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CHAPTER  FOUR

Luke 16, 18, Matthew 13, 18, Ezekiel 47: with Psalm 89:14

THE RIGOUR AND VIGOUR OF DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS

Christ the Citadel, the Hospital

For the Charge of Righteousness and
the Guardian of Truth

Righteousness and Justice are the Foundation of His Throne (Psalm 89:14)

To be sure, this verse continues with the words, "Mercy and truth go before Your Face."
Today, however, we are dealing with the foundation.

I  The False Steward (Luke 16:1ff.)

Righteousness and Sincerity

The pith of the parable is this: A slack operator, a steward handling another man's agricultural affairs as it appears, was caught out by his boss, so that his indifferent administration, indeed his negligent work was thrust in his face, and he looked directly at dismissal.

It may at first sight seem strange that a FALSE steward is used in a parable concerning divine righteousness. This however is not an omission, but a vigorous pointer to acute thought and consideration. He faced alternatives, if dismissed.

To dig at his age ? out of the question. To beg ? out of the social question. What then ? What about a little belated but energetic setting of things to some kind of rights, fixing up the job he had handled so poorly - at least doing  as much as appeared to be within the power of his hand.

Therefore he went out, he acted; he did not sit and think about  it, nor did he allow it to fester, and become an inflamed thought leading to some kind of upset,  passion or folly. He DID WHAT HE COULD. If one customer had not paid, and was tough-minded, then he sought some way of inducing him to pay fast, even if discount were to be considerable; with another, with perhaps a less complex situation, less discount would do, to get swift repayment. ALL that he had slackly allowed to become disordered was put into order. Nothing was left undone.

When his boss saw what he had done, he was pleased. If the man had failed significantly, at least now he was showing what he could do, putting his heart into it, and his head  as well.

Christ used this to indicate that we should make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness,that is the use of money in this world, which so many make almost a religious rite! Honesty, integrity, reliability should be keen and sure. Thus as we meet all its  requirements laws and the like, we should WHILE DOING THIS, show such zealous integrity, such unremittingly conscientious application, that even if we erred, we would try hard and fast to  redress errors, put all things right, nothing being left out.

Then, he indicated, when the time comes, you can be received into everlasting habitations. There is the man who was reliable, say the righteous, befriending him with joy, receiving with some exhilaration, he who is obviously of their own kind, one who brought forth works worthy of repentance, in solid, spiritual Christian faith.

Why however use such a poor specimen to make the point, and what PRECISELY IS the
point ?The energy and zeal of a man REPENTANT and regenerated (the illustration focussed the change, not the motive, the zeal, not the cause of it) is seen in the ALTERATION  and the SUDDENNESS of it on the part of the steward. But what of the rest ? What is the lingering message about people receiving you into everlasting habitations, in the domesticity of eternity ?

The point appears this. If you are mean,  not diligent, unrighteous, dabbling habitually in dirt, illegal, unreliable, if this be part of your character, then you are a misfit, a formalist or in some way spiritually dysfunctional. This is no part of Christianity. If you repent, bring forth works worthy of it.  If you believe, move mountains worthy of it. If you love, show it.

THEN when the time comes, and YOU meet with OTHERS ALL saved by grace and through faith, you will find there is a certain combination in charity, vigour and vitality in the very common currency of your discourse, of your thoughts shown in actions earlier. There will a certain fellowship of function, a naturalness of kind, a certain recognisability of the trade mark of Christ in your regenerated soul which breeds joy and exudes fellowship in simplicity of mutuality and acceptance.

It is not that the acceptance by others GIVES you the place, this the work of Christ alone (Ephesians 2), but that the heavenly place is SUITABLE for you as shown in the acceptance of those of like precious faith. This cannot BRING you there, but being brought there by grace, through faith, the REALITY of your faith in the grace of God and His salvation will have been so tangy, so that the taste of fellowship will be sweet.

Thus sincerity in faith brings you to clarity in righteousness and closeness with Christ (cf. John 14:21-23), so that there is a certain communality in Him, which breeds mutual rejoicing, and in no small degree, a mutuality in the rejoicing in heavenly places. 

2 Wheat and Tares (Matthew 13:24ff.) 

Righteousness and Life

Here we find that the righteousness of God is inherent. That is, it finds itself in us, as air in the lungs, for there is an intimate contact with it in our hearts, as Christ lives there by His Spirit (Colossians 1:27), and His righteousness is like the mountains. Let us not be confused. It is imputed in its perfection of holiness (Romans 5:17), reckoned to our accounts, divinely set to our credit because of Christ’s sacrifice received by faith. Thus it is a protection, a cover for us (as in Isaiah 61:10). Indeed, robes of righteousness become like a lead suit to protect from the radiations of judgment.

