The Inside Out Kingdom | Matthew 5:6-8
Brian Hedges | November 2, 2025
Let’s turn to God’s word; we’re going to be in Matthew 5, continuing in our series on the Sermon on the Mount called “Matthew: Heirs of the Kingdom.”
While you’re turning there, let me tell you a humorous story that I think was first told by Chuck Swindoll. It’s a story about a Mexican bandit named José Romero who was infamous for his raids into Texas. He would cross the border, come into Texas, rob the banks, and then go back to Mexico. (This is probably a fictional story, but this is how the story goes.) A Texas ranger was hired to track down this bandit, José Romero. He chased him back down into Mexico, and at any cost he was to find the money that he had stolen and bring it back.
He finally found him in this little Mexican village. He came in with guns loaded, ready to do whatever was necessary, drew his guns, and said, “José Romero, I’m a Texas ranger. I’m here to get back all the money you stole from Texas. If you don’t give it, I’m going to shoot you right now.”
There was a little man sitting in the corner, and he said, “Señor, it’s no good talking to him; he doesn’t understand English. I’ll translate for you.”
So this little old man becomes the interpreter. He tells him, “This Texas ranger is here; he wants the money back; he’s going to shoot you if you don’t give it.”
So José Romero says, “Well, there’s no use dying for money, so tell him he can have the money back. It’s a few miles north of town. There’s a little well, and on the north side of the well there’s a stone, and if he removes the stone, down in the hole is the money. He can have it back.”
This little old man looks at the Texas ranger and he says, “José Romero says, ‘Go ahead, shoot!’”
The moral of that story is that some messages get lost in translation! I just wanted to be sure you’re awake this morning!
I thought it was a lead-in to this series, where we’re spending a lot of time trying to understand what Jesus really said, because the message of Jesus gets lost in translation. The Sermon on the Mount has been confusing to people, the beatitudes can be confusing to people, and so we’re taking it slowly as we’re working through this important passage of Scripture together.
We have learned so far that Jesus is the wise savior king who invites us into a life of flourishing within the kingdom of God. It is the good life, and as we embrace the good news of the kingdom that Jesus is bringing through his life, his death, his resurrection, we begin to participate in this good life through the heart-changing work of Christ, ultimately, through the Holy Spirit.
Today, as we continue our study of the beatitudes, I want to revisit a concept that we just barely touched on in the past, and it is this concept of virtue. The good life in that great conversation in the Greco-Roman world, and to some degree in the Hebrew wisdom tradition as well, had to do with virtue. It’s not a word that we use often today unless it’s in the realm of philosophy or ethics, but it is an important word. Virtue has to do with character. You might think of the four classical virtues of wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance; but virtue is not just moral excellence. It’s not just a moral quality. It is what we might call ingrained goodness.
Get that phrase in your mind: ingrained goodness. A virtue is a default disposition of the heart towards that which is good. It is a trait of character that is deeply ingrained or intrenched in a person.
The best way, maybe, to understand this is that a virtue is the opposite of a vice. We do use the language of vices perhaps more often. A vice is not just a sin, it’s not just a wrong behavior; a vice is a deeply ingrained habit that is sinful, something that is etched deep into one’s psyche and one’s way of being in the world.
So a virtue is the opposite of that. A virtue is ingrained goodness; it is a disposition that’s more than a behavior, but something that is deep, internally etched into our hearts.
The beatitudes have often been understood as Christian virtues. I think there’s something right about that, and we will begin to see that in the beatitudes we see this morning. The beatitudes are not first of all exhortations; we need to remember that. They are declarations, as Jesus pronounces who is blessed, who has the good life. But those declarations are also invitations into this way of life in the kingdom of God that is characterized by the upside-down values of the kingdom—we saw that last week—but also by the inside-out values of the kingdom, the inside-out virtues.
So today we’re going to be moving into that second triad of beatitudes as we read Matthew 5. Our focus is going to be on Matthew 5:6-8, but I want to start by just reading the entire first twelve verses once again so we get the whole context. So, Matthew 5:1.
