November 2020 — pg. 3
Earnestly Seeking
Righteousness
By Jeff Finley
The Earnest Christian began in 1860, the same year as the
formation of the Free Methodist Church. The publication and the
church had a key founder in common — B.T. Roberts.
The first issue (January 1860) opened with Roberts’ “Object and
Scope of This Magazine” editorial that stated, “In short our object is to
publish a revival journal; our aim shall be to set up the Bible standard
of religion. We hope by our catholic spirit, by an uncompromising
advocacy of ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,’ to make
our magazine a favorite and welcome visitor to every family where
pure religion and morality are inculcated.”
Roberts demonstrated that advocacy of righteousness in
his April 1860 opening editorial, titled simply “Righteousness.”
Roberts, however, didn’t mention righteousness directly in the first
paragraph: “Every material substance has its essential properties.
These distinguish it from every other body, and without them it
could not exist. Gold possesses the quality of being drawn into thin
sheets when sufficiently beaten, while iron pyrites, of nearly the same
external appearance, fly into fragments under the hammer.”
But the editorial wasn’t really about iron pyrite (aka fool’s gold).
Roberts continued: “Christianity is something positive. It is not
a mere negative. It has actual existence, and possesses its positive
elements. First and foremost among them is righteousness. The
religion of Christ appears before the world with so many appendages,
that we almost look upon these as the thing itself. Like the birds in
the cornfield, we mistake the coat and the hat, carefully adjusted
upon a bundle of straw, for the man himself. Forms and ceremonies
do not make the performer a disciple of Christ. Tall-steepled temples,
decorated in the highest style of art, do not constitute Christian
churches; and the singing of devout hymns by undevout vocalists,
hired for the purpose, and the reading in a solemn tone to a polite
congregation by a grave-looking gentleman, of a moral, historical
or philosophical essay, do not constitute Christian worship. There
may be Christianity with or without churches, bishops, ministers or
choirs, but there can be none without righteousness.”
That last sentence seems especially relevant in 2020. The
COVID-19 pandemic may keep us from holding a church service as
we typically would, but even if it doesn’t, our worship is meaningless
without righteousness.
Roberts goes on to describe righteousness as “the framework,
without which the entire structure will fall to ruins before the fierce
blast of the tempest. Righteousness is the breastplate of the soldier of
the cross, and if he or she goes into battle without it, the first arrow
from his or her skillful adversary will lay him or her prostrate
upon the field, mortally wounded.” (I’m sure Roberts, who published
“Ordaining Women” in 1891, would be good with my addition of
brackets to note that women also enlist and serve as soldiers of the
cross.)
“In its most comprehensive sense, righteousness denotes that
state of the heart which enables one faithfully to discharge all the
duties he or she owes to God and man and woman. This is the
signification in which it is used by our Savior when He says, ‘Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall
be filled’” (Matthew 5:6 KJV).
Long before I found Roberts’ editorial online thanks to the
Marston Memorial Historical Center, the LIGHT + LIFE team
decided to devote this issue to the theme of “Hunger and Thirst” with
inspiration from that same beatitude, one of the blessings listed by
Jesus in Matthew 5:3–12 as He begins His famous Sermon on the
Mount.
According to Roberts, the Bible’s description of righteousness
“denotes that gracious disposition of the soul, which leads to the
fulfilling of all moral obligations — which prompts one to perform
all the acts affecting our fellow men and women that God requires,
and to exercise suitable dispositions towards them.”
Some translations of Matthew 5:6 use the word justice instead of
righteousness, and that fits with another statement in the editorial:
“Open opposition to all wrong and injustice is another element of
scriptural righteousness.” Roberts was an abolitionist who advocated
for systemic reform in the church and society, and he also understood
the need for change at a personal level: “Evangelical righteousness is
the result of the operation of the Spirit of God upon the human heart.
None possess it save those who have been born again.”
The world has changed a lot in the last 160 years, but the need
for righteousness remains. This issue of LIGHT + LIFE includes
powerful insights from Free Methodists who — like Roberts in his
time — live out righteousness at the local, national and global levels.
Their overall message will still be relevant in 2180.+
Jeff Finley is this magazine’s executive
editor. He is a member of John Wesley
Free Methodist Church where his wife,
Jen, serves as the lead pastor.
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