Jesus and the Upside Down Kingdom, Part 4

Matthew 5:1–6 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blaise Pascal and Happiness

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views…

He goes on to explain about the desire for happiness within each of us.

But the inability to satisfy this desire.

It creates in us a deep sense of longing for satisfaction.

“But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.” Blaise Pascal

The hungry find satisfaction in the righteousness of God. God fulfills this promise by implanting righteousness for right living.

True Satisfaction for those who Hunger

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

This beatitude represents a turning point from the first three.

Spiritual bankruptcy draws a man's heart low before God.

Mourning for sin expresses the spiritual bankruptcy within us.

Gentleness toward God and men because of a person’s lowly position.

All three of these are a tearing down of the Christian.

But verse six is the turning point of the beatitudes.

Jesus gives what a Christian should pursue.

Jesus presents the positive view of What Christian wants.

Positively, unpacks the deepest desires of their heart.

Hunger & Thirsting — Longing to be Filled

We live in a land of plenty.

Plenty of food.

Three square meals.

Plenty of water.

Everyone trying to get their daily in-take of water.

But we need to keep in mind that this is an anomaly in history.

The majority of nations do not even today have this luxury that we live under daily.

These verbs represent a continual state of hungering and thirsting.

How long do you typically go without food in your life?

What about water?

Picture man who is wandered in the deserts for a whole day.

Expending himself by walking.

The blazing hot sun beating down upon him.

Without nourishment.

Continual longing.

This longing for satisfaction that never really goes away.

Its a longing that in this life is never truly satisfied.

Unsatisfied longing.

There is nothing that can satisfy this person.

There may be temporary fixes of satisfaction but its a hungering that is unquenchable in this life.

A satisfaction that takes us away from ourselves and the temporary pleasures of this world.

“Because you have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.” —Augustine.

What will actually satisfy the longing soul?

What kind of righteousness does Jesus have in mind?

Righteousness in the Bible has various understandings.

If you read much of the apostle Paul, you find that he talks about righteousness in regard to justification.

He regards righteousness about our declaration from God being declared righteous in Jesus Christ.

But what Jesus seems to be talking about here about righteousness is more than the Pauline understanding of justification.

Righteousness is the desire to be free from sin of every kind.

Righteousness is the hungering to put sin to death in our lives.

Righteousness is the thirsting to be declared righteous before a Holy God.

What do we make of a person that does not hunger after righteousness?

Remember that same man that we described in the desert.

How strange would it be if he was not “hungry” and “thirsty”?

If he was invited to a feast and instead of filling his belly with food, he preferred to listen to the music.

Instead of eating he preferred to play games.

Non-Christian

This is what you’re doing.

Rather than eating, you’re trying to find another way of satisfying your soul.

Isaiah 55:1 ESV

“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.

God only requires that one come hungry to the meal.

The only requirement is to bring your appetite.

Hungering for Inward Righteousness

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

One of the great tragedies in the last century has been the influence of liberal theology.

Liberal theology views the Christian life as mainly about following Jesus's example.

Following Jesus without the “good news” of Jesus.

It’s trying to follow Jesus’ example without the power to obey.

One of the consequences of liberal theology is an attempt from people to live "good" lives.

Not their own righteousness.

We have all had the interaction where you're talking to a friend of family member and you will ask, “Are you a Christian?”

Often they respond with, "I'm trying.”

What is a person saying when they say "I'm trying"?

At the same time, there's something far more diabolical happening in a statement like "I'm trying.”

Sometimes what is being said "I'm trying" is that a person is trying to be a good person.

If Christianity gets deduced to a trying to be a good person type of lifestyle, it will be a crushing burden upon them.

Because questions swirl like,

"How good is good enough?”

“How much good does one need to be doing to be doing ‘good’?”

Is a "good life" all that Jesus desires for us?

No. We should not think that righteousness is a general morality or general respectability.

The kind of righteousness that Jesus is talking about here is not general niceties.

