WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:03.279 So we're working our way through the Beatitudes. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:08.720 Uh it's the beginning of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount there at the beginning of uh the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:13.599 So each week through the summer, we're taking uh one of these thoughts that Jesus presents. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:19.600 And that this morning is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be or they shall be satisfied. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:27.120 And so we're gonna talk our way through it, dig our way into a few of these words and sort of flesh out what Jesus was talking about. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.119 So this word satisfied, it means to be fed or to be filled. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:51.359 So it's the idea, it's like that meal, that burger, that burrito, that nochi, that whatever, that just at the right time is just everything you wanted it to be, everything you needed it to be. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.439 It filled you up. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:04.079 So last Sunday afternoon after church, went home, it's Father's Day, we had lunch together, and then I packed up and I went to Blue Skies, which is the camp that our church uh helps support. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:13.760 And some of you guys have been there before, it's in Florida, and it's a camp run by a lady who comes to our church, and it's a camp for families with children with cancer. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:17.599 And so the whole family gets to come for a free week at the beach. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:20.799 And so the kids have you know fun activities all week. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:47.920 I mean, they're just just uh it's a break from their sad reality on a week-to-week basis in terms of just medicines and treatments, and doctors and siblings are left behind while the other sibling goes to the hospital and family is split because you know, mom and the the child with the illness is in Memphis, and then the rest of the family is in Birmingham, and you know, just all those realities go away for a week. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:02:11.759 And then, as well, uh we have counseling sessions, big group counseling sessions where all the parents sit in one room together and they get to talk and hear each other's stories, and for some of these people have never spoken out their story and their anger and their doubt and their issues with God, um, and the ways they've been burned by friends and family and their church through this process and for them just to speak it out. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:20.240 And so I sit in that room with those people during that time, and so I was in those rooms a few times with 11 different couples. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:29.280 So I so driving down there, it's about a five and a half hour drive, and so I was gonna take some back roads, and so anybody been on highway 27 going through South Georgia? 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:30.240 Isn't it beautiful? 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:31.680 I mean, it's the most beautiful road. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.280 I mean, I it was just it was so lovely. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:36.479 I mean, every and every time I turned on Waze to be like, how far? 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:38.800 Like, she's like, get off of Highway 27. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:40.159 She wants me to go somewhere else. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:53.120 But that road was fantastic, it was so beautiful, and I'd eaten lunch before uh before I got on the road, and I think it was about five and a half hours, and so I figured I'd get down there for dinner, and so but I'm on Highway 27, and I'll tell you, it's beautiful. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.400 There's not a lot to eat on Highway 27, which is what I learned. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:08.639 Is that been, you know, podcast, you know, radio, podcast radio, and by the way, some killer, if you want some killer country stations, I mean, it is going on in South Georgia. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:13.039 Don't go home a drinking with loving on your mind. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.240 Does anybody, can anybody who's who's Loretta Lynn? 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:17.280 I mean, just give me a break. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.840 It was like just killer song like that. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:21.280 This is fantastic. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:22.800 Like, where is this in Metro Atlanta? 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:24.080 It's nowhere, nowhere to be found. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:31.680 All right, so anyway, so driving through, um, and and I'm getting hungry because it's taking longer than I thought, and there's there's nowhere to eat. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.280 There's just there's just nowhere to eat. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:37.199 And I'm not looking for the Whole Foods buffet, right? 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:38.560 I'm I'm not being picky here. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:44.240 I'm just looking for a burger and fries, but also don't want like Slick Ricks gas station, like the hot dogs. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:46.000 You know, I've been there for like three weeks. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.360 Yeah, I'm not looking for that. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:56.800 So there was some boundaries to this, but I am just looking in the fur so the further I drive, I'm getting hungry and hunger, but I thought I would I would get there, and I'm just not getting there. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:02.879 And then all of a sudden, like as your hunger builds, you've been to this point, like as your hunger builds, like you don't care about the podcast anymore. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.080 You don't care about um don't go home drinking with loving on your mind. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:07.840 You don't care about the great country station. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:15.919 You don't you're all you're doing is your eyes are on like the next town, is there is there a Bojangles, is there Hardy's, is there a McDonald's, is there is there a subway? 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:22.800 Like, I don't care, I don't care what it is, not Slick Riggs, gas station, hot dog, but just something, like, is there something, is there a burger and a fries? 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:24.079 That's all you want, right? 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:29.199 Because when you're hungry, all of a sudden, all the other things don't matter. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:31.120 You are on a hunt. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.639 You you are seeking with eager desire, right? 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:41.040 That's that's what this word hunger, to hunger, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:45.759 This word hunger means to seek with eager desire. