Happiness through Holiness
Major V.
Gilbert tells a story from the British Liberation of Palestine in WW1. The
Allied forces were driving up from Beersheba across the desert (combined forces
of Brits, Aussies and Kiwis) and were pressing after Turkish troops on fast
retreat. The attack out-distanced its water carrying camel train. Water bottles
were empty…the sun blazed above and beat down on the weary men…even the
vultures wheeled above expectantly. Major Gilbert describes their fatigue, ’Our heads ached, our eyes were bloodshot
and our tongues began to swell but desperate to catch our foe we pressed on all
the more’. Finally they got to
Sheria where they knew there would be water wells. The Turks held
on for a while – but the Allied men battled on knowing that if they didn’t
secure the wells many of their men would perish from thirst and exhaustion. Finally,
after a fierce battle, they entered the Sheria station on the heels of a
retreating Turkish army. The first objects to meet their eyes were large stone
cisterns filled with cool drinking water. Everyone was thirsty… really thirsty
- but Major Gilbert gave orders for the men to fall into company. He commented
on the character of his men…’desperately
thirsty they fell into order and lined up…allowing the wounded and those on
guard duty to take first…the last of those men waited for over 4 hours before
having a drink…I myself decided to take the back of the line’. Major Gilberts concludes, ’The march to Sheria taught me a powerful
spiritual lesson: If such were my thirst for God’s righteousness – how rich in
the fruits of Christ I would be! Will I hunger and thirst like this for Christ?’
In our verse,
Jesus explores a new vantage point as we are told to ‘hunger’ and ‘thirst’ for
a quite unlikely thing in order to find true, spiritual happiness. The question
Jesus is dealing with is this: How do sinful people attain a
righteousness that is both acceptable to God and satisfying to the soul?
People today
‘hunger’ or ‘thirst’ for lots of different things…successful careers, a great
education and a wonderful family. Behind all these things is a deep desire for
happiness. Isn’t the stated American dream, ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness?’ What is often a bit strange is that in these pursuits those very
same people are often quite indifferent to God and His ways. Now, don’t get me
wrong - many of these pursuits are worthwhile in and of themselves. But Jesus
tells us that if we want to be truly ‘satisfied’ (or blessed) then there is a spiritual
satisfaction that comes from a different kind of pursuit – a pursuit of
righteousness. Jesus tells us about the essence of this pursuit in two parts.
First, the ‘kind’ of righteousness we must pursue is a specific type of righteousness
and therefore it must be pursued ‘intentionally’. Secondly, the language
Jesus uses challenges us to the ‘intensity’ of this pursuit. But what does
this mean and how does it work?
Most people
do desire some type of righteousness or moral code – even thieves have a code
of conduct. Others take pride in their philanthropy, good works or goodwill –
but the type of righteousness Jesus is describing is a ‘perfect’ righteousness.
Later on in Matthew 5 Jesus says to His Disciples, ‘Be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Matt.
5:48). Perfect? Well, that seems impossible! Even for the religiously inclined
or piously correct! The ‘true’ righteousness that Jesus sets as the perfect
standard is nothing short of the righteousness He Himself embodies. If only
perfect righteousness will do, then Jesus supplies the only righteousness that
satisfies God and sustains our souls. In simple terms - Jesus is telling us (in
a kind of ‘code language’) that we should hunger and thirst for Him. We are supposed
to long for Him…to seek Him…to pursue Him and His righteousness so that when we
are tempted to evaluate our own performance (which is often really rotten) we don’t
have to fall into utter despair. We look to Christ’s perfect righteousness (and
His perfect performance) as we pursue Him. Consider these words in John 6:35, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever
comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ Or John 4:14 ‘…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ That is good news for weary souls, but
how is this appropriated in your life and mine? Herein then is the ‘intentionality’
of this pursuit – it is a specific, narrow, single-focused ‘hunger’ for more of
Jesus Christ and His righteousness - the
only righteousness that is good enough for God and satisfying to our souls.
But we must also pursue this righteousness ‘intensely’…Jesus
uses the words ‘hunger’ and ‘thirst’. In the original language these words conjure
up desperation, starvation or famine. Obviously they are used metaphorically,
but there is a truth Jesus is driving home – righteousness must be pursued with
fervency and focused resolve - with ‘intensity’. In Luke 15, when the
prodigal son left home he expected to be satisfied. He wanted life, liberty and
fame but all he got was poverty, rags and loneliness. Having squandered all his
resources he is left to starve and reduced to eating in the pig trough. It is
there that he remembers his father’s house and longs for home. We know the
story – he returns and his father clothes him, feeds him and restores him.
Perhaps the prodigal son shows us the way….we too may need to repent and turn
from the things we once ‘hungered’ for and then, with a new found intensity and
singleness of heart, pursue Christ only and His righteousness.
Martyn Lloyd
Jones said, ‘There are large numbers of
people in the Christian Church who seem to spend the whole of their life
seeking something which they can never find, seeking for some kind of happiness
or blessedness – they go around from meeting to meeting, convention to
convention always hoping for the next wonderful thing – hopefully something
will fill them with joy….we are not meant to hunger and thirst after experiences…we
are not meant to hunger and thirst for blessings…We must hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness…’
Perhaps today
we should cry out to God asking Him to help us pursue Christ…intentionally…intensely…
