I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 5:1-12
Matthew 5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up
on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to
teach them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and
be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
-- Socrates was a renowned philosopher in ancient
-- Socrates led the man to the ocean and as they stood on
the shore watching the waves roll in, he asked the man, “What do you want?” --
the man said, “I want knowledge”
-- Socrates led the man into the water until it was chest
deep and he paused in the breaking waves and asked the man, “What do you want?”
-- the man said again, “I want knowledge”
-- Immediately, Socrates grabbed the man and plunged him
underneath the water -- The man struggled to free himself, but Socrates kept
his head submerged -- Finally, after much effort, the man was able to break
loose and emerge from the water
-- Socrates then asked, “When you thought you were
drowning, what one thing did you want most of all?” -- Still gasping for
breath, the man exclaimed, “I wanted air!”
-- Socrates paused for a moment and then wisely commented,
“When you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, then you will be wise!” (Adapted
from Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries)
-- Jesus tells us here in the fourth Beatitude that this
concept of Socrates is true for righteousness, as well -- look back with me at
verse 6
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness,
for they will be filled.
-- in other words, Jesus is saying that when we want
righteousness as much as a drowning man wants air, we will find it -- when we
want righteousness as much as a starving man wants food or a thirsty man wants
water, then we will find it
-- when righteousness and holiness become the
overwhelming desire of our heart -- when they become all we want and all we
need and all we seek -- then we will find them
-- this morning, as we continue in our sermon series on
the Beatitudes, we are going to be exploring this concept of desiring
righteousness in our lives
-- just like the earlier Beatitudes we looked at, this
Beatitude builds on the first three and continues to move us higher and higher
on the ladder of faith -- helping us to become more and more like Jesus as we
seek His presence and desire His presence and power in our lives
-- in a very real sense, this Beatitude is the first test
of our devotion to Christ -- previously, we talked about how the first three
Beatitudes were the foundation of a life with God and a life in Christ
-- in the beginning, we find ourselves poor in the spirit
-- being made aware of our condition and our need for a Savior -- aware that we
need forgiveness and salvation at the cross
-- next, we mourn our sins as we become aware of the true
depth of our sinfulness and of the vast gulf between us and God -- and we cry
out for complete forgiveness and cleansing through God’s mercy and grace
-- which leads us to the third Beatitude -- beginning the
first steps of a holy life -- realizing the power of God within us --
exercising the power of the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to start us on the
path of sanctification -- the path of holiness and righteousness
-- and, now, in this fourth Beatitude -- blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness -- we are confronted with the
question, “Are we progressing in our spiritual lives?”
-- this Beatitude asks us to pause and think about how we
are living and what we are living for -- what do we spend our time and energy
on? -- what desires fill our hearts? -- what drives us on a daily basis? -- are
we seeking after God or are we still following the ways of this world and the
desires of our flesh?
-- so, let’s look at this Beatitude now and see what we
can learn about living for God on a daily basis
II. Righteousness
-- let’s start by thinking a moment about righteousness
-- Jesus tells us here, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness”
-- what is righteousness? -- that is a common word in the
Bible -- both in the Old Testament and the New Testament -- we use it a lot in
our churches -- we sing about it in our hymns -- we read about it in our
devotions -- but what is it? -- what does that word really mean? -- what does
Jesus mean when He tells us to hunger and thirst after righteousness?
-- really, Jesus means two things -- first, He means that
we hunger and thirst after a right relationship with God -- we seek to be right
with God
-- I think most of us here have been in a relationship of
some kind -- whether it’s a romantic relationship or just a friendship with
another person -- and I guarantee you, at some point in that relationship, you
had a fight -- you got into an argument -- something happened -- somebody did
something wrong or said something wrong and the other person got hurt
-- and what happened to the relationship at that moment?
