Food
for Thought: The
Breastplate of Righteousness
He
put on righteousness then as his breastplate...
Dr. Mark Ruppert
September 28, 2003
Isaiah 59:16-17a
Ephesians 6:10-17
One day the great French general, Napoleon Bonaparte, ordered a
bulletproof coat to be made. When the workman had completed his
task he delivered the coat personally to the emperor. Napoleon
took the coat from the man and then handed it back, ordering him
to put it on. And then napoleon took a gun and fired 6 shots into
the coat, now worn by the workman. When he saw that the coat repelled
the shots he congratulated the man and sent him on his way. I'm
sure that fellow was glad he did such good work.
This morning we continue in our series on the Armor of God and
how God desires us to be men and women of faith, equipped and
ready to defend ourselves against temptation, against evil
and Satan. The first piece of armor that we put on our man or woman of God
was the belt of truth and now today, we look to the second piece,
the breastplate of righteousness. As Paul was looking to the Roman
soldiers who were guarding him in prison he is drawn to the major
piece of armor that was worn. The breastplate was made of metal
and leather and it protected the vital organs. Pliable strips of
metal protected the soldier from under his armpits down to his
waist. A plate covered the front and a plate covered his back for
protection against spears and arrows from the enemy. And one of
the most vital organs that the breastplate covered was the soldier's
heart. What Paul is telling the Christian is to put on the breastplate
of righteousness, which is the purity and holiness of the believer,
which the devil cannot penetrate to sway our hearts from the Lord.
Our enemies are of the spiritual powers of Satan and his evil hosts
that reside at every human level or position in the world. If Satan
can take away the believer's sense of righteousness then he can
wound the heart and the conscience of the man or woman of God and
this wound can be devastating, if not spiritually disastrous. So
the breastplate of righteousness covers the vital organs of the
body, the very soul and conscience of the Christian.
It has been said that Righteousness comes to the believer in 2
classifications: Imputed and Imparted. First, Imputed. What is
IMPUTED is the Provision of righteousness. This is all because
of what Jesus Christ did at Calvary for you and for me. Dying so
that we might be free. And it is because of the work on that cross
that we are justified and therefore, we have a right standing with
God.
Second, Imparted. What is IMPARTED is the Practice of righteousness.
This is the righteousness that Christ works in and through the
Christian. The believer must not only say that they believe in
righteousness but they must make righteousness a way of life. They
must "put on" righteousness and only as the believer
walks in the righteousness of Christ will they be protected.
But let me say that no one, is naturally righteous, no one. Look
with me at Romans 3:10-18, 23. Paul says, "as it is written:
'There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one
who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have
turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no
one who shows kindness, there is not even one.' 'Their throats
are opened graves; they use their tongues to deceive.' 'The venom
of vipers is under their lips.' 'Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have
not known.' 'There is no fear of God before their eyes.' …Since
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Now this
sounds pretty bleak, doesn't it? But the good news is that through
Jesus Christ's death our Lord died for us to become, to become
righteous. Paul says in II Corinthians 5:21, and here is the good
news, "For our sake he made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin who
knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God." It is like this: when a person trusts in Jesus Christ
as their Savior and Lord that person is justified, in other words,
declared righteous, by faith. Paul says in Romans 5:1, "Therefore,
since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ's victory over sin and death
at Calvary and His resurrection from the grave wiped out our debt
caused by sin. And we are saved because we are covered by the righteousness
of Christ.
And so what does this mean for the believer who
puts on the breastplate of righteousness? Well, righteousness has
been defined as "doing
the right thing". And yet there are countless numbers of people,
both inside and outside the church, who are broken and sad, who
are feeling less than whole, who are burdened and feeling the weight
of the world on their shoulders because they have dropped the breastplate
of righteousness. There are even those with hard hearts because
they have taken off righteousness. People who have either strayed
away from God's design for us and have forsook their parents or
their children. People who have lied and cheated in a financial
dealing. People who have cheated on their spouse or have decided
to live with someone outside of the Biblical covenant of marriage.