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:49.120 It's like you're on a hunt. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:51.680 And all of a sudden the other stuff doesn't matter. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.319 I've never been hunting a day in my life. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.720 We got some hunters, Josh is a hunter, yeah. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:58.160 Anyway, this is open air. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:04:58.959 We're not gonna judge you. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:02.079 We're not like like everybody in here's not a liberal, we're all gonna judge you. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:03.600 We're a mix of people, okay? 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:04.720 Anybody, hunters? 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:05.680 You got some hunters? 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.279 One in the hall, okay. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:10.720 He it's interesting, had already left. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.720 Like I knew, like he knew I was gonna ask the question. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:14.079 Little guy's a hunter. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:20.560 I I've never been hunting in a day in my life, but uh from talking to a few of you, is but you sit somewhere, right? 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:24.000 Maybe that's why you hunt, it's just like so nobody can bother you. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:37.199 Is you sit somewhere, or you're walking, like you're walking through, like like and you're you're waiting, but but there's a there's an eager desire, like a waiting, a looking, like you can't wait for that whatever, that deer or what what do you hunt? 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:38.560 Duck, what? 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:39.279 Deer. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:42.639 Deer, okay, deer, bird, ducks, and stuff like that. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.560 So but you're just waiting to see these these animals, right? 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.519 Now it's different than say, like, the Kalahare, Bushmen, and Nambia, right? 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.600 Like when they hunt, this is their sole source of food. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:58.160 Like, that's a different hunting. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:00.879 This is the this is the strength of that word. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:07.360 It's not like American hunting, and you know, like if we shoot a deer, it's great, and we'll you know, we'll keep the meat and we'll eat it and be responsible. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.959 Like, no, it's more like the the Kahlar Bushman. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:18.560 Like, I've I have I have to get an animal because I need to feed my family, right? 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:24.879 It's that strength of a word of seeking with eager desire, right? 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.399 I mean, it's so it's this kind of intensity, and it raises the question. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:30.399 It raises the question, but this is what Jesus is doing. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.639 He's taking that kind of word and he's applying it to like inner life issues. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:37.439 And it raises questions like, what do you hunt for? 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:44.800 What does your inner self seek with eager desire? 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:54.800 And listen, because what you hunger for matters because some places satisfy and some places only promise. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:01.199 And most of us are driven in our culture to find this filling, right? 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:07.279 This satisfied, this filling of the inner self with what we achieve or what we look like or what we have, right? 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:08.399 Sound familiar? 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:10.319 That's our lives basically. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:19.360 But it's remarkable, like the studies, all the studies show, like no matter what income you have, if somebody asks you like how much money would you do you need to feel okay? 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.199 Does anybody remember all these studies? 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:22.160 And they keep repeating. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:23.920 It's like it's just just human nature. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.000 And you know how much we all answer? 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:27.439 10% more. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:28.639 It's always 10% more. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.000 It doesn't matter if you make$40,000 a year or you make$150,000 a year. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:33.439 It's always 10% more. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:35.759 That's what's going to make you feel okay. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:42.720 I was listening to a podcast this week, I think it was actually on my drive down to Blue Skies, and uh, this lady lost 110 pounds. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:48.240 And she said, I'm thin and I don't feel thin. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:50.480 Right? 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.279 Like it's never ending. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.639 There's no end to some things don't have an end. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.720 Because some places satisfy and some places only promise. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:01.360 Right? 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:10.800 I mean you drive a Honda Accord and you love it, and then you sat in your friend's Audi, and you thought that car was fantastic, and so maybe you got an Audi, you figured out a way to do that. 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:18.720 You know, it took you a few years, but you figured out your way into that Audi 6, and you got that Audi 6, and then you saw that jaguar, and that jaguar was awesome until you saw that Tesla, right? 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:20.959 And it just doesn't stop. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.519 And we know this, we know it. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:30.800 So, Ruth Whitman in the New York Times, in this great article, America of the Anxious, which I've I've quoted before, it's there in your handout. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:33.759 Here's what she writes in the New York Times. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:41.039 The American approach to happiness can spur a debilitating anxiety. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:50.000 The initial sense of promise and hope is seductive, but it soon gives way to a nagging, slow burn feeling of inadequacy. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.159 Am I happy? 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:53.440 Happy enough? 