Here is a link to an audio file of this message preached at HopeWhangarei November 2025.
My friend Nick was a police officer. We had him speak at an
Easter camp we were running at Ohope. He told the story of being with a group
of offices that met with the providers of bullet proof vests. The
representative of the company providing the vests went through the
specifications of the vest. What it was made of. How it stopped projectiles. He
had a top notch PowerPoint presentation and promotional video on it. He
demonstrated how to put them on. It was designed to give the officers
confidence that this vest would protect them when it came to the crunch… at the
end of the presentation he took them to a gun range and put the vest down range
and fired at it bang, bang, bang and showed how it stopped bullets. Then
he asked do you believe this vest will stop bullets? To which the officers
replied yes. Ok he said who’s going
first?... to which there was stunned silence… he repeated himself… who is going
first? Who is going to put the vest on
go down range and take a bullet… yes it would hurt… yes they’d have a bruise
for a few days… but it was the test of confidence in this body armor… nick said no one moved. There were nervous glances
at each other, shuffling of feet and the odd nervous laugh. But no one
volunteered.
Nick used that story to talk about putting faith into
action. But it also applies today as we continue to look at Paul telling his
readers to put on the whole armor of God and stand firm against the schemes of
the devil. For nick it was only a demonstration but for us putting on the
armor of God is an essential as we find
ourselves in an ongoing everyday spiritual battle.
It’s a good introduction as we look at the breastplate of
righteousness… Bullet proof vests are the modern equivalent of the breastplate.
They provide protection for the vital organs of the person who wears them. They like their ancient equivalent are
designed to stop projectiles and weapons. While bullet proof vests are made of
new synthetic materials like Kevlar roman breastplates were made of metal,
bronze over leather. The more affluent soldiers would wear a vest of chain mail
under that as well for added protection.
Of course the question needs to be asked how does righteousness
as a breastplate protect us from the schemes of the enemy. In
scripture righteousness is used in several different ways, it is an attribute
of God. In Isaiah 59 the prophet has God saying he is putting on righteousness
like a breastplate as he goes into battle for the redemption of his people. God
is always righteous, just in all his dealing with humanity. As we put our trust
in Jesus he exchanges our sinfulness for his righteousness. Also it is used to talk of our living up to
the calling that we have in Christ, as Christians living in a way that reflects
God’s righteousness. Right living, right relationships, acting justly… Is Paul
talking of moral perfectionism? And what do we make of scripture elsewhere
talking of our righteousness not being bright shine armor but as filthy rags. Well
I actually believe that when Paul talks of righteousness here we need to look
at both understandings. The book of Ephesians itself gives us that insight.
Remember Ephesians starts out talking of all the spiritual
blessings we have received in Christ. In Christ we were chosen before the
beginning of the world, adopted into God’s family, put right with God, we have
been sealed by the presence of the HOLY Spirit. We were dead in our
transgressions but are now alive in Christ. We have been made a new creation, a
new holy people of God from across the divides of society. It is what God has
done for us… in Jesus Christ and in
Ephesians 6 Paul talks of putting on the armor of God. The armor comes from
God. Then in the second half of the letter Paul talks of living the new life in
Christ. We are to live up to the calling we have, to live in unity, we are
given gifts to as a body grow up into the fullness of Christ. Not to walk in
the ways of the gentiles but in the way of love putting off the vices of the
world and developing the fruits of goodness, righteousness and truth. To walk
in the ways of wisdom and be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow it to permeate
every relationship in our lives. Finally to put on the armor of God and stand
strong, praying in all situations. There is that element of becoming what we
all ready are in Christ.
The theological word for the righteousness we receive is
that it is imputed righteousness. We receive the righteousness of another
person. In this case Christ. Our reading from Romans this morning spells it
out. We have all sinned, all fallen short of God’s glory. If you want to
continue the idea of armor and warfare, the word for sin there is like an
arrow that is fired and misses the mark. But, this is the good news of the
Gospel. Jesus who lived a righteous life and obeyed totally the will of God exchanges
his righteousness for our sinfulness. On the cross Jesus took on himself all
that we had done wrong. He became sin itself. And in a most wonderful and
profound mystery in return for that we receive Jesus righteousness. We are made
right with God through Jesus once and for all sacrifice for us. It’s the catch
cry of the reformation we are justified by faith in Christ. It’s the most
profound and amazing grace. Christ take our filthy rags and exchange them for
his royal robe. In Ephesians 5 talking of husbands loving their wives like
Christ loves the church he speaks of presenting the church as a bride in the
most wonderful wedding garment without blemish or wrinkle.
You know one of the schemes of the devil is to make us think
that because of who we are and what we done that God could not possibly love us
and accept us. That can push us away from God as we focus on all those
unlovable things about ourselves, all those things in the past we have done
wrong, they can come and parade themselves before us and push us further and
further away from God. One time I found
myself saying to God…
“God how could you possibly love me I am such a flawed human
being, you know what I am like… how could you love me.”
Right away, as Adrian Plass puts it this voice at the back
of head that I equate with God, I heard God said… “but it is all about grace”…
“yes God” I said “but I don’t deserve your grace…”
and I sensed God
smile and his eyes crinkle… “yes Howard, but that’s what grace is all about. I
love you.”
