The Blessing of Persecution

Who among you bought a car recently?   Imagine one of you is shopping for a new car and you met the car sales man and instead of his usual sales pitch – the salesman told the prospective buyer something like this:
• If you buy this new car, I have to be honest with you… it’s very dangerous and you are putting your life at stake.”  
• Or something like this,  “you know, if you buy this new car, the maintenance is so expensive that you might end up selling all your other possessions. 
• If you buy this car… people will think you are weird and they will most likely vandalise your car every morning! ” 
Will you buy the car?  I don’t think so!   No one person who is probably in his right mind would like to undergo this kind of situation.  

Of course it’s a very poor comparison but I imagine that scenario when I was reading this eighth Beatitude. The negative things that the sales man was talking about is obviously nothing compared to the persecution that the Beatitudes talk about.  I just want everyone to picture the scenario in your minds.

The Beatitudes culminates or climaxes with the eighth “blessed” and probably this is the one beatitude that most people doesn’t like  – persecution!

Read Matthew 5:1-12

The 8th beatitude presents to us something that we cannot easily comprehend --- basically, it tells us that for those who live according to the first seven Beatitudes --- [1] being poor in spirit, [2] to mourn over sin, [3] to be meek or humble, [4] to hunger and thirst for righteousness, [5] to be merciful, [6] to be pure in heart, [7] to be an advocate for peace --- if we live according to these seven beatitudes, we are certainly going to experience the 8th… we shall certainly going to be persecuted at one point.  
We learned the last time that the  Greek word for “blessed” is “macarios” which means “happy” so  basically  Christ is saying that those who are persecuted are happy!  
Anybody wants to be happy?  

Jesus is basically saying --- If you are persecuted, you are happy, and you must be happy.  From human logic, it doesn’t make sense, right? How can you be happy while being persecuted?  
But our faith in the Lord goes against human logic. It is way much deeper than that. This is the reason why the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 --- be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
Once we follow Christ, He helps us, through the Holy Spirit, to renew our mind so we don’t think the way this world thinks and we don’t act the way this world acts and we don’t follow the world’s logic but we instead obey the Lord’s logic.  Jesus said to those who are following Him “If any man wants to be my follower:   let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  

We also need to understand the culture or way of life during the time of Jesus.  In those days, when they talk about persecution, they are talking about –
• Being used as a human torch
• Being fed to the lions
• Being stoned to death
• Having your entire family killed because of your faith in Christ
• Being a social outcast and not being able to do business with anyone
• Being treated like a leper
• Being stripped off of all your possessions
• Being mocked, being insulted, being scourged, being beheaded
• And of course, being crucified
Our persecutions today is nothing compared to the definition of PERSECUTION during the time of the early Christians.  When Jesus said this Beatitude telling them to be HAPPY in spite of the persecutions that they were experiencing --- He was thinking of the kind of persecutions that they were experiencing at that time which is obviously much worse that what we are experiencing today.  So the more we should be happy during our time when we experience our own deal of persecution.

We must understand that different people are persecuted for different reasons.   A shoplifter will most likely be persecuted for his wrongdoing or an adulterer will be persecuted by the people around him or even by the law.  A thief could be imprisoned for years to pay for what he did. But these are not the kind of people that Jesus is referring to.  These are not the kinds of persecutions He was talking about.  He is very specific that those who are “persecuted because of righteousness” will be blessed!
If you are persecuted because of your own wrongdoing – e buti nga sa iyo! You reap what you sow.  
• If you get a failing mark in school because your teacher caught you cheating or because you did not study 
• Or you did not get promoted at work because you are always late or you are always complaining 
• Or if you don’t use deodorant, don’t be surprised if no one wants to sit beside you
• Or you don’t have friends because you’re the king or queen of gossip or you are a difficult person to deal with so obviously you shall be ostracised.
And you deserved it!!!  So yes, we can all experience persecution but the real blessing comes only when we are persecuted for Christ’s sake.  

If you don’t experience persecution, ridicule, criticism and  if you don’t experience rejection because of your faith – then you have a good reason to re-examine your relationship with Jesus.  If you don’t act differently as the world does, then maybe you still belong to the world.  To live as genuine Christians means to attract or invite resentments from your surroundings.  

