A Study in the Beatitudes: (Part 4-righteousness)

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

Hunger (peinaō) means to crave ardently, to be needy and want

Thirst (dipsaō) means to thirst for

Righteousness (dikaiosynē) means justification, equity of character

Filled (chortazō) means to supply in abundance, to satisfy

*Greek words in parenthesis

RIGHTEOUSNESS-JUSTIFICATION

Justification is the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.  According to the Word of God, where does justification come from and how do we obtain it?

First of all, the Word of God tells us that our own righteousness is worthless. 

"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they

are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,

and our sins sweep us away like the wind."

(Isaiah 64:6)

 Jesus is not teaching us to hunger and thirst for our own righteousness. When held up to the perfectly pure character of God, the impurity of our own righteousness is exposed.

The apostle Paul said himself:

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." ( Philippians 3:8-9)

Paul renounced his own righteousness and clung to Christ. He knew he could not perfectly obey the law of God. He had sinned like everyone else. His only hope for justification before God, came through faith in Jesus Christ.

To know Christ was far superior to everything Paul used to define his righteousness prior to Christ. 

It was KNOWING and continuing to get to know Christ that was of surpassing worth.

Even though our self-righteousness is equated with filthy rags and we fall severely short of the glory of God, there is Good News!

"For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:22-26)

The Good News:

Anyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ, who He is, what He accomplished, and believe He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life, is justified before God.

God gave us redemption* through Jesus.

(*apolytrōsis: liberation procured by the payment of a ransom)

Our propitiation* is through the blood of Jesus Christ.

(*hilastērion: the means through which amends for wrong done is made) 

His blood completely satisfies our debt. 

This is God's grace and His gift.

God showed us His righteousness by giving us WHO we needed to be justified.

He is the Justifier for all who place their faith in Jesus.

"God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 

And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”" (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

Compared to the glorious, gracious, infinitely wise, just, perfectly holy God, we cannot boast. No good thing we do can earn our justification before God. He alone is perfect Truth. He is Light and there is no darkness in Him.

All glory and honor belong to God, who gave us the Way back to Himself; who gave us Jesus, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Jesus is teaching us that to crave ardently and thirst after righteousness, is to crave Him.

We don't need to and we can't depend on our own equity of character.

He has already provided us with Himself, with His perfect character.

All we need to do is hunger and thirst for more of Him and He will abundantly supply us with Himself.

He always has more of Himself to give and we will always be satisfied in Him.

"Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." (John 6:35)

Life (zōē) means the absolute fullness of life, real and genuine, life eternal

*Greek word in parenthesis

Jesus is the Source of real and genuine life. He is the Source of life that is rich and full, and He is the Way to life eternal.

RIGHTEOUSNESS-EQUITY OF CHARACTER

When our life source is Jesus, He works with the Holy Spirit to produce equity of character in our lives. As we ardently crave Him, we will reflect Him and point others to the One who satiates our hunger and thirst. We will joyfully reflect the One who is our justification, the One from whom all fullness of life flows.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. For our sake He made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17, 20-21)

In Christ, we become new. The old way of living fades away as our ardent affection for Him grows. God uses us as ambassadors for Christ, to herald the Good News by reflecting the righteousness of God. It's in Christ that we are justified and live reflecting His character. It's in Christ that our character becomes right and good and pure because its God's work in us.

There is a saying, "You are what you love."

As we ardently crave Jesus, we will desire to spend more time with Him in prayer and time reading His Word. We will desire to yield to the Spirit's Devine work; the work of making us reflections of the God we love.

We will be blessed because we will be abundantly satisfied.

There is no end to God and therefore, no end to Who Jesus taught us to seek.

Crave Jesus and you will be satisfied.

He is our righteousness

He is our justification

and He is our Source for all things right and true

Taste and see that the Lord is good...

continue to partake and enjoy the Bread of Life and the Living Water and you will be satisfied.

Blessings,

Amy