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.279 As happy as everyone else? 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:57.200 Could I be doing more about it? 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:03.679 Even basic contentment feels like failure when pitched against capital H happiness. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:12.559 The goal is so elusive and hard to define, it's impossible to pinpoint when it's even been achieved, a recipe for neurosis. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:19.039 So here's what we find when it comes to this idea of satisfaction to be filled. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:21.519 Is the thing is not always the thing. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:22.879 We think the thing's the thing. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:30.879 Like we think the you know, that weight you're gonna hit, that's the thing, or the car, that's the thing, or the achievement that that's the thing. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.399 Actually, the thing is not the thing. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:36.320 And kind of the sad thing is that we're we're actually addicted to the hunt. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:44.320 We have an addiction to the hunt, which is dangerous because it means we're never really filled because the hunt is never ending. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:51.360 Because what the hunt is, it is us trying to justify our existence by these things. 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.200 And it might even be righteousness by merit. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:56.799 I mean, it doesn't have to be all secular. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.240 I was just naming a bunch of secular stuff. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.159 It could be your own righteousness, your own sense of being a good Christian. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:12.320 I mean, that can be your hunt that is never ending versus a secure, forever righteousness that God provided to you in Jesus. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:21.200 Now we could all blame our culture and blame advertising or blame a church you went to at one point, but but like the reason why our culture is the way it is is because of us. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.879 The reason why advertising works is because we sort of believe the advertising. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:31.279 Because we all hunger, we're all on this hunt for a life of satisfaction and for to be deemed righteous. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:33.759 We all want to be deemed righteous. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:41.039 And so this word righteousness, this word righteousness in this verse, it's it's the way you ought to be. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:43.200 To be right. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:11:00.559 But here's the thing, it's not to be right like here and there, and then like if it sort of like like the tipping of the scales, and like if there's more good than bad, then you're righteousness, it's a comprehensive righteousness, it's a complete righteousness. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:11.039 But then also this word has this meaning, and this is where you get into like you read a bunch of commentaries, and I did this week, and you get some people who take this verse and they go one way, and some people take this verse and they go another way. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:18.399 And so another way this word can be defined is the right way in which an individual should be treated. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:26.159 Okay, and so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna I'm gonna make two points based on those two different possibilities of how this word can be defined. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:32.000 So, point number one, satisfaction comes by hungering for righteousness in the world. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:35.600 So the right way in which people should be treated. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:39.759 Meaning this, you and I should actually care about other people. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:40.960 We should. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.480 Not just neurotically addicted to the next thing. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:12:03.039 And it turns out, and this is why Jesus is constantly teaching us to love people and care for people, it turns out that caring for people, loving people, loving people, and fighting for people and for them to be treated right, it turns out that actually speaks and gives to your heart. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:06.159 Right? 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:24.159 I mean, it it's it's it's about seeing a human being, no matter what they look like, if they don't look like you, no matter what socioeconomic place they're at, or no matter where they come from, or that you even agree with things that they do or believe in their life, but that you know as a human being they should be treated rightly. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:33.360 And so you see things like the Orlando shooting, and it should burden you that a human being would be treated like that. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:43.519 Or you hear about human trafficking and it should affect you, that the cycle of poverty should affect you, that this isn't right for people, for the world to be like this. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.279 There should be a burden, there should be a groaning for it to be right. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.440 Because you love people. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:13:00.799 Widows and children that are forgotten around the world, just a friend, your friend that's hurting, who gets sick, or their spouse is sick, or their kid are sick, or they're they're lonely, that should bother you. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.799 It should have an effect on you. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:06.799 Abuse and racism that's still in our country, it's still in our community. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:08.799 That should bother us. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:10.320 That thought, right? 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:18.799 Like the thought you had about that person that looked so different from you, that thought should bother you. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:27.519 That there would be a drive in you, a hunger for these things to be right. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:35.200 It turns out, it turns out that that actually brings satisfaction in your life. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.799 I think it's because you're actually fighting for something that matters. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:43.600 It's crazy, right? 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:50.559 I mean, it's radical teaching against everything we tend to do in life, which tends to be sort of around our own self-centeredness. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:14:02.480 And this teaching and so much of Jesus' teaching about loving people just comes around this idea that we will be more satisfied in our existence when we use our existence to care about people being treated rightly. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.039 So that's point number one. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:07.679 Which might feel a lot of burden, actually, right? 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.519 I kind of put it on you right there. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.559 Number two, satisfaction comes by hungering for a righteousness beyond yourself. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.600 Now, this is really good news, especially after point number one. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:24.399 Because point number one, you hear all of that and you go, oh man, I do some of that, but I also I fa I fail for that. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:26.159 I fail in response to that. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.840 I don't always care. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.159 I don't always care to the point that I should. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.279 I don't perfectly care. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:32.960 I don't comprehensively care. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:38.240 And then this point number two, satisfaction comes by hungering for a righteousness beyond yourself. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.559 So this verse definitely has something to say for us in terms of that we should want to live a righteous life. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:50.879 Like you should want your life to be righteous, so your thoughts to be pure and your life and your behavior. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:56.559 But see, even that comes as a response to a righteousness beyond yourself. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:04.559 So I ran into this quote this week by Alistair and Joanna McGrath in this book, Self-Esteem, the Cross and Christian Confidence. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.000 It's in your handout. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:09.679 It's a bit long, but it is really, really good, so hang with me. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:15.519 There are two quite different ways of thinking about the idea of being justified in the sight of God. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:23.039 The first way involves an internal style of attribution, in which the following style the following style question is asked. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:27.840 What is it about me that would allow anyone to count me as righteous? 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:39.279 This way of thinking can lead to despair if the person's self-view is negative, and to an unmerited conceit if the person holds a good opinion of himself or herself. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:48.240 The internal attribution style naturally leads to the triumphalist view that we can do something to establish our righteousness. 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:58.639 If we can justify ourselves by works, our emotional investment tends to fall on our achievements and spurs us on to attempt to achieve more. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:05.200 Our sense of personal security and esteem thus comes to rest upon what we do and the way we feel about it. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:07.840 Might sound familiar to some of us. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:10.240 Here's the second approach. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:22.879 The second approach concerns an external style of attribution in which the question is being asked is what is it about God that makes him see me as righteous? 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:32.639 This style of attribution creates a sense of expectancy for action on the part of God rather than a feeling that we ought to be achieving something. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:46.480 This vital shift in the frame of reference moves us away from a human-centered, works-oriented approach to our personal worth and instead points us firmly towards a God-centered, faith-oriented approach. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:17:02.720 Now you may think all that's quite wordy or intellectual, but what I know is, is I know your desire for righteousness, whether we want to take that word and apply it to the world and the way people are treated rightly, or we just want to apply it to your personal life and how righteous you are. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:07.920 Either way, I know you comprehensively do not do this. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.519 I know I comprehensively do not do this. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:20.720 And therefore, if we're going to go into the internal attribution style for righteousness, we will feel the burden, the pressure, the exhaustion. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:22.559 We become neurotic about it. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.640 Some of us become like just legalistic about it. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.359 Some of us give up and run the other way. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.599 And that's what happens with this internal attribution style. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:42.079 That amount of pressure of always having to be better or to find something else and find the next thing, right? 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:43.759 Because we're all hunting. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:44.640 We're hungering. 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.720 We're seeking with eager desire to find the thing that will make us okay. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.960 And ultimately, it's the sinful nature of the self. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.680 It's our sin, it's our rebellion to God's provision in Jesus for our righteousness that we're gonna self-save. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:14.480 We're gonna self-save with our religion, we're gonna self-save with our moralism, we're gonna self-save by running after a million things in the world, but we're gonna self-save, we're gonna make ourselves justified and righteous in the world by what we do. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:16.880 But you and I, we can't comprehensively do it. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:22.319 The internal attribution style, if you're on that path, you will exhaust yourself. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:24.640 You are working your way there. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.799 And the good news is this external righteousness, which is attributed to you, right? 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.599 This is what we talk about every week, this imputation. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.319 That Christ on the cross is our sin. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:49.680 All of that that I just mentioned put upon him, and it's relieved from us, is put upon him, and his righteousness is put upon us, so we are securely his beloved, and we are deemed righteous. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:53.759 So, what is it about God that would see you and see you as righteous? 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.039 What it is, it's perfect forgiveness and love. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:04.400 It is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for you, the greatest act of humility and love. