2024-02-18 Made Righteous To Be Righteous

Alright, we are continuing our series on the / / Beatitudes this week. We are looking at Matthew 5:3-12 and in the greater context of all of Matthew 5-7 which is the Sermon on the Mount.

So far we’ve looked at the first three / / Be Attitudes, or as we are calling them, the attitudes we need to embody to become something. The attitude to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple, a kingdom person.

That’s what is happening here right? Jesus is inviting people to follow him and to learn from him, which means, to become a disciple, or as John Mark Comer would put it, an apprentice. We are learning to become like Him. Why? Why learn from Jesus to become like Jesus? What’s the purpose?

Is it just so we can have a good life now? Is it so we can be “blessed” as these beatitudes are saying, and does that mean blessed by how the world sees being blessed?

I was struck by something last Sunday. Not sure if you caught it.

Somewhere between his awkward embrace with Alicia Keys and his one white glove that looked like it had diamonds all over it, or the artist H.E.R. inviting her bad girls on stage, or maybe it was when he took his shirt off and danced around the stage half naked…. or maybe the roller skate moves, which were actually really impressive… somewhere in the midst of all that Usher said this, “But if you do call, know that God answers prayers. They said I wouldn’t make it. They said I wouldn’t be here today. Hey Mama, We made it. And now this…this is for you… Yeah, I do it for the ladies, but I gotta keep it real…”

Now, if you want my personal opinion on what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain, that might be somewhere at the closest. The fact that the SuperBowl halftime act doesn’t even get paid, they actually pay to be there, and the reason they are willing to do that is because their album and ticket sales will skyrocket as much as 500% after the SuperBowl… the fact that I am quite confident that no one hearing Usher say, “God answers prayer, see, I’m here at the SuperBowl” then turns and says, “Oh man, that builds my faith.”

But what struck me so deeply is that this is it. This is what we are..let’s say up against, when it comes to how people define what it means to be blessed. Are you Usher level blessed, or maybe are you football player level blessed who when asked says that God sustained them through all the trials they went through in the season. How they came back from nothing to win it all. Thank the Lord.

Ok, I’m digging at sports a little bit here because I think it’s funny. I mean, I really enjoy watching football, don’t get me wrong, and the halftime show wasn’t all bad. And I’m definitely not digging at the people. These guys playing sports didn’t create the world we live in, they aren’t the ones charging the average ticket price of $8,500. They just happen to be taking full advantage of that world by working really hard to be as good as they are. Go for it. It’s available. And for sure, for anyone in that position, definitely not bad that you’re giving praise to God in the midst of it. But that’s not what it means to be blessed, or at least that’s not what Jesus is talking about when he tells us about the kingdom of heaven and the blessings of the beatitudes.

Now, here’s the subtle difference. Do you notice that no matter what it is you are watching or listening to, there is a narrative being spun, there is an agenda being given, there is opportunity to be led into belief that is either contrary to the gospel, or maybe just a little bit askew, that sets our view just a bit off of what God is actually saying.

Paul encourages us in Romans 12:2, / / Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Listen to how the MSG says it, / / Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.

All of that to say, There is a far cry between what the world says blessed means, and what scripture encourages us with. Usher level blessed. NFL player level blessed. That’s not what Jesus is talking about, that’s not the goal.

This attitude we need to have to become something is so much more.

And maybe, instead of attitude we should use the word character. God wants to work a new character in and through us. Some would call it Christian virtue. What God wants to do in us so that we can be who we are called to be in this world. That’s the second part of Romans 12:2. Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, here’s the next part, / / Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The ESV says, / / That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Good and acceptable and perfect. God is calling each of us somewhere, to a place where the life we live becomes more like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, / / And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

How does that happen? How do we become more like Him?

Let me ask you a question. If you’re married, think of your spouse, if you’re not, think of your best friend. Ok, someone comes up to you, and they look 100% like your spouse, or best friend. I mean, they are the absolute spittin’ image of them, and you’re of course, convinced that they are your spouse. Of course it is. They’re wearing their clothes, they look exactly like them, they sound exactly like them. But then you notice that they aren’t acting anything like them.

What do you do? First thing is probably you ask, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting strange? Stop acting like that. You’re freaking me out. Why aren’t you acting normal.”

