AOG: The Breastplate of Righteousness

“…having put on the breastplate of righteousness…”

The Purpose of The Breastplate

The breastplate worn by soldiers was an essential piece of the armour that was used to protect the vital organs, like the heart. “It was designed to prevent fatal or disabling wounds from swords, spears, and arrows in close combat, making the soldier significantly more likely to survive battles.”

And as we see in our scripture Paul likens the breastplate to righteousness meaning that as we put on righteousness, the same way the breastplate protects the soldiers most vital organs, righteousness protects us as believers - our heart, soul and mind. It protects our core being as believers from every fiery dart of the enemy - thank You Jesus!

But what is righteousness exactly, and how do we put it on?

Righteousness

The Bible says in Philippians 3:9,

“and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

The scripture here is telling us that righteousness is given to us by Jesus. From the moment we get saved and give our life to Jesus Christ, He hands us His righteousness in exchange for our sin.

So that tells me a few things:

First things first - this righteousness is NOT our own.

Our righteousness isn’t determined by us - it isn’t measured by how “good” we are, how well we do, how much we do or don’t sin. The Bible says in Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteousness are like filthy rags.”.

So this righteousness Paul is telling us to clothe ourselves with is completely separate from ourselves. No matter how hard we try to be righteous our attempts in and of ourselves will always fall short. And it’s so true because if we take a moment to realise how holy, pure and righteous our God is - our “righteous acts” could never ever everrr amount to His - ever.

I remember a time when I really struggled to understand the concept of not relying on my weightless acts of righteousness and instead accepting Jesus’s as my own. I would always base my righteousness off of how much I had prayed or read in a day, or whether I felt like I was or wasn’t doing well - and it’s only as I grew in Christ that He showed me that I had a really legalistic mindset, and was relying on the WRONG ones goodness. I was relying on my own - which is very much unstable, and all over the place - rather than God’s which is never changing.

So now when it came time to fight against the enemy’s lies of condemnation and fear etc I would really struggle because I would fight with my own righteousness which doesn’t intimidate Satan. I found this quote that said, “If this is your attitude, then you have a breastplate made of cardboard. One strike of the enemy’s sword will cut it apart and leave you open and exposed.”

Whereas when we are reliant on the FINISHED work of the cross, when Satan tries to attack and throw fiery darts at us of condemnation we’re able to fight back and cast down His lies because we know and can stand firm on the truth that we have been made righteous through the complete work on the cross.

So that means even when we fall short, and make mistakes we get back up through His Him. The Bible says “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.” That means that the man or woman clothed in Christ righteousness can get back up again and again.

And I believe that when we get to and remain in this place of understanding that we must be FULLY dependent on Christ for our righteousness, that’s when we begin to fight effectively. The Bible says in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” I LOVE this scripture so much because it is so humbling, it reminds me that it’s my complete reliance and dependance upon Christ and all that He has done for me makes Heaven my home - now that’s some protection right there. That fact protects my heart from the lies of enemy of the fear of not being good enough, condemnation and shame. It takes my eyes off myself and focuses them on Him. And so because my heart is protected from these lies thus I am able to fight well by His grace.

“The call to be poor in spirit… puts the following commands into perspective. They cannot be fulfilled by one’s own strength, but only by a beggar’s reliance on God’s power. No one mourns until they are poor in spirit; no one is meek towards others until he has a humble view of himself. If you don’t sense your own need and poverty, you will never hunger and thirst after righteousness; and if you have too high a view of yourself, you will find it difficult to be merciful to others” (Spurgeon)

Secondly - we put on His righteousness through FAITH!

The scripture tells us that we are to put on Christ’s righteousness through faith. It’s through believing the truth (from the belt :)), that all that we just explained in the last point is true. That when Jesus paid the price for  ALL of our sin, the price He paid was FULLY paid - there is nothing more that we need to add on. Our job is just to completely accept and believe that He has exchanged our sin for HIs righteousness!

Lastly - we need to allow His righteousness to permeate our hearts and change the way we live.

I was reading this study that said this…

“When armour is abused or worn incorrectly, it can malfunction. Likewise, there are several factors that will interfere with the effectiveness of our spiritual breastplate. Carelessness, unbelief, abusing grace, or disobedience can hinder our ability to stand firm and defeat the enemy in our lives.”

It’s important to note, that although yes - we are covered by Christ’s righteousness and not our own, this does not mean that we live any way any how.

I don’t think that Satan is intimidated by a Christian that doesn’t live and walk in the holiness that His righteousness brings. As we first get saved and Jesus clothes us with His righteousness, He begins to mould us and change us. He changes our desires, He brings conviction so that we can become more like Him. And as we grow in Christ our life, our conduct, the way we speak, what we entertain, our decisions should all reflect the righteousness He has given us, in submission to Him. #stepright:)

The Bible says in 1 John 2:29, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”.

So in conclusion… the christian that has a properly secured breastplate is the one that has fully embraced Christ’s righteousness through faith and who through Christ is walking in right practices.

So yeah guys, another one complete - thank God!

See you again tomorrow :)

“Surely the righteous will never be moved, he will be remembered forever.” - Psalm 112:6