Job 33:3, 4

In the previous post from Hosea 6, I attempted to show precedent for the necessity of an active pursuit of righteousness, which by definition includes the progressive abandonment of sinful behavior, to legitimize the forms of our devotion to be sincere.  This, of course, does not imply a life free from failure or a character free from flaw.  Only that there is to be present in us a continual and all-consuming battle against the flesh, not only to do what is good, but to hate what is evil (Amos 5:15; Rom 12:9)—to avoid it, run from it, and to banish it from our minds and our bodies by whatever means possible (Rom 13:14).

            This being to some degree established, it is now necessary to explore the inverse expression of the argument.  Previously, I stated, ‘the desire for intimacy with God is indivisible from the desire—the continual pursuit—of righteousness’.  If we have found the expression of righteousness is necessary to legitimize the sincerity of our devotion, we must now discuss how the presence of devotion is necessary to legitimize the sincerity of our pursuit of righteousness.  Before, I stated, the ‘deeds of righteousness’ are preferential to the ‘forms of our devotion’.  This is true and not true.  It is not true to think that the deeds of righteousness are more important or can be done at the expense of our devotions.  Certainly not!  Only that the deeds of righteousness are preferential to devotion just as the apple is preferable to eat than the roots of an apple tree.  The rose is sweeter to smell than the soil from which it grows.  Righteousness is the consummation of our devotion.  Devotion, however, is so necessary to be present in us, and yet not contrived, that the whole building of Christianity crumbles—and our hope and assurance with it—if it is found to be absent.  What I write is not to judge, but so one may test one’s self to see if one is truly of the faith founded by Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven, who are One.

“My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

Job 33:3,4

            Early mankind being closer contemporaries of Adam than of Darwin considered the existence of God to be the unquestionable condition of the universe.  Modern man, through the deceitfulness of sin and the pride of knowledge has inverted the most basic logic of the universe—order established through chaos; something produced from nothing—so he might fool himself into thinking God does not exist.  However, in doing so, he unwittingly undermines man’s ability to perceive the very aspect of life that makes it worthwhile: goodness.  There is no more confused an individual than the one who believes goodness is possible but God is not.  For moral value is found in the intention of a volitional (free) being and not in the action such a being chooses to express an intention.   Therefore, if the world was ‘unintended’—an accident—there can be no good or evil, and life in general becomes worthless and every expression of life within the universe as expendable as it appears to be exceptional.  If a God we cannot see has become imperceptible to modern man, if we are to make an argument that He desires our devotion, we must begin with what we can see.

The evidence of a universe operated by immovable law is self-evident.  We find a physical law maintaining the boundaries of the universe, and a moral law in our conscience maintaining the boundaries of decency and virtue. In ordering the universe to be a certain way, each of these laws imply a lawgiver who, whether He exercises it or not, retains authority over us, not because we choose Him, but because our existence is dependent upon His and is a consequence of His nature.  Man can live in denial of the absolute nature of these laws, but like any ordered kingdom, to transgress the law is to call down judgment according to the law.  We see, to impose upon the moral law brings shame, and to impose upon the physical law brings death.  If, then, we see both death and shame in the world, we can surmise, not only the existence of a lawgiver, but that we have transgressed His law.  However, in searching out the moral law, we find within the virtue of justice, not only the means to punish the wicked, but also, the mercy to reform the penitent.  Therefore, if there is a lawgiver, and it is by His nature our moral law has been established, by being the absolute expression of justice, He is also the flawless arbitrator of mercy.  If it is truly the heart of a man to reform from evil, he will begin to seek what is good, and in recognizing the lawgiver through the law he has transgressed, he knows to seek good means to seek mercy from God.  Any man who seeks to love righteousness apart from submitting to God first, will find in the end it is not goodness he seeks, but some perverse version of self-indulgence.  If we find the mercy to quiet our aching souls in seeking God’s unmerited favor, it can only be in devoting ourselves to God that we remain in His favor. For by the same logic, if a just lawgiver grants mercy, it is only so we may reform to live justly.  To ask for mercy implies the desire to no longer offend, but to receive mercy does not imply we have been reformed.  If we wish to turn from evil we must learn to love righteousness, and if it is by God’s nature righteousness was established, we find we can only learn to love righteousness by learning to love God.

