What is Right / Just?

Alright, we are continuing our series / / Could I Be Happier? where we are looking at what we traditionally call the / / Beatitudes, these nine statements that Jesus makes in Matthew 5:3-12. But, notice how this is right at the beginning of this long section of scripture we call the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ political, or kingdom platform. What it will look like with him in charge. What his ideas are on how the world should be governed, and what it looks like for how we should live within that world.

If we choose to follow him, life is going to take on a particular style of living.

This is the groundwork that Jesus is laying as an invitation to follow him.

I think sometimes we assume that people should encounter Jesus, or encounter Christ’s love through us, and instantly make a decision to turn their lives over to him. Is that what Jesus did?

Sure, he invited people to follow, which was essentially, come learn from me, be my disciple. But, He took more than 3 years to describe what life would look like under his rule & reign, and then he let them kill him to get the whole thing started.

The church didn’t start with Jesus being born, or Jesus being a teacher and rabbi. The Church didn’t even start when Jesus died on a cross. The church started when he rose from the grave and proved that he was all the things he said he was and then the fulfilment of the promise came, they received the Holy Spirit not long after he left. It was the resurrection of Jesus and the power of the Spirit that gave his followers the courage to preach the gospel in all their strength and passion. They had witnessed first hand the resurrected Jesus, fully human, fully alive, standing right there in front of them. How incredible that must have been.

And even though I can’t imagine it was easy to make that initial decision to leave everything and follow, the test of following Jesus wasn’t really when he was leading the disciples through what we call the gospels. The true test of following Jesus was when he was no longer with them.

You think, “hmm… come follow me, but I won’t be here...”

And that’s what we are invited into, isn’t it?

Come follow this man Jesus.

Cool, where is he?

Well, He’s not here...

But you said you have a relationship with him.

Ya, I do, totally...

But that’s what he was saying all along, wasn’t it?

Last week we read the initial invitation in scripture laid out for a man named Nicodemus in John 3:16-17, Jesus said to him, / / “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

/ / Eternal life. This is bigger than the life we are seeing right in front of us.

That invitation to follow Jesus goes beyond the grave. And right from the beginning Jesus was communicating that to his disciples. And over and over again it says they didn’t understand, UNTIL he was crucified, rose again, appeared to them and continued to teach them for 40 days, and then ascended into heaven - and suddenly they get it, OH, that’s what he was talking about.

So, these disciples, all of these followers of Jesus, with no Jesus to follow. What are they following? This is why Christianity got the name, / / “The Way”. In Acts 24:14, Paul has been brought to trial before the governor, the Jewish High Priest and other religious leaders have made a case against him to try and get him put in prison or worse, and when he has the chance to reply to their claims against him, he says this, / / “…I admit that I follow ‘The Way’...”

Of course this is pulling directly from what Jesus says in John 14:6, when he says, / / “I am the way, the truth, and the life...”

So, followers of “the way”.

And then we see in Acts 11:26 Luke writes, that it was in Antioch that the disciples, or believers, were first called / / Christians, and that was a new word that is very straight forward, it means, follower of Christ.

So we have these two definitions, followers of the way, followers of Christ. But what does that look like? If Christ is no longer here. If Christ has ascended to heaven. What is it we truly follow?

Do you think maybe this is why Jesus spent those three years explaining what we were supposed to do? Spent all that time teaching how to live and modeling what it looks like to live a certain way, both in how to act, and how to be connected to the Father and the Spirit. I think that’s why “the way” is such a great way to define what we are and who and how we follow.

What’s so interesting is when Jesus calls himself “the way” it’s part of scripture that is his last moments with his disciples. John 14 is after they’ve eaten the last supper. If you read the gospels in the order that it all happened, all four gospel accounts talk about the last supper, John does so in John 13, and then we have this pretty large section of scripture in John 14-17 where Jesus teaches his disciples, which was either around the table after dinner, or as they were walking to the garden of gethsemane, but it’s believed between supper and betrayal is when all of this absolute GOLD comes out. And Matthew and Mark both specifically say that he had sat down to eat dinner with the 12 disciples. So this is the last stuff Jesus chooses to share with the closest of his followers, right before he is betrayed and dies.

