Session 1 Part 2: Kumpleto ka ba sa Vitamin G?
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” -Romans 1:17
According to one of our Pastors, there are symptoms that you’re lacking Vitamin G
1. Ranking Syndrome
There are two types of ranking syndrome. One is considering yourself greater than the other, and the other one is thinking that sinners come with different degrees of sinfulness. Either way, ranking syndrome is the sinful nature of man having a mental ranking of people or sinners, who’s great and who’s not.
An example would be thinking that lying is a lesser sin than killing. When in fact there are no such things as better sins or worse sins. ALL SINS ARE TERRIBLE.
This too can be a source of thinking that you are greater than the people who committed murder, who stole, who are homosexual or prostitutes while you were still a lying alcoholic. Like you’re saying, “I never did those kind of things. I just did this and that…”
There is no justification of sins like that. You can never justify your sins which you think are smaller than the others. You who are a liar, will never be more righteous than the prostitutes who admitted that they have sinned and that they need a savior but have faith that they are already justified and made righteous by Jesus Christ.
“…just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
And we must always remember that righteousness can only come from God and never from our ‘better’ judgment.
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed…”
2. Savior Complex
Trying to salvage ourselves from the things we committed. Trying to gain righteousness on our own. Forgetting that righteousness can only come from God. And there’s no other way to receive it but THROUGH FAITH.
But what does righteousness mean? Our Pastor said something like, “righteousness just means, You’re okay. You’re okay with God.”
I think, that’s it. If we all just know that that is the meaning of righteousness, we would spend more time with God and be okay than to waste all our time and effort to patch things up for us to feel better. Just be okay with God. Then that is righteousness. But how would we know that we are really ‘okay’ with God? We should spend time with Him and get to know Him. And we would know what are the things He is okay with. Better yet, know the things that He is pleased with. And by that time, we would just know that He is more pleased at us seeking Him than us doing ministries yet lacking Vitamin G.
3. Panlabasiasis
root word: panlabas; superficial; external
We go to church more often than usual. We volunteer in the ministries ‘too much’. Too much that it wears us out. We do ‘good’ things—good external deeds. It’s like we have forgotten that we can never gain righteousness on our own and that we can only have the righteousness that comes from God—NEVER FROM OUR GOOD DEEDS. And if that is the case, the only name for what we get is OUTWARD RIGHTEOUSNESS. We know that we are after the righteousness from God and not that kind of outward righteousness.
What happens when we have outward righteousness? Our righteousness or ‘okay-ness’ is dependent on the things we do—the external things. But know that outward righteousness, once stripped of, will make us not okay anymore.
What do we need to know? That righteousness is not just external and GOD DOES NOT NEED OUR GOOD WORKS. He knows what we need before we ask. We do not need to ‘bribe’ God with our ‘good works’ which He does not even need. He will bless us and that’s the only time we can obey.
“…just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
…minister by faith
…preach by faith
…make disciples by faith
…reach their friends by faith
…change their campus by faith
…provide for their family by faith
…transform this nation by faith
P.S. Just to balance things out. This does not mean that we do not need to be in the ministries or in the church or do good works. God is pleased when we serve Him but He looks at the heart—not just on the outward deeds. What we are after is a righteous heart that wants to serve. Not a server that wants to have a righteous heart. If we do understand the message, we would discern what a righteous heart is and what our service is.
Check ourselves, have you taken your Vitamin G?
