WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
Today, we continue on our series on the Sermon on the Mount. We are going to be dealing with the 4th beatitude today, so if you have your Bibles, open it with me please and turn to Matthew chapter 5 looking at verse 6.
Matthew 5:6 (NIV)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
So today, we're going to be talking about “Righteousness”. Of all the sermons on sermons on the mount, I guess it is fitting that I got the one on Righteousness. Since I've been named by Susan as the church's resident sin specialist.
“ Righteousness ” – doesn't sound like a lot of fun at all, does it. It isn't a very hip or commonly used word. Two weeks ago, Anthony Yeo talked about how the Peacemakers are considered blessed. You often hear people go “Peace out!” or “Peace dude!” But you never anyone say “Righteousness, dude!” At least I haven't!
And for some people, Righteousness is the very word causes gastric reflux or bile to fill the mouth. It conjures images of dark musty cathedrals, snooty religiosity, rules and fundamentalism and older people sneering at you, lips pursed in disapproval.
Try saying the word “Righteousness” to a non-Christian and just watch them flee your presence before the last syllable leaves your mouth. “Hey dude, let me talk to you about righteousn… eh, where did he go?”
Let me share with you this testimony that was posted by Gwo Yinn on the FCC mailing list last Thursday, taken from a public blog.
“Wyldeboi99” writes:
“My boyfriend, Ryan, doesn't believe in God. I have to admit I was a bit taken aback when he told me. I had seen his kindness towards strangers, his gift for sharing. He lives his life the way kind of imagine Christians are supposed to and loves in a way that Christians are supposed to love. At first I wasn't sure what to do, or what to say. But as I got to know him better, the better I saw.
The God that Ryan speaks of is the kind one gets to know while standing outside in the parking lot of the modern American church on a Sunday morning. Observing, listening, to the conversations and behavior of its members as they come and go from their social club like services. A God that accepts money for heavenly endeavours like tampering with other cultures and nations, while children go to bed hungry, right here in our very own.
A God whose followers spend untold millions of dollars on houses, yet ironically, take little notice of the homeless man who has no place to lay his head.
Whose followers, for the most part, have rejected the sad, the lonely, and the poor of this world in order to concentrate on their expected rewards in the next.
The same people, who told him at a young age, just how their God felt about his attraction to other boys.
This is the God Ryan doesn't believe in.”
That's today. And you know what, it was no different in Jesus' time!
Even right up there on the mount, with all those people listening to Jesus preach his landmark sermon, what do you think their view of “Righteousness” was? Any different from ours you think? I bet it was pretty much the same.
Their view of “Righteousness” came from the portrayal of righteousness by their leaders – the Pharisees. Remember what Jorg preached about the Pharaisees a few weeks ago?
Their brand of “Righteousness” was following a harsh set of rules to gain favour with God and to impress people . So the picture of “righteousness” that the people saw in their leaders was one which was outwardly legalistic and pious , but inwardly corrupt and sinful . The Pharisees look all good on the outside, perfect in form, but inwardly they missed the point of doing the things they were doing.
And, Jesus knew this and spoke out against them in Matthew 5:20. This is Jesus speaking to the people:
Matthew 5:20 (NIV)
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
See, the problem is that when many people hear the term “righteousness” they have been interpreting it as “ self-righteousness ”, which is exactly the misunderstanding that Jesus came to correct.
So before we even start talking about being hungry and thirsting for this righteousness, let's first define it right. What is righteousness?
This is not something that we can easily ignore, considering that you will encounter the word more than 500 times in the Bible!
The “New Dictionary of Theology” explains righteousness like this:
“The basic meaning of ‘ Righteousness ' in the Bible derives from the Hebrew “ sedeq ”, which was usually translated in the Greek as “ dikaiosyne ”. This does not suggest the idea of justice or virtue (as so many people think it does), but of right standing and consequent right behaviour, within a community .”
So, a simple way of understanding “righteousness” is simply “ right relationships ”.
And “right relationships” by the definition I read out to you is broken into 2 components:
1. A right standing with God – (to be made right)
2. A consequent right behaviour – (to do right)
RIGHT STANDING
Let's first talk about this concept of a “ right standing ”. Over the course of this year, we've heard many sermons on the various theories on the theology of atonement, or what the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary means.
