Lets turn to Rom. 5:17, For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

              It says here that those who have received an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in this life through our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if you understand the keys of grace and righteousness there will be nothing in this life that will not come under your subjection and authority and dominion. There will be no circumstances, no problems, no situations that will not come under your rule and your reign. The bible did say in the book of Revelation chapter one that we are kings and priests in our Lord Jesus Christ. And on this planet earth, we all have authority over sicknesses, diseases, demons and over the natural world, so that this natural world will not affect you. But rather, you would affect the world around us.

              But it seems to be a conditional promise that it is for those who understand what it means to receive an abundance of grace. And the other thing is the gift of righteousness. So, as we look at this series on righteousness we want to consider righteousness in its various various forms. In this message, I will introduce the subject of righteousness and show the importance of walking in righteousness.

We realize that Paul mentions the gift of righteousness. But before we can look at the gift of righteousness that we have from Jesus Christ we need to understand what righteousness is and what it involves in order for us to appreciate the gift of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.

              It concerns me in my observations just how important righteousness is. Righteousness involves many things. It involves being consistent with the principles and the beliefs that we have in our life. One of the problems that I have noticed in many lives is inconsistency. We believe something but act differently. We believe in something but practice a different thing. The other form of inconsistency is being one person in public and being another person in private. I believe in consistency. Whether in public or private we are the same person. Whether we are in front of people in a crowd or whether we are all alone in a room or with one person or two persons, we would remain the same person that God has made us to be. We would be as righteous and as holy as if we are in the presence of God and in the presence of multitude of people. I believe that it is inconsistency that afflicts many Christians’ lives and prevents them from ruling and reigning in Jesus Christ. And that is why I prayed that we understand this concept of righteousness.

              Part of being righteous and understanding what righteousness is has to do with living according to our conscience. Lets turn to the book of Acts 23 in a statement made by the apostle Paul. This took place somewhere in the middle and latter part of his ministry. He has completed three missionary journeys. The Roman soldiers have arrested him. When there was a riot, he tends to make his stand known.  Paul stands after ten years of conversion and several years of first missionary journey plus several years of his second missionary journey plus completion of a successful ministry in the city of Ephesus, which affected the whole of Asia Minor. Now he has come to Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey and he has done a Jewish custom that they were told to do. In the midst of that, he was arrested.

              Now as the crowd cried against him to the Roman soldiers who had just arrested him, Paul stood up and made this statement in Acts 23:1 Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. All those years that he had lived in God, he has strived to walk according to the dictates of his conscience. What a powerful statement. We would expect a powerful statement to be something like a person sharing about the power over devils, power over sickness and disease. But I believe it’s as powerful to live a consistent life.

              Although living according to one’s conscience is something private and quiet but there are a lot of things that are quiet and steady and yet are very powerful too. The things that are powerful may not be noisy. Sometimes people will be noisy and loud in their personality, but they have no consistency. I believe in being quiet, steady and consistent. No nonsense, no side track, no back tracking, but being consistent day in day out, week after week, month after month, year after year holding on to the principles that God speaks to us, holding on to righteousness and what is right in our conscience. Consistency is an important principle in righteousness. Righteousness is not just doing something right once. Righteousness involves a consistent application of the principles of God in private and public. Righteousness is more than just obeying the Ten Commandments. It has to do with accuracy in the application of our conscience. Our conscience will tell us things that are outside of God’s will. There will always be small little gray areas that we have to deal with. There are always little decisions that we must be consistent ln. There are probably thousands of situations in our lives where we are tempted to compromise our conscience and our principles, that we hold fast to. During times that we don’t compromise, it is because we know it is the righteous thing to do.