People who have been mean-spirited and have just worn down another
person. People living with a guilty conscience for whatever reason
to the point that they are physically, mentally and spiritually
sick. For some they worry about being found out. They feel terrible
about the unhappiness they have caused another person. It was the
great Mark Twain who once said that Man is the only animal that
blushes, and the only animal that needs to. There are those who
feel ashamed of things from the past. Maybe you read Sunday, September
7th's Parade in the Beacon Journal with the featured article that
was entitled, Family Secrets and the question raised was We All
Have Them. Should We Tell? The article said, "These poison
secrets usually concern issues as abortion, adoption, abandonment,
out-of-wedlock birth, incest, past marriages, divorce, suicide,
alcohol or drug dependency and serious illness, particularly mental
illness." And the good news is that no matter what our past, no matter
what we have done if we own the forgiveness that is ours through
Jesus
Christ we can begin all over again with a clean slate. Remember what I said earlier about there being 2 classifications
of righteousness that comes to the believer, IMPUTED and IMPARTED
righteousness? The imputed part is what Christ has done for us
so that we can now become the righteousness of God. It is the
forgiveness that Christ offers that we can start anew. For
The God that we
worship this day is the God of the second chances and even more.
And this is what is known as Amazing Grace, the Amazing Grace
of God. What it all boils down to is the fact that "Righteousness" refers
to the right standing before God that is the status of the Christian,
out of which moral conduct and character emerges. (Philippians/Ephesians,
Serendipity Group Bible Study, p. 59) And so it is like this: Righteousness
in the heart produces righteousness in the life. Are we living
righteous lives for Christ? If not then we need to do put on the
breastplate of righteousness. Maybe we have the breastplate on but its not completely strapped
on and there are some areas exposed that need to be covered so
that the evil one doesn't get a firmer hold on us and by making
the proper readjustments we can get completely back on track. When
we put the righteousness of Christ on we, Desire Holiness. God
says in His word, "be ye holy, as I am holy." Is it possible
to be as holy as God? No, but the goal is to seek holiness and
to please God. Holy living is the expression of being established
in righteousness. It has been said that "Righteousness is
the ground that we are established in, and holy living is the fruit
that grows out of that ground." Holy living, my friends, is
living according to the Word of God. The righteousness that we
seek is really practical in nature; it is doing the right thing,
the right thing in the eyes of God. In his book Meditations on Ephesians Leonard T. Wolcott writes
the following. "Our defense is integrity in action. Our offense
is integrity in the expression of our faith. The emphasis of this
passage in the letter is personal genuineness. The call is imperative.
Face every crisis, every problem, with sure faith, unmixed with
self-interest, unshadowed by self-deception. Plunge into life with
sure love, unmasked, clear-motived, clean-minded, and you are proof
against the bullets of despair, of disturbed emotions that whirl
around an axis of fear. Truth is like a belt around the body of
God's church. It permits the church to be free-moving, quick, assured,
bold in action. Truth is the knowledge we possess and which possesses
us. It is our firm conviction of him who is the truth. Truth is
the consequence of courageous search for him who has captured us,
for he is God of truth. Truth is what we have seen in Christ. Truth
is our expreience of God's realness in life, and practice of God's
meaning in life-in daily work, in politics, in economics, in religion.
Truth is opposite to sham. It is deeper than appearance. It affects
our words with sincerity, our works with honesty, our attitudes
with frankness, our self-evaluation with candor. Truth confronts
the power interests, the counselors of expediency, the scientists
in laboratories-confronts them with their responsibilities in man-to-man
relationships. Right living, right doing, right thinking straps
a bulletproof vest around the body of God's people. Protected by
integrity in all our dealings we can champion integrity before
the world. Integrity means we have no secrets, fears, pride, or
self-righteousness dividing us. It means we are well-balanced,
sane in our view of life and in our attitudes-if we have integrity.
It means to trust each day to God." (p. 160) Let me close by reading what Paul writes in Galatians 2:19a-20.
We read, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life
I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me." Amen.
Key Points
Isaiah 59:16-17a
Ephesians 6:10-17
Introduction: One day the great French general, Napoleon Bonaparte,
ordered a bulletproof coat to be made
The Breastplate of Righteousness…
The Breastplate of Righteousness is the ______ and _______
of the believer
Righteousness comes to the believer in 2 classifications:
First, what is Imputed is the ___________ of righteousness
Second, what is Imparted is the _________ of righteousness
Romans 3:10-18,23 II Corinthians 5:21 Romans 5:1
Righteousness has been defined as…
Righteousness in the ________ produces righteousness in the ______
Conclusion: Galatians 2:19a-20, "I have bee crucified with
Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives
in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
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