However, since this imputed righteousness is operated for you while you are BRED at the same time through regeneration, as a child of God: just as pardon brings you peace with the Lord, so  there is a form of vitality which is Christ-specific and hence unique. His truth works in you, His life moves through you, His help surrounds you.

Let’s look then at the parable. Wheat and weeds came to grow together. Why ? It as because an enemy of the farmer had secretly sown weeds at night … Wheat is not weeds, and weeds are not wheat, but when young they can look similar. In small green shoots, you might almost be deceived AT FIRST; but when the things are grown, it is most different.

It is the LIFE of righteousness, not just doing things, but wanting to do them because of the spirit within you, you being now new born as a new KIND, a redeemed one, which distinguishes itself over and again. It is moreover because of your love for the Lord (Romans 6, 8), because He has regenerated you if you are His: that your nature shows more and more. It  is for these reasons that you grow differently from weeds.  You have, as His, the spirit of power and a sound mind ( II Timothy 1:6-7). LIFE in the Lord, the foundation of whose throne is righteousness and justice, has a certain calibre, wonder, and is constantly engendering through you (II Corinthians 4), a weight of glory, even WHILE the flesh in its weakness, suffers. It costs to take up your cross and follow Him; whatever is good costs in an evil world; but HE is not only worth it, but personally aids us to be that way in life (Hebrews 7:25). In the end, the ‘weeds’ are collected for burning.

Weeds, what a wanton lot are they! It is relatively easy to sling the rubbish abroad, without much concern or ado; but when you are creating a work of art, vast effort is needed, and if paint brush and paint could feel, they would find it highly compressing: as Christ put it, strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life everlasting, and few enter into it.

3 Pharisee and Sinner  (Luke 18:9ff.) 

Righteousness and Grace

Not the grace of God, are we at this point chiefly considering, but the unction of function in MAN. Do you have the SPIRIT OF GRACE within you, to recognise what is seemly and fitting, not brash, not self-opinionated, receiving kindness with contrition, repenting of all sin and consulting with God’s word to see it defined and illustrated ? If so, then you are being oiled with fragrant oil that PENETRATES! ALL Christians have His Spirit (Romans 8:9). In some mechanical things, it is hard to reach certain parts with oil, and there is a PENETRATING oil, to help. The Holy Spirit can penetrate the hearts of men, to convict them of sin, or to strengthen them in righteousness (Ephesians 3:16).

What then of the parable ? A super-religious man, filled with formal religion, comes to pray in the Temple. His boasting of his accomplishments is scarcely fitting for any whose only ground for entry into the presence of God, into the perfection of righteousness, is grace, kindness, mercy, pardon and payment. When Christ died for sinners, the amount paid can stretch to infinity, for with God there are no limits to His power. Indeed, Christ,  the infinite Word of God, allowed Himself to be compressed into the vulnerable form of man, in order to rescue each and any one of us! Few come, those who do find HIS perfect righteousness the gift (Romans 5:17).

Those who think themselves too righteous to need this, His vicarious death, are not merely confused, but filled with such a spiritual stench of self-righteousness that their comparison with the Pharisee becomes perilous, tragic. They too seek something of which to boast before God. What then does this parable teach ?

v       They have no significant conception at all of the righteousness of God, who for one minute imagine theirs is even slightly equal to it. ONLY God can meet HIS standards, and entry is by gift, life by generation and regeneration, the work of God in us who believe.

SIN KILLS (Romans 6:23). Only the sinless can consider exemption; but in this world, ALL have sinned. Thus those whose great wisdom and humility allows them to consider themselves sinless may apply; but the first sin at once conspicuous is this, that they differ from God as to what the truth is, what their condition is and what diagnosis is apt for them.  He judges them unclean, they judge themselves upstanding - able to stand in the infinitely pure presence of God - self-deceived.

Like Satan, they thus become rebellious, an alternate centre for truth, without the basis for it, and hence obnoxious just as Christ indicated of the Pharisee, congratulating himself RELATIVELY TO OTHERS, as a ground for feeling justified. In the parable, a repentant sinner, a tax-collector for the ruling Roman invaders, seeks divine MERCY, just as the other thanked God he was so good.  It was, Jesus declared, this repentant sinner who realised his position who was JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD, more than the other one, the Pharisee, for all his works. You can readily understand this.