Our life is like this --- you visit a small city where most people basically look the same, they do the same things and say the same things, they have their own culture and way of doing things  – then all of a sudden, you come and visit them as a stranger, like a tourist and you are different – your skin colour is different.  Your words are a bit different and you do things differently.  They are fighting and you try to reconcile them… they slap your right cheek and you offered your left… they are cursing but you are praising God… they are drinking and getting wild at parties while you are sharing food to the hungry and telling them stories about Jesus.  Obviously you will be isolated, probably mocked, insulted and persecuted.  If you experience that, then you ‘ll know that you don’t belong there. It’s the same in our lives as Christians.  if we are not too comfortable in this world, if we feel alienated, if we experience persecution for doing the right things …. then it is a good indication that we have genuine faith.

 We learned that the Greek Word “dioko” for persecution means “to chase away” so it obviously signifies physical persecution, harassment, abuse or other unjust treatment.  Faithfulness to Jesus may even cause friends and relatives to mock us, hurt us with their words, disown us.  But remember that a true child of God is characterised by lack of fear and shame and he exhibits courage and boldness.  A lot of Christians break down in times of persecution.  A lot of Christian compromise their faith in their effort to save themselves.  But God does not want His Good News, His Gospel to be altered, sugar coated, to make it less demanding, or less truthful.  Jesus does not want each one of us to share the Gospel with the message that the life of a Christian is all about studying the Bible, doing nice things, having fellowship, sharing food, helping each other, loving each other and singing Karaoke.  God does not want us to lead an unbeliever into thinking that Christian life costs nothing.

Concluding Thoughts:
John MacArthur very well summarized the eight Beatitudes.  He wrote in his book Daily Readings in the Life of Christ –

Being persecuted concludes this Beatitude because it is basically the end-result of our compliance to the first seven.  The last Beatitude starts with a sobering thought of being PERSECUTED but it ended with a great promise.  Kumbaga sa love story, happy ending. 

Jesus said in the final verse, i.e. verse 12 --  “REJOICE and BE GLAD for GREAT is YOUR REWARD in HEAVEN.”  There is a promise to the persecuted.  There is a blessing in persecution and there are actually three phases of the Lord’s Blessing to His Children:

The phrase “rejoice and be glad” is a command that means “to leap with joy” or “to jump with exceeding excitement.”   In Tagalog, maglulundag ka daw sa tuwa if there are persecutions.  Again please don’t get me wrong.  Jesus is not suggesting that we all become masochists who enjoys or derives pleasure in experiencing pain.  We rejoice and we are glad not in PERSECUTION per se but for what persecution represents.  

Persecution confirms our relationship with God.  It increases our dependence on Him.  Persecution strengthens and molds our character and it allows us to look forward for His great reward.

Prayer:

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, July 31, 2016

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any.  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

The Pursuit of Peace

Since the beginning of time, mankind has been in pursuit of world peace. We have seen peace ambassadors or advocates everywhere. Nations long for peace.  Religious leaders have preached about peace.  Even husbands long for peace inside their homes.  Every person is also in pursuit of peace in his own, individual life.  Some people believe that the only time we can achieve lasting peace is when we die that is why we have that phrase “rest in peace.”

But on the contrary, since we live in a fallen world, we live in a world of violence.  For thousands of years that human beings have been around, this world has been characterised by conflict, chaos, disharmony, and violence. Overall we recognise that human history is a history of trouble and violence. 

According to studies, in the past 3,000 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 5% of the time and a total of more than 8000 treaties have been made and broken.  It’s funny because even nations who are at war with each other wanted to have some sort of peace treaties  or sometimes, ceasefire agreements while they were fighting with each other.  They also want to protect the rights of soldiers and prisoners of war like the Geneva Convention.

Read Matthew 5:1-10

 This is the seventh Beatitude.  Jesus is advocating peace with this Beatitude and He is saying “happy are the peacemakers and if you are a peacemaker, you will be called children of God.”  If I will write a negative Beatitude, it would probably say “cursed are the troublemakers and if you are a troublemaker, you will be called children of the devil.”  
Jesus did not say “Blessed are the peace-lovers” right?  Because most of us are peace-lovers. Most of us loves peace. Who doesn’t want peace?  Who wants to live in a noisy and chaotic world?  Who wants to live in a world full of violence?