And I had to laugh
and say “fair cop God”…
Being put right with God, being made righteous is a free
costly gift from God through Jesus death and resurrection. Roman 8 says it so
well there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no
truth in the devil lie, we are loved and accepted by God, because of Jesus
Christ.
The flip side of that lie is that need within us to try and
earn God’s acceptance through works righteousness. Like the Pharisee in Jesus
parable whose prayer was like a tick box list of doing things right. I fast
twice a week, I give money to the poor, I, m not like those other people. For
the pharisee it was the arrogance of self-righteousness that he had earned
God’s favor by doing the right thing. The older brother in the story of the
prodigal son, who says But Dad I’ve always done what you wanted me to do, what
I should, you’ve never thrown a party for me, I’m not going to join in your
celebration. In both those parables it is the one who knew they were wrong but
asked for forgiveness who is put right with God through grace. We can find ourselves like a hamster or
Guinea pig going round as fast as we can
on one of those wheels and getting nowhere. Trying to earn God’s favour… And when
I googled hamster wheel I noticed you can get a wheel with speedometer to see
how fast you are getting nowhere We can
find ourselves on that spiritual tread mill rather than a spiritual journey knowing
and following Jesus.
Imputed righteousness enables us to get off what is a spiritually
fatiguing track and to know it is not our endeavor that counts but Christs. Ys
we are all sinners… we can never earn God’s love and acceptance. But by grace
in Christ alone we have been made right with him.
The other type of righteousness talked of in scripture is imparted
righteousness. Christ daily working in us to live for him. The Holy Spirit is
the one who enables us to do good deeds and is working to conform us to the
image of Christ. The big theological word is sanctification; we are becoming
what we already are in Christ Jesus. We are justified by faith, and we are
sanctified by the Spirit. God is working his righteousness in our lives. The
potter and the clay is a great illustration of this… for us it’s not a passive thing,
we cooperate with the spirit… as it says in Galatians 5 we learn to walk in
step with the spirit. Its not an instantaneous thing, it’s a process… God’s
word God’s grace and time. Paul even
talks of that process in romans as a battle within between the old self and the
new self in Christ. We know that god gives us the spiritual armor and weapons
we need for that fight. It is a process a journey we go through.
One of the schemes of the devil of course in the face of
this is to convince us that sin isn’t that bad a problem, and really our vices
and sins are not as bad as that person next to me, or over there. We can make
friends with our sin, we can keep them like a pet… However those areas that are
not totally being conformed to the likeness of Christ can become chinks in our
armor, places where the devil can get in and start to do real damage to our
vital organs, the heart of our faith. Pull us away an occurrence can become an
often and develop into habit and become a full blown addiction. Again the answer here is the righteousness of
God. That when we recognize these areas and things, attitudes and vices in our
life as sinful, the work of the Holy Spirit is not to condemn us but to convict
us of our need for God, so we will repent, turn away from them. We need to
confess them before God and ask for his forgiveness. 1 john 1;9-10 are amazing
verses that speak such truth… if we say we are without sin we call God a liar,
and the truth is not in us… but if we confess our sins then God is faithful and
just (there is that righteousness thing again) and will forgive us our sin and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John goes on to say not so we continue sinning,
but we know we have an advocate in heaven who pleads for us. Then work with the Holy Spirit and often with
people in our Christian community to allow transformation to happen. To live in
a new way.
The flip side to that of course is we can find ourselves
thinking that what we have done disqualifies us from God’s love. Man I’ve blown
this time, and yes when we do mess up big time there are consequences. But again,
the devil will try and pull us away from God but the answer comes back to the
righteousness of God… God’s forgiveness and aid to get up and start walking in
the light again. Dependent on God’s armor to stand strong. To hold hold hold.
It's reformation Sunday today, on October 31st
1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the Wittenberg
cathedral. Affirming that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone. Christopher M Kennedy starts his chapter on the breastplate of
righteousness in his book Equipped: The armor of God for everyday
strugglers, with the illustration of Martin Luther. That really hit home to
me. He talked of the noise of that reformation day the bang, bang, bang
of Luther nailing the thesis to the door. Reminding us of Christs sufficiency for us… But then he said
that Luther’s life before that resounded with a bang, bang, bang… he
would beat himself up over his own sinfulness and shortcomings. Literally at
night he would flagellate himself whipping his body to try and over come his
carnal nature… he would spend hours confessing his sins to a priest each day
until the priest could take it no more. Kennedy says ‘Luther’ as a former law
student saw God as a harsh judge just waiting for people to sin so he could
punish them. What freed Luther was coming to study the book of Romans and he
came across the verse ‘the righteous shall live by faith’. Again we hear the bang, bang, bang but
this time the driving of nails into the hands and feet of Jesus to the cross,
where our sins as well were nailed and we received Christ’s forgiveness and
righteousness in return. Righteousness
that transforms our lives to be like Christ’s… Luther’s response was to say ‘I
felt as if I had been born again and paradises gates were opened to me.’
Bang, bang, bang that breast plate of righteousness
protects us from the schemes of the evil one. Are you willing to go first… to
put it on… to put on the whole armor of God and stand strong in the Lord.
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