Title: Let's Pursue Righteousness (Matthew 05:1-6)
Contents 八福 (the Beatitudes) is a very precious and amazing word, like the Great Charter of Heaven, which was achieved through the 7 blessed states of mind and the blessings of persecution. Among the Beatitudes that shake our hearts as if the great bell of truth in heaven is ringing, let us consider the fourth blessing today, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (verse 6).
First, let's find the source of righteousness. In nature, there are laws of nature, and we only follow those laws, but there is no righteousness in any animal or plant except humans. There is no such thing as a carnivore eating a herbivore and then feeling pain and suffering because of it. Animals have only instincts, but there is no such thing as mind or conscience.
But humans have a conscience.
Immanuel Kant said, “In the heart of man there is a conscience that shines like the stars in the night sky”. This conscience illuminates our hearts. So, when we do injustice, our conscience points it out and we suffer because of it.
This conscience is part of God's heart when He created man. Therefore, human beings who were created in the image of God are supposed to seek God according to their conscience. But after Adam's sin, man began to fall. The hearts of those who have fallen into sin are beginning to lose the light of their conscience.
Throughout human history, there have been several saints who struggled to pursue this lost conscience, human ethics and morals, and human righteousness.
In a word, they are seekers. They are people like Shakyamuni, Muhammad, Confucius, Mencius, and Socrates. So, what they have achieved is a religion that emphasizes ethics and morality.
But true righteousness is not there. The source of righteousness is God. 1 Peter 3:21 says, “A good conscience seeks God.” All human beings have been corrupted by sin, and their consciences are so paralyzed that they cannot find God. However, God revealed Himself to these fallen humans in various ways. This is called revelation. That is the Bible, the Word of God. Through these words, God awakened our fallen spirits and changed our paralyzed conscience into a good conscience so that we could seek God.
“Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” means to seek God who is the source of righteousness. A life of longing for God and seeking God's will is the righteous life. In this life of hunger and thirst for righteousness, it contains all the morals and morals of the world, and the profound teachings of any religion. Truth without God is not truth. Ethics and morals without God cannot be correct values. The same is true of religion and education without God. Why? It's because the kernel is missing. Why is the world so chaotic? Because there are few people who seek God, the source of righteousness. Therefore, justice is not realized.
According to yesterday's newspaper, 2,472 election offenders were arrested in this election. This is four times the number compared to the last election. If we introduce a few articles in the newspaper, we can introduce “Trumpled resonance”, “The messy counting of the votes”, “After the corruption spreads, there is violence”, “Illegal continuation all over the country”, “The party members surrounded the counting booth and wielded broken bottles” and “Counting the ballot four times” Suspension" 『A fuss as the vote gap narrowed』 『Four votes everywhere』 『Demonstration against election fraud in four places』 『Ballot box changed』 『500 votes found under a bridge』 『101% of electoral history due to a pile of votes Unprecedented voter turnout” and “In Jeonju, two Dutch representatives, Unkirk and Deboris, keep ghost votes, and they will use it as a report.” This is the injustice, illegality, and unconscionable behavior of human beings revealed through this election. It is the image of people who do not know God.
Those who long for and seek God can become righteous. In the Old Testament, when we come before God, we offer a lamb as a sacrifice. When he lays his hand on the Lamb's head and repents of his sins, the Lamb takes over all his sins and dies for the person's sins. In the New Testament, God Himself took on human flesh, came into the world, took upon Himself all the sins of men and died on the cross, so that those who believe in Him will not be destroyed without exception, will receive salvation, eternal life, and be righteous. He is the Lamb, Jesus Christ.
If you look at the character of the Chinese character “righteousness”, it has a very deep meaning. The letter yi is a combination of 羊 (yang) and 我 (ah). That means I can be righteous when a lamb is sacrificed before me. It is ironic that there are such meaningful, biblical words in Chinese characters. It is possible that Hebrew thought was widespread thousands of years ago.
We are justified through the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But it is only the beginning of becoming righteous, and our hearts are often still dominated by our old corrupted nature. Therefore, we must keep looking to Jesus Christ, the Lamb. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13, “For one thing, forgetting what is behind, and to grasp what is ahead, I press toward the goal for the reward of the above calling of God in Christ Jesus.” We can become righteous when we look only toward Jesus Christ, who is the goal of our righteousness.
Isaiah took up the uncleanness of his tongue with the charcoal of the Holy Spirit, lit up the darkness of his heart with the light of the Holy Spirit, and made a fresh start as a prophet.
Dear all,
I bless you all who long for and follow Jesus Christ, our righteous High Priest, by washing and burning your unclean and unrighteous hearts with the blood of Jesus Christ and the fire of the Holy Spirit.