However, it is not enough that we are peace-loving people.  It is not enough that we are not engaging ourselves in some kind of trouble.  Jesus wants us to take a more active stance!  He wants us to go out of our comfort zone, take a few steps and be a peacemaker.  He gave us a special mission to help restore the peace that is no longer seen in this world after the Fall of man.   The peace that Christ speaks of is not necessarily the same as this world longs for.  His peace is not  about governments or nations or conflicts or oppression, but His peace is something more personal that only He can provide concerning the soul man.  His peace is like the streams of flowing water that quenches our thirst permanently.  His peace is something that transcends human understanding and He wants us to be an agent of that kind of peace, He wants us to be a peacemaker.  

The irony however, or the funny thing is…

LIFE LESSONS

Before Jesus came into our lives, we were actually at war with God. The Bible says that anyone who is not for God is against God.  We were enemies with God because of our SIN.  However, Romans 5:10 tells us that “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son…”  God has reconciled us to Himself because of the work of Jesus on the Cross.  Our war with God ended and we achieve peace with God because of Jesus.  

If you will read Ephesians 6:15, Christians are equipped with the Gospel of Peace fitted on our feet so we must be ready to share and spread peace. As forgiven sinners, we don’t look down on other people but instead we must have compassion on them and have the willingness to help them know Jesus as we teach them the kind of peace that only Jesus provides.

Leading a sinner to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most important peacemaking act that any believer can perform.  This is the reason why we are called ambassadors for Christ.

Christ also expects us to be an agent of reconciliation by building bridges between persons.  Technically, a bridge cannot be one-sided, right?  It must extend between two sides and a strong bridge needs support from both sides.  How many of you are usually the ones pacifying your friends when they are quarrelling?  Or when somebody in your group is fighting with someone, they call you so you can reconcile them?  How many of you are the ones causing trouble?

The word “blessing” comes from the Greek Word “makarios” which means happy.  If you meet a person whose name is Macario, he should be a happy person.  Earlier we met Irene, right?

Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers” and I believe the first blessing that a peacemaker gets is happiness.  

James also said in Chapter 3:18--

Jesus said that a “peacemaker” will “be called the son of God.” He is the ultimate peacemaker and He’s the Son of God. He was able to create peace in our hearts by removing the cause of conflict in our

souls. That cause of conflict is sin.  The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20 -- 

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.  

A person must have a real relationship with God before he or she can help someone else know God. 

If you are a peacemaker Jesus said you are a child of God.  If you are not, if you are a troublemaker instead, if you incite quarrels instead of reconciliation, whose child are you then?

Prayer

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC New Westminster during its service on  Sunday, July 24, 2016

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any.  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

The Pure in Heart

Even as believers, some of us have learned how to wear masks.   We behave in a way that others don’t really see what’s really going on inside of us.  We pretend to be somebody we’re not.  We pretend to behave as if we are OK but in reality, we’re not.  Sometimes we pretend at work,  we pretend with our friends and we pretend with our families.  

"Oh yes, we’re the great pretenders.  Pretending that we’re doing well.  My need is such I pretend too much.  I'm lonely but no one can tell." (excerpt from a song)

Sometimes,  we appear as if everything is well or we appear “holy” in the church, or we even wear mask and deceive ourselves.  But you know what, we can’t wear this mask before the Lord because He sees right through it.  God knows the real intentions of our hearts.  He can see through our deepest thoughts and nothing is hidden from Him. 


This is the reason why Jesus said “blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!”  God knows whether our heart is pure or not.  In fact, even before we can think about something, God already knows.  So there is really no point wearing a mask before God.

Read Matthew 5:1-10

This is where we got the English word “catharsis”  which means a cleansing of the mind.   
The first meaning is often used to describe metals that had been
refined by fire until they were free from impurities. 

The second meaning refers to a kind of purity that is synonymous with integrity and loyalty.  

Jesus said it Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”  Jesus wants us to be single-minded and not double-minded when it comes to loving and serving Him. The Bible tells us that a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways. We also learned from our previous discussions that all of our actions, reactions, behaviours, habits, and especially the words that come out of our mouths emanates what is stored in our hearts.  The Bible tells us that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

According to Pastor Coy Wylie of the Cornerstone Baptist Church, the Bible gives us five types of PURITY:

1. DIVINE Purity. This is the holiness that belongs only to God.  This is nature. Isaiah 6:3 says “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty…”

2. CREATED Purity. When God first created the world, everything he created was pure. Genesis 1:31 tells us that “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”

3. POSITIONAL Purity. The moment we are saved, the purity of Jesus is imputed unto us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

4. PRACTICAL Purity.  As far as we’re concerned, this is the most challenging part. Our positional purity is confirmed by our practical purity. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 says “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

5. ULTIMATE Purity. There will come a time when Christians will be totally cleansed and purified. 1 John 3:2 promises us “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Every day of our lives, God creates situations and circumstances in order to develop our character.  It’s a process called SANCTIFICATION.  

