BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED.
- Matthew
5:6
What is this thing called “righteousness?”
We get a big clue, later in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus says, in Matthew 6:33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
HIS righteousness.
HIS character… HIS integrity…
HIS love…
The Sermon on the Mount gives many examples of
God’s righteousness.”
These show us what a person looks like and lives like when
they are hungering and thirsting for His Kingdom and His righteousness.
A person who seeks and hungers and thirsts for God's righteousness...
- Doesn’t hold anger in their
heart against someone (5:21-26)
- Is sexually pure – they
don’t look lustfully at other people. (5:27–30)
- Has integrity: they stand by their word
(5:33-37)
- Exhibits magnanimous Love: They love and care for their enemies, not just their friends. (5:46-47)
- Are authentic: They don't do good
things to impress people (6:1)
- Humbly gives to people
in poverty (6:2-4)
- Has a praying life (6:5-13)
- Lives a forgiving life: Forgive others so
God will forgive you (6:14-15)
- Doesn’t build
up treasures, and wealth, on earth (6:19–21, 24)
- Disengages from judging other people
and fault-finding: they ask God to
pull the logs out of their own eyes – they fix their own junk first. (7:1-5)
- Treats people the
way they want others to treat them (7:12)
- Is actively obedient: Does everything
Jesus taught (7:15-27)
All these practices define what God’s righteousness looks
like on earth, manifested in Jesus-followers such as you.
