Establishing faith and doctrinal priorities
The purpose of the life of a righteous man on the face of the earth is to establish the Will of God; the answer was established in the teaching of Jesus to His disciples when, in response to the request to “teach us to pray,” He said to them, Our Father who art in heaven, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
There is no other purpose, any other purpose will have only partial value and will only serve to distract our attention from the divine mission for which we have been chosen.
It is not a purpose coined by Christian theology, it is the original purpose for which Adam was placed in Eden with the attribute of lording (רָדָה) it over all of God’s animated creation.[1] In the same account we also find, in the definition of Adam’s existence, that God proposes him as a “collector” (עָבְדָהּ) of the garden that presents the Lord with the fruits of the garden in its cyclic periods of production.[2] Finally, in the description of the first days of Adam’s life we find that God Himself arranges His creation under the discretion of Adam: And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: (2:19).
So, based on this principle of man’s formation, the righteous person is more than one who just waits for what God will do on earth, as presented by hermit-type religious theology, the righteous person is one who knows what the Lord wants done on earth, and establishes it timely and adequately.
The stories of the Gospel writers resort to parables of faithful servants to whom their master gives part or all of his goods to administer, and highlight above all, the negligence of those who did not honour their master’s trust.
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Luke 12:47
The parallel is presented to support the gospel doctrine that the kingdom of heaven does not consist of geographical boundaries, but in the gathering together of those who walk in knowledge and in the establishment of their Lord’s will on earth: for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.[3] James also writes in the same terms, and explains that faith consists in “doing”, and not just in “knowing” the Will of God: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.[4] The message is clear, the righteous is constituted as such with the purpose that his/her executions are the executions of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The righteous man is an ” executor” of God’s Will, the apostle Paul establishes from here the vision and mission of those who are participants of this Grace, and determines with this Word that the righteous are constituted as “ambassadors” of Christ, and sent for this purpose to different parts of the earth,
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 2nd. Corinthians 5:20
And for that very reason, for a righteous man, no opposition is strong enough to make him stop doing good,
For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 1st. Peter 2:15
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 1st. Peter 2:20
Additionally, there are some visions that the evangelists present, which we should discuss here, to understand about the mission of a righteous person.
A righteous man is the equivalent of one who plows the earth, his work depending on how much effort and care he takes to prepare the ground. He who plows the earth knows that a rocky or thorny soil will choke the fruit;[5] hence, no one who plows the earth leaves the work unfinished: No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.[6] The apostle Paul uses in his teaching a commandment of the Law dedicated to the life of the farmer to illustrate the support that a righteous man has from God when he strives to establish God’s will in his territory,
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. 1st. Corintios 9:10
In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul emphasizes to Timothy the value of working without fainting and uses as an example the value for a farmer to work the land until he sees the results: The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. (2:6)
A righteous man is equivalent to one who sows a seed in a deforested field, his work populates an arid land and transforms it into a productive one, but above all, he provokes food for the inhabitants of the region,
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. Mark 4:26-29
The righteous man is a regulator of life on the planet, but hidden, and gets no extra benefit from his work. The expression, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed, was declared to a righteous man, and what would seem to be the key to personal wealth, is nevertheless only the key to making the unrighteous inhabitants of the earth produce the riches by which their arrogance against God is nourished. Unrighteousness? No, it is only the testimony that God is no respecter of persons and that He blesses in mercy so that an unrighteous person will never rise up in arrogance by claiming that God forced him to do what He wanted in return for His blessing.
Jesus’ parables of a “servant” administering the goods of a rich master are the best way to understand the work of a righteous man on the face of the earth. In such parables the work is presented as “multiplying” the goods and wealth of his rich master; even in those where a servant is presented who refuses to do so, the parable passes judgment on the “wicked and negligent servant.
The righteous establish blessing over their regional neighbors, that is the purpose of his mission on earth, even if he sometimes does not take advantage like the others, and even has to suffer persecution from them. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews sets forth in chapter eleven the case of many righteous people who saw as a reward for their labor the persecution of those to whom they brought blessing,
36 and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Hebrews 11:36-38
That is why all the evangelists and proclaimers of the Kingdom established with their message the need for everyone to understand that they must not tire of operating not for the merits of the recognition of their work, but based on the conviction that their effort is in accordance with the Will of God,
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9
Let us not tire of doing good, the reward does not come from man, but from God.
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: Matthew 6:20
The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
Pastor Pedro Montoya
WhatsApp 1 (407) 764-2699
Twitter: @pastormontoya
http://www.ministerioscristorey.com
[1] Genesis 1:26
[2] Idem 2:15
[3] Luke 17:21;
[4] James 4:17
[5] Mathew 13:5-7
[6] Luke 9:62
Treasure in Earthen Vessels 