And it is this encouragement to carry them forward knowing he’s not going to be there with them very soon. He knows this is their last moment together.

So, in John 14:6 he says, / / “I am the way...”, and just a few verses later, remember, this is in the same conversation, he says in vs 15, / / “If you love me, obey my commandments.” and in vs 23, / / All who love me will do what I say.

And he couples that each time with, And I will be with you, and My Father will love you, and we will send the Holy Spirit to you.

So there’s this beautiful back and forth between following the person of Jesus through listening & through obeying. The Christian life is not meant to just be following a set of instructions, but rather the one who has given the instructions. But we follow that One, by follow his instructions.

Why bring all this up? Well, it’s this beautiful play between Jesus giving us a really good direction to follow, and inviting us to follow Him by and through an encounter with Him AND the Father THROUGH the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. So bring us back to Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. Laying out for His followers, this is what it looks like to follow me. If you love me. If you want to truly follow me. If you are truly my disciples. Listen up, here’s what I’m telling you to do, now go do it...

Why? Not because God is keeping a grade book and marking down when you don’t, but because Jesus purpose of coming was so you would believe in him, commit to him, and experience life in this earth, and eternal life with him and his Father and the Spirit forever.

That’s the invitation, / / eternal life starts now! The invitation is not to just experience Heaven one day after we die, but to experience His life now.

If we are simply waiting for heaven after death we will miss life on earth.

When we look at these nine statements in Matthew 5:3-12, these are not eternal statements, because the promise is that on the other side of the grave, in eternity, there won’t be any sadness, so take out blessed are those who mourn. There won’t be persecution, so take out the last three verses. God’s justice and mercy will be complete, so take out those verses. Poor in Spirit won’t matter, we’ll be in heaven or on the new earth experiencing an endless abundance of His presence.

These are for now.

Jesus’ offer for eternal life by following him INCLUDES experiencing His promises now, which are different than his promises for eternity. / / There are things on this earth we will experience that we will not experience in eternity. And of course that is both good and bad.

If you know who Bill Johnson is, he is the pastor of a church in Redding, California. If you listen to Christian radio at all you’ve heard the worship that comes out of Bethel Church and Bethel Music, which is his church.

His wife passed away of cancer on July 13th, which was a Wednesday, and 4 days later on the 17th he got up on stage to speak. And as a father in the faith, a real, true, present day champion of Christ, he shared from a place of raw emotion and it was incredibly powerful. He said a lot of really amazing things. But one of the things he said that shows the heart of God for us in THIS life was, / / “There are measures of the presence we will only experience in the valley of the shadow of death.” And he quoted Psalm 23, / / Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Matthew 5:4, Jesus’ invitation for us to be blessed when we choose to mourn, is something we will only experience in this life, on this earth.

And the same is true of our worship, and our dedication to God. Pastor Bill went on to say that for all of eternity he will worship, and declare the wonders of God and sing of His goodness and faithfulness, but he will never be able to do that in the midst of his grief and pain. Even that is something special we come to God with. To worship in our pain. To choose to honor God even in the midst of our question, our wonder, our hurt.

There are things in this immediate life we will not experience in our eternal home. And in our following of Jesus, following of the Way, we are invited into experiencing these things with and through Him.

So, nine statements. We’ve looked at 4 of them so far. And if you’ve missed any of the last three weeks you can get them all on our website, or facebook or youtube.

Reading from the ESV, Matthew 5:3-5, 8 which is what we’ve gone through:

/ / (3) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

/ / (4) Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

/ / (5) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

/ / (8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

and today we’re going to continue in vs 6,

/ / Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The majority of translations use that word, righteousness. But a few translate it slightly different:

NLT / / God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

A few translations use that word, justice.

MSG, / / You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

GNT, Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!

CEV, / / God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want!

So, we’re going to ask our three questions again, Who is Jesus speaking to? Why are those particular people blessed? and How are they blessed?

/ / Who is Jesus speaking to?

As we’ve seen with every other statement Jesus has made in this passage of scripture, this is an invitation, and it’s not to a specific group of people that would limit another group. This is not for a few people based on any particular identifying factor. This is for anyone who chooses to accept the invitation. The invitation is simply the gateway to this particular avenue of blessing.