“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“‘Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’”
This is God’s word.
We’re going to look at that second triad of virtues in verses 6-8, and we can outline it this way: Jesus is holding out for us the good life as being characterized by these three things:
1. A Desire for Justice
2. A Love for Compassion
3. A Heart of Integrity
These are inside-out qualities, and we’re just going to work through these three verses and see just what Jesus means.
1. A Desire for Justice
Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst [there’s the desire] for righteousness [or justice], for they shall be satisfied.”
Once again, we have to compare this with the version of this beatitude in Luke. Luke 6:21 says, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.” As we saw last week, there’s not really tension between Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching and Matthew’s version; rather, these are complimentary, but it reminds us that the original audience of Jesus was people who literally were hungry. They were lacking in food.
Most of us in our culture, this part of the world, most of us have never really known true hunger. You’ve gotten to a point where maybe you were ready for the next meal, or maybe you’ve fasted for a day or something like that, and you’ve known a little bit of hunger. But you have to remember that this was a part of the world where people in poverty and in times of famine could go through lengthy periods where they knew hunger in an acute and painful way. They were lacking in those most basic material resources.
Jesus here pronounces his blessing on those who are hungry. And people who are lacking in food are lacking in one of the basic means of life, they’re lacking in one of the basic rights of life. So it is also a desire…those who are hungry and thirsty are also longing for justice. They’re longing to receive what they really need as human beings.
But Matthew, in this version, gives us this phrase “hungry and thirsty for righteousness,” so we have to dig into that word a bit. What is this righteousness?
I think a lot of us, if we are used to the teaching of Paul in Romans and Galatians and so on, when we see the word “righteousness,” we immediately go to the doctrine of justification. So our tendency might be to think this is being hungry and thirsty for God’s gift of righteousness in Christ.
Now, Paul does teach that, and I don’t think there’s anything in the teaching of Jesus that contradicts that; but that’s not what Jesus is speaking about here. This is not the imputed righteousness that is given to us in salvation, by which we are justified; this is, instead, a very practical kind of righteousness which we might define in terms of right relationships.
This is a thread that runs through the Sermon on the Mount, and you can see it in several of these verses. Matthew 5:10 we’ll look at in more detail next week: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” These are not people who are persecuted because they’ve been justified by faith. They are persecuted because they are standing for righteousness and justice in the world.
Or in Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now, here are some of the most moral people in the world, but Jesus says, “Your righteousness has to be more than that.” Theirs was skin deep. It wasn’t an inside-out righteousness, it was external only. They were concerned with keeping the commandments externally, but not with the heart. So Jesus goes on to talk about the need for righteousness in the heart. It’s not just, “Don’t murder,” it’s also, “Don’t be angry.” It’s not just, “Don’t commit adultery,” it’s also, “Don’t lust.”
In Matthew 6:1 he says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people, in order to be seen by them,” and he goes on to talk about giving alms or giving to the needy. So you begin to get the sense here that this righteousness has to do with behavior, the way in which we live our lives.
Then Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
So I’m calling this a desire for justice to get us to think a little bit. Righteousness, we’re used to that word; it’s a very religious word, it’s a very churchy word. But there’s more to it than just being a moral person. This also has to do with right relationships with people in the world.
Let me give you an Old Testament example that I think makes this really clear. This is from the prophet Jeremiah. Let me read three verses, Jeremiah 22:1-3.
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness [then he explains what this means] and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.’”
Now, you read that and it becomes pretty clear that this doing righteousness has to do with justice in one’s behavior towards these marginalized of society—the immigrant (the resident alien), the fatherless or the orphan, the widow, and it’s the king’s job to be sure that justice is done and that he opposes oppression.
So this righteousness has to do with right relationships, and we can say that there’s both a vertical dimension to this and a horizontal dimension. The vertical means right relationship with God; the horizontal means right relationship with other people.