At the beginning of the year, I shared a message on the “ substitution ” or “ propriation ” theory of atonement – how Jesus being 100% God and 100% man could be the only substitute for us on the cross for the propriation of our sins. Last week, Clarence preached a message on the “ participation ” theory of atonement – how through Jesus' crucifixion He broke the world's system of “blame” assignment and “scape-goating” and how we respond by participating in that when we by faith accept Jesus Christ into our lives.
Today, I'm not up here to debate theology. It doesn't matter which theory or combination of theories of salvation and atonement you subscribe to, as long as you make a decision to accept the redeeming grace of God, through the death of Jesus Christ for yourself , and thereafter continuing working out your salvation in your own life for yourself. I believe that as you continue to do this over the years walking with Him, it will deepen your relationship with Him, broaden your understanding of His love and grace, making your experience with God that much richer and that much more intimate.
So back to this concept of a “right standing”. It is very much like a legal position which says that by accepting the grace of God through the work of Christ on the cross for me, I am now out of the old system of the world, I identify myself with Christ, and in Him I'm a new creation.
DOING RIGHT
But righteousness also means right relationships , not only with God but with people too. Remember Jesus' summary of the law?
Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as Yourself.”
John puts it like this:
John 13:34-35 (NIV)
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So it's all about our love-walk , in response to the love that Christ shows for us.
You may be thinking to yourself, yeah, I've heard this love commandment thing so many times already!
But this love commandment is not just a suggestion or a good idea, it is a call to decision and action .
I made a prop for today's sermon from a sign you would find hanging outside the door of a hotel room like “The Four Seasons”. The sign says “ Do Not Disturb ” and I'm going to hang it around my neck for the rest of the sermon to illustrate a point.
I'm the type of person that used to hate being interrupted. My personality type makes me a rather task-focused person. I love making a to-do-list of activities for the day. And I love making full use of my time, so I keep a very packed schedule. You'll always find me rushing from point A to B – even having coffee needs to be scheduled, and everything needs to run on time or the entire day's programme will be delayed.
Consequentially, I don't particularly like interruptions or surprises. Whether it's my boss at the office or in Church (Susan) or with the groups I volunteer with who needs something done urgently. When is something never urgent anyway?
Or when my friends or people I'm close to have problems, face crisis or are in the middle of a conflict and I have to talk to them or meet them. It can wreck havoc on the schedule and I used to hate these interruptions. I have a list of priorities and I don't like interruptions or I feel that my to-do-list never get done!
Sound familiar? Like many of you, I often wear an invisible “ Do Not Disturb ” sign around my neck like what I'm wearing right now.
But do you know that many of life's interruptions are God's opportunities ? Remember the story of the Good Samaritan?
Luke 10:30-37 (NIV)
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
In the story of the good Samaritan, we see that the Samaritan's journey was interrupted and he was moved with pity and compassion for this stranger who was robbed on the street. The Samaritan had to invest both time and money when he got interrupted. Many of life's interruptions are divine opportunities to do the right thing and be a blessing to our neighbour.
Jesus himself had a packed ministry, but he never forgot His calling to just go about doing good .
Acts 10:38 (NIV)
…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and … he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
In fact, do you know that most of the miracles of Jesus took place when He got interrupted? Jesus made people His priority. He loved people just as we are called to love people. And in the process, he was interrupted many times .
I'm going to show you this from the gospels and we are going to pick up the story from the 8th chapter of Matthew.
Let me set the scene for you. Jesus had just finished preaching and ministering on the mountain since early in the morning to many people. He was quite drained already, and He had to distance to travel to get to a dinner-party in another city called Capernaum at the home of Peter that the family had insisted on throwing for Him. He thought, well maybe finally he could get away from the crowds, kick back have some dinner with disciples, hang out, have a glass of wine and relax. But when he was just coming off the mountain, this dirty, filthy leper full of sores and in tatters interrupted Jesus:
Matthew 8:1-3 (NIV)
When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
Having healed the leper and done his good deed for the day, he heads on to the road leading into Capernaum when Jesus gets interrupted again. This time by a Roman Centurion.
