NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
MALACHI 3:18-4:2
MARCH 1, 1998
At the center of our solar system there is, of course, a star we call the sun. For centuries and millennia, women and men worshipped the sun. They worshipped the sun because of its gifts of light and heat. Today scientists understand how it is that the sun provides light and heat. They understand that the surface of the sun has a temperature of 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. They know that the temperature of the surface of the sun pales when compared to the temperature at the core of the sun. They know that the temperature at the core of the sun where thermonuclear reactions is taking place… They know that that temperature is an incomprehensible 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.
Scientists tell us that if you were to take a speck the size of a pinhead from the core of the sun, that speck would be so powerful, so awesome that it would kill a human being one million miles away, it’s energy so great. And yet, of course, this planet, our earth, is 93 million miles from the surface of the sun and we only receive, our planet only receives, one 2- billionth of the sun’s energy and power, only one 2-billionth. And yet that amount of energy that comes to our earth from the sun is still great. In fact, all of the coal, all of the oil, all of the wood of planet earth could not provide as much energy as the sun sends to the earth in one week. Scientists tell us that the sun sends to this planet every second more energy than mankind has used in the history of the world.
I know that those kinds of facts are difficult to comprehend and yet the Bible, in our passage of scripture for today, tells us that Jesus Christ is like the sun. The Bible, in our passage of scripture for today, calls the Messiah, “The Sun of Righteousness.” In the intertestamental., this was, for the Jews, one of their favorite titles of the Messiah. He would be the Sun of Righteousness. As the sun radiates heat and light, so the Messiah, the Christ, would radiate righteousness. As the sun gives the gifts of heat and light, so Christ gives the gift of righteousness. As the sun is characterized by heat and light, so Jesus Christ is characterized by righteousness. He is the Sun of Righteousness. Righteousness is our theme this Communion Sunday.
In the 16-year history of this church, we have dealt with the subject of righteousness many times. This morning, on this Communion Sunday, I would like us to summarize the two biblical concepts of righteousness. First of all, biblically righteousness is social justice. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness because He will one day bring social justice to this earth. “He will not judge by what His eyes see nor decide by what His ears hear but with righteousness,” the Bible says, “He will judge the poor and He shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall smite the earth with the breath of His mouth and with the rod of His lips He shall slay the wicked.” He will bring social justice to this planet. If we would be righteous, if we would hunger and thirst after righteousness, then we too must seek, in our time, social justice. I think sometimes the evangelical community has ignored this.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Leonard Holt. Years ago, it was Time Magazine that told his story. Leonard Holt was a lab technician for a Philadelphia paper mill. He was highly respected by his peers. He was hard working. He was a Boy Scout leader, a caring and affectionate father. He was a volunteer in the local fire brigade. He was active in his local church. He was considered a perfect role model for children, for young people, and he was respected by all.
One October morning, Leonard Holt got out of bed, took a shower, dressed himself and took his .45 automatic and his Smith & Wesson .38 and put them in his coat, got in the family station wagon and drove to that Philadelphia paper mill. He parked in the lot and slowly walked into the building, took the guns out of his coat and he just began to fire. He put 30 bullets in people. He killed people he had worked with for years and he himself was killed as the authorities sought to apprehend him. Many sought to understand this man and why he did what he did. According to Time Magazine, it was discovered that Leonard Holt was a bitter, angry man.
He had worked at that Philadelphia paper mill for 19 years and he had worked hard but people had been promoted over him. People who had only worked at the company for one year were promoted over him. People who had never worked at the company, people from the outside were brought in and promoted over him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t just and he was enraged. He just snapped and he lost it.
There’s a sense in which most of us are like Leonard Holt. We wouldn’t kill people and perhaps we have our anger under control but there’s a sense in which we’re like Leonard Holt because we want the world to be fair for us. We want the world to treat us right. We want to be treated justly. We want to be treated with fairness. This is our focus. Indeed, this is the focus of our nation and our world today. Everyone is concerned with their own rights, what’s fair for them. Nobody wants to get a raw deal. But, you see, biblically this is not what social justice means. Biblically to be righteous means not that you are concerned with what’s fair for you, but you are concerned with what’s fair for others. To be righteous means that you are burdened with seeing people other than yourself treated fairly and justly.
That is why in the Bible there is such a concern with the poor. That is why in the Bible righteousness is tied to the poor and to the treatment of the poor. That is why in Luke, chapter 16 of course, Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the rich man and how the rich man lived in that lavish estate, and he ate all that he could. But the poor man, Lazarus, lived at his gates, ulcerated with sores and starving to death. Lazarus would have gladly had, Jesus said, “the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.” But Jesus said, “When the rich man died, he went straight to hell.” And why was that? He lacked righteousness. The poor man was at his very gate and the rich man just didn’t care.
This is kind of a scary message to suburban white America. I mean it’s a scary message to suburban America because the poor are at our gate. If we would be righteous, we must be concerned with social justice. I know this is a message rarely heard in the evangelical community. In a few weeks, we’re going to have Tony Campolo come and speak to us. He’s come and spoken at our church… We’ve had him every year. He’s the Professor of Sociology at Eastern College and a well-known speaker and author, a very gifted man, and a controversial man.