What is the / / invitation? Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And to dig into that, we’re going to look at a few different things here this morning.

First of all we need to look at what it means to hunger and thirst for something. What does Jesus mean by this? Are we going for a snacky snack here? What’s that mean?

And then we’re going to look at this word Righteousness, or as we saw, some translations mean “justice”.

So, first things first. What does Jesus mean when he says, Blessed are those who / / hunger and thirst?

Two words, / / peinao [hunger] and dipsao [thirst].

Listen to these definitions.

/ / peinao [hunger] - to famish (absolutely or comparatively); to crave. To hunger, suffer want, to be needy. To crave ardently [very enthusiastically or passionately], to seek with eager desire.

/ / dipsao [thirst] - to suffer thirst, or suffer from thirst. those who are said to thirst who painfully feel their want of, and eagerly long for, those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, strengthened.

So those don’t sound like, “I’m a little peckish. Could use a sip of water.” do they?

No, you’ve gotta picture how your kids come in after playing at the park. “Oh my goodness, when are we having dinner? I’m Starving...”

Kaylee is in this habit, before she says anything else to me. I get home and walk in the house and she looks at me, “Daddy, What are we having for dinner?”

Seriously? I just got home, can I get in the house before we get into 20 questions here.

Think in that way, but not in how our kids are actually hungry, because, they aren’t that hungry, but in how they express that hunger. There’s a desperation. The ice cream truck goes by and the ears perk up, “I NEEEEED Ice Cream! I will DIE if I don’t get ice cream....”

The Life Application NT Commentary describes these words really well. It says this:

/ / The words hungry and thirsty picture intense longings that people desire to satisfy - necessities that they cannot live without.

Another commentary I read said that it’s important to take note that Jesus says both, hunger and thirst. To write them together speaks of the full human experience. It points in a better way to the fundamental human need for sustenance. More than just using hunger alone or thirst alone.

And there seems to be this continued contrast. Jesus did this in his first statement - taking something physical we can relate to, and bringing in a spiritual application or thought to consider that maybe we haven’t thought about before..

/ / Poor in Spirit

We get poor, but have we thought about being poor in our spirit? And when you can understand feeling poor, or being without, then maybe you can begin to see how we can and should be that in our spirit. We get what it means to be in need. Maybe we’ve stood in line for food, parked on the front of a church for a couple hours. Oh.... would I do that for my spirit? For my connection with God? Do I see a need for it?

/ / Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness.

I get being hungry and thirsty… but, have I ever thought about that in connection with righteousness, or justice?

In a way Jesus is getting people to think of things they feel in their bodies that also trigger their emotions. Being hungry and thirsty can seriously trigger our emotions.

As I was reading through this I was reminded of a story in the Old Testament. In Genesis 25, if you know the story of Jacob and Esau. They are twin brothers, but Esau was born first, which means that he would receive what was called the birthright, and his father’s blessing. Their father was Isaac, son of Abraham. And this is how that world worked at the time. The firstborn son would get a double portion of everything the father had, then the other sons would take an equal share. So, if there are two sons, Jacob & Esau, everything Isaac had would be split into 3 parts, Esau would get 2/3 and Jacob would get 1/3.

Why was I reminded of this? If you know the story, you probably already know where I’m going with this. Esau comes home from being out hunting. He was a man of the wild, a hunter, an outdoorsman. Jacob on the other hand was a bit of a homebody. Isaac loved Esau because he’d go hunting and bring him steak. I would too. Not that I would love one child more than the other, but anyone who brings me steak is going to receive my blessing. Esau comes home from a hunt one day. He’s tired. He’s worn out. It’s been a long day, and Jacob has been in the kitchen cooking up a pot of stew. Rice and Beans some think. Or maybe a red lentil curry.

And Esau says to his brother, Jacob, in Genesis 25:30-34, / / “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!”

“All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”

“Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”

But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau at the meal, then got up and left - realizing that the vegan stew was not worth it...

Hunger we can relate to. Hunger pushes us to do thing we might not Normally do. I’m not saying I get this way, but other people can seem to get a big hangry… Our mood and our focus changes as we hunger and thirst… nothing else seems to matter in the moment. We are ruled by that hunger and thirst.

