THE REWARDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

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In Christ, Mark

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Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is that your voice, David my son?"

David replied, "Yes it is, my lord the king." And he added, "Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done and what wrong am I guilty of? Now let my lord the king listen to his servant's words. If the Lord has incited you against me, then may He accept an offering. If, however, men have done it, may they be cursed before the Lord! They have now driven me from my share in the Lord's inheritance and have said, 'Go, serve other gods.' Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have erred greatly."

"Here is the king's spear," David answered. "Let one of your young men come over and get it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble."

Then Saul said to David, "May you be blessed, my son David; you will do great things and surely triumph."

So David went on his way and Saul returned home.

1 Samuel 26:17-25

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In our passage for today, we find David asking Saul whether his motivation to kill him was coming from the Lord or himself. This moment of self reflection for Israel’s king caused him to realize that he was chasing after his own will and, in doing so, sinned against God. And so we see where he sought and then received David’s forgiveness for acting like a fool and erring greatly.

With this, David returns Saul’s sword to him and then says something very powerful…something that Saul needed to hear…as well as all other believers. Look again at his words here:

“The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness”.

Friends, as we live this thing called life every day, it isn’t hard to understand what the Lord wants from us. Thankfully, there isn’t some complex series of actions we need to complete in order to gain His favor. Rather, as summed up nicely by David, all God expects is that we exercise righteousness and faithfulness, rewarding us when we commit ourselves to both.

Let’s spend a moment seeing what each of these entails so we understand what we should be doing…and then look at the blessings the Lord provides for simply obeying His simple demands.

First, how does one live in a way that would be considered righteous by God?

Well, if we went to the dictionary, we would learn that being righteous means to act in accordance with divine or moral law…to be free from guilt or sin…to be morally right or justifiable. This is a good place to start in knowing how we’re to think, speak, and act as we seek to please our Lord…the Lord who wants us to live in obedience to the scriptures. And to help us do that, He has also given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who serves as our Divine Advisor and Counselor…an emissary from God the Father to keep His children living right and away from sin.

Or in other words, living in righteousness.

So to remain in God’s favor, we only need to turn to His Word, carry out its instructions, and surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Do this, and we will be living righteously and therefore become worthy of His reward.

The scriptures also tell us that the Lord blesses those who exercise faithfulness in the way they live for Him.

What does it mean to live in faithfulness?

Once again turning to the dictionary, we see that a faithful person is one who is steadfast in affection or allegiance…one who is firm in adherence to promises or in observance of duty…one who is true to a standard.

Indeed, the Lord expects us to be steadfast and unwavering in our affection and allegiance to Him…loyal and loving to Him, just as He is to us. And so when we pledge to follow His ways and turn from sin, He expects that we’ll keep that promise…just as He always keeps His promises to us.

In other words, if we want to be fully faithful to the Lord…we have to model the faithfulness He shows us. If we do this, then we can be assured that we will be living a life of loyalty to the One who is most worthy of it…and position ourselves in a place to receive His rewards.

OK…so we know we’re to strive and ever seek to succeed in living in righteousness and faithfulness…and we know the Lord blesses both.

So what rewards can we expect to receive?

Well, God’s word tells us all we need to know.

In this message, we’re going to look at the Lord’s list of rewards for righteous living because God’s word assures us that “…he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward” (Proverbs 11:18).

1. Peace.

“…righteousness and peace kiss each other.” Psalm 85:10

“The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” Isaiah 32:17

How much do you yearn for peace to be in your life?

Indeed, immersed in the day-to-day pressures of family and work, as well as other obligations and/or challenges one might have, things can be chronically chaotic and fast moving…so much so that there seems to be little time to for quiet.

This is why the Lord gave us all a two-verse prescription for peace (Philippians 4:6-7)…and when we dedicate ourselves to follow His Word and way, then that Word, illuminated and reinforced by the power of the Holy Spirit will lead us to true peace….a peace that transcends all understanding. To get there, we simply are told to surrender all our worries, anxieties, stresses, and fears to God, the only One powerful enough to handle them.