A Whole Righteousness.

It seems like a nuance, but sometimes nuances are helpful to understand the core issue.

The word used for righteousness here in Matthew 5:6 is unique.

When a person says they, hunger or thirst, the expression should be something like

“I hunger for some bread.” Or

“I am thirsty for a drink of water.”

In our framework, it would be hyperbole to say,

"I am thirsty for all the water.”

It's hyperbole, because it's impossible to obtain all the water of the world at once.

A person is not thirsty for all of the water.

But the phrase used here represents not some righteousness, but the righteousness.

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Jesus says that they will be blessed who hunger and thirst.

Not for some righteousness.

Not a piece of righteousness.

Not a little bit of righteousness.

Not a little bit of goodness.

But all THE righteousness.

The Christian is not satisfied with a little bit of a good life.

The Christian is also not satisfied even with a righteous life.

The Sermon on the Mount: (Matthew 5–7): An Expositional Commentary A Perfect Righteousness

“O how happy is the man who knows enough not to be satisfied with any partial goodness with which to please God, who is not satisfied with any human goodness. He alone is happy who seeks for the divine righteousness, because God will certainly provide it.”

The longing that Jesus says, “will be satisfied”, is not found in partial righteousness.

It's not found in some righteousness.

The person who “hungers” and “thirsts” will long for a complete righteousness.

They will thirst for a whole righteousness.

This creates a problem because none of us have a whole righteousness.

How can we get a “whole righteousness”?

The answer does not come in how we get it as much as who gives it to us.

We don't get God's righteousness by something we do.

We get God's righteousness by trusting a person.

God’s Righteousness.

Immediately after feeding 5,000 people.

Immediately after satisfying a hungry mob.

Jesus says this…

John 6:26 (ESV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

He tells them that they are not seeking him because of who he is, but for what he can give them.

They're NOT seeking Him because they know he is TRUE.

They’re NOT seeking Him because He is the Messiah.

They’re seeking him because their bellies were hungry.

They felts the daily hunger pangs and wanted to be fed again.

They felts the daily longings for water and wanted satisfaction.

John 6:27–29 ESV

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

John 6:35 (ESV)

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

How does Matthew 5:6 and John 6:35 square up?

Jesus equates himself with the bread of life.

He is the bread that truly satisfies.

The truly hungry person will only be satisfied in the righteousness of Christ.

Someone who truly thirst’s for whole righteousness will find it in Christ’s.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will find their satisfaction in Jesus.

They can be satisfied in Jesus Christ because of his righteousness.

It's the righteousness of God apprehended by faith that truly satisfies the Christian.

Temporary Satisfaction and Pie

I know you had the experience of eating a piece of pie, or cake, or for me, apple dumpling.

And immediately being satisfied.

Now we all understand the feeling of being satisfied temporarily physically for a moment.

But we know immediately it dissipates.

It dissipates as fast it came.

Unfortunately, I think that often we do the same thing spiritually.

We waffle between self flattery and self hatred.

We flatter ourselves when we think we are doing well, and speak poorly of ourselves when we feel we’re not doing well.

This kind of attempt at satisfaction will not, nor cannot satisfy us.

TRUE SATISFACTION comes from the declared righteousness of God in CHRIST!

TRUE SATISFACTION comes from the APPROVAL of God in Jesus Christ!

The immediate question that comes up in the minds of Christians is…

How much hungering do we need?

How much thirsting do we need for righteousness?

The problem with these questions is they misunderstand what’s required.

It’s not about a quantity of righteousness but a quality.

For example, if I said to you, “humans must breathe air to live”

It would be silly to respond with, “How much air do they need to breathe to live?”

The question of quantity misunderstands the nature of what Jesus is talking about here.

To live as a human is breathe air.

To breathe is to be alive.

In the same way to be a Christian is to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Particularly God’s righteousness.

The hungry finds satisfaction in the righteousness of God. God fulfills this promise by implanting righteousness for right living.