Thirst. Have you had that feeling of thirst before? Completely parched and you just need a drink.

One of the side effects of be a type 2 diabetic, if your blood sugars are not under control you are thirsty all the time. And I remember before I knew I was diabetic one of the symptoms that I had very strongly was thirst. It was terrible. I was thirsty all the time, and not only that, I couldn’t quench the thirst. It just would not leave. I would guzzle huge amounts of water with no results.

It’s one of the indications very quickly I can tell if my sugars are out of sorts, I am more thirsty.

The feeling of thirst and hunger do things to our body, don’t they?

Our stomachs growl, our mouths dry up…

Jesus is using these words to trigger some physical response. We get it. We understand those feelings. We’ve been there.

Coming in after working out in the yard all day, our mouths dry with thirst, and our stomachs empty with hunger. We become singularly focused, like Esau, what good is all the things I have if I die of hunger?!?!?!

Jesus is posing the question, the invitation, to be this way about righteousness. The only way to feed the hunger is food, the only way to quench the thirst is with drink. / / Can you come to a place where something inside of you will not be satisfied until you have righteousness in your life?

/ / Blessed are those who crave after, look for, seek out righteousness, those who are not satisfied until they have their fill of righteousness.

Ok, now let’s look at this word righteousness. There are three different things we need to look at about righteousness.

First, let’s talk about the obvious.

The word used for righteousness [dikaiosyne] here means - / / the state of him who is as he ought to be, the condition acceptable to God. The doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God.

But it also means - / / integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling and acting.

So, let’s look at that second definition first. Righteous means to do what is right.

Jesus is saying, / / blessed are those, or, you will be happier, if you choose over and over again, with everything in you, to do what is right in the eyes of God.

You will be happier if you will not be satisfied with doing what is wrong, but only when you have done what is right.

The Life Application commentary I read earlier continues to say this, / / Those who have an intense longing for justice (righteousness) are blessed. Most likely, this refers to personal justice - being so filled with God that the person completely does God’s will. Justice refers to total discipleship and complete obedience.

How does God say we are to live? What is the right thing to do?

This was something that Paul continually ran up against in the churches that he was leading. We live under this beautiful reality of God’s grace. We know that it’s by grace through faith, meaning God’s free gift of salvation, not by our works, not by what we can do, not by doing enough righteous things, but by the ultimate act of Jesus on the cross that we are set free from death and sin. And so then the question started to come up. Well, if we are free because of grace, are we then free to do whatever we want? If grace is undeserved, I can’t do anything to deserve it, then does it matter what I do?

He says in 1 Corinthians 10, listen, just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean it’s beneficial for you to do it.

And in his letter to the church in Rome he says as the world got worse, grace got better, more abundant, because there was more grace to be experienced in our brokenness. It was God’s law that showed us we needed grace in the first place. And so he finishes up Romans 5:21 and says, / / So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And remember, in our bibles we separate things into chapters, but he wrote a letter, so at the most for Paul it’s the end of a paragraph and the beginning of the next, whereas we might read chapter 5 one day, and chapter 6 the next day.But Romans 6:1 starts with, / / Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not!

If you’ve noticed, these invitations of Jesus are to bring us into a sense and experience of His life now, on this earth, AND giving us eternal life.

So, when Jesus says Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. What he’s saying is, / / You will be happier now, if you choose to do the right thing now.

Is it by grace that you are saved, yes.

Is it because of grace and not works that you receive eternal life, yes.

But, as my friend Kyle said to me one day, “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes....” Jesus is giving us an invitation to make the right choice which brings what? Blessing. Happiness.

You want to have a happier life, do the right thing.

You want to experience more joy in your life? Find out what God says about living rightly, and do that.

You want to live with peace? Follow the ways of Jesus.

Is this a matter of sin and salvation and eternity? Jesus deals with that many times, but not here. What he’s saying is, if you want life to be better right here and right now, one way you can do that is to choose to do what is right, by what HE says is right.

Righteousness is not your own moral understanding.

Righteousness is not your own decision of what is right.

This is right by God’s standard.