Now again, this is not in conflict with the teaching of Paul. Paul teaches much the same thing in the practical parts of his letters. But it does have a slightly different focus or emphasis. I want to read a quote to you from the commentary by Frederick Dale Bruner. This is one of my favorite commentaries on Matthew, and I think this is very helpful in helping us see how these two perspectives combine together. He says,
“The righteousness longed for in Matthew’s Gospel is not only heaven-sent (that’s Paul’s great contribution) but also and distinctively earth-centered (Matthew’s contribution). Paul colors righteousness sky blue, dignifying its source; Matthew colors it earth brown, honoring its goal. Paul, the doctor of divine grace, and Matthew, the doctor of human mercy, meet at center in their deep appreciation for the gift of God. But one teaches in an unparalleled way that gift’s source (God), the other that gift’s aim, which is people. Both are needed; both are canonical; both Christian.”
I think when Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” it is that earth-centered, that practical, everyday justice, righteousness among human beings that people are hungry for and that Jesus here is commending.
Now, just note that this is something for which we are to hunger and to thirst, and Matthew 6:33 says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be added to you.” This is something we seek for ourselves and for the world. We hunger and thirst for it. In other words, the beatitude here is not, “Blessed are the righteous,” but, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
So, here's an application. Just ask this question: Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness in this way, this vertical, horizontal righteousness? Check your desires now. Do you long for justice in the world, or are you indifferent to the injustice that goes on around us, and especially when you get outside the United States it’s everywhere. When you think about poverty, you think about hungry children, you think about AIDS orphans in Africa, you think about human trafficking, you think about the misery and the plight of millions in the world with the needs that they have; are you a person who cares, and not only cares but hungers and thirsts for righteousness?
Then the second application question: Do I seek righteousness from God, knowing that he is the source? God is the one who must bring this righteousness, this justice, but he brings it, of course, through his people. But he’s the one who gives us a heart for this.
Once again, I want to give you one more quote from Bruner. This is helpful if this feels like, “Ugh, this is one of those sermons that’s really calling me to do something. I came here for grace, pastor, not for a lesson in ethics and morality!” Well, listen to Bruner; this is helpful. He says,
“The beatitudes are not to be turned into spiritual conditions that, when fulfilled, will merit God’s grace; rather, here at the opening of his sermon, Jesus promises the grace of divine help to those who cannot help themselves. The hungry for righteousness are blessed—note well—not for a possessed but for a desired righteousness, blessed not because they are righteous but because they feel starved for and empty of a needed righteousness.”
In fact, when you get outside the Sermon on the Mount, the next passage in Matthew’s Gospel that uses this word “righteous” is in Matthew 9. It’s the story of the calling of Matthew, the tax collector and the author of this Gospel. When he’s called, Jesus is eating with him, the tax collectors and sinners, and receives a lot of criticism. The Pharisees see this. “Why does the Teacher eat with sinners and tax collectors?” This is what Jesus says in Matthew 9:12, so the middle of this passage.
“But when he heard it, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
But they are sinners who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They’re hungry and thirsty for justice in the world.
You put all this together, and it means that the sinners who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness in their lives and in the world, who respond to Jesus’ call, are promised satisfaction. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” What is that satisfaction? It’s the satisfaction that comes in the kingdom of God in the new world, where justice and righteousness and peace will reign over all things. It’s the word that we are waiting for. It’s a desire for justice.
2. A Love for Compassion
Now, number two is very closely connected to this, but a slightly different focus. You see a love for compassion or mercy. But again, mercy is the religious word; compassion is the word that we’re maybe a little more familiar with. Look at Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
What you find is that mercy and justice often go together in Scripture. These are two things that are often found together in Scripture. If you’re familiar with Shakespeare, you might remember this line from The Merchant of Venice: “...earthly power doth then show likest God’s / When mercy seasons justice.” Mercy seasons justice! That’s the unique combination. Mercy season justice.
