Faith and Righteousness

January 7, 2023 Background Scripture: Hebrews 1:1 Lesson Passage: Hebrews 11:1 - 4a, 7a, 8, 17, 18, 20 -23, 32, 39, 40 It can be difficult to discuss simple religious terminology that has been overly spiritualized in the past. Faith and righteousness are basic religious terms that are important in any area considered to be a religion. Faith speaks of trusting whomever or whatever one submits to as a deity. Faith simply says: If you consider something to be your "god", then you will trust it as such. Righteousness prescribes the necessary steps that lead one to being in good standing, or right standing, with that deity. The Law of Moses is a good example of a religion that specifies the steps necessary to achieve righteousness via the Law. Righteousness should be a naturally desired outcome in any form of religion. For Christians, righteousness is not descriptive of some innate human quality that one can achieve through some effort or personal sacrifice. Put another way, biblical righteousness is not about moral decisions and behavior. Historical sketches in the Bible present examples of persons who found favor in God's eyes. It is clear from those passages of scripture that God was pleased with those individuals, It pleases God when a person is in right standing with Him. The Background Scripture for today's lesson states that it is impossible to please God without faith in Him. Therefore, if we are to be in right standing with God, it can only occur because of our faith in Him. For Jews, they were required to follow the precepts outlined in the Law. But what does faith in God look like for Christians? Or how does one become a person of faith? Look at the examples presented in our lesson. We call them heroes of faith, but that may be over spiritualizing it. The Bible presents them as ordinary people with fears and passions common to the human experience, Most of them were Jews, yet they were not slavishly following the Law. They became exceptional individuals because they chose to believe what God had spoken or revealed to them. They acted, or responded, based on what they believed about what God had revealed. In other words, their actions demonstrated what they believed about God. This happened even when God's directions for them defied common sense—or went against what people had experienced while interacting with nature! Aside from the Law, our physical experiences become rules, or standards, in our minds as we mature. We believe we know how nature works because we have experienced it. We trust God and therefore believe what He said about creating everything. So, by faith we understand that God created nature and therefore He can change how it behaves. But faith is more than what we choose to believe about God. Faith is demonstrated when we act, or react, according to those beliefs. Faith begins and ends with what cannot be seen or experienced yet. Indeed, it is our belief in God that allows us to see His handiwork. Faith is not wishful thinking. We don't achieve results by wishing for them. We submit ourselves to God, we follow the directions He gives us to follow, then we see the results that please God. The outcome of faith is always according to the will of God and not the "want" of the person. It is best when we want the same thing that God wants, then we will pray according to His will, and He will answer our prayers accordingly. When we don't know what God wants, then we pray for His will to be done. By faith we accept the outcome after we have submitted ourselves to God in prayer. The individuals in our lesson went through this in their lives. They pleased God because they acted according to His word, and God counted their faith as righteousness. Robert C. Hudson December 28, 2023