"He who practices righteousness is righteous" (1 John 3:7)

[jacks]

The message has always been to be righteous, to choose life over death. To put God before the world.

The Offer of Life or Death

11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Deuteronomy 30 11-20

 

[BCsenior]

Have you ever attended a church that preached practicing sin?

No, I haven't ...
but IMO, NOT preaching against it is tantamount to condoning it.

 

[BCsenior]

People who include "obedience" into the definition of "believe" typically teach salvation by works. In many cases, "type 2 works salvation."

Jesus repeatedly said ...
those who love Him will obey His commandments (John 14).
Can you see that obeying Him out of love is NOT works salvation?

 

[BCsenior]

The minute my salvation depends on how well I obey (especially according to God's standards) I'm straight on my way to Hell. And that applies to every BAC as far as I'm concerned. No matter how obedient they think they are.

Unfortunately, you are ignoring/rejecting
many dire warnings in the NT.

It's NOT our analysis, emotions, false doctrines, etc. that count;
it is strictly the word of God that counts.

Ignore the plain teachings at your peril.

 

[Friedrich Rubinstein]

When it comes to "must". In 99% of the time I could state that I mustn't do anything, it all comes natural. Doing good deeds, looking after family and friends but there is that 1%, that one thing which crops up from time to time which isn't all that righteous.

Must I or mustn't I?

Regarding the 1% you'll find my answer here:
The failure to pay close attention

 

[Strong in Him]

No, I haven't ...
but IMO, NOT preaching against it is tantamount to condoning it.

No, it isn't.
If preachers spent their time preaching against sin, no one would get taught the word or the faith, no one would be encouraged etc. And there are different opinions about sin - just read these forums. Some have said that ordaining women is a sin, or not taking communion in the "correct" way. There is at least one person here who believes that only the KJV is the correct and true Bible, and some believe that the Catholic church is the only true church, some believe that accepting evolution is a sin or not having the "correct" view of end times - and all that is before you even get onto the subjects of drinking, gambling, smoking, abortion, divorce etc. If preachers spent a week preaching against all of those subjects, they'd lose their congregations. I certainly wouldn't go to church to be lectured for 15 minutes on the subject of gambling, which I don't do anyway.

 

[Mr. M]

The minute my salvation depends on how well I obey (especially according to God's standards) I'm straight on my way to Hell. And that applies to every BAC as far as I'm concerned. No matter how obedient they think they are.

Brian,
The OP topic is not salvation, it is righteous living. The scriptures in many ways instructs us to
"work out our salvation". Yes, we fall short of the righteousness of God, but working righteousness
is possible as we abide in the Spirit that abides in us, which is clearly John's point in his first epistle. Anyone can be a model employee if driven by success and achievement. If we desire to hear
"well done, faithful servant", we are told to live, work, coach, parent, teach, fellowship, etc... as
unto the Lord. As attorneys like to say, "it speaks to motive, your honor". After a lifetime of walking
with the Lord, I am not more saved than when I was 12, but I do reflect His character much more, as
we all should "grow in Grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior". 2 Peter 3:18
This is His righteousness, Christ in us, the hope of Glory.
As the title of the OP implies, it takes practice.
James

 

[timothyu]

If preachers spent their time preaching against sin, no one would get taught the word or the faith, no one would be encouraged etc.

Jesus spent His whole ministry speaking against the ways of man while in support of the ways/will of God. He separated the world of man from the kingdom of God and told us to choose. Failure to follow the will of God over our own will is sin. The Bible from cover to cover shows how man pits our will against the will of God. We are all adversaries. So any preacher who does not teach that is avoiding the will of both Jesus and the Father. Anything else they teach is secondary. Jesus says the good news is God is going to dwell among man again in a new kingdom. Preachers and man look to self as usual (making everything about us), and say oh goodie, we're going to live forever.

 

[BCsenior]

As the title of the OP implies,
it (being righteous) takes practice.
James

Are you quoting James, or are you James? ... lol

 

[Strong in Him]

Jesus spent His whole ministry speaking against the ways of man while in support of the ways/will of God.

