The following post is adapted from this week's sermon, "Works Righteousness vs. Gift Righteousness," preached out of Luke 18:9–14. "How can a man be righteous in the sight of God?" It's a hugely important question, one of the most important questions we can ask. Without getting into all the complexity and all of the theology, because I love you and I’m a pastor and I’m a Bible teacher, I drew you a picture. So here it is, all boiled down to one picture. You’re on the left. You are unrighteous. You can say it. You are unrighteous. Raise your hand if you’re unrighteous. If you didn’t raise your hand, you’re the most unrighteous of all. And I raise both my hands. I’m unrighteous, too. You are unrighteous. Over on the right is Jesus. He is righteous. That’s why we put a crown on him. Yay Jesus. Now Luke wrote the books of Luke and Acts, and then the other man who contributes the majority of the New Testament is a man named Paul. Paul originally was Saul, a man very much devoted to works righteousness. He talks about this in his testimony, for example in Philippians 3: "I was born to the right family, right tribe, circumcised on the eighth day, went to the right schools, studied under the right rabbis, got straight As in Pharisee school. I was graduated ‘Most Likely to Make Martyrs.’ I nailed it. That was me. And I had an amazing resume. And then I met Jesus and I realized it’s all garbage and righteousness is not something I work for, it’s something that he gives as a gift."

"This is where Christianity is not another punch list of dos and don’ts to receive a declaration of righteousness in the sight of God."

Then Saul becomes Paul and he goes on to write much of the New Testament. His traveling companion, his close buddy, his near and dear friend, and I think his personal physician, is Luke. And so when Luke here records gift righteousness from the lips of Jesus, Paul echoes this repeatedly in his teaching in the New Testament. One place that is my favorite verse, perhaps, in the whole Bible is 2 Corinthians 5:21: "God made him who knew no sin, Jesus, to become sin," that would be our sin, "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." I tell you this verse all the time because it is so amazing. Martin Luther called it the Great Exchange. And let me show you exactly what it is saying. Paul here is echoing Luke and they’re both echoing Jesus. God made him, Jesus, who is righteous and knew no sin, to become our sin, to become our sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Theologically, we call this double imputation. My sin goes to Jesus. Jesus’ righteousness comes to me. How do you do that? You don’t. It’s a gift. You receive it empty-handed. This is how it works. This is where Christianity is not another religion. This is where Christianity is not another punch list of dos and don’ts to receive a declaration of righteousness in the sight of God. This is altogether different and it’s really good news and I really like teaching this and I really get excited about it and we really will forget it, and so someday I will tell you again. Pastor Mark has indeed preached many times on the Great Exchange, notably the "Faith" sermon from 2003's Habakkuk series, "Christ Died for Our Unrighteousness" (Christ on the Cross, 2005), "What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?" (Vintage Jesus, 2006), and "Faith & Works" (Religion Saves, 2008), and "Cross: God Dies" (Doctrine, 2008), which is more fully addressed in the Doctrine book.