Ok, so the first thing we need to see Jesus saying in this scripture, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, is:

/ / You will be happier when doing the right thing becomes as necessary and as natural as eating and drinking.

Everything inside of me is compelled to do the right thing. I have to. It is necessary for me to do the right thing. Listen to that last part of the New Application NT Commentary again:

/ / Justice refers to total discipleship and complete obedience. It may also refer to justice for the entire world - an end to the sin and evil that fill it.

The implication there is that this hunger and thirst for righteousness goes beyond our own personal desire to do what is right, but extends to seeing the world also hunger and thirst for righteousness. To so champion doing the right thing that we can’t stand the fact that there is evil and wrongdoing in the world. Thus our lives not only become about doing the right thing, but helping others see the right thing to do.

Now, the second thing we want to learn from Jesus is / / what it truly means to be righteous.

Because the word righteous also implies our standing with God, it is important to look at what Jesus says about being MADE righteous.

/ / There is a difference between BEING righteous, and being MADE righteous. One we can do, the other, we can’t.

This is a bit like last week when we looked at the differences between the two definitions of meek and humble. Both of those words could mean two different things, one of them Jesus was definitely saying, and the other, he was not. And if we read scripture thinking our english definition is the way Jesus was saying something, we can live our lives trying to uphold something we were never intended to do - or missing something.

That can happen when we start to talk about doing what is right, about being righteous.

When we look at the differences in righteousness, look at this:

/ / Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling and acting. That’s what we just covered, choosing to do what is right because everything in you is compelled to do so. This is the BEING righteous, or DO right.

On the other hand, / / righteousness also means, the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved by God. The state of him who is as he ought to be, the condition acceptable by God.

This is where we get the word / / justification.

Justification means the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God. So this is the other side, / / MADE righteous, or MADE right in the eyes of God.

Romans 5:1 says this, / / Since we have been made right [justified] in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t deserve to share in God’s glory. Not by my own actions. Not by my own righteousness.

I can’t justify my life by my good behavior. And remember, this is not by our definition of what is good, or acceptable, but by God’s standard. And if righteousness is the condition that is acceptable to God - If I were to stand before God and he said to me, “Ok, to get into heaven you have to be as good as Jesus. You have to meet the standard set by Jesus. It’s not a you thing, it’s just that this place is perfect, and there’s no tears, no pain, no hurt, and so if we let anyone in that carries any of that, then that won’t be true anymore. So, we just need to make sure that everyone in here meets the same standard. Do you meet the standard set by the life of Jesus?”

“Well.........”

I might be good. I might have lived a great life. But am I free from sin entirely? Am I completely righteous? Have I done nothing that can be called into question and looked at and said, “What was up with your humanity at that point??”

This is why there’s no shame in admitting we need a savior.

This is why Jesus isn’t just a “crutch for the weak.”

No one can do it. Galatians 3:19 says, / / Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins.

See, when you are ignorant to a better way the things you do probably seem just fine.

When you measure your actions against other peoples actions, you can justify yourself. I did better than them. I’m better than that person. “Well, at least I didn’t do that.” “Did you see that? I would NEVER do that.” “I would never act like that… treat someone like that… do someone dirty like that… betray someone like that… I’m a good person...”

Without the law. Without morality. Without a baseline of right and wrong, none of us our wrong. There has to be a baseline. There has to be a moral framework. That’s one of the reasons we’re getting into more of a mess these days, because there is a whole movement happening where you are no longer allowed to impose your moral framework on anyone else. You aren’t allowed to say there is a moral standard that shows us if we are right or wrong, because how dare you say I’m wrong… To say that the actions of someone are wrong?!? It’s more and more frowned upon, isn’t it? You can get “cancelled” for saying you stand for something these days.

So / / what’s the greatest thing the enemy of our souls could do to try and derail humanity from following God? / / Destroy the image of what is right and wrong.

Why? First of all, that leads to people doing whatever they want, whatever they think is right, and remember Proverbs 4:23 / / Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. What did the NIV say, …everything you do flows from it.

If what is in our heart dictates our actions, and our heart is not focused on what is right and wrong, what will happen?

David prays in Psalm 1:1-2, / / Oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

And Psalm 40:8, / / “I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions [law] are written on my heart.”

