How Character Takes Root: The Pursuit of Righteousness

Introduction

Read Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew 5:1–12 (ESV)

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

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

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Last week we began to look at the start of this Sermon on the Mount. Jesus starts with these beatitudes to show us the kind of people He is calling us to be before He is calling us to what we should do.

We saw that the character of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven sees and recognizes his sinful status before God and he mourns and repents from his sin. Today we are continuing to look at where the character of a believer takes root by looking at a believer’s meekness and desire for righteousness.

Submit Your Will to a Perfectly Righteous One

Matthew 5:5 (ESV)

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

As we look at these beatitudes, we see that Jesus is constantly turning our thoughts and beliefs upside down. No one thinks of the meek as inheriting the earth. We think of those who are strong-willed, determined, driven, stubborn even, ready to make a name for themselves and to get ahead no matter the cost as the ones who will inherit the earth. It is the powerful and self-affirming who take what they want and succeed in life.

And yet, Jesus in His wisdom, declares that the meek are the ones to inherit the earth.

What does it mean to be meek?

A Spirit-Fueled Gentleness

First, meekness does not mean weak or cowardly. That’s typically the thought that comes to mind when we think about being meek.

To be meek is to be humble and gentle. It is a gentleness that says I am going to put the needs of others above my own. And it takes a great deal of strength and courage to display this kind of attitude, because it requires a great trust and faith in God’s sovereignty and care over us.

Peter describes the meekness of Jesus in this way:

1 Peter 2:23 (ESV)

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Jesus even describes himself as meek:

Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:29 (KJV 1900)

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

And this gentleness is not something that comes naturally to any of us. We can be naturally timid and quiet and passive, but that is not the same as gentleness and meekness.

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Only the Spirit can truly develop this kind of character in our souls that will trust Christ where we do not seek our own defense.

A Turning Away From Our Own Will

What defined Jesus’s meekness and gentleness? It was His willingness to lay aside His own will for the will of the Father.

When Jesus was praying in the garden before His crucifixion, He prayed:

Matthew 26:39 (ESV)

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus was willing to do anything to follow the Father and He refused to seek His own vengeance against those who meant Him harm.

We see the ultimate example of His meekness and gentleness as He prayed from the cross:

Luke 23:34 (ESV)

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Jesus was meek and mild and in control of His reactions towards people.

A Submission to the Will of the Father

But this meekness also lead Jesus and us to a courageous obedience even when it is hard. While He never sought vengeance for Himself, He did stand up for the welfare of others.

He spoke against the Pharisees oppression of the people, He was angered by the disciples’ rejection of the children, and He used a whip to drive out the moneychangers who were abusing those who came to the temple to worship. He was not self-serving, but rather He was meek because He was submitting Himself to the will of the Father and for the good of others, even of those whom He spoke against.

His overarching purpose in all He did was love for His Father and love for the people He came to save, even those who were actively rejecting Him. And He knew that courageously being obedient to the Father would cause others to hate Him and despise Him, even to the point of being crucified, and yet He still submitted Himself to complete trust and obedience to the Father.

To be meek is to lay aside our own wills and desires and to submit to the will and desire of the Father, even when the cost of doing so is high, when it might lead to others hating us, despising us, cancelling us, or even killing us.

But let their hatred of us be because of our loving obedience to Christ and not because of our own self-righteous and self-serving attitude towards others. If our motive is to seek to show ourselves better than others rather than loving God and loving others, then we are not being meek.

How do we become meek?

Meekness Comes as we see ourselves rightly

The Spirit will provide the fruit of meekness and gentleness as we come to see ourselves rightly. The more we see our spiritual bankruptcy and sin, even as we see that all of my own righteous acts are but filthy rags, the more gentle I become. Because I will begin to see that I need God’s grace just as much as anyone because I can say with Paul that I am the chief of sinners.

But I will also see that everyone else deserves God’s grace just as much if not more than I do, which changes how I approach others. Even when God may use us to speak truth to others, if I know how much I have sinned, then I will be much more gentle and loving as I speak the truth to others.

Meekness Comes as we yoke ourselves to Christ

Finally, we receive meekness as we follow and yoke ourselves to Christ.

Matthew 11:29–30 (ESV)

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus calls us to yoke ourselves to Him.

Kent Hughes writes this about the Yoke:

In Biblical times a young ox was yoked to an older, experienced ox so that the older might train him to perform properly. By bearing the same yoke, the untrained ox learned the proper pace and how to heed the direction of the master. We learn by being yoked to Christ, as we surrender our lives to him for direction.

As we learn and follow Jesus, as we spend time with Him in prayer and communion and fellowship, as we continue to look at His life shown to us through God’s Word, He will impart to us the same meekness that He Himself displayed. And we can find rest as we quit trying to fight for our rights and rest in the loving care and provision of God knowing that He will give to us all we need.

