Christ's Character -- July 4, 2009

But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and forever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
Hebrews 1:9

Righteousness according to the writer brings three things to the ministry of the Son. They are stability, authority and joy. If we want these components in our lives then we will discipline ourselves to have righteousness until we love righteousness and become joyful about it.

The Son’s throne is forever and ever. Established by God the ministry of Christ will continue throughout the ages. It is not established on the very power of God but upon the righteousness of Christ’s character. This ministry will be permanent not like the first covenant that ministered only confinement and eventually death. We can build stability in our lives by practicing the righteousness of Christ.

The authority of Christ’s life is also based on the same righteous character. Again it is not just strength that carries the day but Christ’s unswerving righteousness that allows Him to dictate morality to us. His is the only morality. His very scepter is pictured here as righteousness itself. We have no morality we can compare with His. Likewise we have no authority but that which He has granted by His will to those He chooses. Jesus told Pilate that he had no strength over Him that the Father had not given him. Jesus’ righteousness was based on His obedience to the Father--just like ours is. If we want to speak to our world with authority we need to base it in the same foundation that Jesus built His on.

And because the righteousness that the Son practices is heartfelt and not some externally imposed formula it moves the Father to anoint Him with the oil of gladness. Jesus loves righteousness and hates lawlessness. This internal motivation is given by the Spirit when we enter the holy family by our faith. We will need to discipline our flesh until we learn to LOVE righteousness and can’t stand lawlessness. Then we too will receive the anointing of gladness in proportion to our loving practice of righteousness because it is based on the Christ-like character birthed in us!

Entering His Character,

Pastor Jason