So, without a law, there is no wrong. Without a baseline, you’re not out of sorts. So, not only does that impact our viewpoint on doing right, but it also distorts our need for being made right.

/ / You have to see you’ve done wrong and can’t make yourself right to allow someone else to come in and make you right by what they can do that you can’t.

If you don’t see your own sin, your falling short, your human, imperfect nature, then there is no reason to turn to Jesus to be made right.

And so what’s the easiest way to stop people from turning to God to make them right? Downgrade what it means to be right.

If I can no longer tell you that you’re sinning, then what’s the point in me telling you you need a savior?

And the world is highly against anyone telling anyone that they are wrong. You’re basically not allowed to do that anymore.

“You can’t tell me what’s right or wrong.” “That’s not my truth.”

And so then righteousness through faith, simply believing we NEED a savior and confessing with our mouths that Jesus Christ is that savior, becomes a pretty big barrier, because we just don’t see our need for it. And how can I be justified if I don’t think I need His justification?

We need to be praying John 16:8, Jesus says, / / “…when [the Holy Spirit] comes he will convict the world of its sin...”

Not because we want people to know how bad they are. That’s not the point. It’s so we can see our need for Jesus. This is why Paul says the law was given to show us our sin…

Jesus actually brings this point up in the Sermon on the Mount just a few verses after these nine statements we’re going through. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus explains some things about the law and about why He came. He says, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But I warn you - unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

This is super important for two reasons.

First, We’ve read this before, Jesus calls out the Pharisees for putting an impossible burden on people and not lifting a finger to help them WHILE they are claiming they are doing it all right. That’s the first mistake. DOING right isn’t just for you. Do right, AND teach others. Jesus says, anyone who obeys God’s laws AND teaches them.

So, the Pharisees were doing that wrong. They were more concerned with showing people how they were failing rather than helping them succeed.

And the second thing in this scripture is that the righteousness of the Pharisees is NOT the righteousness of Jesus.

When it comes to righteousness there are two answers.

/ / “I am righteous because I did all the right things. I never made a mistake.”

OR

“I can’t make it on my own, therefore I rely on the righteousness of Christ.”

Which do you think Jesus is talking about? Which is a better righteousness? One that comes from the arrogance of your own efforts, or one that comes through humility and acceptance of Christ?

See, even if you CAN keep all the law, humility always wins.

Even if you could do everything right, and never miss a beat, which, you can’t, because at that point your arrogance has kind of kicked in, and that alone falls short of God’s standard. Think about that. If you could keep all of God’s law, every little bit of it, every last letter, without missing a beat, where do you think that would lead you? If Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, then it would have to lead you to him!

Jesus is challenging a heart attitude here. Do you recognize this is NOT about works?

That doesn’t mean you don’t do what’s right. In fact, you’ll be HAPPIER if you do what is right. But when it comes to being MADE right in the eyes of God, Jesus is saying, “I’ll make it easier for you, in that, you can rely on me!”

So, the first thing Jesus says here is, / / You will be happier if you choose to do what is right.

The Second thing Jesus is saying here is, / / You will be happier if you realize you need my righteousness to be made right in the eyes of God.

And the third thing, which I touched on a bit but let’s look at for a minute, is this idea of justice in the earth.

What is right from a just and true standpoint.

/ / Do you hunger and thirst for seeing the world made right?

Do you hunger and thirst for justice to be done for those who have not received justice?

Do you advocate for those in need, those who have been wronged, or do you turn a blind eye to their suffering?

How can we live our lives doing what is right, choose to accept the pure righteousness of Christ, but NOT look at the world and say, “There are things happening that are NOT right that should be made right!”?

That last line of the commentary I’ve been reading... / / It may also refer to justice for the entire world - an end to the sin and evil that fill it.

So, yes, we don’t want to see evil in the world. Yes, like Jesus said, don’t just do right, but teach what is right. But in the sense of justice do we advocate for those who have received injustice?

And I don’t mean by dishing out punishment. I don’t mean by attacking the attacker, or putting down those who have done wrong. But justice from the eyes of God.

Did you know God can bring justice without punishment?