And so in sum, when we live in righteousness while partnering with the Lord to do so, He rewards us with peace.

2. Obedience

“Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16

Here, God’s Word is crystal clear.

Obedience leads us to righteousness and so we need to make sure we are always living in accordance with God’s Word and will. To that end, committing ourselves to behave righteously in all we do will help ensure we remain obedient to what the Lord desires.

And so we need to see that obedience and righteousness go hand in hand with each other.

Want to be obedient? Live righteously in the Lord’s sight.

Want to be righteous? Live obediently through following God’s Word.

3. The ministry of the Spirit.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!” 2 Corinthians 3:7-9

When we live righteously, conscientiously striving to be free of sin through obedience to the Lord’s will and way, then we are rewarded with the ministry of the Holy Spirit who is always there to guide us, comfort us, convict us, protect us, and love us…no matter what.

And just as we see in these three verses, what a glorious ministry this is…the ministry of the Spirit that is granted to us as a reward for our righteousness by God.

4. Discipline.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

Now I can almost hear you saying, “Wait a minute! Discipline is a reward?”

It is when we consider discipline as it was meant to be.

For when we think of discipline, we think of punishment, an improper definition of the word that has been etched on our brains since childhood. But when we really look at the root meaning of the word “discipline” (derived from the Latin word “disciplina”), we see that it doesn’t mean to punish but rather to teach.

Using this, we can understand that when we willingly receive the Lord’s teaching…teaching that at times needs to be correctional in nature…we are led to righteous living.

Or in other words, the Lord rewards us with discipline so to sow righteousness within us…and we should give thanks for that.

5. A new self.

“…and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24

“…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:11

Something awesome happens when we commit ourselves to live in righteousness, being obedient to the Lord’s Word.

We become a new person.

Actually, the scriptures tell is that we put on a new self.

Why?

Because when we decide to pursue righteousness and partner with the Lord in every part of life, then we begin more and more to be like Him…to be an image of Him, just as He created us. And the more we become just like Him, the more we find ourselves living a life filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes from modeling the life of Jesus, becoming a new creation in and through Him who lives fully in true righteousness and holiness (2 Corinthians 5:17).

6. Faith

“I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’" Romans 1:16-17

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:22

The road to righteous living is also paved with faithfulness for we can’t possibly become righteous if we refuse to exercise faith in the Lord. We need to also see that being inconsistent in our faithfulness to God results us as being inconsistent in righteousness too.

In the end translation, true faithfulness requires true commitment…a steadfast loyalty that lets the Lord know we won’t let Him down…just as He never lets us down.

Indeed, we reap the reward of the Lord’s faithfulness when we live in faithfulness toward Him and frankly, there could be no better place for any of us to be in life.

And so there you have it, the rewards of righteousness as spelled out by the Word of God. For the scriptures tell is we gain peace, obedience, the ministry of the Spirit, discipline, the Lord’s faithfulness ,and a brand new self. Because of the blessed ministry of the Spirit, we could also add these:

Love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control...all named as fruits of the Spirit in Galatians (5:22-23).

My brothers and sisters, there’s no question that the Lord blesses those who choose to live for Him in every way…for those who choose righteousness over sin.

So where do you stand in your life?

Have you placed yourself in a position where you are reaping His rewards?

Or have you strayed from using the Word of God and the guiding of the Holy Spirit as your roadmap for life…turning instead towards sin, and in doing so, falling out of His favor?

If you’re counted in the former, then continue to do what you’re doing, remaining devoted to the Lord in everything you do. Conversely, if you have never lived for Him or maybe stopped doing so if you did prior, then it’s time to make a change.

The good news is that you can change that today….right this minute…by either making a commitment or recommitment to God and then stay faithful to that commitment or recommitment, surrendering your life in full obedience to His Word and will for you. Do that and the promised rewards found in the scriptures will be yours.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at how He rewards faithfulness.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.