You recognize that they are not your spouse, they aren’t your best friend, they are an imposter. You don’t know how they’ve done it, but they have. They aren’t anything like the person you love.

As Christians we are meant not to just look like Jesus, bear the name of Jesus, but how do you truly know someone is who they say they are? Because they act like you know they act.

One of the biggest issues we have in the church today is that there are a lot of people, who by name and outward appearances, they go to church, they have the fish or cross on their bumper, they say “amen” in conversation, they outright tell you they are a christian, but their lives don’t look anything like HIs. How do you know? Because they don’t act like Him.

It’s not because they don’t appear to be like Him. But they don’t act like Him.

When we say we are being transformed by God that should be visible in our actions, in how we live. We should be less angry, less bitter, less rude, crude and argumentative. We should love more, show more mercy, be more friendly.

Now, hear me in this, I never say any of this as condemnation to where we are currently at, because Lord knows we’re all on a journey and some of you are just way ahead of me in it. But I say these things in way of encouragement in what Jesus is wanting to do in your life.

When we read these beatitudes this is an invitation to what God wants to work in and through you for your benefit and the benefit of the world around you. Remember a few weeks ago we talked through the fact that Paul calls us Ambassadors for Christ. meaning what? Meaning, we are representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are meant to be those who invite, and represent and deliver the good news of the Kingdom. If you don’t have access to the king, an ambassador is your access to the king. They speak and act on behalf of the king.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 says, / / And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

So, that’s the story. We are made right with God through Christ so we can bring the wonderful message of salvation to those who still need to be made right with God through Christ.

And a big part of that story, in fact it’s the same story as Richard Foster points out, is becoming like Christ in our discipleship. We aren’t just reconciled through a moment of salvation, but we are brought into a life of learning what it means to be like Christ, to live like Him, through following His ways and being transformed by the Spirit.

So, what have we looked at so far.

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

We need to remind ourselves that no matter what we have received, there is more of God, and we never want ourselves to become comfortable in our relationship or our receptiveness toward God. If you’ve read the book of Revelation, there’s a point where John, the one seeing the vision that becomes the book, Jesus tells him to write letters to seven churches, both commending them for their faithfulness, but also correcting them where need be.

He says this to two of them.

First, to the church in Ephesus, he says in Revelation 2:2-5, / / “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.”

Ok, those are all good things, right? But then he says this, / / “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first…”

And to the church in Laodicia, Revelation 3:15, 19, / / “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! So be diligent and turn from your indifference.”

What’s he saying? In both of those he’s speaking to complacency. Don’t settle. Always understand your place in respect to the infinite God we serve. In Jewish tradition they pray three prayers, morning, noon and evening, and the morning prayer is this, / / “I am thankful before You, living and enduring King, for you have mercifully restored my soul within me. Great is Your faithfulness.”

It was part of the law that they say this prayer upon waking up. Now, I’m not saying you need to do that, but what if we did start everyday by saying, “Thank you God for your faithfulness. I rely on you.” Recognizing our state of being poor in spirit. What is it the NLT says, / / God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him…

Ok, then we looked at / / Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

One inward looking question of how am I managing my own emotional self?

And one outward looking, how am I managing how I interact with people? Am I being meek, humble, gentle?

This week we are going to move on to vs 6 which says,

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

Most translations use the word righteousness, but a few are slightly different.

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

/ / 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. (MSG)

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

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

So, some interesting differences here. Righteousness, Justice, desire to do what God requires, having a want to obey God.

But before we get into that, let’s look at the first part of what Jesus is saying, because it kind of sets it up.

/ / Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness?

So, those two words there are not light words. Hunger & Thirst. They are actually pretty strong words.

/ / Hunger is the greek word peinao and it means 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.

And / / Thirst is dipsao, which means 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 and strengthened.

Again, strong words here. You are begging for food and water because you are famished and parched.

Think of how your kids run into the house on a hot day begging for water, or come in from school absolutely famished because they need a snack, or are begging for dinner.

Now, of course we know that they are just being dramatic, so it’s not like that, but in the expression of want and desire, it is. I suppose the real definition would be closer to someone crawling out of the dessert and being on the edge of complete exhaustion. Or maybe someone on the streets that hasn’t eaten for a few days and all they can think about is to get to that food that will keep them alive.

Seeking with eager desire.

