Kingdom Power - For Righteousness (Part 3)

.. for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14.17, 18

Working power

Power is always unto something. Power works. Power gets stuff done.

Explosive power destroys buildings or hillsides. Combustive power drives engines or makes steel. Nuclear power creates energy or threatens nations. Wind power drives sailing ships or turns windmills. Water power creates erosion or generates electricity. Food power replenishes bodies and releases energy for renewal. Persuasive power changes minds and hearts.

All power is unto something, some impact or result that, if we can harness the power at hand, can be channeled for good.

The same is true of the spiritual power of which the Kingdom of God consists (1 Cor. 4.20).

Power for righteousness

Paul tells us that the power of God’s Spirit, Who is unfolding His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, is, in the first place, power unto righteousness. Exalted at the Father’s right hand, Jesus, by His Word and Spirit, is advancing His rule on earth for the sake of increasing righteousness among the nations (cf. Is. 9.1-7). Men cannot achieve righteousness on their own. Their best efforts always fall short; the most ambitious plans and institutions fall prey to corruption of one kind or another. Simply put, men lack the power that is necessary to achieve righteousness.

But God has that power in plentiful abundance. Power, in the first instance, for righteousness.

The idea of righteousness is problematic in a relativistic day like ours. One man’s righteousness might be another man’s bane, according to a postmodern worldview. Which is why such an approach to creating societies and cultures cannot possibly satisfy. Ask anyone if the idea of “righteousness”—or call it, the “right way” to live and do things—is a good thing. Most will agree, even if they cannot spell out in any detail or with any consistency what they mean by the idea.

Righteousness has to do, in most people’s minds, with rightness—with ideas of goodness, consideration, honesty, fairness, compassion, and decency. Everyone will agree the world can never get enough of such commodities. Though they may not call it “righteousness”, whatever power operates to bring goodness, honesty, justice, decency, compassion, and love into people’s lives is regarded as a good thing.

This is why the Kingdom of God is Good News—the Gospel of the Kingdom. It is for the sake of making things right—righteous—that the Kingdom of God has come to earth through the agency of Jesus Christ and His Spirit, bristling with power to turn the world rightside-up for righteousness. Where the power of the Kingdom is flowing, righteousness is one of the primary results. Jesus rules over His Kingdom with a scepter of uprightness and righteousness (Ps. 45.6).

The righteousness of God’s Law

Through the prophet Ezekiel God Himself spelled out both the mission of the Spirit and the particular brand of righteousness He would empower in those who believed: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek. 36.26, 27). Do you hear that? Holy Spirit power at work.

The Kingdom of God, which comes with the Spirit of God, unleashes real spiritual power for righteousness. And the righteousness Jesus is advancing in His Kingdom is the righteousness of His Law.

But this has nothing to do with self–righteousness, or with regarding ourselves as holier or better than others. And it is not a form of “righteousness” by which we might hope to “earn” salvation or the favor of God by keeping His Law. Instead, the righteousness which God’s Law promotes issues in love for God and neighbor, a self-denying, cross-bearing, others-serving, God-glorifying power that makes all things new (Matt. 22.34-40).

Contrary to what many seem to think, the Law of God is not designed to bind and burden us, but to liberate us for love (cf. Jms. 2.12). The righteousness of God’s Law comes to expression in love for God and neighbors. Where the Kingdom has come on earth as in heaven, and where people have entered the Kingdom as citizens and ambassadors, there Kingdom power will be at work within them, in the form of the Holy Spirit, willing and doing according to the good pleasure of God (Phil. 2.13).

The Kingdom of God, as it increases from within us, directs its power unto righteousness, demonstrated by loving obedience to God and loving service to others. If we are not experiencing that power as much as we might like, there is a simple remedy: Submit to the Holy Spirit as He leads you to read, study, meditate in, and obey the Law of God (Ps. 1). This was the path Jesus walked, and which moved Him all the way up to Calvary in the greatest expression of righteousness and love the world has ever known.

And it’s the path we who would follow Him must walk as well (1 Jn. 2.1-6).

So, ask yourself: How would I explain righteousness to a non-Christian friend? And would my friend recognize that righteousness in me?

T. M. Moore