Week 10 - RIGHTEOUSNESS
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings and connection prompts?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
How is your memory work coming along?
Colossians 1:13-14 (NLT)
13 For [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
CREATION
God created everything and as humans, we have been made in God’s image to rule the world on His behalf.
REBELLION
Through Satan’s temptation, humans rebelled against God, but God promised One who would destroy Satan.
RESCUE (Abraham)
God called Abraham from out of the world and promised Abraham that his family would be a Blessing to the whole world.
RESCUE (Moses)
God used Moses to rescue His people from their slavery to the Egyptians and through Moses God gave His people His law and the sacrificial system.
RESCUE (David)
God promised King David that he would have a Descendant who would reign over an eternal Kingdom.
RESCUE (Jesus’ Birth and Mission)
The Angel Gabriel announced to Mary and Joseph that Jesus is both God’s Son and the promised Rescuer King.
RESCUE (Jesus’ Death and Resurrection)
As God’s Son and our Rescuer King, Jesus saves us from our sinful rebellion by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.
RESCUE (The Spirit and the Church)
Jesus poured out His Spirit upon the Church to carry on His Rescue Mission to the world.
RE-CREATION
Some-Day, Jesus will complete His Rescue Mission by returning to judge the living and the dead and to re-create Heaven and Earth.
The Good News Kite
Once again, the Good News Kite graphically depicts the Storyline of our Faith. At the very center of this Story is the cross of Jesus Christ.
Let’s return to why Jesus’ death and resurrection are so central to our Faith.
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Being right with God isn’t something we earn through our obedience. Instead, it’s a gift from God that we receive through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
Luke 18:9-14 (NLT)
9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Romans 3:21-28 (NLT)
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
Have someone retell these passages in their own words.
What stands out to you in these passages?
What do these passages say about God (The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit)?
What do these passages say about people, including ourselves?
What do these passages say about the life God invites us to live?
Digging Deeper
Romans 9:30-32 (NLT)
30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles (those who are not biological descendants of Abraham and Sarah) were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel (those who are biological descendants of Abraham and Sarah), who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.
How would you describe the two ways of righteousness (being made right with God)?
From your experience, how do most people try to get right with God?
From what you know of other religions, how do they try to get right with God?
Why does faith in Jesus Christ make us right with God, but obedience to God’s law (or any moral code) doesn’t?
The Good News …
1. Jesus Lived the Life We Should Have
Romans 5:18-19 (NLT)
18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19 Because one person (Adam) disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person (Christ) obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
Ultimately, obedience does save us. But whose obedience is it? Why is this GOOD NEWS?
Not only did Jesus accept personal responsibility for our obedience to God’s law by perfectly obeying the law and His Father for us. Jesus also accepted personal responsibility for our disobedience of God’s law by suffering the punishment for our sin. Jesus died a sacrificial death in our place.
2. Jesus Died the Death We Would Have
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
For the wages of sin is death
Romans 5:8 (NIV)
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a wrath-removing-sacrifice for our sins.
3. Jesus Was Raised from Death to New Life
Romans 4:25 (NLT)
[Jesus] was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 (NLT)
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve.
4. Through Faith in Jesus’ Death and Resurrection We Are Made Right with God.
Romans 3:25 (NLT)
For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.
Romans 10:9 (NIV)
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The gift of God’s righteousness is sometimes called The Great Exchange.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Fill in the blanks …
Jesus became ______ for us so that we might become the ______ of God.
In other words, Jesus took our ______ from us and put His ______ on us.
Getting Personal
If you were to die tonight, do you believe that God would welcome you into heaven?
If God were to ask you why He should welcome you into heaven, what would you say?
What does your answer to this last question say about what you’re trusting in to save you and make you right with God?
Here’s a summary of today’s truth:
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Being right with God isn’t something we earn through our obedience. Instead, it’s a gift from God that we receive through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Are you ready to accept God’s way of righteousness?
It’s not by trying, but trusting. We’re not made right with God by striving or performing, but by receiving the free gift of His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Once again, are you ready to receive God’s gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ?
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?