Where is Your Righteousness

May 19, 2008

Joe,

Last night I preached for the first time in a month or so, on Matthew 7:13-14. I am never fond of preaching after a break that long; I feel like it takes me a sermon or two to remember ‘how to preach’. While I trust that people are always edified when the Word of God is proclaimed, last night was another of those instances where I just didn’t quite feel right up there. Though you haven’t done a ton of preaching, I’m sure you can think of some times where you really sensed that ‘unction’ from the Lord, and other times where you didn’t have it. Well, last night was one of those times when I didn’t ‘have it.’

Though I’ve not always felt this way, I am actually glad for those times now. They are a reminder that my righteousness is not found in being a good preacher, but solely on the merits of Christ’s perfect obedience.

After I was done preaching, I was reminded of something I’ve heard Tim Keller share with pastors. He was commenting on Romans 1:17, which can be translated somewhat woodenly, ‘The one who is righteous through faith shall live’. Keller said that as he was meditating on those words, the Spirit warned him with these words, ‘And the one who is righteous through preaching shall die.’

A great word for me when sermons go poorly, and when they go wonderfully. If I use preaching as a way of gaining God’s favor, or if I feel great when the sermons go well and miserable when they go less than wonderful, it is probably because I am placing a sinful, idolatrous hope in the quality of my preaching. That is a road that leads to death, no matter how righteous it might appear on the outside. From a distance, preaching looks a lot more godly than drug abuse, but both will end in death if they are the things that the human heart looks to in order to affirm one’s worth.

It is good to be reminded that ‘he who is righteous through preaching will die.’ I wonder in what ways our other readers are tempted to place their hopes of righteousness in other things.

So I ask our readers: ‘He who is righteous through _____ will die.’ What are the big words that could go in the blank for you, which you need to guard yourself from?

Grateful that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin in my behalf, that in Him I might becomes the righteousness of God,

Larry

Posted by Larry | Filed Under Random Musings, Seeking Him