The second part of that is very akin to what we talked about in the way of being poor in spirit. This is not something that you do until you are full and then you don’t do it anymore. Remember, Jesus is talking about a consistent way of life.

When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven there is a what is now and what is yet to come. Jesus talked about a time when he would come back, Revelation talks about this in Johns vision, as well. And that is when Jesus will establish his kingdom and rule on the earth. That is the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth.

But we also live in the Kingdom of Heaven now. There is an invitation, while the world is still not yet there, for us to live like it is. But that is what we are working toward.

NT Wright says it this way. Jesus was born perfect, lived a perfect life, and died as a perfect sacrifice to save us from the effects of sin. As a result the bible says we are cleansed and made perfect in Him. But there’s a very big difference.

Let’s use a saying we all know. Quit Cold Turkey. Y’all know what that means, right? It means you’re living one way, doing something you probably shouldn’t do. Let’s say, you’re drinking, or smoking, or eating too much sugar, and you decide, I’m going to change. And instead of having a plan to wean yourself off, or having a plan of how you are going to change your life, you just wake one day and decide you’re going to stop that behavior and start a new one.

Now, just to take smoking for an example. The Mayo Clinic College of Medicine did a research study over the last 25 years and have shown that out of 100 people trying to quit smoking cold turkey, only about 3 - 5 of them will succeed for longer than six months. What’s that mean? It means that you might think you are strong enough to pull it off, BUT, 95% of people statistically can not quit cold turkey. 1 in 20.

Now, what happens when you step out of a life of sin, and into following the way of Jesus, and you suddenly realize that Jesus is more loving, more kind, more gentle, more meek, more humble, doesn’t cuss, doesn’t get angry, doesn’t hurt people, doesn’t do wrong at all, and you are like, “I have to do all this? I’m supposed to be like him?”

Now, granted, we have the Holy Spirit, and hear me in this. Christianity is not about being perfect, except……. it is - at least that’s the goal.

We read it earlier, we are becoming more like Christ. What can that possibly mean except that the way our lives are without Christ, is slowly being transformed to what Christ’s life is like. That’s what these beattitudes are all about. Think of it this way. There is no condemnation for not being perfect, but the goal is still to become perfect - not because Jesus needs us to be perfect, but because the goal is to become like Him who IS perfect.

And listen, this is for this life, the hear and now. This is about character development, about transformation. We read it earlier, Paul says in Romans 12:2 that we are to transformed by the renewing of our mind. Repentance is defined as having a change of mind, about thinking differently. And / / thinking differently leads to acting differently which leads to transformation.

I can think all day long about how bad sugar is for me, But it’s not until I actually give it up that my blood sugar levels come back into alignment and I begin to start feeling better.

You can think all day long that smoking is hurting you, but until you decide to stop smoking your lungs can’t heal, your body can’t find health in that area.

Thinking differently does not equal doing. But thinking differently is the first step to being able to do.

And when you look at these beattitudes, they are very much in the here and now rather than in the kingdom that will come when Jesus returns and will be established for all eternity.

We won’t need to be poor in spirit when Jesus returns. We will have him in the absolutely sense of fullness.

We won’t mourn, the Bible says he will come to wipe away every tear.

I can only assume humility, meekness, gentleness is going to be the norm, Plus, we’ll have inherited the earth at that point, with Christ, so no need for that.

Having a desire to do what is right, I think that’s a given in heaven.

You see where I’m going. These are attitudes we need now, to live in a world where the kingdom is NOT fully realized, so that we can live LIKE the kingdom is fully realized.

This is the way it will be IN his kingdom. We will have the fullness of the spirit, but until then, stay hungry for the spirit, stay poor in your need for Him.

IN his kingdom we will be fully, 100% comforted with all comfort, but until then, allow yourself to connect deeply with your emotions. Allow yourself to mourn, so you can receive the comfort of the Spirit and the body of Christ, the church.

One day, when he returns, we will rule and reign with him on this earth with no darkness or sin, but until that point, stay meek, humble, gentle, and you will experience a level of that now.

And in the same regard, in Matthew 5:6, our verse for today. When He returns and establishes his Kingdom in this earth we will be fully satisfied, but if you want to experience that satisfaction now, then hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We live in the fullness of and the yet to come. Does that make sense?