It's not simply a spiritual righteousness that satisfies the Christian.

Hungering for Outward Righteousness

The Righteousness of God that produces Righteous Living.

An outward life of obedience is also hungered for by the Christian.

Hungering for Righteousness rather than Experience

We're not to hunger after experiences, but we are to hunger for righteousness.

A very unique instance took place this past year with the ‘Asbury Revival.’

I don't want to comment on the revival at all in this moment, but if you're interested, you could talk to me more about that.

I do want to comment, though about a strange pattern that took place during the Asbury revival.

The strange pattern was that of people hungering after experiences.

Jesus is not saying that we should hunger after experiences.

We're not meant to hunger after the “blessedness.”

But we are meant to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

We need to be careful because we live in a Christian culture that hunger and thirst after experiences.

They hunger for some kind of feeling, whether it's liver quivers, or any such experience.

“The experiences are the gift of God; what you and I are to cover it, and to seek, and to hunger and thirst for is righteousness.” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Righteous Life.

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Pharisees were not actually righteous in their actions.

They would give even down to the smallest herb in their garden, but would reject taking care of widows.

It would be as if I went home and gave to the church all of my pennies in my house, but rejected caring for a neighbor, who had a serious need.

The righteousness of Jesus’ followers must be greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

John 7:37–38 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

The person who comes to Jesus Christ and drinks has true life flowing from within him.

This does not come of ourselves.

This comes through the Holy Spirit that Christ has made to dwell within us.

This is the promise of the New Covenant.

That God would write his law upon our hearts and life would flow out of it.

Christian - Celebrating Righteousness

It is RIGHT for us to celebrate when you see outward righteousness by others.

When a food shelter feeds the hungry, we should celebrate.

When a low cost clothing store feeds the naked, we should celebrate.

When people are arrested for trafficking other humans, we should celebrate.

It’s when we serve others that we ourselves receive the greatest joy and satisfaction.

Warren W. Wiersbe

We should not only celebrate, we should HUNGER for more of it.

We should HUNGER for GOD’S kingdom more.

The Hungry are Satisfied Forever

Matthew 5:6 NIV

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Satisfied Completely.

Psalm 42:1–2 ESV

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 42-43 are actually connected.

They are lamenting the fact that they have been forced away from Jerusalem.

They have been forced away from God's throne.

Their enemies have forced them to distance themselves from the presence of the Lord.

This causes the Sons of Korah to Cry out…

They are longing to be back in God's presence.

They thirst after God like a deer thirsts for flowing streams.

The Son’s of Korah are confident that God will again return them to the place where they long to be most.

They are confident that once they return to this place, they will be satisfied yet again.

Psalm 43:3–5 ESV

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Psalm 84:10 ESV

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

David knows that TRUE SATISFACTION comes in GOD.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Christian — We don’t pursue our satisfaction, we pursue righteousness.

We rest satisfied in ourselves when people speak well of us.

And then we fall apart when someone speaks poorly of us.

This kind of pseudo spirituality is dangerous and deceptive.

But that’s NOT the kind of satisfaction that Jesus is describing here.

It’s not a satisfaction that comes and goes with the whims of our emotions, nor the comments of others is describing here.

It’s true and real and lasting satisfaction.

Find satisfaction in him who made you, and only then find satisfaction in yourself as part of his creation.

Augustine of Hippo

Satisfied by God.

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The kind of satisfaction that Jesus promises is satisfaction from God.

Theological terms are sometimes helpful to understand with further significance of a text of scripture.

That term satisfied is what's called a divine passive.

Now we all use the Passive tense all the time.

For example, if I say, “My children shall be fed.”

That term, “fed” is a passive.

My children aren't feeding themselves.

I am doing the feeding in their lives.

It's passive because it's happening to them.

They are the objects of my feeding.

It is satisfaction.

It's a satisfaction that God grants to those who he makes righteous in His Son.