Righteous Brother

1 John 3:1-7
Pastor Bill Mosley 4-18-2021
I got to see the Righteous Brothers in a live concert at the Houston Music Hall in 1965. They sang “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” and “Unchained Melody,” and a bunch of others. They also told some stories, including the fact that they weren’t brothers. Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley were singing with another group. Once after their duet, a black Marine shouted out, “That‘s righteous, brothers.” They remembered that and came to name their own group The Righteous Brothers.
They weren’t brothers. So what was “righteous” about them?
What do we mean by “righteous” or “righteousness?”
The English word righteous was coined by William Tyndale, who remodeled the word after an earlier word which would have yielded Modern English rightwise or rightways. He used it to translate the Hebrew root tzedek, which appears more than five hundred times in the OT, and the Greek word δικαιος which appears more than 200 times in the New Testament. –Wikipedia
A theologian told the story about being in Tel Aviv when his taxi stalled out. The taxi driver raises the hood, makes some adjustments in the engine, starts the car, and when the engine purred nicely said with satisfaction, “Tzedek.”
“Everything is right.” All things are working together rightly. It’s about relationships. Things with things. People with people. People & God.
In the Book of Job the title character is introduced to us as a person
who is “perfect” in righteousness. This does not mean that he is sinless.”Perfect” in this sense means that his righteousness permeates every relationship of his life as his working principle.
God is right because He is righteous, therefore God can only act righteously. In one instance the word means being right; in another it is used to mean doing right; in still another case it means putting right. Job qualifies as a righteous person on each of these counts, so much so that he is commended by God as “wholly righteous” or, translated into our terms, “perfect.” –Wikipedia
By ourselves, we are not righteous. Jesus came not for the righteous, but for sinners. To make us righteous.
We know we are God’s children because he loves us. We share in his righteousness and so can purify ourselves.
Love is the keynote of John’s first epistle. He mentions love almost 40 times in 5 short chapters. The themes of light, life and love recur again and again, for new consideration and development.
John sees things in black and white polarities: light & darkness, hate, love, life, death, children of God, children of the devil.
Children of God are righteous, pure and do not sin.
This passage is part of a section on how the children of God, those who believe, live a life free from sin. For John, love is the opposite of sin, and love is almost
2
identical with life.
John aims to give us confidence that
there is a right and a wrong, and we
can know the right through God’s
righteousness. Look at verse 7: “Little
children, let no one deceive you.
Everyone who does what is right is
righteous, just as he is righteous.”
That’s righteousnss, that’s dikaios,
that’s tsedek. But it’s not our
righteousness. It’s God’s
righteousness.
Jesus is sinless, and he takes away
our sin and gives us life and love.
Reading 1 John you know you are
hearing from someone who was in the
room with Thomas when he saw the
risen Jesus. John wants to assure
those who have not seen that he has
seen Jesus as he was raised and
expects to see Jesus and be like him in
glory, so he tries to live like him now.
That’s what we’re meant to do.
We know we are children of God
now, shaping up for the life to come:
In Christ now, in Christ then, because
he is righteous.
Back in Chapter 2:28-29 John says
~ 28And now, little children, abide in
him, so that when he is revealed we
may have confidence and not be put to
shame before him at his coming. 29If
you know that he is righteous, you may
be sure that everyone who does right
has been born of him.
Last week I suggested that for this
Easter Season you could commit to
reading 1 John straight through each
week. Even memorize 2 John as
summary of John’s thought. I hope
you are doing that.
And do something loving each day.
Participate in God’s righteousness.
PRESIDENTS have always given
gifts to friends and distinguished
guests as a matter of course. But
Lyndon Johnson raised gift giving to an
art. Doris Kearns, in her book, Lyndon
Johnson and the American Dream,
writes: Along with the cuff links, bowls
and tie clasps that are the traditional
Presidential gift fare, LBJ was fond of
giving out electric toothbrushes
engraved with the Presidential seal.
Johnson said, “I give these
toothbrushes to friends, [so] I know
that from now until the end of their
days, they will think of me the first thing
in the morning, & the last at night.” –
Published by Harper & Row –x 711 G
God has given us more than a
toothbrush. He has given us new life
through the life, death and resurrection
of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Think of him the first thing in the
morning and the last thing at night.
When you’re getting a stalled car to
run. When you hear beautiful music.
And try to live like him.
That’s righteous, brother. It’s not our
righteousness by ourselves. It’s ours
as long as our brother is Jesus, the
son of God.
Lord, you are righteous so we can say no to
whatever makes it more difficult to say yes to
you. 969 words