Some of you have written me letters and you’ve said, “Don’t you know that Tony Campolo is controversial? Do you know he said this, and do you know he said that.” I know. And I must tell you that sometimes I pray that he won’t come and say something here that makes me do damage control in the subsequent weeks. But I also know that Tony Campolo loves Jesus Christ. He loves Jesus Christ, and he is concerned with righteousness and particularly in this area of social justice. He has a message we need to hear. That’s why I thank God for the ministries in our church that relate to social justice and this aspect of righteousness. I thank God for Manna Ministries and for our Whiz Kids Program where you go into the inner city and help those kids, and for Save our Youth, and yes, for this Full Court Blast that I just announced because it has to do with social justice and helping children in the inner city. I thank God for all of those who have gone down to Mexico with our Missions Program and for all of our missions’ programs that are seeking to help the poor because it has to do, you see, with righteousness. We should ask ourselves each day if we hunger and thirst after righteousness. Are we involved in anything to help those in our society to help those who are poor and oppressed …
There’s another aspect of righteousness, another meaning biblically, and I think most of you are familiar with this meaning. Righteousness has to do with personal holiness. The Greek word for righteousness is the word “dikaiosune.” It comes from a root word which means “rule or law.” Sometimes in the Bible, righteousness simply has to do with keeping the rules and the laws of God. Personal holiness. Keeping the rules and the laws of God.
The Bible says, “On the stage of history at the consummation, there will arise the Antichrist who the Bible calls “anomia,” “the man of lawlessness.” He will reject the laws and the rules of God. He will reject the standards of God and He will seek to lead the world astray. The Bible says, “The spirit of lawlessness is already at work in our world.” That’s why, in our world, there’s such a hatred for the rules and the laws of God. But a Christian is one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We really seek to live by God’s will. We seek to live by God’s laws. Only Christ has done this perfectly. He is the Sun of Righteousness from whom righteousness radiates. We are sinners and we are fallen, but if we’re Christians, we seek righteousness.
You know, fifty years before Christ came into the world, in the year 50BC, a book was written called the Psalms of Solomon. This book should not be confused with the Old Testament of Psalms, nor should it be confused with the Old Testament Song of Solomon. This book is amongst the intertestamental literature. It’s a pseudepigraphic book, falsely ascribed to King Solomon. The book was actually written by Pharisees. In this book, the Psalms of Solomon, it is said that there are only two types of people in the world—Pharisees and sinners. That’s what the book teaches. Two types of people in the world—Pharisees and sinners. Can you imagine? Can you understand, why, when Jesus came into the world, He was so mad at the Pharisees? They actually thought they were without sin. They actually thought that they were conforming to all the rules and laws of God.
The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All save Christ.” And so, for their hypocrisy and self-righteousness, they were condemned by Christ. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, He sought to help us understand that sin begins in the heart and in the thoughts. We all are sinners, all are sinners. If you’re a Christian, there’s a struggle with sin. There’s a struggle for personal holiness.
The Apostle Paul describes that struggle in Romans, chapter 7, where Paul speaks of sin dwelling within him. Paul says, “Sometimes the good I would do, I do not do, and the evil I would do not, I find myself doing.” And yet Paul says, “It is not I that do it, but sin dwelling in me.” By this, Paul did not mean to exonerate himself as though he was a victim of the sin nature but simply to acknowledge this struggle and this war within us. Paul goes on to not only celebrate the righteousness of Christ but to call us to a quest for personal holiness. If you’re a Christian, you’re in this quest and God doesn’t want you to take this sin flippantly or lightly.
You know, it was Knute Rockne, the legendary coach at Notre Dame, who once said, “I like bad losers because good losers lose too often.” Now, we might disagree with that statement in the context of sports, and we might feel that that statement devalues sportsmanship, but in the context of sin, it’s a good statement. In the context of righteousness and the pursuit of righteousness, it’s a good statement. Jesus likes bad losers when it comes to the pursuit of righteousness. He doesn’t want good losers who just sin and don’t care, who just sin and take it in stride.
There are a lot of people out there like that who pervert grace to license and abuse the freedom that is in Christ. I mean we’re going to sin, but we shouldn’t take it well. We’re engaged in war, and we need the full armor of God. We should hunger and thirst, you see, for righteousness.
Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness. He radiates righteousness. He will bring social justice to the earth and He Himself and He alone has lived a sinless life. The good news this morning as we approach the Communion table is that we are not saved by our own righteousness or by our own pursuit of righteousness. We have, in faithfulness to scripture, been called to pursue social justice and personal holiness but we are not saved by that pursuit. The good news of the gospel is we are saved by Christ’s righteousness. It’s Christ who came into our world and lived a sinless life for us. It’s Christ who died an atoning death. When we come to Him in faith believing, and when we receive Him as Lord and Savior, His righteousness, the Bible tells us, is imputed to us. His righteousness is vested upon us and that is an unbelievable deal.
Then having received His righteousness and salvation by faith, we are free to pursue righteousness from a motive of love. We’re free to pursue righteousness with love of Christ and in appreciation of Christ and with great joy, looking forward to the day that we’ll see Him face to face. As we come to prayer this morning, we want to remember to thank Christ that He is the Sun of Righteousness and He has given the gift of righteousness to us. We want to consecrate ourselves anew because of our love of Him, to seek righteousness in our own lives, both in the form of social justice and in the form of personal holiness. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.