Joyfully Working Righteousness Isaiah 64:5a 

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God our Father, and His righteous Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Our message is based on our Old Testament reading, especially verse 5, You meet him who joyfully works righteousness!

Joyfully Working Righteousness is our sermon theme. 

Have you ever done something you had to do, but weren’t very happy about it?

It might be something we have to at work, or something our parents tell us to do, or something around the house or the yard that we need to do but don’t want to because it’s tedious or boring or hard work. Our response might be: “Okay then, I’ll do it.”. 

Growing up, I enjoyed doing chores on the farm. But one thing I didn’t enjoy was  picking rocks in the field. I enjoyed driving tractor. But I would moan and groan about picking rocks. 

But it had to be done. Partly to protect machinery, but partly because Dad liked to looking at the fields and not seeing even a pebble out there.

I remember complaining to my Mom once about something Dad had us do because I didn’t think it was necessary, I can’t remember what. 

But I remember what my Mom said, “When have you ever known your Dad not to do things the hard way.” The harder the job, the more he enjoyed it. Working hard was one of the things he loved most in life. 

Now looking back, that’s something I really respect. Dad gave us an example of working hard with a good attitude, to embrace the challenge and give it your best.

One of the hardest things for people to do, our greatest challenge, is to love. That doesn’t sound very hard. 

And if we’re talking about a superficial, worldly type of love, that’s true; a worldly kind of love can come pretty easily. That’s because it’s not pure love. It’s love with a lot of selfish motive mixed in.

But to love the way that God created us to love, in the way God’s Word commands us to love, isn’t so easy, impossibly hard.

It didn’t take long for Adam and Eve to fall away and fall short of that kind of perfect, godly love; what we might call righteous or holy love.

And it didn’t take us long, either. In fact, Psalm 51 tells us that we were conceived and born in sin, unable to love as God created, and redeemed, and calls us to do.

But there was One, who loved others perfectly, as God loves us; One who knew no sin, we’re told in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He knew only love. 

He loved us as God loves us because He was God’s Son come to earth. And now He’s God’s Son gone back to Heaven, until He comes to earth a second and final time. 

He’s the One who joyfully worked righteousness, as our text says, and did it perfectly for us. If He would have been anything less than perfectly loving and righteous, He would not have been able to win our righteousness. 

To give us a righteousness by which we could be saved, Jesus first had to first be holy and loving and righteous.  Then, being the Almighty Son of God, and the authority and king and judge of all, He could give us His righteous to count as our 

own. 

He sent His Spirit to do that, in Baptism, to give us the gift of faith, that we might meet our Maker with a perfect righteousness, worthy of heavenly life. Our God joyfully welcomes those who are righteous by faith in His Son, to live in His Kingdom of glory forever. 

Knowing this about our God, that You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, let us first live and rejoice in the forgiveness we have in Christ, which makes and keeps us righteous before God.

And let us joyfully work righteousness in our world until our time here ends, and we joyfully live and serve in righteousness in God’s eternal Kingdom.

So how do we joyfully work righteousness in our world until Christ brings us home?

To be righteous is to be innocent of sin, and to be pure in love.

Again, the only way to be entirely pure and innocent of sin is to be forgiven through faith in Christ. Then, being entirely forgiven and declared righteous by Christ for salvation, we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, can devote ourselves to living more purely and innocently; trying to sin less against our God and our neighbor, and trying to do more of what honors God and is good for our neighbor.

Or to put it as Jesus did, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And to love your neighbor as yourself.  

One of the most loving things we can do is to forgive those who have sinned against us; to forego revenge; to surrender the right to get even, because our Lord surrendered it, that He might save and forgive us.

Philippians 2:5 tells us to have the mind of Christ. Have this mind toward your neighbor who sinned against you: You hurt me; you hurt me badly, but with God’s help, with His love and His Spirit as my power, I resolve to not strike back; I won’t hurt you back. 

Instead, I’ll help you in your need. I’ll pray for your well-being, and wish good for you; I’ll be happy for you when good things happen to you; and I’m happy to do good things to you.

That’s joyfully working righteousness. 

And it’s some of the hardest work we can do in this life. If we take the lazy, easy way, then we strike back, and we hate our enemies.

But if we take the high and narrow road, the more difficult path in life, then we strive to forgive, and to forgive gladly. 

To forgive is hard enough but to forgive gladly and willingly, as Jesus willingly  died for us, that’s really, really hard to do. 

But our Lord has done it for us; and by the power of God, through which all things are possible, we can learn to gladly forgive, and in that way, to joyfully work righteousness in this world.

Our God has met us in our Baptism, and His Spirit lives in us by faith, and He walks with us in His Gospel. His presence is our power to gladly forgive, and to joyfully work righteousness. 

Because he is Emmanuel, God with us, we can grow more faithful and happy to do what is right in the name of Christ.

We also joyfully work righteousness when we gladly help our neighbor in need; when we stand up for those who are being taken advantage of; when we become a voice for those who can’t speak out on their own behalf, like the unborn, or severely ill or disabled. Our God smiles as we meet them with love, and serve them with joy.

We joyfully work righteousness when we refuse to follow worldly ways that God’s Word tells us are wrong and bad for all. 

We joyfully work righteousness when we gladly learn God’s Word, when gladly follow God’s commands, His law, and gladly trust His promises, His Gospel. 

And we work righteousness when we gladly share His Word in the world and spread the good news that in Christ, there is a righteousness by grace that brings eternal joy to all who believe.

Our Lord is coming again to meet us and take us home. Until then, let us joyfully live in the righteousness that is ours by faith, and let us gladly work righteousness by loving God, and forgiving, helping, and doing good unto others.      

And as we do, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our righteous Lord, who is coming soon! 

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.