Untitled Sermon (3)

Righteousness does not mean holy. The term “holy” captures the sixth beatitude with “Pure in heart.” Righteousness refers to being right or doing what is right. For example, whenever justice is served, the right thing occurred. * God is righteous in all He does because He always does the right thing. Righteous is not to be confused with holiness. The word holy means to be set apart for God and by God as a sacred thing. For example, Christians have been separated from the world and judgment and placed in God’s protective grace – this is holiness. Christians practice what is holy when they do the right thing.  

The idea behind the biblical word righteousness is probably ‘conformity to a norm.’ Given that norm, righteousness is the situation in which things are what they ought to be. In the Old Testament, righteousness is associated with God’s covenant. He is faithful to it. In relation to His promises, God always does what He ought to do, namely, fulfil His promise. That is why His righteousness can be expressed in judgment, or in salvation. … To hunger and thirst for righteousness is, therefore, multifaceted. It means, first of all, to long for a right relationship with God, and consequently to be righteous before Him. But it also means to desire to live rightly before Him in the world, and desire to see right relationships restored in the lives of others.[1]

           The righteousness of God is the biblical ethic imparted to the Christian (Ephesians 4:24; 2 Peter 1:4). Biblical ethics are the behavioral norms of the Divine nature which translates the new disciple into the Christian culture[2] (Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13). The 9 virtues[3] of Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) have taken residency and formulate right conduct (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). The commands of Scripture begin to influence the thoughts and behavior of the new convert, since God’s Spirit grows in intimacy (2 Corinthians 3:18) with the convert’s hungry soul (1 Peter 2:2) and transforms from sinner to Saint (Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:49; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10).

           Right with God

           Defining the term righteous for a believer means to be right with God … it does not mean doing the right thing. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness actually hunger and thirst for God Himself (Job 23:12; Psalm 37:4-5; Song of Solomon 5:8; Matthew 5:6; John 6:35). Once this righteousness occurs, then the sinner is transformed into a Saint, since they are now saved – removed from condemnation. Christians should never pursue righteousness in an attempt to be holy or right (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 5:1). Their focus must reside on the only righteous Person alive; Jesus Christ (Psalm 107:1; Mark 10:18). The enemy to God’s righteousness is our self-righteousness (Galatians 2:16). * The Saints new and approved righteousness is God’s righteousness imputed (Romans 4:6, 11, 22-24; 10:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9).  

           The Solution to our Condition

           This beatitude is actually the solution for the first three. Poor in spirit puts us in the right attitude of brokenness, mourning is the reaction as we acknowledge our condition, and meekness is our response with a submissive attitude, while the hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God is the solution to it all. As we hunger and thirst for God, our trust and attention is diverted from our own rightness and invested in Christ’s rightness.

1.    Exposure to God’s righteousness refers to having a desire to be rid of sin with its power and desire, because it separates us from God’s righteousness[4] (Psalm 38:17-18).

2.    The hunger and thirst is not a vision, but a deep need as though one desired to satisfy starvation and thirst (Matthew 13:44).

3.    Righteousness is not being moral, but instead just being like Jesus (Romans 10:3).

           Illustrated: Matthew 6:33

           God’s Righteousness Imputed to the Christian

           The righteousness of God is nothing like the righteousness of man. Man’s righteousness only thinks what is wrong and selfish and therefore, can only do what is ungodly. The right things of God can never be obtained. According to God, man’s wisdom is foolishness and does not lead man to right thinking (Isa 29:14; Jer 8:9; 1 Cor 1:18-23). Proverbs 14:12 reads, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Likewise, 1 Corinthians 3:19 reads, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” Any good thing that man may think or any good thing that man may do is artificial fruit temporarily lived for the preservation of self. Apart from God there is absolutely no righteousness (Isa 64:6).

           However, the Christian’s righteousness is not man’s righteousness at all. On the subject of justification and God’s imputed righteousness to the believer, Ames writes, “This participation therefore brings change and alternation in the condition of the believers from the state of sin and death to the state of righteousness and eternal life.”[5] Therefore, Christians hunger and thirst God’s righteousness because they have none in themselves. Righteousness is a disposition, an intrinsic attribute now imputed to every believer. We hunger for what we are in being. 1 John 3:14 tells us that “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” There is an obvious translation and transformation in the believer’s life because they have been born again (John 3:3) and made a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). A righteousness man now has the ability to think what is right – in other words, think as God (Rom 8:5-6; 12:1-2; Phil 2:5; Col 3:2). In order to grow in practical righteousness one must grow in right thinking as prescribed in Scripture, which reveals the thoughts of God. Therefore, an unbeliever who does not possess the righteousness of God, cannot think as God and remains enslaved to man’s thoughts – which only think as the devil (John 8:44).  

           For they shall be filled         (lit. filled = satisfied)

           Once salvation has occurred the believer begins to be filled (satisfied) with knowing who he/she is in Christ judicially. The more the filling the more the satisfaction and desire for more (Psalm 37:4-5). God satisfies godly desires (Ps 17:15; 32:10; 37:4; 90:14; Prov 13:21; Isa 3:10). The person who is poor in spirit, mourning over their sin, responding in meekness as they hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness will be satisfied with what God gives them (Matt 7:11; Jas 1:17).

           The filling mentioned here must also refer to the Holy Spirit’s filling in the believer’s life. The filling which God promises, based on these attributes of the beatitudes, are God’s control in the believer’s life (Ephesians 5:18); greater strength in holiness (Romans 8:26; Galatians 5:16); better productivity in ministry (Acts 2:4; 4:8); joy in salvation (Acts 13:52); increased knowledge into God’s will (Acts 6:3); advanced training in godliness (John 14:26); clearer identity as a child of God (Romans 8:14); and a clear conscience (Hebrews 9:14).  

[1] Ferguson, Sermon, pp. 27-28 (emphasis added).

[2] The Christian culture consists of all the things indicative of a culture: language, knowledge, traditions, values, norms, habits, and goals.

[3] Although the terms virtue and value are often used interchangeably, they may be distinguished as virtue is conforming to a moral standard while value is coveting something as important. Value is believing something as important while virtue is conforming to it. These two qualities create an ethic.  

[4] Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “I can never make myself like Jesus Christ, but I can stop walking in the gutters of life.”

[5] William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, ed. John Dykstra Eusden, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1968), 161.