a time of relative peace and prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam II and Uzziah. This gave rise to a wealthy upperclass and the decadent sins of greed, idolatry, and the oppression of the less fortunate, which were in direct disobedience to God’s law.
Micah repeatedly warned Israel and Judah of God’s judgment on their sins, accurately prophesying of the Assyrian invasion and subsequent exile to Babylon. He spoke not only of coming judgment but also of the coming Messiah who was to be born in Bethlehem, a King who would usher in a kingdom of peace where men would “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks” (Mic. 4:3).
Through Micah, the Lord recounts his goodness to his people in times past. The question he then asks has also been asked by men throughout the ages when confronting their sin. How am I to come before the Lord? What does the Lord require? The sacrificial requirements are exaggerated to enormous amounts in order to reveal just how futile man’s efforts are to satisfy God’s standard of righteousness. Recognizing that we are recipients of God’s mercy will lead us to love it. This brings about a humble and true walk with God. The psalmist said it this way: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not [reject]” (Ps. 51:17).
Jesus describes the heart that is pleasing to God and pronounces a blessing upon it in the Beatitudes. He says the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers are blessed and will receive of his righteousness and goodness (Matt. 5:3-9).
The righteousness the prophets spoke of and Jesus promised was obtained for us on Calvary’s cross. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
Practical Truths for Today
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). We cannot rightfully put confidence in ourselves. Man’s fall in the garden left him completely depraved and void of any righteousness. Because of God’s great love and mercy, He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
When God calls us to repentance and we realize we are lost, He also provides the faith we need to believe that Jesus died for our sins. When we come to Him with a broken heart, we find forgiveness for sin, and the ensuing peace that floods our being is the confirmation of being sinless and righteous through Jesus in the sight of God.
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:6). The grace that saved us now becomes absolutely necessary for following Jesus. The new creation wrought within has a new heart and spirit, complete with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:26-27), and is the “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). It is not through self, “for self-salvation is hopeless. Salvation is God’s work.” 1 We will need God’s grace and the Lord’s righteousness every step of the way till we take our last breath. In spite of our desire to live a life of obedience and faithfulness to God, we contend with the weakness and failures of the flesh. When these shortcomings and failures are not willful, the Lord’s righteousness (his blood) covers our sins. John writes, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1-2). When this is not understood properly, the resulting doubts and fears can really inhibit a Christian’s relationship with God. “When the knowledge of Christ’s provision for believers is deficient, or faith is weak, such a person is subject to buffeting and discouragement.” 2 Willful sin, however, is a different matter and must be repented of properly.
Paul writes that we are created unto good works, and James adds that we are to display our faith by our works. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is an integral part of every Christian that brings forth good works and is the result of Christ’s righteousness in our heart. Works from any other source is self-righteousness. In John’s vision, he “beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. . . . These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 14).
We hold the treasure of salvation in a fallible, earthly body, but the fullness of God’s grace and power to live an overcoming life witnesses to the world of the exceeding greatness of God’s redeeming power (2 Cor. 4:7). Paul sums it up by saying, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Christ’s righteousness in the life of the believer is the substance and evidence of a living faith.
May this lesson inspire us to a better understanding of the Lord’s righteousness so that we may “be found in him, not having [our] own righteousness, which is of the law, but...the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Questions
- What are the signs of self-righteousness? Is it always performance driven?
- How important is it for young people to have a clear understanding that our justification is in the righteousness of Christ?
- How do we maintain God’s righteousness?
- 1 Reuben Koehn, Selected Editorials, p. 232
- 2 Gladwin Koehn, Reflections, p. 426
Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).