The Bible compares God to a refiner of metals.  He brings us to a fiery furnace – we’re like a rough piece of metal, hard and formless --- slowly God shapes us into someone who closely resembles His Son Jesus Christ.  The process is not easy for most of us.  Not because God has limited powers but because we are stubborn and hard headed and God is like a patient and meticulous craftsman, who slowly shapes us, refines us, chips us from side to side, brings us to the fire from time to time.

I’m sure you have realised that after encountering a challenging situation, overall you improved as a person because of what you learned from it.  That’s God’s process of purifying our hearts. That’s God’s process of refining us.

God develops our character.  He slowly removes our mask. We become more true to ourselves, we become more consistent, we learn to be more transparent, we practice what we preach and we walk the talk. As a result, we are able to maintain an authentic and lasting relationship with others.  

The Bible tells us in 1st John 1:7 -- But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. 

The world we live in thinks that real intimacy occurs in the dark but God says otherwise, it actually in the light because God is light. We tend to use darkness to masquerade our true selves, to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.

The religious people during Jesus times were experts at outward purity.  They had all sorts of rules on what to eat, what to wear, how far you could walk on the Sabbath, and so forth. They spent all their time trying to make the outside look good, but they were really wearing masks as to what was truly on the inside.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The Bible promises us that those who are pure in heart can see God.   Psalm 24:3-4a

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” 

Jesus did not leave heaven and came into this world just because there are some habits that He wants to change in us.  He came into this world to purify our corrupted hearts and save our souls.

When God looks closely at your lives, what does He see? When He looks behind your mask, what does He discover?  Is your heart divided? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Let us allow Jesus to purify our hearts and renew our steadfast spirit because if we are pure in heart, He will bless us and we shall understand who God truly is.

God bless you.

Prayer

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, July 3, 2016

I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. 

I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any.  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

Sharing Mercy

How many of you have heard the Golden Rule?  Confucius taught the Golden Rule around 500BC "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself" and people say Jesus’ teaching came after. But what Jesus taught is different. In Matthew 7:12, He said “do to others what you would have them do to you.”  The two rules are similar but different. Jesus’ saying has a more active approach.  He said “DO”. Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Confucius is saying “Don’t” while Jesus is saying “DO”.

Matthew 7:12 is the foundation of our message today and is consistent with the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is based on the law of reciprocity. Basically it says “those who show mercy will obtain mercy.” There are many other verses similar to this: Forgive and you will be forgiven, give and it will be given to you, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The first four beatitudes deal with our inner attitudes and how we are before God and ourselves. 
- First, being poor in spirit is to recognize that we are spiritually bankrupt.
- Second, we mourn because we realize the gravity of the sins we have committed against God
- Third, we humble ourselves as we imitate Jesus Christ
- Fourth, we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God 
Matthew 5:7 is the 5th Beatitude
“Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy”

Mercy is an emotional response to the needs of others. It means to feel the pain of another person so deeply that you are compelled to take action.

LIFE LESSONS

1 Chronicles 21:13 tells us that “his mercy is very great.” and Titus 3:5 says God saved us because of his mercy. 
God is not only merciful, He is “rich in mercy” meaning that He has abundant mercy for those who have repented and trusted in Christ. 

Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. (in our time today, it is equivalent to twenty years of wages)
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. (this is equivalent to one day wage).   He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

The Master here in this story represents God who has given us His mercy.  He is the ultimate source of mercy and mercy is an important attribute of His character.  The Master said “shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”  
So the question here is – who gave mercy first? The Master or the Servant?  The Master did and he expects his servant to share mercy to his fellow servant because he himself was a recipient of the Master’s mercy.  It’s just a reciprocal arrangement.

Mercy includes three elements:
First is recognition -- “I see the need” We recognize the need of somebody around us.
Second is motivation -- “I am moved by the need” there’s compassion.  You feel it yourself.  You are touched by the situation.
Third is action -- “I move to meet the need” You did something. 
Mercy is more than a feeling.  Mercy begins with simple recognition that someone is hurting around you. But mere seeing or feeling isn’t mercy. Mercy moves from feeling to action. It is active compassion for those in need.

