Christians under construction Hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Carroll UMC 8/10 and 11, 2019

Christians under construction

Hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Carroll UMC 8/10 and 11, 2019

Our fixer upper project will be half done today.

How are you feeling? Someone told me the other day that this series had been very “interesting.” I told them interesting is not enough. We need to move these beatitudes from our heads to our hearts so that we will be truly changed.

The question is NOT do you understand the beatitudes we have covered: poor in spirit, mourning, and meekness. The question is do you have them deep down inside.

 Do you feel your emptiness, your powerlessness, your weakness, your poverty of spirit before God? Do you feel like a hole in the bottom of a bucket? … not even the bucket, just the hole. Do you really feel your nothingness and know that nothing you do can ever fill you up? Do you really feel your poverty of spirit?

Do you grieve? Do you feel real pain over the things you have done or not done that have hurt others and God? I am not talking about “oops, sorry.” I am talking about feeling hopelessly heartbroken over the hurt you have caused and desperately wanting to do better. Grieving our brokenness. Do you feel like the bucket with the hole in the bottom? We can never extinguish the fires we have set because we leak out faster than we can be filled up. Do you mourn your sin?

Have you given up fixing yourself and are you ready to give up your own efforts to rely on God? Are you willing to give up the attitudes that cause pain in order to be filled with the mind of Christ? Are you ready to give up your self-sufficiency in order to feel that only God is enough? Are you willing to set aside your plans to be part of God’s plans? Are you willing to place your hopes under God’s hope for the kingdom which is both present and promised? For whom are you living? You or God?

When and only when we are keenly aware of our emptiness, deeply mourn the hurts our sin causes, and when we are wholly willing to trust our lives to God… then and only then are we ready for the next step, or the next beatitude.

  Let’s read this week’s beatitude together “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

 Let’s start with something we all know. (Or we think we know.) Being hungry and thirsty. We all know the stomach growl that comes along with being late for a meal. We all know the cotton tongue when we can’t find water fast enough! Is that hungering and thirsting?... not quite. Most of us, thank God, will never experience real physical hunger. When people get really hungry, they are willing to eat out of a garbage can or off the streets. When people get really thirsty, they want to take a straw to suck the ocean dry. That is Getting closer to the hunger and thirst Jesus is talking about. Hungry enough to walk 10 miles (uphill both directions) for some food? What about drinking out of a water bottle you find on the street I hope you never have to. But Jesus point is if we get hungry and thirsty enough, we will do things we never thought possible.

Now translate that to our need for God. Translate that to a hunger for God. A passionate desperation for God to fill us. A deep loneliness that can only be filled by God. Jesus is talking about the strongest craving you have ever had. An insatiable need for something to more to eat or drink. The lifegiving sustenance of God.

 What is it that Jesus says we should hunger and thirst for? Righteousness. When people think of righteousness the only thing they tend to think of self-righteousness. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for self-righteousness several times calling them a “wicked and perverse generation” and a “brood of vipers.”

Jesus is not promoting SELF-righteousness. If we are paying attention it is exactly the opposite. We are spiritually poor, mourning, meekly trusting in God’s righteousness. Self-righteousness is a misnomer. There is no righteousness in us, but only in God.

Righteousness is being in line, being in the right place, living the right way. being in the right relationship with God.

 They say, "You are what you eat." Nutritionists tell us that our appetites determine our diet, our diet determines our intake, and our intake determines our health.

"You are what you eat" applies in the spiritual realm as well. Jesus challenges us to look at our spiritual appetite with the penetrating words of the fourth Beatitude: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

In this simple sentence, Jesus tells us that our hunger determines our spiritual health. In order to grasp its meaning for us, we need to explore two types of righteousness.

 First, there is the free gift of righteousness. I take that phrase from Romans 5:17. The passage reads

16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Paul basically says if we are judged on our own merits we are domed. But if we hunger for the free gift of righteousness in Christ, Jesus offers us his own righteousness, like putting a beautiful coat over our rag tag sinful life. So, when God sees us, he does not see our dirty old sinful rags. What he sees is Jesus’ beautiful righteous coat. This all happens by faith alone, which still amazes me.