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, / / …when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.

So, do we have the inheritance?

No, Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit, that we have received when we believed in Christ, is the guarantee of that inheritance. So we have the Holy Spirit, who Paul continues to say is the same power that raised Christ from the dead, and is alive inside of us, so really, what more could we need, and yet, there is something yet to come.

Think of it this way as well. We live in the fullness of redemption, and yet, we work to live a life of conquered sin. What I mean by that is that we choose everyday, like Jesus said, to deny ourselves, or like Paul says, to put away the desires of the flesh, and embrace the leading of the Spirit, or the way of Christ. But that does not always come naturally, does it? How many still struggle with a natural, almost automatic desire or impulse to do what is contrary to the perfection of Jesus?

So, we purpose to live in the promises of the future today, while waiting for the promises of the future. When that time comes we won’t need to wake up and work hard at it, but today, we do. Today, as Paul says in Philippians 2:12, / / Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

/ / Desire + Power + Action

You can have desire and power and still need to make the choice to actually do it.

So, / / Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus is saying, you gotta hunger and thirst. Are you famished for the things of God?

What is it that we are hungering and thirsting for? Righteousness. Or, as some other translations say, justice, or to obey, or do what is right in God’s eyes.

So, we need to know what Jesus means by righteousness.

The word used for / / righteousness in the greek is dikaiosyne, which 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, this is the hear and now, and the yet to come.

We know that we can not be made right with God by our works, right? Salvation is by grace through faith, meaning, we can’t do anything to deserve it, we must believe in Jesus as the only way to make us right with God. His sacrifice deals with our sin so that we can receive His life rather than the wages of our sin, which is death. That’s the 100% truth about our righteousness, our being made right with God.

However, there is also, living rightly before God. Doing what is right. Living a life of righteousness to the best of our ability by the grace of God in the here and now.

When I die I will stand before God and be named righteous, not because I did it right, but because Jesus did.

But, today, and everyday until I die and stand before God, I am responsible to wake up, deny myself, pick up my cross, and follow the way of Jesus Christ that leads to life. If not, the sin I live, will cause death in me, either slowly or quickly depending on how far off the mark I’m shooting.

If I go get drunk and start driving, my sin has a high probability of causing death immediately.

If I eat too much sugar, and my blood sugar is out of line with where it should be, I run a risk of slowly doing damage to my body over time that will result in early death, but not immediate death.

Our sin still causes death, regardless of being made right in the eyes of God through the salvation of Jesus Christ.

If I am mean to my wife and daughter I will produce in those relationships death over time to a point where that relationship might not exist.

Am I still saved by grace through faith? Yes, I still believe and Jesus didn’t give up on me, but my actions produced in my life in the here and now a death. Sin produces death, denying yourself, produces life.

That’s Matthew 16:24, / / if you want to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

But listen to the next verse, it explains it further. / / If you try to hang on to your own life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

So, / / made righteous, but called to live righteous.

And what does righteous mean? To do what is right.

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

If you have in you a holy discontent with doing the wrong thing and a desire that will not be satisfied until you do what is right, then you will experience a happiness that this world can not provide.

I see this over and over again. A lot of people who have their own businesses are happy to take cash and not pay taxes, because they think having that extra few bucks will make them happier. But to me that’s just missing the mark, and in the long run is producing death. Some of those same people are asking God to bless their businesses and bless their finances, yet they cheat the system and want it to be blessed. That doesn’t make sense.

Now, I’ve said this before, This is a big part of this series, blessed doesn’t always mean financial, doing the right thing financially doesn’t always mean financial blessing. Even tithing or giving an offering and honoring God in our finances by giving to the church doesn’t always mean financial increase. But it does mean blessing. It does mean being happier. It’s a place of being more content with less than you ever could be with having more and being miserable.

If you want financial increase, imitate Dave Ramsey as he imitates Christ. Right? Learn how to be a good steward of what you have, while being obedient to the way of Jesus, and you will have both contentment of blessing, and more dollars to your name.

Remember what we said last week. I’d rather be in the corner of the attic with a bit of dry bread than all the comfort of a beautiful home with a quarrelsome wife. And that’s the book of Proverbs, not me.

But do you get my point.

Doing what is right brings a blessing that things can’t. And having all the things, doesn’t make you happier, and may very well be causing death in other areas of your life. It’s just not worth it.