This beatitude assumes that we have already received God’s mercy. By definition, the only people who receive mercy are those who don’t deserve it. If you deserve it, it’s not mercy. Therefore, the basis for this verse is not how you want others to treat you but how God has already treated you. “Do unto others as God has done unto you.”  Mercy is doing to others what God would do.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Paul said it best in Ephesians 2:4-5

Prayer

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, June 5, 2016

I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologize if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any.  as it is purely unintentional.

If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:

 www.wordchristiancommunity.com

Hunger and Thirst

The greatest cause of death is surprisingly not cancer or war, its hunger.  Food and water are basic human needs, we need them to survive.

The Sermon on the Mount is the longest recorded sermon by Jesus and the twelve verses that we read from contains the Beatitudes.

There are eight (8) beatitudes, i.e. verses 3-10. 

The word “beatitude” came from Latin word “beatus” w/c means blessed or happy.  

So technically, Jesus was saying “HAPPY are THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST” for what?  For Food?  No, for RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Why do you think being hungry and thirsty is a good illustration? 

Humans hunger and thirst not only for food but for satisfaction in life. We search in all kinds of different areas to be filled, to be satisfied, but we always end up falling short.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” 

Blaise Pascal said that we all have a “God-shaped void” in our lives. 

All men are hungry and thirsty; the problem is that we try to fill that hunger and thirst, with things other than the righteousness of God. Some of you here today are empty; you have not been satisfied. You are trying to fill that “God-shaped void” in your life with all kinds of things, but you are left empty and unsatisfied.
Jesus said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:25, 33)

Righteousness starts in the heart and changes a person from the inside out.  True righteousness is like a magnet that attracts people to Christ.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" 

The Pharisees had been so merged in a religious system involving intricate rules and following traditions. It was like wearing cheap perfume that you splash on to make yourself smell good. It's not really a part of you and it can't cover the odour underneath. True righteousness starts from the heart and changes a person from the inside out.

Righteousness doesn't need to be seen by others, but only by God
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". The Pharisees loved to pray in public - loudly!

Righteousness is a lifestyle of a true believer which distinguishes him from others.  In doing so, as a believer pursues righteousness, he becomes an effective witness and attracts people to Christ.

Jesus exposes the self-righteousness of the Pharisees and the issue of heart of the people in the crowd. Jesus is raising the bar.
He is presenting to the crowd that He is that true Righteousness; He is the One they have been hungering and thirsting after, and the only One who can fill that emptiness inside of them. He is presenting Himself as the means to satisfy deeper thirst and hunger, our spiritual starvation can only be fulfilled by Jesus.

When Jesus fed the five thousand, He said -- Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you.

This truly is a message of hope to those who are lost and perishing, to those in Jesus’ day and in our day. The emptiness that fills their lives, and ours, can only be satisfied in Christ, the true Righteousness. 

Only by hungering and thirsting after Christ can that void, that emptiness, be filled. The things of this world will not satisfy; only Jesus Christ satisfies. 

This message is one of hope to unbelievers, but there is an important message to believers as well.  In your life right now, what are you hungering and thirsting after? Where is your heart? 

In one sense, it is easy for us as believers to see that we are filled and satisfied when we accept the free gift of salvation, but still many believers struggle with big areas of sin, and they try to fill a hole with something other than Jesus Christ.  Some of us sit week after week here in the church longing to be satisfied but do we really seek after true righteousness? This is a daily pattern we go through, each one of us, because our body needs food; it is the same with thirst. This is the same in the spiritual realm of life. We need to hunger and thirst, actually starve, for righteousness in our lives.

We need to hunger after God on a daily basis, every second of every day and avoid the many things we do that affect our relationship with Christ. These things hinder our walk with the Lord; they distract us from true righteousness. Hungering and thirsting is not easy because we have to make tough decisions, the decisions to be different, to not always do what other people are doing,  

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” We are blessed if we hunger and thirst after righteousness. How? Because we are filled; we don’t hunger any longer as the world hungers because our satisfaction has been met in Christ. 

Prayer

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:  

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.    Amen.

The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on  Sunday, May 22, 2016

I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologize if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any.  as it is purely unintentional.

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