Living the Beatitudes: Embracing Righteousness, Mercy, and Purity

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And this word tzedakah refers to the character of someone who is in right relationship, okay? So when we see this word being used, it refers to the character of someone. Who's in a right relationship with someone else. [00:16:29] (16 seconds)


And some of this applies to individuals, like how we relate to one another. But it can also apply to large group settings and whether or not there's right relationships happening. There's unity happening within the context of this larger group. And it's basically asking the question, am I showing up for other people in love, right? Am I showing up for other people in love? [00:16:45] (26 seconds)


Because when we're in right relationship with one another, that means that we're showing up for each other. But we're not just showing up for ourselves and for what we can get out of the benefit that the other person can give to us. We're actually showing up in right relationship out of love for the other person. [00:17:13] (17 seconds)


And justice just simply means that you're putting right something that is wrong, right? And in fact, over and over again in the Old Testament, Mishrod describes caring for and looking after those who are considered the least of these in society, right? It's people who are on the outskirts of society, those who are oppressed, those who are marginalized. And we often very specifically see this in reference to widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor. [00:17:36] (32 seconds)


Because these four people groups, right? These widows and orphans, immigrants and the poor, we see them over and over again. And these are the people that are often referred to as the marginalized, the outcast in society. Right? And so what we see over and over is that when we do justice, when we approach these people groups with care and kindness and love, right? When we do this, we can experience tzedakah, right? We can experience righteousness. As we give righteousness and create rightness in relationships, as we express justice for these people groups, we can actually experience it for ourselves. [00:18:14] (43 seconds)


What it means is that when we look at other people groups who are, again, on the outskirts of society, on the outskirts of culture, when we look at them and we can see past their appearance, past what we might even view as right and wrong, when we can look past these people groups and what they do, what they look like, what it sounds like, right? And when we can look at them and say, hey, you are... [00:19:28] (25 seconds)


you are amazing. You are actually a miraculous, image-bearing creation of the Lord God Almighty. And therefore, because you are created by God in his image, you are actually worthy of love and blessing. [00:19:53] (18 seconds)


You're worthy to be cared for. And you are never supposed to be oppressed and put down and marginalized. You're never supposed to be harmed or mistreated or taken advantage of in any way, shape, or form. [00:20:07] (17 seconds)


According to God's word, you are good and you have value according to him. [00:20:24] (6 seconds)


His holy standard tells us, it says, and what does the Lord require of you? What does God Almighty require of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. So Jesus saying, that when you hunger and thirst for this kind of righteousness, when you're desperate to see people doing right by one another, when you're caring for and loving one another, especially when they're different, especially when they are marginalized, you know, like the immigrant in today's news, like the poor who are all around us, like all the children that we see in this world who are in the foster care system. [00:20:29] (39 seconds)


When we care for them, when we love on them, when we create relationships, with them, that's what it looks like to be a part of the kingdom of God. That's what it looks like to be part of the upside down kingdom. [00:21:48] (14 seconds)


The promise for us is that he fills us when we hunger and when we thirst, when we yearn to see these things happen, when we yearn for this kind of relational completeness in our society and the people around us. When we do this, he's the one who will fill us in the end. He will give us everything that we need. And when we're tired in doing this, when we're tired in doing what's right, it's God who steps in and fills us with everything that we could ever need. [00:21:57] (30 seconds)


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