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:11.279 Do you remember last week I told you about that wonderful garden in the business school at the University of Georgia? 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:19.119 If you're here, I talked about this garden at the business school, but the only way into the garden was the bottom floor of the building. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:19.920 Right? 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:21.680 The bottom floor was the way in. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.000 The bottom floor was the way into goodness. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:27.440 There's the saying that God's office is at the end of your rope. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.759 And I mean, goodness, anybody seen Goonies lately? 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:31.599 Anybody kept up with Goonies? 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:32.960 Do you remember Data? 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:43.200 He falls into the pit, and his pinches of peril shoot up and grab, and he falls down and he starts saying, Pinches of pearl, push up and he says, I'm in another room, I'm in another room. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:44.480 And the way out was the bottom. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:46.000 The way out's always the bottom. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.200 It always is. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:51.759 That's why in AA they begin with confession and brokenness and honesty. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:54.000 That's why we began our service with that. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.960 That's why only the sick need a doctor. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:03.359 See, if you are exhausted in the hunt for satisfaction via this world, then you are on a path. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:08.240 You are on a path to looking for external source for righteousness. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:10.480 You're in a good place, is what I'm saying. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:14.079 But you have to open your eyes to see that the way out is at the bottom. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:16.079 It's not by you climbing back up. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:21.119 It's by you going, I cannot comprehensively earn my righteousness. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:27.119 I cannot comprehensively fill my inner self unto satisfaction. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:36.000 I have to receive this position by God's love to me and by the act of Jesus on my behalf. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:45.279 So this week at Blue Skies, when I was there, uh Melinda, who runs the camp, she pulled me aside and she said, Hey, we're we're having a little problem. 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:53.440 Um the kids are uh like they're like the so I so you have volunteer families and the kids come, and then you have um guest families. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.480 Um the guest families are the families with the children with cancer. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:09.519 And so the volunteer families, there's a bunch of little kids there too, and so all the volunteer families, uh all the kids are like cutting in line in front of like you know, I mean you're cutting in line in front of like a child with cancer, you're like, come on, kid, I mean, I mean, just common sense here. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.279 Um I mean that's just bad, right? 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:13.440 Um it's bad in general, that's even worse. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:24.480 All right, so so she said, hey, can you give like a little pad talk about like not cutting and like don't grab the toy first, or like when the Tootsie Roll Pops get passed out, like, hey, just back off. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:26.720 Like let the guest families get them first. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:28.960 I'm like, this is this is just human nature. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:32.000 I mean, this is just like the perfect picture of human nature. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:36.559 We're just so concerned it's gonna run out, right? 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:44.960 I mean, we're just so concerned that the goodness is gonna run out, that there's not an endless supply of Tootsie Roll Pops. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.960 I better get mine now, and I better go after it. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:50.559 What if this runs out? 00:21:50.720 --> 00:22:00.240 And the good news here when it comes to God's love and goodness to you, whether you emotionally feel it today or not, it doesn't run out. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.119 And it doesn't leave. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.920 So it doesn't it doesn't pull away when you're in suffering. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:13.920 It doesn't all the way all of a sudden show up because times are good. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:19.440 It doesn't pull away when you screw up and then come back when you have your act together. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:24.000 It doesn't run out, it is comprehensive for you. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:31.119 It is always there, it is covering us and just deeming us righteous. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:40.480 We are already righteous and we are secure because of Jesus' act on the cross for us. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:42.559 That is where we find our rest. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:49.359 So blessed, lucky are you, fortunate are you if you hunger and thirst for righteousness? 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:58.480 Yeah, because it will lead you to needing that external source of righteousness, and you will be satisfied. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:07.519 So, my brothers and sisters, may we hunger for the thing that just keeps pouring itself out in never-ending love and mercy to us. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:09.039 Let's pray together. 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:19.039 God, thank you that you do not look at our record of righteousness to decide whether we are righteous. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:24.400 Thank you that you do not keep a tally on today. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:35.759 Thank you that we do not have to form our identity around what we have, what we accumulate, how we invest, our jobs, what we weigh. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:40.880 Thank you that we are free from these measurements. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:50.880 Help us to measure our security by the comprehensiveness of your sacrifice and love for us, thus being free. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:24:10.720 God, we entrust that this life of resting in your grace and mercy to us, that your Holy Spirit would flood and work and create great fruit for your gospel and spur us on to a life of righteousness that glorifies you. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:12.160 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:12.799 Amen.