              There are many times when there are small little decisions to make. And many times when the rubber hits the road, I always make my decision by asking, “What is the righteous thing to do? What is the right thing to do at this time that will be consistent with my conscience and consistent with the principle that I believe?” And that will always be the weighing factor in how I make my decisions in life, regardless of whether it brings persecution or misunderstanding or favor or applause. The most important thing in life is to stay true to our conscience and true to our principles. These are very powerful things. They may be quiet. They may be in the secret places of life, in the very private areas of life, but they will be the nuclear bombs that will change the world.

              Let me point to someone whom you and I should be familiar with  - the Lord Jesus Christ. Lets turn to the book of Matt. Chapter 3 just to prove that righteousness includes more than the Ten Commandments. What is right in our conscience? What are the principles to hold to? It’s not a question of whether people will come under it or not. It’s not a question of whether people will clap and give applause for that. Or whether you will gain more favor or be in disfavor. The most important thing is to live true to your conscience and the principles that God has revealed to you.

              Everyone has different levels of revelations. Everyone has a different degree of development in our conscience. But we all need to live true to our conscience and true to our principles. So, here is Jesus at the end of thirty years of private life. He has lived for thirty years but for   He hasn’t start His ministry yet. He hasn’t healed anyone. He hasn’t preached a single sermon. This period of time was known as the silent years of Jesus. It wasn’t completely silent because we know something was recorded when He was twelve years old. When you think about Jesus, you think about His signs, His wonders, His great preaching, and all these wonderful things. But I want to stess a very important point. It was the consistency of His life for thirty years that resulted in the three years of powerful ministry. If He were not successful in His thirty years, you would never have seen the last three years. But His first thirty years were lived behind the scenes.

              Sometimes we think the impression that we project in front of people is more important because we are used to a Hollywood kind of culture. We are used to a culture where even Christian conferences, televangelists, churches and ministries employ slick Madison Avenue type of professional advertising. We assume that a Christian product must be good if it gets into the limelight and hyped up by the media. We are in a society where there are a lot of great pretenders. In a culture where acting is highly esteemed some of the worlds richest people are actors and actresses. This is the twenty-first century society. It is so empty, so false, so plastic, and how they act is not what they are in their true life. True Christianity is consistency. We need to be true to the principles that God teaches us. Whether we receive applause and recognition or not has to do with righteousness.

              For thirty years, Jesus lived a consistently righteous life behind the scenes… that pleases God. All the little decisions that He made He chose the right thing, the things to please God. The bible did say in the book of Hebrews that Jesus was tempted like you and I, but was yet without sin. A common mistaken impression that we Christians have is that the temptations Jesus faced, only took place in His first three years of ministry. We know that after He was anointed by God He was tempted for forty days and then after that in His ministry the devil tempted Him from time to time. But it’s not those kinds of temptations that I am referring to. It’s the kind of temptations that take place when you are alone.

              Jesus stood before the Father at the age of thirty years and in the prime of His manhood as He was about to be baptized in water. In Matt. 3:13-15 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Was He talking about the Ten Commandments? No. He was talking about doing the right thing at that time. Understand that John’s baptism according to the bible, is called the baptism of repentance from sin. Jesus had no sin, legally.

              Lets talk about legalism for a minute... Some people are so legalistic they forget that there are principles that are beyond legalism. You can be so legalistic that you ignore the principles. The Pharisees were so legalistic that they forgot the purpose of the Sabbath. Their Sabbath laws made people suffer rather than rejoice. They forgot that the Sabbath was made for people to rejoice. They made the Sabbath miserable. You can be so legalistic that you forget the purpose behind the law. That’s not righteousness. Being righteous is not being legalistic. Being righteous is following the conscience and the principles behind all the laws. That’s what righteousness means. It has nothing to do with the letter of the law. It is much more than that.

              And Jesus said it is fitting to do it NOW. Let’s look at the legalease… Did Jesus legally need to be baptized by John? No.

