The heart of the matter

1. The heart of the matter

2. Matthew 5: 6 (NIVUK) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” 3 Questions • For what are we hungry and thirsty? • What’s the result of being hungry and thirsty? • How do we apply this to our lives?

3. Matthew 5: 6 (NIVUK) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” “You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat” The Message

4. Matthew 5: 6 (NIVUK) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” “You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat” The Message

5. For what (or why)? • It’s a habit • It’s an alternative • It’s relational • It’s devotion • It’s educational and developmental • It’s a place to rest • It’s someone else’s decision • It’s a family thing • It’s a need/compulsion • It’s my job

6. Nothing satisfies like God “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” C.S. Lewis

7. Nothing satisfies like God “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13 (TNIV)

8. Righteousness • Matthew 5:10 – persecuted for • Matthew 5:20 – exceeds • Matthew 6:1 – “acts of” • Matthew 6:33 – kingdom of

9. Exceeds • Pride & Conceit • Covetousness • Self gratification • Superiority & Arrogance • Envy “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” Isaiah 64:6 (NIVUK)

10. Righteousness • Matthew 5:10 – persecuted for • Matthew 5:20 – exceeds • Matthew 6:1 – “acts of” • Matthew 6:33 – kingdom of

11. Righteousness • Legal meaning – “right-standing” “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIVUK) “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” - Romans 5:17 (NIVUK)

12. Righteousness • Legal meaning – “right-standing” “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIVUK) “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” - Romans 5:17 (NIVUK)

13. Righteousness • Moral & Ethical meaning - Abraham: believed God (Genesis 15:6) - Noah: righteous, blameless, faithful (Genesis 6:9) - Joseph (Matthew 1:19) - Zechariah & Mary (Luke 1:6) - Simeon: righteous and devout (Luke 1:6)

14. Righteousness • Future meaning and fulfilment “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” - 2Timothy 4:8 “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst…For the Lamb at the centre before the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water” - Revelation 7:16-17 (NIVUK)

15. Caution “Only let us live up to what we have already attained” - Philippians 3:16 (NIVUK) “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness” - Romans 6:13 (TNIV)

16. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

17. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

18. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

19. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

20. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

21. Being filled – Ephesians 3:16-21 (TNIV) “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

22. The Challenge • Am I truly hungry and thirsty for this way of life? • What would I give, or even be prepared to give up, to have this kind of hunger and thirst? • In which areas of my life do I need to clean up my act so that I demonstrate righteousness? • How complacent am I being in my relationship with God?

23. 2 Corinthians 9:10-11(NIVUK) “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God”