There is a concern for justice, there is a concern for righteousness, but it’s not righteousness without mercy, it’s righteousness and justice seasoned with mercy. This is the heart of Jesus that you see in Matthew’s Gospel.
We just read the verse, Matthew 9:13, where Jesus quotes from Hosea the prophet (Hosea 6:6). He says, “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” Now, he says this to the religious Pharisees who are criticizing Jesus for eating with the sinners. And Jesus says, “Go learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” They’re all about the sacrifices; they’re lacking in the mercy.
Jesus quotes that verse again in Matthew 12:7. And then listen to this verse, Matthew 23:23.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
Now once again, they’re concerned about the little peccadilloes of religious observance, but they’re neglecting the bigger things: justice, mercy, faithfulness. When we look at Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, what you see is Jesus acting in mercy again and again.
What does that look like? Let me just give you some of the illustrations. In Matthew 9, two blind men come to Jesus and cry out for mercy. You know why? Because they want their sight, and Jesus shows mercy and heals them.
In Matthew 15 there is this Canaanite woman—she’s not even Jewish, she’s a Gentile; she’s a Canaanite woman. Her daughter is demon-possessed, and she comes to Jesus for mercy, because she wants her daughter to be freed from this evil spirit. And Jesus casts out the demon.
In Matthew 17 there is a man who has a son who keeps having seizures, and he’s throwing himself into the fire, so he’s trying to harm himself, trying to kill himself. This ends up being because of a demon as well. He comes and asks Jesus for mercy, and Jesus has mercy and he casts out the demon and saves the son.
What you see in Matthew’s Gospel is that Jesus is merciful and compassionate, and he expresses that by relieving human suffering, by meeting human needs, by bringing healing and deliverance into people’s lives.
The greatest example of mercy and compassion in the New Testament—apart from Jesus himself—is Jesus’ story of the good Samaritan. You remember this story. There’s this guy who gets beaten up by robbers; he’s left on the side of the road. And the Levite passes by and the priest passes by. The religious people are passing by, but the hated Samaritan, the person of a different race, a person of even a different religion, the hated Samaritan—the Jews did not trust the Samaritan—is the one who actually is the neighbor, and he takes care of the man and he nurses him back to health and he pays for him to get food and care and lodging. He says, “Put it all on my bill.”
And Jesus asks the people after he tells the story, “Which one was the neighbor to this man?” They said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” That’s right. It was the Samaritan. That’s mercy.
So this mercy is meeting needs, relieving human suffering. When you put these two beatitudes together—righteousness and mercy or justice and compassion—it’s pretty close to this, Micah 6:8:
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love [mercy, in the NIV],
and to walk humbly with your God?”
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
So again, let me give you two application questions on this virtue of compassion.
First of all, just ask, Am I hard-hearted or tenderhearted? Again, what Jesus is after here are dispositions of the heart. This disposition of compassion is an inclination in the heart to be compassionate and kind rather than harsh and judgmental. When you see need, rather than being indifferent, rather than turning your eye away, rather than censuring this person: “Oh, if they just worked harder they wouldn’t be in such need. Oh, I can’t believe they let themselves get in this condition.” I mean, there are all kinds of ways you can do this in your head. Rather than censuring them, having judgment against them, stiff-arming them, ignoring them, rationalizing reasons for not doing anything to help them, your disposition is to feel compassion and to move towards that need with a desire to help. Is that your disposition? Are you hard-hearted or tender-hearted? Are you quick to respond to people’s griefs and needs and hardships with empathy and service and help?
Here’s the other aspect of mercy that I haven’t mentioned yet. Mercy is also connected to the realm of forgiveness. So, mercy is not only having compassion on people in their need, but it’s also being quick to forgive those who offend you or sin against you. So the second question is, Am I quick to forgive?
Jesus says those who are merciful will receive mercy, and the implication is that those who are not merciful will not receive mercy. Jesus teaches this very strongly in the Sermon on the Mount when he gives us in the Lord’s Prayer this request: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Then Jesus goes on to teach that if you do not forgive those who sin against you, your Father in heaven will also not forgive you. Then there’s a whole parable in Matthew 18 that illustrates, the parable of the unforgiving servant.
