Cultivating aGospel Shaped

Attitude

Understanding and Living the Beatitudes

By Dr. Joe Buchanan

The Great Dilemma

“How can we be righteous when we still struggle with sin?”

Desire for Righteousness

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for

they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6

Three Activities

• Attaining a right standing before God• Living morally in a corrupt world• Pursuing justice for those who

are oppressed.

1. Attaining a Right Standing with God

• Righteousness is about a relationship with God–God created us for the purpose of

having a relationship with Him.–But sin has destroyed that

relationship

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Romans 3:23

As a Result of Sin• Our relationship has been

broken• We are unable to fulfill our

highest purpose• Stand condemned before God –

Declared unrighteous.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Romans 1:18

But there is GOOD NEWS!

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

Romans 1:16-17

The Cross is the Supreme Demonstration of God’s

Righteousness• God does not overlook our sin• The Son of God became the Son of Man so

that the Sons of Man can become the Sons of God.

2. Righteousness mean living morally in a corrupt world.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away: behold, the new has come.”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Zacchaeus is the model of a transformed life

“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

Luke 19:8

Matthew 5:13-16

• Christians are to be Salt and Light• We are to make an impact on the world

around us.• Christianity has made a positive impact

on the world.

Two Aspects:

• Negative- avoiding certain activities and behavior.• Positive- things we are supposed

to be actively involved in doing.

3. Righteousness means pursuing justice.

• The conservative, evangelical branch of the church has forgotten the Biblical mandate for Christians to pursue social justice for those who are oppressed.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your

deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring

justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:16–17)

Thus says the Lord: do justice and righteousness, 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.

(Jeremiah 22:3)

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord

require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk

humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of

the poor and the needy. (Proverbs 31:9)

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of

the afflicted and destitute. (Psalm 82:3)

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their

affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

(James 1:27)

“As evangelical Christians, we should not shy away from social justice issues, nor should we believe the lie that social justice is somehow unrelated to or even opposed to the preaching of the gospel.”