Matthew 8:5-7 (NIV)
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering." Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
So finally he makes it to Capernaum, arrives at the door of Peter's house. He perspiring, exhausted from the road trip and just looking forward to freshening up and have dinner. He hasn't stepped 2 steps through the doorway when Peter's mother-in-law interrupts Him to heal her.
Matthew 8:14-15 (NIV)
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
So Jesus finally gets to have dinner. And right after a nice filling dinner, He opens the door of the house to go get some air before having some dessert and coffee when He sees a large crowd on the driveway. Yes, His groupies had followed him down from the mountain and they knew where Jesus was having dinner that night. They had told everyone in the town of Capernaum, gathered all the sick people and interrupted Jesus outside the door of Peter's house.
Matthew 8:16 (NIV)
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
Jesus' love walked caused him to keep getting interrupted . Whether it was to calm the wind, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, or drive out demons.
One person I know of who a lot like Jesus in his own love-walk and has taught me a lot about loving people is my former cell-group leader, Chee Meng. Now many of you know who he is, but what you may not know is that this is the man whose sleep gets interrupted by people calling him at 1.30am to lend counsel and comfort. And inspite of so many commitments, he interrupts his own schedule to have dinner with everyone of his cell members. He has interrupted his own financial planning many times to extend help to people in need, even giving tens of thousands of dollars away to buy Bibles for people in another country he will never meet. And you know what, he is one of the happiest, at peace, and most content people I know of with an amazing amount of time and heart to give the people who interrupt him. That is what I call a love-walk in action ! I wonder, can we say the same of ourselves?
I know of more unhappy people than happy people. And these unhappy people are usually unhappy because they are a little bit full of themselves. This is what I call the “ what-about-me ” syndrome.
If you ask many people today, "Can you help out in a ministry?" or "Can you help out in this SPACES project?" You'd hear most people answer – I'm tired and I'm busy . Do not disturb me!
We have a God-given supernatural ability to make someone's life better, from simple things like buying tissue paper from the limping granny who goes from table to table at the food court, or helping a blind man cross the road, to just making yourself available to the friend who is hurting.
Jesus says: It's by our love that we will be known . Are we being like Jesus to the people around us?
We really need to study the stops of Jesus and not just the walk of Jesus. How many miracles are we not being just because we refuse to stop or get involved when we get interrupted.
So now that we have a good picture of what righteousness is, let's move on.
HUNGER AND THIRST
Now, did Jesus say - “Blessed are those who are righteousness?” No! He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
The famous philosopher, Peter Kreeft says, “The big difference, the eternal divide, is not between those who have found God and those who have not, but between those who seek Him and those who do not.”
It is not the people who are righteous who are blessed, but those who hunger and thirst for righteousness who Jesus calls blessed .
So if you feel far away from God this morning, but you're consumed by a desire for more of him – you are called blessed.
Or maybe your spiritual life is dry like a parched well in the dessert or life seems totally messed up and you long for God to come fill it – you are called blessed.
In fact, theologian Donald McCollough points out how the first three beatitudes lead directly to this one.
Matthew 5:3-5 (NIV)
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
David writes that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness must first know that they don't have a spiritual dime to their name – they are poor in spirit .
And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who have wept over their own sins and sufferings as well as the brokenness of the world – they are those who mourn .
And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness know they aren't much to brag about in themselves, but they want to please God, do his will and humble themselves before Him – they are the meek .
It's the poor in spirit, the mourning, and the meek who find in their hearts the hunger and thirst for God's righteousness.
And there's really no running away from this. As man, we have been created from the beginning with what Blaise Pascal calls a God-shaped void within us. Genesis tells us that God created man to have fellowship with Him. Exodus tells us that we are created to worship a god. And Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that we are created with a sense of eternity inside each one of us.
Ecc 3:11 (NIV)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end.”
It is in our wiring!
But some of us are aware of this hunger and thirst for righteousness but may not know what exactly we want and have been feeding ourselves the wrong food .