     He had a greater ministry than John. He was the Son of God and the Son of man whereas John was only a prophet. In position, legally He did not need John the Baptist to baptize Him since the one who baptizes is usually above the one who is being baptized. Legally He doesn’t need to do it. A lot of us are caught in a legal situation and say, “Legally I don’t have to do it so I am free.” Well,  sometimes legally you are not required to do it but morally you are. You have a moral obligation even though you may not have a legal obligation. In position, legally, He doesn’t have to be baptized by John. However, the the baptism’s given by John the Baptist whole purpose was repentance from sin. Jesus was sinless. He absolutely has not one iota of sin. Nor has He committed a single sin. Legally based on the actual baptism He does not have to be baptized. The whole baptism was meaningless if you understand what I mean. It represents repentance from sin. It’s meaningless because He had no sin. There was no reason to do it. But Jesus said it is a right thing to do.

              Lets see what He meant by the right thing.

No. 1

Although He was sinless He did it on our behalf. He was going to be the Lamb that takes away our sin and the sin of the world. It is a prophetic picture of what He is doing for us. 

No.2

It is an example for all of us…that some times you are greater in status than someone else…I’m talking about  position and social status in any area really, and legally you don’t have to do something but morally you must and it may be the  only precept you do it on is that it’s the right thing to do. Jesus was the greatest of all yet He washed the disciples’ feet. There are some things that are beyond the law. If all we have is the law, we are miserable. The law was made for man and not man for the law. All the laws of God were made for man and for our joy and for our happiness. They were not made for our destruction and condemnation. If we understand the purpose and the principles behind the laws, we will be able to fulfill them with joy.

              Jesus said it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness. As we analyze it, it was the right thing for Jesus to do. Now there is rightness to some things. There is rightness in the way we correct someone. There is rightness in the way we deliver a prophecy. There is rightness to the way we worship God. There is rightness in the way we pastor people. There is rightness in the way we counsel people. There is rightness to everything. And we need to seek after that rightness. When we do then that is called righteousness.

              How do we define that rightness? The minimum requirement for righteousness is living according to our conscience. What is our conscience? Our conscience is the part of us that makes us acknowledge and know right and wrong. Our conscience must be thoroughly developed if we want to walk in righteousness. Let me assure you the more highly developed you are to the sense of righteousness the more able you are to walk before kings and Prime Ministers and persons of great station on this earth. But if you don’t walk correctly in that, you will never rise up in life. Those who walk in righteousness walk with royalty and will rule and reign as kings in life. I am not speaking about this in the total literal sense. I am also speaking about this in the spiritual sense.

              There is a rightness that we need to understand. The law did not compel Jesus to be baptized in water. But righteousness does. Let me give a few more examples so that you understand this part of following our conscience that gives us the feeling of rightness. There is a right way for you to approach people. There is a right way for you to apply for something. All these are the sense of righteousness that we must develop.

              In the book of I Cor. 8 let me show the rightness and the wrongness. It has to do with the conscience and righteousness. First, we state the problem. The problem is over the eating of food offered to idols. Some people believe that they can eat it and some people believe that they can’t eat it. And both groups are quarrelling. And Paul has to settle the matter. First he points to the theological view. However, righteousness goes beyond the theological view. We saw in Matt. 3 that rightness goes beyond the law. Sometimes we can be legally right but morally wrong.

              You are a soldier and you are serving under Hitler or under Stalin. You were told to shoot a believer.    What would you do? By the law of the land, you are to obey the command. But morally you know it is wrong. What would you do? You would rather die than kill that person. You would rather be killed than kill that person. Some people would justify it and say, “God will forgive me,” and kill the other person. This type of thing also has to do with the sense of rightness. Personally, I would rather pay the price for my disobedience than to shoot an innocent person.

