At some time in our lives, we’ve all probably done some kind of test. Maybe it was a Maths, English, Science or History test when we are at school. When we were a bit older, we might have done a test to get our driver’s license. People can also do tests to check our eyesight or hearing. Everyone who has done their ChildSafe training will know that part of the course is being tested on what we have learned by answering a few questions.
Test are basically very simple. We are asked questions or given a certain task to complete. If we give the right answer or complete the task successfully, we receive a tick showing that we are right. If we answer wrongly or fail to complete the required task, we are given a cross. Those who have done their ChildSafe training will know that if we give the wrong answer to one of the quiz questions, we don’t fail but can attempt the question again until we get it right & receive the tick of success.
God gives us his Law to teach us what is right and wrong in our lives. We might understand this Law to mean the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), Jesus’ teaching to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28), or his New Command to love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34,35; 15:12,17). However we want to think of God’s Law, it gives us a clear picture of what God considers to be right and wrong for us.
We can really struggle with God’s Law because it points out the wrongs we do and shows us that there is something wrong with us. Understandably, no one really likes being told that we’re wrong. Probably none of us liked to get a cross on our tests at school, a driving test, or even a hearing or an eye test. To get a cross which shows that something we did was wrong or that there is something wrong with us can make us feel bad about ourselves and lead to insecurities, self-doubt, anxiety or stress. So, a lot of the time, we can try to focus on the positives and ignore the wrongs we do or the wrongs we carry within us.
Paul teaches us that recognizing and acknowledging our wrongs is an important part of finding salvation and living spiritually healthy lives. In Romans 3:19,20 he writes that the purpose of God’s Law is to show that we are guilty before God and that we have a problem with sin. God needs to do this because we are good at ignoring those things that are wrong with us and convincing ourselves that we are basically good people. When we hold our lives up to God’s standards, either in the 10 Commandments or Jesus’ commands to love, we see that we get things wrong because there is something wrong in us.
The good news is that God wants to make our wrongs right. He doesn’t want us to continue to feel bad about ourselves or be harsh with ourselves because of our wrongs. God doesn’t even want us to try harder to get things right, kind of like attempting a question in the ChildSafe test over and over again until we get it right. Through his Law, God shows us where we are wrong to lead us the person who can make us right and give us a big tick.
Paul tells us that Jesus is the one who makes us right. He writes, ‘But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law … We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are’ (v21,22 NLT). While God’s Law places a cross next to our wrongs, God gives us a big tick by making us right through faith in Jesus. The words Paul uses throughout his letters are justified, righteous and righteousness. These words come from a New Testament Greek word which basically means to be right, with nothing wrong, just the way God intended. In other words, Paul says that sometimes God needs to give us and what we do a cross to show we’re wrong to bring us to Jesus who makes us right by giving us and what we do the big tick of God’s approval.
God does this because he ‘declares that we are righteous … through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins’ (v24 NLT). Jesus was completely righteous. He did everything right and nothing wrong through his whole life. If we think of his life as a test full of ticks with no crosses, he swaps his test with ours, complete with all of our crosses for our wrongs. Jesus’ ticks become ours and our crosses become his. Jesus took the penalty for all our wrongs and set us free from them when he went to the cross and died for us. When he took all our crosses to the cross, Jesus became the sacrifice for us that liberates us from our wrongs and fills us with everything about him that is right and good. That’s why Paul writes that ‘God declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus’ (v26 NLT).
God makes us right (or righteous) through faith in what Jesus has done for us, not by keeping the Law. The more we try to make ourselves right by trying to earn our ticks and avoid our crosses, the more crosses we end up with. God just wants us to trust him and believe that he gives us his tick of approval by justifying us and making us right because of what Jesus has done for us through his life, death and resurrection. God gives us the righteousness of Jesus as a free gift and asks us to receive it through faith. There are no hidden clauses, no fine print, no strings attached, just pure gift received through faith.
Trusting that God justifies sinners by exchanging our wrongs for the righteousness of Jesus gives us the capacity to do what’s right in our lives. We don’t have to earn our ticks and avoid the crosses because God gives us new hearts that are right, just the way he always wanted them to be. We can trust him to work in us what is good and right for us and for the people around us. When God makes us right through faith in Jesus, it shows when we do what’s right. Following the teachings of Jesus isn’t a demand to try to get it right. It becomes our opportunity to do what’s right and to bring God’s righteousness into the lives of others.
As we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation, we can be very aware of all that is wrong in the world at this time. The Reformation and the life of Martin Luther remind us that there always was and always will be wrong in us and in our world until Jesus returns to make it all right again. Until that day, God is doing what’s right in us and among us through the good news of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is at work through the gospel making the wrong things in us right, so we can live in ways that are right by trusting him and loving others as he loves us. As our faith in him grows, God will continue to fill us with the righteousness of his Son so we can live in ways that are right and help make right the wrongs in the world with him.
More to think about or discuss:
- Can you remember getting something wrong on a test? What was that like for you? What did you want to do in response?
- How do you understand the word righteous? What are your thoughts about God making you righteous (or right) through your faith in Jesus?
- How can trusting that God makes us right in Jesus set us free to live in ways that are right? What might that look like for you this week?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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