LEARNING DAILY

Ephesians 6:14, Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Pastor Jonathon Moore, Lead Pastor at NorthRock Church, had a great message this past weekend as he continued his series on the Armor of God. I am particularly interested in this series because of its importance for every Believer to put on each in order to fight the spiritual battle that is increasing around us. The armor was an emphasis for the administration and faculty when I went to First Baptist Academy and has been interesting to study since then.

The breastplate of righteousness is essential for any warrior going into battle because it protects the heart. “It really does not matter how strong or fast you are, if you get stabbed in the heart, you are going down” (Pastor Moore). It is the same for the Believer who wants to walk with God on the narrow way. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life”. Believers need to be doing what they need to do, walking with the Father as He desires, pleasing Him with the way they live their live. In order to do that, they need to be diligent in the walk on the narrow way.

Righteousness is “living right”; it is living and “doing the right things when people are watching and when people are not watching” (Moore). Proverbs 13:6 tells us, “Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but wickedness overthrows the sinner”. So, righteousness protects/guards the Believer’s heart by speaking truth and helping them know false teaching; it helps us to be obedient to the truth, understanding that “unrighteousness is an invitation for the enemy to attack our heart. Believers must attack not only the outward expression of these attacks but the very problem from where they come from. Be careful what you watch, what you listen to, who you hang around. If you watch scary movies before you go to bed, you might have scary dreams, for example. That may lead to fear or look for demons under every rock and bush.

Pastor Moore said righteousness can be faked. A person might look right, do and say the right things but not be righteous on the inside. “Righteousness can be faked, but neither God nor the enemy is fooled. Without the presence of God in one’s life, a person is not righteous” (Moore). Know this: Jesus Christ came to not only make a person look right on the outside but to deal with their sins. His righteousness is embraced not earned. Pastor Moore explained this by explaining imputed and imparted righteousness.

Imputed righteousness is given to us at the moment one is saved by Jesus Christ; that is justification (Just as if I had no sin). “I gave Him my sin, and, in return, He gave me His righteousness” (Moore). Why do I still have all these problems, then? The answer is found in the fact that Believers are still human – each Believer must crucify the flesh every day making it known it is no longer in control of you. You are a new creation centered in Jesus Christ and walking a narrow way. Secondly, we have a soul that wants to dominate -the center of this is our mind, will and emotions. To deal with the soul, Believers must, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. And the third thing that needs to be done is the surrender of the Believer’s spirit to the Holy Spirit every day; this is where righteousness begins.

He also explained imparted righteousness is worked out every day after Believer’s are saved. This is sanctification which means walking the narrow way everyday according to biblical principles and God’s standards. It is where right living begins to transform Believers from the inside out. This is not living a legalistic life; it is living by wearing the breastplate of righteousness.  It is about protecting the heart!

He concluded by quoting Ephesians 4:20-24 where the Apostle Paul writes to Believers. “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.