              We all know that the Berlin wall separated the communist sector from the democratic sector in Berlin. People ran from the communist sector and crawled into no man’s land to seek freedom. A lot of them died as they tried to go through the wall. The strange thing that happened after the Berlin wall came down was that some of the soldiers who were responsible for shooting people who escaped were put on trial. That case interests us because it has to do with a conflict between legalism and morality. The poor soldier was obeying orders to shoot to kill. But the civilians were not escaping from lawlessness. They were not escaping from a crime they had committed. They were not escaping from a wrong thing. They were running for freedom. And the soldiers were ordered to shoot to kill. Some of the soldiers carried out their orders perfectly and killed the escapees. The war tribunal judges were not Christians. And when the Berlin wall came down some of these soldiers were brought to trial. They looked at the rightness and wrongness of their killing. The soldiers' argument was that they were under orders and command. But the moral argument was, is it right to kill people who haven’t stolen, murdered, raped or done any criminal things. All they wanted was to live a life free from this oppressive system. And in the end, the soldiers were pronounced guilty and sentenced to prison. The only thing that was totally wrong about this is the war tribunal should have brought in the commanding officers and sentenced them to prison too.
Those soldiers were merely puppets. They were the scapegoats of someone else’s wrong doing.

              In life, we have a lot of these situations where we have to determine what is right and what is wrong and make choices accordingly. And if you choose righteousness, you will live and reign as a king. If you choose otherwise, you may never rise up in life at all. The power to break the gravitational pull of sin and death, is the law of righteousness. In Matt. 3, it was a struggle between the law and righteousness.

              In chapter 8 of First Corinthians, it is a struggle between theology and rightness. You can be legally right but morally wrong. And here you could be theologically right and morally wrong. You may say I thought everyone who is theologically correct would be morally correct.

              Let me tell you a few stories on church history. During the Reformation period, a lot of people believed in pre-destination. Some others developed a theology for what is holiness and what is not holiness. Although they justified it, they ended up killing a lot of innocent people who didn’t agree with them theologically. In fact, some of the most famous reformers like John Calvin, who taught the doctrine of pre-destination, was a dictator in his actual life and anyone who disagreed with him would be arrested. John Calvin traveled with groups of people and arrested those who didn’t keep the Sabbath or did something that didn’t agree with his doctrine. That was the way they conducted Christianity. The theology may have a certain truth but the way they apply it and operate it is wrong.

              In the early days, church services became so dull that people became religious without knowing why. They invented a way to keep people awake. They came out with batons that were made from velvet but it’s hard enough to knock someone and soft enough not to cause permanent damage. So, the ushers would carry batons and walk up and down the aisles. If anyone was asleep, they would approach from the back and give that unfortunate fellow a knock on the head. That is an interesting way to keep people awake in church. If you don’t want to be knocked in the head, you keep your eyes open. When you look at it, their intentions were good but their actions were wrong. I don’t believe that, rapping someone ont he head with a baton is a righteous thing to do.

              Then the way they collected the offering – they attached  the offering bag to a long stick and then put it before each person on the row…if the people didn’t give any money, the ushers would put the bag nearer to the non giver in a threatening manner. I don’t think this breeds  cheerful giving. We can be theologically correct and yet wrong in our action.

              So on one side, we have the conflict of legality versus morality and on the other side, a conflict of theory versus praxis. The ideal and the reality don’t agree.

              So lets get back to looking at this problem of eating of idol food. Paul was trying to resolve a problem. To resolve a problem you must first determine what is right and what is wrong.  You mustn’t be evasive about being right or wrong. For example, if I teach the Second Coming I will tell you what I believe. I will teach the different theological views as proposed by different schools of thoughts but I will have to be honest with you and tell you what I believe. In those matters, I don’t believe in taking a neutral stand. We must take a stand. Paul travels down the theological avenue first. He must tell you what is theologically right and wrong. Notice that the  theological right and wrong is different when it comes to the application of what is right and wrong.

              So he tells them in I Cor. 8:4-6 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

              Paul tells us that food offered to idols shouldn’t affect us at all since these idols are nothing in the world. If you eat the food offered to idols, it doesn’t affect you. Theologically Paul makes a stand. So, as far as the idol food is concerned, it shouldn’t affect you at all because we believe in the one true God and the power of the blood of Jesus is more than enough to cover you.

