After the announcements were made we heard the chairman say, “The words of the prophet appeal to me as the most appropriate to give in our welcome and reception to fellowship of this young lady who has now become our Sister in the Lord”:
‘The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever’.
Afterwards, all voices joined in the singing of those lovely, age-old words that Moses first addressed to his people:
“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee,
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee,
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace”.
With the anthem of praise following in a rising chorus of melody:
“Blessed be Jehovah, Israel’s God, to all eternity. Let all the people say Amen, Praise to the Lord give ye.”
Then merging, as the organ notes faded, into the united petition and thanks of the chairman’s prayer.
“Those words of welcome”,—we heard it said from the platform—”may also be the most fitting introduction to my remarks”, which proved to be a contemplation of the “righteousness” that God required and that given by a sincere believer in Him.
For all of us, the decision to pursue a righteous life, whether a new member or old, meant striving—always—to secure that final result that righteous living will give. There can he no compromise, for Cod requires complete obedience to His will—a consistent faithfulness at all times and in all circumstances.
But the best that is given falls so far short of the high standard required. For all of us, without exception, it is a story of continued efforts and frequent failure, ever seeking for a prize that seems unattainable; as if we “see afar off the sunlit scene of distant mountain peaks”.
In their efforts to cope with the problem there are those who, in a boastful spirit, claim to be achieving some degree of righteousness. Others are discouraged and despondent about the repeated failures. But neither is correct; as neither has seen through to the light that really solves the problem; and, when it is seen, the difficulty is found to resolve into two separate parts.
The first is about, “What we do”; the second, -What God provides”. “Both”, our speaker said, -are related and vital one to the other.” Neither can act alone, for it is a combined action that acts positively in securing results.
This is the enviable position we gain by knowing what the Scriptures teach about “Justification by Faith”—meaning literally, in words of our time, to be “declared righteous”, like a judicial sentence that pronounces “right” and therefore acquits without sentence or penalty.
The scene is no less bright or the mountain peaks less lofty, but all the human strivings, so seemingly ineffectual, are supplemented by The Free Gift—a “credit”—that bridges the gap between “What we do” and “What God provides”, so making the “unattainable” available.
This sublime truth is the theme of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Early Christians in Rome, in which he expounded, and confirmed from the prophets, that in the gospel is “revealed the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe” and makes that gospel the power of God to every one who receives it in faith. “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom —our righteousness—and sanctification and redemption,” so, “let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.”
And that is what Paul did when he told the Philippian believers he counted “every thing as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and reckon them as refuse, in order that I may be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God”.
Fellowship with the Maker and Brethren