/ / Justice never comes at the hand of the accuser.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for actions. That doesn’t mean everyone just gets away with what they’ve done. / / But true justice is to make right. When I hear of people who have been treated poorly, do I want revenge against those who treated them poorly, or do I want to see made right what was not?

Jesus talks a whole lot about forgiveness, about not holding on to the grievances we have against people who have wronged us. To truly be free is to be free of holding on to the pain, the hurt, and the need for vengeance.

Paul says in Romans 12:19-21, / / Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

I find that passage kind of funny because no one understands the grace of Jesus like Paul, who met Him in the road to Damascus in a bright and shining light as he was on the way to kill Christians, and Jesus meets him, forgives him, and brings him into a life of preaching the very gospel message he was trying to kill.

So when he says, “let it be up to the righteousness of God” he knows full well that the righteousness of God is the grace of Jesus Christ to save, set free and redeem.

But that’s not easy. Advocating for what is right is difficult to do without becoming angry or putting down what we think is wrong. We see that time and time again through the protests we see in the world right now. Instead of advocating for justice we see a lot of putting down of the other side. Instead of simply saying, “This is the right thing...” there seems to be a need to point out, “And you’re wrong and horrible and stupid for not believing the way I believe, or doing the things the way I do them.”

I would suggest there is / / a right way to advocate for the right thing.

I saw on social media the other day two quite prominent worship leaders, or at least in the world that Kelley and I come from, and they were going back and forth on twitter bashing each others viewpoints and putting each other down and calling into question their decisions and actions. And I just thought, “That’s not the kingdom...”

And both of them love God. Both of them have a true heart of worship toward God. I don’t doubt that at all. But / / as soon as advocating for justice makes us compromise our righteousness, we’ve missed the opportunity for the Kingdom of Heaven to be revealed.

Alright, our last question for this morning, Jesus says we are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.... but How?

/ / How are we blessed? The end of Matthew 5:6 says, …for they will be satisfied. The NIV says, they will be filled.

GNT Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!

When you’re hungry and thirsty, what do you want? to fill your belly.

So, Jesus is saying, the insatiable desire to do what is right will not go unmet by feeling full from doing what is right.

Did you know there’s a whole field of what’s called Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness.

The premise is this. Be and act positively and you will experience happiness. Great, how many degrees did you have to get to tell us what Jesus told us 2,000 years ago?

Yes, exactly true. When you do what is right, you will be happy. / / When you hunger for what is right and do what is right you will experience the joy of having done what is right. Wow. Thanks for that profound insight, right?

There have been studies done that show the direct connection between kindness and happiness. Doing something good for someone makes us happy.

Well, let’s read what Jesus says on the matter.

John 4:1-38 is the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. No, we’re not going to read the whole thing. there’s literally one line in here that matters for us this morning. But to give you a brief overview of where we’re going.

Jesus and his disciples are walking from Judea toward Galilee and they pass a town in a place called Samaria. Traditionally the Jews and the Samaritans do not get along, they don’t like each other, most Jews would actually avoid even walking through Samaria. But, Jesus, being the rebel that he is just loves all people, and John 4:4 says, / / He had to go through Samaria on the way. Not true, he didn’t “have to”, except, he’s Jesus, and he had to, if you know what I mean.

They are approaching this town and he sends his disciples into town to buy some food and he walks over to the well outside of town, has a conversation with a woman, absolutely transforms her life. And a little while later the disciples come back with food.

John 4:31-34 says, / / …the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”

“Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other.

Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”

/ / Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? If you do, you’ll be satisfied. Doing what is right leads to feeling fulfilled.

The word satisfied in Matthew 5:6 means to gorge, to be utterly full, to satisfy with food, like the fattening of an animal.

Let’s wrap this up by bringing it back to one of the things in the commentary I have been reading throughout today.

/ / …being so filled with God that the person completely does God’s will. Justice [righteousness] refers to total discipleship and complete obedience… God’s promise is sure; ...He will completely satisfy spiritual hunger and thirst.

Do you want to be happier? Could you be happier?

Make the choice to learn what it means to follow God’s way, to follow after Jesus, to truly be a disciple of Jesus, and in that you will experience a satisfaction and fulfillment that can ONLY come from God when we follow His will!