-- it suffered, didn’t it? -- it was strained -- it was broken -- it wasn’t…right
-- and what had to happen to make that relationship right
again? -- the person who messed up had to make amends -- they had to apologize
or buy flowers or whatever it took to repair the hurt and to make that
relationship right again
-- that’s part of what Jesus means here by righteousness
-- He’s telling us we are all called to be in a right relationship with God --
but when sin comes into our life, it damages that relationship -- God cannot be
where sin is -- and until we deal with that sin -- until we take steps to get
that sin out of our life -- it’s not right
-- and we can’t make it right -- there’s nothing we can
do -- we can’t make it right by going to church or by doing good things or by
tithing or by giving money to good causes -- we can’t make it right by reading
our Bible everyday or by doing “churchy” things
-- we can only make our relationship right with God through
faith in the atoning death of Jesus on the cross for us -- by believing that
Jesus paid the price for our sins with His own body and blood and asking Him to
forgive us for our sins -- we apologize for what we have done -- we repent of
our sins and turn from ourselves and the world and turn to God -- we ask Jesus
to make amends for our sins with His body and His blood
-- and God’s grace, through our faith and trust in Jesus’
atoning death and resurrection, saves us -- it puts us back into a right
relationship with God -- that’s part of what He means here when He says that
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are blessed
-- the second part of righteousness is keeping that
relationship from getting broken again -- and how do we do that? -- by being
true and faithful to God -- by living holy lives -- by doing the right things
-- the things that God wants us to do -- turning away from temptations and sins
and living for God with our whole hearts and mind and strength
-- to be righteous means that we try to live lives of
integrity and character and holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit
within us -- that we try to live the way God wants us to live so that our
relationship with Him grows stronger everyday
III. Hungering and Thirsting for
God
-- that’s what Jesus means by the word, “righteousness,”
in this Beatitude
-- which leads us to the next question -- how? -- how do
we become righteous? -- how do we stay righteous? -- how do we keep our
relationship with God right?
-- one night at a campfire, an elderly man took the
opportunity to teach his grandson about the inner struggles with right and
wrong that he had dealt with his whole life -- he told his grandson that inside
of him were two wolves -- one of the wolves was mean and evil -- the other wolf
was good -- and they fought constantly for control of his life
-- the young man stared at the fire for a moment and then
asked, “Which wolf ends up winning?” -- the old man paused a moment and said,
“the one I feed the most”
-- it’s the same way with us in our daily lives -- every
day we wake up with desires in our hearts and in our flesh -- we wake up with wants
and wishes -- we have needs to be met
-- in this Beatitude, Jesus uses the analogy of a person
who is hungry or thirsty to describe what it is like to have a desire in your
life -- the point He is trying to get across here is that our desires are natural
-- they are good -- they have their source in God Himself
-- think about it like this -- why do we get hungry and
thirsty? -- because our body needs food and water to survive -- God put this
desire in us because He knew it was something that we needed -- hunger and
thirst are good things, because they remind us to get food and water so that we
can live
-- all of the desires that you have are things that God
knows you need -- things like food and water -- things like relationships and
marriage and sex -- things like houses and possessions and jobs -- things like
spiritual satisfaction -- all of these are desires that God has put in us
because He knows that we need them to live and to be happy -- these are all
good things
-- but the problem comes in when we begin to try to
fulfill our God-given desires in ungodly ways -- by trying to get more than we
need or by trying to fulfill our desires in places or in ways that God does not
approve of
-- this Beatitude forces us to ask the question, “what wolf
am I feeding?” -- “where do we go to have our desires met? -- what do we do
when we seek to be filled and satisfied?”
-- really, there are only two choices -- we can go to God
or we can go to the world
-- if we go to God, then our desires will be met in
Godly, righteous ways and our relationship with Him will be right
-- if we go to the world, then our natural tendency is to
meet our desires in ungodly ways -- and, as a result, our relationships with
God and with others may be strained or broken
-- let’s use food as an example of what I’m talking about
-- we need food -- getting hungry is a God-given desire that meets that need in
our life -- we all know that, right?
-- now, let me ask you this -- how many of you have ever paid
attention to the way grocery stores are designed? -- how the groceries are
placed on the shelves?