The implication for us is that to be merciful, compassionate people we must be people who are inclined to quickly forgive those who sin against us. So, are you a forgiving person? Do you tend to hold grudges? Do you tend to be resentful, carry a chip on your shoulder? Is it hard for people to get back in your good graces once they’ve crossed you? Is it difficult for your family members to get along with you because you’re so easily offended, slow to forgive rather than quick to forgive? That indicates a heart that is not inclined to mercy.
3. A Heart of Integrity
Justice, compassion, righteousness and mercy; then, number three, a heart of integrity, verse 8. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
What is this purity? I would suggest that the purity here is a combination of these two things: wholeness and holiness. We generally think about the holiness aspect of it, but it’s not just holiness, it’s also wholeness. Or the word for this is integrity.
Integrity is related to the word “integer.” You know what an integer is from math class in high school; it’s a whole number. And a person with integrity is a person who is whole. Rather than being divided, rather than being double-minded, they are single-minded. Think about what Jesus says later in this sermon about having the single eye, not serving two masters. You’re either serving God or serving money; having the single eye. I think that’s part of the idea here.
You might consider these parallel words from James 4, where it says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” So purity of heart means not being double-minded but having a whole heart.
The background to this beatitude is Psalm 24. It is the one who ascends the mountain of the Lord and stands in his holy place; this person is characterized by clean hands, a pure heart, and he does not lift up his soul to what is false or swear deceitfully. He’s a person of integrity, and Jesus is here saying, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” the whole-hearted, the clean-hearted, “for they shall see God.”
Notice here the emphasis on the heart. Once again, it’s a running theme in the teaching of Jesus, where over and again, when confronted with the externalism and the hypocrisy of the religious Pharisees of his day, Jesus goes after the heart. There’s a big controversy in Matthew 15 with the Pharisees about ritual cleansing. They are really concerned that you follow the right procedure for washing your hands before you eat. And in that controversy, Jesus says it’s what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person, not what goes in, because it’s what proceeds from the heart that defiles a person. For out of the heart come—and he gives a list of sin—evil thoughts and murder and adultery and so on. These are what defile a person, not to eat with unwashed hands.
Jesus is after the heart. He wants heart purity. He wants integrity in the heart; he wants a whole heart for God, a heart that is clean.
The word “clean” here is a word that relates to the cleansing rituals in Jewish religion. It’s a word that’s used for the cleansing of lepers, or the verb form is, in three places in Matthew’s Gospel. Let me just read this one parallel passage, again from Matthew 23, because it shows us the contrast. This is Matthew 23:25-26.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean [there’s the verb] the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”
Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean in heart, for they shall see God.”
I just wonder—and this is speculation on my part, but I just wonder—was Jesus saying here that there’s a blessing for those who are clean in heart, even if they were not ritually clean? The lepers who couldn’t go to the temple but who are seeking God, seeking the kingdom of God? They’re not clean according to the Pharisees, but they’re clean in heart, perhaps.
Here’s the application. Am I more concerned with internals than externals? When you gauge how well you’re doing in life, are you looking at the stuff that everybody can see, or are you looking at the stuff that only you and God see? Which are you more concerned with? Is it the stuff going on in your heart, or is it your reputation? Is it really worshiping God or is it appearing to worship God? You see the difference. Are you concerned with the internal or with the external?
Some of you have maybe heard me tell this story before, this illustration that comes from Paul Tripp. He talks about what it would be like to try to get a bad apple tree to produce good apples. He imagines this experiment. He has a bad apple tree in his backyard; all the apples are twisted and pulpy and full of worms and so on, producing bad fruit. He says, “So, this is what I’ll do. I’ll go out to my backyard, take a stepladder out there, take a nail gun and a basket full of beautiful, ripe, red apples, and I’ll nail them to the tree.” Is that going to fix your fruit problem with your tree? Of course it’s not! You’re just adding on. It’s external, rather than dealing with the real cause, the disease in the tree.