Moral value—righteousness—is found in the intention of an action, not the action itself.  Therefore, moral value is a product of the identity of a moral being.  In judging a man, it is impossible to know whether his actions are good or evil without knowing that man’s intentions, and it is impossible to know a man’s intention without knowing the man himself.  How much more is it impossible to comprehend the righteousness of God apart from seeking the identity of God?  Sin does not keep us from being aware of the existence of God, but only from knowing the ‘person’ of God.  By breaking His law, He has expelled us from His kingdom, and we become ignorant of righteousness by being outside the realm influenced by His goodwill.  If we are to be unbraided from evil and sin, we must re-establish a relationship with God.  Therefore, if God allows us to experience His righteousness, it is only to the end that we may know Him, and only by knowing Him, we understand what it means to be righteous.

Jesus communicates this principle as He taught in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7).  Jesus was not a rabbi by Jewish professional standards.  Those who called Him ‘Rabbi’ did so out of reverence.  Not having been officially trained in the scriptures the Jewish leaders were amazed when He explained the Mosaic Law to the people.  When they challenged His authority, Jesus said, “My teaching is not mine, but Him who sent me.  If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”  God had given the Israelites the law, so in seeing contemporarily relevant expressions of His virtue, they might more clearly apprehend His identity.  The Mosaic Law was a further revelation that God truly did ‘intend’ for their reformation and eventual reconciliation, and through them, the whole world.  It was a means of hope.  For those who truly loved righteousness knew it was not the knowledge of righteousness that could save them, but only if the knowledge of righteousness led them closer to the knowledge of God—the Lord of righteousness—who is mighty to save.  In obeying the law they were able to commune with God in a greater way, and in communing with God, they were able to obey the law—God’s will—in a greater way.  This is why Jesus said the only way a man can know why my teaching has authority is if it is his will to do God’s will.  A heart that truly hungers and thirsts for righteousness will come alive when met with the substance of what it hungers for, not food that perishes, but the Bread of Life.

Jesus says the very nature of righteousness is seeking the kingdom of God, because God alone is righteous (Matt 6:33; Luke 18:19).  God says to Israel who are living under the burden of sin and judgment, “…you will seek me and you will find me if you seek me with all your hearts (Jer 29:13).”  The repentance that begs forgiveness implies the desire to seek righteousness by seeking to know the God who is righteous and to make one’s self completely dependent upon the knowledge only He can reveal. If we have the knowledge that God exists, but forsake the opportunity He has given to know Him, He considers this a great affront to the mercy and grace He has given, and He will judge us apart from any works we proclaim to have done on His behalf.  Thus, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven.  Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, depart from me you evil-doers!’”  We find Jesus affirming our logic, or perhaps reminding us of the true nature of the reality He has established, when He correlates the execution of God’s will—righteousness—with the knowledge of God that only comes from intimacy with God. 

            Those who truly seek God because they love righteousness know that Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s revelation by being the reconciliation that facilitates the reformation.  And, of course, this is exactly what Jesus claims when He says, “I am the Light of the World.  Those who follow me will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  Notice the language Jesus uses, ‘follow me’, organically follows the logic we used (because of God’s revelation) to arrive at Jesus.  By existing, we become aware of goodness—by goodness, God—by God, sin—by sin, mercy—by mercy, the knowledge of God—by the knowledge of God, the pursuit of God, and by the pursuit of God, the Son of God, wisdom from God, who beckons us to follow Him to God.  We begin from the relatively static knowledge ‘that’ God exists to the perpetual movement forward into His presence by the grace of Jesus Christ.  If the knowledge of God does not move a man toward God to be closer with God then that man has exchanged the true God for some idol of his own imagination.  To know God is to seek Him and search for Him through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is not knowledge that leaves us alone or keeps us still.  Quite the opposite, Jesus brings us straight to the Father—into His very throne room.  What we ached for and hungered for is now available to us first hand and closer than ever before.  This does not slow down our search for God or our love for righteousness.  It excites it and intensifies it to an exponential degree, but only if it is God a man was looking for to begin with because it was righteousness he wanted.  If not, then the knowledge of Christ as Savior would probably not change a man’s life one bit.  So the ultimate question is this: If God is not who you are seeking, whom is it you are serving?  I finish in the same place I began in the previous post:  “I desired mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”