Righteousness: God as Our Highest Treasure

This morning I had the privilege of preaching in a small church in Wimborne, Alberta. From the moment I stepped into the building I felt such a warm and welcoming love from the people there that reminded me of why I am pursuing pastoral ministry. I am so glad I am invited back to preach again the last Sunday of June.

Here are some notes from my sermon, which is part one of two on Romans 3:21-26 (as well as other passages in Romans):

Passages like Romans 12 are not to-do lists for someone who wants to become righteous. They are a description of someone who treasures the forgiveness offered by God through Christ…

The human condition is that we fail to make God our highest treasure. The remedy is to treasure God more highly. So, when we read a passage in Scripture that lists off a bunch of good Christian things to do, and we see that we are failing at some or all of them, our response should be, what am I treasuring more highly than God? The issue is not primarily obedience, but the spirit of obedience, which is to treasure God so much, that Romans 12 becomes a description of our lives. This is not to minimize the importance of discipline in the life of a Christian, but we need to recognize that discipline does not bring righteousness. Righteousness is a gift, and when we treasure that gift, our lives will reflect that which we treasure most.