-- to get to the fruits and vegetables, what do you
usually have to do? -- walk past rows of freshly baked doughnuts and cakes --
you have to walk past the smells of doughnuts fresh out of the oven or
fresh-baked bread -- and it just feeds your senses
-- to get to the milk and dairy section, what do you have
to do? -- you have to go all the way to the back of the store -- you have to walk
past displays and end caps with potato chips and cokes and cookies -- and
that’s not by accident -- it is intentional
-- the store is using your God-given desire for food, but
they’re trying to get you to meet those desires in a way you probably shouldn’t
-- doughnuts and potato chips may be less expensive than healthy food, but the
stores know they won’t satisfy you, so you’ll buy more and more of them to
satisfy you -- like the potato chip ad says, “Bet you can’t eat just one”
-- and those doughnuts and potato chips look so good and
smell so good and we’re so hungry and they’re right there in front of us, so we
grab the potato chips and the doughnuts and start eating them in the car on the
way home -- and while they may taste good and take away your hunger for a
moment, they won’t meet your nutritional needs like a healthy meal would -- and
in just a little while, you’ll get hungry again and you’ll come back and you’ll
buy more -- that’s their goal
-- if they can get you to meet your God-given desire for
food by spending more of your money on things you don’t need, then they’re
happy
-- it’s the same way with getting any of your desires met
-- you’ve got two choices -- you’ve got the world’s way and you’ve got God’s
way -- you can either choose to let God meet your desires in His healthy ways,
or you can give in to temptation and try to get your needs filled in ungodly
and unhealthy ways
IV. Filled with the Presence of
God
-- in the context of this Beatitude, Jesus is not only
talking about the physical desires and needs that we have, but also our
spiritual desires and needs -- God made us with this place in our heart that
can only be filled by His presence -- in other words, we need God in our lives
and in our hearts
-- Psalm 42:1-2 makes this clear -- “As the deer
pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts
for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
-- God put this desire for Him and His presence in our
hearts and in our spirits -- He wants us to pant for Him -- to thirst for Him
-- or, as Jesus puts it here in this Beatitude, to hunger and thirst for His
presence -- to desire Him and a relationship with Him more than anything else
that this world has to offer
-- and, when we choose Him over this world -- when He is
our desire -- our all-in-all -- when He is what we are seeking more than
anything else -- He promises that we will be filled
-- filled with what? -- obviously not food and drink --
but filled with the presence and power of Christ in our lives
-- filled with the very righteousness and holiness of God
as the Holy Spirit works in our lives -- from the inside out -- to help us to become
holy as God is holy
-- in the church, we call this sanctification -- that’s
just a ten-dollar term that means that we are becoming more and more like Jesus
everyday -- this means that we are not only following Jesus, but we’re starting
to act like Jesus -- we’re starting to think like Jesus -- we’re starting to
look like Jesus -- inside and out
-- this means that in our daily lives, we are showing
those around us the same love that Jesus showed to those in His day -- this
means that we are choosing to walk past the displays of doughnuts and potato
chips and alcohol and drugs and sex and pride and arrogance and all the other
temptations that the world throws at us and we are choosing to follow God and
to follow His ways
-- to hunger and thirst for righteousness means that we
are living for God -- we are desiring God -- not just on Sundays -- but every day
-- think about what this Beatitude says -- blessed are
those who hunger -- blessed are those who thirst -- those are active words --
those are words that indicate this is an on-going situation
-- right now -- this moment and every moment -- we should
be actively hungering and thirsting for God -- we should be seeking His
presence and His ways and choosing to follow Him, forsaking all others
-- this isn’t something that we do one time and get the
t-shirt and go home -- no, this is something that needs to become a part of us
-- just like breathing -- it’s something that we do without even thinking about
it -- it becomes our reason for living -- it becomes our life
-- what Jesus is telling us here is to keep on hungering
and keep on thirsting for righteousness -- and when you do that, He promises
that God will fill you with His presence and His power
-- remember that I said that this Beatitude is a good
test of your relationship with God -- of the depths of righteousness that you
have obtained
-- if you are truly hungering and thirsting for
righteousness -- if you are truly hungering and thirsting for God in your life
and are walking in His ways -- then you should see be able to see where a
change has happened
-- you should be able to look back on your life six
months -- one year -- five years ago -- and be able to say, “I’m better than I
was then -- I’m more righteous than I was then -- I’m more holy than I was then
-- I’m choosing God over sin more now than then”
-- when we hunger and thirst after righteousness, God
promises to meet us and to fill us with His presence so that we might continue
to grow in grace and become more and more like His Son, Jesus
V. Closing
-- C.S. Lewis wrote, “We are half hearted creatures,
fooling around with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us
-- like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because
he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a [vacation at the beach], we
are far too easily pleased”
-- it is too easy to go through this life chasing and
being satisfied with what the world has to offer while ignoring the true gifts
that God has waiting for us
-- too many of us waste our time and our energy and our
resources by trying to have our wants and wishes -- desires and needs -- met by
this world rather than by our Creator
-- Jesus tells us that if we would turn our eyes from the
glitter and glamour of this world and would instead hunger and thirst and chase
after God, that He would fill our lives with His power and His presence and His
glory
-- this Beatitude tells us that the path to a full life
does not lay in the temporary satisfactions of this world but in the
righteousness of God and in a relationship with Him
-- joy comes from being in a right relationship with God
and from living life according to His plan and His will
-- so, as we close in prayer, let me encourage you to take
a moment and think about where you are in your life -- are you making mud pies
in a slum instead of enjoying a vacation at the beach? -- are you gorging on
potato chips rather than feasting on the riches of God’s heavenly banquet? --
are you living the life that God wants you to live?
-- if not, then I want to encourage you to make a change
right now -- this morning
-- start feeding the good wolf -- chase after God --
hunger and thirst for His righteousness -- so that you will be filled and
satisfied and happy living in God’s presence
-- come to Him now -- turn to Him -- for the forgiveness
of your sins -- for new life with Him -- and for a change that will last
forever
-- let us pray
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