RIGHTEOUS LIVINGS - Scripture: Matthew 5:1-48
1) And he opened His mouth, and taught them ... (v.2)
2) Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (v.6)
3) Ye are the salt of the earth ... Ye are the light of the world (v.13a, 14a) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (v.15)
4) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (v.17)
O - Observations:
1) Here it says Jesus opened his mouth (to teach) ... yet when he was being questioned before his death it says what? He opened NOT His mouth ...
2) We are not only blessed but filled (chortazo - to feed [through the idea of grazing on green pastures], to fatten, to satisfy, to fill or to FULFILL) when we hunger and thirst after righteousness.
3) Here Christ says we are salt to the earth and light to the world, but then he narrows it down and talks about a candlestick giving light to a house.
4) Christ came to "pleroo" the law - to fill up the empty places. In another Scripture it says that the law with the blood of the goats and lambs could never remedy sin once and for all, it had to be repeated and repeated, but Christ's death filled or fulfilled the need to offer daily sacrifices. He did not come to do away with the commandements. We still can't murder and give false witness of our neighbors and have adulterous relationships because Christ came as a matter of fact Christ said that being angry with someone in our hearts is as good as murdering them (ever seen what anger does to a relationship? It kills it ...) and we still have to put Him first, we are still not to make graven images (idols) in our lives and we still are to keep the Sabbath Day holy.
General observation: Christ's teaching in this passage esp. after the point of the Law was tough! The Pharisees and Saducees of that day (and even today in our churches and around us) are trying to follow the letter of the Law, but if we get what Christ is saying here it is some "tough love teaching" ... not only do we need to be cautious how we are living, but He says in these verses that by our actions we can cause or bring sin on others. I got this point several months ago while reading a book on raising children how my actions can cause my children to fall into sin and I realized the grave responsibility I have as a parent. We MUST as Christ said hunger and thirst for righteousness in our lives and nothing more ... if we are not at the top of our game and we are just walking around this life thinking we are okay because we sat down and had our devotions this morning or prayed for an hour or whatever we do for righteousness sake we had better get a real honest look at what Christ is saying in these passages. If we so much as look at another person in lust we commit adultery. I am guilty of this ... just watch TV for about 15 minutes, that would give enough time for a commercial to come on ... and see what they put on regular TV ... there is bound to be some good looking person that you can look at with desire to some degree ... the problem here is not that we look at the TV and say oh wow that person is "hot" ... but the real issue I think Christ is saying here is that it is these little seeds we sow in our minds that bring us off kilter, knocks us off the center line of righteous living. These thoughts left unchecked and it's easy to do that - to leave it unchecked - turn into actions in some way later down the line - we think oh - it's just a Hollywood star I could never have them anyways so what does it matter that I think they are good to look at? Eve saw the fruit that it was "good for food" ... see the graveness in this? It's not just "spirituality 101" ... this is serious stuff!! We must take our thoughts captive to Him. We must long for TRUE righteousness in our lives if we are ever going to be truly FULFILLED or to fulfill the Law as Christ did ... (mind you we are not the ultimate fulfillment of the Law - only Christ can and did do that through his sacrificial death, but we can fulfill, make whole, the Law by living it out daily). Then He goes on to say let your yes be yes and no be no ... another way of saying let your thoughts be pure, let your word be your word and your speech be pure ... walk that line of righteousness in all you do ... why? So we can be salt and light and our deeds can glorify the Father in Heaven ... Christ is calling us to a HIGHER ROAD ... vs 44 even goes so far to say to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you and do good to those who hate you and pray for those who use you and persecute you why? So (v.45) we can be children of God. BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT ... even as your Father in heaven is perfect (complete, mature) ...
A - Application:
1) There is a time to open our mouths and a time to NOT open our mouths.
2) Sometimes, or perhaps all of the time, people who have trouble with overeating or any excessive habits (money, shopping, eating, clothing, shoes, books, full garages, storage units, etc. ANYTHING in excess) is a matter of not being full or FULFILLED in some way. I know my drug of choice is food. When I get run down or I empty emotionally or tired I go for the chocolate or the ice cream ... I caught myself the other night after putting the girls to bed walking downstairs, I could feel the exhaustion and I went straight to the freezer like a robot and opened it up, took out the chocolate chip ice cream, got a bowl, and a spoon and took a generous portion and sat down and sighed a sigh of relief ... it was if that bowl of ice cream was going to somehow bring me fulfillment or give me back something (it did the next morning on the scale LOL) ... but it dawned on me as I went through these motions and God allowed me to feel the feelings of exactly what I was doing ... the next night when those feelings returned I was able to recognize and curb them, but even in knowing that it doesn't alway stop me ... but here He says "Blessed and fulfilled are you when you hunger and thirst for HIS righteousness ..."
3) Here is my personal application of being salt and light. I am that candlestick in my house that is to give off HIS light. I need to have and be the flavoring, the savour, (when salt looses it's saltiness it does not have strength, it becomes flat and tasteless, dull) ... I want to be full of strength for Christ and full of taste. My mom when I was a teenager had to go on a low/no-salt diet because of heart problems. At first the food was so tasteless it seemed, but over time our (or atleast mine did) palates began to prefer the less salty. Could it be in our spiritual lives that we get used to less "salt" and lose our strength?