It is a FREE gift, no strings attached, no gimmick, no tricks, just a free gift that comes by faith.

Colin Smith in his book about the beatitudes called Momentum,  says eople who come to Christ in penitent faith realize that they don’t have what it takes before God. (That is the point of beatitudes 1-3) That is why we come, and when we do, we receive the marvelous gift of Christ’s perfect righteousness, draped over us and counted by God as if it were our own.

              Righteousness is God’s free gift that works on our hearts molding them and shaping them into exactly what God wants us to be.

ON THE OTHER HAND…

On the one hand is the free gift of righteousness. On the other hand, there is the life of righteousness. Free righteousness changes us from the inside, shapes and molds our hearts. The life of righteousness grows out of our changed hearts.

Let’s look at the other places in Matthew in which the term righteousness is used.

Righteousness starts in the heart and changes a person from the inside out

Let’s start with the passage we read today, Jesus said, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20). The Pharisees had created a religious system built around attendance at the temple. It included hundreds of rules intended to keep people away from sin. While staying away from sin might create the illusion of righteousness, it does not make for righteous living. It was like wearing cheap perfume splashed on to cover up the truth that was in the heart. True righteousness starts in the heart and changes a person from the inside out.

Lived righteousness makes us different.

The 8th beatitude, which we will study in a few weeks, uses the word righteousness. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness" (Matt. 5:10).

Those who hunger and thirst to be right with God live righteous lives that make us obviously different from others around us. Which can draw criticism and even persecution.

The question is do we hunger and thirst for God enough to be different? Do we hunger and thirst to do the thing that is right before God, so much that you are willing to be criticized for it or even persecuted? Lived righteousness makes us different.

Righteousness is not for showing off how religious we are, but rather to honor God.

In the third use of this word in Matthew, Jesus said: "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven" (Matt. 6:1). The Pharisees loved to pray in public - loudly! They loved to dress up in fancy clothes and make a show of their offering. They would do anything to get attention and praise. The key words here are “to be seen by them.” It was like smoke. It could be seen but there was nothing to hold on to. The purpose of living righteousness is not to show off, but to honor the changes God has made in our hearts. True disciples don’t care what others think, they only care that they honor God.

 Righteousness causes us to seek to honor God above everything else

The fourth occurrence might be the best known: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you" (Matthew 6:33). This passage pushes us to consider the priorities of life. Are we seeking approval from others, wealth, security, respect, happiness? Those are all OK, but they should not be our number one priority. Or do you seek above all things to honor God. Seeking the kingdom of God means being willing to be different because we are shaped by God’s righteousness in our hearts. It means that we don’t behave differently in order to get attention, but only to honor God above everything else.

 Put these four passages together and what do you have? Righteousness is being changed from the inside out to live a truly Christian lifestyle, not in order to please the preacher, or show up your neighbor, or prove your goodness, but only… only… only to honor God.

In short, Righteousness is being changed from the inside out to live a life that honors God.

 You can live this life. In fact, Jesus plainly says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” That means anyone who wants more than anything else in the world to live the good life of the kingdom of God will be blessed. Anyone who wants more than anything else in the world to live the good life of the kingdom of God will be filled.

Filled With what? Food? No. Money? No. Long life? No. Promotion? No. Happiness? No. A perfect family? No. A trouble-free life? No. What then?

You will be filled with God’s self.

In spirituality, if you want it enough, if you hunger and thirst for it… God wants to give it to you.

You want a deeper spiritual life, you can have it.

 If you want to be more like Jesus, you can.

The truth is that most of us are about as close to God to now as we want to be.

For the most part, you are where you are right now because that's where you want to be.

If you want to badly enough, you can do God's will.

If you want to badly enough, you can grow spiritually.

If you want to badly enough, you can change deeply-ingrained habits.

If you want to badly enough, you can break destructive patterns of behavior.

If you want to badly enough, you can have a close walk with God.

If you were hungry for something better God wants you to have it.

What do you want more than anything?

May your hunger lead to being blessed by God.

May your thirst lead you to being filled with God.