The Life Application Commentary says 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?

Now, what I want to make sure you understand, is that this is not saying that Christianity is now some sort of list of rules that you need to follow and if you don’t you’re bad, and if you do, you’re good. In Galatians 3 Paul says, / / Did you receive the Holy Spirit because you did so good at keeping the law of Moses? No, of course not, you received the Holy Spirit because you believed in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And he says it again in a different way, Galatians 3:5, 13, / / I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

So, this is not about doing it all right. It’s not about a set of rules.

It’s about seeing the future fullness and desiring to live in it in the present now.

It’s about seeing that we are made perfect, so we work to live that way now.

It’s about recognizing that God’s promise is to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that one day we will be perfected in that kingdom, but in the here and now we can call forward that way of living to experience something now that is not yet.

Do you see what I’m saying. Over here in heaven it’s all said and done. But over here on earth it’s possible to live in a way that we experience what is there, while still living in a world where darkness and sin are all around us. But it takes choosing to live a different way. With His Grace! But none the less, the hard work of giving up our own way for his.

If anyone has ever told you discipleship to Jesus was easy, I’m sorry. It’s not easy. Anyone who ever had to make the right choice in the face of what looks like a good choice knows the choice to give up our human fleshly desires is not easy.

This is why the world is so rampant in it’s sin now. People live for what feels good, and they’ve been told that Christianity is the good life, and that God wants to give them happiness all the time, so they look at life and think, “Whatever makes me happy must be good, and whatever is good, must be God, and so I think I’m doing ok by sleeping with this person, by cheating in this way, by not paying my taxes, by living the way I want, doing what I want, whatever makes me feel good, that’s the new God.”

But that’s not the case at all. Will following God produce happiness. Yes, but not like you think.

See, hunger and thirst for righteousness is not what we think is right, it’s what God says is right.

We don’t get to decide the moral parameters of life.

We don’t get to decide what is right and wrong.

Righteousness is not our own decision of what is right. This is right by God’s standard.

That’s why I love the NLT version of Romans 3:23, / / For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

And Jesus is saying, Blessed are those who are compelled to do the right thing. To live by God’s standard.

Now, the NLT also uses the word “justice”, and the Life Application commentary says, / / 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.

So think of the scripture we’ve been reading about being ambassadors, about being given the ministry of reconciliation. This is truly the justice of God, to make the world right. Not just to see the world, it’s people choose to do what is right, but to see the world made right, against sin and the schemes of the devil.

We see that in scripture over and over again. God is not out to punish people, he wants all people to repent, have a change of mind about what life should be, and choose to follow him. And he puts us right at the center of that when he calls us ambassadors who have the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation means the restoration of relationship.

The implication here 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 being ambassadors of the ministry of reconciliation and helping others to see the majesty of God and choosing His righteousness for their lives through the grace of Jesus and faith in him, and choosing to give up their own way to follow him and live righteously.

This is why I’ve been saying the last few weeks, pray for God to lead you to people who the Holy Spirit is helping realize that they need a savior, that they are in need of Jesus Christ, so that you are inviting them into something they already recognize they need. You’re simply giving them the answer to the questions they are already asking.

It’s very difficult to convince people who think they don’t need a savior, to become a Christian. What’s the point? If Jesus saves us, and I don’t think I need saving, then I don’t need your Jesus. Remember, Jesus said he didn’t come for those who think they are righteous. But that doesn’t mean those who think they are righteous can’t come into a revelation that they are actually sick. When we recognize that we are lost, that we need Him, that our lives have missed the mark and produced death and the only way toward life is through the death and resurrection of Jesus, then it becomes much much easier to make the decision to follow Him, because now you have purpose.

And so we have to always remember we aren’t inviting people into a life of doing what is right so they can win salvation, because there is a big difference between BEING righteous, and being MADE righteous. One we can do, the other we can’t.

/ / Jesus makes us right with God SO THAT we can live a life of righteousness before God without the burden of trying to win our salvation by being perfect. We can’t be righteous enough in our own strength to be perfect before a perfect God. But when we accept the righteousness of Christ, what he sees is us completely made perfect IN Christ Jesus, blameless before Him.

A little holy conviction by the Holy Spirit is a good thing, it helps us see our need for him. It helps keep us poor in spirit.