Jesus spent his ministry telling, and showing, people about God, his love and his will. He said not to follow the ways of the world, love money, store up treasures on earth, love your enemies, feed the poor etc - and that those who were last in the eyes of the world, were first in the kingdom.
He did not condone adultery or breaking God's word. But neither did he say that the lifestyles of tax collectors, sinners and non Jews was sinful. And he didn't teach about gambling, horoscopes, abortion or any of the 1001 other lifestyle choices that we make.

He separated the world of man from the kingdom of God and told us to choose.

Not entirely.
His parables and illustrations were straight from the "world of man" - things around them that they knew about; sheep, shepherds, planting, and harvesting, wheat, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, (which everyone knew was notorious for robbers), workers in vineyards and so on. In one of his most famous parables, the good guy/role model was a hated Samaritan; Jesus didn't condemn him, far less the robbers who beat up the traveller.
Jesus was like us in every way, except that he didn't sin. He lived firmly IN the world of man - and what's more, was born into a country that was occupied by pagan Romans. He spoke to, healed and taught those who were unbelievers, tax collectors and gentiles - he told Zacchaeus he wanted to have tea with him, rather than lecturing him about his lifestyle. He refused to condemn the woman caught in the act of adultery or punish her for her lifestyle - but showed her mercy and told her to sin no more. He asked the man at the pool of Bethesda if he wanted to get well and did not condemn him for believing a local superstition.

Sure, he turned the values of the world on their head, and taught us to put God first - but he was never "so heavenly minded that he was no earthly good".

Failure to follow the will of God over our own will is sin.

I'm not disputing that; I'm saying that there are differences of opinion about sin, and how to handle it.
Thundering from the pulpit that divorce is a sin, would not help, support or show compassion to a woman who has been abused by her husband all her married life and finally found the strength to leave; or the man whose wife walked off with someone else and was asking for a divorce, much against the husband's will. In those cases, and others, divorce may be the only option. Preaching that gambling/drinking alcohol/smoking/working too hard was a sin would be controversial, and would do nothing to help people who were addicted to those things - yes, work can become an addiction or even a god.

God's will is for us to believe in Jesus.
We do that and receive eternal life, but sanctification; breaking bad and sinful habits, may take a lifetime.

Jesus says the good news is God is going to dwell among man again in a new kingdom.

Jesus says the Good News is that God loves us and, though we are sinners, it is possible to be forgiven, cleansed, have eternal life and a relationship with him. When people become children of God and live their lives with Jesus as their king, the Kingdom is already here.

Preachers and man look to self as usual (making everything about us), and say oh goodie, we're going to live forever.

You're listening to the wrong preachers.
Those I know explain how eternal life starts now, how we are to be salt and light and witnesses to Jesus, who died to make this possible.

 

[fhansen]

All verses below are from the NKJV.

“… everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
(1 John 2:29)

“… whoever does NOT practice righteousness is NOT of God …”
(1 John 3:10)

“He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

“In this the children of God and the children of the devil
are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness
is NOT of God, NOR is he who does NOT love his brother.”
(1 John 3:10)

“… whoever fears Him and works righteousness
is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:35)

“… (slaves) of obedience leading to righteousness”
(Romans 6:16)

“… slaves of righteousness for holiness.” (Romans 6:19)

God does NOT practice righteousness for BACs.
BACs must do the practicing of righteousness for themselves.

From the verses above, do we agree?
God only invites into heaven …
those who have a standing of righteousness before Him,
those whom He considers righteous.

Yes, it's a partnership, with God putting His law in our minds and writing it on our hearts and we remaining in Him as we allow and cooperate with His work. Both His gift of grace and our acceptance of the gift throughout our lives as we acknowledge our obligation to be personally righteous, impossible apart from Him.

 

[chad kincham]

Despite the universal appeal of John 3:16, its important for Christians to be aware that John was an apostle of the circumcision, to the circumcision, as stated in Galatians 2:7-9.

We are to take our salvation doctrine from Paul, as agreed by John too in Galatians 2.

Except there is one gospel and one kingdom of God, and one plan salvation was offered FIRST to the Jew AND THEN to the gentile.

All are one in Christ Jesus, which is why Paul preached the kingdom of God, and preached the same message to both Jew and Gentile, such as this:

Testifying BOTH to the Jews, AND also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Act 28:30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,

Act 28:31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding

Mid-Acts and/or Pauline dispensationalism is simply wrong, and everything concerning salvation, including John chapter 3, pertains to everyone.