Isaiah 55:2-3 writes:
Isaiah 55:2-3 (The Message)
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
Some of us try to fill this hunger with things that can temporarily entertain or distract us. The latest tech-gadget. Beautiful new friends and exciting new relationships. Gymmed up bodies and revved up sex lives. Drugs and alcohol. Professional achievements and accolades that you can fill entire walls with.
But the only food that truly satisfies is a right relationship with God and His people .
As the famous author Rudyard Kipling lay ill on his death bed, he stirred. The nurse attending to him asked, “Do you want something?” Kipling replied, “Yes! I want God!”
Whether we realize it or not, that's what we all need. The reason for our inner discontent is that we long for a vital relationship with God, to know God's love personally. There is in each of us this God-shaped void. And nothing but God can fill it.
Jesus says, blessed are those who know this. Blessed are those who have faced the emptiness inside and named what it is they hunger and thirst after. Blessed are those who can say, “I want God.” They're on the right road.
Have you noticed that when you're really hungry or thirsty, you're not satisfied just by being aware of your condition? Let's say it's 11 at night and you get hungry because you worked late and haven't had dinner. Do you just think, “oh, I'm aware I'm terribly hungry” and head off to bed? No, you go do something about it. You go to the kitchen and look around in the refrigerator for something to eat. If there's nothing, you get out of your house and head of the nearest “7-11” or “S11” and get something to eat. The same is true for other areas of life. If you want a career advancement, you work harder and stay longer at the office. If you want a healthy relationship with your partner or boyfriend or girlfriend, you schedule time with him or her. If you want to learn something, you get the right tools and make time to study.
This principle also applies to our spiritual lives . If you hunger and thirst for right relationship with God you'll head for places where spiritual food and drink are served. Like where? Well, over the centuries God's people have identified certain places where they can meet with God, where they can be nourished by God's presence. Let me name a few.
1. God meets us and fills us through the Word – through studying the Bible and through hearing it preached and taught.
2. God meets us and fills us as we worship together, surrendering our lives to God week by week, and as we renew our faith each week at the Lord's Table .
3. God meets us and fills us as get connected to a small group of sisters and brothers in faith, sharing our joys and our struggles and supporting one another.
4. God meets us and fills us as we seek him in prayer , opening our hearts to him and asking him to bring us closer to him.
It begins with getting changed in a right relationship with God. But it doesn't stop there. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness also want to get connected to those around them and get going to help others in this world of need.
And again, it's all about our love-walk.
Sometimes I hear people say, “I'd like a better relationship with God” or “I'd like to have better relationships with others.” But when I ask them what steps they're taking to get there they get all quiet and change the subject. The fact is, if we really want something we take steps to get it. God isn't fooled, you know. And we might as well quit trying to fool ourselves. Maybe we just aren't hungry enough. Or maybe we're too full of all that junk food Isaiah writes about.
I recently came across a very tragic quote called “$3 Worth of God”. It reads:
“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep. But just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of God to make me love a Mexican child, or a Wolof mother, or a Zambian AIDS orphan. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”
Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for more than that. Blessed are those who make the right choices, who invest their time, spend their money, burn their passions on things that lead to greater righteousness.
They're on the right road, says Jesus, and “they will be filled.” They will receive what they long for. They will be given a new and right relationship with God. They will be given new and right relationships with others.
In closing, I would like to read you an encounter at the beginning of C S Lewis' “The Silver Chair” from the Narnia stories. This powerful scene suggests how compelling and unsettling our hunger and thirst for God and His righteousness can really be and how He is the only person that can satisfy it.
A school girl, Jill Pole, finds herself in a strange and terrifying land. She's exhausted and, after a good cry, she's very thirsty. Not far in front of her, is a lovely sparkling stream of fresh water. Between her and the stream however, sits the lion Aslan, ominous, his eyes looking straight into hers. Aslan of course, if you know the series, is the analogy of Christ that C S Lewis uses throughout the Naria series.
“Are you thirsty?” said the lion.
“I'm dying of thirst,” Jill said.
“Then drink,” said the lion.
“May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The lion only answered by a look and a very low growl, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. But Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, now as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren't come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Let us pray.
|
