This week, Michael writes: The Beatitudes are the introduction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. CS Lewis said "one road leads home and a thousand roads lead to the wilderness". Christianity is not a comfortable religion in this secular world. Returning home to the kingdom of Heaven often seems unattainable. Aim at the the things of earth and you’ll be forever lost. Apart from Christ, it’s impossible to reach home. The Sermon on the Mount is the profile of Jesus Christ himself. He blazed the trail to the Father’s heart. Home is where the heart is. The Sermon on the Mount is the roadmap, the turn by turn directions to arrive at home. The final destination is at the end of time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
There are many battles in this world. However, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the powers of the Darkness of this world... against spiritual wickedness from on high. Then at the end of our earthly life, we who have been "born again" (born of the Spirit) can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing”. Jesus said, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." What is it that you are hungry for? What can satisfy your thirst? The one who is blessed is the one who is hungry and thirsty for God’s righteousness. God will honor a desire for the righteousness of His son. This is a hunger only He can fill. Hungering and thirsting for the things of this earth never satisfy ... they leave the soul empty and disappointed. Hungering for the things of the flesh are the picture of Tantalus. According to Roman mythology, Tantalus was doomed to spend eternity in the underworld. He was tortured by his perpetual hunger pangs, even though he was surrounded by a feast of delectable (tantalizing) foods. They were just out of reach above his head. His condemnation was to suffer a tantalizing insatiable eternal hunger.
When is enough enough? John D. Rockefeller, one of the world’s richest men was asked, “how much more money is enough?” His answer: “Just a little bit more.” Reach for the kingdoms of this earth and you will die frustrated and empty handed. Reach for the kingdom of Heaven and you’ll get the earth thrown in. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. The filling is with the righteousness of God in Christ in us. The Apostle Paul said, “in my flesh dwells no good thing.” Men and women strive for the unattainable ... to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable star. The striving is for the things that this world holds dear ... self-satisfaction, self-gratification, self-aggrandizement, self-sufficiency, and self-actualization. When the hunger is for the selfishness of self, the result is continuous frustration because the appetites of the flesh cannot be satiated. However, when we turn from the frustration of hungering for the things of this world and, instead, hunger for God’s righteousness, then this is a hunger that only God can satisfy. Only he is sufficient.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” We’re most like those with whom we choose to associate; those whose company we enjoy. Who are you following? When we’re hungry for the fellowship of Jesus Christ and those who hunger and thirst for his righteousness, then we will be filled. Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:14, whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Then in John 6:35 he said, ... “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
We’re blessed when we hunger to “choke in the dust of other men and women who chase after Jesus Christ.” When our heart’s desire is to follow in close proximity to our Lord ... to hunger and thirst after His righteousness, then we shall be filled ... the filling is His righteousness, His character, His spirit. For Jesus Christ who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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