Thus there are those who do 'good works' with a stern face and a haughty heart, even perhaps counting out their righteousness reward tics, as an indication of the scope of their real estate in heaven, in which they hope to bask in relative pleasurableness, high among the servants of God.  But in such cases, where they carefully ESTIMATE how successful they are being in keeping this and that divine injunction to do that and the other, and relish their reward, what is their MOTIVE!

If it is to GET, then it is more blessed to give than to receive and moreover, GOD IS A SPIRIT. If the very SPIRIT of these actions is to get, a sort of complex computable framework for amassing a spiritual fortune, then where is love, which DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN (I Corinthians 13), and where is the concern of Paul, whose heart burned for the churches.

If your religion is a sort of get-it-for-me extension of mere self-centred endeavour, psychic inflammation of the being, then so far from having forsaken all to serve Christ (as in Luke 14), you are forsaking the very nature of Christ to USE Him to serve yourself, the great objective in your view! Such wantonry is not love (Galatians 5:26), nor is its spirit one of giving, nor is its pre-occupation the service with spiritual power and peace in love, which is man’s duty (II Timothy 1).

4 The River and Righteousness (Ezekiel 47)

Righteousness and Direction

In this imagery of Ezekiel, where a veritable river flows from the altar of the Temple, and moving on the man in its midst, first starts small, about his ankles, rises higher, then begins to cover his thighs, and flushing further, is found sweeping him off his feet, as it moves to heal much territory with its purity and its freshness: there is a message.

The RIGHTEOUSNESS of God is vindicated in the altar, since death is the signal of repentance and the admission of guilt, this being performed in the temple, on the vicarious victim for the sinner's deliverance from the guilt of sin. Once this formula it is enacted in the comprehensive vitality Christ (to which Ezekiel points as do other prophets, here in Chs. 40ff.), then the power of His Spirit moves with such grand delivering dynamic, that while at first it may simply give a lead, later it moves with sweeping thrust. Finally for those who are HEALED, it brings such a glorious power and provision in its flow, that one is indeed EXPERIENCING the Lordship of Christ, not as a distant doctrine, but as its vital expression in WALKING IN THE SPIRIT (Galatians 5:16-26).

The relish, vigour, rigour, savour, naturalness of divine righteousness to the regenerated soul, so far from being reduced by the fact that mercy and truth go before His face, both aspects being so presented in Psalm 89, is ALL THE MORE reason to love Him. ONLY by mercy before His face, coming first as you meet Him, can righteousness not delete man. This through Christ can be done, though no speck is to be found upon this, His righteousness, which is animated, vital, free, coursing with freshness and purity, a summit to find and a site of rest.

Certainly the perfect conformity to it is not for this world; but a substantial, significant, victorious overcoming is an inalienable part of the life of the disciple in Christ (I John 5:4, Romans 6), in Him transforms His people, imbuing them with His life, however much costly disciplines may intervene to purge them of evil, purify their hearts and burn off pollutions! Praise God for His energy, His victory, His indomitable righteousness and His ever-uncompromising beauty of holiness, always there, never sullied, undulled, always dynamic, not thrusting as from dictators, but flowing as does a mighty river, filled with an unspeakable peace as it bestowed its burden of beauty and life to so many countrysides on the way.

Finally, consider the waters of Ezekiel 47. FROM the altar, they are pure and purifying. One often looks with ardent relish on ocean waters, for although they absorb large quantities of waste, yet in their blue-green vastness, they seem not only clean but cleansing as they surge with vigour and gleam and glister with strength. They seem a natural phenomenon that so aptly mirrors the efficacy of Christ’s cleansing that it is almost as if they were the waters from the altar. Nor is this all. In Ezekiel 47, there IS a cleansing of the waters, and there IS a provision for fishermen to seek for fish, meaning evangelically disposed people seeking to win sinners to the Lord, a figure aptly used much later, by Jesus Christ, when He declared in His invitation to disciples: Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.

Again, Ezekiel shows some waters not healing some marshy areas; and thus many a marshy heart resists the cleansing, and remains in its bogs and malodorous ways.

Thus we are seeing here something of Christ the Hospital!

For millenia, these realities were kept in the Old Testament, and then released, unleashed, and enabled to take their place in the straightforward work of the cleansing Christ, as if His spiritual photograph had been sent back centuries, for prior record, so that when He came, it could be validated.