He says that a lot of religion is just stapling apples onto the tree. We’re stapling on the fruit. We’re doing things to appear to have a heart for God rather than dealing with the internal needs of our hearts. Am I more concerned with internals than externals?
Question number two: Do I long for the vision of God? Here’s the great promise: Blessed are the clean-hearted, the whole-hearted, the pure in heart, for they shall see God. That’s the beatific vision. It is the vision of the face of God that comes in the consummation of all things, that brings ultimate bliss and satisfaction. “The Lord is righteous, he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face,” says the psalmist. Or listen to this wonderful promise from 1 John 3: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
There’s the connection: the pure in heart see God, and it is the hope of seeing him that is motivation for us to purify our hearts as he is pure.
Friends, this is what we’re waiting for. This is the greatest longing of the human heart, the human soul, is this beatific vision, the vision of the face of God. To see the face of God in Christ—this is what it will mean for us. It will mean that we quench our soul’s thirst once and for all at the fountain of living waters. It means that we will know and be known as we’ve never experienced before. It will mean intimacy without one shred of shame, abundance that is shared and multiplied rather than hoarded or squandered, joy that is not mingled with sorrow, delight that overflows in eternal praise. Eternal joy! That’s what it is to see the face of God. That’s what we’re made for, and that’s what Jesus promises to those with whole hearts for him.
These are the virtues into which Jesus invites us in his inside-out kingdom: a desire for justice, a love for compassion, and a heart of integrity, or pure heart.
Let me conclude in this way. I want to give you two concluding applications.
(1) Number one, check your dispositions and your direction. Look at the dispositions of your heart, as we’ve talked about this morning. Is your heart inclined to these things? Then the direction of your heart: Are you moving in a direction towards these things? I mean, none of us are there. So it would be appropriate to feel some conviction this morning. I felt conviction preparing this. We should feel some conviction this morning. We’re not all the way there. But is this the disposition of your heart, the inclination of your heart? Is this the direction of your life? Is your heart increasingly inclined to the virtues of the kingdom?
(2) Then number two, remember that these virtues are gifts of grace. They are not the result of self-improvement. So if you find yourself in need as you consider these beatitudes, it casts you back on the first three, doesn’t it?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek [or humble], for they shall inherit the earth.”
Let me give Luther the final word. It is, after all, the end of Reformation week. October 31st is Reformation Day, if you don’t know. It’s not just Halloween. Martin Luther, in one of my favorite quotations of all time, said,
“This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing towards it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
Let’s pray together.
Father, we thank you this morning that in the kingdom of your Son, Jesus, we are invited into this process of becoming the people that you want us to be; that you give us new hearts, new inclinations, new desires; that you open our eyes to the needs of the world; that you give us concern not just for the vertical relationship with you but for the horizontal relationships with people; and that this is part of what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom. Lord, we pray for this in greater measure in our own hearts and lives, that you would give us desire for justice and righteousness, that you would give us hearts of mercy and compassion, and that you would give us whole hearts that are clean and pure and undivided and devoted to you.
Lord, we all stand in need of that. None of us have this to the greatest measure. None of us have it to the degree that Jesus himself did, but he is our model, he is our king and our teacher, and we want to follow him.
So now, in dependence on your grace that both pardons our sins and renews our hearts, we ask you, Lord, to work in us that which is pleasing in your sight. We ask you to do that as we come now to the Lord’s table to remember what Christ has done for us in this broken body, his shed blood.
As we take this new covenant meal, may we do so in the hope of the promise of the new covenant, that you not only forgive our sins but you write your law on our hearts, you put your Spirit in our hearts so that we will fear you and know you and love you and not depart from your ways. So Lord, work all of that into our hearts this morning as we come with faith in your promises to the table. Be glorified in our worship, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Brian G. Hedges