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

This is another aspect of the blessing of God that doesn’t include what we would traditionally think of blessing, getting all the things.

What does it mean here to be satisfied?

Satisfied literally means to be made full from eating. To have food supplied in abundance.

Let’s close out this morning by looking at a story from the life of Jesus. You may know this story. Him and his disciples need to go from Judea to Galilee, and in between those two places was Samaria. Now Samaritans don’t like Jews, Jews don’t like Samaritans. They despise each other. So much so that a Jewish person would go all the way around the region of Samaria, adding miles to their journey, just so they didn’t have to go through it.

But John 4:4 says, / / He [Jesus] had to go through Samaria on the way.

He didn’t “have to” except that he had to. And you’ll see why in a minute.

He sends his disciples into a Samaritan village named Sychar to buy food. And he parks himself by a well outside the city. A woman comes to the well to draw water.

They have a conversation. The conversation itself isn’t relevant for this morning, but go read John 4 this week, it’s really good. Jesus ministers to this woman’s heart, she is completely transformed by seeing the sin in her life and seeing Jesus as the Messiah who can save her.

The disciples finally return with the food and see Jesus with this woman, a Samaritan woman at that, Jesus should not be talking to her. She takes off to go tell people in the village about Jesus and how he has, in a single moment changed her life. And 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.”

Now do you get why Jesus HAD to go through Samaria?

My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me…

Sent him where?

Through Samaria.

Why?

Because there was a woman who needed to encounter the presence of God for the purpose of redemption and the salvation of her whole village. Remember, 2 Corinthians says that Jesus was sent first to reconcile us to God, so that we could be his ambassadors with the ministry of reconciliation. He’s showing his disciples how it’s done!

Jesus so hungered and thirsted for righteousness that he was willing to go through a region that no respectable Jewish person would go through, park at a well and talk to a women, by himself, which he shouldn’t have done, a Samaritan woman at that, which he shouldn’t have done, a woman who’s been married multiple times, and living with a guy who isn’t her husband, not a reputable woman… Jesus what are you thinking???

The whole situation is questionable whether Jesus should even be there or not. Yet, without Jesus going there the righteousness of God can not meet this woman.

If you’re on social media at all you’ve probably seen people post these memes about how Jesus hung around the sinners, and Jesus was in the bad parts of town, and so don’t get on me about hangin out with my unchristian friends because that’s where Jesus would be. And most of the time it’s just an excuse to do what you want rather than what is right.

Yes, Jesus hung around these people, but for one purpose and one purpose only, because He is righteousness itself and He calls people to be righteous by following Him.

Let me say that again. Jesus hung out with disreputable people because his mission was to reconcile them back to God, to a life of righteousness, so that they could in turn follow him and become the righteousness of Christ in this earth drawing others to Him.

It is precisely because of His hunger and thirst for doing what is right and inviting people into what is right that He did what he did, went where he went, hung around who he hung around… And in that, in that he found a nourishment that outdoes any lavish dinner table.

/ / The satisfaction that Jesus promises in Matthew 5:6, is an inner satisfaction of the soul because we do what is right.

There is a satisfaction that comes from doing what is right that no food could every bring you.

When it comes to matters of what is right and what is wrong, I encourage you, choose what is right.

In the case of John 4, Jesus is not only doing what is right, but it’s also having impact on someone else’s life. Sometimes doing what is right is a witness in of itself.

And sometimes doing what is right isn’t seen by anyone else. Those might even be the harder times. Sometimes doing what is right is realizing they didn’t charge you for something, and you go back in and say, “hey, I didn’t get charged for this.” DO you know how rare that is? I did that one day at Home Depot and the lady looked at me and said, “Wow, no one does that.” Well, they should. And I didn’t do it because I thought, “maybe the cashier will pat me on the back and say, ‘good boy’”. I did it because it’s right, and in doing so I feel a satisfaction in my soul that only I will feel. But to me, that’s a blessing. There is a happiness in that.

So, as we’re closing out here, let me connect righteousness and justice.

/ / Doing what is right establishes the justice of God in the earth. The more people do what is right, the more the world looks like God intended. We are part of God’s plan to bring righteousness and justice to the earth. That is the Kingdom of Heaven come. The future become present. The glory of God become reality in our lives.