Righteousness Comes By Grace
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Israelites is that they may be saved. Indeed, I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but it is not consistent with knowledge. Since they were ignorant of the righteousness from God and sought to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness from God. (Romans 10:1–3)
Maybe you remember a little about Paul. He was once called Saul. As Saul, he was one of the men who stood by and watched as people stoned Stephen. He was convinced that Christians were false prophets, who needed to be put to death. He had learned from one of the best teachers in Israel and was on fire for what he thought was God’s Word.
But then Saul was shown how wrong he was. On his way to capture Christians in Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and temporarily blinded him. Paul learned about Jesus and who he truly was. He was then commissioned to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He started many congregations and wrote many of the letters that make up the New Testament. But in spite of all that, Paul still held a special place in his heart for the people of Israel. They were his people after all. And Paul wished that they would come to know Jesus like he had since the promise of the Messiah had been originally given to them. Instead, they were focused on working out their own righteousness through the law.
We know that our righteousness does not come by our works, but comes through Jesus. God gives us righteousness by his grace, free and unearned. And that righteousness causes us to obey the law as expressions of our gratitude to God for his unending love and mercy. And as Christians, we can express the same desire as Paul. In fact, we desire that all people be saved because God wants all to be saved. And so we spread the gospel of Jesus, telling others that he has won righteousness for us. We do not have to earn our salvation, nor can we. Let us continue to spread the same gospel that Paul came to know and share with many people. Amen.
The song for today is “By Grace I’m Saved” by Koine