Beatitudes

Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 ““Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

A quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian. If it is not, then you had better re-evaluate yourself and your faith.

What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness and thus be filled? How should this beatitude be applied?

One of the greatest indicators of our health is hunger.

When we are not feeling well we visit the doctor, the doctor often asks, “Have you  been eating, how’s your appetite? In the same way that physical hunger helps us discern our physical health,  spiritual hunger helps us discern our spiritual health. It even displays if we are spiritually  alive at all.

The words for “hunger” and “thirst” are not words used of somebody who is casually  hungry and thirsty. They refer to someone who is starving for food and someone who will  die without a drink.

This is something most people from developed countries know nothing about. When we’re hungry, we open the refrigerator and grab a snack. If we’re thirsty, we pour a cup of water. But the ancient world, to whom Christ spoke, knew hunger and thirst well. Most families in Palestine could only eat meat once a week. Wages were low, if they existed at all, and did not allow for luxuries—it was just enough to survive. Travel often led people through large deserts with no water; therefore, thirst was a common companion.

When a person is desperately hungry and thirsty, nothing else will satisfy them—not a beautiful sunrise or sunset, not entertainment or rest—only food and water will do.

The Greek words for “hunger” and “thirst” are present participles meaning a continual hungering and thirsting.

There is a continual hunger and thirst in the life of true believers that separates them from the world.

What is that hunger and thirst for? According to Christ, it is for righteousness.

There is something unusual in this Greek statement. Typically, Greek verbs like “hunger” and “thirst” have partial objects. For example, “I am hungry for some bread” or “I’m thirsty for some water.” But Christ uses an unqualified object. It’s like saying, “I’m hungry for all the bread” or “all the water.” True believers are hungry for complete righteousness—not partial righteousness.

It’s NOT OK to love God, and yet compromise in our language, practice dishonesty, or commit immorality. We must be a people who want to be fully righteous—partial righteousness won’t do.

Righteousness comes from the Greek word "dikaiosune" which means "justice, fairness,  honesty, integrity."

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God’s desire for us, His people, is to do good righteous works so that God may be glorified.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and  whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35 ESV)

He is making reference to manna, the bread-like food that God provided for Moses and the Israelites when they wandered the desert.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Psalm 42:1–2 “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God”…

Mature deer bed down within 75 yards of water

They go to water before food

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,  as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1 ESV)

John 6:26–27 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.””

Jesus at the well talking to the Samaritan woman tells His disciples “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” John 4:32 the food was doing the will of the Father.

Isaiah 55:1 ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Isaiah 55:2 “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

Isaiah 55:3 “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

Psalm 63:1–2 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.”

Psalm 63:3–4 “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”

Psalm 63:5–8 “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”

Closing: Susanna Petrosyan said she was trapped flat on her back. A prefabricated concrete panel 18 inches above her head and a crumpled water pipe above her shoulders kept her from standing. She wore only a slip, and it was horribly cold.Beside her in the darkness lay the lifeless body of her sister-in-law, Karine. She had been crushed by falling walls and died pinned beneath rubble one day after the Dec. 7 earthquake leveled much of Leninakan and other towns in northwestern Armenia.

"Mommy, I need to drink," sobbed Mrs. Petrosyan's daughter, Gayaney. "Please give me something."

"I thought my child was going to die of thirst," Mrs. Petrosyan, 26, recalled. "I had no water, no fruit juice, no liquids. It was then I remembered that I had my own blood."

Although she was trapped in darkness, she could slide on her back from side to side. Her groping fingers, numb from the cold, found a shattered glass. She sliced open her left index finger with a shard and gave it to her daughter to suck.

The drops of blood weren't enough. "Please, Mommy, some more. Cut another finger," Mrs. Petrosyan remembers her daughter saying. The woman made more cuts in her flesh, feeling nothing because of the bitter cold. She put her hand to her child's mouth, squeezing her fingers to make more blood come.

"I knew I was going to die," Mrs. Petrosyan said. "But I wanted my daughter to live."

‘Jesus s on the cross “I am thirsty”…Jesus said “it is finished. With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit”. John 19: 28-30.