Follow Suit: Desiring what's Right

Desiring what’s Right

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

Are you happy?

Like, are you content right now?

On a scale from 1-10, where would rate your happiness?

During a pandemic, the pursuit of happiness can momentarily be found in movies (literally, by watching the Pursuit of Happiness), in chocolate, cheeses (not ‘Jesus’, but like, harvarte), in cars, bars, or receiving another box from Amazon.

We’re trying to fill that void...

The word for ‘blessed’ here could also be translated as happy, and I think when it comes to happiness, we can easily miss the boat. In fact, we often times miss by a lot. Like, when was the last time that you thought happiness could be found in desiring righteousness?

Well, my hope is that this sermon will spur you on to think in that way because we have a tremendous amount to learn from how we can live the blessed life, the happier life, by desiring righteousness.

Short passage and Context

We’re going to go through Matthew 5:6 as our only scripture passage. It’s short, I know, that’s why I’ll be supplementing it wither other passage from Matthew as go through each word

Middle of Beatitudes

Beginning of the Sermon on the Mount

Jesus teaching his disciples how to operate in this new Kingdom he’s getting started

Hunger and Thirst in Matthew:

Blessed are those who hunger...

First off, that sounds weird off that bat.

Hangry! “Happy aren’t thou hangry.”

Not about starvation but about yearning

One Commentary: “Desire vs. ‘deprivation’”: This word is about desire

Passage #1: Matthew 4: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Jesus was hungry, like, you could actually say he was starving…

The Tempter came= TITLE of DESIRE

If you are who you say you are...

“Why don’t you indulge yourself? Use your power to satisfy yourself.”

Jesus’ mission was to satisfy others!

“He had come to take a lowly place and in the end die on a cross to save others; to use his powers to satisfy personal needs would be to deny all this.” Leon Morris

What brought Jesus satisfaction was not filling his own stomach, but sticking to his mission for our salvation! So Jesus reminds us: Bread’s not all you need for life: you need to feast from God’s Word because it came from my Father’s own voice!

What satisfied Jesus was staying true to his mission as an obedient Son—to please the Father and not his own desires...

Jesus hungered for righteousness by desiring the Father’s will over his own.

Passage #2: Matthew 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus now teaches us a lesson about our wants and needs...

Rather than seeking after the things like food, drink and clothes, Jesus commands us to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Again, what we are supposed to hunger and thirst for is not about looking out for ourselves. Jesus rejected the Tempters attempt to get Jesus to use his power for selfish gain, Jesus encourages us to stop worrying about personal needs and first desire God and his goodness.

AND so, to hunger and thirst, for God’s righteousness is to hunger and thirst for things outside our own wants and needs. It’s to desire something other than our own interests!

THEME: Hungering and thirsting is about first priorities:

What we hunger for needs to be primarily guided by things outside of our own worlds.

Desiring righteousness prioritizes our wants— places our wants in the right order.

- God first, God’s word first, Kingdom first...

FOLLOW SUIT!

So, we’ve focused on this hungering and thirsting part, but let’s hone in on this word righteousness now....

So far all we know is that we’re called to desire it, and that and that it NOT about focusing on our own needs.

But like, what is righteousness??

Righteousness

Notoriously Difficult word to translate:

Righteousness: Misnomer: being morally superior or exceptionally ethical:

Hunger and thirst for being morally superior” Doesn’t sound right...

Michael Wilkins: People who desire righteousness “Desire to see justice executed on earth, they long to experience a deeper ethical righteousness in their own lives, and most of all they crave God’s promised salvation come to the earth.” NIVAC

Righteousness: not only about morality but also about right relationship.

Justice: Right relationship with humanity!

Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is like a desire to experience vibrant and thriving relationships- both with God and our neighbors.

Keller’s Sermon: 1992 “Breastplate of Righteousness”

Perfect Measurement: “Straight”: Ethical Standard: “Up to specs”

All the measurement and specifications of what is supposed to be are met.

Church Building: Engineer needs to make sure all the specs are met so that the building won’t collapse.

If you call yourself a Christian and you cheat on you taxes, looks things you’re not supposed to, are secretly prejudiced, or whatever—you’re not meeting the specs?

To be right with someone:

To be approved. Jesus didn’t listen to the tempter because he was seeking the approval of his Father, and not the Tempter or himself even.

