This week we continue our study on the armor of God in Ephesians 6:14:
The breastplate is protection for the vital organs—the heart and lungs. The heart pumps the blood, which is our life. The lungs are used for breathing. The Hebrew word for breath is the same word that is used for spirit. Spiritually, our heart is the source of life that flows through us, and our spiritual lungs is our ability to interchange with the spiritual realm. Both of these are protected by putting on the breastplate of righteousness.
So what is the breastplate of righteousness? Righteousness is simply doing what is right in the sight of God. This is not something that we just casually try to do each day, but we must put on our armor to protect our most vital spiritual organs. We must put on our armor to protect our heart from the poisonous darts of the enemy that would seek to corrupt our heart, or puncture our spiritual lungs so that we can no longer breathe in the realm of the Spirit.
Obviously, the stronger this piece of armor, the more protection we have. The strength of this piece of armor will be dependent on the strength of our devotion in doing what is right in the sight of God. This is something the Scriptures teach that must be nurtured in our life.
We also know that the spiritual armor is given to us for the places where the enemy is going to try to hit us. We can be sure that he will be continually trying to penetrate our breastplate. It if is thin, he will get through. How strong is our devotion to doing what is right in the sight of God? That is precisely how strong our protection is for our most vital spiritual organs.
Because Isaiah 64:6 states, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags” (NKJV). Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, not even one...” Some have been deceived into thinking that we can never be righteous, and therefore to even try is futility. This deception has caused many to stumble and depart from the grace of God, as the Scriptures also warned would happen. It is true that we do not have any righteousness in ourselves, but we must understand that this armor is “the whole armor of God.” We are to put on His righteousness, not our own. This is a devotion to what He thinks is right, not what we think is right. What we tend to think is right is usually the equivalent of “filthy rags.”
It is true that our righteousness is in God, acquired by faith in Him and His righteousness, but the Scriptures are clear that if we have true faith in Him we will abide in Him, and become like Him. We understand that regardless of how righteous we become in our actions, it is only because of His grace. But if we are walking in the true grace of God we will become righteous in our actions and our heart.
It is crucial that the confusion about righteousness be cleared up because this is the armor that protects our most vital organs. Please consider the following which are just a few of the literally hundreds of Scriptures that testify and teach concerning the righteousness we are to walk in:
of Your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God,
has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows (Psalms 45:6-7 NKJV).
This of course was written about the Lord Jesus, in whose image we are to be conformed. If this is taking place, we should grow in our love of righteousness, and our hatred of wickedness. If we are not growing in these, then somehow we have been diverted from the path of life. Likewise, consider the following verses from both the Old and New Testaments:
fall by his own wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be
caught by their own greed (Proverbs 11:5-6).
He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life, and he who pursues evil
will bring about his own death.
The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their
walk are His delight (Proverbs 11:19-20).
In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death
(Proverbs 12:28).
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes
and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).
Of course, the only way that our righteousness could exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is for us to take on the righteousness of Christ. However, if we have taken on His righteousness it will be evident, as we see in the following verses:
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those
who believe; for there is no distinction;
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus (Romans 3:21-24).
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him (II Corinthians 5:21).
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge
and all discernment,
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere
and blameless until the day of Christ;
having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through
Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9-11)
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it
have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness (I Timothy 6:10-11).
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work
(II Timothy 3:16-17)
It is obvious in these Scriptures that we take on the righteousness of Christ and become the righteousness of Christ, and that one reason for the Scriptures is for our training in righteousness.
This is obviously not just a one-time event when we get up and put on the righteousness of God, but it is a life pursuit. It is the result of a “hungering and thirsting” for righteousness. It should be a basic devotion of our lives to do what is right in the sight of God, to grow in our love of what is right in His sight, and to loathe what is wrong in His sight.
It is sometimes a struggle to begin to hate the evil as the Lord does, and love those who are trapped in it. This comes with maturity if we grow in the truth that we are putting on the righteousness of God, not our own. We would be just as evil as others if it were not for His grace. This is why we must also keep in mind the truth that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). It is a terribly arrogant thing to think that we are better than others because we have more grace, which can therefore cost us our grace.
The devil will try to place stumbling blocks before us in our pursuit for every truth, but we must learn to step over them and keep going. The truth of the next verse is crucial if we are to do this:
be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
If we just seek the kingdom we will be imbalanced, and will ultimately totter in our walk. If we just seek His righteousness, we will likewise be imbalanced and ultimately totter. We must seek both His kingdom and His righteousness together if we are going to have a balanced walk on the path of life that enables Him to add “all these things” to us. This we have emphasized in one of the great New Testament verses:
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans14:17).
We see here that walking in the kingdom begins with righteousness. If we walk uprightly before the Lord we will know His peace, which will then open us up to the greatest joy that can be experienced on this earth—a life in union with the King.