              Paul makes the theology clear. However, his application was different. He says although this is a theological view the right thing to do he says in verse 10 and 11 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weaker brother perish.  Although theologically it’s OK, practically it’s not OK, because some people whose conscience is weak will stumble by your actions. 

              These people whose conscience is weak do not understand the nothingness of idols. Many of these new believers had come from a pagan background where they had accepted and believed in the presence of their former “gods” or demons as they know them now, in the statues or idols. They have not yet truly come to a greater understanding of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His triumphant victory over Satan and his cohorts. They have not understood that demons have been vanquished by Christ’s death and resurrection. They do not have Paul’s understanding that “we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.” Maybe in time to come they will understand and then their conscience will not condemn them when they eat those things offered to idols. But for the present moment, when their understanding is still rudimentary or infantile, Paul exhorts the stronger ones to refrain from eating food offered to idols for the sake of the weaker brothers and sisters in the Lord.  Doctrinally and theologically, it is right to eat these foods offered to idols but it is unrighteous to do so if you cause others to stumble by your actions.

              One constant source of conflict in the Body of Christ is when some members have made important biblical and theological discoveries in the Word and the others are still lagging behind or are slow in accepting these new discoveries or revelations. One of the greatest struggles in real life ministry is when theology is out ahead of the universal acceptance since it takes time for people to accept the theological revelation. We need to understand the right timing to apply something. Theologically a revelation may be correct but whether something is right in timing is the question. That’s where righteousness comes in.

              Paul says although theologically it’s all right to eat foods offered to idols because it won’t harm you but practically speaking, you should not eat it because it acts as a stumbling block for the ones who as yet lack the understanding. You see that is where righteousness comes in. What is right and what is wrong is determined by what happens to your fellow Christian when you eat that food. Look at verse 12 he says, But when you thus sin against the brethren. Why is he now calling it sin? Something that is theologically correct now becomes sin. How can it be? He is measuring the rightness and the wrongness of an action against the good or evil that is done to a brother or sister in Christ. It is not the doings that are judged but the fruits of the doing. The act is right but the result of the act in causing another Christian to stumble and that makes it a sin. The law of stumbling is involved.

              I realize that sometimes you just can’t help it. You have to choose between suffering unnecessarily or suffering some misunderstanding. What do I mean by suffering unnecessarily? Well, there are times when we have to make a stand in order for us not to suffer lack and need. For example, a well known ministry registered the ministry in a foreign country. They had to abide by that countries laws. They had a new way of organizing a ministry and they had people dissing them for doing it that way. They put it like this: We may stumble people but in the end, We have to think that we have a family. We need money to pay expenses. We don’t receive any salary from anyone. We do not ask the church to pay for us and our upkeep or anything else. We need to get organized. If we sell our books and tapes and it generates some income, we have to account for it to the Government. We have to pay our taxes when and where taxes are due. If we say, “Well, we don’t want to stumble anyone so we better not register our ministry as a company. We will just live by faith.” Ten years down the road, the Income Tax department may come after us and the same people who dissed us for registering the ministry are going to laugh at us. In other words, they are going to suffer unnecessarily because they were afraid to take a stand. As far as my conscience is concerned, I will make a stand as long as I know that it is right. But where the stand would cause suffering to people I will withhold myself. But if the action would not cause others to suffer but rather would cause me to suffer unnecessarily, then I would make the stand accordingly. For example, if I don’t organize my ministry properly I may not be able to have the finances come in. And if the finances do not come in my family may not have enough food to eat. I may not be able to pay my bills. And I will be suffering unnecessarily. So I have to be practical and organize my ministry properly in the way God showed me. This is the way we can organize it so that we can grow in our ministry. Sometimes when you do that, some people may misunderstand your intentions and they get all caught up in the political legalistic aspect of it and thus are stumbled by it. I am sharing this part with you to show you that sometimes no matter what  you do, people are still stumbled.

