Made Righteous: Why Your Identity is a Gift, Not an Achievement | W. Austin Gardner

"Jesus became what you were, so you could become what He is."

Are you tired of waking up and feeling like you need to "fix" yourself before God can accept you? In this episode, Austin Gardner tackles the deepest trap in the Christian life: the belief that righteousness is something we achieve through our behavior.

Inside this conversation:

• The Bank Account Exchange: Why righteousness is a transfer of funds, not a paycheck you earned.
• The Distorted Mirror: Why your feelings are a terrible judge of your standing with God.
• The Jersey Principle: How to identify with the "Championship Team" regardless of your personal performance.
• Living From, Not For: Why a son acts like a son because he is one, not to become one.

It’s time to stop the "Accounting Game" and realize that the trial is over, and the verdict is in: You are made righteous.

Visit the Hub for more:https://waustingardner.com/
Watch the Canfield Series: [Link]

#AustinGardner #Righteousness #DNAofGrace #IdentityInChrist #Grace #Faith

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

Righteousness As A Gift

From Head Knowledge To Heart Belief

Identity In Him Changes Everything

Living Free From Guilt And Legalism

Practical Self Talk For Tomorrow

Austin Gardner 0:27

Well, we are in for a major episode today because people are either staying striving or they're resting in identity. And so we're going to look at that. I hope today feels like chains breaking, pressure lifting, clarity replacing confusion, because we're going to confront one of the deepest beliefs that people carry, that you carry. I need to become righteous. I want to, I need to live righteous. I need to act righteous. And the problem is we spend too much time on what I need to do there. We're going to replace it with, I have been made righteous in Christ. Righteousness is something that is given, not achieved. Let me ask you something honestly. Do you feel righteous? Not, do you believe in righteousness? Not what have you been told, but deep down, do you feel righteous? Do you feel like you are right with God? For most people, the answer is pretty complicated because we think, well, I'm trying. I'm getting better. I hope I'm okay. And underneath all that is a lot of uncertainty. Oh, we know we're saved. We know we're going to go to heaven. We know our sins are forgiven, but we're still going to ready face them at the judgment. You can't get away with that. God will judge you for that. He'll bring that up at the judgment seat. But what if righteousness is not something you earn, not something you achieve, not something you accomplish, but is something that you have already been given. You see, there is a problem with our performance thinking. Most of us grew up thinking righteousness equals behavior. Righteousness equals behavior. If I do good, avoid bad, and try harder, then maybe I become righteous or live righteously. We think, I perform, then I'm accepted. But the Bible flips that completely. You see, let's get it straight. Righteousness is a gift. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now let me, I need to explain to you this. I know all the things that I'm teaching now. Somebody asked me just recently, has my theology changed? No, I think my understanding has changed. I knew in my head that I've been accepted. I knew in my head that I'm righteous. I knew all that in my head, but to accept it in my heart and to believe that this is true about me has been nigh to impossible. But read the verse slowly. He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Made, made the righteousness of God in him. Not working toward it, not growing into it, made. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I think most of us would say, might be, brother, might be. Doesn't mean it will happen. Might be. That's not that's not the point. The point was he was saying, you were unable, but now he has made us righteous. You see, Jesus became what you were, so you could become what he is. That's what the verse says. Jesus became what you were so that you could become what he is. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Think of an exchange like two different bank accounts, one completely empty, one completely full, and everything is transferred, not earned, but given. Not earned, but giving. So righteousness is not something you build, it is something you receive in Christ. Notice the key phrase. It says, in him. Be made the righteousness of God in him. You see, the point is it's all about our identity in Christ. We've been talking about that over and over, day after day. I don't think you could be tired of it. I hope you're not tired of it. The Bible says in Philippians 3 9 that Paul said, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ. I've preached that verse all my life, and I think you have too, and I think you've heard it preached. I think you've taught it, and I think you say it, and I think you accept it, and I think you believe it in your head. I'm not sure we believe it in our heart. See, Paul was saying it's not about what I do, not about all the good things I do. It's not about me at all. It's through the faith of Christ. To be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ. It's what Jesus did. It's how Jesus handled it. Paul's saying, I don't want my righteousness. I don't want my own righteousness. Your righteousness is not based on you, it's based on where you are. It's based on where you are. Think of a person wearing a jersey. If you put on the jersey of a championship team, you're identifying with that team. Not because of your performance, not because of what you're in. So righteousness is not who you are by yourself. It is who you are in Christ. So what makes a difference to us? What's different about us? It's who we are in Christ. Why is this so hard to believe? Now here's attention. We don't feel righteous. We see our mistakes, our failures, and our weaknesses. I know I mess up more than anybody I know. So we think that can't be true. We judge reality by how we feel instead of what God says is true. We can say we believe the Bible all day long. We can say we're Bible believers and we're going to go by the Bible, but we go more by what we feel. It's like looking into a distorted mirror. The image just