 

[timothyu]

Jesus spent his ministry telling, and showing, people about God, his love and his will. He said not to follow the ways of the world, love money, store up treasures on earth, love your enemies, feed the poor etc - and that those who were last in the eyes of the world, were first in the kingdom.

Agreed.

And he didn't teach about gambling, horoscopes, abortion or any of the 1001 other lifestyle choices that we make.

No need to nit-pick was there. Everything falls under the category of put our will first, included before each other.

Not entirely.
His parables and illustrations were straight from the "world of man" - things around them that they knew about; sheep, shepherds, planting, and harvesting, wheat, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho

Yes He spoke using things we understood but He clearly said our ways were not Gods ways and we needed to choose which we would follow.

God's will is for us to believe in Jesus.

Especially what He taught.

I'm saying that there are differences of opinion about sin, and how to handle it.

Agreed. I'm simply saying, just like Jesus summed up the ten commandments in His two, that any sin is simply summed up in putting our will ahead of the will of God. Just like people are focused in the US on the divisions within and expected to choose but are missing out on what is really going on globally, focusing on individual sins distracts from the big picture of world of man backwards and bad, while God and His Kingdom good. There is the choice.

Jesus says the Good News is that God loves us and, though we are sinners, it is possible to be forgiven, cleansed, have eternal life and a relationship with him. When people become children of God and live their lives with Jesus as their king, the Kingdom is already here.

Yes a round about way of stating the side effects of the only gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom

Those I know explain how eternal life starts now, how we are to be salt and light and witnesses to Jesus, who died to make this possible.

That is the internal memo man issued, yes. Jesus previously said the good news was God will actually dwell among us once again.

 

[Hammster]

When it comes to "must". In 99% of the time I could state that I mustn't do anything, it all comes natural. Doing good deeds, looking after family and friends but there is that 1%, that one thing which crops up from time to time which isn't all that righteous.

Must I or mustn't I?

I want to be clear because I know that I’m not clear at times. I believe that we must be obedient. Every person, saved or unsaved, must be obedient. Jesus is king. But our obedience doesn’t make us righteous. Our righteousness isn’t from us, and isn’t based on what we do, but on what He has done. A sheep does sheep things, and righteous people do righteous things.

 

[fhansen]

I want to be clear because I know that I’m not clear at times. I believe that we must be obedient. Every person, saved or unsaved, must be obedient. Jesus is king. But our obedience doesn’t make us righteous. Our righteousness isn’t from us, and isn’t based on what we do, but on what He has done. A sheep does sheep things, and righteous people do righteous things.

As long as we understand that, while the righteousness comes from Him, as all things do, the righteousness He gives is real and personal. It's simply impossible to obtain apart from Him. That's the basis of the New Covenant.

 

[Hammster]

As long as we understand that, while the righteousness comes from Him, as all things do, the righteousness He gives is real and personal. It's simply impossible to obtain apart from Him. That's the basis of the New Covenant.

That’s my point. It’s a foreign righteousness not based on us or what we do.

 

[BCsenior]

There are BACs who do NOT practice righteousness,
but practice habitual sinning (w/o repentance).

Who are these people?
BACs who are backsliders?
BACs who are NO longer righteous?
BACs who are NOT on their way to heaven?
BACs who will repent one day and return to being righteous?
Who are these people?

 

[Hammster]

There are BACs who do NOT practice righteousness,
but practice habitual sinning (w/o repentance).

Who are these people?
BACs who are backsliders?
BACs who are NO longer righteous?
BACs who are NOT on their way to heaven?
BACs who will repent one day and return to being righteous?
Who are these people?

They are children of God, if they are born again. How does God deal with disobedient children?

 

[timothyu]

Who are these people?
BACs who are backsliders?
BACs who are NO longer righteous?
BACs who are NOT on their way to heaven?
BACs who will repent one day and return to being righteous?
Who are these people?

Seeds. Parable of the Sower. Good seed falls where they may. Many become corrupted. Not all that say Lord Lord will be recognized in the end.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Since the scripture also says that the righteous shall live by faith, and scripture does not contradict itself.

The practice of righteousness is trusting God.