              Let’s say that in my present life at this moment, people give me things that are valuable. People want to give me expensive shoes and a say a ten thousand dollar Rolex watch. And I say, “No I don’t want all those things.” And yet, when I choose simple shoes that are comfortable, some people still deride me for doing so. “Hey, pastor, you teach on faith. How come you are still wearing cheap shoes?” I mean we could exercise our faith for branded and expensive shoes but that would stumble people who associate worldliness with luxury items. Whatever you do, you will stumble some people. Whatever you choose, in the end we want to live according to what our conscience tells us is right. And when you do what is right some people may still not agree with you and may be stumbled.

              Most people will be stumbled if the pastor is affluent. God opens the windows of heaven and blesses us with finances, we make choices. Some will wear expensive clothes while others will remain in modestly priced attire. Some choose not to drive an expensive car. However, whatever you drive, there will be those who will still stumble. They will only be satisfied until the pastor lives in a manger and rides on an ox for transportation. But thank God, the majority understands.

              So, I have determined in my life to do what my conscience tells me is right. It must be theologically correct. It must be legally correct. It must be biblically correct. And my conscience must be correct. And when I conscientiously feel  that something is right to do but  the timing is wrong, and as a result, some people will suffer from that action, then I bide my time and wait. The time is not right. But what about when it is right and when you don’t do anything, Then you will suffer unnecessarily. Then you have no choice but to go ahead and do what is right.

              A word for those believing for a church building or a new business building or a new home of your own…If you are renting your house or business building or church facility and have been watching the rent go up each year, then this is for you. If you believe God for the rental finances, you can believe God for the mortgage payment. When the rental payment goes up to the point where it equals a mortgage payment, it makes more economic sense to  buy  a house or building. In that way, what would have gone into paying rental would now be used to reduce the mortgage,. And you get to keep the house or building.  I have sort of gotten off onto a rabbit trail, but still it was a good word for anyone who needed it. 

It’s important for us to understand that we need to be sensitive to the rightness of things. And we must remain sensitive to the rightness of things.

There is no justice in THIS world. But, as a born again believer, walking in THE BLESSING, I can expect, and do expect God to take care of righting the wrongs done to me by the world. In the meantime, even though I react a little and have to repent…each time I get a little more settled in my spirit so that I am stabilized knowing that God will vindicate me. I don’t have to do anything except keep on keeping on, exercising the vocabulary of silence. Sometimes we wait a very long time giving others a chance to step up and do the right thing, or to do something for God, or in a Godly manner. Why should we wait so long? Because we want to give people a chance to participate in the blessing that comes from doing what God expects us to do, or doing things for God. What happens when they don’t and nothing happens?  then we take action ourselves. However, we have waited and we did wait for the proper time. At the end of the proper time when no change has come, or no work is done we will step in and initiate action. Too many souls are being lost because of negligence. The work of God must go on. People change; people come and go but let me tell you…there is something to be said for those that stay through until hearts are changed or work for God is completed. Those of us who are the stayers and doers, don’t believe in a half completed job. When we do something for the Lord, we must do it so that it will last until Jesus comes.

              So, in 1 Cor 8 Paul is saying that even if your understanding is theologically correct but your action has caused the stumbling of some brethren, then it is a sin. We need to consider the factors of appropriateness and timing. What do we do? We wait for its proper time. And its important for us to remember that as long as it doesn’t cause people to suffer, as along as it is in proper time, as long as it is theologically correct, then go for it. And you eliminate stumbling people as much as possible. I don’t believe you could eliminate it a hundred percent. For every action there is a reaction…some will stumble from lack of understanding… But you eliminate the unnecessary stumbling of innocent people. But for those who are just trying to find fault in anything that you do… you just can’t be bothered. You have to push the gospel and do the work. This is why I assure those in the ministry that whatever people say, whatever people think … we know what we are doing. We know where we are going. In ten years time we will produce what we have set our goals to produce, that’s important. Get your theology and the application part correct.

