In Pursuit of Righteousness

Matthew 5:6

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
October 12, 2025
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:6).

The practical question is, “How do we achieve 'righteousness' with ourselves, others, and God?

The concept of righteousness is foreign to this world. Our prevailing philosophy is: “Love what you do and do what you love,” as quoted by Mel Robbins, a popular podcaster and best-selling author, and Taylor Swift.

Here’s the catch: Doing what you love only leads to flourishing if what you love is worth doing.

In The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations, Nicholas Wade reports:

On the morning of October 7, 1969, the entire police force of Montreal went on strike. Within a few hours, gathering crowds started to loot stores. Gangs of masked men arrived to rob banks. Citizens huddled indoors as looters swept through downtown Montreal, smashing the windows of restaurants, stores, and hotels. By the end of the day some $500,000 worth of merchandise had been looted. Not until the arrival of army troops shortly after midnight were the violence and disorder brought to an end.

Paul would not have been surprised. He listed the “works of the flesh,” the things fallen humans naturally do: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19–21). We can love doing them, but we see the brokenness they produce every day in the news.

Conversely, the apostle listed the “fruit of the Spirit,” the things Spirit-led humans naturally do: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23). When we love doing them, our changed lives change the world.

Here are four steps to achieving righteousness:

Here’s the first step: want to be righteous. Decide that you will be godly in character, actions, and faith if you are nothing else. Choose holiness above everything. Hunger and thirst for it.

Settle for nothing less than righteousness as the central attribute of your character. Seek it with desperation and passion. Then you can receive it from God: “they will be filled,” satisfied completely. If you hunger to be righteous, your hunger will be satisfied. But you must hunger first. You must want this food before you can have it.

Second, admit that you are not righteous without God.

Here’s what God says of us: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:10-11).

This is the biblical doctrine called “total depravity.” It means that every part of our lives is affected by sin. The cancer has metastasized throughout the body of the patient. The patient can still read the paper, drink coffee, even go to work perhaps; but the disease is everywhere, and death is inevitable.

In the eyes of a holy God, “there is no one righteous.” Let’s see. Think about your last sin. That one sin alone is enough to keep you out of God’s perfect heaven.

Admit that you cannot be righteous without the help of God.

Third, make Christ your Savior and Lord. This Beatitude is addressed to Jesus’ disciples, his faith followers. You cannot keep this principle unless you first join his family. First, ask him to forgive your sins and be your Lord.

Fourth, seek the righteousness of God by faith.

You cannot make yourself righteous. That’s why Jesus’ Beatitude is in the passive tense: “they will be filled.” Not “they will fill themselves,” for we cannot. This is not a call to try harder to be better. Not works righteousness. We can do better for a while, but ultimately, we’ll fall and fail again. I’ve tried. So have you.

Instead, accept this fact: “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). Christ is our righteousness. He will impart to us his Spirit, his holiness, his character. This is the exchanged life. Believe that Christ lives in your heart, by faith. Ask him to make himself real through your character, your personality. Ask him for his righteousness for yourself, others, and God.

Give him time to do so. Meet him in Scripture, so he can transform your mind. Meet him in prayer, so he can transform your spirit. Meet him in worship, so he can transform your soul. Let the carpenter work with the wood, molding and shaping it into his own image. And believe that he is.

So, where do you need to be righteous this morning? Where are you grappling with sin or temptation—with yourself, with others, with God? Identify that issue right now. Hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. Admit to him that you cannot make yourself righteous. Be sure that you’ve made Christ your Savior and Lord. Ask him for his character, his holiness, his power, his righteousness. Spend time with him, allowing him to transform you into his image. And you will be “blessed” indeed.

You and I need the righteousness of God, and our world desperately needs God’s righteousness as well.

Jesus said of himself, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Now that he is in heaven, you and I are “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13), called to reflect his light in our darkened culture. Others cannot see his light in our hearts, however, but in the character we manifest through the circumstances of our lives. Our acts are a reflection of the reflection of our Source.

How does this work in practical terms? Jesus tells his followers, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). When we know Jesus personally and intimately, we will make him known publicly and powerfully.

Here’s why this matters: People need to know God more than they need anything else. They are made in his image and likeness, and their hearts are “restless until they rest in him” (St. Augustine). As a result, knowing the God of the universe and making him known is the highest purpose, privilege, and passion in life.

This purpose is urgent beyond any other in our fallen world.

On this week in 1871, the great evangelist Dwight Moody preached in Chicago to the largest congregation he had ever addressed in that city. In The Life of Dwight L. Moody, written by his son William R. Moody, we read that Moody paraphrased that evening the question of Pontius Pilate: “What shall you do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22). He challenged the congregation to think about this question during the week and return to church the following Sunday, when “we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But as he said later, “I have never seen that congregation since.”

The Great Chicago Fire began that night, killing hundreds of people, destroying thousands of buildings, and causing more than $4 billion in damages (in today’s dollars). Moody reflected later on the tragedy:

“I want to tell you about one lesson I learned that night, which I have never forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to urge Christ upon the people then and there, and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. . . .

I have asked God many times to forgive me for telling people that night to take a week to think it over, and if he spares my life, I will never do it again. This audience will break up in a few moments.

We may never meet after today.”

Is the same not true for everyone you and I meet this day?