4) The application of v.17 is to know His Law more completely in order to live it out as He did while on earth.
P - Prayer:
1) Father give me wisdom to know when is the time to open my mouth or not open my mouth whether it be to speak as these verses are referring or even to eat as I try to reach my health goals this year ...
2) (sigh of relief and surrender) LORD, let me fully understand this passage in my heart of hearts. Let this be my desire so You can be my focus. In watching Oprah's Best Life week this week and the show yesterday that they called "Spirituality 101" many of those people were expressing a lack of "fulfillment" and one lady was seeking it in what she did and another was seeking it through material things and another through who she was as a business lady ... 3 people 3 different means of expressing the same problem ... and the panel of "experts" never once said what you as the ultimate Teacher said here in Matthew ... SEEK AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS and there you will find fulfillment ... then everything else will be added to your life ... You will take care of our needs ... give me a hunger for You more than any other hunger in my life!
3) Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven ... Father, you want us to be light and salt to a world that is dark and tasteless. Help me to have a savour (or SavIour) that others desire in their lives ... let me be a light, ESPECIALLY, in my own home Father. As I sit in the quiet moments of the morning in the dark with only a tiny light around me and look around and see all the places this little light illumniates round the room and even extending into the two adjacent rooms, I want to be a spiritual candlestick on fire for you especially here in my house to my husband and children. Let me give off your light and the savour of the Savior!
4) Teach me more about your Law. Thank you for dying and fulfilling the need for daily sacrifices. Thank you that your death paid the price and because of what you did for me it is easy to want to obey you and keep your commandments, your law.
5) Narrow is the road of righteous living ... it is a grave responsibility we have and we just meander through this life thinking we are "doing okay" that we have it "all together" ... Help me LORD to take an honest assessment of my life as you see me ... and to live more fully in righteousness in all I see and do ... I know that no action by itself is salvation - for that is a works based salvation - I know You are my salvation by what you did by coming here and fulfilling that end of the Law through your sacrifice, but at the same time I know that does not release me to live my life in any way I desire ... bring my thoughts captive to you ... keep me on the straight and narrow ... lead me in such a way that I can easily see when I am going astray so that I can repent and turn back to you ... give me a hunger and thirst for you, for You are the ONLY Righteous One ... (there is none righteous, no not one) ...
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Taking it a step further:
Defining righteousness in order to find our fulfillment:
Beginning with the Old Testament root word for righteous (sedeq-sedaqa) which is used in connection with God’s saving action. The Old Arabic meaning (keep faith with) suggests fulfilling an obligation. As a noun, righteousness may be translated as right/due/truth, and as an adjective, proper/appropriate. For early Judaism it implied faithfulness.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, righteousness is the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship, whether with God or between human beings. When those demands are fulfilled, the relationship is right. When one (God, man or woman) fulfills the conditions imposed by a relationship, s/he is, in Old Testament terms, righteous.
God’s righteousness is most particularly seen in God’s fulfillment of the relationship initiated by God with God’s people, Israel. Israel constantly appeals to God’s righteousness for deliverance (e.g. Psalms 5:8 and 31:1). Thus, God’s righteous judgments are saving judgments. God’s salvation of Israel is God’s righteousness, the faithful fulfilment of God’s covenant with her. Though Israel often fails to keep the covenant and therefore is unrighteous, God’s righteousness persists.
Righteousness in the New Testament continues and builds upon the Old Testament understanding. The New Testament presumes a covenant relationship which needs the active participation of both covenant partners. Those acts which preserve a covenant relationship are righteous, while those which break the relationship are unrighteous.
Hence,
* God’s righteousness is most clearly demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Christ, in which God upheld and restored the covenant relationship with sinful humanity.
* Following this watershed event, humankind’s righteousness consists of a trusting acceptance of the restored relationship we experience through God’s saving act in Christ.
Righteousness is a relational concept. Like the Old Testament, the New Testament also uses the words righteous and unrighteous to describe preserving or breaking a relationship between human beings (cf. Jesus' words, Luke16:1 ff). Actions which meet responsibilities to uphold those relationships are called righteous, those that rupture relationships are termed unrighteous. Jesus was most concerned to call people to a relationship of repentance and trust in God. Thus Jesus, not our moral acts, is our source of righteousness; it is he through whom we are in relationship with God.
In fulfilling the covenant demand to uphold the relationship, through Christ's death, God is proved righteous/faithful. We, with God’s help, are able to respond in righteous living — confessing our sinful failures, but giving thanks for God’s forgiveness and looking always to God in Christ as our righteousness as we relate to other people (e.g., Matthew 5:20).
While right living comes from righteousness, righteousness comes from God alone. Because God in Christ has been righteous/faithful both for himself and for us, we are freed, to be light and salt. This means that we may faithfully live out our relationship with God as we work at living in a right (i.e., Christlike) relationship with God’s whole creation.
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