In Christ, we truly do trust that we have been given all the riches of His glorious grace and we can quit striving for things that have already been given to us!

Seek the Righteousness You Cannot Earn

Matthew 5:6 (ESV)

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

Steps to Hungering for Righteousness

See our spiritual condition and need

Going back to the first beatitude, we see that blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who know they are in need and there is nothing they can do on their own to become right with God.

If we are to hunger after righteousness, we need to let go of trying to earn our own righteousness or to justify ourselves in spite of our own sin.

Learn to hate and mourn over your sin and unrighteousness

Next Jesus told us that blessed are those who mourn. If we are to hunger and thirst for righeousness, we must see our unrighteousness as it really is and hate and mourn over our current state. To truly be hungry for and desire true righteousness, we must recognize the state of our souls and see what our soul truly needs!

Submit your will to the will of the Father

Next, Jesus told us that blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who are gentle and do not seek their own will. The pathway to hungering and thirsting for righteousness is hindered by our own selfish wills and desires. Once we realize that my own heart and desires lead to death, I will lay down my will for that of a greater will, the will of the Father, who truly desires to give us the righteousness He created us to possess.

This would be akin to a child who is hungry, instead of allowing that hunger to drive her to her parents, seeks to satisfy that hunger on her own. Instead of waiting for the nutritious supper that is for her good, she goes to the pantry or the refrigerator and gets herself the junk food snack to ease the hunger pangs. She is filling herself, but not with things that are for her good and for her flourishing.

Yet, if she knows and trusts that her parents want to give her what she needs and what is good for her, she will go to them for provision knowing they will satisfy her needs and desires.

When we come to Christ with a desperate desire for righteousness, He promises to satisfy those desires by giving us His righteousness. All those who come to Him in faith are credited with righteousness and we no longer stand condemned in our sins.

Romans 8:1 (ESV)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Where does righteousness come from?

So we see that the beatitudes before this one leads us to hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Once I see my desperate need for righteousness, mourn over my unrighteousness, lay down my own will for that of the Father’s, I will begin to truly desire righteousness. But where does this righteousness come from? Where are we to seek for this righteousness?

Righteousness comes from Christ alone

There is only one place we can receive this righteousness and be filled. In Christ alone!

Romans 4:1–3 (ESV)

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

From the beginning, the only way people could be made righteous is through living by faith.

It is only through faith in what God Himself has done can we receive the righteousness our souls long for. And it is not faith in just anything, it is faith in the completed work of Christ upon the cross!

It is something that Abraham looked forward to, while we look back upon it.

He provided our food and drink with His body and blood on the cross

Through the cross, Jesus has come to satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst, if we will allow the pangs to drive us to Him instead of trying to fill those desires ourselves.

Remember, it is those who hunger, not those who are filled that are blessed.

Jesus provided the food and drink we so desire through His broken body and His spilled blood for us on the cross.

Jesus, on the cross, was standing in our place, taking upon Himself the full penalty our sins deserved. The man who knew no sin, became sin for us!

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Christ became the one to bear the penalty of our sins upon Himself. He is taking and paying for our sins so that He can give us His righteousness.

Paul is saying that the one who comes to Christ in brokenness and places his/her faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross will receive the righteousness we can never earn.

And this is what Jesus is calling us to hunger and thirst for. We are not simply hungering a kind of righteousness that can make us feel good about ourselves.

What our souls are really longing for is Christ Himself!!!

The Church has had a way of reminding herself of her great need for this righteousness, reminding herself of her sinfulness and Christ’s gracious and merciful provision to care for His bride and that is through the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

At the Lord’s table, we are reminded of the sin that Christ came to die for, and we are reminded of the way in which we are made righteous, through the broken body and shed blood of the Lamb of God Himself.

As we will partake of this supper in just a moment, let it stir in our souls our desperate need for righteousness and that it is only by grace through faith in Christ that we can receive what He alone can provide.

Conclusion

These first four beatitudes are showing where the character of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven is taking root. If we are to enter into this kingdom and find the salvation that we so desperately need, we must have the kind of character that sees our sin for what it is, to mourn and repent over that sin, to lay down our own will and submit to the will of the Father, and to seek the righteousness He desires for us to have.

Through Christ alone can we find hte righteousness and salvation that is required to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

For those of us in Christ, we will continue to demonstrate and grow in these characteristics. It’s not that we demonstrate these things once and move on, but that these are characteristics of who we are because of Christ.

Maybe you are here and you’ve heard about Jesus, but you’ve never placed your faith in Jesus as Your Lord and Savior. Maybe you are seeing your poverty of spirit and your desperate need to be made right with God and you know you cannot do this on your own. Today can be the day you humble yourself, submit yourself to the will of God and come to Christ to fill you with His righteousness and receive the assurance of salvation that your soul is longing for.