Justice: To seek the righteousness of a neighbor or stranger is to seek to live in right relationship with them

So when you squish these two things together:

“To be presentable”

‘To be up to standards to please someone.’

“Pass inspection in the eyes of significant others.”

How we behave in job interviews?

First job, interview

Second Interview: Presented myself so that I’m up to their specs in order to be approved by them.

Not only about yourself, but how you will serve them.

Dating example: How I tried to make myself presentable with Heather:

Desiring Righteousness:

Pursuing perfection in order to be approved by our Heavenly Papa.

Kids: When was there a time in the Bible when humanity experienced total and pure righteousness with God?

Adam and Eve?

It was normal for them to be in a thriving relationship with God!

NO CONFLICT OR RIFT

But then enter the TEMPTER

Rather than question their divinity like he did with Jesus, he questions their humanity and tells them that if they rebel they will be like God!

First feeling after the fall:

They felt unpresentable

SO THEY TOOK LEAVES AND COVERED THEMSELVES!

Humanity has been seeking approval ever since!

Peer Pressure: Desire to be approved

Job: Desire to be approved

“Here I am. Accept me.”

Teenagers: Adults still struggle with approval and acceptance

People pleasing!

That pattern of feeling unpresentable is one of our greatest struggles. We avoid shame like COVID-19!

Who are seeking to please?

Who’s approval are you seeking?

Are you still waiting for approval from you parents?

Are you seeking approval from your spouse? Your boss?

You try and try and try, but no matter how many boxes of approval you check off, you still like it’s never good enough. And most likely, it probably never will be good enough...

Who you are seeking to approve is often times where you will discover your idol!

God told you: Who told you were naked?

NO BODY! It was just instinctual:

I’m not presentable anymore, I’m not acceptable...

So we’ll make ourselves presentable. We’ll build up our lives around being and feeling acceptable.

How does God fix their problem?

He knows plants don’t make for good clothing...

So what does God do?

He covers them with garments of skin (Gen 3:21).

God covered them so that they felt presentable again

But as Christians, the advantage we have is that we don’t need to present ourselves. Rather, we are presented.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

II Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because of JESUS! sacrifice, we are made presentable. We are given a cloak of righteousness so that we can feel presentable in order to please the Father.

No more shame for the Christian.

Left to our own devices, we don’t have enough power to make ourselves presentable to God.

And so to hunger and thirst for righteousness really is this yearning to please God with our lives TRUSTING WE’VE ALREADY BEEN ACCEPTED!

To hunger and thirst for righteousness are regular daily deeds which puts a smile on God face because it’s his children living like his son...

When we worship God, he smiles upon us.

When we teach our children about God, he smiles upon us.

When we serve the poor? He smiles.

When we seek justice in our communities, He smiles.

When we seek right relationship with people who are in the hospital, suffering from cancer, barely able to make ends meet, God smiles.

The Christian is robed with righteousness and have been received as righteous, therefor we go and model righteousness in this world:

To receive the broken and abused, the sick and marginalized. The downtrodden, suffering, sore, poor…

Just as we receive dignity from the Father as his child, we are called to give it!

In Christ, you’re presented as royalty, with a robe of righteousness, where the Father sees you and receives you as his child.

SO go hunger and thirst for righteousness for God within the brokenness of this world— to live selflessly, sacrificially even, to follow suit of the king and his heart, to pass on dignity to others to make them feel presentable, to show them how Jesus can cover their shame too...

So to pursue righteousness really is to live for God’s pleasure with deeds of service...

Pick 1: Is there one person?

Single mom? A teen needing direction?

Volunteering at the Holly Springs Food Cupboard, or Dorcas Ministries?

And remember this: the point of these relationships is to service LIKE Jesus, not to puff yourself up. This is not about your righteousness, this is the righteousness of Christ oozing through your good works!

Pick 1 and see where God will take you.

Conclusion:

And so to conclude, I want to end where we started?

Are you happy?

Are you content?

Happiness is found in pleasing the Father, not to seek approval, but because you’ve already been approved!

Because there is a promise to this Beatitude: You WILL BE SATISFIED. You will be filled.

Your hunger and thirst will be quenched one day. Why? because the hurt of this world will disappear when Jesus comes again.

Listen to these words of comfort from the last book of the Bible: Revelation:

Revelation 19:6-9

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God

the Almighty reigns.

7  Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

8  it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And