Breastplate of Righteousness #
Reflections Of Last Week #
- Where have you applied the Truth of who Jesus says you are this week?
Verse & Intro #
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Breastplate #
A Roman breastplate back in Paul’s day was a vital part of the soldier’s defense. The breastplate would not be one solid piece, but a series of overlapping metal plates connected with leather. The goal was to protect the core vital organs and muscle structure while providing flexibility. It was also curved to divert the impact of spears, swords, daggers, and arrows, so one did not feel the direct impact of the foe’s offensive attack.
Righteousness #
Definition
the quality of being morally right or justifiable
Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 5:9
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Righteousness is being justifiable and that comes through faith in Jesus and the blood of Jesus shed on our behalf. According to Romans 5:1, we have been justified by faith through Jesus Christ. Romans 5:9 re-enforces that statement, that we have been justified by the blood of Jesus so that we shall be saved from God’s wrath. We have righteousness through being justified, made right or aligned with God, through our faith in Jesus and his blood shed for us.
Let’s look at Romans 3 and 10:1-13. If our righteousness is only from our works or the image we project to others, it is worthless. Paul goes to great effort in Romans to convey that message. This is not a new message that we realized about our life apart from God, but in Isaiah, God is telling us:
Isaiah 64:6
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Recall that the belt and the breastplate allow us to stand. The breastplate was curved and overlapped giving us flexibility and protecting what is at our core from penetration and blunt force impacts. Without it, we are vulnerable and open to attack from our enemy. With our breastplate of righteousness, we can stand firm, have our brother’s back, and know who we are in the Kingdom.
Scripture Questions #
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Recall Romans 3, what stands out about how we obtain righteousness or where does our righteousness come from?
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How can you stand firm knowing you have been justified by faith in Jesus and by the blood of Jesus?
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Where do you struggle with your identity (being righteous) in Jesus?
Application #
Just like with the Belt of Truth, not all things you have come to believe about yourself, that might have some true parts, are the truth when it comes to your righteousness. Romans 3 and 10 clearly state that you have been justified, not by your own effort, but by your confession of faith into the grace of Jesus Christ. The hard part is believing that every day and living into the righteousness that we have in Jesus.
To be made justified, we also have the idea of being aligned. We see this type of talk in our modern world when we talk about how text is justified. We say that it is aligned right, left, center, or full. The idea is that we are made to be aligned with God, through blood and faith. If you have been made aligned to God, we have the ability to be in union with God. This union with God is a loving relationship where we communicate intimately with the Father, through this alignment and justification that Jesus has given us. Think of this as being restored to where we were created to be.
Application Questions #
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What have you come to believe about your alignment with God?
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Where do you struggle with this union?
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Where do you need to be restored in faith?
Healing #
Hebrews 5:13
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
One of the biggest lies that Satan can use against us is the concept that was used in the garden, “Did God really say…”, and you fill in the blanks. This attack is directly against us knowing and understanding our restored state of righteousness. As it states in Hebrews 5:13 above, we were not intended to live our restored life on just basic milk, but to go deeper into this union of trusting God. In this lesson, we are going to focus on parts of our identity that revolve around righteousness and who we are in Christ.
When we were younger, we had things that happened to us. John Eldredge calls them arrows that strike us at the core of what we have come to believe is truth about our ourselves. This is true about everyone, nobody is excluded. You could have grown up in a perfect home, with loving parents, but there are events that happen that we build our identity around. These are events that we look back on and justify that they were normal events, but the reason they come up is that we have built protection around them. Marcus Warner would call these “vows” and go something like this, “never again will I trust my father to be there when I need him.” We then build these up to be strongholds. It might be true that looking back these events were minor, but if we have built strongholds around lies and vows, then we cannot fully trust God and we will be stuck drinking spiritual milk as we become old.
These strongholds are usually the places where we do not do what we wish we could do. Maybe you want to be able to trust someone, but some force holds you back. This could be an area were we could normally function, but seem to shutdown when we get triggered by someone or something that comes too close to that wound and lie we have believed.
Walk though this process slowly, either by yourself or with someone you trust.
- Recall a time recently when you were in a situation and you could not do what it was that you wanted to do. Maybe focus on a time you did not feel justified or aligned with God. This is a slow process, take as long as you want.
- What was happening?
- What are you feeling? Be as descriptive as you can be.
- Allow Jesus to take you back to where you have first felt this feeling? Again, more detail the better.
- Invite Jesus into that place and ask him what the lies are that you have believed. Do you need to talk to a younger you? Do you need truth from Jesus?
- Can you accept that message from older you and the truth from Jesus?
- How does that apply to your life today?
Healing Questions #
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What have you come to believe about your righteousness?
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Where do you need more healing around this concept of being justified and restored?
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Where do you need more union with God?
Going Deeper #
Romans 10:10
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
We seem to place a bunch of importance in the Church around accountability, but I would like to challenge us to move away from this model. Accountability seems to be limited in what it can do or better yet, what we can do. Basically, we are asking other people to hold us to a level or measuring rod of other people.
I would challenge us to become more focused on identity. All those who believe and confessed that Jesus is Lord are justified with God. We are all given this baseline identity of justified with God. What would the Church look like if we all knew each other as victors in Christ and would build up our identity as more than conquerors? What if we woke up every day and started with our identity of being justified, aligned, and in union with God?
Imagine coming to church and being accountable to a person who you know also failed this week. They are going to ask how you have been doing in your struggles with your major problem. Now flip that over and imagine coming to church knowing that instead of being held accountable, you were greeted with Truth about who you are in Christ. People who know they fell short that week, but also know who you are in Jesus. They say, “There is a just person who is restored through grace”, or “There is a child of God!”
Deeper Questions #
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What bonds, either fear or joy, do you have around accountability?
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Reflect on when someone has called out the Fruit of the Spirit qualities they see in you?
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What keeps you from accepting righteousness through the blood of Jesus?