              Now what are the principles behind these applications? As you can see it involves self-sacrifice. Look at the verse there he says all these feel good to eat but for the sake of your weaker brother you don’t do it.

              So, then it must not cause unnecessary suffering. There is sacrifice involved but it must not cause unnecessary suffering where the children would rebel against the Lord because they saw so much suffering. Here is an example: A woman goes to a hairdresser. When this hairdresser finds out that her client’s husband is a pastor, she says, “ poor thing.” The hairdresser is not a Christian so the client slowly witnesses to her over time. The hairdresser’s brother had gone into the ministry and her brother’s family suffers. Sometimes they don’t have enough food to eat. So, the hairdresser sometimes helps the brother out. Obviously that would be unnecessary suffering. Some ministers’ children grow up not wanting to have anything to do with their parents’ Christianity. Such situations occur because the parents didn’t apply the Word and organize their life correctly. Their children grow up and even though some of them had a call of God, they don’t want to serve God. That is very sad because the ministry doesn’t need to be that way.  And then there are those that are extravagant and wear the finest suits and drive the finest cars and live in big homes and their congregation is struggling under the prosperity message, not getting it, and their pastor is flaunting seeming success…while they go without…unnecessary suffering. Our

conscience should not permit us to do things like that. We need righteousness. I know some ministers say, “I have a right to these things. I am redeemed from the curse of the law and from the spirit of poverty.” Yes, that is theologically correct however, whether it is the righteous thing to indulge in extravagance is a different matter. Righteousness needs to be developed in our lives.

              One can understand that it involves all areas of life. It’s the theological aspect verses the practical aspect. The legal aspect verses the moral aspect. All these are the struggles of righteousness. If we do what is righteous it’s powerful. It changes life. It touches people. Now, I am not arguing the prosperity message. But prosperity is in all things…all areas of life.  So, I know some pastors that use affluence or the appearance of it to motivate their congregations into giving to receive.  If you want a million dollars tithe on a million dollars is the philosophy. Yet, Paul says, “To the Gentile, I am a Gentile. To the Jew I am a Jew.” He will reach to their level what ever level that may be in order to preach the gospel. We have to come up and even down to people’s level in order to minister Christ to them.  Righteousness is the key to reigning and ruling in this life.

              It’s obvious to our hearts and minds that righteousness goes beyond keeping the law. I hope that you have erased from your understanding the mistaken notion that righteousness and following the law are the same. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisee, Jesus says you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God. Apparently, He wants us to develop righteousness that is beyond the legalism followed by the Pharisees.

              Finally lets look at Romans to see the struggle of righteousness in other areas. In Rom. 14, Paul had a different problem. In verse 5, he says some people eat only vegetables and some people eat anything. He has to give the theological solution again but in different area. In verse 2 For one believer, he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. He shows us that as far as God is concerned, there is nothing wrong. That’s why he says those who eat only vegetables are those who are weak. Verse 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day, to Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks, and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives in himself and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. Verse 21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith, for whatever is not from faith is sin.

              In verse 5, we take note of the word fully convinced. The other word is in verse 23, faith. Now righteousness is not just what you don’t do. Righteousness is what you do and you exercise faith on that. What makes it righteous is that your faith and your conscience come together in unity. Based on I Tim. 1:19 having faith and a good conscience. So, what are the ingredients of righteousness? They must be faith and they must be in line with the conscience. The question that arises is this, “Is it possible for the conscience and the faith not to come into unity?” Yes, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But conscience is sensitive to both the Word of God and to the people around us. Conscience considers the rightness and the timing of an action. Not just the rightness but also the timing. So, what is right done at the wrong time is wrong. And only the conscience can sense that. But faith alone doesn’t sense that and that’s why we need both faith and conscience.