looks wrong. But the problem is not the person, it's the mirror. So your experience may not match yet, but your identity is already set. Your identity is already set in Christ. David is my champion. I was just riding home from getting a haircut, and I was thinking to myself about, he's my champion. I could never live the Christian life. I could never be righteous. I could never get right with God. I just mess up too much, but my champion, like David was the champion. Righteousness changes everything. What happens when we see this? We stop trying to earn righteousness. Ephesians 1:6 says, He hath made us accepted in the beloved. We are already accepted. And he made us accepted. We didn't make ourselves accepted. You stop living in guilt when you understand that you're righteous, because your standing is not based on your performance. And before I kind of change gears here, I think it might stop some of the legalism and the judgmentalism and the criticism. Have you ever noticed that among our crowd of people that are so intent on proving their worth, proving their righteousness, have you ever noticed how we are judgmental and critical of everybody else? They don't do it as good as I do. They don't dress like I do, they don't talk like I do. You know how we do it. It'll cause us to begin to live differently. Not because we're trying to become righteous, but because we wake up and realize we already are in Christ. To say it simply, you don't believe to become, you behave from who you are. A child in a family doesn't act to become a son. He acts because he already is one. A child in the family doesn't act so he can become the son. He is a son, so he acts. The wife doesn't act and believe and try to become the wife. She is made the wife. And she's just doing what wives do. She's doing her. So what's that look like tomorrow? How are you going to put that into practice today? When you fail, instead of saying I'm not righteous, you're going to say, that's not who I am anymore. I might have been like that before, but that's not who I am anymore. When you feel unworthy, instead of saying I need to fix myself, you need to remember I am already accepted in Christ. I have to keep repeating these things to myself. I have to keep quoting truth to myself. I have to be strong and courageous in the truth. I'm accepted in Christ. When you're tempted to strive, did you notice I didn't say when you're tempted to sin, but when you're tempted to work at being a Christian and work at doing the right thing, you shift it from effort to trust, from what I do to what he has done. You don't wake up trying to become righteous. You wake up knowing that you already are because of Jesus. You see, in Christ, we are righteous. This is a total and complete shift from who we were and what we did. We are so worried about our performance. We are so worried about how we read our Bibles, how we pray, how we study. We're so worried about how faithful we are. It's all about what I do, what I do, what I do. And there has to become a massive shift in our thinking and our actions. It's let's bring it all together. Righteousness is not something you achieve. It's not something you accomplish. It's not something you do. It's not something you build. It's not something you maintain. It is something you were made in Christ. Already in Christ, we're made righteous. That's a wild thought. And we can drop all this threats that religion brings. You're going to face that in a judgment. No, Jesus already faced it. Jesus already faced it. And honestly, I'm not going anywhere in my own name. I'm not going anywhere in who I am or what I do. I'm doing what I do in Jesus. And just like this, Levi was in Abraham, and he participated in what he did. You remember, we've gone over this. Abraham paid tithes. Levi was in his loins, and God credited Levi with paying the tithes that he didn't pay. Abraham paid him. And I am in Christ. And everything he is defines me now. I died with him. I was crucified with him. I died with him. I was buried with him. I was raised with him. I ascended with him. I'm seated in the heavenlies with him. I am in Christ. I am in Christ. So the question is no longer, am I righteous enough? But will I believe that what God says is already true? Because you see, you see that, you stop striving and you start living free. Now it was not really about what everybody else thinks about you. It's about who you're in. You don't become righteous over time. You discover you are righteous in Christ. That's the lesson for today. The lesson for today is that he made us righteous. The lesson for today is all these lessons have been going together, and I'm going to do, I think, one more. All these lessons are saying, in Christ we have victory. In Christ. So it takes the pressure off. We're not the one going to step out and fight Goliath. We're not the one going to pay the tithes. We're not the one that's going to die on a cross. We're not the one that's going to be buried. But we're in him, and it's all about what he's doing in us. I thank you so much for listening. I don't know if it's helping you, but just talking to you of nothing else that's helping me. It's helping me understand who I am in Christ. It's helping me understand what he's doing. And I hope you're understanding that and applying it to your life. I thank you for listening. Could I invite you to go to W. Austengardner.com. W, that's my first initial, William. W A-U-S-T-I-N, G-A-R-D-N-E-R dot com. W AustinGardner.com. I write there every day. That's the main, that's kind of like the hub of all of my writing ministry, my talking, everything I'm doing. I'd love to have you check it out. I got, I don't know, 150 articles or about that or now up there, counting all the stuff that we're doing. And so I hope you'll check it out and I hope it'll be a blessing. And if you haven't watched the video series with Robert and Kelly Canfield, you have to. You have to watch it. You have to listen to it. It's on the podcast and it's on there. And also, in the next few days, I am going to be interviewing three wonderful people. And if you have anybody in mind you think might be interested in being interviewed who understands grace, why don't you tell me and I'll see what I can do. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. God bless you. Have a wonderful, God blessed day.