Sensitivity to Divine Righteousness
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand sensitivity to divine righteousness
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
Sensitivity to Divine Righteousness
"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 10
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast, we will share with you some insights into the problem of being sensitive to divine righteousness. This is a problem that we would like to solve since sensitivity to divine righteousness eventually makes it possible for us to be truly liberated sons and daughters of the heavenly Father. But to set the stage, we shall also ask and answer some questions that may prove helpful to our task of being sensitive to divine righteousness. Ask and you shall receive; knock and the door shall be opened.
What is divine righteousness? How is it acquired, and what role does faith play in acquiring it? What is wisdom and does it have a role in displaying divine righteousness? And what happens when wisdom is deficient? What is the role of prayer and worship in acquiring divine righteousness? And what roles do grace and mercy play?
Let us begin by defining divine righteousness. Our concept of righteousness is self-righteousness, which comes from a progressive experience of accumulating the values and meanings of a purely human existence (the accumulation of human moral and ethics values that allows society to function as an integrated whole). So human self righteousness is the acquirement of those purely human values that are selfish in motive and intent; these values support the regulation of the survival instinct and also entitles a person to be a part of the human family.
Without a concept of human righteousness, there would be no basis for a human society of free will creatures. Society would resort to chaos and would speedily disintegrate. These values and meanings are determined by the group, and are designed for the greatest good of the group. For example, society gives relative security to its citizens by prohibiting them from killing each other. Thus the command: "thou shall not kill." The person who abides by this and other prohibitions is humanly righteous.
But divine righteousness expands the relationship of all human beings by declaring that they are all brothers and sisters, spiritually since they have a common spiritual Father, even the heavenly Father. Divine righteousness raises the human being above the purely animal level by transforming his inner life from animalistic to spiritual. It redefines the relationships between human beings. By elevating the human nature to the spiritual nature, it gives access to the divine injunction, which is superior to the human injunction. "You shall love the heavenly Father with all your heart and soul, love your neighbor as yourself." Thus the injunction not to kill is replaced by the injunction to love. The human injunction not to kill, while holding society together, requires constant vigilance by the holder of the injunction lest some animal trait is provoked and the human nature overwhelms the contrived injunction of not killing when angered (as is natural for the human nature to do).
The divine injunction, by spiritualizing the inner nature, in effect imparting a new nature to the human, makes it natural (supernaturally from the human point of view) to love another. If you love each other, then you desire no harm to them. Even when the human nature is provoked, divine love, "the desire to do good to others," still holds. And the person who holds these values and meanings is divinely righteous. And this make sense: if you have the values and meanings of the divine one, then you are divinely righteous. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are becoming new.””
Now as you might assume, since these values and meanings are not mind derivatives but spirit derivatives, these values must be acquired at a pre-mind level and thus must be received and accepted by faith. As long as the person embraces this system of divine values and meanings, he remains divinely righteous. At some point in time the person--after living with these divine values and meanings--makes an irreversible choice for divine righteousness. This irreversible choice imparts immortality and eternal life to the person.
The divine values and meanings are part of the truth of the relationship with the heavenly Father and are made available just as soon as the growing soul is able to comprehend them. Thus the limitation of receiving divine values and meanings is set by the ability to comprehend. And the ability to comprehend is expanded by the previous set of divine values and meanings received. That is, each set of divine values and meanings that are received makes it possible to receive the next level of divine values and meanings. The progressive acquirement of divine values and meanings can be symbolized like rungs on a ladder, the climbing of which is the process of perfecting the relationship between the soul and the heavenly Father. The completion of the climbing of the ladder of supreme values and meanings is tantamount to spiritual perfection in all matters relating to the supreme perfection of the soul.
Divine values and meanings are made available through the prayer process. It is the essence of "ask and you shall receive" and "knock and the door will be opened," and in worship divine values and meanings are brought into greater focus, so that the soul can view with ever increasing clarity the magnificent and matchless character of the heavenly Father. So that prayer, which we now define as communion, having elevated the soul to a constant and consistent bond between the Father and his child (divine oneness), allows divine values and meanings to flow without interruption. And as the soul grows, the focus of the divine values and meanings sharpen in ever-increasing contrast, and the flow (communion) fills the soul to the capacity of supreme spiritual perfection.
An automobile is a powerful vehicle for transporting people from one point to another, but an automobile which is composed of a powerful engine and the body must have some way of connecting the power of the engine to the body of the vehicle in order for it to move forward, and it does. The transmission connects the engine to the automobile. Like the transmission in the automobile, wisdom is the essential transmission needed to implement all these values and meanings into the external world as the interplay with other brothers and sisters commences. Without wisdom, we do evil.
"Wisdom deals with relationships" and is defined as: knowledge of knowledge. Wisdom is super knowledge. Of wisdom it is said: "The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works. Before his deeds of old, I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before He made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was appointed from eternity. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundaries so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence. I rejoiced in His whole world and delighted in mankind.””
As the soul continues to grow, its ears and eyes become increasingly sensitive to the melody of divine righteousness. This increased sensitivity is not only the result of grace--the additional help given by the Father when the soul falls short in its effort to grasp divine values and meanings--but by the ever-present Spirit of Truth which in mercy covers the soul and elevates it to the level of spirit functioning. Such a soul is exquisitely sensitive to the values and meanings of divine righteousness, and with ever increasing wisdom displays these values in his outer life.
This concludes today's message on understanding the sensitivity to divine righteousness. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
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