              Sometimes a Christian says, “I am believing God for a house.” You look at them and you know they don't even have faith to believe God for a room. Something is wrong somewhere. There is something wrong about his faith. Some pastors say, “I am believing God for a Mercedes Benz,” and you look over at their congregation, you will find that their church members don’t have faith for a second hand car. Something is wrong. These pastors are not in tune with their conscience. I am not saying that they can’t have that kind of car, but I am only saying they shouldn’t have it now when their church members are still struggling with poverty. A day will come when everybody in the church will prosper. We need to understand that as society prospers things differ. Lets take for example, if I am in say, New Zealand and God blesses me in a New Zealand church and enables me to buy a bungalow in New Zealand, then,  to the New Zealanders that is normal since ninety percent of the houses there are bungalows. But if you have a church in India and the people are so poor they live in tents…then you must take that into consideration and make sure that what you do, doesn’t cause them to stumble… What  I am saying here is situational ethics. It is where the rightness and wrongness of something has to be felt with the conscience. You cannot take what is suitable for your local situation and apply the same standards to Christians all over the world. I cannot take what is normal and suitable in our church structure and apply to another culture.

              In the book of I Cor., it also applies to marriage, divorce and re-marriage. In I Cor. 7:10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord. A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest I, not the Lord. Can you see Paul says this is thus says the Lord then he says this is my advice. Now what is this trouble that he is talking about? This is a struggle of righteousness - to do what is right in the situation in their time. You cannot take a divorce in a particular case and apply the same principles to every case. Every case is special. I cannot take a hundred percent of everything that I do with my church and ask other churches to do exactly the same. The principles may be the same but the situation may be different. On top of that, the Lord may have different purposes for different churches. So your church shouldn’t be a carbon copy of my church – you will have to seek God’s purposes and plans for your church. Do you see?

              Look at the actions of us as parents. We know that each of our children is different. Some will cry before you discipline them. Some will keep silent when you discipline them. A wise parent knows that you have rules and principles but when you apply them, you must be sensitive to your conscience. Let’s say you have two children - one is a tough type and needs three whacks before he repents and cries. But the other is the softer one - all you have to do is look sternly at him and he will cry. Then one day you lose your temper. You take the belt and whack both children. It appears that you are right in principle, but you are wrong because you did it in anger. But lets say you were right to be angry but you could still be wrong in your severe disciplining and that night you can’t sleep because the Lord told you, “You should not have been so hard on the softer one.”              Paul wrote to Timothy and said God has not given a spirit of fear. Some bible teachers say therefore Timothy was a fearful person. Say that someone prophesied over you that God is going to bless you and meet every need. The others hearing that prophecy rashly conclude that you must be very poor. What kind of conclusion is that? Let me get back to the story. God told you, “You should not have been so hard on the soft one because it breaks his spirit. And you may have injured the person’s soul for the rest of his life. This is where the conscience comes in. This is where righteousness comes in.

Righteousness is more than just observing the law. Righteousness is more than theology. Righteousness has to do with conscience and timing. It has to do with the sense of rightness that we develop in our life. The more mature we become the more we can sense what is the right thing to do in any given situation. It is important for us to understand the struggle for righteousness that is going on in our life. And those who would allow the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness to rule and reign in their life will rise up in life to become a great person in God. Let me talk about greatness as an honor from God. Don’t seek honor from man but seek honor from God. God will raise you up as a leader to the human race. God will raise you up as leaders who sit in the company of kings and prime ministers. Many kings, presidents, heads of states, prime ministers and leaders are struggling with right and wrong. The top businessmen in the world, both the good ones and not only the bad ones are struggling over rightness and wrongness. And whoever has the wisdom to know what is right and wrong will become their leader. Look at the politicians in this race for the Presidency... They lie and lie and lie and get caught and bend the story even more…some don’t even change the story, they just justify it by saying they were tired and thought it was that way, or they mis-spoke…they lied. So, you will rule and reign if you develop righteousness in your life.